While running your lash business, have you ever thought to yourself, “there’s got to be a better way?” If so, you’re a part of a huge community of creative service providers that feel the exact same way.

As lash artists, the success of our business relies on how well we interface with members of the general public. On one hand, that’s a great thing because you never know who you might meet that will change your perspective or your life.

But on the flip side, you never know who you might meet.

Mental illness is at an all time high and you just never know if someone on the extreme end of the spectrum will book an appointment with you and wreck your business. I’ve been really fortunate to not encounter any clients with severe mental illness but I’ve heard stories from other artists and their experiences were no walk in the park.

I believe the reason why I haven’t had really bad experiences with people is partly because I have a strong personality and although I always try to lead with kindness, I’m very direct which people respect. The other reason is because of the systems and procedures I’ve put in place. They make it a little more challenging to schedule an appointment with me and as a result, it’s repelled clients that aren’t the right fit for my business.

In this article, I want to share a few of the things I’ve implemented in my business that repels not-so-good clients. And one of those things took me 14 years to implement, but it works incredibly well.

WHO ARE YOUR IDEAL CLIENTS?

Although it’s been over a decade since I first became a lash artist, I can clearly remember how I felt when I realized that by learning how to apply lash extensions, I could use that skill as a means to quit my corporate job. I dreamed of being able to take vacations when I wanted to without having to ask for permission from my boss, having the money to take care for my daughter the way I wanted to and to live my life on my own terms.

It wasn’t until I became a lash artist that I learned, running your own business is hard. Especially when you’re naturally a creative person, and you don’t have any prior experience running a business. In the early days, I struggled to build a steady clientele and in hindsight it was because I was so focused on making enough money to quit my corporate job, I worked with anyone who was willing to book an appointment with me which was a HUGE mistake.

Thank God for that corporate job because I made a lot of mistakes in my business early on. Without that job, I wouldn’t have been able to survive financially because my business was so inconsistent due to the decisions I was making.

What I teach all of my students when it comes to running a business is that one of the most important first steps you should take in your business is to get clear on who your ideal client is. I think a lot of lash artists make the same mistake I did early on where they just accept anyone who’s willing to schedule an appointment or if they do think about their ideal client, they’re only thinking about the basics like age range and ethnicity. But defining your ideal client is a lot more nuanced than that.

To determine who your ideal client is, I like to think about all of my interactions with people personally and professionally. I think about all of the times I’ve had great interactions with people and I dissect why those interactions felt so great to me. I ask, “what was it about those people that I enjoyed so much and how can I attract more of that to me?”

I also think about all of the negative experiences I’ve had with people. What was it about my interactions with them that made it so unpleasant? Was it something they said? Their attitude? Whatever it was, I like to pinpoint why I didn’t enjoy interacting with them so I can look out for those specific things and repel that person from scheduling an appointment with me.

Once I’ve done this, I then start building out a profile for that person. So for example if I’m thinking about the positive interactions I’ve had with someone, I’ll note if that person is married, if they have kids, what they’re passionate about and where they hang out. I build out a full profile of this person to the point that I can give them a name.

And I do the same thing for the negative experiences. I create a full profile on this person and give them a name.

The reason why you want to do this is because usually the kind of people you’re attracted to and the kind of people that light you up have similar personality traits and lifestyles. And the same applies to the people that completely turn you off.

You want to be intentional about the kind of energy and people you attract to your business. Doing this requires you to design your business in a way that appeals to the kind of people you want to work with most and that light you up.

You don’t want a business full of people you don’t like. So you have to design your business so that it repels the kind of people that you don’t like interacting with because ultimately, the long term success of your business comes down to you loving what you do and being happy to show up in your business. And you can't do that if you're working with people that wear you down or turn you off.

This is why defining your ideal client is so important. It allows you to be intentional about how you design your business so you attract the kind of clients you want to work with and that will pay you a premium for the work you do. And when you define your ideal client, you'll repel people that turn you off and cause headaches in your business.

Once you’ve defined your ideal client, you can begin thinking about how to design your business so that it caters to only those people and how you can communicate in a way that speaks to them.

CREATE SERVICES YOUR CLIENTS WANT

Once you've gotten clear on who your ideal client is, it's time to design your business in a way that attracts only those people. The first place to start is by offering services that they want.

This is a huge mistake a lot of lash artists make. They either look at what other lash artists are doing in their business and try to mimic that, or they make their business about themselves and offer the kind of services they want to offer regardless of if its what their ideal clients want.

Instead you should be offering the services your ideal client’s want and go all in on mastering them because that’s what will allow you to charge a premium for the work that you do.

For example, my ideal clients are mature women. Most mature women don’t want 15mm lashes or megavolume. So although it is on my menu of services for special occasions, my focus is on what my ideal clients want which is natural looking lash extensions for everyday wear — classic sets or light volume lashes.

Sure, there are times where I push my creativity and work with color lashes or megavolume looks but those are for creative photo shoots. It’s not something that I advertise because I know that it’s not what my ideal clients want.

As an artist, I totally get that you'd want to design the most amazing, award winning lashes. But if that's all you offer, you're making the business about you and not about your clients.

Remember this, people pay for solutions to “their” problems. So it's fine if you want to create works of art as a lash artist. Just keep in mind that if those works of art don't solve your ideal clients problem, you'll have a hard time creating a thriving lash business.

LEVEL UP

Like Ciara says in her song, “level up, level up, level up level up level up.”

For the record, I don't like that song but I agree whole heartedly with the message as it pertains to your career as a lash artist. Leveling up requires a heightened sense of self awareness and thankfully for me, I've always been extremely self aware.

When I got clear on who my ideal client was and I outlined the services I'd offer that I knew they'd want, I had to level up as an artist and as a business owner. Up until that point, my lash retention was terrible and the quality of my work wasn't as high as it needed to be to attract clients. I also didn't have an incredible location for those clients to come to.

Although I didn’t have a lot of money at the time, I managed to scrape up some money to invest in my education. I didn't learn how to do everything I know now, just the few things I needed at the time to improve my lash application so I could start attracting the right people to my business.

Since I needed to learn how to properly run a business, I started my journey of becoming a business owner by going to my local library and I read every book I could on how to run a business successfully, marketing, and social media. And every chance I got to purchase a book so I could learn the latest and greatest in the marketing world, I would buy it and learn as much as I could.

As I hope you can see from my experience, many times it's not as easy as identifying who you want to work with. For some of us, myself included, you have to stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone and grow as an individual in order to attract certain kinds of people.

By improving myself as a business owner and as a lash artist, I was able to show my ideal clients that I offered services unique to them and I learned exactly how to get their attention by learning how to structure my business properly. By improving myself, I was able to then serve my ideal clients at a higher level which in return, allows me to charge more for the work I do.

Hand pick your clients

Now on to the thing I wish I had done earlier in my career as a lash artist which is… be extremely selective about which clients you work with. If I could go back to 2007 knowing everything I know now, to be extremely picky about the clients I take and don’t just work with anyone willing to pay me, I would do everything I could to convince my younger self to heed to this advice. It would have saved me so many headaches!

You know how you hear horror stories about clients that have unrealistic expectations? Or clients that leave awful reviews to spite lash artists? Or horror stories about clients that reschedule at the last minute? Or clients that no show? Or clients that have severely damaged lashes but want a megavolume set? Or clients that show up with lash extensions on from another artist?

Well, you can weed out all of that by not allowing new clients to schedule full sets with you until you’ve met them, assessed the conditions of of their lashes and made it clear what you can and cannot do.

This is something that has literally taken me 14+ years to implement in my business and I WISH I implemented it sooner. Here’s how I structured it.

Let me first preface this by saying that I use Acuity Scheduling so everything I do is automated. If you’re not currently using online booking, I highly suggest you do because it will make your life so much easier.

When a new client visits my website, they can learn about the three different lash sets I offer. From there, if they’re interested in the services I offer, they can schedule a consultation. Note: they cannot schedule a full set with me. Even if they’re certain of which set they want, they cannot schedule that appointment until I’ve met them first.

At the consultation, I do a few important things:

• I assess the condition of their lashes so I can advise them of which set their lashes can safely support

• I ask a lot of questions and share photos of my work to get a better idea of the kind of lashes they want

• I advise of the styling I would apply to compliment their eye shape

• I get an idea of their lifestyle and advise the best aftercare practices with lash extensions

• Apply a few lash extensions in case of an allergic reaction

• I feel out their personality to determine if this person is a good fit for my business

I want to break down these steps so you can see the thought process behind everything.

ASSESS LASH CONDITION

There is nothing worse than a client booking a megavolume set and showing up with severely damaged or barely there lashes. When this happens, it leaves you scrambling to service them OR you have to break the news to them that you can’t give them what they want. Many times, clients are looking forward to a certain look and when you’re the person telling them they can’t have it, they leave disappointed.

You never want to send a person away from your business feeling disappointed. By having a separate appointment where you know the condition of their lashes in advance, it removes that friction and gives you a game plan on how to confidently move forward with this client.

GET AN IDEA OF WHAT THE CLIENT REALLY WANTS

I cannot tell you the number of times a client has scheduled a classic set with me, knowing darn well they really want volume. And usually the only reason why they booked a classic set instead of volume is because they wanted to pay the lower price.

Here’s the thing… if a client books a classic set when they really wanted volume, they will leave unhappy with the services they got. So to eliminate that, at the consultation I show them the differences in volume and classic lash extensions so we can get on the same page about what they want. I also encourage them to bring in photos of lash extensions they’ve seen and liked so I have a better idea of their taste.

By scheduling a consultation and having a discussion about the outcome they’re looking for, it helps to ensure you’re on the same page about price and the service that would best suit them.

CUSTOM STYLING

This is something that clients LOVE about their consultation with me. I tell them exactly how I’d style their lashes based on their eye shape and facial structure. They could literally take the map that I design for them and go pay another artist to apply it for them. And guess what? I don’t mind it at all.

Partly because the consultation isn’t free so I’m being paid for my time regardless. And also because by giving this away, clients are wowed by the level of service I’m offering which makes them want to book with me even more.

DISCUSS AFTERCARE

One of the biggest issues that lash artists face is poor lash retention due to improper aftercare. During the consultation, you can explain what proper aftercare looks like and design a custom plan for them based on their lifestyle.

For example, many of my clients exercise frequently and they sweat a lot. I learn that by asking questions and I can then let them know that after a big sweat, they need to clean their lashes to remove the oils from their lashes. Otherwise, I’d learn this later down the line after they’ve already begun experiencing poor lash retention.

PATCH TEST

The thing about lash extensions is that it’s hard to determine whether or not a person will have an allergic reaction once they get lash extensions. You can’t just apply one extension. I apply 10-15 .07 extensions onto each eye across the lash line to test if the person feels any irritation over the next 48 hours. If they feel irritation, it’s likely they’ll also feel irritation with a complete, full set. So that’s a signal to me that this person may not be a good fit for lash extensions.

MAKE SURE THEIR PERSONALITY IS COMPATIBLE

Some people can afford you but their personality just isn’t a good fit. You can screen people during the consultation to make sure they aren’t a complete whack job and decline to service them based on that or refer them to another artist that may be a better fit for them. Or someone that isn’t as selective about the kind of clients they work with.

The consultation is the time where you offer the client a lot of value but you’re able to hand pick who you allow into your business and who you don’t. If they show up late to their consultation, they’re giving you a glimpse into how they’ll be moving forward if you schedule an appointment with them. If you’re applying lash extensions for the patch test and they talk with their hands, it will show you what kind of client they are. And you can then decide if you will work with this client or not.

When I implemented this into my business, set it so that people had to pay full price for the consultation and if they booked their full set within 14 days, the cost of the consultation would go towards their full set appointment.

When you structure it in this way, it doesn’t feel like they’re paying a ton of money for the full set and they’re more comfortable paying for the full set. From your perspective, you’ve gotten a complete stranger to pay you money in advance and trust that you’re going to deliver. That helps to build trust and respect in the relationship moving forward and basically, the client is already primed to pay you moving forward without friction.

I’ll admit, I was a little worried when I put this in place because I thought it may be more steps than most clients are willing to take in order to schedule a lash appointment. But to my surprise, it’s actually yielded more clients in a shorter period of time than usual.

I believe this is partly because now I’ve created a bit of scarcity by not allowing clients to book whatever they want, whenever they want. And you know how it goes… people always want what they can’t have.

It’s only been a month so we’ll see what happens moving forward but for now, I plan to keep this process in place so I can continue to be extremely picky about the clients I accept.

I hope that by sharing more about the behind the scenes of my business that it helps you to structure your business in a way where you look forward to showing up to serve clients and I also hope it helps you to avoid some of the mistakes I made earlier in my career.