We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michelle Jackson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michelle below.

Michelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

I’ve been in the makeup business for almost 3 years. I’ve encountered so many things, and I learn as I go and continue to grow. When I first thought of creating this business, I just knew I would have orders and appointments running over because I knew quite a few people and from what I know, I’m a good person. I just knew the support would be endless starting out. I WAS WRONG LOL!! I mean, I did get support from a few people that I know and of course I was still grateful and happy, but I would get upset sometimes because people didn’t see the vision the way I did, and I had set my expectations high! Lesson learned. At the beginning of starting my business, I would always hear “STRANGERS WILL BE YOUR BIGGEST SUPPORTERS” and I didn’t quite agree with it, only because I had yet to network with anyone and didn’t understand the importance of stepping out of my comfort zone and networking. I was trying to stay local and push my business through Facebook, with the people who were fond of me and would hardly reach anyone. People were looking, but not booking. Again, I wasn’t getting the results I was looking for. One day, I did my research and I looked up booking sites to attract and build clientele. I instantly thought of Styleseat, which is a platform that I’ve used myself back in the day to find a local stylist. I downloaded it, created a profile, and prices for glams. Back in 2020, my prices were extremely low but affordable, just because I was starting out and wanting to gain clientele. I slowly started to attract clients, but guess what? THEY WERE STRANGERS. Using Styleseat helped me to gain so much clientele over time, and I knew NONE of these people. I instantly understood that quote I mentioned earlier about strangers being your biggest supporters. I’ve encountered so many ladies young and older that have became like cousins and aunties to me over time. I would be chatting with some clients during the glam session, and we’d discover that we knew mutual people. It’s really a small world. I just want to make the point that strangers will definitely be your biggest supporters. It’s all about having faith, overcoming your fears, and showing up as your best self. You most definitely have to step out of your comfort zone and network with strangers, no matter if they’re local or distant. If you want your business to grow, NETWORKING is truly key. Don’t depend on your friends and family to always support you. It will lead you to disappointment. Some of them will support you all the way, and some won’t. Either way, you have to keep going and most importantly, THINK BIG. I know how it feels to have high expectations at the beginning and it doesn’t go accordingly. That doesn’t mean that things won’t get better. IT WILL! Trust me, just stay consistent and be patient. There’s so many things you can do to support your own business and make people aware of it. You will attract the right clientele for your business, but you can’t expect for it to always be family and friends. Expand your mindset. Just because it looks good on social media with someone else’s business (lots of shares and likes), doesn’t mean that their business is advancing. People are just showing love, which is what social media is for. You don’t know if those people are buying or booking. Stay in your own lane, mind your own business (personally and professionally) and network. I know we were always taught to always avoid strangers growing up, but listen, we’re talking Business. You never know who or what that stranger that approaches your you and your business may know!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Michelle Jackson, and I’m a makeup artist from North Carolina. I specialize in Soft Glams and Bridal. I got into the makeup industry in 2020, right at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. I was a former educator and had recently left the school system to recover my mental health and discover what it was I was truly passionate about. To be honest, I never saw myself as a makeup artist, it just happened. It was always therapeutic for me to go shopping for makeup and to try different techniques on myself after binge watching makeup tutorials on YouTube day and night. Makeup Artistry came into play a few months later after I introduced my lip gloss and lash line. I would experiment and create looks on friends and family that didn’t mind being my muse. I was truly a newbie to the game, but practice makes perfect, right? I had to start somewhere. I didn’t even have all of the makeup essentials I needed at the time, I was just making things work with makeup products I already possessed, and of course using whatever makeup products they had. Over time, I started to invest in makeup products, building up my kit. I had no clue what all to get, I would just buy popular products I was familiar with from social media. I never went in Ulta or Sephora with a specific list, just VIBES! I would leave out feeling empowered and like I had just enough to get started.

I’m a self-taught makeup artist, so every single skill and product I’ve learned about regarding makeup, I learned it on my own and improvised my skills overtime. YouTube and Instagram paved the way for me. I would look at Influencers who were in my shade range and go buy those same products literally the same week. Sometimes I would be pleased at how my looks came out, and other times I would be discouraged, not realizing, I just had to trust the process and understand understand the proper use and application of makeup products. You really want to know how I improved my technique over time? Continuously glamming clients. Practice does indeed make perfect, but when you establish a business, it’s imperative to know and understand what you’re doing. Starting out, I would take my time, doing what I knew step by step. It would take me almost 2 hours to do makeup. I was doing way too much. Over time, I started to look at my client and their features, and let my brushes work it’s magic. Instead of doing what I learned on YouTube, I’d enhance my clients features, creating a soft glam look. I didn’t work harder, I worked smarter. I took the techniques I was already familiar with and just improved them from there. I would work in new techniques that I’d learned, but take my time and not over think it. Just from doing that, I’ve noticed the progress in my artistry and my clients have also.

Before I start my glams, I have brief consultations with clients, where I ask about their skin type, allergies, and any other essential questions regarding makeup. I also ask them to show me any glam inspiration they may have so we can create a similar look. That gives me an idea of what I’m working with and what to be mindful of during our glam session. In the midst of getting my clients glammed, sometimes I step back and admire not only the client, but my work. It’s a beautiful thing when you see for yourself how far you’ve come.

Bridal has become a big thing for me this year. I didn’t expect for bridal to grow as fast as it did. I’ll honestly say doing bridal glams is what fuels my passion. I feel like I get to showcase my creativity and express my love and passion for makeup through the brushes. I’ve also had the opportunity to travel and explore with my business doing bridal. Eventually, I’d love to become a Destination Bridal Makeup Artist. My goal is to incorporate two things that I enjoy doing into one: makeup and traveling.

What sets me apart from others is that I don’t try to be like everyone else and I don’t follow the trends. I may look into trends to improve my techniques, but I don’t believe in copying or keeping up with anyone else. I prefer to stay in my own lane and perform the methods that works best for me to create looks on clients, and evolve from there. I build rapport with all of my clients, ensuring that I provide them with a comfortable and uplifting environment. I also make sure that they feel confident through the process and of course, after. 95 percent of my clients were total strangers over these last few years. I had never met or encountered them before until their appointment with me. Majority of them have returned back for my services and I’ve had the opportunity to establish an appropriate relationship with them. It’s the reviews and feedback that keeps me going!

What I want people to know about Bare Blushed Beauty is that we strive to make sure we bring your glam vision to life. Whether it’s for your birthday, anniversary, graduation, bridal, any occasion. We promote beauty and confidence over here. We want you to feel good not only on the outside, but inside also. Confidence is what we want you to have, and Beautiful is what we want you to feel. Enhancing and bringing out those beautiful and unique features you already possess is our goal. We’ve truly had the pleasure of being apart of so many remarkable moments for women. We absolute love that for us.

One thing I’m very proud of is how I’ve managed to keep going and showing up for myself with my brand, no matter how I felt. Sometimes business is good, sometimes it’s slow, and I’ve had to maintain the composure of my feelings when things didn’t go my way or I didn’t satisfy my business goals and needs for the week/month. I’ve seen so much personal and professional growth throughout my journey of being a business woman. I’m truly grateful for the amount of support I’ve received in the few years. I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many people. There’s so many ladies I’ve encountered that’ve truly impacted me in a positive way. They believed in me and show genuine love. I’m always delighted to support them also and show my love. Operating this business has truly been life changing. This year, I did my first celebrity client, Michel’le. I never thought I would’ve glammed celebrity client so soon before Year 3, but more so after Year 5! I immediately understood to NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOURSELF! You will reach people you never imagined to.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

While I’ve conducted my makeup business, I’ve always had a full time job. So every time I got paid, I would take a portion of the money and buy a few essential products. Most of the time, I would buy items when there was a big sale going on so I could get my money’s worth and buy more of what I needed at a time. As I started investing in new products and using it on clients, I would see progress, which of course led to more clientele. I would then use some money from my business account to buy items here and there. I will be honest with you, this upcoming year I’d like to learn more about establishing business credit. As I continue to grow and expand, I think being educated about how to use and manage business credit will help me in the long run. I also look to educate other young and newly established entrepreneurs how to use it as well.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

There’s one book for sure that stood out to me in 2018 that really pushed me to become an entrepreneur. It’s the book “You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life” by Jen Sincero. It was the first time in a long time I was consistent with reading a book and learning so many gems from it. I read this book for the first time back in 2018, and it was so inspiring. I was able to relate to her on so many levels. I cried, laughed, became empowered and motivated after reading this book. That’s where the idea of entrepreneurship came in. I just knew I could do it. At this time, I wasn’t focused on anything regarding makeup. Makeup was something I was familiar with but I didn’t have any interest in making it out of a business. I was interested in selling hair extensions and lashes. Why? I was not a huge fan of either one. I would wear hair extensions from time to time, but was I passionate enough about it about it to sell it? No. I’m a person of passion. I have to be interested and knowledgeable about it for me to be consistent. There was so much in her book about putting yourself first, getting out of your comfort zone and showing up as your best self, and it truly inspired me. In 2020, I finally started my business and would revert back to certain chapters in that book just to spark up my inspiration and enhance my memory all over again. It was a very life changing book and I would recommend it to anyone.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @bareblushedbeauty
• Facebook: Bare Blushed Beauty
• Youtube: @bareblushedbeauty
• Other: Email: bareblushedbeauty@gmail.com