We recently connected with Andrea Durbin and have shared our conversation below.
Andrea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.
I entered into an industry (Cosmetic/make-up tattoo’ing) that seems “dramatic” to others. “Why would someone tattoo their face? They must be really vain.” – untrue. Taking ahold of your own beauty gives you power and confidence. I have had multiple clients who suffer from alopecia or have battled cancer through chemo treatments and never grew their hair back. I entered this industry thinking I would be boosting confidence and just making peoples eyebrows look better. What I didn’t expect, was to have clients break out into a rush of happy tears when showing them their new brows in the mirror making them feel “back to their old selves again”. People lose a lot of themselves through trauma, whether it be emotionally or physically. Being able to provide a service and experience for them to give even just a little bit of that spark back is an overwhelming gift I wasn’t even expecting when I started Bloomin’ Brows years ago. Ive learned things through my clients and their battles more than any classroom has ever taught me.
A specific client experience I will never forget was a woman whose daughters reached out to book and pay for her appointment. They expressed that their mom had a tough life- she had gotten breast cancer twice. Once right after her first husband left her and her three children, and the second-time, her second husband left her because he couldn’t “be bothered taking care of her”. Even through all of this, her daughters expressed to me that she worked 3 jobs and ALWAYS put everyone in her life first. She lost a lot of confidence after she survived cancer. She was an older woman with grown children wanting to get back out in the dating scene, but felt like chemo took her shine that she could never get back.
When she came for her appointment, she was very nervous and shy. She showed me pictures of what her brows used to look like before aging and chemo treatments and told me that she felt silly and vein for being so excited to finally have brows again. Assuring her that this was nothing to feel silly about, I turned her nerves and embarrassment into hope and we began her service. When I showed her the mirror at the end, is a moment I will never forget. I showed her her new look and she froze. I was nervous she didnt like them until I realized she was speechless with joy. She instantly started crying and hugging me telling me that this is the first time in over 15 years that she looked in the mirror and didn’t want to run away. I hear self-demeaning comments like this constantly and it breaks my heart. We really are our own worst critic. Every time I see her now for her yearly touch-ups she tells me how happy she is and how getting her brows done changed her life. It seems dramatic, especially to those who haven’t experienced something similar. But to this specific client, it meant getting her confidence back, which meant getting her life back. I feel blessed to have contributed to such a beautiful thing.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Andie and I own Bloomin’ Brows- a Permanent Makeup Business. I specialize in microblading and/or shading eyebrows, eyeliner and lips. Semi-permanent Eyebrows (also known as Microblading) are definitely my most popular service though.
I have been in the beauty industry for 10 years now, but spent the first 5 years doing skincare and makeup for other salons. I struggled with severe acne for many years, and focusing on giving others with the same struggle a service to boost their confidence was my main goal. I also focused on brows- I was the queen of waxing, shaping the clients of our busy salon. While working at a couple salons for a few different owners. I knew I loved what I did, but I was CRAVING independence. I had so many ideas and dreams for the salons I was working at, and constantly discouraged with their unwillingness to progress and stay up to date.
Mind you, I was an EXTREMELY broke 20 something, working my tail off and getting only a small percentage of my services. Since I was financially struggling, I felt extremely stuck. I constantly let my boss take advantage of me, gave every service my all yet was still struggling to pay my bills and getting the most out of my experience. I felt. “I am too young and new in this industry to be feeling this burnt out and disappointed in an industry I know that I love.”
Finally, one day, I did an extremely risky irresponsible thing that I don’t necessarily recommend. however, it changed my life. I had been hearing about microblading (it was still VERY new) and found a course coming to my area. The course and supplies were very expensive and not something I currently had the money for. So what did I do? I opened 3 of those really sketchy credit cards that come in the mail pre-approved with an INSANELY high interest rates and paid for my class and entry supplies. I was already in debt and this was a huge risk. I went to my course and knew this was the right journey for me by the end of the first day. After that class, I immediately started doing free/discounted services to friends and trusted clients from my then salon out of my shady basement apartment. I made more money in one week doing that, than I had in two weeks at my job I had been at for 4 years. I started a little business out off my apartment part-time and worked the other part-time at a salon for the first year. I was able to meet so many new clients through my old job and with word of mouth, my business was busy enough to leave my salon job and focus solely on Bloomin’ Brows. I was able to finally get an office space and remove my business from my tiny apartment and that’s when I really started feeling like a real “business woman”.
I want to make it clear that I had (and sometimes still have) no idea what I am doing. Especially when I first started. I didn’t plan much, I literally just dove in and learned as I went along. It was exciting, scary and stressful but I was finally feeling like I was fulfilling the craving I desired, which was creative independence. I still joke to my clients that I am a much better artist than I am a business owner, but hey, we can’t always have it all!
There are a lot of permanent makeup artists out there, but I truly try and set myself apart by creating an extremely detailed and comfortable situation. I understand this is sometimes a scary thing to get done for certain people, and no one wants to feel judged or rushed. Not only do I provide every single detail of their appointment, but I schedule ample amount of time to make sure my client and I are on the same page before we do anything. I have done multiple corrections and touch up’s on other artists work, and I feel proud to say that my clients constantly tell me how much of a better experience they had with me than their previous artist. It takes A LOT of work to put a business together aesthetically, but the love and details that go into the bones of the business are the important ones. You can have a beautiful office, but if your bedside manner and skill is off- you are missing the most important part of your business. You are not just my client for the day, you are my client for life.
How did you build your audience on social media?
One of the best things I did for my business was in the beginning (but AFTER I had my business rolling and felt confident in my work and before and after photos), I reached out to local social media influencers and offered them a free service in exchange for stories and a post. Now, its important to not just pick just ANY social media influencer with followers, a mistake I made. You want to look at the type of content the influencer posts and the type of followers they have. I had one who was a fitness model with an insane amount of following, however, her following was all over the world and not specific to my area. So with her, I did not get many referrals. I had three other influencers though who were very specific to my demographic and location, and from those influencing clients, I got a good amount of referrals. From there, things snowball if you’re patient.
I get a top influencer, then I get a follower of theirs to come in, then I get that persons neighbor.. a few months later that neighbors sister comes in. Referrals are everything and I do compensate my clients for sending people, which they love!
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Social media and word of mouth! I do not pay for any marketing, ever. Expressing to my clients that word of mouth is better than any tip they can give me makes a huge difference. Showing my clients love and genuine care makes them want to support you and your business. Without asking, loyal clients constantly repost my posts and share my work with their followers. I always make sure to express my gratitude as well and encourage reviews. Reviews make all the difference!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bloominbrows.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bloominbrows
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bloominbrows
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7srL6uSeQc&t=2s
Image Credits
@helenayasmine