We recently connected with Tamar Israel and have shared our conversation below.
Tamar, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? We’d love to hear the backstory the illustrates how you grew your brand.
Although I’ve been a makeup artist for 10+ years, it wasn’t until 2019 that I decided to go full-time in my business and truly do the work to scale it and make it my primary source of income. It definitely required time and grace to truly assert myself to pursue this route as I knew that our household income would decrease by 50%, but now in 2022 our revenue is trending towards 6 figures in just 3 years.
As a Believer of Jesus Christ, I prayed and asked the Lord to guide me on the path of generating 6+ figures and He indeed answered my prayers. I came across my business coach, Tiyana Robinson, via Instagram in 2020 and invested in Beauty Funnel Academy, a business course for beauty professionals that focuses on creating funnels and diversifying your income using her proven strategies. The course was $1200 and I’ve never ever invested that much into my business at one time, so a lot of fear and limiting beliefs arose as I was debating on enrolling. But then I told myself, “Tamar, it’s just money and you will get it back. Besides, what are you going to do in the meantime? How are you going to learn how to market yourself as a go-to beauty expert in your field when you know you need help with strategic marketing in a new area?” So I took that leap of faith and have had MAJOR wins and success in my business since. From Q1 of 2021 to Q2 of 2022, I’ve increased my revenue by 499%, been published in Sheen Magazine and the Camille Rose Blog, booked premium, 4 figure brides in my area, implemented automated systems to gain back my time, and so much more.
Getting here was no easy feat and it took literal blood, sweat, and tears. But throughout this journey, I’ve recognized that to be a successful entrepreneur that has unlimited earning potential first starts with your mindset. I’ve had to do more work on my mindset: dispelling limiting beliefs and developing new beliefs, casting out doubt, and eliminating imposter syndrome than I ever imagined. If you don’t deal with these things, then it will showcase itself throughout any and everything that you launch. And to be honest, it never goes away. So having a framework to use as a guide to navigate these thoughts and feelings has been instrumental in me scaling my business.
Another realization that has helped me to scale my business is the understanding of diversifying my business income. We hear all the time how to diversify our investment portfolio, but diversification is crucial in business too. Think about it this way, a makeup artist who does not diversify his/her/their income can only earn revenue based upon what they can physically do. In my business course, I’ve learned to make money by selling what I do through my physical services, selling what I know through e-books, courses, and classes, and selling products to help me grow. The “know” and “grow” aspects of Beauty Funnel Academy has helped me to reach women and clients beyond my local area and even across the world.
In short, knowing exactly what I needed in my business to grow, making investments, and doing “the work” helped me land here and I’m so very grateful that I’ve made it here (especially with the help of my husband and family).
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My love for makeup began in 2009. Back then, I was a college mom on a self-discovery journey to find my passion; because I knew that I wanted to turn it into a business. From there, I took $300 and went to Target to build my makeup kit. I started doing makeup part-time for friends and charged $15 per application. I would even ask them to bring their own foundation as I had no idea how to color match someone’s skin.
While working full time I was doing makeup part-time and didn’t imagine I could make a living doing this. So, I continued pursuing my life-long dreams of working in the medical field and applied for an intensive, accelerated nursing program to earn my second bachelors. Shortly after my acceptance, I realized that this is no longer for me and I took a huge leap of faith, gave up my seat in the program, and went after my passion: makeup.
In 2016, I began working at MAC cosmetics and within 2 years I worked my way up from freelancer to counter manager at Saks Fifth Avenue and later worked at the Givenchy counter at Neiman Marcus. Although I loved working in luxury retail, I wasn’t doing much makeup and missed out on the transformative service makeup brings to women. So, I quit. I doubled down on my freelance business, and I’ve never looked backed. It’s had its challenges, for sure, but also granted me the freedom to raise my children and have unlimited earning potential.
When I got married to my college sweetheart in 2015, I did my own wedding day makeup. Although I loved the application, I didn’t know anything about how to make it long-lasting and camera-ready all night long. There are photos where you can see where my makeup smudged off. When I look back on my photos, I have immense regret of not hiring a bridal beauty professional. My personal experience led me to become an artist who specializes in providing stunning and timeless glam that transcends time so that when brides look back on their photos 20+ years later, they’ll have absolutely no regrets. I want women to revel in their wedding bliss and cherish their photos for years to come, not be remorseful about outdated makeup or how “washed” out they look in their photos. And so, I have a special place in my heart for brides.
To be invited to serve women on one of the most important days of their lives is such an honor. And believe it or not, wedding makeup is so much more than makeup. It requires a great deal of skill, communication, planning and coordination, and people management. My goal is to ensure that brides not only receive ravishing, camera-ready makeup for their wedding but also that the process of booking a bridal glam team is simple, easy, and stress-free so that they can relax and enjoy mimosas with their girls as they prepare for their walk down the aisle.
At Tamar Israel Artistry we specialize in providing timeless and stunning makeup and hair services for brides and we teach women how to confidently apply their makeup using my signature system. We are based in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX and have been able to serve women across the US and beyond. I’m most proud of my publications on the Camille Rose Blog as a trend-setting makeup artist and I’ve been featured in Sheen Magazine as a Black Woman Trailblazer in the beauty and lifestyle industry, along with other reputable and talented black women. In 2021, I increased my revenue by 499% from quarter 1 to quarter 2, grew my email list from 90 to 1000, learn more about paid and digital marketing, and served many women sensational glam for their special events. While those are some accomplishments that I cherish, I’m also proud of launching my faux strip lash brand to help everyday women add subtle glam and femininity to their beauty look using the power of lashes.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
The book, “We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman’s Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power by Rachel Rodgers” has significantly impacted my entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy. Rodgers taught me the importance of striving for more than just 6 figures and to reach higher, and gain power and wealth through earning millions. In her book, she dives deep into her personal story of transitioning from a lawyer to an entrepreneur and the expensive lesson that she learned that costed her 6 figures. But she also gives you actionable steps on how to get there. To hear a black woman’s journey, who has a similar story to mine and is at a financial level of where I aspire to be was extremely encouraging and eye-opening. You don’t know, what you don’t know so it’s important to have proximity to power and a seat at the table where the people at those tables have a great deal of power and influence.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I wish I knew about how to get capital for my business, aside from my own personal savings. Running and operating a beauty business is expensive and while I’ve been funding my business all these years, I’m now realizing the immense resources and capital available for women-owned, black-owned, and small businesses. Using OPM (other people’s money), can indeed help me and others scale at a faster rate. With proper planning, bookkeeping, and strategic marketing the investment of that capital can have a large return on investment.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tamarisrael.com
- Instagram: @tamar_israel_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tamarisraelartistry
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamar-marable-b790228a/
Image Credits
Tamar Israel Headshot: @JasmineRyland | jasmineryland.com 2 Bridal Images (vintage glamour): @laura.mclauchlin | lauradallasphotography.com