We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Caley Cline a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Caley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
One major risk that I have taken would be becoming a stay at home mom, all while owning and running a successful business. Being a stay at home mom is a job itself. It was definitely not what I expected when my husband and I decided that was the best route to go with our family. I knew it was going to be hard but I didn’t expect all of the sacrifices and difficulties that came with it. I didn’t always want to depend on my husband so I knew I needed to find a way to make income as well. I started makeup fairly young, and became pretty comfortable with it by the age 14. I would help get girls ready for cheer competitions at my school, proms, homecomings, formals, anything I could get my hands on. Going into senior year is when I started to realize I had a natural given talent, that I one day knew would come in handy. I had done some weddings here and there as a senior but nothing major. When I got pregnant with my daughter in 2020 Covid was in full swing, and the demand for makeup and hair artist was high. I decided to take a leap of faith and become a full time stay at home mom while doing weddings and events at the same time. Totally not knowing my business would blow up. It was a matter of months that people started knowing my name. This was a huge deal to me because I didn’t think I had what it took to be a known makeup artist. There were so many other talented artist in our area, that I thought I’d never be able to compete with. With that being said, I want to give a huge thanks to my first handful of brides for all of the recommendations and recognition. I would not be where I stand today without you beautiful ladies!
Caley, 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?
I am a on-sight, traveling bridal hair and makeup artist based out of Dallas GA. I travel just about anywhere and any place to accommodate all of my brides needs. I started out young, scared, and insecure when I first stepped into the beauty industry. I had zero guidance and had no idea where to even begin. I learned quickly that having negative thoughts and staying in the tiny bubble I was in, was not going to get me to where I wanted to see myself. “Discipline” … number one, it’s hard to discipline and staying true to yourself. It becomes overwhelming, and being your own boss, there’s nobody else to hold yourself accountable. And still to this day it is something I struggle with. One thing that I don’t think anyone really understands is being a hair and makeup artist isn’t just getting to play with makeup, and do fun weddings and so on. There is a lot that has to happen behind closed doors to make it all work. All while, being a mom, a wife, and making room for myself and others becomes difficult at times, and sometimes I would love nothing more than to just give up. But I’ve came to far, and I’ve put way too much into my work to just throw the towel in. One thing I hope people can take from BBCC is to feel beautiful in your own skin and to stop comparing themselves to things that aren’t even real. When you compare yourself to others, it creates a false reality, it will cause you to regret what you aren’t, instead of enjoying the life you have. In todays time, we live in a world where people glamorize perfection which is so unfair right ? One thing to always remember is that the girl in the picture you see on IG, doesn’t tell the whole story. It doesn’t show the raw and entire truth. Your skin is beautiful. It tells stories. Do not be ashamed of it. I’m here to help bring out that natural beauty. To bring all of your glamorous dreams come to life, through makeup. Makeup is powerful, and can bring out another side of you that you didn’t even know existed.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
One thing I think helped build my businesses reputation would be honesty, loyal clients, word of the mouth, recommendations, and reviews. When I first started out, I didn’t know how to properly run social media accounts for my business. I didn’t know how to target the right audience, what to say, or how to introduce my business. I already knew a lot of people in our town and county, but being a bridal hair and makeup artist, it doesn’t really count for anything unless someone was getting married. I did everything I could to expand my knowledge in different techniques and products, I would offer free sessions to build my portfolio. When a bride recommends you as a vendor or even leaves a review it speaks for itself. Brides who are the process of finding vendors, trust other brides opinions more than you would think, and it helped my business tremendously when I first started to grow my BBCC.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
The most effective strategy for growing my clientele would be staying consistent and available. Staying by my desk or phone consistently throughout my day allows me to have an open schedule for interested brides who may have a million questions, or staying in the loop with my current brides with any changes, booking trials, sending updated invoices, etc.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.beautybycaleycline.com
- Instagram: Beautybycaleycline
- Facebook: Beauty By Caley Cline