Business Biscotti Networking Meeting in Birmingham

Posted by Chris on November 16th, 2014

Which Business Networking Meeting is the best in Birmingham at the moment ??

I take a trip to the Grosvenor Casino on Rebecca Hyslop’s recommendation to try out this networking event and find it very interesting and professional

I have not been to a networking meeting for some time ( I think the last one was in Burton on Trent a couple of months ago ) and certainly the Business Biscotti meeting at the Grosvenor Casino on Broad Street in Birmingham was the first networking meeting that I have been to in Birmingham for a year or more.

I was introduced to Biscotti by Rebecca Hyslop of Push Media Marketing who runs a number of networking meetings in Birmingham.

I very rarely go to Casino’s so that was also a novelty to me( I think the last one was in Biarritz ).

I hoped that the meeting was going to be more fun than formal – obviously productive aswell – and knowing Rebecca I was pretty sure that it would be.

Online research prior to arriving at the Biscotti meeting indicated that although there was a website, social media activity appeared limited. The Biscotti name piqued my curiousity but I have only just found out that the name is based on the first meeting where Biscotti biscuits were made and served.

I parked in The Nautical Club just down the road and walked around to Broad Street and the entrance of the Grosvenor Casino.

The receptionist was absolutely lovely and I proffered photo id in order to get a Casino card. The receptionist phoned down for the Manager, Paul Bradford, to meet me.

I met him at the bottom of the stairs leading onto the Casino floor and he led me to the group that was assembled, chatting at the bar area.

With Rebecca, the receptionist and Paul I had definitely had a very professional and positive introduction to this networking meeting.

The first person that Paul, very kindly, introduced me to had actually seen me speaking at an event in Marco Pierre White’s recently – so that was a great start.That was Glenn Richardson of Photo Booth Hire.

A chat with someone else and then an introduction to someone who turned out to be with Mattioli Woods – where I am a client !!!! Bit of a surprise and an opportunity to praise them a bit – my account manager there has been brilliant actually.

I loved meeting next with Raphael from HNS Signs – a company that I had come across on twitter during #lichfieldlocal hour run by Sarah Morley. Raphael gave me his bosses card, Michelle Henry, and a lovely booklet promoting their work.

As I get into this post I am thinking about who I met, and what made them memorable and what contact information I came away with. Later on I will say who contacted me and how.

My primary interest is what people are doing online. Their ” Internet Presence ” as I call it. ( A combination of web/blogsite and social media accounts ).

I then met Personal Trainer John Wang ( 07795437716 ) who it turned out had seen me at a Market United Kingdom presentation. Someone at John’s gym was an Unfranchise Owner. ( Actually franchises were much in evidence in this meeting ).

Whilst sipping a glass of water Mike Bowden walked over to chat. ( I am grateful to Rebecca Hyslop for doing a tweet after the meeting that contained Mike’s contact details as well as other peoples ). As well as being a Life Coach Mike was a martial arts practitioner and I go to a Kick Boxing class at Burton Kick Boxing Academy with Chris Squirrel so we had something in common there.

On coming to chat to Rebecca ( and the lady from Best of Birmingham who kindly looked after my laptop bag and coat and another lady from Grosvenor Casino’s ) I got into a conversation with Tom West from Central Telecomms. and Richard Murphy from Bank House Corporate. My background is in Telecomms and M & A so this was an interesting conversation.

I decided to leave after that as it was Remembrance Day and I wanted to spend some time at The Nautical Club and The National Memorial Arboretum.

I should point out that I was given 6 business cards but I didn’t give out any as is my approach of late.

Tom West from Central Telecomms. was the first person to contact me ( by twitter and Linkedin ) and he didn’t have any of my details so I was most impressed with this response. Later on he sent me information on the company. Stellar responsiveness !!!!

Rebecca did a tweet after the event that included ( probably ) every person that had a twitter account that she knew who was at the meeting. This was very useful.

After connecting with people there I had a few conversations.

I also established email communications with Michelle and Raphael at HNS Signs – they just look so well sorted as a company.

All in all this was a great event with some great people at it and I would recommend to anyone ( as I am doing here ).

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Belfast based Makeup artists and Beauty professionals – be part of the arrival of Motives in Ireland

Posted by Chris on January 8th, 2014

Belfast based makeup artists and other beauty professionals have an amazing opportunity to rocket their income

Check out this guide to getting more income from the same time

I have recently talked to a lot of Makeup Artists ( MUAs ) and what a hard working, talented bunch of ( mainly ) ladies they are.

It’s a great job – making people look great – but it is also a very time consuming job. One MUA I know was recently up at 1.30 in the morning to drive to London to get a bride ready for her wedding then back to Birmingham to attend an event and then another private client. She didn’t finish until the evening of that day. A long day and while the pay is reasonable as a freelance MUA it is not brilliant.

Time and money are definitely connected in a strong way.

I personally feel that the objective should be for an MUA to get to the point where he or she can work with the clients that they want to – not the clients that they have to.

The way to do this is to .. Add ( Income )  and Separate ( Time from Money )..

Dealing first with ADD..

At the moment most MUAs only charge an hourly rate or a rate for their art/handiwork. Of course top MUAs can and do charge premium rates.

MUAs have a collection of product that they have assembled over time and know work. This might be in a suitcase or makeup carrier or at their salon. The client might not be aware of the products used – only the end result. If the client is inclined to buy the products that the MUA uses and recommends then it probably means a trip to the shops.

Whilst such a trip might not be an issue it might also be inconvenient and would have a cost to the client in time and money. ( Whether that matters to someone who can afford an MUA is another matter).

It could be that the easy provision of the products used to the client is actually an enhanced service.

pro artist

If the client goes and buys those products from the shops then there is nothing in that for the MUA in financial terms.

If on the other hand the MUA could make say 30-50% profit on the products sold then this will have added to the income from any particular client appointment. In fact the product profit might be more than the hourly or set rate.

The MUA would need to have the product on hand in order to sell it or have some sort of online shop ( <<<Link here ) where the client can go. Having the product on hand is ok if you have a salon ( although stock is an overhead ) but means that you have to carry it around if you are mobile.

An online shop ( <<< Link ) is definitely preferable especially if it has rapid delivery times ( eg 24-48 hour delivery ).

Talking to MUAs recently I noted that many of them gave the client a summary of what they had done for them during that appointment and what products they used and also kept a record for themselves.

I took this idea and developed the idea of the Online Beauty Prescription ( <<< Link – thanks to a friend who is a Beauty Blogger for that description ) which is a blog post that can be written up afterwards and can be anonymous or name the client and will direct them straight to the place in the online shop where they can buy these products. ( Posting a blog actually has many potential benefits to the MUAs online marketing but I will not go into that now ).

Now, at the time that the client purchases these products the MUA may well be working with another client i.e. the MUA has begun to separate time from money or multiply the effect of that time.

We can imagine the client coming back again and again and the only time that the MUA will be aware of this is when they get an email saying ” You have another order placed from ( whoever ) , Value £x “.

Here’s another great thing about this.. If you have not already got the clients email address you will have when they register and buy from your shop.

That email address can be used to communicate with the client on an ongoing basis. The MUA can email them ” special deals ” or ” new products or services “. Such communication can be automated in an appropriate and tailored manner.

Once you have your own shop you will obviously be able to buy certain products at a ” Wholesale ” price yourself. With some companies ( e.g. Motives and Shop.com ) you can buy more than just beauty and cosmetics products at wholesale prices, You could for example buy multivitamins and isotonic products. Such purchases represent a clear saving to you on products that you are already going to buy. This is the online equivalent of having a Costco or Makro account in the UK.

Lets add another dimension to this.. Some of the MUAs friends, business contacts and work colleagues e.g. Hairdressers, Nail Technicians, Manicurists, Masseurs also recommend products off of the MUAs’ online site that are relevant to them. Again these sales come in without any direct effort from the MUA and they come in alongside the MUAs other work.

One or two of the MUAs friends decide that they would also like to have their own online shop and the MUA helps them set that up and guides them on it’s use. The MUA and the friend both get commission on the sales.

Time goes on and more and more friends are selling products off of the websites or have their own websites. The result is a substantial income for many of them that is independent of the number of hours that they put in and which allows them to select which clients they actually want to spend their time with.

Take a look at this video:

 

 

Which is about a product range that originated in the U.S. ( in 2010 ) and was conceived by Loren Ridinger and enhanced by LaLa Anthony ( if you are fans of The Kardashians then you may of heard of them ).

This is a high quality, affordable cosmetics and beauty product range which is endorsed by many Celebrity MUAs globally. ( <<< Link )  It is being sold direct via MUAs, Salon and Spa owners and other beauty related professionals. The reason that you can have high quality product at mid range pricing and give high commissions to resellers is that NO money is being spent on advertising or corporate fatcats – the profit goes to the people that deserve it – the MUAs and their business partners. There is a sophisticated 24 -72 hour global delivery system to support sales from the Online sites though.

The Motives business system is a turnkey system that accomplishes EXACTLY what I have said above. Retail profit is added to time for money ( the appointment itself )  and in addition there is profit sharing for group sales.

N.B. We have built a financial model spreadsheet ( mini business plan ) to support this blog. See what happens when you add this to your normal MUA income !!!!

If you are based in Belfast and ready for a change and high earnings Contact me @cwindley, skype chris.windley or phone 07881 500002 to discuss this opportunity in greater detail.

Beauty, Belfast, Cosmetics, Dublin, Makeup Artists, Market United Kingdom, Motives, Motives Business Partner, Motives Mavens No Comments »

Professional Makeup Artist recommendation for Dublin

Posted by Chris on December 30th, 2013

I would recommend professional makeup artist Debbie O’Brien for special occassions like weddings

Debbie works in and around Dublin, Ireland and is a Motives cosmetics specialist

 

Here’s Debbie’s introduction to herself:

Hi everyone, and thank you for taking the time to stop by and have a look at my website. I feel that to be a really good make up artist you have to have two things, a creative flair with cosmetics and also a really good rapport with people. Since make up artistry was not my first love,  it was however something I always said I would get involved in at some point. Having spent many years in the hospitality industry, I built up a fantastic work ethic, key qualities, such as always being punctual, pride in my appearance, attention to detail (slightly OCD at times to be honest) and most importantly I pride myself at being really good with people.The many years of experience from that industry, built the foundations I needed, to do what I really always wanted to do, and that was to become a make up artist. It’s not a job for me, in the sense that I don’t dread going to work!! I spend hours looking at new make up trends, new fashion trends, browsing from make up counter to make up counter, ensuring that I’m not limiting my knowledge in any way.

Its also really important to me that I don’t allow myself to be slotted into any one category when it comes to age brackets and make up styles. I really believe it’s important to teach girls from a very young age, how precious their skin is, and how important it is to look after it properly. So if its a young lady wishing to have her first make up experience, or a lady that wishes to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary, its my job to make every woman feel fabulous!!!

Here’s some testimonials from happy clients:

TESTIMONIALS

Tweeting-GoddessOfficial Make-Up artist for the Tweeting Goddess – Sam Kelly
Winner of Tweetie inspire award and star of RTE’s Dragons Den and ‘She’s the Business’

Debbie did my make up for the Tweetie awards in October. I was delighted and felt beautiful after she worked her magic!! Debbie is a professional and also puts you at total ease and I put total trust in her. I will be using her as my make up girl from now on! Highly Recommend!!! – Sam Kelly

 

Helen-300x230After being disappointed with my original bridal make-up trial, Debbie(Decadent Beauty) came recommended through a friend.  I was quite fussy about what kind of make up I wanted for my big day, Debbie really listened to what I wanted done but she gave a few suggestions too which worked out perfect. Debbie was so professional and insisted on getting my make up just right, she wanted to be 101% sure I was happy with the end result on my make up trial. On the big day, she kept me calm and stayed right up till I was ready to leave my house to touch up any last minute lippy etc. I would recommend Debbie to any Bride that is looking for hassle free make up artist to do their make up on their special day. I would definitely use Debbie again for any future events. Helen

susan
I could not recommend Debbie enough. She graciously agreed to do my makeup on my wedding day. I have never felt so beautiful. The look she created for me was exactly what I wanted (although I actually didn’t tell her what I wanted) & it lasted all day. This photo is taken hours after I had my make up done and it stayed this fresh all day long, bearing in mind I got married in Greece and it was also hot. Honestly, Debbie is such a professional & highly skilled, everyone commented on how amazing my make up was. Susan.

Contact Debbie at:

Decadent Beauty

facebook.com/DecadentB twitter.com/decadentb contact@decadentb.com

0873869021

See her full website HERE 

 

Beauty, Cosmetics, Dublin, Makeup Artists, Motives, Motives Business Partner, Motives Mavens No Comments »
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