Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kelsey Hayes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kelsey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

The moment you give your all to your craft and your business is when you start to reap the true benefits of success. Can you have a business and do what you love part time and still be successful? Yes and no, in my opinion. You can be successful to the point that you are doing what you love and you are at least allowing yourself time to enjoy that part of your passions. But, unless you fully give your endeavor your 100% all, no matter how scary or unknowing the ending result will be, you won’t be truly successful. There is also something in the knowledge that you could lose everything if you don’t succeed. There is this fire that gets lit under you when you know you have to make it. To provide it yourself or your family or make it on your own in the world, that drives you to be successful. Without that 100% all in fire, there might always be something to fall back on so what is the point of trying? What is the point of being successful? I myself was always in the beauty world one way or another but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago when I realized I wanted to be my own person. To take all the work that I was putting into these amazing projects I was on, that others were getting credit for because they were the big name on paper and take them out of the equation. It was my time to be that name on the paper. To have all the credit for all the work I was putting in. I was only working on my own business part time though. So, what did that mean? It was either sit back and put my dreams away like I had been or throw in all my chips on this bet which was myself. I quit my stable 9-5 retail management job and gathered all the money I could and started it all over again but this time for myself and no one else. I have been nothing but successful since that rebeginning because I knew I was in this time 100% and I will be giving it 100% of my energy.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As I mentioned I have been in the beauty industry for what seems to be eons now. It will be 17 years this next year to be exact. It is always evolving, this industry. There is a saying in the beauty community, “if someone says they know everything about hair and makeup, they need to get the heck out!” You never know everything. It is always changing, and it is always evolving. Challenges and new trends and techniques to learn. Education is my driving force and passion. I have always strived to learn more, like a sponge just soaking all the knowledge I can in about products and techniques. No one is ever a competitor to me they are a teacher; I can always learn something from another artist/stylist. With my business now, I offer one on one services in a mobile setting. Going to locations for events and projects. Living in the Pacific North West for the past decade I have moved away from production and into more one on one projects: weddings, boudoir and senior portraits. I live in Washington state but I travel to surrounding areas (Canada, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, California). I will still go across country or out of the country but I like to stay closer to home as often as I can seeing as how I am booked all year long, five to six days a week. Weddings, boudoir and passion projects are my main focus now and honestly, I love it so much. I get so much gratification from my work with my clients. Larger projects, runway/editorials and film were of course fun and exciting in my twenties but, taking time and really getting to know my clients and their stories is so meaningful.
Along with my work being a majority of weddings and boudoir shoots, I work closely with groups of clients that are going through things like chemotherapy and hormone replacement as well as living with life changing diagnoses like Alopecia. Teaching clients ways to feel like themselves in their own skin again and learning to love things about themselves again is something I help teach. It is extremely fulfilling for me.

Going back to the education piece of why I do what I do, I feel that there is so much information out in the world and so much misinformation thrown at people. My brain is a encyclopedia of information and filled with things that I would never expect my clients to know or even ever been told about beauty. On one hand I adore social media and platforms like TikTok and YouTube because these do help people find new information and help take away the stigma of makeup in general. On the other hand, the information given is not always correct and it makes people feel stupid. There has been so many time that a client I have in my chair has gotten teary eyed telling me that they are dumb and ugly because they have watched so many tutorial videos and tried all the products friends suggested to them that worked for those friends, but the techniques and products didn’t work for the client. They are crushed because they feel they are unworthy of beauty. That isn’t fair. That isn’t right. I strive in my business to bring light and education to clients for their own lives. Even if it is their wedding day and it’s the only time, I will ever work with them, I want to teach them something they can go home and use that works for them. Feeling beautiful and confident is not a privilege, everyone is entitled to it.

That is what I want the core of my brand and business to stand for. Education and beauty for all.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The number one reason I think I really have stood out and helped make a reputation in my market is I am a no bullshit artist. I am not one to take just any job that comes at me. I know I am not the only great hair and makeup artist in my market. I also am very upfront with my clients. I look at them as people and not paychecks. In most cases, hair and makeup is not something that clients are comfortable with having done by someone else let alone wearing at all. The Pacific Northwest client is not your Miami client or Chicago client or example. They are very minimalist. Wearing makeup or having someone touch your hair is a very intimate thing. For people that do not wear makeup or have their hair done, having a stranger do those things let alone paying a stranger to do those things is very scary.

I am a realist. I know that for a wedding or a boudoir shoot, hair and makeup is not the number one thing on the list to pay for. So, I hold dates for free, without deposits, while clients shop around to find the perfect hair and makeup artist to fit them. I also customize pricing so that no one overpays if they don’t have to. My services are top notch and I have worked all over the world with celebrities, but that doesn’t mean that the elopement an hour from my house with one bride that needs curls and some false lashes and no trial should have to pay for that expertise.
For my wedding clients: I am not the venue, I am not the dress, I am not the rings. Hair and makeup is the gift you are giving to yourself on your wedding day that in reality is a big party you throw for other people. It shouldn’t have to bring stress to you, it should bring joy and fun to the day!

I have always pushed to be authentic and truthful in my work and my business and by keeping it real and no bullshit I have really built myself a powerful and amazing reputation in my market.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I try my best to keep my clients on a personal level. My steps when booking a client are connect about booking, have them fill out my questionnaire about their event, set up a virtual meeting.
I must have a video meeting with every one of my clients if I can. I am not the best on the phone. That might go back to the retail stent I had, but I absolutely hate talking on the phone. There is something about seeing someone face to face and connecting. After a video chat (usually 30 to 60 minutes) I will send them over a pricing proposal and day of schedule if we are close enough to the event date. After that video chat, my clients have my phone number and email and we talk all the time. I will check in with them at different check points not only about their details for their styling and looks but also just to see how they are doing with the whole process. If for some reason they decide to not book with me, which can sometimes happen due to budget or time frame constraints I will send them a list of preferred vendors I love that I know with fit with them, their style and budget. Like I mentioned, my clients are not just a paycheck to me so communication is a very important factor.
In the beginning when I restarted my business, I had clients getting a hold of me through every platform and every which way which was very confusing. I couldn’t keep everyone in the right place. Now I make sure if new clients have not connected with me via email or my cell phone that those are my two main ways of communicating and sometimes Facebook Messenger.
When all is over and the event is done, I send a final email through my invoicing site I use (Honeybook) and every client receives an email thanking them for booking with me, connecting them with my Google review link to leave a review and any feed back I might need. At the end of each season, I love to send out a thank you email in a mass email thanking my clients for everything they did, the memories we made together and hoping they have a wonderful holiday season.
I would say I am actually still friends or connected on social media with about 90% of my clients and we still keep in touch on a regular basis. They help spread my brand’s name and talk about my services as well which is always amazing. I adore my clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.renderingbeauty.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/renderingbeauty
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/renderingbeauty
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/renderingbeauty
• Yelp: www.yelp.com/renderingbeauty

Image Credits
Photographers: Molly Blair Amanda Howse Taylor Kamenzind Lindsey Paradiso