EP50
===
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Artist to Artist podcast. This is the podcast for self-taught and undertrained makeup artists who are ready to stop second guessing themselves and start showing up like pros. Today we're talking about something that happens all the time. A client changes their mind about the makeup that they want.
Sometimes it's a small change. Sometimes it's a major change. But either way, when this happens, it throws you off. And if you're new to this industry, it's easy to think. What did I do wrong? Am I not good enough? Why are they second guessing me? And you can kind of start to spiral, but no, it's not about you doing something wrong.
This is really just the reality of our job. If you wanna work in this industry, whether it's bridal, it's red carpet, it's corporate work, it's commercials. You need to know how to adapt when this happens because it will happen.
Let me break this down for you. So there are two types of artists, the ones who freeze up and panic when something goes kind of off script. And then there are the ones who stay calm, they pivot, and they offer a solution to their clients. When this happens. [00:01:00] Guess who is the artist that gets rebooked?
Guess who builds a reputation for being really easy to work with. It's not always the artist with the prettiest, most perfect makeup. It's not the artist with the best kit. It's the one who can keep the shoot or the wedding or whatever it is on track without making it about them. That's what clients are looking for.
Let's walk through a couple pain points you might be feeling or facing as a new makeup artist. You planned everything out. You packed your kit perfectly.
You spent a couple hours the night before your job doing this. You had a vision in your head of, you know, a plan for how the job was gonna go, and then someone shows up asking for a completely different look.
And they're asking for this change. When there's 20 minutes left in the booking, you are sweating. You're wondering how you're gonna pull it off. If you're like me, your stomach starts hurting. But the belief shift that I want you to take away from this episode is that this is not a problem that you have to avoid or fake your way through.
It's just a [00:02:00] reality that you have to prepare for. Being flexible on the job doesn't make you weak. Being agreeable on a job does not make you a doormat, and saying yes to everything also doesn't make you professional.
What makes you a professional is being able to assess the request, consider the time and the tools and the training that you have, and make a quick decision based on reality and not out of fear and panic.
This is something that I do wanna make really clear in this episode. Adaptability is not really a personality trait. It is a skill, and it's a skill that you can develop over time, but it does start with being honest with yourself and of course with the client. Let's say you're doing a bride, you finished the foundation, you did a trial, maybe two, and now your bride is telling you she wants something completely different, more dramatic, more smoky eyes, let's say, than what you did in the trial.
You know very well. There's not enough time to start over, redo everything, and this is where a lot of newer artists tend to fumble a little bit. They either [00:03:00] freeze and kind of start rushing without a plan just to get everything done in the time that they have. Or they smile and say yes and they don't finish on time and they make the morning run late, and the work is not exactly the best.
Both of those responses can hurt your reputation as an artist. So what do you do instead?
You take a deep breath, which a lot of us forget to do. You assess the situation and you stay calm and you wanna say something like, look, we're tight on time so I can't fully redo the look, but here's what I can do to get the effect that you want. I can add a more dramatic lash than what we did at the trial. I can do more contouring. I can add more highlighter, and I can use this liquid liner or this liner pencil.
Do you wanna give that a try?
That's how you show leadership. That's how you build trust with your clients, and that's what makes you someone that they want to hire again or refer to their friends. And when you're making these suggestions, you have to say it with confidence.
The same thing goes for when you're on a set. . Let's say an art director on set suddenly wants a no foundation, no makeup, makeup.
Look, that's my favorite. When that happens, [00:04:00] or they want a really natural eye when they ask you previously for a smoky eye. In these situations, you don't panic. You just ask questions. Do you want the skin completely bare? Is it okay if I just give this model some coverage under the eyes and around the nose?
Are we still going matte on the T-zone or do you want me to leave some shine? You get very specific and you give them options. You don't respond with an attitude and you just move really quickly.
What you don't do, you don't roll your eyes. You don't say, but that wasn't what you told me to do, and you don't. Throw the original look under the bus by saying, oh, well I didn't like that look anyways. Why? Because many times your attitude on set is gonna be louder than your skillset. People remember how you made them feel, especially under pressure, especially when there's tight deadlines, especially when there's money on the line, which happens with these larger jobs.
This is also where critical thinking comes in. You have to make fast decisions. Will this work on camera? Can I skip a step and still get the same result? [00:05:00] What are the products that I have in my kit that will get me there faster? And you need to know your kit well enough to say, here's what I can do right now with what I have and with the time that we have.
That is something that comes from experience, but also thinking like a problem solver. Not a perfectionist is gonna help get you there faster.
This industry moves so fast. Shoots run behind bridal. Clients can be late and everyone thinks makeup takes five minutes, and you're a magician that can do a full makeover in three minutes.
You kind of need to be the calm in the chaos, whether you are at a hotel getting a personal client ready. Or you're on set. The truth is the final look matters. But there are things that may matter more when it comes to your reputation, like how fast you work, how easy you are to work with.
The confidence that you have on set, your general attitude on set. If you make someone late, that costs money. That's gonna cost your reputation, and it may cost you a future job. You can do the best makeup of your life, if you make a bride late [00:06:00] to a ceremony or you hold up talent on set, your clients will remember that before they remember how good the skin looked.
I know some of what I'm saying in this episode may go against everything your instincts are probably telling you, especially if you're like me. I'm an oldest daughter, I'm a recovering people pleaser. I've got that anxious. Overachiever energy that wants everyone to like me, and I wanna fix everything for everyone.
So trust me when I say I get it, saying I can't do that to me personally, used to make me feel like a failure. Because I couldn't make an almost impossible last minute request happen. I wasn't good enough. I have been really hard on myself about that, but that mindset kept me very stuck because there will be times on set with clients where you just cannot give them what they're asking for.
You don't have enough time. You don't have the product. You don't have the physical ability to do what they want in the time that you have. And instead of spiraling or overexplaining, you just have to say. I [00:07:00] can't do that, but here's what I can do for you. When I started doing that, being honest, but still offering a solution, something shifted for me.
Clients did not lose respect for me. They started trusting me more and they started seeing me as the authority in the room, and that's what led to better jobs, higher level clients. People rebooking me, not just for my makeup skills, but for how I handled situations under pressure.
So what do you do moving forward? You learn to communicate with clients in real time. You practice giving options under pressure and you build trust through honesty, not overpromising. And if a request is just flat out impossible, you say so, but you say it with a calm confidence and you offer a path forward.
And if this episode hits home for you, you've been in situations where someone changed their mind and you just kind of froze up, you panicked. If you're not sure how to speak up or adapt without feeling like you're failing I need you to go and start your free trial in the Artist to Artist membership. You do not need to figure this out on your own. I've been through it. [00:08:00] I have messed it up, and now I can show you how to do it better.
You can start your free trial today with me. Only $20 Canadian a month after you can cancel any time. You can learn how to show up. You can learn how to show up like a pro no matter what gets thrown at you. If this helped you, please share this episode with someone who's still figuring this part out.
Make sure you subscribe to this podcast. Follow me on Instagram, and I will see you inside the membership. Talk to you soon. Bye.
