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

Megan, appreciate you joining us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

This actually stands as our larger challenge within our business model since 2012. Within the hair and makeup industry, which is ever-changing and growing, many artists try and out bid other artists to gain volume of clientele by setting their direct pricing lower than the average for the region and their fellow competitors, This not only downgrades the worth of their services and the quality of the products used on their clients but in turn creates a standard on industry across the board as on what’s reasonable or normal

The pricing point presented to any of our clients in TV /Film and or the wedding industry embody the cost of services, artists time, travel , expertise as well as the costs to replace professional products .The harsh reality and age old saying that “it takes money to make money “ which keep a business flourishing still stands.
I’m addition to the above ,California Beauty Co. Is operated out of mist cities in California as well as Hawaii giving this even a more detrimental effect on consistent price points given the variety economic regions involved . This is why it’s difficult to have set pricing and or keep consistent expectations for future profitability.

Megan, 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?

Hi! My name is Megan and I’m a veteran of the USAF and my attention to detail and my love for beauty and doing hair and makeup for friends and Xo workers made me go and make my passion a career. I decided behind the chair wasn’t enough for me in 2012 I decided to start and event company which was what I now call my stepping stone. For running a successful business. With this experience I moved to Los Angeles where I really dig my heels into the idea of creating an agency tailored to editorial, fashion forward thinking with multiple hair , makeup and wardrobe stylists. Soon after my career and love for the snow it led me to Colorado where I expanded the same mentality but targeted Colorado as well which was more focused on bridal as well as modeling agencies. With the extensive knowledge for fashion , editorial, natural beauty enhancement and on hands organization and planning experience with different nationalities within the regions is where we feel we excel in the bridal niche , let alone the reward of being part of someone’s most important day. Since then we decided to scale down a bit and not focus on volume yet quality with hand selected long term employed master artists and service now California and Hawaii. Nice to meet you and thank you in advance for supporting our journey ! We can be seen / interviewed in Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue and more!

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Word of mouth by like minded vendors. It’s very important since the industry is saturated with so many individuals who claim to be professional that having other professionals whom you worked with as a good working reference as well as many become friends and all work together for the common goal of making the client happy and in turn helps everyone out as a collective. Along with this the quality you produce we have had many past clients or brides say a friend has referred them as well which we are always grateful for! That means we’re doing our job and delivering that expectation expected from All involved!!

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Covid really did a number on businesses across the whole nation. Since we are a face to face business and many weddings had to reschedule we came up with a great plan to allow rescheduling and refunds however that came with a hardship on our end with putting us in a mode to still stay relevant and live off limited income until we were able to service again.

Contact Info:

• Website:Www.californiabeautyco.com
• Instagram: @california_beauty_co
• Other: https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/california-beauty-co-santa-cruz-ca-2071294

Image Credits
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