We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maya Risteska a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maya, 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?

I first heard about Permanent Makeup in 2013, when I decided to get my eyeliner done. I wasn’t very happy with the results because back then they didn’t use much anesthetics and artists weren’t as educated as they are now. I really liked the idea of not having to do my makeup every day so I went and got my eyebrows microbladed as well.

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and Thyroid disease at the age of 17. Ever since I lost most of my eyebrow hair and it was a struggle for me all these years. I was self-conscious about my looks and was trying so hard to fit in. With permanent make up I got my confidence back, and I no longer needed to spend time and money applying traditional make-up every day.

This is one of the reasons why I chose to sign up for PMU training: to learn and be able to help many women and men to get their confidence back by providing the looks that they’ve been dreaming of through permanent makeup.

Maya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Maya Risteska. I am the founder and owner of Beauty Bliss Studio & Academy in Tampa. A 36 years old mother of three girls, born and raised in Macedonia, Eastern Europe. I have been involved in the Beauty Industry from a very young age. At the age of 17, I became a certified makeup and hair specialist and have been working for over 23 years.

In 2019, I was introduced to permanent makeup and immediately fell in love. I then went on to become an expert in permanent makeup. Having a keen eye for aesthetics helps me achieve natural and timeless results. My skills also translate into the arts with my talent for drawing.

At Beauty Bliss, we are committed to providing high-quality permanent make up services tailored to each of our clients to enhance their natural beauty, including those who suffer from diseases such as Thyroid, Hashimoto, Alopecia, Trichotillomania, as well as people that undergo chemotherapy and deal with scar tissues.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

When my family and I moved from New Jersey to Florida, I had to relocate my business and start from zero all over again. It was not a smooth transition. In New Jersey, I was pretty well established, with consistent clientele, mostly referrals, and because of that, I didn’t need to worry much about marketing my business.

Opening my new salon in Florida was very challenging. Not having any family or friends was basically the worst part of starting a business from scratch again.
In my first month of work, I only had three clients that I found online as my models. I didn’t make any money. I was devastated. I wasn’t able to cover any bills for the first two months and I was very close to giving up. I even considered looking for another job just so I can have some type of income to pay the bills.
Then, I heard about an expo for women that was about to happen and I decided to use my last money to pay and be part of it, not knowing what to expect.

I had less than a month to get ready for the expo. I ordered my marketing materials and came up with some audience engagement games, I ordered everything that I needed and asked two of my friends to help me out. I invested so much money and effort in this, and I was just hoping and praying it was worth it.
On the day of the expo, me and my friend showed up at the location and there was a long line of women waiting to get inside. I got scared for a moment, but the minute we walked in, our booth was full of women wanting to find out more about my services and book their appointment.

The expo called “What women want” was the kick of my business. I got new clients about 2 months in advance and I was all set. I remember going back home that day so happy and proud of myself for what I have done. It was the best thing I could’ve done for my business.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Building up an online following takes time, but if done correctly, will lead to more opportunities than ever before.

I was never good with social media, just because it would require lots of time and dedication that I didn’t have. I use to post some of my work here and there, but I was never consistent and never really engaged with my audience.

A little over a year ago, when I only had 300 followers, I joined a PMU mentorship program, where I learned how to use social media platforms as a tool to scale my business. After four months of learning and hard work, I finally started seeing some results, more engagements, more followers and leads that turned into clients. Currently with 8,500 followers, social media (IG and FB) is my number one source of getting new clients consistently.

Consistency is the key! Building trust with your audience will help convert those followers into clients. Yes, it is a lot of work, but it’s doable.

There are many ways and strategies to grow a following on social media platforms that exist today. Here is the complete guide on how to do it:

1: Define Your Target Audience
2: Create A Content Strategy
3: Use Social Media Platforms To Reach & Build Your Target Audience
4: Create An Email Database
5: Analyze Your Progress And Make Changes As Needed
6: Build & Keep Your Social Media Audience Engaged

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mybeautyblissacademy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beautybliss_academy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Beautyblissacademy