a makeup business plan

Cosmetic Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Cosmetic Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 500 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their cosmetic companies.

If you’re unfamiliar with creating a cosmetic business plan, you may think creating one will be a time-consuming and frustrating process. For most entrepreneurs it is, but for you, it won’t be since we’re here to help. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a cosmetic business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your cosmetic business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a cosmetic business or grow your existing cosmetic company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your cosmetic business to improve your chances of success. Your cosmetic business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Cosmetic Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a cosmetic business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for cosmetic companies.

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How to write a business plan for a cosmetic business.

If you want to start a cosmetic business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The guide below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your cosmetic business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of cosmetic business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a cosmetic business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of cosmetic businesses?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

• Give a brief overview of the cosmetic industry.
• Discuss the type of cosmetic business you are operating.
• Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
• Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
• Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of cosmetic business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of cosmetic businesses:

• Niche market cosmetics: This type of cosmetic business specializes in one particular segment of cosmetics. For instance, a niche cosmetic business could sell only fragrance-free products, all vegan products, or gluten free products.
• High-end cosmetics: This type of cosmetic business develops and sells premium make-up and skin care products.
• Kids cosmetics: This type of cosmetic business specializes in producing inexpensive play-makeup products for children.
• Beauty blogger/influencer: This type of cosmetic business involves trying out products from different types of cosmetic brands and providing tutorials, reviews, and other helpful information for people who may be interested in the products. Usually, beauty companies will pay the blogger/influencer to sample or endorse their products.
• Make-up Artist: This type of cosmetic business involves providing make-up services for special occasions like weddings or graduation ceremonies.

In addition to explaining the type of cosmetic business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, the number of products sold, and reaching $X amount in revenue, etc.
• Your legal business Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the cosmetic industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the cosmetic industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your cosmetic business plan:

• How big is the cosmetic industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your cosmetic business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your cosmetic business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: individuals, families, and corporations.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of cosmetic business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than corporations, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other cosmetic businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes mass market cosmetic brands and retailers, as well as secondhand cosmetic retailers. You need to mention such competition as well.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What type of cosmetic business are they?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you make it easier for customers to acquire your products?
• Will you offer products or services that your competition doesn’t?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a cosmetic business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of cosmetic company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide premium make-up, skin care products, or esthetician services?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site of your cosmetic company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your cosmetic business located in a busy retail district, a business district, a standalone store, or purely online? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your cosmetic marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
• Reach out to websites
• Distribute flyers
• Engage in email marketing
• Advertise on social media platforms
• Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your cosmetic business, including answering calls, stocking shelves, greeting customers, and collecting payments, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to acquire your Xth customer, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your cosmetic business to a new city.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your cosmetic business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing cosmetic businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a cosmetic business or successfully running a small salon.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you expect to serve 20-30 customers per day, and will each customer purchase 1-5 items on average? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your cosmetic business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a cosmetic business:

• Cost of equipment and supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office location lease or photos of happy customers using your products.  

Writing a business plan for your cosmetic business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, you will be able to prepare a winning beauty product business plan, makeup business plan or a business plan for a cosmetic company. You will understand the cosmetic industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful cosmetic business.  

Cosmetic Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my cosmetic business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily write your cosmetic business plan.

How Do You Start a Cosmetic Business?

Starting a cosmetic business is easy with these 14 steps:

• Choose the Name for Your Cosmetic Business
• Create Your Cosmetic Business Plan
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your Cosmetic Business
• Secure Startup Funding for Cosmetic Business (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your Cosmetic Business with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your Cosmetic Business
• Buy or Lease the Right Cosmetic Business Equipment
• Develop Your Cosmetic Business Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Cosmetic Business
• Open for Business

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Makeup Business

Back to All Business Ideas

How to Start a Makeup Business

Written by: Howard Tillerman

Howard Tillerman is the Chief Marketing Officer for Step By Step Business and an award-winning marketing professional.

Edited by: David Lepeska

David has been writing and learning about business, finance and globalization for a quarter-century, starting with a small New York consulting firm in the 1990s.

Published on September 24, 2021 Updated on March 13, 2024

Investment range

$10,000 - $28,000

Revenue potential

$60,000 - $600,000 p.a.

Time to build

Profit potential

$45,000 - $200,000 p.a.

Industry trend

If you’re a beautician or have always wanted to help people look their best, starting a makeup business could be a great fit for you. The beauty industry is nearly a $50 billion market in the US and you could get in on the action and make a good living. 

Of course, getting started won’t be easy — you’ll need to work hard and gather the necessary information. Lucky for you, this step-by-step guide lays out all you need to know to develop and launch a beautiful business.  

Looking to register your business? A limited liability company (LLC) is the best legal structure for new businesses because it is fast and simple.

Form your business immediately using ZenBusiness LLC formation service or hire one of the Best LLC Services .

Step 1: Decide if the Business Is Right for You

Not everyone is cut out to be a beauty entrepreneur. So, the first step is to understand the makeup industry dynamics inside out. Start by evaluating the following factors:

Pros and cons 

Launching a makeup business has its upside and downsides. By assessing each side of the coin, you can decide if pursuing the idea is worth your time and effort.

Below is a rundown of some pros and cons of this business:

• Grow into a major beauty brand
• Ingredients are readily available
• Great potential to diversify products
• Establishing a beauty brand takes time
• High startup costs

Makeup industry trends 

Cosmetics is the 3rd largest segment in the US beauty industry, with nearly 15% market share, and the global beauty market is worth half a trillion dollars.(( https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/employment/cosmetic-beauty-products-manufacturing-united-states/ ))

As of early 2022, makeup trends include lip contouring, fluffy eyebrows, more gentle skin creams, all-natural products, and more colorful, high-impact eye makeup.  

Industry size and growth 

• Industry size and past growth – Makeup products represent 16% of the global cosmetics market value, which was estimated at $81 billion.(( https://www.statista.com/topics/3137/cosmetics-industry/ )) The US cosmetics industry is valued at $18 billion, after a strong 22% growth in 2021 and an average annual growth of 3% since 2017.(( https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/beauty-personal-care/cosmetics/united-states )) 
• Growth forecast – The US cosmetics industry is expected to grow 5% annually through 2026.
• Number of businesses – There are more than 4,000 cosmetics and beauty products manufacturing businesses in the US.(( https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/number-of-businesses/cosmetic-beauty-products-manufacturing-united-states/ )) 
• Number of people employed – The industry employs around 56,000 people.

Trends and challenges

Trends shaping the makeup industry include:

• Ingredient transparency
• Use of all-natural and sustainable ingredients
• Consumer preference for handy and easy-to-use makeup

Challenges in the makeup industry include:

• Maintaining product quality
• Supply chain issues

How much does it cost to start a makeup business?

You’ll need at least $10,000 to start a makeup business, and could spend as much as $28,000. Your big expenses will be inventory, building a website, and marketing. You should also expect to spend good money on research and producing the first batch of products. 

How much can you earn from a makeup business?

The cosmetic industry is comfortable with markups as high as 400% on retail sales, one of the highest in any industry. Products that cost $1.50 to make will sell to customers for $6, giving you a profit margin of 75%.  

A small, home-based makeup business can expect to sell 10,000 units per year. These sales will generate $60,000 in revenue and a profit of about $45,000. As your business grows and production capacity increases, you can expect to sell 100,000 units per year and generate $600,000 in revenue. But you’d need to hire staff and open a production facility, cutting your margin down to just over 30%. You’d still make a tidy profit of $200,000.

What barriers to entry are there?

Barriers to entry in the cosmetic industry include strict regulation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food and Cosmetics Act. Your products will need to meet the safety requirements of these two regulatory authorities, and at the start, you may have a hard time clearing their hurdles in terms of ingredients and testing.  

The second barrier to entry is cutthroat competition. The market is awash with makeup products, making it hard to make inroads and establish a new beauty brand.

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Step 2: hone your idea.

You now have an overview of the makeup industry. The next step is to refine your vision in preparation to enter a competitive market. 

Market research will give you the upper hand, even if you’re already positive that you have a perfect product or service. Conducting market research is important, because it can help you understand your customers better, who your competitors are, and your business landscape.

Why? Identify an opportunity

Even on a budget, you can launch a makeup business, manufacture at home and sell online. Joanna and Leslie are perfect examples of entrepreneurs who started small and turned Vive Cosmetics into a multi-million dollar company.

Research other makeup companies to examine their products, price points, and customer reviews, and to see what sells best. You’re looking for a market gap to fill. For instance, maybe there’s no company out there focusing only on eye makeup or all-natural skin creams. 

You might consider targeting a niche market by specializing in a certain aspect of your industry, such as lipstick or eyelashes.

This could jumpstart your word-of-mouth marketing and attract clients right away. 

What? Determine your products or services 

One of the essential phases of starting any business is deciding what you will sell. Ideally, you want to offer unique products and services. That way, you can stand out from your competition and attract the right customers. 

For a makeup business, some products you can sell include:

• Face powder
• Highlighter
• Rouge or blush
• Contour powder/ cream
• Lip liner pencil
• Eyebrow pencil/powder
• Setting spray 

How much should you charge for makeup products?

Your prices will vary depending on production costs, product type, and your target profit margin. Most makeup items cost from $6 to $10, and it’s important to be competitive. 

Once you know your costs, you can use this Step By Step profit margin calculator to determine your markup and final price point. Remember, the price you use at launch should be subject to change if warranted by the market.

Who? Identify your target market 

Your target market will be determined by your level of luxury. If you offer more affordable makeup products, you should target younger women, who might be found on TikTok and Instagram. If you go for more of a high-end look, your target market will be established professional women you could find on Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Where? Choose your business premises 

In the early stages, you may want to run your business from home to keep costs low. But as your business grows, you’ll want to rent out a shop and production facility. Find commercial space to rent in your area on sites such as Craigslist , Crexi , and Instant Offices .

When choosing a commercial space, you may want to follow these rules of thumb:

• Central location accessible via public transport
• Ventilated and spacious, with good natural light
• Flexible lease that can be extended as your business grows
• Ready-to-use space with no major renovations or repairs needed

Step 3: Brainstorm a Makeup and Beauty Business Name

Your business name is your business identity, so choose one that encapsulates your objectives, services, and mission in just a few words. You probably want a name that’s short and easy to remember, since much of your business, and your initial business in particular, will come from word-of-mouth referrals.

Here are some ideas for brainstorming your business name:

• Short, unique, and catchy names tend to stand out
• Names that are easy to say and spell tend to do better 
• Name should be relevant to your product or service offerings
• Ask around — family, friends, colleagues, social media — for suggestions
• Including keywords, such as “beauty” or “cosmetics”, boosts SEO
• Name should allow for expansion, for ex: “Flawless Beauty Co.” over “Bridal Beauty Co.”
• Avoid location-based names that might hinder future expansion
• Use online tools like the Step by Step Business Name Generator . Just type in a few keywords and hit “generate” and you’ll have dozens of suggestions at your fingertips.

Once you’ve got a list of potential names, visit the website of the US Patent and Trademark Office to make sure they are available for registration and check the availability of related domain names using our Domain Name Search tool. Using “.com” or “.org” sharply increases credibility, so it’s best to focus on these. 

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Finally, make your choice among the names that pass this screening and go ahead with domain registration and social media account creation. Your business name is one of the key differentiators that set your business apart. Once you pick your company name and start with the branding, it is hard to change the business name. Therefore, it’s important to carefully consider your choice before you start a business entity.

Step 4: Create a Cosmetic Business Plan

Every business needs a plan. This will function as a guidebook to take your startup through the launch process and maintain focus on your key goals. A business plan also enables potential partners and investors to better understand your company and its vision:

• Executive Summary: A brief summary of your business plan, highlighting the key points and objectives of your business.
• Business Overview: An introduction to your business, including its mission, vision, and a brief history or background information.
• Product and Services: Detailed descriptions of the products or services your business will offer, including their features and benefits.
• Market Analysis: An examination of the market you’ll operate in, including the size, trends, and potential customers.
• Competitive Analysis: An evaluation of your competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and how your business will differentiate itself.
• Sales and Marketing: Your strategy for reaching and attracting customers, including sales tactics, advertising, and promotional plans.
• Management Team: Information about the key individuals in your business, their roles, and their relevant experience.
• Operations Plan: Details about how your business will run day-to-day, including location, facilities, equipment, and processes.
• Financial Plan: Projections for your business’s financial performance, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow forecasts.
• Appendix: Supplementary information that supports and complements the rest of the business plan, such as resumes, legal documents, or additional data.

If you’ve never created a business plan, it can be an intimidating task. You might consider finding and hiring a business plan specialist to create a top-notch business plan for you.

Step 5: Register Your Business

Registering your business is an absolutely crucial step — it’s the prerequisite to paying taxes, raising capital, opening a bank account, and other guideposts on the road to getting a business up and running.

Plus, registration is exciting because it makes the entire process official. Once it’s complete, you’ll have your own business! 

Choose where to register your company

Your business location is important because it can affect taxes, legal requirements, and revenue. Most people will register their business in the state where they live, but if you are planning to expand, you might consider looking elsewhere, as some states could offer real advantages when it comes to makeup. 

If you’re willing to move, you could really maximize your business! Keep in mind, it’s relatively easy to transfer your business to another state. 

Choose your business structure

Business entities come in several varieties, each with its pros and cons. The legal structure you choose for your makeup business will shape your taxes, personal liability, and business registration requirements, so choose wisely. 

Here are the main options:

• Sole Proprietorship – The most common structure for small businesses makes no legal distinction between company and owner. All income goes to the owner, who’s also liable for any debts, losses, or liabilities incurred by the business. The owner pays taxes on business income on his or her personal tax return.
• Partnership – Similar to a sole proprietorship, but for two or more people. Again, owners keep the profits and are liable for losses. The partners pay taxes on their share of business income on their personal tax returns.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC) – Combines the characteristics of corporations with those of sole proprietorships or partnerships. Again, the owners are not personally liable for debts.
• C Corp – Under this structure, the business is a distinct legal entity and the owner or owners are not personally liable for its debts. Owners take profits through shareholder dividends, rather than directly. The corporation pays taxes, and owners pay taxes on their dividends, which is sometimes referred to as double taxation.
• S Corp – An S-Corporation refers to the tax classification of the business but is not a business entity. An S-Corp can be either a corporation or an LLC , which just needs to elect to be an S-Corp for tax status. In an S-Corp, income is passed through directly to shareholders, who pay taxes on their share of business income on their personal tax returns.

We recommend that new business owners choose LLC as it offers liability protection and pass-through taxation while being simpler to form than a corporation. You can form an LLC in as little as five minutes using an online LLC formation service. They will check that your business name is available before filing, submit your articles of organization , and answer any questions you might have.

Form Your LLC

Choose Your State

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Step 6: Register for Taxes

The final step before you’re able to pay taxes is getting an Employer Identification Number , or EIN. You can file for your EIN online or by mail or fax: visit the IRS website to learn more. Keep in mind, if you’ve chosen to be a sole proprietorship you can simply use your social security number as your EIN. 

Once you have your EIN, you’ll need to choose your tax year. Financially speaking, your business will operate in a calendar year (January–December) or a fiscal year, a 12-month period that can start in any month. This will determine your tax cycle, while your business structure will determine which taxes you’ll pay.

The IRS website also offers a tax-payers checklist , and taxes can be filed online.

It is important to consult an accountant or other professional to help you with your taxes to ensure you are completing them correctly.

Step 7: Fund your Business

Securing financing is your next step and there are plenty of ways to raise capital:

• Bank loans: This is the most common method but getting approved requires a rock-solid business plan and strong credit history.
• SBA-guaranteed loans: The Small Business Administration can act as guarantor, helping gain that elusive bank approval via an SBA-guaranteed loan .
• Government grants: A handful of financial assistance programs help fund entrepreneurs. Visit Grants.gov to learn which might work for you.
• Friends and Family: Reach out to friends and family to provide a business loan or investment in your concept. It’s a good idea to have legal advice when doing so because SEC regulations apply.
• Crowdfunding: Websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo offer an increasingly popular low-risk option, in which donors fund your vision. Entrepreneurial crowdfunding sites like Fundable and WeFunder enable multiple investors to fund your business.
• Personal: Self-fund your business via your savings or the sale of property or other assets.

Bank and SBA loans are probably the best options, other than friends and family, for funding a makeup business. You might also try crowdfunding if you have an innovative concept.  

Step 8: Apply for Business Licenses and Permits

Starting a makeup business requires obtaining a number of licenses and permits from local, state, and federal governments.

Federal regulations, licenses, and permits associated with starting your business include doing business as, health license and permit from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ( OSHA ), trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other intellectual properties, as well as industry-specific licenses and permits. 

For a makeup business, you will need the following licenses and permits:

• A cosmetology license if you plan to apply makeup to your customers 
• Manufacturer license if you intend to develop your own makeup line 
• Esthetician license if you want to offer skin care services

You can read this FDA fact sheet for more insights on cosmetic industry regulations.

You may also need state-level and local county or city-based licenses and permits. The license requirements and how to obtain them vary, so check the websites of your state, city, and county governments or contact the appropriate person to learn more. 

You could also check this SBA guide for your state’s requirements, but we recommend using MyCorporation’s Business License Compliance Package . They will research the exact forms you need for your business and state and provide them to ensure you’re fully compliant.

This is not a step to be taken lightly, as failing to comply with legal requirements can result in hefty penalties.

If you feel overwhelmed by this step or don’t know how to begin, it might be a good idea to hire a professional to help you check all the legal boxes.

Step 9: Open a Business Bank Account

Before you start making money, you’ll need a place to keep it, and that requires opening a bank account .

Keeping your business finances separate from your personal account makes it easy to file taxes and track your company’s income, so it’s worth doing even if you’re running your makeup business as a sole proprietorship. Opening a business bank account is quite simple, and similar to opening a personal one. Most major banks offer accounts tailored for businesses — just inquire at your preferred bank to learn about their rates and features.

Banks vary in terms of offerings, so it’s a good idea to examine your options and select the best plan for you. Once you choose your bank, bring in your EIN (or Social Security Number if you decide on a sole proprietorship), articles of incorporation, and other legal documents and open your new account. 

Step 10: Get Business Insurance 

Business insurance is an area that often gets overlooked yet it can be vital to your success as an entrepreneur. Insurance protects you from unexpected events that can have a devastating impact on your business.

Here are some types of insurance to consider:

• General liability: The most comprehensive type of insurance, acting as a catch-all for many business elements that require coverage. If you get just one kind of insurance, this is it. It even protects against bodily injury and property damage.
• Business Property: Provides coverage for your equipment and supplies.
• Equipment Breakdown Insurance: Covers the cost of replacing or repairing equipment that has broken due to mechanical issues.
• Worker’s compensation: Provides compensation to employees injured on the job.
• Property: Covers your physical space, whether it is a cart, storefront, or office.
• Commercial auto: Protection for your company-owned vehicle.
• Professional liability: Protects against claims from a client who says they suffered a loss due to an error or omission in your work.
• Business owner’s policy (BOP): This is an insurance plan that acts as an all-in-one insurance policy, a combination of any of the above insurance types.

Step 11: Prepare to Launch 

As opening day nears, prepare for launch by reviewing and improving some key elements of your business. 

Essential software and tools

Being an entrepreneur often means wearing many hats, from marketing to sales to accounting, which can be overwhelming. Fortunately, many websites and digital tools are available to help simplify many business tasks.

You may want to use industry-specific software like Cosmetic Product Manager , BatchMaster , or ProcessPro to manage formulation, R&D, compliance, manufacturing, inventory, and sales. 

• Popular web-based accounting programs for smaller businesses include Quickbooks , Freshbooks , and Xero . 
• If you’re unfamiliar with basic accounting, you may want to hire a professional, especially as you begin. The consequences for filing incorrect tax documents can be harsh, so accuracy is crucial. 

Develop your website

Website development is crucial because your site is your online presence and needs to convince prospective clients of your expertise and professionalism.

You can create your own website using website builders . This route is very affordable, but figuring out how to build a website can be time-consuming. If you lack tech-savvy, you can hire a web designer or developer to create a custom website for your business.

They are unlikely to find your website, however, unless you follow Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) practices. These are steps that help pages rank higher in the results of top search engines like Google. 

For your makeup business, the marketing strategy should focus on showcasing the quality, variety, and uniqueness of your products. Emphasize the differentiating aspects, such as cruelty-free production, organic ingredients, or a diverse color palette that caters to all skin tones. Here are some powerful marketing strategies for your future business:

Kickstart Marketing

• Professional Branding : Your branding should reflect beauty, inclusivity, and quality. This includes an attractive logo, well-designed packaging, and a professional website.
• Direct Outreach : Connect with beauty influencers, makeup artists, and bloggers. Send them product samples for reviews and endorsements.

Digital Presence and Online Marketing

• Professional Website and SEO : Develop an e-commerce website showcasing your makeup products with high-quality images and descriptions. Optimize your site for SEO to rank for searches related to beauty products, cosmetics, and your specific product lines.
• Social Media Engagement : Utilize platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where visual content is king. Share tutorials, product launches, and customer reviews. Engage actively with your audience.

Content Marketing and Engagement

• Beauty Blog : Share blog posts about makeup tips, trends, and tutorials. Include posts about the unique aspects of your products and how to use them.
• Email Newsletters : Keep subscribers informed about new product launches, makeup tips, and special offers.
• Video Content : Create engaging tutorials, behind-the-scenes looks at product development, and customer testimonials.

Experiential and In-Person Engagements

• Pop-Up Shops and Makeup Events : Organize or participate in pop-up shops and beauty events to showcase your products and offer live demonstrations.
• Collaborations with Beauty Salons and Spas : Partner with local salons and spas to feature your products, offering customers a firsthand experience.

Collaborations and Community

• Collaborations with Influencers : Partner with beauty influencers to create product lines or promote your brand to a broader audience.
• Community Workshops : Host makeup workshops or classes, which can be a platform for product promotion and direct customer engagement.

Customer Relationship and Loyalty Programs

• Loyalty Program : Implement a program offering rewards, discounts, or exclusive access to new products for repeat customers.
• Referral Incentives : Encourage word-of-mouth marketing by offering incentives for customers who refer friends.

Promotions and Advertising

• Targeted Online Advertising : Use digital platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for targeted advertising campaigns.
• Seasonal Promotions : Align your marketing campaigns with seasons, holidays, or events like fashion weeks.

Focus on USPs

Unique selling propositions, or USPs, are the characteristics of a product or service that sets it apart from the competition. Customers today are inundated with buying options, so you’ll have a real advantage if they are able to quickly grasp how your makeup meets their needs or wishes. It’s wise to do all you can to ensure your USPs stand out on your website and in your marketing and promotional materials, stimulating buyer desire. 

Global pizza chain Domino’s is renowned for its USP: “Hot pizza in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.” Signature USPs for your makeup business could be:  

• The most colors you’ve ever seen
• All-natural makeup for all-natural you 
• Luxury makeup at discount prices 

You may not like to network or use personal connections for business gain. But your personal and professional networks likely offer considerable untapped business potential. Maybe that Facebook friend you met in college is now running a makeup business, or a LinkedIn contact of yours is connected to dozens of potential clients. Maybe your cousin or neighbor has been working in makeup for years and can offer invaluable insight and industry connections. 

The possibilities are endless, so it’s a good idea to review your personal and professional networks and reach out to those with possible links to or interest in makeup. You’ll probably generate new customers or find companies with which you could establish a partnership. Online businesses might also consider affiliate marketing as a way to build relationships with potential partners and boost business. 

Step 12: Build Your Team

If you’re starting out small from a home office, you may not need any employees. But as your business grows, you will likely need workers to fill various roles. Potential positions for a makeup business would include:

• Sales Lead — Selling your products to retail outlets, customers 
• Marketing Lead — SEO strategies, social media, etc.
• Safety and Compliance Manager — Ensuring compliance with federal standards 
• General Manager — Hiring and firing, inventory and maintenance  

At some point, you may need to hire all of these positions or simply a few, depending on the size and needs of your business. You might also hire multiple workers for a single role or a single worker for multiple roles, again depending on need. 

Free-of-charge methods to recruit employees include posting ads on popular platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Jobs.com. You might also consider a premium recruitment option, such as advertising on Indeed , Glassdoor , or ZipRecruiter . Further, if you have the resources, you could consider hiring a recruitment agency to help you find talent. 

Step 13: Run a Makeup Business – Start Making Money!

Congratulations. You’re now ready to begin your entrepreneurial journey into cosmetics and beauty!

Now’s as good a time as any to make an investment and take some risks because the makeup industry is growing. Even in this age of virtual meetings and webinars, people still apply eyeliner, swipe blush on their cheeks, and put on lipstick before attending virtual events. As more people return to the office with the lifting of pandemic restrictions, makeup sales are expected to increase further. So, what are you waiting for? Take that first step now and start making money! 

• Makeup Business FAQs

The first step to starting a makeup business is learning and understanding the FDA regulations. Also, learn how to manufacture the products you want to sell. You will then want to determine your target customers and lay down your marketing strategies.

Yes, it is. In fact, the makeup business has one of the highest markups of any industry. With margins of up to 80 percent, you can generate a net profit of 30 to 65 percent based on the size of your business.

You can use the cost-plus method to price your makeup product. The strategy involves estimating the cost of production and adding a markup that can take care of your expenses and leave you with a reasonable profit. It would be best to consider what your competitors are charging to ensure that you’re within the industry standards when pricing your products.

It is not entirely possible to start a makeup business with no money. The best approach would be to start small. With $5,000 to $10,000, you can get your business up and running. Look for startup capital from angel investors, family, and friends or crowdfunding platforms such as Wefunder .

Starting a makeup business from home is possible with careful consideration of local regulations and licensing requirements. Building a strong professional presence is crucial.

Develop a portfolio showcasing your best work and create a dedicated website or social media profiles to showcase your skills. Offering makeup trials or demonstrations can allow potential clients to experience your services firsthand. Seek testimonials and reviews from satisfied clients to build trust and credibility.

Collaborate with other beauty industry professionals to expand your network and gain referrals. Attend industry events and bridal shows to showcase your skills and make valuable connections. Building a referral network, offering special promotions, and collaborating with influencers can help attract clients. Leveraging social media and networking with wedding vendors can also yield positive results in gaining clients for your makeup business.

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• Decide if the Business Is Right for You
• Hone Your Idea
• Brainstorm a Makeup and Beauty Business Name
• Create a Cosmetic Business Plan
• Register Your Business
• Register for Taxes
• Fund your Business
• Apply for Business Licenses and Permits
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get Business Insurance 
• Prepare to Launch 
• Build Your Team
• Run a Makeup Business - Start Making Money!

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How to Start a Makeup Business in the US: A Step-By-Step Guide

• Businesses/Owners

Starting a makeup business in the US can be a rewarding and fulfilling journey, but it also requires careful planning and strategic decision-making. At Booksy, we believe in providing entrepreneurs with the tools and resources they need to succeed. In this guide, we'll provide an overview of the key steps in launching a makeup business , from creating a business plan to building your brand and reaching your target audience. Whether you're an experienced makeup artist or a beauty industry newcomer, this guide will provide valuable insights and practical tips to help you achieve your goals. So, let's dive into the world of beauty entrepreneurship and discover how to make your makeup business a success!

Grasping the Makeup Industry Landscape  

The makeup industry is a dynamic and multifaceted world, and understanding its complexities is crucial for building a successful business. From the latest trends to changing consumer preferences, staying informed and agile is essential.   

Keeping Up with Makeup Trends and Consumer Behavior

Understanding trends and consumer behavior nowadays is key for entrepreneurs looking to succeed in the beauty industry. By understanding what consumers want and what's popular in the market, you can make informed decisions about your product offerings, marketing strategies, and overall business direction. Here are some reasons why it's important to stay up-to-date on makeup trends: 

Stay Relevant and Competitive

The beauty industry is highly competitive, and trends change rapidly. By keeping up with the latest developments, you can ensure your products or services remain relevant and attractive to your target audience. This can help you stand out in a crowded market and gain a competitive edge.

Identify New Opportunities

Keeping up with trends can help you identify new growth opportunities. Whether it's an emerging trend in clean beauty, sustainable packaging, or innovative product formulations, staying informed can inspire new ideas and directions for your business and tackle that niche of clients who are looking for businesses that offer you the first on the list.

Understand Consumer Behavior

Tracking makeup trends can provide valuable insights into consumer behavior and preferences, allowing entrepreneurs to adjust their marketing strategies and product offerings to better meet the needs and desires of their target audience. In today's digital age, social media has become a powerful tool for monitoring trends and engaging with consumers. Platforms like TikTok , with its massive Gen Z user base , have become go-to destinations for discovering new makeup looks , reviewing products , and sharing tutorials .  By actively participating in these online communities and leveraging social media to share content related to your makeup products or services, you can attract new customers and build a loyal following. For example, you could create short videos showcasing your products in action, share tips and tricks for achieving popular makeup looks, or collaborate with influencers and content creators to reach new audiences. By staying active and engaged on social media , you can not only keep up with the latest trends but also become a trusted and influential voice in the beauty community. This can help differentiate your brand, build a strong reputation, and drive long-term success in the competitive makeup industry.

Look for gaps in the current market offerings and consider how you could fill those gaps with new products or services . Are there any emerging trends that are not yet well-represented in the market? Are there any unmet needs or desires among consumers that you could address?

Identifying Your Makeup Business Niche

In a crowded makeup market, specialization can be a powerful way to differentiate your brand , connect with a dedicated customer base, and build a strong reputation. Whether you're interested in natural and organic products, specialize in bridal makeup, or offer special effects services, identifying your niche is crucial for standing out and building a successful business. Here are some reasons why specialization is important in the makeup industry:

1. Differentiate Your Brand

By specializing in a particular area of the makeup industry, you can create a unique brand identity and stand out in a crowded market. Whether you focus on a specific type of product, a particular demographic, or a unique style or technique, specialization can help you build a distinct and memorable brand.

2. Build Expertise

Specialization allows you to build deep expertise in a particular area of the makeup industry, which can enhance your credibility and reputation. Whether you become known for your exceptional skills in bridal makeup, your expertise in natural and organic products, or your innovative special effects techniques, specialization can help you establish yourself as a leader in your field.

3. Connect with a Target Audience

By focusing on a specific niche, you can build strong connections with a dedicated customer base that shares your interests and values. A niche is a specific group of customers that a business focuses on. It's like a special area that the business is good at, and that makes it different from other businesses.

This can lead to repeat business, word-of-mouth referrals, and a loyal community of supporters who champion your brand.

4. Streamline Your Operations

Specialization can also simplify your operations by allowing you to focus on a specific area of expertise, streamlining your product offerings, and optimizing your marketing and sales strategies. This can help you work more efficiently, reduce costs, and increase profitability.

An online booking software like Booksy can be valuable tools for streamlining your operations and optimizing your scheduling, booking, and customer management processes. By leveraging technology and automation, you can save time, reduce errors, and provide a seamless customer experience, ultimately supporting your niche specialization strategy and enhancing your overall success

Essential Requirements to Start a Makeup Artist Business

• Essential Skills and Training: Ensure you have the necessary makeup artistry skills and consider obtaining professional training or certification from a reputable institution to enhance your credibility and expertise.  
• High-Quality Tools : Invest in a comprehensive professional makeup kit with a wide range of high-quality products to cater to different skin tones, types, and preferences. Include essential tools, brushes, and sanitation supplies to ensure a safe and hygienic experience for your clients.  
• Comprehensive Business Plan : Develop a detailed business plan that outlines your services, target market, pricing strategy, and financial projections. This roadmap can also assist in securing funding or support if needed, so be sure to research and comply with legal and regulatory requirements for operating a makeup business in your area.  
• Strong Branding and Marketing Strategy : Establish a strong brand identity, including a memorable business name, logo, and visual aesthetic. Develop a comprehensive marketing strategy that utilizes both online and offline channels to reach your target audience and effectively promote your services.  
• Legal Compliance : Register your business, choose a suitable structure (like LLC), and obtain any required licenses or permits. Also, get liability insurance to protect against potential claims.  
• Portfolio Development : Build a portfolio showcasing your makeup work. This could include before-and-after photos, testimonials, and diverse styles. An online portfolio or social media profiles dedicated to your work can be very effective.  
• Networking and Relationship Building: Connect with local photographers, event planners, and bridal shops to build a referral network. Establishing good relationships within the beauty industry can lead to client referrals and collaborations.  
• Continuous Education : The makeup industry is continually evolving. Keep up with the latest trends, techniques, and products through workshops, online courses, and industry events. Workspace: Decide if you'll work from a home studio, travel to clients' locations, or rent a space. Your workspace needs will depend on your business model and target clientele.  
• Workspace: Decide if you'll work from a home studio, travel to clients' locations, or rent a space. Your workspace needs will depend on your business model and target clientele.  
• Customer Service Skills : Excellent customer service is vital. Be professional, punctual, and attentive to client needs to build a loyal customer base and positive reputation.

Launching a successful makeup artist business demands a unique blend of artistic talent, business know-how, and strategic planning. 

Developing a Makeup Business Plan  

As you embark on your makeup business journey,  taking the time to carefully consider each aspect of your plan, you'll increase your chances of success and gain a deeper understanding of the market, your target audience, and your competition. Your business plan should include key elements such as a 

• Mission statement
• Market analysis 
• Marketing strategy
•  Operational plan
• Financial projections

As you develop your plan, be sure to seek feedback and advice from experts or mentors in the industry to ensure that you're on the right track.

Service-Oriented Business Plan

Whenever you're starting a business it's essential to have a clear plan in place that outlines your service offerings, target audience, pricing strategy, and operational plan. Your plan should also include strategies for building a strong client base through effective marketing and networking. As you develop your plan, consider potential challenges and opportunities associated with running a service-based business, such as managing client expectations, scheduling appointments, and maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. Seek feedback and advice from industry experts or mentors to ensure that your plan is comprehensive and realistic. With a well-crafted business plan in hand, you'll be well-positioned to launch your makeup services business and achieve success.   

Financial Planning and Budgeting

As you begin the process of launching a makeup business, financial planning and budgeting are critical steps . This plan should account for startup costs, such as makeup supplies, marketing expenses, and any necessary licenses or permits. Additionally, carefully consider your pricing strategy and develop realistic revenue projections based on market research and a thorough understanding of your target audience. A well-crafted financial plan will not only serve as a compass for your business but will also be essential in securing any necessary funding or investments. As you navigate the financial aspects of your makeup business, remember to stay true to your vision while keeping a watchful eye on the horizon of financial stability.

Here are some important things to keep in mind while crafting your financial planning and budgeting: 

• Accurately estimating startup costs, including supplies, equipment, and any necessary licenses or permits
• Researching and understanding the competitive landscape and pricing strategies of other makeup businesses in the market
• Setting realistic revenue projections based on the target audience, market demand, and pricing strategies
• Developing a budget that allocates funds for ongoing expenses, such as marketing, advertising, and operational costs  

Legalities and Compliance in the Makeup Business

No matter the industry you’re in, it's important to ensure that your business is operating in compliance with legal requirements. This helps to protect both you and your clients, and can also give you peace of mind as you focus on growing your business. Research the laws and regulations that apply to your business, such as health and safety standards, product labeling requirements, and any licensing or certification requirements.

Asking Google it’s a great idea for quick answers, but it’s not tailored for everyone and might come with side risks when completely relying on it. Consult with a legal professional if necessary to ensure that you are fully compliant. Remember, taking the time to understand and comply with legal requirements can save you time, money, and headaches in the long run, and allow you to focus on what you do best - creating stunning makeup looks!

Choosing a Location for Your Makeup Business

Selecting the right location for your makeup business can be a critical factor in its success. Whether you're considering a retail space, a studio, or a combination of the two, carefully weigh your options to ensure that the location is both practical and aesthetically pleasing. Consider factors such as visibility, accessibility, parking availability, and proximity to your target audience. Think about your client's needs and preferences, and strive to choose a location that will be convenient and inviting for them. Also, take into account your personal preferences and vision for your business. Whether you prefer a chic studio in the heart of a bustling city or a quaint storefront in a charming neighborhood, make sure the location aligns with your overall goals and values. Remember, the right location can be a powerful catalyst for success in your makeup business!  

Designing an Appealing Makeup Space or Website

Your makeup space or website can have a significant impact on the customer experience. Whether you're designing a physical space or a digital one, strive to create a welcoming and inviting atmosphere that reflects your brand's personality and values. Pay attention to details such as lighting, color scheme, decor, and layout, all of which can influence customer perception and engagement. Consider incorporating elements that enhance the customer experience, such as comfortable seating, soothing music, or engaging visuals. For your website, prioritize user-friendliness and ensure that it is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and optimized for search engines. Remember, creating a memorable and inviting makeup space or website can be a powerful way to differentiate your brand, attract new customers, and foster repeat business.

Creating a Memorable Customer Experience

Your customers are the heart of your business, and providing them with a memorable and positive experience is essential to building a loyal clientele. Focus on building genuine connections with your customers, taking the time to understand their needs and preferences, and exceeding their expectations at every turn. Prioritize excellent customer service, offering prompt and friendly assistance, and addressing any concerns or issues professionally and effectively.

Consider offering added value such as personalized recommendations, exclusive offers, or loyalty programs to foster long-term relationships with your customers. Additionally, seek feedback and actively incorporate it into your business practices to continuously improve and exceed your customers' expectations. By prioritizing a customer-centric approach, you can build a loyal following and establish a reputation for excellence in the makeup industry.

Building Your Makeup Brand  

Crafting a strong brand identity.

Your brand should be unique, authentic, and consistent across all touchpoints, from your logo and packaging to your website and social media presence. Consider your brand's values, personality, and target audience as you craft a distinctive visual identity, voice, and messaging. Incorporate these elements into your marketing and communication strategies to create a cohesive and memorable brand experience. 

• Establish your brand's values : For example, if you prioritize sustainability, use eco-friendly packaging materials and donate a portion of your profits to environmental causes.
• Define your brand's personality : For instance, if you want to be known for fun, quirky makeup looks, create social media content that showcases your playful and creative side.
• Consistently use your brand's visual identity: Use your logo and color scheme consistently across all marketing materials, from business cards to your website.

By investing in a strong and distinctive brand identity, you can build credibility, foster trust, and drive business growth in the long term.

Marketing and Promoting Your Makeup Business

As a makeup business owner, you know that marketing is the fuel that powers growth and attracts customers. With an abundance of channels and tools available, it's important to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy that aligns with your brand and resonates with your target audience. From establishing an online presence to partnering with influencers, there are countless ways to promote your business and generate buzz.

Establishing an Online Presence and Utilizing Social Media

One key element of your marketing strategy should be establishing a strong online presence. This means creating a professional and user-friendly website, optimizing it for search engines, and engaging with customers through social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. Additionally, utilizing tools like scheduling and booking software can help streamline your business operations, improve customer experience, and enhance your overall marketing strategy. 

By leveraging technologies, you can effectively manage appointments, reduce no-shows, and build a loyal clientele, which can contribute to the growth and success of your makeup business.  

Launching Your Makeup Business

As you prepare to take your makeup business to new heights, crafting a memorable launch is paramount. Whether you opt for a grand in-person event or a sleek virtual affair, think big and think bold. Grab the spotlight with live makeup demonstrations, invite influencers to add some star power, and entice customers with exclusive deals and promotions. To build momentum, consider offering introductory specials or loyalty programs to attract new clients and keep them coming back. Word-of-mouth promotion can be a powerful tool, so incentivize your satisfied customers to spread the word by offering referral discounts. With a little creativity and strategic planning, you can create a buzz around your launch and kickstart your makeup business with a bang!

Cost Considerations in Starting a Makeup Business

Understanding the financial requirements is crucial for a successful makeup business launch. The cost to start a makeup business varies based on several factors, including the scale of the business, location, and business model. Initial expenses typically include product inventory, legal fees for business registration, insurance, marketing, and website development for online presence.  So here’s a small summary of things to keep in consideration when starting a makeup business

• Product inventory : Investing in high-quality makeup products is crucial to providing your clients with a top-notch experience.  
• Legal fees : There may be legal costs associated with registering your business, obtaining licenses or permits, and consulting with a lawyer to ensure compliance with local laws and regulations.  
• Insurance: Consider purchasing insurance to protect your business against potential risks and liabilities.  
• Marketing : Investing in marketing efforts such as social media advertising, influencer partnerships, or local events can help build brand awareness and attract new customers.  
• Website development: Having a professional website can help establish your online presence and make it easy for customers to find and book your services.

Starting a makeup business in the US can be a thrilling journey filled with creativity, strategy, and a deep understanding of the multifaceted beauty industry. By following this comprehensive guide, you've equipped yourself with the tools to build a brand that stands out, serves your client's needs, and establishes a solid presence in the competitive makeup marketplace. 

Remember, success in this industry requires a persistent drive to learn , adapt , and innovate , as well as a commitment to providing exceptional customer experiences that keep clients coming back. With passion, dedication, and the insights gained from this guide, you can turn your dreams of a thriving makeup business into a reality!

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Cosmetic Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Cosmetic Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your cosmetic business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their cosmetic companies.

Below is a a sample cosmetic business plan to help you create your own cosmetic company business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Guilt-Free Glow is a cosmetics shop located in Spokane, Washington. The company’s mission is to provide customers with high-quality, cruelty-free cosmetics. We want our customers to look and feel their best without feeling guilty about the harm cosmetics do to the environment and animals. Therefore, the shop will sell a wide variety of vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics for people all over the world to enjoy. Some of these products include makeup, moisturizers, and hair care products.

The company is founded by Kiera Smith, who has been a vegan beauty vlogger for five years. During that time, she has amassed 500,000 followers through her beauty vlogs. She has always been committed to finding products that are vegan and cruelty-free. Now that she has gained popularity on Youtube, she is eager to start her own cosmetics line. She will offer an online shop for her followers around the world but also start a shop in downtown Spokane for local residents.

Products Served

The following are some of the vegan, cruelty-free products sold by Guilt-Free Glow:

• Makeup tools and brushes
• Shampoo and conditioner
• Moisturizers

Customer Focus

Guilt-Free Glow will target both online customers and customers located in the Spokane area that are interested in vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics. Since the founder has a large following on Youtube and social media, we expect most of our customers will come from her fanbase. When marketing to local residents, we will focus our efforts on women ages 15 to 65, as this is traditionally the largest customer segment for the cosmetics industry.

Management Team

Guilt-Free Glow is led by Kiera Smith, who has been a successful beauty vlogger for five years. She creates tutorials on makeup techniques and offers other beauty tips. She has always been passionate about using vegan and cruelty-free products in her videos and encouraged her followers to do the same. Since there aren’t many cosmetics companies that dedicate their whole line to these values, Kiera Smith was inspired to create her own line of cosmetics and beauty care products.

Kiera Smith will be the owner of the company and will conduct much of the marketing efforts through her own social media channels. She will hire other staff to help her with the other aspects of the business, including running the retail shop.

Success Factors

Guilt-Free Flow will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• The founder, Kiera Smith, is a popular beauty guru, and her brand and popularity will help sales and minimize marketing costs.
• Guilt-Free Glow offers great pricing in the vegan cosmetics industry. Vegan and cruelty-free products are often expensive and unaffordable to the average consumer. Guilt-Free Glow will sell all its products at a moderate price so that everyone can buy cosmetics without feeling guilty.
• Guilt-Free Glow will hire friendly, knowledgeable, and highly-qualified staff to help both our online and in-store customers.

Financial Highlights

Guilt-Free Glow is seeking $300,000 in debt financing to launch its cosmetics business. The funding will be dedicated to securing a retail space, manufacturing the products, and purchasing the necessary supplies and equipment for the store. Funding will also be dedicated toward three months of overhead costs, including payroll, rent, and marketing costs. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Retail space build-out: $50,000
• Equipment, supplies, and materials: $25,000
• Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities): $125,000
• Marketing costs: $50,000
• Working capital: $50,000

The following graph below outlines the pro forma financial projections for Guilt-Free Glow.

Company Overview

Who is Guilt-Free Glow?

Guilt-Free Glow’s History

In 2017, Kiera Smith started her Youtube channel, which focuses on beauty tutorials and product reviews. Kiera commits to promoting and working with vegan and cruelty-free brands and educates her audience on the importance of these values for the cosmetics industry. Over the years, Kiera has found that very few cosmetics brands commit to any pledge to be vegan or cruelty-free. Therefore, she decided to start her own cosmetics line that is committed to these values.

Since its incorporation, Guilt-Free Glow has achieved the following milestones:

• Developed the company’s branding image, social media, and website.
• Found a retail location and signed a Letter of Intent to lease it.
• Found manufacturers to create the cosmetic products.
• Obtained a sales and use tax permit for use in Spokane, Washington.

Guilt-Free Glow Products

The following are some of the vegan and cruelty-free products sold by Guilt-Free Glow:

Industry Analysis

According to Fortune Business Insights, the cosmetics industry is currently valued at $287.94 billion and is expected to grow to $415.29 billion over the next few years.

This growth is due to the increasing demand for high-quality cosmetics. The target market for cosmetics has expanded substantially over the past decade, with people of all ages and genders opting to pay good money for high-quality makeup, hair care, and other beauty products. This trend is expected to continue, and the cosmetics industry will only continue to grow rapidly.

Another important trend is the increasing popularity of environmentally friendly, vegan, and cruelty-free products. Guilt-Free Glow is taking advantage of this demand and selling exclusively vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics.

By capitalizing on these trends and our founder’s increasing popularity online, Guilt-Free Glow is expected to thrive in the cosmetics industry.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

Guilt-Free Glow will primarily target Kiera’s current fanbase on Youtube and social media. This fanbase includes 500,000 followers, with the majority being females and under the age of 40.

The company will also target residents of Spokane who may be interested in purchasing vegan cosmetics. Traditionally, the customer segment most interested in this industry is women ages 15 to 65.

The precise demographics for Spokane, Washington are:

Customer Segmentation

Guilt-Free Glow will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• Women ages 15-65
• Kiera’s fanbase
• Beauty professionals and influencers
• Spokane residents looking for vegan, cruelty-free cosmetics

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Guilt-Free Glow will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty is a major retailer in the cosmetics industry, being the ultimate provider of all beauty products for millions of people across the globe. The company aims to be the most loved beauty destination of its guests and has ultimately succeeded in that mission. At Ulta, you can find any beauty brand you are looking for, such as Dior, Chanel, and Lancome. Whatever item or brand you need, you are bound to find it at Ulta.

Since 1988, Sephora has been a giant in the cosmetics and beauty industries. It’s one of the top locations to shop for all your high-quality beauty and cosmetics needs and has dominated the cosmetics industry with its global presence. With 2,700 stores in 35 countries worldwide, there are very few locations around the world where you can’t find a Sephora store to visit.

At Sephora, you can find some of the hottest and most exclusive brands, such as Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez and FENTY BEAUTY by Rihanna. Furthermore, Sephora has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Employers four years in a row and scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Quality Index three years in a row. When customers are looking to buy cosmetics conveniently and ethically, they often head to Sephora first.

The Cosmetics Company Store

The Cosmetics Company Store is an online cosmetics company that sells high-quality cosmetics brands to customers all around the world. They carry thousands of products for anyone in need of beauty products, including hair care products, makeup, and moisturizers. Customers can purchase from a wide variety of brands they love and are familiar with, including Estee Lauder, Clinique, and Aveda. In addition to having a large online store, The Cosmetics Company Store has a few retail locations in select areas.

Competitive Advantage

Guilt-Free Glow will be able to offer the following advantages over the competition:

• Guilt-Free Glow offers great pricing in the vegan cosmetics industry. Vegan and cruelty-free products are often expensive and unaffordable to the average consumer. Guilt-Free Glow will sell all its products at a moderate price.

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Guilt-Free Glow will offer a unique value proposition to its clientele:

• Wide selection of cosmetics.
• A focus on vegan and cruelty-free products.
• Competitive prices that are more affordable than the competition.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Guilt-Free Glow is as follows:

Guilt-Free Glow will be located in a very convenient, highly-trafficked area of Spokane that is frequented by men and women of all ages and backgrounds. The store will be in the same neighborhood as stores, restaurants, and salons. The area of Spokane is frequented by shoppers who live in the area and have disposable income to be able to spend frequently on cosmetics.

Social Media

Guilt-Free Glow will have Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook business profiles where Kiera will post frequently new arrivals to the store, featured clients who are using the products, and upcoming sales and events. The posts will be appealing with professional photographs and will engage customers with discount opportunities if they tag friends in the comments in order to grow their social media following. Kiera will also use her personal social media accounts to promote the company and its products.

Website & SEO Marketing

Kiera will reach out to a website designer to develop a website for Guilt-Free Glow. The website will be easy to navigate and include an option to purchase items online and schedule a pickup time in the store, contact information, and location. The SEO will also be managed to ensure that anyone searching “cosmetics store near me” or “Spokane cosmetics” will see Guilt-Free Glow listed at the top of the Bing or Google search engine.

Partnerships With Beauty Influencers

Kiera will partner with other beauty influencers to spread the word about her company. She will offer discount codes to the influencers’ audiences to entice them to shop for her products.

The pricing of Guilt-Free Glow will be moderate so customers feel they receive value when purchasing their products.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for Guilt-Free Glow.

Operation Functions:

• Kiera Smith will be the Owner and President of the company. She will oversee the major operations of both the retail and online stores.
• Kiera will hire a General Manager for the store. They will be in charge of day-to-day administrative functions, product inventory, supply orders, hiring, and training.
• Kiera will hire an Assistant Manager to assist with product inventory, supply orders, and managing the store when Kiera and the General Manager are unable to be there.
• The store will have 6 – 8 part-time and full-time employees to assist with stocking merchandise and customer service.
• As the store grows and business picks up, more employees will be added to the team to keep up with customer demand.
• Kiera will hire a Marketing Specialist and Web Designer to develop the store’s branding, logo, and social media accounts. The marketing specialist will also develop the website and manage the SEO.
• She will also hire an Administrative Assistant to help her with the other operations tasks needed to run the company.

Milestones:

Guilt-Free Glow will have the following milestones completed in the next six months.

6/1/202X – Finalize lease agreement for 10,000 square foot retail storefront location.

6/15/202X – Begin build out of leased space.

6/30/202X – Finalize agreements with cosmetics distributors to schedule their upcoming product deliveries to the store.

7/1/202X – Kiera will meet with the web designer so they can get started developing guiltfreeglow.com

8/1/202X – Final walk-through and approval of the built-out beauty retail store.

8/2/202X – Begin social media marketing campaign of Guilt-Free Glow.

8/15/202X – The first shipment of store inventory arrives.

8/16/202X – Hire employees and begin training.

8/18/202X – Stocking and display of product inventory in anticipation of the Grand Opening.

9/1/202X – Grand Opening of Guilt-Free Glow.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for Guilt-Free Glow will come from the sales of cosmetics through the retail location and online store.

The cost drivers will be the cost of the cosmetics inventory, labor expenses, marketing expenses, rent, utilities, and overhead costs.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and in order to pay off the startup business loan.

• Number of Initial Customers Per Month: 1000
• Average Item Cost: $20
• Annual Lease: $100,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, cosmetics business plan faqs, what is a cosmetics business plan.

A cosmetics business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your cosmetics business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your cosmetics business plan using our cosmetics Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Cosmetics Businesses?

There are a number of different kinds of cosmetics businesses , some examples include: Niche market cosmetics, high-end cosmetics, kids cosmetics, beauty blogger/influencer, or make-up artist.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Cosmetics Business Plan?

Cosmetics Businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

This is true for a cosmetics business, a plan for a makeup company or a personal care products business plan.

What are the Steps To Start a Cosmetics Business?

Starting a cosmetics business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Cosmetics Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed cosmetics business plan PDF or doc that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast.  

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your cosmetics business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your cosmetics business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Cosmetics Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your cosmetics business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your cosmetics business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

7. Acquire Necessary Cosmetics Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your cosmetics business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your cosmetics business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful cosmetics business:

• How to Start a Cosmetics Business

Other Helpful Business Plan Templates

Ecommerce Business Plan Template Beauty Supply Store Business Plan Template Retail Business Plan Template

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How to Write a Beauty Products Business Plan

Updated: 22 March, 2022

As a founder of a beauty brand start-up, you’ll need a clear vision, a well-written beauty products business plan and to have put some skin in the game in terms of hard work, time and funds. But how do you go about getting started on that all-important business plan and what should it contain?

In this blog post, we summarise the 10 key steps new beauty entrepreneurs need to work through to write a business plan for a cosmetics company. This is essential reading for anyone wondering how to start a beauty business from home as it makes you aware of just what you will need to think through and start planning for.

Running a cosmetic business requires you to be very organised. You will need a strong business plan that leads you through all of the main components of your cosmetic business. The relief is that your business plan does not need to be the size of a thesis. In fact, the more concise it is the better as you will be able to tackle it and feel like referring to it in the future.

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Our step-by-step video guide below is based on the business planning exercises we provide as part of our Diploma in Beauty Brand Business Management . The Diploma is an extensive, six-module course that takes you on an intensive journey from would-be entrepreneur to empowered founder armed with a structured business plan. Pre-enrol to find out more about this diploma and our other courses.

10-Step Guide to Your Beauty Products Business Plan

Step 1: why your beauty business needs a plan.

The first step is to set yourself a challenge: ask yourself why you are writing a business plan in the first place. There is no point in going through the motions of writing a beauty product business plan. You need to buy into the very concept of business planning.

We know that the thought of writing a business plan can seem daunting. However, your business plan is a necessary and very important strategic document as it focuses your energy, time and resources on a clear end game; not only that of launching a successful beauty business, but also of ensuring it has the potential to thrive longer term.

Your business plan isn’t just to show potential investors and otherwise hide away in a filing cabinet. It is a tool to refer to every time you are faced with important decisions. Your plan guides your decision-making and makes the everyday of running your beauty business simpler and smoother.

It will take time to write your business plan as it summarises the hard work you need to do beforehand in discovering your vision, working out your ‘why’ and what your brand stands for, what you’ll be selling, where you’ll be selling, who your competitors are and what your market gap is, and how you’ll fund your business. It also entails drafting a full financial plan, based on things like sales’ forecasts.

With this mindset challenge out of the way, let’s cover the key areas of your plan in the next steps.

Step 2: Your beauty brand mission and vision

We’ve seen many start-up beauty entrepreneurs rush into designing their branding before they have even worked out why they are in business. Before branding, come your vision and mission. Often confused and easily ignored, these two statements are the guiding lights of your business.

First, let’s define them. Your vision is about your bigger dreams. It isn’t simply that you want to make organic formulations to sell to anyone. Your vision statement sets out how you want to make a difference with your beauty brand. At Formula Botanica, our vision, in brief, is to make natural formulation as commonplace as cookery.

Your brand mission statement says how you intend to achieve that vision. At Formula Botanica, our mission is to ‘teach the world to formulate’. As you can see from our example, the mission is practical and active and states how we accomplish our vision – through teaching and our online courses.

When you write your brand vision and mission statements, you’re not writing boring, bland, catch-all statements. Coming up with why your beauty brand exists and how it serves your customers is not a quick back-of-the-envelope exercise either. It may take you weeks to define your vision and mission, but this is time well spent as these statements are the heart of your beauty business. Don’t move on to the next steps until you have total clarity on them.

Step 3: Your niche and customers

It’s all well and good having your vision and mission, but if you don’t know your niche in the beauty market nor much about whom you are selling to, then you might not have a business at all. We’re sure you’ve heard this advice a hundred times, but you need to know exactly who you’re going to be selling to. You need to understand who this type of person is, how they live and how they shop.

Once you know who your target customer is, all of a sudden everything clicks into place and becomes easier in terms of selling. You know which marketing messages work best for your customer, you know what they’re looking for and you know how to sell to them. When starting your beauty products business, you need to have a niche and that niche cannot be ‘organic’ or ‘natural’. There are so many untapped niches in the beauty industry, for instance, skincare for women in their fifties, skincare for certain types of athletes (swimmers, runners, etc.), and skincare for teenage boys.

Jot down bullet points about your ideal customer; include where they live, what other brands they buy, how they holiday, what their key skincare issues are and so on. Be brief but on point. Home in on a single person – often called your brand ‘avatar’. It might sound tedious to do, but once you have that person clearly in your mind, everything in your business will work to meeting their needs. Just ensure that you really do have a niche that exists.

We reported on some trends from In-Cosmetics Global , in Paris (April 2019). We’re not suggesting you need to keep up with the latest fad in the beauty industry, but do your market research thoroughly so you can decide where to position your brand and products.

Step 4: Your beauty products

Your business plan needs to detail your initial product(s) and explain what their sales’ proposition is and how they meet your target customers’ needs. This sounds simple to do, but believe us when we say we have seen new beauty entrepreneurs incur huge expenses as they change their direction and minds on products just after launching. Bringing new products on board can often be a way of diverting yourself from the hard task of marketing and sales.

When you learn to formulate natural skincare, you create a diversity of products without much thought about how they fit together as a range or as a beauty routine for customers. When you think like a business, you need to understand very clearly what you are selling and what proposition your products offer your target customers.

It is possible to launch with a single product, and there are well-known examples of beauty brands with only a ‘hero’ product to their name. If you are creating a range, work out how the products complement each other. Also, given issues of sustainable consumption, think about how a single product can demonstrate a unique selling proposition by multi-tasking.

Your range has financial implications so you need to decide how many products to launch with and which create a minimal viable range that makes sense for your budget and for your customers’ needs. Above all, your cosmetics’ range will need to demonstrate it has a place in the market and how it improves your customers’ lives.

Step 5: Your competitors

Yes, your competitors most certainly have a place in your skincare business plan. You, as the founder, bring your individual perspectives and experiences to your brand, so in one sense you have uniqueness built into the foundations of your beauty business. That said, you need to keep a close eye on the movers and shakers in your niche and in particular at your product range’s price point. Knowing your competitors keeps you on your toes and is information any investor will ask for, up front and early on.

It can be frustrating at times to research your competitors as their websites might be PR speak and not give much away. Look for interviews with the founders and follow them on all their social media to glean more. Competitor research can help you identify areas where your brand can thrive and can show you more effective ways to grow customer loyalty – and build your business. See what they are doing so that you know what’s working for them and what isn’t. Write a list of their strengths and weaknesses to see how you can do better. You also need to know where to position yourself in comparison to your competitors.

Don’t obsess about your competitors, but check in on what they are up to every few months. Your aim is not to copy them, but to control your beauty products’ conversation. Again, if you have clarity on the earlier steps – mission, vision, niche and customer – then you are on solid ground. It is just good business sense to know what is going on in the market.

Step 6: Your manufacturing strategy

Your manufacturing strategy is a large part of your business strategy. You need to decide whether you will be producing your beauty products yourself in your own (home) lab – according to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) , using a contract manufacturer or opting for private label products. You need to define also which route suits you at launch and mention any plans to switch model later on.

Each model has its pros and cons depending on your mission and vision, as well as implications for important aspects of your business such as distribution, logistics, financing, and contractual obligations to retailers who stock your brand. How many units of products do you envisage creating a year? Which model suits your entrepreneurial ambitions and lifestyle? As you can see, your business model and manufacturing model go hand in hand. Having an end goal in sight is critical to shaping your overall business plan, the amount of capital you need to raise and the way you conduct your day-to-day operations.

There is no right or wrong choice here, but ensure you know the implications of whichever route your opt for. It might sound perfect making your own products at home in small artisanal batches, but we do know of beauty entrepreneurs who find their business sky rockets faster than they imagined. They then play catch up trying to find and fund outsourced manufacturing so they don’t let retail stockists down. This is a critical area of your business plan and needs you to consider your vision and ethos, as well as think about your own time, hiring staff, and your overall financial situation.

Step 7: Your retail strategy

We’ve seen many indie beauty entrepreneurs think they can sell direct to consumer from their website alone. To do this successfully, you need to invest in becoming a proficient digital marketer – or outsource the role. It can be tempting at the outset to want to sell directly from your own website because your keep all the profit yourself. However, although you receive lower profit margins by having your products stocked in stores and e-stores, retailers can help get your products sold and your brand known as they have a ready customer market; whereas you are unknown and have to build awareness of your brand from scratch.

The work you have done so far in defining your niche, customers, competitors and product range should indicate which retailers suit your brand best. Will your brand fit into the mass, so-called ‘masstige’, premium or luxury retail categories? And which retailers do you hope will stock your brand? What are their likely margins and what implications does this have for your manufacturing model and financial forecasts? Will you also work with distributors in certain markets, especially overseas, and again, how do their margins affect your bottom line?

You must address all these questions and more in your beauty business plan . It is no good working out how and where to sell once your products are all stacked in boxes in your living room or at a warehouse!

Step 8: Your funding

We might have left finances to last, but finding the money to fund your business is an issue that dominates your entire business plan. As you’ve seen, each previous step has financial implications. As we mentioned in our post on how to start a cosmetic business from home , you won’t be able to run a successful beauty brand without having a firm grip on finances. Having sound plans for raising finance at various junctures in your business is sound business practice.

Your business plan needs to cover the different types of funding options available to you now and in the future, whether ‘love money’ loaned from friends and family, bank loans or other sources such as crowdfunding. it needs to look at short-term and long-term sources of finance. You need to understand and pre-empt what your potential investors will ask you about financing and demonstrate in your business plan that you and your business are worth investing in.

Step 9: Your financial forecast

If you are reading this, it is likely you are thinking of starting an indie beauty business. As business plans are best written in the first year of your beauty business, you may well be pre-revenue when you draft it – or need it when pitching to investors. You may not have sales yet, but you can still show some key figures on the size of your market and your brand’s potential.

To introduce your financial forecast, you should include a timeline showing your milestones, such as when you started, your key achievements, any brand or packaging development, what stage you are at now, i.e. do you have a product in creation and how much have you invested or fund-raised so far? If you are already selling, then you can show how much investment has gone into the company already, what returns and sales you have and what your financial projections are.

There will be a need for you to factor in expenses you hadn’t thought of. One such ‘hidden’ expense we see many beauty entrepreneurs fail to predict is the need to cover retailers’ promotions. Stores generally expect you to contribute to their promotions of your products. Cashflow is everything in a business, even one selling successfully. You may face shortfalls of cash while waiting for retailers to pay you. That time lag means your day-to-day business can grind to a halt if your cash is tied up in stock and you have nothing to cover buying in more raw materials to keep production going or to cover promotions or seasonal campaigns.

As you can see, financial forecasting is about your day-to-day business, and this alone is one reason you need to revisit your business plan frequently. You need to keep an eye on your profit and loss sheets and map the trends monthly. Learn as much as you can yourself about financial forecasting and measuring your business’ financial health. Having an accountant or financial expert assist with this information can help you be better prepared both day to day and when talking about your finances to potential investors.

10: What to do with your plan now

Congratulate yourself. You have made it through the first draft of your business plan – or roadmap. But, now comes perhaps the hardest step of all; that of doing something useful with your business plan, as opposed to archiving it in some filing cabinet. This is a plan to revisit and adjust, and to assess your business’ health and performance against. It is not a document to present to banks and potential investors at the start of your business journey and then forget all about.

So, what exactly do you need to look at it for, and how often? Let’s take just a few examples of areas you will need to review.

First, you need to revisit your financial forecast monthly. See how your budgeting is measuring up against actual sales and expenses. Are things on track? Either way, yes or no, you will have a benchmark against which to measure your current business health. This information will guide you as you go forward.

Then, revisit your competitors and the overall market situation. How have things changed and how might this affect your product range, pricing or development? Be aware that you need time to get established in your market. Knee-jerk reactions can be costly. But use your plan to monitor things.

Examples of areas to review annually are your mission, vision and niche. Was your research when drafting the plan accurate? Have you proved the concept of your brand and product range? Access to a mastermind group of like-minded business founders, even in different sectors, or a mentor can help you work through any changes you think are necessary to your core statements. Again, think these through basing decisions on financials too.

Pre-enrol in a Formula Botanica course and learn how to start a cosmetic business

We hope our points have given you the outline of what you need in to think through in starting a beauty business. If you have a mission to create a beauty brand that’s bigger than yourself – a skincare brand, haircare line or makeup range that changes people lives – we can help you learn how to formulate your own products and all about bringing a brand to market.

Pre-enrol now in our Diploma in Beauty Brand Business Management – the ultimate online training programme in starting or growing your indie beauty brand. We like to refer to it as a Beauty Brand MBA. It is a combination of award-winning teaching materials and a web summit with 30+ influential speakers drawn from the best in the beauty and business community.

Or why not pre-enrol on one of our formulation diplomas and courses in skincare, haircare and cosmetic science to change your life through natural formulation? All our courses are fun and empowering and can be career changing.

Your start-up costs with a beauty business vary according to where you set your sights and relate very much to your personal goals and circumstances and not only to current funds and cash flow. The ballpark figure you find is around US $20,000 or similar in Euros. If you wish to outsource, initial start-up costs are high as most contract manufacturers require large minimum order quantities. Similarly, your branding and packaging also rack up costs especially if you are aiming at the more luxury end of the market. Writing a business plan to help you think through all the variables can give you a clearer idea of your beauty business start up costs and help you plan finances as your business grows. You can start on a small budget by making product at home to sell at local markets. Work out your personal goals and lifestyle needs first to have an idea of what costs you will face.

Indie beauty is flourishing and ever more skincare entrepreneurs find a niche and enter the market. But, finding a niche that resonates with customers is key to defining what type of beauty business to launch. Being clean, green, natural or even organic is not enough these days to necessarily differentiate your potential beauty business. Think carefully about how your beauty products will resolve the issues and fulfill the needs of a clear segment of consumers. Do not be all things all to people. By researching for and writing a beauty brand business plan, you will shape your ideas and define a viable product offer, customer base and route to market.

Join us at Formula Botanica, where tens of thousands of students and followers take our free and paid online courses to learn how to formulate organic skincare and haircare for themselves or to sell and also how to set up a beauty brand and business.

Leave us a comment

Liz is Formula Botanica’s Content Coordinator and joined our team in August 2020. Liz worked as a professional blogger, journalist and site developer for many years and was also part of the Formula Botanica student community. Read more about the Formula Botanica Team .

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How to start a makeup business in 10 steps.

Why Start a Makeup Business?

Types of businesses in the cosmetic industry, what is the growth potential for a makeup business, 10 steps for how to start a makeup line, bonus tips for success, start your makeup business.

The beauty industry is constantly growing and evolving. New trends are always emerging, which creates opportunities for entrepreneurs in the beauty space.

Whether you want to create a product to sell in a store or launch your own digital storefront, there are many ways to achieve success as a beauty guru. 

In this 10-step guide, you’ll discover what it takes to start a makeup business, market your own line and scale your company to success. 

There are many reasons to start a cosmetic business. Here are a few of the most popular inspirations for entrepreneurs to get started in the beauty space:

• The ability to start your own brand
• Fulfill the high demand for cosmetics
• Pursue your passion for beauty
• Set your own prices and scale your income
• Sell products in-store or online (remote income)

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to your “Why” for starting a cosmetic business. Considering your motivations will help you get focused on your end-goal and see your business through to success. 

If you want to start a makeup business, there are dozens of ways to go. Choosing a focus is helpful when you’re starting to build your brand . Your niche could be one specific type of product or a line of products that is meant for a very specific type of consumer.

Choosing a niche will make it easier to hone in on your target market, brand your business effectively and stand out in a sea of other beauty brands.

Traditional Makeup Products

Blushes, lipsticks, eyeliners, mascaras, foundation and eyeshadows are all very common makeup products. However, new businesses that get into makeup production create their own lines of these products all the time.

Each of these products comes with a wide range of variations. For example, when it comes to lipsticks, you have glosses, crayons, mattes, metallics and more. This is on top of all of the color options.

When you decide to create any of these products, you will likely need to put your own personal twist on them and create a themed collection. 

Please note that creating products like these may take several rounds of testing formulas and measuring qualitative aspects since anything you release must be safe for the skin.

Over the past few years, eyelashes have been a major trend. False lashes are a relatively easy product to sell since they don’t require as much product development as other makeup products.

For the most part, developing a lash product involves ordering the lash styles you like from a supplier and packaging them with your branding. You can sell your lashes in your own store, either online or in a physical storefront. 

Alternatively, you can sell your lashes at other makeup retailers like Sephora, Ulta or even drugstores.

Aside from the lashes themselves, it is very important to consider what type of lash glue you are selling with your lashes. Since the adhesive goes so close to the user’s eye, you need to ensure that it’s not harmful if it comes in contact with the eye.

Body Makeup

Body makeup works very similarly to concealer, foundation and other makeup you’d use on your face. The purpose of body makeup is to help cover up blemishes, even out your skin tone and get the perfect amount of glow.

Since it is similar in nature to many traditional makeup products, product development and the retail process are very similar.

All-Natural Makeup

People are becoming more aware of the ingredients they are putting in and on their bodies. This has created a demand for clean ingredient makeup products. 

Consider creating products that are plant-based—nixing chemicals can do wonders for your business. These products are a bit more expensive to manufacture, but there are people who are willing to pay a premium for natural products.

Luxury Makeup

There are people who are willing to invest hundreds of dollars in their makeup even if it’s not made from all plant-based materials. These are typically people who are skilled in the makeup realm—such as makeup artists—and know that high-quality products come at a high price point.

Create a product with the highest quality ingredients available if your goal is to target this market.

The beauty industry is growing quickly as trends evolve and multiply rapidly. As of 2019, the cosmetics industry is worth $532 billion and it is slated to exceed a market value of $805 billion by 2023 . Cosmetic products and skincare alone contribute to nearly 40% of that value. 

Additionally, the profit margins for makeup businesses are at an average of 40% and can be up to 80%. As a small makeup business, you’ll likely fall right around the average profit margin.

It is important to note that the cosmetics sector has a few main players that run the show. Not all brands will grow at this rate.

This bit of information should not dissuade you from starting a cosmetic business, but should help you to shape your expectations accordingly.

Starting your own business is exciting, but it can also be confusing if you need help knowing where to start. While there are many paths to success, we’ve outlined the 10 steps you need to help you get started on the right track. With this guide, you’ll have an established beauty brand in no time. 

1. Choose a Product

Choose a product that you can create with a unique touch that sets it apart from the competition. You should choose a product that interests you, but you should also ensure there is a demand for what you want to produce.

It’s also wise to consider what it will cost you to produce an item. This will help you set realistic margins and earn a handsome profit on every sale. 

We recommend starting with only one or two cosmetic products before growing your business. By choosing one or two beauty products, you can perfect the process and start to build your customer base without a ton of pressure.

2. Create a Business Plan

Before you start developing your product, you should make a business plan. This outlines what you want to sell, who you want to sell it to and how you plan to sell it.

This business plan will be used primarily for your own reference, but it will also help if you are pitching for partnerships, loans, grants or investors.

Your business plan should include:

• A company overview
• Market research analysis
• The legal structure and general organization of your business
• A breakdown of your beauty products
• An overview of your marketing and sales strategy
• A detailed financial outlook
• Any and all files related to your business (contracts, legal documentation, tax information, etc.) 

In this step, you work out the logistics of your business. Consider things like how much inventory you plan to hold and what the ordering and shipping process looks like. You can also outline how you will send invoices for your makeup business .

Really dive deep into your target audience. See how potential competitors are serving this audience and figure out how you can do it better, making your brand stand out from the competition.

3. Get Funding

Starting a business requires capital and there are several ways to come up with this capital. 

You could fund your business with your own savings. However, if you don’t have the money of your own, you have the option of either borrowing the money or seeking investors.

To take out a business loan, you can start by reaching out to your bank. We encourage you to shop around with other banks to find the best interest rates. Also, check out what the Small Business Administration has to offer.

If you decide to go with an investor, determine if you want a partner who is hands on or if you’d prefer a silent investor. Investors could be family members, friends or business associates. Ideally, you’d want somebody who is trustworthy and has the amount of money that you need.

Additionally, some local organizations have grants available for new business owners. This money is often free, meaning you don’t have to pay it back. Google “business grants in [your location]” to find local programs.

Startup costs for a cosmetic business will vary based on the product you decide to sell and how large of an operation you are looking to run, but there are some basic costs that are pretty much standard across the board.

Here are some investments you may to make when starting your cosmetic business: 

• Limited liability company (LLC): $125
• Branding and website: $2,000+
• Product photography or camera equipment: Will vary
• Product development: $5,000+
• Warehouse: Varies by size and location
• Marketing and ads: Will vary
• Packaging: Will vary

There are cheaper alternatives to some of these investments, however pinching pennies may reduce the quality of your product and branding. Your initial goal may be to start small and then scale up once you have revenue coming in.

4. Take Care of the Legalities

When you start a makeup business, you will need to register your business. An LLC should suffice, but a “doing business as” (DBA) or corporation may work better. How you classify your business will depend on local legal requirements.

It’s important that your business is its own legal entity. In the event that an accident occurs due to one of your cosmetic products, you’ll want to make sure you’re protected as an individual.

You will also need to seek a tax identification number for your business entity so that you can pay taxes. This is called an employer identification number (EIN).

Some cosmetic and beauty products require approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We encourage you to check out the cosmetics page of their website for specific guidelines on developing and labeling your product.

Additionally, you should seek legal assistance if you plan on patterning any element of your brand.

5. Build Your Brand

A brand is essentially the personality you build for your business. It should be designed to connect with your target audience. 

You breathe life into your brand by creating an aesthetic that includes a color palette, logo and the like. Additionally, you’ll develop a voice for your brand that shines through in any copy on your website, social media and packaging.

6.  Develop Your Product

You have your ideas and plan all laid out. You also have your business model established and the funding ready to go. It is time to develop your product. Everything about your product should be highly representative of your brand.

Hammer out the specifics, including sizes, colors to textures. At this point, you’ll also want to work out packaging. Be very intentional with your packaging because it makes a world of difference. 

Pay close attention to the materials and ingredients you use when you manufacture cosmetics. For example, if sustainability is one of your brand’s values, plastic packaging is not on-brand. 

Finally, make sure your product is worth what you plan to charge for it. Overcharging customers will not bring them back.

7. Test Your Products

Order samples of your products so that you can test them. Make sure they are the quality you expected in terms of size, color and texture. You should check other qualitative measures such as how waterproof the product is, or how long it lasts.

You may have to go through several rounds of testing before getting it just right.

8. Design a Digital Storefront

Many makeup businesses excel in the world of e-commerce. Even if you plan to sell your products in physical stores, you’ll likely opt for an online storefront as well (and factor it into your business model). 

Your website should include a home page, an ‘about’ page, a contact page and shop pages. The shop pages should be easily searched, sorted and filtered so that your customers can find what they are looking for with ease.

Ensure that you use a secure paywall so your customers’ sensitive information is never compromised. Adding payment features like PayPal or plan options also enrich the user experience.

You have two options when it comes to building your online storefront. You can either create it yourself with a drag-and-drop site like Squarespace or you can hire a professional to build it for you.

We recommend hiring a professional so that your site meshes perfectly with your brand and offers a seamless user experience for your customers.

9. Create a Marketing Strategy

It is time to develop a marketing strategy. If you are sticking to e-commerce for your makeup business, both advertisements and content marketing are good options.

Here are a few approaches you can take when creating your marketing strategy:

• Paid ads : Run targeted ads on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
• Social media marketing : Create engaging content to build a community of followers who could be potential customers
• Search engine optimization : Use SEO to target keywords that your potential customers would be searching
• Influencer marketing : Hire people with large social media followings to talk about using your products and encouraging their followers to purchase their own

Your marketing strategy should depend greatly on your target audience. Design your marketing strategy so that it speaks with your target audience. 

This goes for both messaging and the delivery of the message. Speak to them in a language that resonates with them, and make sure you’re delivering the message on a platform that they spend time on.

10. Launch Your Products

Once you have everything ready to go, it is time to launch. Get your followers and supporters excited for the big day and start generating sales. If you’ve followed the steps in this guide, hopefully you’ll have a line of customers waiting at your physical or virtual storefront!

Every entrepreneurial journey is unique, especially in the cosmetics industry where there are so many ways to go when starting a cosmetics business. However, there are some business practices that are universal. Here are a few tips to get customers and grow your makeup business.

Master Social Media

If you are already known and trusted in the online world of makeup—let’s say you’re a respected makeup artist—you will find it much easier to sell your beauty products.

Think about the people who climbed to the top of the cosmetics industry on YouTube.  They built personal brands that exemplified their makeup artistry and later went on to create makeup collections of their own.

This process will likely look different for you. But studying their journeys from makeup artists and influencers to creators of makeup collections will give you ideas for your own brand strategy.

Prioritize Customer Appreciation 

Let your customers know you appreciate them in a few ways. Use referral systems and giveaways to send free or discounted products to loyal customers.

These small things show your customers how grateful you are for their loyalty to your cosmetics business.

Send Public Relations Boxes

Investing in influencer marketing and sending our public relations (PR) boxes whenever you launch a new collection is a strategy that many successful makeup businesses use. 

Seeing all of your new products laid out in an on-brand PR box will really get people excited about your collection. And people will be more likely to buy your products when an influencer they know and trust talks about them.

Prioritize Inclusivity

Many beauty brands create products that are centered around white consumers. They fail to create shades of their products that work for people with darker shades of skin, and their branding often fails to embrace diversity.

Think about how you can include all makeup fans when you design and market your products.

Now that you’re familiar with the basics of the makeup industry, the manufacturing of cosmetics and the 10 steps for building a successful business, you are ready to bring your idea to life.

There are so many possibilities for people who dream of creating a makeup collection of their own. We are confident that you’ll have success in the industry once you set up a solid strategy and get to work.

So what do you say? Are you ready to start your cosmetics business?

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How to Start your own Makeup Artist Business

A makeup artist specializes in changing the appearance of various customers. These changes are created by a combination of makeup, specialized tools, and artistic talent. Such businesses are an essential part in filling a community with confidence, spirit, and pride by making them feel better about their appearance or achieve a particular look.

You may also be interested in additional side hustle ideas .

Learn how to start your own Makeup Artist Business and whether it is the right fit for you.

Ready to form your LLC? Check out the Top LLC Formation Services .

Start a makeup artist business by following these 10 steps:

• Plan your Makeup Artist Business
• Form your Makeup Artist Business into a Legal Entity
• Register your Makeup Artist Business for Taxes
• Open a Business Bank Account & Credit Card
• Set up Accounting for your Makeup Artist Business
• Get the Necessary Permits & Licenses for your Makeup Artist Business
• Get Makeup Artist Business Insurance
• Define your Makeup Artist Business Brand
• Create your Makeup Artist Business Website
• Set up your Business Phone System

We have put together this simple guide to starting your makeup artist business. These steps will ensure that your new business is well planned out, registered properly and legally compliant.

Exploring your options? Check out other small business ideas .

STEP 1: Plan your business

A clear plan is essential for success as an entrepreneur. It will help you map out the specifics of your business and discover some unknowns. A few important topics to consider are:

What will you name your business?

• What are the startup and ongoing costs?
• Who is your target market?

How much can you charge customers?

Luckily we have done a lot of this research for you.

Choosing the right name is important and challenging. If you don’t already have a name in mind, visit our How to Name a Business guide or get help brainstorming a name with our Makeup Artist Business Name Generator

If you operate a sole proprietorship , you might want to operate under a business name other than your own name. Visit our DBA guide to learn more.

When registering a business name , we recommend researching your business name by checking:

• Your state's business records
• Federal and state trademark records
• Social media platforms
• Web domain availability .

It's very important to secure your domain name before someone else does.

Want some help naming your makeup artist business?

Business name generator, what are the costs involved in opening a makeup artist business.

One of the best things about a makeup artist business is that it has a relatively low starting cost. This is because if you are willing to travel to clients' homes or businesses or allow them into your own home, you will not need to pay the costly overhead and utilities of a business lease. In that case, you can start your business for $8,000 or less. Five hundred of that amount goes towards paying for the design of a professional website, while $2500 should go towards traditional advertising to let your community know about your grand opening. The remaining $5,000 goes towards purchasing new makeup and makeup supplies, including a variety of foundations, eyeshadows, lipsticks, and more. Your supplies will include various exfoliants, self-tanners, emulsifiers, and many more. While you can start your business by purchasing less than $5,000 of supplies, it is important to remember that the more supplies you have, the more services you can offer.

What are the ongoing expenses for a makeup artist business?

Once you have your initial makeup and supplies, your only real ongoing expenses will be advertising (likely $200 or less per month), additional makeup and supplies ($150-$200 a month), and the cost of gas for any travel that you do (which will vary).

Who is the target market?

While people of all genders and ages may want your services, your primary demographic will be young women between the ages of fifteen and thirty.

How does a makeup artist business make money?

Primarily, a makeup artist makes money by charging fixed prices for a variety of different makeup services. You may also make money by selling makeup and makeup supplies.

How much you can charge customers varies significantly because of the variety of services that makeup artists offer. For instance, you may offer basic makeovers for $39.99, more specialized makeovers (such as for Prom) for $59.99, and more extravagant makeovers (such as for a wedding) for $194.99. For all of your prices, be sure you have researched your local competition and are not over (or under) selling yourself.

How much profit can a makeup artist business make?

The amount of profit you can make depends on the exact number of customers you have and the exact services they request. A makeup artist performing 49 or more makeovers a week, for instance, will have a six-figure salary before taxes, though realistically, it will take time to set up a regular stream of new and returning customers.

How can you make your business more profitable?

As your business and your own experience grows, don't be afraid to increases your prices. If it is within your skill set, try to diversify your business: being able to do both hair and makeup, for instance, makes you twice as marketable. Finally, make sure that you rotate your advertising and your services to reflect certain high seasons for makeup (such as Homecoming, Prom, and even Halloween).

Want a more guided approach? Access TRUiC's free Small Business Startup Guide - a step-by-step course for turning your business idea into reality. Get started today!

STEP 2: Form a legal entity

The most common business structure types are the sole proprietorship , partnership , limited liability company (LLC) , and corporation .

Establishing a legal business entity such as an LLC or corporation protects you from being held personally liable if your makeup artist business is sued.

Form Your LLC

Read our Guide to Form Your Own LLC

Have a Professional Service Form your LLC for You

Two such reliable services:

You can form an LLC yourself and pay only the minimal state LLC costs or hire one of the Best LLC Services for a small, additional fee.

Recommended: You will need to elect a registered agent for your LLC. LLC formation packages usually include a free year of registered agent services . You can choose to hire a registered agent or act as your own.

STEP 3: Register for taxes

You will need to register for a variety of state and federal taxes before you can open for business.

In order to register for taxes you will need to apply for an EIN. It's really easy and free!

You can acquire your EIN through the IRS website . If you would like to learn more about EINs, read our article, What is an EIN?

There are specific state taxes that might apply to your business. Learn more about state sales tax and franchise taxes in our state sales tax guides.

STEP 4: Open a business bank account & credit card

Using dedicated business banking and credit accounts is essential for personal asset protection.

When your personal and business accounts are mixed, your personal assets (your home, car, and other valuables) are at risk in the event your business is sued. In business law, this is referred to as piercing your corporate veil .

Open a business bank account

Besides being a requirement when applying for business loans, opening a business bank account:

• Separates your personal assets from your company's assets, which is necessary for personal asset protection.
• Makes accounting and tax filing easier.

Recommended: Read our Best Banks for Small Business review to find the best national bank or credit union.

Get a business credit card

Getting a business credit card helps you:

• Separate personal and business expenses by putting your business' expenses all in one place.
• Build your company's credit history , which can be useful to raise money later on.

Recommended: Apply for an easy approval business credit card from BILL and build your business credit quickly.

STEP 5: Set up business accounting

Recording your various expenses and sources of income is critical to understanding the financial performance of your business. Keeping accurate and detailed accounts also greatly simplifies your annual tax filing.

Make LLC accounting easy with our LLC Expenses Cheat Sheet.

STEP 6: Obtain necessary permits and licenses

Failure to acquire necessary permits and licenses can result in hefty fines, or even cause your business to be shut down.

State & Local Business Licensing Requirements

Certain state permits and licenses may be needed to operate a makeup artist business. Learn more about licensing requirements in your state by visiting SBA’s reference to state licenses and permits .

Most businesses are required to collect sales tax on the goods or services they provide. To learn more about how sales tax will affect your business, read our article, Sales Tax for Small Businesses .

STEP 7: Get business insurance

Just as with licenses and permits, your business needs insurance in order to operate safely and lawfully. Business Insurance protects your company’s financial wellbeing in the event of a covered loss.

There are several types of insurance policies created for different types of businesses with different risks. If you’re unsure of the types of risks that your business may face, begin with General Liability Insurance . This is the most common coverage that small businesses need, so it’s a great place to start for your business.

Another notable insurance policy that many businesses need is Workers’ Compensation Insurance . If your business will have employees, it’s a good chance that your state will require you to carry Workers' Compensation Coverage.

FInd out what types of insurance your Makeup Artist Business needs and how much it will cost you by reading our guide Business Insurance for Makeup Artist Business.

STEP 8: Define your brand

Your brand is what your company stands for, as well as how your business is perceived by the public. A strong brand will help your business stand out from competitors.

If you aren't feeling confident about designing your small business logo, then check out our Design Guides for Beginners , we'll give you helpful tips and advice for creating the best unique logo for your business.

Recommended : Get a logo using Truic's free logo Generator no email or sign up required, or use a Premium Logo Maker .

If you already have a logo, you can also add it to a QR code with our Free QR Code Generator . Choose from 13 QR code types to create a code for your business cards and publications, or to help spread awareness for your new website.

How to promote & market a makeup artist business

You should use traditional media to market your business when you can, including newspaper and radio ads (especially when you first open). You may also consider networking with barbers and other adjacent industries to help advertise for one another in your respective stores. Be sure you advertise heavily via social media: it takes little to no money to do so, and the highly visual nature of things like Instagram is uniquely suited to showing off your work.

How to keep customers coming back

In addition to the advertising methods mentioned above, consider offering discounts, free services, or even free makeup as a reward to customers who refer their friends. Use your social media pages to run contests intended to build interest and gain customers. Finally, try some non-traditional advertising such as offering basic makeovers at public parks and festivals. This lets customers see what you can do with a few simple tools and entices them to contact you for additional service.

STEP 9: Create your business website

After defining your brand and creating your logo the next step is to create a website for your business .

While creating a website is an essential step, some may fear that it’s out of their reach because they don’t have any website-building experience. While this may have been a reasonable fear back in 2015, web technology has seen huge advancements in the past few years that makes the lives of small business owners much simpler.

Here are the main reasons why you shouldn’t delay building your website:

• All legitimate businesses have websites - full stop. The size or industry of your business does not matter when it comes to getting your business online.
• Social media accounts like Facebook pages or LinkedIn business profiles are not a replacement for a business website that you own.
• Website builder tools like the GoDaddy Website Builder have made creating a basic website extremely simple. You don’t need to hire a web developer or designer to create a website that you can be proud of.

Recommended : Get started today using our recommended website builder or check out our review of the Best Website Builders .

Other popular website builders are: WordPress , WIX , Weebly , Squarespace , and Shopify .

STEP 10: Set up your business phone system

Getting a phone set up for your business is one of the best ways to help keep your personal life and business life separate and private. That’s not the only benefit; it also helps you make your business more automated, gives your business legitimacy, and makes it easier for potential customers to find and contact you.

There are many services available to entrepreneurs who want to set up a business phone system. We’ve reviewed the top companies and rated them based on price, features, and ease of use. Check out our review of the Best Business Phone Systems 2023 to find the best phone service for your small business.

Recommended Business Phone Service: Phone.com

Phone.com is our top choice for small business phone numbers because of all the features it offers for small businesses and it's fair pricing.

Is this Business Right For You?

First and foremost, this job is ideal for those who are very skilled in applying makeup to themselves and others. Those with artistic skills find it easier to transition into this line of work, while anyone with previous work experience in the cosmetic industry will be able to start their own business much easier.

Want to know if you are cut out to be an entrepreneur?

Take our Entrepreneurship Quiz to find out!

Entrepreneurship Quiz

What happens during a typical day at a makeup artist business?

In terms of serving customers, each day for a makeup business can be slightly different. Some customers want simple help with things like powder and lipstick to look good for a single event, while others may want more permanent alterations such as false eyelashes. On a busy day, most of your time is spent helping individual customers. Downtime may be spent ordering and receiving new makeup supplies, advertising your business, and networking with others in the cosmetics industry.

You might also spend time traveling to locations like film or television sets, theatre groups, and the like applying makeup for specific purposes, like horror makeup, creating the appearance of a corpse, etc.

What are some skills and experiences that will help you build a successful makeup artist business?

As mentioned before, any previous experience in the cosmetics industry is very helpful in establishing your business. While not necessary, any formal education through beauty school or other cosmetics programs can also help develop these skills. Finally, extensive personal experience with trying different kinds of makeup and helping others apply makeup will provide much of the necessary experience you'll need.

What is the growth potential for a makeup artist business?

The growth potential for this business is steady, as the Bureau of Labor and Statistics predicts that jobs in this and other cosmetic industries to grow by ten percent between 2014 and 2024.

Not sure if a makeup artist business is right for you? Try our free Business Idea Generator and find your perfect idea.

TRUiC's YouTube Channel

For fun informative videos about starting a business visit the TRUiC YouTube Channel or subscribe to view later.

Take the Next Step

Find a business mentor.

One of the greatest resources an entrepreneur can have is quality mentorship. As you start planning your business, connect with a free business resource near you to get the help you need.

Having a support network in place to turn to during tough times is a major factor of success for new business owners.

Learn from other business owners

Want to learn more about starting a business from entrepreneurs themselves? Visit Startup Savant’s startup founder series to gain entrepreneurial insights, lessons, and advice from founders themselves.

Resources to Help Women in Business

There are many resources out there specifically for women entrepreneurs. We’ve gathered necessary and useful information to help you succeed both professionally and personally:

If you’re a woman looking for some guidance in entrepreneurship, check out this great new series Women in Business created by the women of our partner Startup Savant.

What are some insider tips for jump starting a makeup artist business?

If at all possible, try to work for another makeup artist before striking out on your own. This gives you an invaluable wealth of experience regarding what you should and shouldn't do. Don't be afraid to make your friends and family some of your first customers: they will be more forgiving, and their new looks will help to advertise your business. Finally, don't forget more traditional business techniques such as signing your customers up for email lists and keeping them up to date on your business and entice them to return.

How and when to build a team

Many home-based makeup artists work solo. However, once you have a steady stream of customers and are having difficulty serving everyone, you may consider building a small team and eventually branching out into a standalone location.

Useful Links

Industry opportunities.

• International Makeup Association
• Professional Beauty Association
• IAPO International Association of Professional Makeup Artist

Real World Examples

• Lorin Cole Makeup Artist
• Kimberly Bosso Celebrity Makeup Artist

Further Reading

• How to build up a makeup artistry business
• Job Description of a Makeup Artist

Have a Question? Leave a Comment!

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How to Start a Makeup Business: A Step-By-Step Guide

• September 14, 2021 September 20, 2021

The makeup business is one of the most profitable in the U.S. In 2019, the makeup industry generated $49 billion in revenue. Starting your own makeup business offers you a chance to claim a piece of that. With relatively low startup costs and the potential to operate part-time, this is an increasingly popular option for those with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for beauty products. Let’s explore how to start a makeup business and what you need to do to make it successful.

Types of Makeup Business

There are plenty of ways to go about how to start a makeup company. Here are some ideas for starting a cosmetic business so you can choose which type is right for you.

• Traditional Cosmetics

Focus on common cosmetics products. From lipsticks to blushes and eyeliners to eyeshadows, these are the products most people use daily. The best way to stand out in traditional cosmetics is to focus on themes and personal flair.

• Body Cosmetics

Body cosmetics focus on covering up blemishes and creating an even skin tone. These businesses tend to concentrate on foundations and concealers. While similar to traditional makeup lines, a focus on body cosmetics can empower you to laser focus on your customers’ specific needs.

• Natural Cosmetics

Wondering, “How to start my own makeup business with an ethical spin?” Join the all-natural movement. Nix traditional makeup chemicals and opt for plant-based products instead. These are the premium products environmentally conscious people are willing to pay more for. Keep in mind that manufacturing these products is usually more expensive.

• Luxury Cosmetics

Created from the highest quality ingredients, luxury cosmetics are those used by professional makeup artists and celebrities. Expect to invest more if you want to target individuals with high-end cosmetics.

Step-By-Step Guide: How to Start a Makeup Business

Starting a makeup business is tough because you’ll be competing in a sea of other brands. While difficult, the profit potential of a makeup business is huge. We’ve got all the steps covered for how to start your own makeup business for the first to last.

Step One – Find Your Niche

Understand who you’re selling to. There’s a big difference between starting a make up business aimed at teens and starting one aimed at those in their forties or fifties. Take the time to find your niche and research the products they prefer.

Step Two – Build Your Business Plan

Make sure you have a thorough business plan. A good business plan for a makeup line should cover:

• Your products
• Your target market
• Your finances

If you’ve never made a business plan before, there are several free templates online to guide you through the process.

Step Three – Get Funding

Successfully securing funding determines whether your business succeeds or fails. Let L3 Funding help you explore your funding options. From microloans to merchant advance financing, we’ll help you find the ideal funding option for your new makeup company.

Step Four – Develop Your Brand

Makeup is all about branding. Whether it’s the logo, the colors, the typography, or the backstory, branding is what will help you stand out among the crowd. Figure out who you are and what you stand for. Some companies market based on their ethically sourced makeups, whereas others promote based on their luxury ingredients. Establish what your brand is all about and make sure it comes through clearly in your brand messaging.

Step Five – Test Your Products

Makeups must be tested before they’re sold because they’re applied directly to the skin. Test them on focus groups and get feedback before going to market with your cosmetics. With regular testing, you’ll know they’re both safe and that they meet the expectations of your target market.

Step Six – Create Your Store

When just starting off with how to start a makeup line, you need to establish somewhere that you can actually sell your products. The easiest way to do this is with an online store. eCommerce platforms like Shopify and WordPress are excellent low-cost options for launching your store. If you want to start a brick-and-mortar store, take the time to research different locations based on your target market. Invest in a professional designer to get both your online and offline outlets off the ground.

Step Seven – Put Together a Marketing Plan

So you have your target audience and brand all ready to go, but how will you reach them? Create a marketing plan that defines both your digital and traditional advertising avenues of choice. A marketing plan must also include information about your proposed budget. Some avenues you can take include:

• Social media
• SEO marketing
• Influencer marketing
• Traditional ads

Step Eight – Shipping and Logistics

Take care of the logistics. Make sure you already have a system in place to get products from the factory to your warehouse/store. Research several manufacturers and prioritize quality and speed. Ensure that if your business takes off, your manufacturer can grow with you. Safe, timely shipping will make or break your business.

Knowing how to start a makeup business offers tremendous profit potential. But it all begins with securing the funding you need for success. L3 Funding are the experts in helping small businesses get that initial cash injection so they can pursue their passions. To learn more about your finances or to apply for financing , contact L3 Funding today.

Start a Makeup Business

Becoming a Fairy Godmother: Turning a Passion for Cosmetics into a Thriving Business

MAKEUP BUSINESS

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• Oct 26, 2023

How to start a makeup line in 10 steps

The cosmetics industry is globally valued at about $380.2 billion , with over $49.2 billion generated by sales in the U.S. alone. In fact, American women spent an average of $182 per month on cosmetics, perfume, and bath products in 2021.

One of the best eCommerce business ideas you can execute is starting a makeup line to capture a share of this large and dedicated market. In this post, we'll provide some detailed steps you can take to launch your own makeup line with topics that include choosing your niche, researching your competitors, finding a manufacturer, and branding your products.

Whether lipstick is your passion or glittery eyeshadow is your dream, we'll help you get started on your journey to becoming a successful makeup entrepreneur.

Why are you launching a makeup line?

When it comes to starting a business , your reasoning matters. Your reasons for starting a makeup line will inform everything from your business entity to brand imagery and language to packaging and ingredients.

Frankly, if you just want to find a product that makes money, but have no interest in why people buy makeup and beauty care items, it’ll be hard to stand out. However, if you’re looking to solve a problem, fill a need, or introduce something totally unique, you’ll find it’s much easier to create a trusted line of products that truly stand out.

This was the case with cosmetic brand Tiazartzy . Its founder, Tia, is a micro-influencer and resin artist who sells her art on Instagram. She started her makeup line in 2020 after creating a viral foundation brush that received rave reviews. Tia now offers products like melanated setting powder and her famous viral makeup brush via her online store.

How to start a makeup business

Conduct market research

Create your concept

Develop product ideas

Write an eCommerce business plan

Design your branding and packaging

Formulate and produce your makeup

Test your formulas for safety and efficacy

Finalize manufacturing and sourcing

Choose a retail strategy

Think of a marketing plan

01. Conduct market research

There are three components to market research that you should focus on when developing a new cosmetics line, including:

Your target audience - The foundation of any successful makeup business starts with having a deep understanding of your customers. The best way to achieve this is by focusing on who your products are for. What needs do your products fill? What will make them stand out above similar products? We recommend creating one or more buyer personas to clarify your target audience, outline their needs, and identify how your product can help.

Your competition – You’ll need a good understanding of what’s already on the market before you can decide what your makeup line will include. Research what other makeup businesses are doing and selling. Analyze their pricing strategies, branding approach, and differentiators. This provides valuable insight about the competitive landscape and can help you ideate how to differentiate your products and establish a unique selling proposition (USP) .

Your opportunities - Having a better understanding of your audience and your competition can help to identify gaps in the market. On top of all this, you’ll want to engage in conversations and follow beauty influencers online to stay in the know and improve your networking . Forums like the Natural Beauty subreddit offer a wealth of information about trending ingredients, complaints, and needs.

02. Create your brand concept

The most successful beauty companies have strong branding behind them. Start by defining your brand values, vision and corporate identity .

Maybe you want a product that does two things—smells great and is good for sensitive skin. Maybe you want to create a “pro-age” cosmetic line that’s gentle and flattering for women over 50. After you’ve clearly defined the purpose of what you do, the elements that form your brand concept should come naturally.

At this stage, you’ll also want to think of a business name that’s meaningful to you, plus resonates with your target buyer. You can use Wix’s business name generator for inspiration. Your brand logo should similarly reflect your values and vision; using a Beauty Logo Maker can help you achieve this.

03. Develop product ideas

Start brainstorming product ideas that fit with your brand concept. Refer to your research during this process, but also talk to people and try to get into the mind of your target customer.

Read also: Where to find good product ideas

Remember, a makeup or beauty product is only as good as its ingredients and formulas. You may have to speak with a chemist to develop unique formulations and textures that are both high-quality and affordable (we’ll get to that soon). After you’ve identified a few ideas, narrow it down with the help of focus groups and surveys.

04. Write an eCommerce business plan

Draft an eCommerce business plan to show potential investors and lenders (such as angel investors or a business incubator ), plus document how you’ll grow your business. Securing funding will give you a head start—be that a loan from family, or a line of credit from your bank.

Your plan makes for a more convincing pitch and helps you clarify where your dollars will be spent. It should clearly outline the result you’re expecting from an investment. Explore some funding options for small businesses , which include options like bootstrapping to crowdfunding to business loans. Whatever your goal, there's likely a funding option that can help you get started.

Your business plan should outline how you intend to establish your legal structure . Options include Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Limited Liability Company (LLC) , Nonprofit or Corporation . You’ll need to research the legal requirements and paperwork for getting set up. Consider hiring a lawyer or an accountant to sort out these details.

Finally, you’ll need business insurance to protect your assets and reduce the potential for harm. Do your research on eCommerce business insurance to learn about the different types of insurance available, what they cover, and what works best for your business.

05. Design your branding and packaging

Your packaging and design elements represent the face of your brand. When coming up with a unique design, consider the preferences and needs of your target customer. If you’re not up for designing your own packaging, you can always hire a professional designer from the Wix Marketplace .

If you’re bootstrapping, try out tools like Adobe Express that are cost-effective and easy to use. You’ll eventually need professional product photographs, which you can take yourself or with the help of a photographer.

You should also plan for how you’ll package and protect your products. Think about what type of containers, bottles, tubes and applicators best suit your product range.

Further reading: Ecommerce product packaging

06. Formulate and produce your makeup

There are a few different approaches you can take when formulating your products:

Produce the products yourself - You don’t need to be a chemist to formulate a makeup line, but it's helpful to have some knowledge of chemistry, biology, or cosmetology to understand how different ingredients work together and affect the skin. Knowledge of aromatherapy and essential oils is also extremely helpful for scented products. If you’re uncertain, you can hire experts in each of these areas to provide guidance and assist in product development and formulation.

Private labeling - If formulating products from scratch isn’t your jam, you can work with a cosmetic lab or a contract manufacturer to develop your products based on your specifications. Private labeling specifically involves working with a manufacturer to create your products, but branding and selling products as your own.*

Wholesaling - Wholesaling is when you purchase items in bulk from a supplier. Items are ready-to-sell and are often sold at a discounted price when you make a bulk purchase. In a similar vein, if you prefer to source products locally, you could reach out to local retailers or manufacturers to see if they offer wholesale pricing.

Dropshipping - With dropshipping , you don’t have to hold onto any inventory or worry about having to create the products yourself. Instead, your dropshipper handles everything from manufacturing to shipping for you. Dropshipping offers a lower barrier to entry and is relatively cheap to start, since you don’t have to invest in inventory upfront.

* Note: The exact steps of your cosmetic development or sourcing process, from conceptualization to manufacture, will vary depending on what you're making, how complex it is, ingredient availability, and more. One cosmetic developer notes that it usually takes his team at least 12 weeks to formulate a new product. Make sure that you understand all the steps of the development process—even if you outsource—so that you can set realistic expectations for launch.

07. Test your formulas for safety and efficacy

All makeup and skincare products need to be tested so that you know that they're safe for consumers. Some common tests for makeup products include:

Stability testing – Expose the product to different temperatures, humidity levels, light conditions, and other external factors to see how they affect things like appearance, texture, color, and odor over time.

Microbial testing – Check if the product is free of harmful organisms like bacteria, fungi, yeast, and mold, all of which can cause infections or spoilage.

Performance testing – Evaluate how well the product delivers its stated benefits. You’ll test factors like coverage, pigmentation, wear time, hydration, and sun protection factor (SPF).

Safety testing – Assess if the product causes adverse reactions to skin or eyes. This includes reactions like irritation, allergy, or inflammation, and toxicity.

For certain tests, you can apply products on yourself or willing friends, family, and customers. This is known as consumer testing. Other tests may require professional services from a cosmetics lab or a third-party testing company that has specialized equipment and expertise. Most private label and contract manufacturers offer testing services.

Once testing is complete, you'll need to make any necessary changes to your formula before moving on to manufacturing your products.

08. Finalize manufacturing and sourcing

As touched on earlier, you can choose a contract or private label manufacturer like New Look Cosmetics and BPI Labs to produce your products. Companies like these will work with you to source the raw ingredients for your products, but they typically require you to commit to a minimum order amount (e.g., 1,000 lb. of dry product).

Alternatively, you can source raw materials and packaging yourself which gives you more control of where you get your materials, plus allows for smaller batches.

In general, here are some basic steps that you’ll want to take when sourcing your products:

Identify the type and quantity of raw materials and packaging components you need.

Look for suppliers of raw materials (substances or mixtures) and packaging components (bottles, jars, labels, etc.) that meet your criteria.

Contact potential suppliers and request samples and pricing so you can evaluate quality, cost, and availability.

Negotiate contracts with selected suppliers and establish delivery terms, payment methods, and quality control procedures.

Create a plan for storing and handling raw materials and packaging components to prevent mix-up, contamination, or damage.

We recommend creating a production schedule that outlines how much of each product you need to order and when, as well as the amount of time needed for production. This keeps production on track and helps avert unexpected issues, like running out of stock or holding onto inventory too long that it puts your cosmetics in danger of expiring.

09. Choose a retail strategy

Where will you sell your first makeup product line? Big-name retailers like Sephora and Morphe are stocked with popular makeup brands, so it's not always possible to pitch your products to their buying managers and secure an order.

It's smart to build an eCommerce website and use that to generate direct-to-consumer (D2C) orders. You could fulfill them yourself, or find a distributor to fulfill and ship orders made through your online business . They’ll take a cut of your sales as their fee, but having a distributor takes the stress out of fulfilling orders alongside other plates you’re spinning (including sourcing products, marketing, and customer service). You don’t have to have all of your stock taking up a spare bedroom.

You could also use marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon to sell your cosmetic products, though you’ll want to do your due diligence and understand the quirks of each platform. This includes getting familiar with marketplace requirements, studying the competition, and analyzing the core audience. Note: Wix offers multichannel campaign tools that help you to get launched on new sales channels with minimal hassle. For example, you can edit your multichannel product listings and track inventory all from one place.

10. Think of a marketing plan

In terms of getting your brand out there, you’ll want to brush up on eCommerce SEO basics. By learning how to optimize your product listings and other pages for search engines, you can boost your chances of reaching millions across the internet with your eCommerce website . Explore eCommerce templates to help you get started.

In addition to this, create an eCommerce marketing strategy that incorporates multiple channels like social media platforms, search ads, video selling and a business email . Aim to develop relationships with local retailers and influencers, too, to pave the way for partnerships and co-branding.

Ready to launch your makeup line? Create an online store today.

Looking to start a makeup line in a specific state?

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How to start a makeup line FAQ

How much does it cost to start a makeup line.

The cost of starting a makeup line can vary greatly, depending on the size and scope of your business. However, you can expect to spend anywhere from $10,000 to $200,000 or more on startup costs. Some of the most common expenses include:

Product development and testing

Manufacturing

Marketing and advertising

Shipping and fulfillment

Legal and regulatory fees

Business overhead

How profitable is a makeup business?

Is starting a cosmetic brand profitable, do you need a degree to start a makeup line.

Geraldine Feehily

Marketing Writer, Wix for eCommerce

Geraldine is a marketing writer for Wix for eCommerce. She uses her broad experience in journalism, publishing, public relations and marketing to create compelling content and loves hearing user success stories.

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• June 13, 2023
• How to Make a Good Cosmetics Business Plan

The cosmetics business plan plans are the blueprint of any successful cosmetic business model. To create a proper business plan, you need to understand your business and its objectives. 

In this article, we’ll explain why it’s important to conduct market research and define your business concept and objectives. We’ll also explain why it’s essential to consider marketing, competitor analysis, advertising, partnerships, and even packaging when starting operations in a business.

Step 1: Conduct Market Research

The first step to starting a cosmetics business is conducting market research. To get the best from market research, you have to consider the overall market size and trends, consumer preferences, and look out for businesses that can be close competitors. Let’s explore these in more detail. 

Understand Market Size and Trends

If you want to grow in the cosmetic business and retain your customers, you have to be fully aware of some history behind cosmetic industry trends. According to Grand View Research, the cosmetic industry had a market size that is valued at 262.21 billion dollars in 2020 and is expected to extend further by 4.2% between 2023 – 2030.

Knowing the history behind the cosmetics industry will help you understand what your brand’s place is in the market, and how to develop from there. Understanding market trends can help to make informed decisions on what pattern to adopt for marketing cosmetic products.

Analyze Consumer Preferences

Let’s face it, not everyone likes the same thing. What you may like, another may find unsuitable for their needs. As a cosmetic industry, you have to accurately analyze what your target customers may want, and take their preferences into account when trying to make your product and construct a business plan for cosmetic products.

For example, some people may find several ingredients in a skincare product more helpful for their oily skin, while others may find it too harsh or irritating to their dry skin. Younger people may prefer airtight bottles with better precision, while older people may have no problems with any bottle packaging.

Investigate Competitive Landscape

No matter what industry you find yourself in, competition is stiff. However, competitive landscapes vary across industries, which is why it is important to do your research on the competition.

As a young business, you need to gather information about bigger cosmetic product companies like Nivea, Dove, Gillette, Pantene, and L’Oreal. Also, you can also keep tabs on fast-developing companies like Fenty Beauty. Including this in your cosmetics business plan will help you understand how to beat the competition and come out on top as one of your industry’s leaders.

Step 2: Define Business Concepts and Objectives

A strong and sturdy business concept and cosmetics company business plan will make your objectives more achievable and will hasten your progress. Let’s see this in more detail.

Business Concept

As mentioned earlier, a cosmetics company’s business plan and business concept helps to analyze how valuable your business idea is, how well it will solve a problem, your target audience, and their interest in the problem itself. Doing this helps you understand whether that business idea is worth investing in in the first place.

Here are different business concepts needed for natural, organic, and healthy beauty.

● Natural/Organic Beauty

Natural/organic beauty products are popular among a niched target audience, and they tend to look out for some details when picking their products. Organic beauty business concepts include the production of cosmetic products using only natural or organic ingredients. 

Recently, there has been an increase in the number of natural or organic beauty product users. This is why it is important to include organic products in a cosmetic product lineup.

● Luxury/High-end Beauty

Undoubtedly, there are many luxury cosmetic products out there, and they currently dominate the cosmetic industry. Luxury or high-end beauty products need well-detailed business concepts and objectives in order to beat the competition. 

Luxury/high-end brands often focus on getting quality, highly-customizable packaging. When you come across this kind of packaging, you’re most likely going to feel a sense of exclusivity and sophistication. In your business plan for cosmetic products, you have to include the cost and pricing for this packaging.

● Healthy Beauty

Cosmetics are made with ingredients that foster healthy skin. Different skin types react to cosmetics differently, but promoting a healthy beauty product will ensure that only the finest healthy ingredient is used on skin care products

Some of the healthy ingredients used in cosmetics are Aloe vera, green tea extract, shea butter, and chamomile. Aloe vera can hydrate the skin and reduce inflammation, shea butter improves the skin’s elasticity with its rich supply of vitamins A and E, and chamomile on the other hand is helpful on sensitive skin to promote better skin health.

Increasing market share and establishing a strong brand identity are key objectives for a cosmetic business’ growth.

● Increase Certain Market Share

One of the most essential objectives is obtaining a substantial portion of the market share. Not surprisingly, larger cosmetic businesses control a good amount of market share. That said, smaller, emerging cosmetic businesses’ primary objectives should be to take away some of this market share from their larger counterparts.

They can do this by improving the quality of their product and being innovative. Instead of focusing on the products of the existing larger cosmetic businesses, adequate research should be carried out to produce a more innovative formula that will yield a better result. This way, smaller businesses can garner the attention of cosmetic lovers and achieve their marketing objectives.

● Establish a Strong Brand Identity

Brand identity lets your customers know who you are, what you bring to the table, and your company’s values and personality. In order to attract your target audience, you need to include plans on how to gradually develop your brand identity into your brand’s business plan. 

Brand identity can be established in the form of a unique brand name and logo, design consistency in the brands’ visual or audiovisual materials, and catchy phrases. 

● Expand the Product Line 

A good cosmetics business plan often includes plans for expansion. If you sell a certain cosmetic product, you will most likely want to branch out and sell other types of cosmetic products. If the brand has mainly been selling skincare products, the brand’s product line can be expanded to include makeup products, hair products, and even fragrances.

For a better marketing result, you can create multiple business plans for different types of products such as a makeup business plan for makeup products, and a skincare business plan for skin care products.

Step 3: Identify Target Customers

Without identifying the kind of customers you want, it’ll be challenging to get sales and attract customers to your brand. Here are these types of target customers in greater detail.

● Beauty Enthusiasts

Beauty enthusiasts are often highly interested in all the best and latest cosmetic and skincare products. Additionally, they are highly interested in the latest beauty trends. These types of people use exclusive and innovative cosmetic application products like rollers. To attract these types of customers, your brand also needs to keep up with these trends.

Luckily, you can find many of these beauty enthusiasts closely following thought leaders in this industry on various social media channels and forums. For these target customers, you may need to include digital and offline marketing campaigns and create a detailed makeup business plan and skincare business plan. 

● Budget-Conscious Consumers

Budget-friendly consumers take their money into account when choosing their products. Because these consumers closely track how much they spend on products, they will only consider a particular product if it’s affordable, and fits into their budget.

To get these kinds of people, you have to make sure many of them can comfortably afford your product by leveraging on price strategies. Not surprisingly, these customers shy away from luxurious brands, choosing to purchase multi-purposed products instead.

● Minimalists

Minimalists prefer a simplified skincare and makeup routine. Unlike beauty enthusiasts, they don’t focus on getting the newest cosmetic products. Rather, they choose products with high functionality, allowing them to minimize their expenditure and the number of skincare products they buy.

Minimalists like to live their lives with less clutter, and generally choose to live simpler lifestyles. In the case of cosmetic products, they like to use as few products as possible. So, if you want to attract these types of people, make sure you develop a minimalist makeup business plan and skincare business plan that have these people’s best interests at heart.

Step 4: Conduct a Competitor Analysis 

In order to conduct an effective competitor analysis, you have to analyze their product offerings, brand position, pricing strategies, and distribution channels. Let’s see these in more detail.

Analyze Competitors’ Product Offerings

Product offerings help to present a unique value proposition to a consumer. For a business to become successful, it has to include detailed plans on how to present its product’s unique value proposition to its customers. Nivea’s unique value proposition is to protect the skin of the entire family.

Many cosmetic companies offer an array of products that make it hard for new businesses to break into the market and compete. For example, Nivea offers cosmetic products like hair care products, skincare products, and even deodorant for males and females. Analyzing these competitors and their products will make you weigh your options and determine how best to enter the market.

Analyze Competitors’ Brand Position

Brands like Nivea have taken steps to maintain a strong brand positioning. Before getting your business off the ground, make sure you understand your competitors’ position and how much influence they have on the market.

Contrary to popular belief, brand positioning isn’t just slapping catchy tag lines and fancy logos on your web and social media pages. Effective brand positioning will make your brand favorable and valuable to your consumers. 

Analyze Competitors’ Pricing Strategies

Strategic pricing is another way to infiltrate the market. If you want to figure out the best pricing, take a quick survey of all your competitors and their pricing. 

For example, if Nivea and other big brands’ hair care products are being sold for an average of $50, try to figure out a way to sell your products significantly or slightly lower. This way, you can attract budget-conscious customers who want more for less. 

Analyze Competitors’ Distribution Channels

Analyzing distribution channels helps you figure out the best distribution channel for your business.

In addition to traditional distribution channels like wholesaling and retailing, E-commerce has emerged as one of the biggest distribution channels in the beauty industry. If you’re a smaller cosmetic company trying to find its footing, E-commerce is a good way to get orders coming in. 

Step 5: Develop Product Line and Brand Strategy

Brand strategy and product lines can make or break your brand. Big brands like Pantene and Dove have solid brand strategies and diverse product lines for inclusivity. 

Product lines and breaks strategies involve developing core product lines and seasonal collections, brand storytelling, and collaborations with influencers. Let’s look into these points. 

Product Line Strategies

The best product line strategies are creating a core product line and a product line specific to a particular season or holiday period. 

● Core Product Line

Your brand is more likely to stand out if it has a core product line. Having this improves your brand’s ability to stand out, and makes your products accessible to more diverse audiences. Collections like the Gold series collection owned by Pantene have become so popular that it has won multiple awards in the cosmetic industry. 

● Seasonal Collections

Seasonal collections are exactly what they sound like seasonal. We have different cosmetic care needs during various seasons, so it’s essential for your brand to take that into account. Also, during periods like Christmas and Easter, it’s important to have collections in order to divert attention toward your brand and increase sales.

Brand Strategies

Telling your brand story and collaborating with thought leaders and influencers in your industry are amazing ways to drive your business’ growth and infuse some personality.

● Tell the Brand Story

Every brand has a story. Brands have missions, goals, and visions peculiar to them that drive them forward, and communicating this mission to your audience will boost your customer acquisition and retention. For example, Nivea is now a household name, as it has sold itself as a family-oriented cosmetic care company. 

● Collaborations with Influencers

 Influencers will always be able to drive customers to patronize your brand, and it’s important to include them in your cosmetics business plan. Not only do they bring customers, but they put your brand in the cosmetic industry’s limelight and make them favorable to your desired customers.

Step 6: Define Marketing and Sales Strategies 

Marketing and sales is another essential part of a successful skincare business plan. Now, digital marketing, retail partnerships, and advertising have proven to be the most effective ways to promote your brand. Here are the facts:

Digital Marketing

Due to the integration of technology and, specifically, the internet, into the cosmetic industry, business has booked like never before. Search engines and social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can create massive awareness for your brand and also enable you to create and maintain a positive relationship with your customers.

Retail Partnerships

Wholesale and retail partnerships will always remain powerful ways to get new customers fast. For increased reach, you can reach out to select retail stores within and outside your area. More often than not, these businesses are open to opportunities that will make them more money. 

Also, retail partnerships help with your brand positioning and improve customers’ trust in your brand. For instance, there is a higher chance of selling a cosmetics product if a retailer talks to the customer about the product.

Online and Offline Advertising

Advertising has become a highly extreme marketing tool, and it is now used by large and small cosmetic brands alike. 

Offline advertising involves guerilla marketing campaigns, using billboards, flyers, posters, and so on. On the other hand, online advertising involves running ads on search engines and social media. Make sure to include a good blend of both into your skincare business plan and marketing efforts.

Step 7: Outline Operational and Plans

Without plans for operations, a business plan is as good as useless. Supply chain management and quality control are important factors to consider when making plans for operation. Here are these factors in more detail. 

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management is the management of the flow of goods, data, services, and finances related to a particular business, from the state of manufacture to the state of consumer consumption. 

If you want good customer loyalty and avocation on a cosmetic product, you have to make this process as smooth and quality as possible. Additionally, efficient supply chain management saves costs and hastens the delivery process to the final consumer. 

Quality Control

Quality control is a set of procedures that your product will be subjected to in order to ensure that it meets the criteria for quality. In order to avoid your brand putting out inconsistent quality, you will most likely face a lot of customer satisfaction issues that you have to meet. 

Quality standards have been put in place in the cosmetic industry, starting from ingredient selection which should strictly follow the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) list of approved ingredients. 

Also, microbiological testing is carried out on cosmetic products to ensure that they are not contaminated, and are not harmful to cosmetics users.

Step 8: Outline Financial Plans

Financial planning is the backbone of any business plan. Creating a cash flow forecast and a profitability analysis is key to your business’s growth and profitability. Let’s take a look at these factors. 

Create a Cash Flow Forecast

Cash flow forecasts typically predict a company’s future financial position; a company’s cash flow involves receivables and expected payments from various sources. Cash flow also involves money from future sales of assets, grants, bills, and miscellaneous expenses.

That said, a cosmetics company can create a cash flow forecast to track how much the business is estimated to spend in the future. Doing this will help to plan for times when the company’s low on cash.

Profitability Analysis

Profitability analysis is the calculation and analysis of the profits of a business. The cosmetic industry has a different net profit margin that is affected by the company size, location of the business, availability of competitors, and the business strategy used. All these are determining factors in deciding on the cost of a product, and the profit that can be gotten from the product.

Customize Your Ideal Cosmetic Bottle Packaging

One of the trends in cosmetics involves developing an ideal bottle packaging that speaks for your brand. These trends revolve around making eco-friendly packaging and maintaining thoughtful pre-sale and post-sale services. 

Eco-Friendly Cosmetic Packaging Materials

Eco-friendly cosmetic packaging is becoming increasingly common, and many customers now look out for this. Luckily, Cosmopacks have created highly customizable packaging for brands worldwide using bamboo, Post-consumer recycled plastics, glass, and bioplastics.

Our list of cosmetic packaging includes:

• Cosmetic bottle
• Cosmetic jars
• Cosmetic tubes
• Makeup packaging
• Recycled cosmetic bottle

Thoughtful Pre-Sale and Post-Sale Service

We offer thoughtful pre-sale and post-sale services that include efficient consultation and communication, printing and sampling, production and warehousing, and inspection and shipment of all our packaging products to our customer’s desired locations.

Creating a skincare business plan can seem like a herculean task, but taking the time to add these details above can make all the difference. Effective marketing and customer service, competitor analysis, cosmetic packaging plans, operational plans, and market research are all integral to your brand’s success in the short and long term.

Cosmopacks offers amazing, highly customizable bottle packaging for brands worldwide. Their objective is to find the best way to reflect your brand’s identity by creating tailored packaging options and eco-friendly packaging. 

Get in touch with us by visiting our website or reaching out to us through our various helpline channels. 

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Makeup Artist Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business ideas » Beauty Care Industry » Makeup Artist

Are you about starting a makeup artist studio? If YES, here is a complete sample makeup artist business plan template and feasibility report you can use for FREE .

Makeup artists are creative individuals who use cosmetics to transform their clients depending on the occasion the client needs the makeup for. Usually, makeup artists work by themselves which makes it sometimes difficult for their income to be regular, except they go into certain niche areas such as carrying out makeups for models or becoming movie makeup artists.

Either way, a makeup artist in order to create a sustainable flow of income will need to be in as much niches as possible.

While this might be an artistry kind of task, making a business out of it would require following certain business rules just like any regular kind of business. While writing a business plan might seem difficult and intimidating for a creative individual, there are two options available to you.

You can hire a business plan writer to write one for you for a fee, but If however you are running on a tight budget, there are free business plan templates online that you can use in writing a comprehensive business plan for yourself. In fact, below is a sample makeup artist business plan template.

A Sample Makeup Artist Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

The social media and technology has caused evolutionary trends in beauty and this has made it easier for makeup artists to not only re-invent looks but also create innovative ideas , making the industry a fast-paced one. Makeup artists prepare actors for performances and also create special makeup effects.

Asides this, makeup artists also work in the fashion industry. Lots of opportunities exist in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Miami.

As at 2012, we had about 3,000 makeup artists, and most were employed by the motion pictures and television broadcasting industries. However, most of those who are employed are also self-employed, as their jobs usually last for a short period of time.

To become a professional makeup artist , training in a school of cosmetology is required and this can last between several months and a year. According to the united states Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of makeup artists will grow slowly through 2022, when compared to other occupations.

The reason for this slow growth has been attributed to the fact that most makeup artists, especially those in the motion picture industries are being replaced by Computer Generated Imagery (CGI). According to Makeup artists and hairstylists guild, as at 2014, makeup artists averagely earned $44,310, with most paid hourly.

Makeup artists who however worked in mortuaries earned 22% higher salaries than their counterparts in other industries.

2. Executive Summary

Shae’s Touch Studios is a national and international makeup studio that is located in Bay Island – California here in the United States of America and intends to cater to corporate and domestic clients. We intend to offer makeup services and trainings to our clients, as well as other services in our line of business.

We are in business to not only make profit but also to compete favorably with similar business (startups or established) here in California and also all over the United States of America. Our vision is not only to meet the expectations of our clients and exceed it but also to become a national and international brand.

We intend to not only concentrate on our core offering; this means that we would be offering other services that are intended to boost our income and make us have a healthy bottom line in which to sustain our business. Our promotional strategies are top notch as we already have a popular channel on YouTube where we give tips and advice to our audience. We also give out trainings to our international clients.

Our customers are very important to us and so we intend to leave them fully satisfied with our services. We would be offering discounts and incentives intended to keep our loyal customers with us while also luring away clients from our competitors to us.

We have built a solid business structure because we intend to start with as few hitches as possible. We have sourced for competent and qualified staff who understand the business thoroughly and will do all they can to ensure that we get to the top. Our staff are the best in the field.

We have the best welfare packages for our employees better than what their counterparts are getting in similar startups such as ours. We also offer several other incentives to our employees as this is an effective way of ensuring that they remain motivated and dedicated to helping us achieve our goals and objectives.

Our Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Shae Lannister is a renowned makeup artist who has made up several celebrities both here in California and other states as well. She has several certifications and is always pushing herself to achieve more. She therefore understands what paths we need to follow to help us get to the top and achieve all our corporate goals and objectives.

3. Our Products and Services

Shae’s Touch Studios intends to deliver to its customers various services and products from its primary location here in Bay Island – California. Even though our core source of income is making up our clients, we intend to consult for our clients and also train them as well.

All the different services that we intend offering and the profits to be made from them are all under the permissible laws of the United States of America. Below are some of the services we intend to offer and the products we intend to sell;

• Offering of makeup services (for weddings, special occasions, on movie sets) to our various clients
• Sale of our own makeup products produced by us
• Distributing for branded products
• Consultancy and advisory services

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

• Our vision is to ensure that we not only meet but exceed the expectations of our clients no matter what those expectations are.
• We also intend to become a national and international brand by the year 2019.
• In achieving our vision, we intend to hire creative makeup artists who are also instinctive and understand what it is our clients want, and ensure that they get what it is they want.

Our Business Structure

Having a solid business structure is very important to our business and we take it very seriously because we know that this would allow us start and run our business with as few hitches as possible. Our plans are to run a standard makeup studio and so we intend to get it right from the beginning so that things can flow seamlessly, and that is why we are looking to employ only the best to work with us in our makeup studio.

Because of the standard that we have set for ourselves, we are willing to ensure that we employ competent and hardworking staff who understand our business specifically and the industry at large so as to take our business from where we are to where we ought to be.

Also, the staff we employ must be dedicated and ensure that they communicate our brand positively at all times. However, due to the fact that we are going to be offering varied services more than a regular makeup business, we intend to hire more staff than conventional to be able to handle the various positions and tasks that is likely to crop up during the course of running our business.

Shae’s Touch Studios will go all out to ensure that our business structure is solid. Below therefore is the business structure that we intend to build at Shae’s Touch Studios;

Chief Executive Officer

Admin Manager and Human Resources

Production Manager

Makeup Director

Quality Assurance Manager

Accountant/Cashier

Marketing and Sales Executives

Front Desk Officer

Store Manager

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

• Takes key decisions and actions that would affect the overall growth and sustainability of the business
• Ensures that organizational policies are effectively implemented
• Drafts the budget and ensures that it achieves full implementation
• Meets with valuable clients on behalf of the company
• In charge of ensuring that all the administrative functions of the business run smoothly
• Recruits competent employees on behalf of the studio
• Ensures that employees receive great welfare packages and also undergo trainings as at when necessary
• In charge of certain projects undertaken by the studio
• Ensures that the brand makeup produced by the studio is standard industry-wise
• In charge of all makeup artists in the studio
• Creates and sources for profitable niches on behalf of the company
• Is updated on industry trends so as to meet and exceed the expectations of clients
• Ensures that make-ups gotten are of high standard
• Liaises with brands and ensures that the company gets the best deals
• In charge of preparing account and financial statements on behalf of the firm
• Ensures that tax documents are accurately prepared and sent to the right authorities
• Ensures that the books of the company are reconciled with that of the bank and that all details are correct.
• Conducts market research to determine new target markets on behalf of the company
• Drafts and implements effective marketing strategies on behalf of the company
• Conducts one on one marketing and sales on behalf of the company
• Attends to all enquiries, bookings, complaints and feedbacks from clients
• Should be updated on industry trends and organizational policies so as to offer clients  accurate information
• Keeps an accurate and updated customer database on behalf of the company
• Ensures that all the products are intact and accounted for
• Ensures that the store remains well ventilated and secured at all times
• Ensures that light repairs and maintenance are carried out as at when due
• Ensures that the premise is kept clean at all times
• Ensures that cleaning supplies are always in stock
• Carries out any other duties as might be determined by the administrative manager
• Helps deliver and supply products to the studio
• Carries out light maintenance on the vehicle when and where necessary
• Carries out any instruction by the human resources manager

6. SWOT Analysis

Due to our intention of ensuring that we run a standard makeup business, we have engaged the finest business consultants here in Bay Island – California to help look through our business concept and determine how likely we are to succeed in the business we intend starting.

The business consultant looked through using a popular analysis that allows businesses know how likely they are to survive in the business they are going into and how favorably they would compete against competitors in the same industry,

In view of this, our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats we were likely to be exposed to while starting our business here in Bay Island – California as well as all over the United States of America, were judged. Below is the result of the SWOT analysis that was thoroughly conducted on behalf of Shae’s Touch Studio.

Our strengths lie in the fact that we are offering several makeup services at the same time to our various customers, allowing us to meet the diverse needs of our customers.

All our makeup artists are not only well trained but have professional certifications as well, which means that we are more than likely to not only met but exceed the expectations of our customers, because we are able to handle whatever requests they may have.

Our other staff are also competent, dedicated and understand that we do not only want to be a national brand but an international one as well, and are working hard to ensure that we achieve this.

We have great welfare packages for our employees leading them to remain motivated to our brand and also ensuring that our customers retain loyalty to our brand through the attitude of our staff. Also, our chief executive officer is not only very experienced but has the necessary contacts that will help us quickly achieve our objectives.

We are a relatively new business and as such we have not yet gained much depth into the market as we would have liked. We also do not have all the staff or the finances necessary to deliver all the services we hope to deliver.

• Opportunities

Makeup is used for a variety of purposes from weddings, occasions to movies and so much more, and so there are many opportunities available for us in this industry as more target markets that would require our services are yet to be tapped into by us. Also, the growing economy means more people will be willing to patronize our services or buy products from us.

There are several threats that we face as a growing company such as an arrival of a major competitor to the same location we are operating from leading to a reduction in the number of customers we are likely to have. Also, an economic downturn is likely to be a threat to our businesses because this would mean more people trying to apply makeup themselves than approaching a professional to help them out.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

Makeup is not really a new occupation as it has existed from time past, the only difference now is that it has become an occupation where makeup artists have to not only learn to recreate looks and make their clients into what they want to be but also ensure that their clients are satisfied and have their expectations not only met but exceeded.

Also, due to the different seasons, makeup artists have to learn appropriate makeups for each season as well as occasion. California is a glamorous place because most celebrities reside here, from movie stars to artistes and other kinds of celebrities and so would always require the services of make-up artists for whatever reason.

This would require any makeup artist intending to start in the California area to network and partner with some fashion designers so as to get the needed clients.

Finally, technology has come to play a huge role in the makeup industry as makeup artists can try out makeup shades on faces in the computer and know which look might likely fit their client before meeting the client. This has led to a high level of satisfaction for both parties.

8. Our Target Market

Almost everyone uses makeup especially for special occasions, events and other purposes and therefore require the services of a make-up artist to be able to get the look they want. While women might chiefly look like our target market, but we cannot restrict our target market to just this group.

In view of this, we have conducted a market research in order to fully understand the market we intend entering and what we should expect from our target market, while also having an idea of what they would be expecting from us. To this effect, we therefore are in business, from our findings to offer our services to the following group of people;

• Celebrities
• Actors and actresses
• Movie stars
• And every other uncategorized target market

Our competitive advantage

We understand the power of makeup and our intention is therefore to build a business that is not only a national brand but an international brand as well.

Our intention is to become the preferred company for our target market not only here in Bay Island but all over California as well as the whole United States of America. To however achieve this, we have several competitive strategies in mind.

We are going to be offering diverse services in our Makeup Studio, this means that we would not only make customers up for weddings, special occasions, on movie sets but we will also sell products that our clients can use and also offer trainings and consultancy services as well.

Another competitive advantage we have is the vast experience of our management team. This experience is highly necessary as it means that all the management staff understands how to help make our brand the best not only nationally but also internationally.

Our management staff also understands our corporate foundation and culture and will do all it can to ensure that this culture is understood and implemented by the lower end staff. Another competitive advantage is the fact that our customers’ expectations are not only met but exceeded as well, leading to high customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty.

Lastly, our employees are also our internal customers and are treated right because this would make them remain motivated and dedicated to the company. We ensure that our employees are well paid and that they have other benefits that make them better than their counterparts in similar industry such as ours all over the United States of America.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

Shae’s Touch Studio just like any other business has been established with the sole intention of making profit that will be used in growing and sustaining the business here in Bay Island – California and also all over the United States of America and even beyond our country’s borders.

We therefore intend to generate income by offering the following services and selling the following products;

• Distribution of branded products

10. Sales Forecast

Everyone makes up, but the usage might differ depending on the preference of the individual and the occasion; this therefore means that there will always be demand for either makeup products or makeup application services.

California is a dream place for any makeup artist as not only are there more glamorous individuals here, there are also more celebrities, which means that we are optimistic of meeting our set target within eight months of starting and growing our business, due to the strategic location which we selected.

After critically examining this industry and our chances of making it, using several data and assumptions from similar startups such as ours; we were able to come up with the following sales forecast. Below therefore are the likely projections that we have determined for Shae’s Touch Studios based on several facts and data that were made available to us;

• First Fiscal Year-: $300,000
• Second Fiscal Year-: $500,000
• Third Fiscal Year-: $900,000

N.B : It should be noted that the projections done by us were based on what is obtainable in the industry as at the time the data and assumptions were gathered from similar businesses such as ours.

The assumptions used were that we would not experience any major economic meltdown that will allow less patronage from our customers and that there won’t be an arrival of any major competitor in the same location we are offering our business.

Should any of the assumptions change, it would have an effect on the figures posted which could either result into an increase or decrease.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

While generating capital and choosing a suitable location for our makeup business is highly important, marketing is also very important as well because if we do not thoroughly market our business, we would not only fail to attract customers to patronize our services but we would also not generate revenue to grow and sustain our business.

Marketing not only generates revenue and brings in more customers for a business, it is also a way of ensuring that the company is positively communicated to the public and can also effectively compete against its competitors in the industry.

Because of how serious this aspect of business is, we have hired a marketing consultant who is not only reputable but who has vast experience regarding our type of business in order to help us conduct thorough market research that would allow us penetrate the market.

The information gotten would then be used to structure our business in such a way as to attract the customers we need. The marketing consultant will help us develop our marketing strategies so that we will be able to attain our goal of not only penetrating the market but getting a huge chunk of the target market to patronize our brand and services.

We have also empowered our marketing and sales team to draft and modify effective marketing strategies that will help deliver our corporate sales goals.  This way we would conveniently grow and sustain our business effectively. In summary, below are the sales and marketing strategies that would be adopted by Shae’s Touch Studios;

• Start by throwing a mock makeup contest grand opening party in order to increase our awareness in the community where we intend starting our business.
• Introduce our makeup business to corporate bodies, individuals and other stakeholders in the industry.
• Engage in direct marketing and sales.
• Encourage our loyal customers to refer our brand to others.
• Market our brand online via our social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat) as well as on our website and other related blogs.
• Ensure that we advertise Shae Touch Studios in local newspapers and magazines, and on radio and television stations as well.

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Having the right publicity is very paramount to our kind of business and this involves exploring all the means necessary via conventional and unconventional methods. Ensuring that we get the right publicity for our business so that we could effectively compete with brands whilst also becoming a force to reckoned with in the industry; has led us to hire a brand consultant.

The brand consultant who has a vast knowledge of how to promote businesses such as ours will help develop publicity strategies that will deliberately project our brand and ensure that our target market are easily able to differentiate our brand from that of our competitors.

The publicity and advertising strategies will also help to effectively communicate our brand to our intended audience. Below are the platforms we intend leveraging on in order to promote and advertise Shae’s Touch Studios;

• Use social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter to promote our business
• Use Youtube to showcase our training sessions so as to attract more customers
• Attend several conventions and participate in several seminars in order to promote our brand
• Throw contests online in order to promote our brand
• Ensure that our staff members wear our company’s customized tee-shirts either in the store or during field work
• Distribute our handbills and fliers in strategic locations

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Setting the right rates for our products and services is very important because not only do we want to be affordable to our target market but we also intend to boost our bottom line sufficiently to enable us sustain and grow our business.

This means that the rates we would set for our services will be one that will take a whole lot of factors into consideration such as location, our overhead and running expenses, as well as what our competitors are offering. However, because we are relatively new to the market, we intend to offer discounted rates for our products and services for the first three months of operations.

This is intended to attract more customers to our business during these months. After taking a careful look at what our overhead and running expenses would be for these three months, we are optimistic that even though we would generate less revenue, we would not be running at a loss during this period.

• Payment Options

Because we intend to cater to diverse customers, we have come up with payment options that would suit all our various customers’ preferences here at Shae’s Touch Studios; Therefore, the payment options that we will make available for all our customers are;

• Payment via cash
• Payment via check
• Payment via Point of Sale (POS) Machine
• Payment via online payment portal
• Payment via credit card

The above payment options were carefully chosen by us and will work with no hitches for our customers whilst also allowing us achieve our intended goals.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

Every business that is a start-up requires capital in order to run the business and acquire the standard it intends for its business.

Whilst capital generation is key, deciding where to spend the bulk of the capital is also important. Therefore the bulk of our capital will be used to pay the salaries of our employees, pay utility bills and also to lease a facilityl. The key areas where we will therefore spend our start-up capital on are;

• Total fee for registering the business in the United States of America – $750
• Fees for obtaining licenses and permits, accounting software and specialized certifications – $2,250
• Cost of hiring business consultants – $3,000
• Marketing and promotion expenses for the grand opening of the makeup studio as well as general marketing expenses – $7,000
• Insurance coverage (general liability and Workers Compensation) – $2,000
• Operational expenses for the first 4 months (salaries of employees and payment of utility bills) – $120,000
• Cost of leasing a facility for at least 1 year and carrying out renovations – $30,000
• Cost of start-up inventory (professional makeup kits) – $15,000
• Cost of store equipment (cash register, racks, security and signage) – $5,000
• Other start-up expenses including stationery and furniture – $2,500
• Cost of purchasing a fairly used van – $15,000
• Cost of launching a website – $500
• Cost of throwing an opening party – $5,000
• Miscellaneous – $5,000

From the above analytical breakdown, it is obvious that we would require the sum of $213,000 in order to successfully startup and run a makeup business here in Bay Island – California. It should be noted that the amount is huge due to the different services we intend to offer. Also, the bulk of the capital will go into paying salaries of our employees and utility bills for at least 4 months.

Generating Funding/Startup Capital for Shae’s Touch Studios Business

Shae’s Touch Studios is a business owned and run 100% by Ms. Shae Lannister, a professional make-up artist. Ms. Shae has no intentions whatsoever to bring in any external partners to run the business with her. This has led her to restrict the sourcing of her capital to three major sources.

Below are the sources where Ms. Shae intends to source  her start-up capital from;

• Generate part of the start-up capital from personal savings
• Source for soft loans from friends
• Apply for loan from the commercial bank

N.B : Ms. Shae has been able to gather the sum of $50,000 from her personal savings. She got the sum of $13,000 from friends and has the sum of $150,000 approved by the bank after several documents were signed to that effect. The loan is to be repaid in 7 years at the rate of 3%. The amount is due to be credited to her business account before the week runs out.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

Every serious entrepreneur starting off their own business do so with the intention of not only making profit and competing fairly against its competitors but also remaining in business for as long as possible. To ensure that a business is sustained and eventually grows, there are a number of factors that would need looking into such as the loyalty of customers, the reinvestment strategy of the business and its business structure.

Customers are the reason a business exists and generates revenue especially a service oriented business, and so we know how valuable our customers are and what to do to ensure that we retain at least 80% of those who patronize our services.

We also know how beneficial it is to reward our loyal customers especially those who refer us to others. We have discount programs in place for our loyal customers and several other incentives that will ensure that we grab a huge share of the market.

Our motto is to not only know what our clients want and meet these needs but to positively exceed their expectations. We would be offering different services in order to cater to our diverse clients so as to boost our earnings and increase our bottom line.

To this effect, we intend to take strict measures by reinvesting a percentage of our earnings back into the business. This is a sure way of ensuring that the business is adequately sustained.

Finally, we know how important having a solid business structure is and how it would allow us have as less hitches as possible when we start off our business and to this effect, we have sourced for qualified and competent hands to handle the various tasks that we would assign them.

Our staff are not only proficient but they have identified with our corporate mission and vision and are committed to ensuring that we achieve our corporate goals and objectives. We intend to take great care of our staff pay them better than their counterparts in similar startups such as ours. We believe that these three factors will by no means help in our sustainability and expansion objectives.

Check List/Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check: Completed
• Business Registration: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
• Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
• Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Conducting feasibility studies: Completed
• Generating capital from family members: Completed
• Application for Loan from the bank: In Progress
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Graphic Designs and Printing of Marketing/Promotional Materials: In Progress
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
• Opening party/launching party planning: In Progress
• Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers/merchants: In Progress
• Purchase of trucks: Completed

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How to Start a Makeup Artist Business From Home in 14 Steps (In-Depth Guide)

Updated:   March 8, 2024

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The global makeup market will grow from $262.21 billion in 2022 at 4.2% until 2030 . With such an increase in market value expected, now is a great time for newcomers to join the professional makeup artist industry.

Whether you aim to be a freelance makeup artist or design your brand, this guide can help. Read along as we explain how to start a makeup artist business from home. You’ll learn insider tips on pricing services, choosing quality products, and techniques for growing your clientele. Here’s everything you need to know about starting a makeup business .

1. Conduct Makeup Artist Market Research

Market research is essential to developing a business plan for a successful makeup artist business. Whether taking on freelance makeup jobs or working in an organized studio, here are some facts you’ll come across in your research.

• Increased spending on cosmetics: Consumers are spending more on cosmetics and skin care.
• Growth of fashion and media industries: More fashion shows, films, TV productions, magazines, and ads require professional makeup services.
• Rise of social media: Social platforms like Instagram and YouTube have popularized makeup tutorials and inspired consumers to experiment with cosmetics. This drives demand for specialty services like bridal makeup.
• Growth of the events industry: More events like weddings, proms, conventions, and parties require makeup services.

Key opportunities in this market include:

• Wedding makeup – a fast-growing niche in makeup artistry is prom and wedding makeup.
• On-location services – offer greater convenience and customization for clients.
• Social media marketing – can attract clients and establish authority/expertise.
• Specialization allows differentiation in areas like bridal, TV/film, or special effects.

Our analysis shows the makeup artist industry has significant room for new entrants to carve out thriving businesses, especially those focused on weddings and leveraging social media marketing. The market provides ample opportunities for entrepreneurs given the rising consumer demand for creative cosmetics services.

Some makeup artists even offer additional services, such as wigs , hair extensions , and in some cases even gold teeth services!

2. Analyze the Competition

Thoroughly analyzing your competition is crucial when starting a makeup artist business. This gives insights into pricing, services, branding, and identifying unmet consumer needs. Some of the ways to improve your competitive analysis include:

• Identify salons and freelance artists in your geographic area.
• Visit their websites and social media to evaluate services, prices, clientele, and brand image.
• Search reviews on Google, Facebook, and Yelp to gauge customer satisfaction.
• Evaluate the strength of the competitor’s online presence.
• Search their names on Google to see search volume and first-page rankings.
• Analyze competitors’ websites with tools like SEMrush to quantify their traffic, inbound links, and search visibility.
• Examine their social media followings on Instagram and Facebook.
• Set up Google Alerts for competitor names to monitor news coverage, new services, and events.
• Subscribe to their email lists to analyze promotions and outreach.
• Evaluate direct versus indirect competitors.
• Direct rivals offer similar services, while indirect cater to the same target market.
• Identify competitors’ specialties and seek gaps you can fill.

Online competitive analysis helps shape your digital strategy. You can identify SEO keywords and phrases competitors rank for but you don’t. Executing a differentiated social media strategy lets you stand apart.

3. Costs to Start a Makeup Artist Business

When starting a makeup artist business, there are various one-time start-up costs to get up and running.

Start-up Costs

• Training – $2,000-$5,000 for a makeup artistry course and certification. Reputable programs like Make-Up Designory provide extensive hands-on training.
• Equipment – $2,000-$5,000 for a professional makeup kit with brushes, cosmetics, disposables, and storage. Quality brands like Makeup For Ever and MAC have pro discounts. Expect to invest more in products if you plan on offering permanent makeup services.
• Website – $500-$2,000 for site design and hosting, including branding, portfolio galleries, and booking system integration.
• Marketing – $1,000-$3,000 initial budget for business cards, promotional materials, and early social media advertising.
• Legal/admin – $500-$1,000 for business licensing, insurance, and filing paperwork depending on location.

Total start-up costs generally range from $6,000-$12,000 or more for a robust launch. Leasing a studio space as a home base adds $1,000-$3,000 monthly in rent and utilities.

Ongoing Costs

• Product costs – $500 for restocking kit essentials like foundations, mascara, and lip colors.
• Website hosting – $20-$50 per month for site hosting, backups, and domain renewal.
• Marketing – $100-$500 monthly ad spend on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to attract clients.
• Accounting – $100-$300 for bookkeeping software and services like QuickBooks.
• Insurance – $100-$300 for general liability to cover mishaps on location jobs.
• Retail space – $1,000-$3,000 for rent/utilities if operating a salon.
• Salaries – Staff like assistants and colorists require $30,000-$50,000 in annual salary and benefits.
• Annual costs like taxes, continuing education, and professional association dues average another $1,000-$3,000.

With adequate capital and lean operations early on, a makeup artist can minimize expenses while building their reputation and portfolio, similar to how nail salon technicians do it, or hair braiders. Our estimates indicate an initial $10,000-$15,000 provides a healthy foundation for launching and running a profitable makeup artistry enterprise.

4. Form a Legal Business Entity

When starting a makeup artist business, choosing the right legal structure is key. The four main options each have pros and cons to weigh for a cosmetics enterprise.

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is the simplest structure. You operate as an individual with pass-through income taxed only once. No formal registration is required beyond licenses. This offers ease of setup but no liability protection. Any legal or debt issues can impact your assets.

Partnership

Partnerships like an LP or LLP allow combining resources and expertise. Profits and losses pass through to partners to avoid double taxation. However, unlimited personal liability still exists for business debts and lawsuits. Disputes between partners can also dissolve the business.

Corporation

A corporation provides the highest level of ownership separation. Shareholders, directors, and officers are legally distinct from the business. Double taxation occurs on corporate profits and shareholder dividends. Significant paperwork is involved plus higher accounting costs. The corporate structure better suits larger enterprises.

Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)

Forming an LLC combines pass-through taxation with liability protection. It limits your exposure if the business is sued while avoiding corporate taxation rules. LLCs have flexibility in management structure. Ownership shares are easy to redistribute or sell. Startup and operating costs are low.

For makeup artists, an LLC ensures your assets are shielded if a client has an allergic reaction or injury during a service. It also allows seamlessly bringing on partners or employees as your business grows. LLC status conveys professional credibility with clients while entailing minimal legal paperwork.

5. Register Your Business For Taxes

An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a unique 9-digit number that identifies your business for tax purposes. The IRS requires all LLCs and corporations to have an EIN, including solo makeup artists operating legally as an LLC.

Obtaining an EIN is easy and free through the IRS website . This launches a short online application where you’ll input basic information about your makeup artist business entity and ownership structure.

The only documentation needed is your LLC paperwork or corporate articles of incorporation. The entire process takes less than 10 minutes. After submitting the form, you’ll receive an EIN assignment letter containing your new tax ID number.

With your EIN, you can open business bank accounts, apply for licenses, hire employees later on, and file required tax returns for your makeup artistry LLC. It establishes your business as a legally taxable entity.

You’ll also need to register with your state revenue or taxation department for sales tax collection. This allows charging sales tax on your services and remitting it to the state. Register through your state government websites, which are free to use.

Securing your EIN and sales tax license legitimizes your makeup artist business. These unique identifiers link your company to all government authorities for proper reporting and tax filings. Obtain both right away when forming your LLC so you can operate fully above board.

6. Setup Your Accounting

Proper accounting is crucial for makeup artists to maximize deductions, manage cash flow, and avoid IRS issues. With clients, purchases, and expenses flowing fast, having organized records is essential.

Accounting Software

Start by implementing small business accounting software like QuickBooks . This centralizes tracking income, taxes, payments, and profit/loss and creates reports. QuickBooks seamlessly syncs with bank and credit card accounts to log transactions. QuickBooks starts at just $25/month for their Simple Start plan.

Hire an Accountant

Consider retaining an accountant, at least initially, to set up your systems and provide ongoing services like bookkeeping, payroll, tax prep, and filing quarterly/annual tax returns. A full-service accountant may cost $1,000-$3,000 yearly but saves you hours of DIY work.

At a minimum, hire an accountant just for annual filings to maximize write-offs like makeup supplies, training, travel, and marketing expenses. If audited, an accountant experienced with makeup artists can substantiate deductions.

Open a Business Bank Account

Always maintain a separate business bank account. This keeps personal and business finances distinct for reporting purposes. Track all business income and expenses from the dedicated account.

Apply for a Business Credit Card

Get a business credit card as well to further isolate activity. Business cards don’t use your SSN, rely on the business’ credit profile, and have higher limits. Apply through major issuers like Chase Ink or Capital One Spark.

7. Obtain Licenses and Permits

Before taking on any paying clients, every makeup artist must ensure they have the required licenses and permits. Federal license requirements are available online through the U.S. Small Business Administration . The SBA also offers a local search tool for state regulations.

In most states, a general business license is needed to legally provide any service as a company. Apply through your county clerk’s office or chamber of commerce. This shows you’ve registered the business appropriately.

If renting a studio space to see clients, commercial location permits are also required. The property owner typically handles this but double-check to avoid occupancy issues.

Importantly, nearly every state requires a cosmetology license to provide makeup services. Each state has specific requirements regarding testing, training hours, and curriculum. In Texas, for example, 300 training hours are required before taking the examinations. Visit your state cosmetology board website for details.

Some counties or cities mandate additional business permits. For example, many require health department permits for any business dealing with client contact. Stay current on all city codes and apply for any relevant permits.

If selling retail cosmetics in addition to services, states require a seller’s permit. This allows collecting and remitting sales tax on taxable goods sold.

8. Get Business Insurance

Purchasing adequate business insurance is strongly advised to protect your assets as a makeup artist. Without policies like general liability and errors & omissions, your finances and company are at risk if sued.

Imagine a client has an allergic reaction to a product you use and is sued for medical damages. Or a bride’s makeup gets ruined right before her ceremony. Without insurance, you’d be personally liable for any settlements. Policies cover legal costs and payouts so your finances stay protected.

Other scenarios that could lead to lawsuits include infections or skin irritation from unsanitized tools or expired products. Permanent eye damage could occur if makeup gets in a client’s eye. Slips and falls in your studio can also spark legal action.

General liability insurance covering $1 million or more in damages provides essential risk mitigation. Policies start around $30/month. Visit sites like Progressive or Hiscox to get quick quotes for your business activities and location.

Errors & omissions policies cover mistakes and negligence. This protects if you accidentally harm a client’s skin or use the wrong shade foundation. It also covers business disruptions from property damage or supply chain issues.

9. Create an Office Space

Having a professional office space lends credibility and provides a hub for consultations and performing services. The optimal setup depends on your budget and business model.

Home Office

A home office works well early on. Dedicate a spare room with a locking door only for work. This incurs no rent but lacks interaction. Ensure your homeowner’s insurance covers business use.

Coworking spaces like WeWork provide amenities and community at affordable monthly rates starting around $300. These communal offices offer desk rentals, meeting rooms, events, and networking. The downsides are lack of privacy and non-client-facing location.

Retail Office

Retail studios on busy shopping streets get exposure but require higher rent of $2,000 monthly. Passing foot traffic can draw in clients. Verify zoning allows salon uses. Buildout costs are also higher for reception, stations, etc.

Commercial Office

Commercial office rentals offer private suites with signage and waiting areas ideal for consultations. B-class spaces rent for approximately $1,000-$1,500 per month. Confirm ample parking and handicap access for clients.

10. Source Your Equipment

A fully stocked professional makeup kit is essential for any makeup artist. Purchasing new provides quality assurance but can be expensive. Here are tips for acquiring the necessary tools and cosmetics:

Shop professional beauty supply stores like Nigel Beauty Emporium , Frends Beauty , and Makeup First . Take advantage of their pro/student discounts. Clinique , MAC , and Sephora also offer discounts for licensed artists. Aim to stock versatile, high-pigment products suited for all skin tones.

Buying Used

Scour resale sites like Mercari , Poshmark , and eBay for discounted brush sets, barely used palettes and more. Sanitize thoroughly. Be wary of counterfeit products – only buy from reputable sellers with item specifics listed.

Some brands like Kryolan offer equipment leasing for 0% interest over 12 months. This spreads out upfront costs but often with markups. Ensure lease-to-own terms are clearly defined.

11. Establish Your Brand Assets

Creating a strong brand identity is crucial for makeup artists to stand out and be recognizable. Follow these best practices when developing your visual assets and online presence:

Get a Business Phone Number

Get a dedicated business phone number through providers like RingCentral to list all materials. This conveys professionalism and separates your work and personal contacts.

Design a Logo

Design a sleek logo and logo suite that represents your artistic style. Consider a font-based logo mark for an elegant look or an abstract icon to depict creativity. Use a site like Looka to explore options and create branding you love.

Print Business Cards

Business cards are vital for in-person networking and consultations. Include your logo, tagline, website, phone number, and social media links. Vistaprint offers affordable, high-quality cards with rush printing available.

Customize studio signage with your logo to Identify your brick-and-mortar location. Prominent window and door decals signal you are open for business.

Buy a Domain Name

Buy a domain name that matches your business name or branding. A .com extension boosts credibility. Check availability on Namecheap first, then instantly buy preferred domains.

Build a Website

Building your website is easy with user-friendly DIY platforms like Wix . Pick a template, customize pages, and drag and drop in portfolio galleries. Or hire a skilled freelancer on Fiverr for a completely custom site design.

12. Join Associations and Groups

Joining relevant associations, attending meetups, and participating in online groups are invaluable for connecting with others in your field as a makeup artist. This provides mentorship, advice, and potential collaborations.

Local Associations

Seek out associations like the International Association of Professional Makeup Artists or Beauty Changes Lives Foundation which offer benefits like insurance, discounts, and annual conferences. Join your local chapter to gain localized advantages.

Local Meetups

Attending meetups helps you continuously hone skills and expand networks. Use Meetup to find regular events like Makeup Social Hour in your city. Trade shows like the International Makeup Artists Trade Show enable hands-on education while meeting fellow artists.

Facebook Groups

Actively participate in Facebook Groups like Makeup Artists Association , Makeup Artist Chat – For Career Makeup Artists , and MAKEUP ARTISTS . Share your work and ask targeted questions to receive feedback from professionals worldwide.

13. How to Market a Makeup Artist Business

Implementing an effective marketing strategy is essential for makeup artists to continually attract new clients.

Leverage these key tactics to expand your reach, boost visibility, and promote your services:

Personal Network

Your network is the most valuable asset when starting. Offer friends and family discounted or free makeup sessions to build your portfolio. Ask satisfied customers to endorse you on social media and refer others for loyalty rewards like 10% off their next booking.

Digital Marketing

For digital marketing:

• Run Google Ads campaigns targeted locally by services like “bridal makeup” and “on-location makeup artist”. Monitor performance and optimize profitable keywords.
• Promote branded posts on Facebook/Instagram showcasing your best makeup looks. Use relevant hashtags like #MakeupArtist to increase discovery.
• Start a YouTube channel demonstrating techniques and artistry. Share tutorials, brand collaborations, behind-the-scenes footage, and more.
• Write blog content focused on makeup tips, trends, and “day in the life” stories to boost SEO and showcase expertise.
• Send email newsletters with promotional offers and examples of your work to engage subscribers.

Traditional Marketing

For traditional marketing:

• Design eye-catching flyers and menus to display at wedding vendors like dress shops and florists. Offer cross-promotions.
• Partner with local photographers to have branded photos taken of models you work on for display materials.
• Attend bridal shows and networking events to connect personally with potential clients.
• Negotiate placement deals with hotels and venues ( like wedding venues or other relevant sites)to be their recommended or exclusive makeup artist.

Consistency and maximizing reach across marketing channels ensures your business stays top of mind in your community. Allocate 20-30% of revenue to reinvest in advertising for continual growth.

14. Focus on the Customer

Providing an exceptional client experience is crucial for makeup artists to drive referrals and repeat business. With numerous artists to choose from, stellar customer service sets you apart. Some ways to increase customer focus in the makeup industry, include:

• Reply promptly to all inquiries with a friendly, personalized tone. Send appointment confirmations and reminders to show you value their time.
• During sessions, focus completely on the client. Actively listen to understand their needs and vision. Make them feel pampered and cared for.
• Pay meticulous attention to detail in your application, setup, and cleanliness. Arrive early to each appointment fully prepared and organized.
• Ask for feedback during and after sessions. Send a thank you note with your business card and an incentive to book again afterward.
• Follow up consistently to foster relationships, not just one-time sales. Check-in after big events to see how the photos turned out.
• Address any concerns immediately with care and urgency. Refund or redo services if the result is unsatisfactory. Turn mistakes into retention opportunities.

Exceeding expectations at every touchpoint earns referrals and repeat visits. A personalized approach shows you value each client. This level of care propels word-of-mouth growth.

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March 8, 2024

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The makeup business from scratch

Introduction

There are so many services related to beauty. We have already talked about starting a beauty salon , barbershop, nail salon, or SPA, and even about opening a lash&brow business . Now, let's see how to create a makeup artist business.

Professional makeup is a life-changing service for many. This procedure not only highlights your beauty but also hides even the tiniest details you don't like. In addition, makeup is the art you can make money on.

Makeup changes the appearance but not the individuality. The main goal of this service is to show clients a better side. So, makeup artists use various beauty techniques, valuable products, and accessories.

A skillful makeup artist is a person who understands the fundamental principles of human anatomy, has artistic talent, the feeling of style, and trends.

The makeup business is a mix of art and hard work. A professional makeup artist has to be:

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More From Forbes

How To Write A Basic Business Plan

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Creating a successful business starts with a strong plan. Regardless of your experience level, learning how to write a basic business plan is essential to mapping out your company's path to success. With a clearly defined plan, you can identify potential challenges, set goals, and create a roadmap for growth.

Business plans can be incredibly beneficial for entrepreneurs in any stage of their business venture. Whether you're just starting out or seeking funding to expand, a well-crafted business plan can serve as a roadmap for success. Not only does it provide direction for your business, but it can also help you identify potential roadblocks, set realistic goals, and track your progress over time.

A well-written business plan can help potential investors or lenders understand your business model , mission, and strategies, making it easier for them to provide the resources you need to grow your business. So, if you're looking for a tool to help ensure your business's success, consider crafting a comprehensive and engaging business plan.

Your business plan doesn't become obsolete once your business is up and running. In fact, your business plan can continue to guide your decision-making even after your doors are open. Your plan serves as a blueprint for success and can remind you of your original goals and objectives.

By referring back to your business plan, you can ensure that your decisions align with your overall mission and vision for your company. With a solid business plan in place, you can keep your business on track and ensure that you continue to achieve your goals as your business grows and evolves.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, business plan basics.

At its core, a business plan is a written description of your company's future. It outlines what you plan to do and how you plan to do it.

Here is what you typically find in a basic business plan:

1. Executive Summary

A snapshot of your business plan as a whole, touching on your company’s profile, mission, and the main points of your plan. Think of it as an elevator pitch that presents your company's profile and core mission in a concise yet engaging manner.

2. Company Description

A more detailed look at your business goals, and what sets it apart in the marketplace. It is imperative to stand out from the competition to succeed, so list your differentiators and how you add value.

3. Market Analysis

It involves delving into your industry, identifying potential customers, and analyzing your competition to develop a strong understanding of the market. By garnering this knowledge, you can tailor your marketing and sales strategies to better meet the needs of your target audience.

4. Organization and Management

Your business's legal structure, organizational structure, and product or service life cycle. By keeping a close eye on your organization and management, you can ensure that your business is positioned for success in the long term.

5. Marketing and Sales Strategy

How you plan to attract and retain customers. It's not enough to simply offer a great product or service, you need to be able to effectively communicate your value proposition to your target audience.

6. Funding Request

If you are seeking funding, how much you need and what it will be used for. Securing funding can be a crucial component to kickstarting your business ventures.

7. Financial Projections

Projecting your profits, losses, and cash flow helps you plan in advance and make informed decisions. By crunching the numbers and analyzing past data, you can estimate future earnings and get a better understanding of your company's financial health.

8. Appendix

This is where you can include any additional information, such as resumes, permits, leases, and other legal documentation.

The bottom line is that a well-crafted business plan not only provides direction and structure but also helps you articulate your vision and goals. With a clear understanding of your target audience, competition, and financial projections, you're better equipped to make informed decisions and navigate the complexities of running a business. Ultimately, a business plan is an investment in your success, and it's essential for building a viable business.

Melissa Houston, CPA is the author of Cash Confident: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating a Profitable Business . She is the founder of She Means Profit, which is a podcast and blog . As a Finance Strategist for small business owners, Melissa helps successful business owners increase their profit margins so that they keep more money in their pocket and increase their net worth.

The opinions expressed in this article are not intended to replace any professional or expert accounting and/or tax advice whatsoever.

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How ESPN executives plan to survive the decline of cable TV

Disney ’s ESPN is at a crossroads.

For more than 40 years, the world’s largest all-sports network has grown annual revenue by increasing cable subscription fees. ESPN first charged pay-TV distributors less than $1 per month per subscriber in the 1980s. In 2023, ESPN’s monthly carriage fee was $9.42 per subscriber, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

That business model is eroding. Since 2013,  tens of millions  of Americans have canceled their cable TV subscriptions ,  raising questions about ESPN’s future in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.   CNBC spoke with multiple current and former Disney and ESPN executives about the network’s path ahead as part of the digital documentary “ESPN’s Fight for Dominance.”

ESPN reported domestic and international revenue grew just 1% to $4.4 billion in its most recent fiscal quarter. The network can no longer rely on price increases to make up the difference as the number of cable customers declines.

The company has a new two-part streaming plan to reinvigorate growth. First, this fall, Disney will make ESPN available outside the traditional cable TV bundle for the first time as part of  a joint venture  with  Warner Bros. Discovery  and  Fox . The service, which does not yet have a price, will target noncable customers who want to watch sports but don’t want to pay $80 or $100 a month for a full bundle of networks.

Second, in fall 2025 ESPN will  launch its flagship streaming service  that will include everything ESPN has to offer, both live and on demand. It will include unprecedented personalization and will interact with  ESPN Bet , the company’s licensed online sportsbook, and fantasy sports to cater to younger fans. The product will go well beyond ESPN+, which exists as a $10.99 streaming service that doesn’t include ESPN’s most expensive programming, such as all of “Monday Night Football.”

“The industry is in a transition phase right now,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in an interview as part of CNBC’s documentary.

“We’re seeing declines in the traditional ecosystem, cable and satellite universe,” Pitaro said. “There’s a transition to digital. That is by far the biggest component of our future.”

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Pitaro and head of programming Roz Durant defended ESPN’s growth   plan to CNBC, while former Disney and ESPN executives Bob Chapek, John Skipper and Mark Shapiro noted the so-called Worldwide Leader in Sports faces multiple potential obstacles   while it charts its path forward.

Watch the documentary  for the full story.

Alex Sherman covers technology, media and telecommunications for CNBC. 

How to Start a Profitable Permanent Makeup Business [11 Steps]

By Nick Cotter Updated Feb 02, 2024

Business Steps:

1. perform market analysis., 2. draft a permanent makeup business plan., 3. develop a permanent makeup brand., 4. formalize your business registration., 5. acquire necessary licenses and permits for permanent makeup., 6. open a business bank account and secure funding as needed., 7. set pricing for permanent makeup services., 8. acquire permanent makeup equipment and supplies., 9. obtain business insurance for permanent makeup, if required., 10. begin marketing your permanent makeup services., 11. expand your permanent makeup business..

Embarking on a journey to start a permanent makeup business requires a comprehensive understanding of the market landscape. A thorough market analysis will help you pinpoint customer needs, assess competition, and identify your unique value proposition. Here's how to perform an effective market analysis:

• Research the current trends in the permanent makeup industry, including popular techniques, products, and consumer preferences.
• Analyze your target demographic by age, income, lifestyle, and beauty habits to tailor your services to their specific needs.
• Examine competitors in your area, noting their service offerings, pricing structures, brand positioning, and customer reviews.
• Assess the demand for permanent makeup services in your intended location through surveys, focus groups, or by studying market reports and industry statistics.
• Identify potential suppliers and partners, comparing their products, prices, and reputations to ensure quality and cost-effectiveness for your business.
• Consider regulatory requirements and certifications necessary to operate legally and professionally within your region.

Are Permanent Makeup businesses profitable?

Yes, permanent makeup businesses can be profitable. It is important to have a clear business plan, a good reputation and offer high-quality services in order to be successful. The cost of supplies, overhead and marketing will affect the profitability of the business, so it is important to consider these factors when setting prices.

Starting a permanent makeup business requires a well-structured business plan to lay the foundation for success and guide your decisions. Your business plan should cover key aspects of your operations, financial projections, and marketing strategies. Consider the following elements as you draft your business plan:

• Executive Summary: A brief overview of your business concept, goals, and unique selling propositions.
• Company Description: Details about your permanent makeup services, target market, and competitive advantages.
• Market Analysis: Research on industry trends, target demographics, and competitor analysis.
• Organization and Management: Outline your business structure, ownership, and the qualifications of your team.
• Services Offered: A detailed list of permanent makeup services you plan to offer and any complementary services.
• Marketing and Sales Strategy: How you plan to attract and retain customers, pricing strategies, and sales tactics.
• Funding Request: If you're seeking financing, specify the amount needed and how it will be used.
• Financial Projections: Include projected income statements, cash flow statements, and balance sheets for the next 3-5 years.
• Appendix: Any additional documentation that supports your business plan, such as resumes, legal agreements, or product images.

How does a Permanent Makeup business make money?

A permanent makeup business typically makes money through the sale of products and services. Products may include permanent makeup pigments, needles, and other supplies. Services may include permanent makeup applications, touch-ups, and removal. Depending on the business model, the business may also charge consultation or appointment fees.

Developing a permanent makeup brand is a crucial step in ensuring the success of your business. It's about creating a unique identity that resonates with your target audience and sets you apart from competitors. Here are some key points to consider:

• Define Your Brand Identity: Establish a clear brand message, mission, and values that reflect the essence of your business. Consider what makes your services unique and how you want clients to feel when they think of your brand.
• Create a Memorable Logo and Name: Design a logo and choose a business name that captures the spirit of your brand and is easily recognizable. Ensure it aligns with the aesthetic appeal of the beauty industry.
• Develop a Consistent Aesthetic: Choose a color scheme, typography, and imagery that reflect your brand's style. Consistency across all platforms and materials is key to building brand recognition.
• Build an Online Presence: Create a professional website and engage on social media platforms where your target audience is active. Showcase your work, share customer testimonials, and provide valuable content related to permanent makeup.
• Focus on Customer Experience: Ensure that every interaction with your brand, from online inquiries to the service itself, is professional, welcoming, and reinforces your brand values.

How to come up with a name for your Permanent Makeup business?

When coming up with a name for your Permanent Makeup business, consider the core values and mission of your business. Additionally, you should try to pick a name that is easy to pronounce and remember. Brainstorm some ideas that reflect your brand and also think about what words and associations you want people to think of when they hear your business name. Finally, research the name you choose to make sure it is not already taken.

Embarking on the journey of starting a permanent makeup business requires not just skill and creativity, but also formal recognition through proper business registration. This step is crucial as it legitimizes your enterprise, offering protection and establishing credibility. Here are the key actions you'll need to take to ensure your business registration is in order:

• Choose a business structure (e.g., sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation) that aligns with your needs for liability protection and tax preferences. Consult a business advisor or attorney if needed.
• Register the business name with your local or state government. Ensure the name is unique and meets all legal requirements.
• Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS for tax purposes, especially if you plan to hire employees.
• Apply for any necessary licenses and permits required to operate a permanent makeup business, which may vary depending on your location and the services you offer.
• Register for state and local taxes to ensure you're in compliance with sales tax, use tax, and any other applicable taxes.
• Consider consulting with a business attorney to ensure all your paperwork is filed correctly and that you understand the legal requirements of running your business.

Resources to help get you started:

Explore critical materials designed to empower permanent makeup entrepreneurs with knowledge on market trends, operational strategies, and business growth tactics:

• Permanent Makeup International Magazine: Offers insights into the latest industry trends, artist interviews, and business growth strategies. [No link provided]
• The Society of Permanent Cosmetic Professionals (SPCP): This organization provides access to publications, industry reports, and newsletters essential for staying abreast of safety standards, techniques, and business practices. https://www.spcp.org/
• American Academy of Micropigmentation (AAM): Offers resources such as conferences, webinars, and certification information to enhance professional knowledge and skills. https://www.micropigmentation.org/
• Micropigmentation UK Conference & Awards: An annual event that brings together industry professionals for networking, lectures, and showcasing new products and techniques. [No link provided]
• Beauty Insurance Plus: Provides articles and e-books on best practices for permanent makeup technicians, covering topics from safety to marketing strategies. https://www.beautyinsuranceplus.com/

Starting a permanent makeup business requires complying with local regulations and obtaining the correct licenses and permits. This ensures that your business operates legally and meets health and safety standards. Below is a guide to help you navigate this process:

• Research local regulations: Contact your local health department or licensing board to determine what specific permits and licenses are required for permanent makeup artists in your area.
• Complete required training: Many jurisdictions require permanent makeup artists to complete a certain amount of training hours or certification courses. Ensure you meet these educational prerequisites before applying for your license.
• Apply for a business license: You'll need a general business license to operate any business legally. Apply for one through your city or county's business licensing office.
• Obtain a specialty license: Depending on your location, you may also need a specialty license for tattooing or cosmetology, as permanent makeup often falls under these categories.
• Pass health inspections: Your workspace must adhere to strict hygiene and safety standards. A health department inspection is typically required to receive your operating permit.
• Stay updated with renewals: Keep track of expiration dates for your licenses and permits to ensure your business remains compliant with all regulations.

What licenses and permits are needed to run a permanent makeup business?

Depending on your location, you may need to obtain a business license, tax registration numbers, and other permits to start and run a permanent makeup business. You may also need to secure specific qualifications or credentials such as a certificate in permanent makeup or a cosmetology license. You may also be required to pass health and safety inspections, obtain insurance policies, and comply with other local regulations in order to operate legally.

Securing your financial foundation is crucial when starting a permanent makeup business. Step 6 involves opening a business bank account to keep your company's finances separate from personal funds and obtaining the necessary capital. Here's how to approach these tasks:

• Choose a bank: Research and select a bank that offers business accounts with low fees, easy access, and good customer service. Consider banks that provide additional support to small businesses.
• Prepare documentation: Gather required documents such as your business license, EIN (Employer Identification Number), and ownership agreements to open your account.
• Understand your funding needs: Calculate the initial costs for equipment, supplies, licensing, and marketing to determine how much funding you'll need.
• Explore funding options: Consider applying for a business loan, seeking out investors, or using crowdfunding platforms. Look for grants and funding opportunities specifically aimed at small businesses or beauty industry entrepreneurs.
• Build a solid business plan: A well-crafted business plan is essential for securing loans or investments. It should clearly outline your business strategy, projected earnings, and how you plan to repay borrowed funds.

Setting the right prices for your permanent makeup services is crucial for attracting clients while ensuring profitability. Consider the value you provide, your expertise, the market rates, and the costs involved. Here's a guide to help you establish your pricing structure:

• Cost Analysis: Calculate the total cost of performing each service, including supplies, labor, overhead, and equipment depreciation.
• Competitor Pricing: Research the prices of similar services in your area to ensure your rates are competitive.
• Experience and Skill: Adjust your prices based on your qualifications, experience, and the complexity of the service offered.
• Target Market: Tailor your prices to the economic status and willingness to pay of your intended clientele.
• Value-Based Pricing: Consider the long-term value of the service to the client when setting prices, potentially allowing for higher rates.
• Pricing Strategy: Decide whether you'll use a tiered pricing model, package deals, or a flat rate for all clients.
• Adjustments and Corrections: Include pricing for touch-ups or corrections, as these are often necessary with permanent makeup.
• Transparency: Clearly communicate your prices to avoid confusion and build trust with your clients.

What does it cost to start a Permanent Makeup business?

Initiating a permanent makeup business can involve substantial financial commitment, the scale of which is significantly influenced by factors such as geographical location, market dynamics, and operational expenses, among others. Nonetheless, our extensive research and hands-on experience have revealed an estimated starting cost of approximately $15000 for launching such an business. Please note, not all of these costs may be necessary to start up your permanent makeup business.

Embarking on a permanent makeup business requires the right equipment and supplies to ensure safety, quality, and satisfaction for your clients. It is essential to invest in high-grade, professional tools that adhere to industry standards. Below is a guide to help you acquire the necessary equipment and supplies:

• Permanent Makeup Machine: Choose a reliable machine that's versatile for different techniques like microblading, powder brows, or lip blushing.
• Needles and Cartridges: Stock up on various needle configurations for precision work on different areas.
• Pigments: Select a range of high-quality pigments that are hypoallergenic and offer good retention.
• Topical Anesthetics: Ensure client comfort with safe and effective numbing agents.
• Disposables: Maintain hygiene with disposable gloves, aprons, caps, and barrier films.
• Sanitation Supplies: Invest in medical-grade disinfectants, autoclaves, and sanitizers to keep your workspace sterile.
• Practice Skins: Get synthetic skins to practice new techniques and improve your skills.
• Measuring Tools: Acquire tools like calipers and rulers for precise design and symmetry.
• Aftercare Products: Provide clients with aftercare kits including balms and instructions for proper healing.

List of Software, Tools and Supplies Needed to Start a Permanent Makeup Business:

• Permanent Makeup Kit
• Topical Anesthetics
• Needles and Pigments
• Cleaning Supplies
• Business Plan and Licensing
• Advertising Materials
• Website and Social Media Presence
• Bookkeeping and Accounting Software
• Client Records Management System

Securing the right business insurance is a critical step in establishing your permanent makeup business. It safeguards your enterprise from potential liabilities and ensures that you can operate with peace of mind. Here are some guidelines to help you obtain the necessary insurance:

• Research different types of insurance policies, such as General Liability Insurance, Professional Liability Insurance, and Property Insurance, to understand what coverage they offer.
• Contact insurance providers who specialize in beauty or cosmetic business insurance for more tailored options that suit the unique needs of a permanent makeup business.
• Consider the extent of coverage you need based on your business size, location, the services you offer, and the number of employees you have.
• Compare quotes from multiple insurance agents to find the best rates and coverage options for your business.
• Ask about any additional insurance options that may be beneficial, such as coverage for equipment, products liability, or business interruption.
• Review the insurance contract carefully before signing to ensure you understand the terms, conditions, and any exclusions or limitations.
• Keep your insurance documents in a safe place and make sure to renew your policies as required to maintain continuous coverage.

Launching your permanent makeup business is an exciting venture, and a strong marketing strategy is essential to attract and retain clients. Here are some effective techniques to market your services and establish a robust presence in the beauty industry.

• Build a Professional Website: Create an attractive, user-friendly website showcasing your work, services, and testimonials from satisfied customers. Ensure it's optimized for search engines (SEO) to increase visibility.
• Utilize Social Media: Use platforms like Instagram and Facebook to display before-and-after photos, share client reviews, and engage with your audience. Regular posts and stories can keep your followers informed and interested.
• Network with Industry Professionals: Connect with local salons, spas, and wellness centers to offer your services. Networking can lead to referrals and partnerships.
• Offer Promotions and Discounts: Attract new clients with introductory offers, package deals, or seasonal discounts. Encourage word-of-mouth by providing incentives for client referrals.
• Invest in Paid Advertising: Consider using targeted ads on social media or Google to reach potential clients who are actively searching for permanent makeup services.
• Get Featured in Local Media: Reach out to local magazines, newspapers, and blogs for a feature or interview to gain exposure and establish credibility.

Once you've established a solid foundation for your permanent makeup business, it's time to think about growth and expansion. To ensure sustainable growth, consider these steps to take your business to the next level and cater to a broader client base.

• Invest in Advanced Training: Enhance your skills with advanced courses in permanent makeup to offer new and trendy services.
• Partner with Other Professionals: Collaborate with dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and beauty salons to reach new clients.
• Expand Your Services: Introduce complementary services such as skin care treatments or lash extensions to become a one-stop beauty destination.
• Upgrade Your Equipment: Invest in the latest technology to improve service quality and efficiency.
• Launch a Referral Program: Encourage word-of-mouth marketing with incentives for clients who refer new customers.
• Utilize Social Media: Increase your online presence through targeted ads and engaging content to attract a wider audience.
• Open Additional Locations: If demand is high, consider opening new branches in other areas to capture more market share.
• Train and Hire Staff: As your client base grows, hire skilled technicians to handle the increased workload and maintain high-quality service.
• Franchise Your Business: If your brand is strong, franchising can be an effective way to expand rapidly with a lower capital investment.

Chicago Cubs | Chicago Cubs unveil plan for new rooftop signs,…

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Chicago Cubs

Chicago cubs | chicago cubs unveil plan for new rooftop signs, and say they’re bringing back an old tradition.

The Chicago Cubs are asking the City Council to allow the team’s owners to install LED rooftop signs on two buildings outside Wrigley Field.

Ald. Bennett Lawson, 44th, introduced an ordinance at Wednesday’s council meeting that would permit the construction later this season of a giant Coca-Cola sign with the familiar red-and-white design atop 1040 W. Waveland Ave. just beyond left field, and an advertisement for paint company Benjamin Moore over right field on 3623 N. Sheffield Ave.

The signs won’t be turned on unless a game is underway, and won’t flash or use video, Lawson said after the council meeting. The reaction from Wrigley Field’s neighbors has so far been muted.

“One of the things about these signs is that they are really facing into the ballpark,” Lawson said. “There’s not a lot of street presence or sidewalk presence. The money is made on TV. It should really be a minimal impact certainly for our residents.”

The proposal should go before the council’s Zoning Committee in two weeks, he added, and could secure final approval from the full council at its April meeting.

Cubs spokesperson Julian Green said Coca-Cola and Benjamin Moore are both already partners of the ballclub, and the signs are part of new multiyear rooftop deals.

The Ricketts family has sought to create new sources of revenue around Wrigley Field ever since it bought the Cubs in 2009 for $845 million. The family rehabilitated the stadium, and won praise from local business leaders for replacing a parking lot to the west with Gallagher Way, a mixed-use district with new offices, a conference center, a boutique hotel, more restaurants and retail, and a town square for concerts, outdoor markets and parties.

“The concerts are fabulous, everyone does well during concert season,” said Maureen Martino, executive director of the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce. Off-season events at Gallagher Way, including Christkindlmarket Wrigleyville, keep foot traffic up even during winter. “All of this activity has been very good for us.”

The change hasn’t always been smooth. Owners of several rooftop bars around the park sued the Cubs nine years ago after the team announced plans to place video boards in the outfield, claiming the structures would block their customers’ views. The Cubs prevailed in 2017 when a panel of federal judges ruled video boards did not violate a 2004 revenue-sharing agreement between the team and rooftop clubs.

Green said rooftop advertisements have been a part of Wrigley Field ever since it opened in 1914. Generations of baseball fans were accustomed to a huge Budweiser logo spread across the roof of 3701 N. Kenmore Ave., just across Waveland Avenue over left center field, a spot later taken by United Airlines. And 3631 N. Sheffield Ave. was known for advertising both Torco oil and Miller Lite beer.

“There was also a third sign,” he said. “Following the 1932 World Series, Curtiss Candy installed an illuminated advertising sign for Baby Ruth on the roof of one of the buildings across Sheffield Avenue to mark Babe Ruth’s “supposed” called shot.”

Lawson said he met last month with East Lakeview Neighbors, a community group, and residents seemed satisfied with the Cubs’ signage plan.

“I would say the mood was indifferent,” he said. “Which is unusual for a group that has Wrigley Field in their area. But given the restrictions, given the location, they didn’t seem to have really any questions or concerns.”

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How To Write a Makeup Artist Business Plan + Template

Creating a business plan is essential for any business, but it can be especially helpful for a makeup artist business that wants to improve your strategy and/or raise funding.

A well-crafted business plan not only outlines the vision for your company, but also documents a step-by-step roadmap of how you are going to accomplish it. In order to create an effective business plan, you must first understand the components that are essential to its success.

This article provides an overview of the key elements that every makeup artist business owner should include in your business plan.

Download the Ultimate Business Plan Template

What is a Makeup Artist Business Plan?

A makeup artist business plan is a formal written document that describes your company’s business strategy and its feasibility. It documents the reasons you will be successful, your areas of competitive advantage, and it includes information about your team members. Your business plan is a key document that will convince investors and lenders (if needed) that you are positioned to become a successful venture.

Why Write a Makeup Artist Business Plan?

A makeup artist business plan is required for banks and investors. The document is a clear and concise guide of your business idea and the steps you will take to make it profitable.

Entrepreneurs can also use this as a roadmap when starting your new company or venture, especially if you are inexperienced in starting a business.

Writing an Effective Makeup Artist Business Plan

The following are the key components of a successful makeup artist business plan:

Executive Summary

The executive summary of a makeup artist business plan is a one to two page overview of your entire business plan. It should summarize the main points, which will be presented in full in the rest of your business plan.

• Start with a one-line description of your makeup artist company
• Provide a short summary of the key points in each section of your business plan, which includes information about your company’s management team, industry analysis, competitive analysis, and financial forecast among others.

Company Description

This section should include a brief history of your company. Include a short description of how your company started, and provide a timeline of milestones your company has achieved.

If you are just starting your makeup artist business, you may not have a long company history. Instead, you can include information about your professional experience in this industry and how and why you conceived your new venture. If you have worked for a similar company before or have been involved in an entrepreneurial venture before starting your makeup artist firm, mention this.

You will also include information about your chosen makeup artist business model and how, if applicable, it is different from other companies in your industry.

Industry Analysis

The industry or market analysis is an important component of a makeup artist business plan. Conduct thorough market research to determine industry trends and document the size of your market. 

Questions to answer include:

• What part of the makeup artist industry are you targeting?
• How big is the market?
• What trends are happening in the industry right now (and if applicable, how do these trends support the success of your company)?

You should also include sources for the information you provide, such as published research reports and expert opinions.

Customer Analysis

This section should include a list of your target audience(s) with demographic and psychographic profiles (e.g., age, gender, income level, profession, job titles, interests). You will need to provide a profile of each customer segment separately, including their needs and wants.

For example, the customers of a makeup artist business may include: 

• Professionals who need a polished look 
• Men or women who want to cover blemishes 
• Older customers who want a more youthful appearance

You can include information about how your customers make the decision to buy from you, as well as, what keeps them buying from you.

Develop a strategy for targeting those customers who are most likely to buy from you, as well as those that might be influenced to buy your products or makeup artist services with the right marketing.

Competitive Analysis

The competitive analysis helps you determine how your product or service will be different from competitors, and what your unique selling proposition (USP) might be that will set you apart in this industry.

For each competitor, list their strengths and weaknesses. Next, determine your areas of competitive differentiation and/or advantage; that is, in what ways are you different from and ideally better than your competitors.

Below are sample competitive advantages your makeup artist business may have:

• Proven industry experience
• Strong focus on customer service
• Wide range of services offered
• Use of high-quality products and materials
• Affordable prices

Marketing Plan

This part of the business plan is where you determine and document your marketing plan. . Your plan should be clearly laid out, including the following 4 Ps.

• Product/Service : Detail your product/service offerings here. Document their features and benefits.
• Price : Document your pricing strategy here. In addition to stating the prices for your products/services, mention how your pricing compares to your competition.
• Place : Where will your customers find you? What channels of distribution (e.g., partnerships) will you use to reach them if applicable?
• Promotion : How will you reach your target customers? For example, you may use social media, write blog posts, create an email marketing campaign, use pay-per-click advertising, launch a direct mail campaign. Or, you may promote your makeup artist business via word-of-mouth.

Operations Plan

This part of your makeup artist business plan should include the following information:

• How will you deliver your product/service to customers? For example, will you do it in person or over the phone only?
• What infrastructure, equipment, and resources are needed to operate successfully? How can you meet those requirements within budget constraints?

The operations plan is where you also need to include your company’s business policies. You will want to establish policies related to everything from customer service to pricing, to the overall brand image you are trying to present.

Finally, and most importantly, in your Operations Plan, you will lay out the milestones your company hopes to achieve within the next five years. Create a chart that shows the key milestone(s) you hope to achieve each quarter for the next four quarters, and then each year for the following four years. Examples of milestones for a makeup artist business include reaching $X in sales. Other examples include hiring X number of employees or opening up X new locations.

Management Team

List your team members here including their names and titles, as well as their expertise and experience relevant to your specific makeup artist industry. Include brief biography sketches for each team member.

Particularly if you are seeking funding, the goal of this section is to convince investors and lenders that your team has the expertise and experience to execute on your plan. If you are missing key team members, document the roles and responsibilities you plan to hire for in the future.

Financial Plan

Here you will include a summary of your complete and detailed financial plan (your full financial projections go in the Appendix). 

This includes the following three financial statements:

Income Statement

Your income statement should include:

• Revenue : how much revenue you generate.
• Cost of Goods Sold : These are your direct costs associated with generating revenue. This includes labor costs, as well as the cost of any equipment and supplies used to deliver the product/service offering.
• Net Income (or loss) : Once expenses and revenue are totaled and deducted from each other, this is the net income or loss.

Sample Income Statement for a Startup Makeup Artist Business

Balance sheet.

Include a balance sheet that shows your assets, liabilities, and equity. Your balance sheet should include:

• Assets : All of the things you own (including cash).
• Liabilities : This is what you owe against your company’s assets, such as accounts payable or loans.
• Equity : The worth of your business after all liabilities and assets are totaled and deducted from each other.

Sample Balance Sheet for a Startup Makeup Artist Business

Cash flow statement.

Include a cash flow statement showing how much cash comes in, how much cash goes out and a net cash flow for each year. The cash flow statement should include:

• Cash Flow From Operations
• Cash Flow From Investments
• Cash Flow From Financing

Below is a sample of a projected cash flow statement for a startup makeup artist business.

Sample Cash Flow Statement for a Startup Makeup Artist Business

You will also want to include an appendix section which will include:

• Your complete financial projections
• A complete list of your company’s business policies and procedures related to the rest of the business plan (marketing, operations, etc.)
• Any other documentation which supports what you included in the body of your business plan.

Writing a good business plan gives you the advantage of being fully prepared to launch and/or grow your makeup artist company. It not only outlines your business vision but also provides a step-by-step process of how you are going to accomplish it.

Create your business plan to articulate a clear and concise message that will serve as your roadmap to success. A well-written business plan will also help you secure funding from investors, lenders, or other sources.   

Finish Your Makeup Artist Business Plan in 1 Day!

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Saudi Arabia Plans $40 Billion Push Into Artificial Intelligence

The Middle Eastern country is creating a gigantic fund to invest in A.I. technology, potentially becoming the largest player in the hot market.

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By Maureen Farrell and Rob Copeland

The government of Saudi Arabia plans to create a fund of about $40 billion to invest in artificial intelligence, according to three people briefed on the plans — the latest sign of the gold rush toward a technology that has already begun reshaping how people live and work.

In recent weeks, representatives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have discussed a potential partnership with Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms, and other financiers, said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. They cautioned that the plans could still change.

The planned tech fund would make Saudi Arabia the world’s largest investor in artificial intelligence. It would also showcase the oil-rich nation’s global business ambitions as well as its efforts to diversify its economy and establish itself as a more influential player in geopolitics. The Middle Eastern nation is pursuing those goals through its sovereign wealth fund, which has assets of more than $900 billion.

Officials from the Saudi fund have discussed the role Andreessen Horowitz — already an active investor in A.I. and whose co-founder Ben Horowitz is friends with the fund’s governor — could play and how such a fund would work, the people said. The $40 billion target would dwarf the typical amounts raised by U.S. venture capital firms and would be eclipsed only by SoftBank, the Japanese conglomerate that has long been the world’s largest investor in start-ups.

The Saudi tech fund, which is being put together with the help of Wall Street banks, will be the latest potential entrant into a field already awash in cash. The global frenzy around artificial intelligence has pushed up the valuations of private and public companies as bullish investors race to find or build the next Nvidia or OpenAI. The start-up Anthropic, for instance, raised more than $7 billion in one year alone — a flood of money virtually unheard-of in the venture capital world.

The cost of funding A.I. projects is steep. Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, has reportedly sought a huge sum from the United Arab Emirates government to boost manufacturing of chips needed to power A.I. technology.

Saudi representatives have mentioned to potential partners that the country is looking to back an array of tech start-ups tied to artificial intelligence, including chip makers and the expensive, expansive data centers that are increasingly necessary to power the next generation of computing, according to four people with knowledge of those efforts, who were not authorized to speak publicly. It has even considered starting its own A.I. companies.

Two of the people said that Saudi’s new investment push is likely to take off in the second half of 2024. A $40 billion fund could make both the Saudi Arabian government and Andreessen Horowitz key players in races to corner various businesses related to the field.

Mr. Horowitz and Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund, have discussed the possibility of the Silicon Valley firm setting up an office in the country’s capital, Riyadh, one person with knowledge of the conversations said.

Other venture capitalists may participate in the kingdom’s tech fund, two people briefed on the plans said.

Partly because of its enormous financial clout and growing ambitions, those in international business circles closely monitor moves made by the Public Investment Fund, which was created in 1971.

In 2018, just as Saudi Arabia was becoming a major destination for investment firms and entrepreneurs seeking financial backing, the country’s agents killed the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate, which for a spell seemed to damage the nation’s reputation among international financiers.

In 2022, the Saudi government invested billions into a firm run by former President Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, among others, which was seen by many as a political move. One of its recent deals to merge its LIV Golf upstart with the PGA Tour raised the ire of golfers, but the pact is also controversial in part because of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

Saudi Arabia, which poured $3.5 billion into Uber in 2016, has largely struggled with technology investing. It handed $45 billion to SoftBank for the Japanese firm’s $100 billion Vision fund, which was channeled into dozens of enterprises including the now-bankrupt real estate firm WeWork and other failed start-ups, such as the robotic pizza-making company Zume.

Many in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street have welcomed the nation back into the fold. During this year’s Super Bowl, Mr. Horowitz hosted Mr. al-Rumayyan, according to two people briefed on their activities.

The two men also spent time together before and after the game, the people said, with Mr. Horowitz giving Mr. al-Rumayyan tours of Las Vegas, his adopted city, and introducing the investor to his friends in music and sports.

Maureen Farrell writes about Wall Street, focusing on private equity, hedge funds and billionaires and how they influence the world of investing. More about Maureen Farrell

Rob Copeland is a finance reporter, writing about Wall Street and the banking industry. More about Rob Copeland

Explore Our Coverage of Artificial Intelligence

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Apple is in discussions with Google  about using Google’s generative A.I. model called Gemini for its next iPhone.

The government of Saudi Arabia plans to create a fund of about $40 billion  to invest in A.I., according to three people briefed on the plans.

Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of Google’s DeepMind A.I. lab, is leaving Inflection AI, the start-up he was running, to lead Microsoft’s consumer A.I. business .

The Age of A.I.

By interacting with data about genes and cells, A.I. models have made some surprising discoveries and are learning what it means to be alive. What could they teach us someday ?

Covariant, a robotics start-up, is using the technology behind chatbots  to build robots that learn skills much like ChatGPT does.

When Google released Gemini, a new chatbot, the company quickly faced a backlash. The episode unleashed a fierce debate  about whether A.I. should be guided by social values.

A.I.’s booming growth is radically reshaping an already red-hot data center market, raising questions about whether these sites can be operated sustainably .

Few companies better illustrate how A.I. is changing Silicon Valley deal-making than Anthropic, one of the world’s hottest A.I. start-ups .