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

Victoria , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?

Each year that goes by my business evolves into more…more weddings booked, more services offered, more technicians working with us, more products offered, and more of just about everything. Looking back, starting out, my business was much smaller and different than it is today. It was nothing like it is now. It started with just me, Victoria Orr, one Makeup Artist in Canton, Georgia.

The year before I started my business, VIOR Makeup Studio, I worked on several weddings with a travel hair stylist in my area. At first, I did not offer bridal hair services and was simply referring my brides out to that hair stylist. Eventually, it became less simple to refer the hairstylist, so after just a few months of being in business, I decided to add the hair stylist to my company. It was not only easier to provide and book both services together, but it was also much more efficient. Having full access to my team’s calendars created a smoother booking process, and client’s overall wait times were significantly reduced. They seemed much more satisfied working with one vendor instead of two.

At that point my business was working well, but soon enough I started adding more and more bookings, and I needed help! I knew I needed an assistant to help me, especially with the larger wedding parties. This is where my hiring process began!

I put a job post for a bridal makeup artist assistant on several websites, social media accounts, and local makeup artist Facebook groups. I had a clear vision of what my interviewing process was going to be like. I knew if I was going to take someone under my umbrella of technicians, they would have to be the best, just like me! The wedding industry is a very fragile environment, filled with lots of risk. It must be nurtured and cared for just like a baby. Any wrong move, and you are out! I have two children, one 17-year- old daughter, and one 5-year-old son. My third child is my business. So, I knew I had to hire an experienced Makeup Artist.

I knew I needed someone who has all the qualities that VIOR Makeup Studio encompasses fun, excitable, light-hearted, compassionate, and most importantly professional. One thing that makes us so special is our dedication to our clients. We are so committed to making their day perfect and go above and beyond to make sure that happens! Some of the candidates that applied to the job posting didn’t have this type of charisma, or they lacked some of the other professional work ethics that I wanted representing my company. Hard work ethics and professionalism are now and will always be my top priority when choosing the right team members for VIOR Makeup Studio.

I first recruited three amazing makeup artists through word-of-mouth. I searched high and low with friends, family, and previous colleagues. If you are in this industry in Atlanta, you tend to meet other makeup artists and hair stylists. It was this same way that I added my additional hair stylists. I recruited people that I knew had the same work ethic as myself, and those who produced beautiful work. I made sure these were people I worked with previously so I could speak personally on their performance and skillset. I had to make sure the team I was building were professionals that had a portfolio of active clients to showcase. Any technician that comes aboard the VIOR Makeup Studio has to perform a live demonstration or audition, to show their skillset, time management, and hygienic practices. I am ecstatic about the team I currently have, and I am constantly building it. Right now, I am in the process of building more teams across Georgia, and I am always looking for talent!

As for what I would do differently in my hiring process…well, I would make sure the candidate in fact has physical evidence of work they have done with their own hands; client reviews are great too! I quickly implemented that requirement immediately when starting the process because I saw how many scams are out there. Everyone needs to protect themselves against fraud and make sure that candidates are in fact who they say they are.

Victoria , 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 Victoria Orr, I am the Owner of VIOR Makeup Studio, based in Woodstock, Georgia. VIOR Makeup Studio (VMS) is a luxury travel beauty team specializing in clean beauty bridal hair and makeup services. Our service area includes all of Georgia and beyond. At VIOR Makeup Studio, we use only the most opulent mineral and botanical based cosmetics in our services, which are hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic, skin nourishing, and more.

I created VIOR Makeup Studio a few years ago after working in the fashion and beauty industry for over 20 years combined. I started out in fashion design in Miami, then expanded on my career in NYC, and brought my expertise to Atlanta in 2006.

Since then, I enhanced my beauty career by acquiring a degree in nutrition in 2018. I wanted to make a brand that understands how outer skin health can derive from inside the body. Toxic ingredients in cosmetics are not good for the body and cause break outs. I have seen enough in the fashion industry over the years to know that gorgeous models had skin that was suffering from the products they were using. The only way for me to start a brand that brings this concept full circle was for me to work with products that are clean for the body.

VIOR Makeup Studio is now a brand that is exactly that. We focus on securing our client’s esteem by targeting key factors in their daily beauty regimens that may be attributing to any skin concerns or conditions. For example, with our brides, we help create a skincare goal through a regimen that they can implement for the days and months leading up to their big day. It is important to us that we are exemplifying healthy skin practices, so we will share any applicable nutrition tips with our clients as well. We are currently working on developing our own cosmetic brand…stay tuned in to www.VIORmakeup.com for updates.

I are most proud of our work ethic and our commitment to our client’s happiness. VIOR Makeup Studio goes above and beyond for our clients, and cares for them as we would our own family. I am always available to all our clients. I make sure they get the attention they need, and all their questions are answered quickly. It is most important that my clients know how much we appreciate them by always adding something to their service to make their day extra special and memorable. I want my clients to know I love every one of them, and without them I wouldn’t be here! I hope they can see my gratitude through our performance.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I have several stories. Should we first start off by talking about how being a Makeup Artist is not an easy thing to begin with? For simplicity’s sake, let’s specifically narrow it down to a Bridal Makeup Artist. Well for one, if you are a freelancer in this field, you need to find consistent work to suffice a full-time income, and to be successful in this business. If you don’t, you will have to find a part-time steady job.

Did I want to walk away? Yes. How many times did I want to walk away in the first year? Countless times. As a new business owner, starting out if you don’t have an investor or some form of capital, you also won’t have all of the perks and benefits right away. When I formed my LLC, I funded it myself through my savings from previous jobs, and a small gift from my parents to help me purchase my first makeup kit. From there this business grew and grew and grew and I funded it all on my own.

Did I want to walk away? Yes. Many other makeup artists in several different genres ask themselves all the time, should I quit and find another job, something more stable perhaps? I talk to many makeup artists, and I am a part of several different groups, and for those just starting out especially, we all ask ourselves that very same question.

I am very resilient. Not only have I endured low business months, but I have handled very difficult clients. I mean the ones that can make you test your patience. There are some very mean people out there in the world! I have had days where I wanted to put my brush down, walk out and never come back! I have built up such an immunity to these negative personalities at this point, and I have also doubled our bookings each year in business from the previous. So, every time I have the urge to walk away, all I do is look at my numbers and know there’s only more growth and success to follow in the years to come.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

This is simple. It is 100% client relationships. My clients love us so much that they leave reviews, they tell their friends, they book us for the next wedding in their family, and more! It is so importantly to keep these excellent relationships with your clients because you do not know who they are going to talk about you to, or who is going to contact you at any given moment for a sale.

Once my clients work with us, they know we are the best service they will get for their wedding, and they share their experience with the people they know. They post about it, they tag us, and more. Client relations in any field is the most important thing, at least that is what I think. Word-of-mouth is the fastest viral spreading marketing you can get. The clients are the tangible, solid physical marketers. Social media can reach many people, but those people may not even be my end user. Client relationships is where it is at! One of my pet peeves as a client is when people are rude and make me wait as if I am not important to them. I make sure at all costs that my company does not operate that way, and that my clients know with us, they will never feel less important.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.viormakeup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vior_makeupstudio/

Image Credits

Abby Q Photography