How to Stay Productive as a Lash Artist in Lockdown

When your business is focused on close contact with clients, it’s hard to feel productive when the whole country has been placed on lockdown.

Coronavirus seemed to hit the nation quickly and no one could have predicted the impact it would have, especially on the beauty industry.

The most important thing to do right now is to keep healthy and safe, along with protecting our loved ones and maintaining social distancing. Even if we remain physically healthy, our mental health is something that can be harder to manage.

What many of us are worried about is our businesses, sitting at home all day without clients can leave us feeling deflated and troubled about the future.

However, this time shouldn’t be wasted and there are always things to be done to better our skills and grow our business, even if the cash isn’t coming in right now. 

When running your own lash business, there are always extra things you can be doing to prepare yourself for when this all blows over.

1. Practice Makes Perfect

You could be a lash novice or a seasoned artist, there is always room for improvement at all skill levels. Use this time to practice your craft. The longer you go without applying lashes, the more you could also forget.

Use members of your household and give them a free treatment. If they are unwilling or you live alone, you can use makeup sponges as your new client. 

Have you recently purchased some new tweezers or glue and haven’t had the chance to try them out? Now is a perfect time! 

Why not use your time to take further training online, we have prepared some excellent training videos for free! Now is the perfect time to upgrade your skills.

Webinars are more popular than ever and many are now being offered for free and there are plenty of tutorials on the web.

2. Take Inventory

Do you have enough supplies for when business returns to normal? Although it may seem far away at this time, you never know how much you will be in demand after quarantine.

Check your stock of lashes, glue, are your tweezers up to standard? You wouldn’t want a sudden influx of clients and a shortage of the essentials.

Once the country opens back up, there could also be a strain on courier systems so that next-day delivery we have always relied on may not be as reliable as it once was.

Stock up on everything you may need for at least a couple of weeks so your clients aren’t let down when they do try to book.

3. Get Insta-Fabulous

Social media is a wonderful tool, especially during this time. If you haven’t already, set up social media pages and start growing your followers.

You can use photos to promote your skills or even run competitions. Offering free or discounted treatments for likes and shares will boost your following. Of course, any winners will have to wait before you can provide this but it will give them something to look forward to!

You can offer discounts to followers for when business returns to normal, many lash extension enthusiasts will probably be wanting an appointment as soon as we can leave home again and the enticement of money off means they are more likely to go to you.

4. Organise Everything

From client forms to accounting and expenses, no matter how hard we try during our working week, something always ends up in the wrong place.

Use this time to not just organise current paperwork and files, but you could create an easier system for when we return to work.

If you can collate everything online, this will make your life a lot easier in the future, just make sure everything is backed up somewhere.

5. Work on Your Brand

You may already have a brand but can this be improved? This is a great time to really think about your business and where you want to be. Do you have a USP and are you advertising this clearly?

Perhaps a new logo could be in order, if you design skills are lacking, there are plenty of freelancers who are just as bored as you are right now and you may be able to get a decent price too! 

Start an online blog and share your knowledge and expertise or perhaps a YouTube channel or Instagram live videos to keep your clients informed and entertained during lockdown.

You can begin to create content that will be relevant after the pandemic is over, using apps such as Storyart and Mojo will make this easier when your business gets busy again.

Don't forget your clients and don’t let them forget you! Keep in touch with regular email updates and social media posts. Everybody wants to feel taken care of during this time.

Are there any elements of your business that aren’t consistent with your branding? You could design and order new business cards, client forms and POS for your salon.

If you have a salon in your home, maybe it’s time for a bit of DIY work to get everything looking fabulous for when clients do return. Keep colour schemes in line with your branding.

6. Plan Your Goals

It’s easy to become stuck-in-a-rut when working busy days and even if you have a successful business, you can always improve. 

We always talk about not having enough time, now is the time to focus on all the things you’ve been thinking about and putting off!

Use your free time to set clear goals for where you want your business to grow. This could be anything from opening more salons to learning a new skill to provide more services to your clients or simply more brand awareness, there is no limit!

7. Keep The Faith

It’s very easy to lose momentum with the effects of covid-19 but it is important to keep a positive attitude to the situation.

Engage yourself in some activities that will remove negative thoughts. Remember you’ve to be ready for a successful come back.

Take time to look after your mental health and focus on the positives you want to achieve and this will make it easier to do so after lockdown.

8. Most Importantly

This is new to everybody but each day brings us closer to normality. Until then, our online team is here to answer any queries you may have and we can’t wait to return to training our amazing lash artists as soon as possible.