What its like owning a bridal beauty team

Behind the scenes of a Bridal Beauty Business Owner

Hey Girl Hey, I constantly get asked the question of how do you do what you do. Or if running a growing wedding hair and makeup team is hard and i’m hear to give you a peek behind the curtain and dishing out a few tip of how to manage it all.

“It takes a village”

If your new around here let me first start out by saying i have the best right hand girl who helps on the back end of my business to make sure that things run seamlessly. Shelby is my Social Media and Communications manger and from Instagram, Facebook and helping out with emails from time to time the business never misses a beat. The honest truth when you run any kind of business is that you cant do it all by yourself. Trying to do everything and wear all the hats in your business will lead you straight to burn out.

Shelby is one of the 5 people that i have help me on the back end of things but she is my only full time office help who is also a member of my bridal team. My other staff members are freelancers that i check in from time to time when i need to save myself time and have others do the work that i necessarily don’t need to do myself like graphics, flyers, a few pr task, book keeping, and accounting. Business tip to anyone looking to grow their business is to hire out even if you have someone to help you on task a few times a month because time is our currency.

“Being a business owner you wear all the hats so staying organized is a non negotiable”

I think that its so funny to me how when it comes to anything that has to do with my business i become super ocd. The organization is to an entire different level. But if you ask me where that one cute top i love so much i literally have no clue what happened to it lol, But seriously in order to run an efficient and successful business of any kind you need to be organized. A few of my ultimate favorite apps or softwares that helps me operate and manage my hair and makeup team , assistant and freelance office staff. are Asana, Google Calendar, Zoom, HoneyBook.

Asana is great if you have multiple projects going on at once. You can break them down into smaller task and assign them to a team member. They can mark the job as complete. Google Calendar is literally life y’all. This is how i send out wedding details to me team members and book consultation calls with potential clients. Zoom, omg has been such a game changer for me.

As an online educator, last year i started to take on one on one clients who needed help with the back end of their business and video meetings where i can share my screen, record webinars and masterclasses has been ever thing plus more for me so if you do a ton of videos content for your business i highly suggest to check it out.. Lastly Honey Book is like the ying to my yang. It does everything i need it to all in one. But creating a simple system and work flow im able to have any of my other staff members to log into our honey book and communicate with clients, send files, take payment without them having to leave the platform its seriously amazing but dont take my word for it. You can try it out free for a full week just to see if you like it.

TRY HONEY BOOK NOW!

The Clients Experience is Everything

When i attended cosmetology school in 2012 at Paul Mitchell the words under my name said “day maker” an i don’t take those words lightly, which is why im huge on customer service and experience.. Regardless of if my team an i are available for your date or not you will still receive the same level of responsiveness and guidance the same way as if you were one of our booked clients.

Giving or clients guidance through the entire process is Key

While everything on the back end gets handled accordingly we are always front and certain by guiding our client through the entire process leading up until their big day. It’s our job as the pro to take the clients hand and walk them step by step through our process.The lovely bride feature in this photo above is one of our many destination brides Dacia. From coordinating via email on the best dates to plan for a trial run while she was in town for her final venue walk through and tasting is the number one time that i always suggest for a trial to our out of town brides. If all else fails i had plenty of brides fly in from out of the country a few days before the wedding and we accommodate the best we can with our team to set a trial up during those few day plus its a huge bonus to look photo ready during your rehearsal dinner photos lol

Being flexible with our clients is a must especially when over 50% of them are in a different state and sometimes a different country. Letting them know that we have their best interest in mind in how we build that trust. During this Beauties trial i took a few photos that she showed me and asked her if i can cook something up special just for her. From communicating with her leading up until her trial she completely trust me to do whatever i had in mind because she knew that we were already on the same page of what she wanted for her big day.

We’re Your chaos Coordinators

So normally im not really big on coffee..unless chi tea lattes counts then never mind lol. I get a bit OCD a.f when it comes to creating a brides timeline. Our bridal beauty team is made up of timely, talented and highly trained hair and makeup artist and based upon a brides final head count will determine the number of stylist we bring on a wedding and the amount of time we allot for each bridal member.

I read the timeline, then re-read it then again 3 more times just to make sure that everything aligns perfectly and then we send it over to the bride to view. When hiring a Bridal Beauty Team it is our job to help the bride round up all of their ladies so assigning each bridal party member with a time slot for styling take the ease, stress and overwhelm away from our client which is why we are day makers :)

We do more than help you look picture perfect, We help you create memories.

We take pride in helping our clients make their day the up most best best not only being a resource in providing them with list of amazing vendors vendors that they may need to cross off their to-do list.But we make their days by helping them create memories that they can look back on years and years from now to see how stunning they looked in their wedding photos. We understand that choosing your hair and makeup vendor can be a huge investment but it comes with a piece of mind for precious moment like the photo above when Dacia did a first look photo with her father (que the water works) what a precious moment that will always live on to look back on.

Customize-able Beauty based on your personal standards

Here at Alter-Image Bridal Hair and Makeup we are all about diversity and looking like the best version of your everyday self but that goes for your bridal party as well. It’s very important to me not only as a business owner but as someone who has family and friends of many different colors and shapes that we represent everyone. During the inquiry process brides recognize the fact that we constantly include images of ladies who look like them and tell tell us how much they appreciate it. over 75% of our brides have a mixed race of bridal party members and after viewing our social media they express who they love the customize in our beauty standards so that everyone feels comfortable with their services.Not only do we want to make sure that the bride looks perfect but we want to make sure that girl girl tribe looks and feels the same.

You Glow Brighter when your Happy

We provide confidence and timeless natural beauty that your entire squad will love.

These are just a few of the things that i learned to embrace and enhance when designing my business to become better and better over the years. Our team is beyond amazing and they go above and beyond to make sure that everyone feels confident in the way that they look. Its a continuous journey to better myself, and the way that i operate and manage my team and the best piece of advice to anyone who is looking to start a bridal beauty team or any job in the wedding field is to go for it and highly invest in the best education..

If you haven’t already checked out my freebies over in the education section of our site make sure to head over there now for free educational downloads and webinars.

Chat with you beauties soon

xoxo-Jasmine

Photos from today’s blog were shot by Shelby Stewart of The Wedding Click

How to scale your wedding industry business online

How to grow your Bridal Beauty Business

Hey Beauties im taking on a MASSIVE project and that means i need to get laser focused on whats important. I’ve learned from the first time that ive expanded my business that the number one thing i needed to do was to take a step back so that the foundation of my business was set up properly and what all of my ducks were in a row.

This is going to be a big project for myself and my team and what needs to happens at this time are a few important factors for anyone growing there business to asked themselves.

_What do you want your life to look like a year or two from now

-How often do you want to be working

-What income goals do you have for each month

-And what are you major goals in business you want accomplished and by when

By knowing the answers to these questions you will save yourself a ton of time by only working on projects that support those goals. If you struggle from time to time of putting way too much on your plate then now would be the best time to scale back on those projects and only focus on task that will move you closer to your end goal.

How to be more productive with your time

Being productive with your time an energy is going to play a major factor in this season of grow and you need to make sure that you are using your time wisely.

“ Time is the one thing we can not get back after its wasted”

You need to write out all of your goals that you have for yourself for this year and map them out. i suggest making a big plus sign on a piece of blank paper and in the top left write urgent. In the below section write out not so urgent. in the right top corner write out important and in the below section not important so you know the major task you need to focus on.

This will help you create your monthly goals list so you can break down your weeks to get more done in less time.

Create a Simple System

This is my number one favorite part of the business creating systems so that they flow smoothly. Without systems you lack organization and a clear plan of action. I have a few base systems that every business need to have in order before they start to scale so it makes your life simple and you save a ton of time when things start to grow rapidly.

-System for new inquiries to go through

-System for new hires to go through

-System for Booking new Clients

I love to keep everything simple for my clients by keeping all of their details from contracts,booking details and payments. I do this by using Honey Book because all of my task can be put on auto pilot so it runs while i sleep.

Try Honey Book for One Week Free

If you are currently running your business while juggling a 9-5 than honey book is a must have for your business. With the link above if you decide to use it in your business it only $20 bucks a month. Its basically your personal assistant but way cheaper than hiring one.

Lastly You need to keep your head clear

“Business is 80 mindset and 20% strategy”

What you think to yourself will basically come true. So if you think you are not capable of doing something than you will prove yourself right. A few ways that i love to keep my head clean while working are

-Starting my day off with a morning routine

-Listening to podcast

-Meditations

-Visualization

These are all helpful things that you can do in the morning/mid-day/or night to make sure that you are operating and running your business from a mental state of abundance and not scarcity. If you are in a mental desperate state of mind because bill are due and you need to make an extra $500 for the month any post you create from that energy will give off a desperate vibe and turn clients off.

Anytime you go to do anything in your business check in with yourself and see what you need in that moment to reach your goals an operate from integrity and things will happen for you naturally. If these tips are of any help for you so far make sure you check out today newest and last podcast until the end of march.

How to double down on whats working

How to create a customized brand awareness strategy for your bridal beauty business

Okay beauties question of the day is do you have a set in stone marketing strategy for your creative business or are you winging it? No worries if you dont because ive been there. I would just wake up and post on social, check me emails, and booked styled shoots and i though that that was enough.

It was for the time because inquires would start flying in and we were booking bridal beauty clients left and right but you know what we didn’t do… track what we were doing.

How are you going to what hashtags worked and what tags didn’t work. What images brought you the most business online and which one you can do without posting? Do you know what caption headline gets the most clicks or are you basing this amount like? News flash and not to sound rude but those likes dont matter. Im not just saying this because Instagram is going to soon stop showing like but im saying this because you can get multiple clicks on a photo but yet no like. YOUR ANALYTICS MATTER!

How to track your analytics to make your marketing simple

So im far from a tech person but to find these numbers can be simple! If you have a business facebook or business Instagram account you need to be checking your insights WEEKLY! this way you know what to post more of the following week. Also if your a fan of running ads online this is how you pic what image you will use doing your ad campaign because you want to get the biggest bang for your buck right so use and image that gets (the clicks not necessarily the likes)

Want more tips?

Listen to the newest podcast episode and dont forget your free gift below. 3 ways to increase your brands awareness!

Set your business up to work for you and not against you!

Design a Business that works while you sleep

Holy cow y’all, Last week was one for the books. Talk about growth and putting yourself out there. You can just guess how excited i was to be asked to be apart of the expert panelist and speak to a room filled of 88 Event and Wedding Professionals in Charleston,SC on the topic of Growth.

After i decided to take the crazy leap of faith after having my business for 4 and a half years while juggling multiple part time jobs to grow a team and go full time in business for myself. I managed to expand my solo bridal artist team to a team of 14 freelancers that is spread out through north and south Carolina within only 6 months.

I shared tips on what i had to learn how to do the hard way when it comes to hiring and how i still managed to have a ton of free time on my hands at the same time. First things first A tracked number grows. I wish i can take credit for this line but i heard my business coach say this time and time again and it made sense.

IF you have no idea where your business stands or whats working and whats not working how i the world are you going to know whats to focus on?

I gave a few tips on some of my favorite platforms that i love to use to track the growth of my business and of course i had to mention the number one platform that saved me from being burnt out and that’s HONEYBOOK

I’m always talking about HoneyBook and that’s because i use it every..single..day..in..my..business. I don’t speak about things that i don’t use because that’s just not me. But i mentioned how i love to track where my leads are coming from vs. Where the clients who actually book me are coming from.

Image If you spend all your time over on Facebook but then realize that all of your clients are coming from Instagram. You just wasted so much time. I believe in doubling down on whats working and leave the things along that are not working.

Now if you have a team like i do then i do like to spread my eggs in multiple baskets because we have the ability to do so. But for solo business owners focus on one or 2 platforms master that and when you do hire someone on to help manage it so you can learn how to use another platform that’s beneficial.

Ready to work smarter and not harder? Give the Platform i use to manage my Bridal,Coaching and Joint Business that my boyfriend and i own a try now for one week FREE

Want a deep dive into some of the tips that i shared at this event plus more? Check out the podcast for a quick re-cap of what advice i gave this room filled of professionals

Also don’t forget to follow Beauty and the Network on Instagram

What can one full year of growth do for you and your business?

The Un-Sexy Reality of Personal Development

Photo by Kelsey Halm

Let’s chat personal development. I feel like when i first stumbled across this part of the world a few years ago when i was in 11 grade it was something that wasn’t really talked about a ton. As i get old and surround myself with other business owners and listen to some of there major struggles of trying to grow a business i know for me if it wasn’t for personal development i would not be where i am today.

From over thinking everything

Being a people pleaser

Saying yes to way too many things

And trying to operate while in my comfort zone

Did nothing for me, where i was trying to be in life and the goals i set. We live in a world or instant gratification and we say that we are “ready” for the things we ask for. But in reality we are not yet mentally prepared to take on the new work load we are asking for because we only operate in our “now” instead of what we are working towards.

Instagram Series Week 3 Day 3 Growing organically by building connection

Have you ever tried to send a message to someone in hopes that they would refer business to you and it flopped and wondered why?

If sending messages on Instagram, emailing vendors that your dying to work with isn’t working you may be going at it all wrong. Listen into today’s podcast episode to hear my tips on how to approach building connection.

IG Series Week 2 Day two Knowing your niche is everything

How to use Instagram for your Business in 2020

Lets talk about the elephant in the room shall we? We’ve been showing up online consistently but yet you are hearing crickets and you think that there is something wrong with you. I’m hear to give it to you straight. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you but you are doing something wrong… Your talking to everyone which means your honestly talking to know one.

You need to niche down an i know for some that sounds scary. You maybe thinking but if i try to market to a small audience then i wont get as much business. Or you maybe think that your service can be for everyone and anyone which is great but content is your marketing strategy that helps buyer get to learn more about your products and services, learn more about you and why the product or service you have is for Them.

Did you catch the last part? They want to know that what you have was made exactly for them..not 10 million other people.They want to know whats in it for them and when you can talk to that one person they can easily connect with and buy it in an instant. Now because you say to me but why would i create something for just one person? Your not

When you craft up stories of past customers that’s used your products or give details on the benefits and who it can help someone with a certain issue multiple people will relate to that same situation. Your not going to limit the amount of people you reach but you will start to create raving fans of your product or services if you do it the right way. Head to today’s podcast and learn how you can start talking your clients language now!

Instagram 3 Week Series Day 1: Change your core to change the results

Jumping right into to day one with a bit of mindset and Instagram strategies that you can start doing right now. Learn how you can start boosting you profile up into the Instagram algorithm and what you need to do to start getting the attention of your potential customers right before the new year. You can use these Instagram tips for 2020 through out the year because these will never go out of style.

Get today homework list by joining in on my newsletter if your not yet apart of it.

5 apps you need as a busy entrepreneur

The top 5 apps you need as an entrepreneur to save you from burnout

As entrepreneurs we must try an save our sanity as much as we can. Now how do we do this you ask? But being smart. You need to set aside one day each week where you focus on planning for the week. If you are thinking to yourself right now that you don’t have the time do do this than you might have a bigger problem on your hands.

Time management and organization are not sexy topics i know, but the more you do these things you will come to realize that you can create a heck of a loot of free time to maybe focus on your busy more or even take up a new hobby that you kept telling yourself that you don’t have the time to do for the last 3 years.

Let dive in shall we?

1.Google Calendar

I believe all cell phone, laptops and tablets can access this app. You you are not currently time blocking set time aside today to map out the rest of this week. I love time blocking because it keeps me up on my game and on task. If you still currently work a 9-5 make sure you add those times in as well and work you day around it. When it comes to time blocking here are a few things that you can use as guidelines.

• Add in breaks, time to relax, learning or downtime

• Give yourself more than enough time to get your task completed ..be realistic and stick to staying focus on your work during that time block

• Put a slight buffer in between task so if you happen to run over your not cutting into another tasks time frame.

2.Asana

If you have no clue what asana is their are a ton of videos to view over on YouTube. I am not an affiliate of there program i just love it for its features. If you listen or watch me regularly on my Facebook lives than you know i always talk about writing out your goals and breaking them into smaller ones to achieve them faster. Asana has been my buddy when it comes to those goals. For example if i want to get a sponsorship as an Instagram influencer i could map out my game plan using asana. Id label the project as sponsorship and break it down of every single little task i would need to do in order to make that happen and work backwards

8. Land sponsorship

7.Company views my social media account

6.Pitch myself to company

5.Post and show up consistently only as influencer

4. Gather images for platform

3. Plan out topic content to post about

2 Update Instagram platform

1.Brand a personal brand

3.Planoly

If you liked how simple i just made that check list for a sponsorship and your saying im terrible with my consistency then boom i just solved you problem. Planoly is amazing i have used the paid version and the free version an i’m totally sticking with the free version for my team and i to utilize. Gather a few images for the week or for the month and upload them into your grid. Once you have you images loaded you can move them around and plan out how you want your Instagram grid to look with everything post for the month. Place your images now here comes the not so hard part. Creating your captions.

When creating caption you want to give someone a reason to come to you page. Now to my wedding friends stop saying “Another gorgeous bride” or to my hair and makeup girls “ Makeup by me on this stunning beauty” what does someone post to that? They might comment “Beautiful! or maybe drop some emojis. If your behind on the education of using Instagram for business vs. a business page these comments do nothing for you. Especially if you looking to land a brand deal…you need engaging comments. This is why you need to tell a story, connect with the reader, give them a tip or show your personality a bit. These are all things covered in my social media for creative course that comes out soon!

4.Every Dollar

Okay where are my Dave Ramsey fans at? If you didn’t know im all about being financially smart so this app is just that. You can get the app by itself or join the finical peace university like i did to get the modules and lesson to help you and your family plan for the future. i am not a sponsor however id love to be one lol

As small business owners the number one reason tat businesses fail is because of bad money habits. Lean to track you money daily, weekly and monthly. I’ve made this apart of my DAILY checklist. Knowing your numbers will do wonders for you and your bank account so start a personal and business budget. add up what your yearly expenses will be and get to it.

5. HoneyBook

Not gonna lie this one is my favorite. Ive been using honey book for over 18 months now and im mad that i have not started using it sooner. This baby is an all in one system that makes emailing your clients, sending invoices, contracts and collecting payment a freaking dream.

I can assign task within honey book to my team members and it even syncs up with quick books to make taxes at the end of the year a piece of cake. Now unlike the other apps i am now a new member of the honey book educators program and i do get a few special perks that i can share with you.

This platform is normally $40 bucks per month which is huge saving but the team is letting me offer any of my readers 50% off the entire year….yes the entire year! that’s only $20 bucks a month and its basically your own personal assistant once you set up automation. But i don’t just want you to take my word for it.

Honeybook is letting you try out the platform with a free week trial if you use my link below!

Start your FREE WEEK TRial!

2020 will be here in the blink of an eye and lets start the year off right! What do you want more of? More money, clients,free time? It all starts by planning for it. Don’t let you ego get in the way by making you think you don’t need to put the work in. We must stay relevant with today’s time as what methods use to work back in the day like handing out cards and word of mouth are slowly fading and we need to leap up or get left behind. I’m so proud of you for reading all the way through now lets stay connected!

How to promote my business on social media for free

In today’s world social media for your business goes hand and hand and you should not skip over this step. If your not on social media you basically don’t have a business in your future clients eyes.

It can be a bit intimidating but here are a few tips to help you out if your new to the social media world!

Choose the platform you want to master!

If your new to social media start off slow. You don’t need to be on all the platforms and give half ass effort because your still learning how to use it. Learn the platform and give 100% behind everything you do and once you have it mastered move on to the next plat while consistently showing up on the first (automation is key)

Put it in your Calendar or Daily to do list!

If you dont plan for it, it wont happen! Trust me i’ve been there and done that. “Im going to post everyday” If i dont put it in my daily to-do list or automate it, it wont happen. Your future clients need to know that your going to show up when you say you will. I like to under promise and over deliver. Say you will post 2 times a week and show up 3. This way you dont commit to everything to soon. See what works best for YOU! Stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and worry about you.

Network and Engage on the Platform

You just dont make a post and log off. Its called social media for a reason…you need to be social. Find people who work in the same industry as you and network. Comment, engage on their post, reach out to collab but you need to start telling people who you are and what you do or know one will know you are a business. If you’re thinking “ i could never do that because i dont want to sound like a salesman” Then dont sound like a salesman sound like a human.

Connect with people and say hello just be friendly tell them your just saying hello.

Give value

This is how you stand out. Give someone a reason to come to your page over the next person that does the same thing you do. Think about it…People complain how the market is saturated but really they are just blending in. If you were you’re client how can you provide them with the education that makes you standout as the expert you are over your competition?

Liked today’s Tips Here’s a Free Video Training just for you!