It’s no secret that the beauty industry is a billion-dollar industry. The concern though is how you can make an impact. It’s no longer enough for you to just be a person with a great personal brand. Today, you need to be a person with an innovative and successful personal brand who can complex solutions and execute them in ways that create sustainable change for all everywhere. That’s why I had an interview with Authority Magazine and mainly talked about “Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry.”
1) DIVE DEEP. There is absolutely no substitution for good education. When I moved from being a computer science engineer to a beauty professional, I left no stone unturned. I have trained myself from the world’s best trainers in 10 countries, and I ensured I am diving deep into this skill.
2) Quality over Quantity. Choose a credible teacher who teaches you the latest technological techniques and introduces you to modern tools.
For example, I remember when I first found CHI LAVA Auto Curler, my life changed. I didn’t have to wrap hair around curling iron manually, and I could save my muscles from future chiropractor sessions. This is just one example of one tool. In the hair and beauty industry, so many advancements have been done in terms of techniques and tools. Hence choosing a credible teacher with Quality work is more important than choosing someone who has been teaching for years. Just experience is not enough in this fast-paced industry.
3) Don’t only focus on the skill; also focus on the business aspect of the modern beauty industry. Your education and launch into the beauty sector need to be in conjunction with technological advancements available to you if you want to become a salon owner, independent consultant, freelance hairstylist, or makeup artist. Knowing sales and marketing techniques that are now available online is extremely important to set yourself up for success.
4) If you want to grow up the hair and beauty industry ladder, you have to make sure that you’re setting yourself apart. A great way that I found was doing live competitions. I did several OMC competitions since 2013, and it has helped me tremendously. It taught me how to make my skill better, but it also taught me time management, it gave me international global recognition. It also provided me thousands of networking channels that I use and will use in the future. So there is no replacement for competitions in the modern hair & beauty industry.
5) Diversify your portfolio. Be comfortable while being uncomfortable. Often I see people restricting themselves to their ethnicity, culture, religion, or society. This restricts the clientele that they are attracting. When you are starting your career in the beauty industry, it’s best to diversify your portfolio to find out what you really enjoy.
For example, when I was learning how to do haircuts back in India, I trained in short haircuts using razors. This was not very popular in India at that time, and instead, long cuts with scissors were taught more. Not many people in the industry were promoting that tool. However, since I kept practicing that technique and won a medal in the Asia Cup championship, that tool became an extremely important part of my success. Today, I customize that tool for all different hair types, be it straight hair to wavy hair or curly hair. If I had not chosen to diversify my portfolio and develop something that not many people use, then I wouldn’t have found my niche.
At the end of my interview, Jilea asked me, “Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?”
I answered, “I love this quote by Stephan C Hogan, “You can’t have a million-dollar dream with minimum wage work ethic.”
While I am an entrepreneur growing her business and a coach who helps Hairstylists and makeup artists to 10x their client base, I am mindful of the effort it takes. People often come to me for secret sauce and shortcuts etc., and there is one thing I always tell them that there is no replacement for hard work. In my life, I worked extremely hard to become an engineer, I worked 18hrs/day to become an international timed competition world champion at a young age, and I am still working hard to build the company of my dreams.
Read my full interview here.