Getting starting in the PMU industry 2 years ago was very challenging in the beginning. I went through two difficult training’s that almost left me feeling defeated, but I stay with a profession that I knew could change the lives of others. Here is my story about how Great Arches Beauty Bar got started and where we are today. Hi my name is Porchia Jefferson the owner and founder of Great Arches Beauty Bar which was founded in 2020 with a goal in mind. I wanted to help redefine the unfading beauty of women. So I started researching training programs that would prepare me to change the lives of women who are always on the go. After researching my technique of choice, I knew that women were going to cut out their everyday makeup routine because of the booming permanent makeup industry. Eyebrows was my main focus due to bad brow work from certain nail shops that left myself and many others traumatized over the years of getting serviced. Women all over the world love for their brows to be on point. I entered into the permanent makeup industry during Covid-19 after having my 1st child in 2019. The first course I took was a Microblading training course that teaches you how to perform mimicking hair strokes into the brows. The training was in downtown Dallas, TX which left me and many other students unfulfilled knowledge wise. We had a hard time grasping the information. The instructor was all about content and we never had the chance to work on live models that would be helpful to the trainees. Her feedback to her students was to continue practicing on the material she provided. After some weeks went by, I contacted the trainer to have a sit down because I wanted to be great at permanent eyebrows. We went over eyebrow mapping which was the hardest part of the training you ask me, but I still didn’t have it together mentally after the sit down. It was her way of teaching and my learning style that had me confused that I didn’t get much out of a 2 day course. So a few months later, I reached out to local instructors to ask about the details of Microshading which is a semi permanent shading technique that gives the eyebrows a fuller coverage like a penciled in finish. I found a trainer that was willing to work with me after hearing about the terrible experience of the Microblading course I took. After training with this local instructor, I hit another stumbling block because this instructor only gave me the basics and when it was time for me to perform on the live model of my choice, she didn’t guide me or step in to direct me with the model. She praised me as if I done an outstanding job, but the aftermath was a horrible experience for the model. The model didn’t like her eyebrows after the healing process and we both stated that this particular instructor wasn’t for me. I didn’t stop there with all the roadblocks that was happening, I took all the information from those trainings and practiced my butt off everyday. I started advertising a model search after I was confident enough to show off my skills with the help of a good PMU friend I met. December 2020 I signed my very first lease at Ava Salon Suites and Spa to start my journey as a licensed tattoo artist. My license opened doors to then learn how to do cosmetic lip blushing , micro edging for women with thin edges, and cosmetic beauty mole’s. I was blessed by a PMU marketing company that ran Facebook and Instagram ads that generated traffic for licensed professionals like myself , that’s how I got discovered. Working with them, I gained knowledgeable key factors on how to engage with the incoming direct messages about the services I offered. There were a lot of potential clients with underlying health issues and skin conditions that couldn’t get serviced. Not everyone was my client and I procrastinated for months about going back to school to learn more about all skin types. One day after feeling depressed about all that I was taking on, an old friend challenged me to apply for Esthetician school in February 2022. Her words were “Porchia now is the time for you to do something you’ve always wanted to do. I had some incredible days and slow days at Ava Salon Suites and Spa but I had to make a conscious decision to move on once my lease was up. Clients and neighbors at the spa would always say how brave I was to step out on faith in my first year of business. Being on my own, it taught me a lot more about entrepreneurship. After receiving the 5 day challenge for me to attend Esthetician School, I pushed myself to apply at Ogle Beauty School in 2 days and got accepted. I’m currently in Esthetician school part time due to mom and work life. My decision has allowed me to learn all skin types, proper ways of waxing, I’m learning how to build my business efficiently while learning all about TDLR licensing and Regulations as a licensed professional in the state of Texas . If you are a PMU artist and you’re reading this please don’t just stop there, continued education is highly important and never procrastinate about the things you need to do to be great!