We were lucky to catch up with Angel Peterson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Angel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Some DEFINITE blurred lines of life experiences and risky choices created the business I have now today. My original plan was to have a permanent makeup business that could touch women’s lives and give them a space to be themselves. I thought it was going to be the services I provided that would do the trick to help them feel beautiful. What actually happened was my business turned into a healing journey for myself while helping others. Beauty was not my passion, not my plan, and certainly not what anyone would expect from me. My business started out years ago as Be You with a mantra of “be you and the world will adjust”. Much later it ended up becoming Be You PMU as I put down my hair shears and picked up my permanent makeup machine. Now it has evolved even further into BS Ink where we help people confidently walk into the next stage of their lives leaving physical and emotional scars behind with permanent makeup, scar camouflage tattoos, and 3D Areola. BS Ink became what it is now because I had backstory of my own that was not one I would have raised my hand and shared as my life long dream in elementary school. However it was exactly the journey that helped me understand that someone’s past is not the whole story. The empathy and compassion of living my own hellish past created a safe space for any women struggling to feel beautiful again in her own skin to someone that has a scar of a live they once lived but would sooner forget they experienced. Any backstory is welcome here.
Angel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
When people happen upon me, my story, my business, or my podcast some people may be shocked at all I have been through and came out alive with an ever expanding business. Being an artist is just in my blood and helping people feeds my soul so honestly I am so grateful that I chose to do what I do now. When I was younger I wanted to attend art school and own my own gallery. I never saw myself working for someone else. I never actually got to attend the art school of my choice due to my stellar effort of .27 GPA my senior year that the school nicely explained was not up to par for their standards. At the time I was determined to bring that grade up and reapply in the next semester but life had other plans for me. I entered the beauty industry at 27 (late bloomer) and found something I loved. Before this I thought hairstylist were like Frenchie (from Greese the movie). I was so naive about what happens when you build a bond with a client and how much you have to know to not wreck someone’s hair. I ended up loving it and had a 14 yr career as a hairstylist before I entered into the world of permanent makeup. Like I said I wanted a gallery of my work as a kid and boy did I get one…people were my canvas. I had shuffles of ups/downs in my business and had losses that set me back. The thing I will say about me is that every time I lost, I came back stronger and that has rang true to this very day! I am most proud of how my business has grown to offer services that help on a different level with my clients now. Permanent makeup has transformed me personally in my vision of what I could do to help women feel a better sense of self. It is so great to give back time in a busy mom’s day because she has her brows, lips, or liner done already so she gets few minutes of sanity before the daily grind. Not to mention the blessing it is to be able to camouflage a scar or create a 3D Areola for someone. Never did I ever think these would be things on my service menu but now I wouldn’t have it any other way. BS Ink doesn’t just live in the walls of my business. We are branching out to partner with local hospitals and non profits with plans to have a mobile location inside a fully renovated Airstream once approved by our county. In addition of all these things, The Real BS Podcast I created shares guest stories as well as my own to give hope to those still healing from wounds of their past. Each part of my business compliments the other and couldn’t have been made possible without my faith. When I think of how I got through things and how I am still here…it is my FAITH. None of it would have been possible without trusting in what I felt God had placed in my heart to do. Trust me when I say not all days have been easy but they are worth it. The next phase of my business will soon include a paramedical tattoo academy to train others. Currently I offer the only 100hr American Academy of Micropigmentation approved Microblading Course in Ohio as an affiliate trainer for The Microblading Institute created by the AAM’s Education Ambassador, Victoria Racca. In addition a product line is coming soon including weighted stuffed animals, blankets, and other items to help survivors of trauma dealing with anxiety with a portion of each sale going to a local non profit to help survivors of sex trafficking, Out of the Darkness. My business, my life is not meant to just profit but to be purposeful and this business and the people we serve is a reflection of that daily.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
It’s funny because I feel like my life has been full of pivots but one of the most recent ones I had made a huge impact. In 2020 my business closed. It was not due to the pandemic as most would have thought. A partnership with my business partner at the time was coming to an end and when we closed for quaratine we chose to part ways. It was the best decision for us both even though painful at the time. We both have been able to grow better apart building our own visions.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
Ok so I said I never planned to work for someone right and always thought I’d have my own gallery. That’s a beautiful story but the mess behind that was that I had a TON of certifications but none in marketing or business. I had fumbled my way through growing and shutting down. I had made some money but was stuck in a 3-4k mark for so long. When my business partnership ended I had to find a solution. I remember being on Instagram and seeing this blonde haired woman talking about how to reverse engineer the amount of money you want to make and how to get it. She was talking about having the solution and I believed her. She spoke right to me and I consumed every word. She was offering free strategy calls to have someone look into my business and tell me basically what I was doing right and what I could do better. I had already failed so I honestly thought “what do I have to lose”. So I asked for a call…and you know what???! It was the call that changed my life! I got on the phone with her team and by the end of the call I was tearing up because I knew what I had been missing. They gave me definitive answers and actual ways to fix it!! I had no reason to say no, other than my family freaking out that a single mom that just had a failed business was going to jump into investing in a BUSINESS COACH. I didn’t care though…I jumped in, I found a way, and I made it happen. I am a single mom that at that time had struggle to pay my rent and keep the lights on but now I was going to shell out money for the BEST INVESTMENT I ever could have made. I invested in ME, my daughter’s future, and my business… in less than 3 months with the help of Sheila Bella’s Pretty Rich Bosses I had been able to turn my business around from 3-4k to a FIVE FIGURE monthly business and that was before I even hired a single employee!! I got a new space. I launched courses. I created the podcast. It didn’t stop…it just keeps growing! The RISK was definitely worth the REWARD. It didn’t just change my business, it changed me for the better. I would do it again, 1000%.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: angelpeterson.byob
- Facebook: https://www.facebook
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