How not to lose motivation and know your break-even

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1. The Background of “Quitting”

Is the Lack of Motivation and Quitting a Relevant Topic?

Absolutely, the issue of losing motivation and quitting is highly relevant in the Powder Brows and microblading sectors. Numerous studies show that only a tiny percentage of new artists go on to make these newly acquired skills their primary source of income.

Take, for example, a comprehensive study that followed the career paths of 1,820 students from various academies. The data reveals that a mere 19% remained active in the field 18 months after their training. But being "active" is not synonymous with financial success. Many of these artists only performed procedures when there was natural demand, essentially signaling that they hadn't entirely given up. Among those who were still active, only about 18% reported that their new skill set had indeed become their primary source of income.

By diving into these numbers, it becomes clear how vital it is to address the issue of motivation and persistence in this line of work.

The Most Important Factor for Success

Another study sheds light on a crucial element for success in the Powder Brows and microblading industry: motivation. Remarkably, around 3.5% of all students who enroll in these courses achieve exceptional success. In 71% of these cases, "motivation" was the pivotal factor in their success. This was followed by the trainer's experience, which accounted for 59%, and the advantages of a small group setting at 41%.

The takeaway is straightforward: lack of motivation is often the significant roadblock to achieving success. Many who left the industry said they "ran out of motivation." Given that the issue of motivation is highly relevant to top earners (3.5%), occasional practitioners (15.2%), and those who quit (81.3%), it provides a solid foundation for the suggestions that follow.

Practical Lessons Learned

Now, let's delve into practical strategies focused on sustaining motivation as a PMU artist. These are designed to help you continually strive for improvement rather than considering an exit from the industry. Notably, these aspects highlight the significant differences in attitudes and beliefs between the "top earners" and those who eventually quit.

2. Assess Organic Demand Accurately

One of the most significant motivation-diminishing factors for new artists can be traced back to a misalignment between their post-training expectations and the reality they encounter. But, the more significant the gap between expectations and reality, the more severe the decline in motivation. A crucial lesson many artists learn, often painfully, involves the contrast between their expected level of organic demand and the actual demand they experience.

The predictions made by artists who eventually quit, often due to dwindling motivation, were exaggerated and wholly disconnected from existing market conditions. These projections frequently relied solely on "gut feeling," lacking any empirical evidence or comprehensive market research.

Practical Suggestion: Conduct primary market research before enrolling in any training program. Begin with a simple Google search and act as a potential client to gauge the availability and pricing of various service providers in your area. Inquire about their earliest available appointment slots to understand their vacancy levels. Many successful artists conducted thorough research, even going so far as to claim a need for immediate appointments due to a forthcoming trip. This tactic often yielded a more accurate picture of actual vacancy rates than what artists may advertise on social media. Similarly, don't hesitate to negotiate prices or ask for discounts; it will give you a clearer idea of the actual market rates in your region.

How to Estimate Probable Organic Demand Accurately

Once you've gathered data on the pricing and availability of other players in the market, you've made a good start, but you still don't have a complete picture. Merely multiplying an average service price by an arbitrary number of potential clients is a flawed approach, particularly when you can't guarantee that this number is more significant than zero.

To make your estimate more accurate, you should consider two key aspects:

Can you deliver the same quality of service at a significantly lower price point (by 40% or more) when you start?
Can you deliver a noticeably higher quality of service that will clearly differentiate you in the eyes of prospective clients?

If you can't confidently say "yes" to at least one of these questions, you should not factor any organic demand into your plans for the first year. This cautious approach allows you to view any business that comes your way as a bonus rather than a necessity, which helps realistically manage your expectations and calculations.

Remember, if artists are already operating in your region, it's practically a given that life will go on with or without your services. So, making unrealistic expectations based on an inflated sense of demand will only set you up for disappointment and possibly financial strain.

Be Cautious with Verbal Promises: Secure Your Organic Demand

It's tempting to take verbal promises at face value, especially when they come from clients who already patronize your other beauty services. However, you should exercise caution in these scenarios. If your existing clientele asserts that they would undoubtedly book your Powder Brows or microblading services once you acquire the skills, issue them an invoice with a booking fee and a special rate. If they pay the booking fee, you can reasonably assume you have some level of organic demand.

Nevertheless, exercise conservative judgment when projecting this into a long-term, month-to-month demand. In many cases, there's an initial surge in business from your loyal customers, but this demand often dwindles over time. In the brow business, the more sustainable flow of clients generally comes from new customers.

In Summary, Setting low expectations for organic demand can actually safeguard your motivation in the long run. This doesn't mean you shouldn't strive to acquire more clients; it simply means that you're intelligent and realistic when assessing the prospects of a steady income in this field.

3. Plan a Marketing Budget

The Importance of a Marketing Budget

When aiming to sustain motivation and mitigate disappointment in the Powder Brows business, the marketing budget is often more crucial than calculating other expenses. This is primarily because your other costs tend to be pretty predictable. In contrast, marketing costs are where many newcomers significantly miscalculate.

Calculating Your Marketing Budget

Generally, there are two primary sources for acquiring new clients: offline and online. Research indicates that the larger your city and the denser its population, the more significant the role of online marketing, mainly social media marketing, in your business.

Practical Considerations

If you're looking to assess the cost of acquiring a client, it's safer to anticipate minimal or virtually zero inflow from organic offline sources, especially when starting out. While offline customer acquisition usually incurs lower long-term costs, these marketing efforts often take longer to produce tangible results.

For online customer acquisition, a good rule of thumb correlates with a social media reach of 3,000-5,000 people in your target demographic, assuming your social media accounts contain professional content that can drive conversions. If you lack a sizable following in your target demographic groups, such as local women aged 25-34 and 34-45, the cost per acquired customer for a beginner can range between USD 30-50.

Therefore, be prudent when planning your marketing budget, factoring in both online and offline avenues based on your specific circumstances. This balanced approach minimizes the risk of financial miscalculation and protects against loss of motivation.

Next, let us see how to assess If you need extra funding for procedures.

A Formula for Marketing Budget

To better understand your likely marketing budget, consider running test campaigns on Meta platforms like Instagram and Facebook. These campaigns can help you determine the average local cost for reaching your target audience, setting conversions, and receiving inquiries. The actual content of your test campaign is less critical; the primary goal is to understand the cost of reach by running various ad sets targeting the same local demographic.

Calculating Customer Acquisition Cost

Once you've determined the cost of reach, you can reasonably estimate that about half of the warm leads generated from your campaigns will convert into paying customers. This data will enable you to calculate your area's likely customer acquisition cost.

Evaluating Procedure-Related Costs

After considering all the other expenses associated with performing the procedure, such as materials, equipment, and overhead, you can identify a crucial key performance indicator: whether or not you need additional funding to carry out the procedures. Being clear on this aspect can be vital, impacting your pricing strategy and motivation to stay engaged in the Powder Brows business.

A Concrete Example: Understanding Costs Per Procedure

Minimizing your fixed costs is wise for a detailed understanding of your expenses. This includes costs like workstation rental for individual procedures, transportation, supplies, pigments, cartridges, communication, and a share of your ongoing fixed costs. Let's assume these combined costs amount to $50 per procedure. Add to this the marketing cost for acquiring a new customer, which in our example could also be around $50 (based on reaching a local target demographic of 3,000-5,000 people).

Calculating Total Customer Acquisition Cost Adding these together, you get a total customer acquisition cost of $100: $50 for operational expenses and $50 for social media marketing per client. This is the number you'll need to consider against the promotional price you plan to offer to new clients in your area.

Establishing a Profit Margin

A general rule of thumb is that your promotional price should be around 40% lower than the average price for similar-quality work in your area. So, if high-quality artists in your region typically charge $250 for a procedure, a realistic profit margin during your startup phase would be $50 per procedure. On the other hand, if the going rate for a similar procedure is $150, be prepared to invest an additional $10 per procedure just for the opportunity to perform it. The actual numbers will, of course, depend on your specific market conditions.

Preparing for Possible Expenses

Realizing that you might have to invest money to work can significantly deter many newcomers to the Powder Brows business. To avoid this disappointment, it may be prudent to have additional funds set aside expressly for building your portfolio and covering the costs of performing procedures.

4. Establish Long-Term Goals

One of the defining characteristics of top earners in the PMU industry is their long-term perspective. Assuming you've planned for minimal organic business and have accurately estimated marketing costs, prepare yourself for a journey that typically spans at least a year.

The Importance of Activity Focus

A key reason stands out when examining why new artists often give up during this period: the disconnect between their efforts and financial returns. Simply put, they find it hard to persist in a situation where they feel they're doing "everything right" yet still aren't seeing the desired results.

Common Triggers for Giving Up

A typical scenario that leads to giving up might involve performing procedures that yield almost no profit. This often necessitates subsidizing these activities with other work. Meanwhile, the artist is committed to a rigorous content production and posting schedule.

For example, imagine a week when a new artist pursuing aggressive growth needs to create and post seven pieces of content. These could be informative posts for potential customers or engaging stories that would captivate the target demographic. Assume that she also has three model procedures scheduled for that week, none of which will generate any significant profit. She might need to take on extra work in another field to make ends meet. Additionally, let's say she spends 30 minutes to an hour each day seeking partnerships with local beauticians who have access to her target customers. This results in a significant investment of time and effort, often while relying on savings or financial support from others.

If, after adhering to this intense schedule and putting in the hours, she sees little or no return on investment, it's entirely understandable why she might opt to quit. Everyone has their breaking point.

5. Conclusion

When considering students who embark on PMU (Permanent Makeup) training, specifically in Powder Brows and microblading, the statistics are sobering: most quit within the first year. At the 18-month mark, only around 18.7% continue to persevere. The crucial factor that sets successful artists apart is the ability to sustain motivation.

Loss of motivation primarily occurs for three main reasons:

Unrealistic Expectations: Many beginners have naive expectations for organic inbound business. Successful artists often start with little to no expectations in this area, which allows them to treat any new business as a bonus rather than a necessity.

Inadequate Marketing Budget: Those who fail often have not allocated a realistic budget for marketing or haven't done sufficient research to understand the financial realities of the business. Successful artists take the time to research and understand how much they can realistically expect to earn in the initial stages. They prepare for the possibility that they might need to invest more money to perform procedures.

Long-Term View: Successful artists often maintain a long-term outlook of at least 12 months. This allows them to focus on essential activities that build their portfolio and brand, even if these efforts do not immediately translate into revenue.

Understanding these pitfalls and strategies for overcoming them can offer aspiring Powder browsers and microblading artists a better chance of sustaining their motivation and ultimately achieving success in the field.