The Makeup Insider
The Makeup Insider is a fortnightly one-on-one podcast exploring the life and career of makeup artists, hosted by freelance mua Vanessa Barney.. Finding your community of other likeminded mua’s – the creative, artistic, talkative, flexible, adaptable with a good eye for colour kind-of-people, can often be daunting. Like, where do you start? The Makeup Insider is designed for just that. To build a collaborative online community of artists to build their confidence, connections and help drive their career to the next level.If you’re just starting out or have been in the industry for a long time, tune in now, check out the key takeaways in the show notes and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Find Vanessa @vanessabarney @the.makeupinsider
The Makeup Insider
Mastering Financial Literacy and Profitable Pricing as MUA with Justine McLean
Navigating the financial side of the beauty business can be as complex as a smoky eye tutorial—but it doesn't have to be! On the latest Makeup Insider podcast, we're joined by business money mentor and BAS agent Justine McLean to shed light on financial literacy for makeup artists and entrepreneurs. Justine unpacks the necessity of a positive financial mindset and how the story told by your numbers can sculpt a more profitable business path. She also teases her upcoming book 'Become a Business Money Magnet', and reveals how her program helps business owners magnify their financial success. Our conversation is your golden ticket to understanding and valuing your work, determining prices that resonate with your worth, and handling the financial aspects of your business with confidence.
In the realm of beauty, your pricing is your palette, and it's crucial to get the mix just right. This episode paints a vivid picture of how emotional ties to our 'money story' influence the way we value and price our services. Justine McLean guides us through the transformative journey of adopting a non-judgmental approach to financial support, essential for overcoming hurdles and thriving in the business. We dissect the elements of profitable pricing—from covering costs to forecasting cash flow—and how to set prices that not only cover your desired salary but also secure your profit margins. Tune in to unlock the secrets of charging your value and transforming your makeup artistry into a flourishing business.
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Hi and welcome to the Makeup Insider. I'm your host, vanessa Barney, makeup artist, hairdresser, educator and all-round beauty junkie. If you've ever felt lost or lonely in your makeup career, this podcast is for you. I'm here to interview makeup artists and other industry professionals, to give guidance and be the mentor I needed early in my career. With a new episode every Tuesday, don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss a trick, and if you like what you hear, please rate and leave a comment. I hope you enjoy. Today. I'm joined on the Makeup Insider by business money mentor Justine McLean. Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, Vanessa. It's lovely to be here.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm so excited to hear about what you do, but first of all, could you let the audience know what you do and where they can find you?
Speaker 2:So, as you said, I am a business money mentor, which probably doesn't mean that much to people, but essentially I use well, I am a registered BAS agent. I had a big bookkeeping and BAS compliance practice which I sold 12 months ago and I decided that I really wanted to lean into my most favorite thing about business, which is getting those finances right, and so I now help people increase their financial literacy so they can make more money, supercharge their profits, live that life. That really is, you know, according to their definition of success, not what all these other people are doing. So I've written a book, become a Business Money Magnet, out in June, and if people want to find me, they can Google me. I come up in all sorts of places, usually under Business Money Magnet, or they can come and say hello to me over on Instagram, which I am at Flossy Files F-L-O-S-S-I-F-I-L-E-S. Flossy Files, which just happens to be my childhood nickname. So that's the whole Flossy thing.
Speaker 1:Amazing, amazing. I did wonder that actually. So thanks for sharing that. Okay, well, let's just maybe I'll just talk to you about this from my point of view. If I was wanting to get my well, I think we can all use some financial help. Really, If I wanted to sort out my finances, what would I do?
Speaker 2:Would I send you an email, come to you and then you would get my yeah, look, I think so many of us you know as business owners, you know, none of us really got in, you know, started our business to deal with the money right, to dot those I's cross, those T's and have to handle the finances. Most of us did it because we had a skill or a talent or something amazing that we want to give to the world, or because we've had kids and we want to kind of fit in, you know, a business opportunity or working with not having to actually physically go into the office. That's why I started my very first business 30 years ago and it was because of my kids, and I have four kids that I've kind of had through all of my 30 years of business. For people when they're kind of starting out or even, if you know, some of my clients have been in business for more than 20 years I think it's about finding that person that you can have a genuine conversation with, a non-judgmental conversation about the business finance. Because, unfortunately, what happens, particularly for a lot of women who choose to go into business, you know, they try and do the right thing, they go off to an accountant and they're told something like well, this is kind of a small thing or this is just a hobby. People downplay it. They get told that they're not good with numbers because maybe they've come into, you know the, the accountant 12 months after they've started their business and the accountant looks at the books and kind of has this attitude well, you're not great with numbers. Or maybe they're bringing in a money story where they've been told they're not good with numbers and so, by default, that's what happens inside of their business. And so I think it's about finding that person whether it's me or whether it's someone else who you can sit down and have that genuine, open, honest conversation with about okay, what is it that I need to do? Or I'm at this point in my business and I want to get to this point. How can can I get there? Or I'm in this problem. I have this problem. How can I fix it?
Speaker 2:Because people like me accountants, other finance professionals sometimes it could be your bookkeeper, it could be your best mate who has a business and absolutely kills it when it comes to finance. They're the people that you want to talk to. For me, it's about education and so because I know through experience, through a big $42,000 tax debt not long after I have my second business, that it's really easy to get into big problems, big financial problems, in your business. For me, it's all about understanding the story of your numbers because your business. For me, it's all about understanding the story of your numbers, because your business numbers tell a story and I think all of us deserve to be the author of our own story. So, yeah, you can email me, you can reach out to me on Instagram, you can buy the book when that comes out, because you know that's going to tell you everything you need to know.
Speaker 1:So that's the money magnet book. Tells you how to set things up and Exactly.
Speaker 2:Look, I've also got a program. I've got a program called Business Money Magnet and in that program you know people can join at any time because you know when you need help with your money you need it now. People basically work through that program. You start at the beginning and you kind of go step by step through and you learn about the common terms, you learn how to put a cash flow forecast in place, you learn how to price your products or your service as well. We talk about mindset, where it's about you know overcoming those money blocks and those that money story that you might be telling yourself, so that you are genuinely, you genuinely offer a business where you're charging your value.
Speaker 2:People always say charge your worth. I don't believe in that. I believe in charging your value because for me your worth is what someone else is prepared to pay for your services, your value. That value exchange is way more important. And so I think you know there are programs like mine where you can walk through step by step, and you know we also have 28 coaching sessions over the years where we kind of have small group coaching sessions and we work through it. But you don't have to go that big and you don't have to go as small as my book you can find. It's about finding that in between, that place for you that resonates when you've got that person or that resource that you can call when you need to so that you can get your questions answered. And for me that's the most important, so I could be joining a free Facebook group.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. So I found myself in a spot of trouble. A while ago now, a couple of years ago, I don't know, maybe seven years ago. I hadn't done my tax for five to seven years seven years ago I hadn't done my tax for five to seven years, and the reason I hadn't done it was because I didn't know how.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And every year that I left it I got more and more overwhelmed. Yeah, I actually just could not deal with it, to be honest, totally. I ended up contacting an accountant and they and the person who I contacted she actually left the practice, the business, and then I um ended up speaking to this other person who kind of judged me not kind of, yeah, actually judged me, and you know I said so, why haven't you done it?
Speaker 1:I said, oh, because I it made me feel really, really anxious. And he goes oh, I can't tell that to the ATO, and I'm like, oh, okay, anyway, I ended up finding this other lady again and she's ended up helping me and fixing everything for me and yeah, now I, now I feel I've got things under control, but there's definitely more things that you know I'd like to know about.
Speaker 2:I totally agree with you. I think, you know, as I said, none of us go into business to do the numbers. Really. Sure, we have a goal in mind of what we want to earn, but we're not sort of sitting there thinking, great, well, you know, I'm going to, you know, save for tax and I'm going to make sure I add a profit and I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. We're kind of too busy hustling to get the work, deliver the service and then, okay, oh gosh, we've got to do tax and we've kind of got to, you know, cross those T's and dot those I's and do those things that the government says that we have to do.
Speaker 2:And I think the thing that used to drive me crazy was that, um, you know, it was that judge judgment that, uh, you get, you know, and and honestly, that is so common um, I hear that so many times. I mean, when I first, you know, started my first business, I, I worked, my first son had been born and I literally was just trading my time for money. You know, I was working for a publishing company, you know, commissioning editors, super simple. My husband and I opened toy stores in 2002 and we were kind of early e-commerce adopters and our accountant at the time. I remember saying to her okay, what do I need to do? You know, because I want to get this finance stuff right. I didn't have to worry about it so much in my old business and the advice was register for the right taxes and uh, you know, spend less than you earn. And I thought, okay, that's it, okay, fine. So we're kind of rolling along, we're making, you know, decent money in this business.
Speaker 2:And then when I go to put in our first tax return, I I'm told it's a $42,000 tax debt and I got the same judgment from that accountant. Now, the interesting thing, you know, how could you have racked this up? And I'm like, well, I don't know, you're the accountant, you explain it to me, I don't understand this stuff. That same judgment it out. And I found this out, you know, 12 months later, when I got my new accountant to take a deep dive into things, that the other accountant had actually mislodged my return and lodged it incorrectly, which was why we kind of had this big tax amount that we needed to pay immediately. Now the truth is, we would have most likely had to pay that over the course of the next 12 months. But it was just, you know, accounting is date-driven and the accountant obviously knew that that would have been one of the first things that was learned, as part of the degree that you know she would have inevitably one of the first things that was learned, uh, as part of the degree that you know she would have inevitably done to get her qualifications. But I didn't understand that. Uh, but you know when you, when you're in that much trouble, and then you're told well, now you know, if you go into a payment plan for this because you don't have a lazy 42k lying around, um, you know, then you can't have a payment plan for anything else you do, or your BASs, or your other lodgements. They all have to be paid on time.
Speaker 2:Getting in trouble with the ATO is far worse than being stood in any naughty corner anywhere, and the amount of stress and frustration that we had, as you know, as business owners, and then my husband and I, you know, as a couple, honestly it just, you know, terrible.
Speaker 2:And all the while I'm getting judged, you know, by my accountant, and so that's just reinforcing this money story. Because, you know, I'm a creative even though I work with numbers, I would call myself creative at heart. I'm thinking, well, yeah, there you go. I don't do numbers, I got stuck with the finances, I've stuffed this up and it was, you know, a year in purgatory before my new accountant said, actually that wasn't your fault and here's why, and could explain it to me. So I think it's really sad the number of businesses who kind of get caned like that and then, you know, because you do, you become frozen. Sometimes it's easier to put your head in the sand than to have to actually deal with the reality. Um, so I just think that it's really important to find that person just like you did, vanessa who doesn't judge you. Yeah, I think it's so important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you touched on charging, not charging worth.
Speaker 2:Charging your value.
Speaker 1:Your value? Yes, and you've also talked on money mindset. I would love to talk about both of those topics topics, I don't know if they're.
Speaker 2:they intertwine they really do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I think you know we all have a money story. That's the reality of it. You know that thing that we were told when we were young or learned behavior from our parents, or maybe it was our maths teacher at school, um, who used to shake his head at me every time I sat an exam because I just was not good at the formulas. And back in the olden days, when I had to do maths at school, that's all we did. There was no basic kind of life maths back then. And I think you know in. You know, in my household, my money story was very much about scarcity, lack. You know, if I had a dollar for every time, my mum said to me money doesn't grow on trees, or let me just go and dig out the jam tin down the back and I'll buy that thing the year after, I kind of knew, you know, not to ask for things. So we all have that money story, no matter what that is, no matter where we learn that behaviour or no matter where we hear that behaviour. And then that becomes reinforced because it's that old adage that you know how people say you can't be what you can't see. Well, I think it's like everything we believe something, we see it everywhere. So if you're the sort of person who believes in angel numbers, for example, you're probably inclined to see triple one or triple two every single day. Or if you're thinking about buying a red car, you're probably more attuned to seeing that red car around. And so I think our money story impacts our mindset, so how we think and feel about money on an everyday basis, and that in turn impacts how we deal with our finances. So whether we have that fixed you know mindset, whether we have that growth mindset and I'm a believer that we have both in equal measures so sometimes it's sort of very fixed. It's very much I don't do numbers and I can never change that behavior. And sometimes it's well, I don't do numbers, but I think I want to give that a crack because maybe I can get to that you know profit number that I'm after, or maybe I can get paid five thousand dollars for that job, whatever it is, and so I think it it's sort of you know it all very much intertwines and I and I think, as we kind of go into business, we'll just bring those things with us as these little passengers who kind of sit there and so, depending on what day of the week it is and how we're feeling about business like right now most people are feeling pretty flat about business.
Speaker 2:A lot of people aren't spending money and it is impacting small business and so people are probably, you know, leaning into that fixed mindset. You know that concern about money, all of those things that we've been told that are impossible we're probably believing those more now than that sort of anything is possible. Let's give this a shot. And so those things in turn impact how we charge and how we deal with our clients, and you know every single decision we make. So I always say to people look, I don't care if you feel like you're in a fixed mindset, in a growth mindset, I don't care what anyone has told you. It's all about having trying to have the most positive attitude that you can about numbers and kind of backing that up with some great habits, really charging that value. When every time one of those mindset blocks comes up, asking yourself is that true? Do I really believe that? So I don't do numbers, is that true? If I kind of said to you you know you need to walk the plank into this pool of infested sharks because you don't do numbers, would that change your mind? Would you have a go at doing your numbers? You'd probably say, yeah, sure, I'll give that a go. So it's just about recognising that that is what's going on in the background and sort of having the most positive attitude or trying to take the most positive approach to your finances and to your question about that whole value piece.
Speaker 2:You know, for me, so many of us have heard that expression charge what you're worth, charge your worth. But you know, as I was saying, for me worth is what someone else is prepared to pay you, and you know that will be impacted by their money story. So if I, for example, a make-up artist is a bit of a frivolous expense and I don't really think they're worth that much because, gosh, anyone could slap on a bit of make-up right then I might not be prepared to pay the $200 for that session, to get my make-up done, for that photo shoot. I might think to myself, well, that's only worth $60 or that's only worth $100. So I'm dictating what I think your service is worth.
Speaker 2:However, when I think of value, I know the value firsthand. Working with a fabulous makeup artist, I've seen the value in the photos that I use every single day, the partnership between the makeup artist and the photographer, so I've seen the value. So if you say to me it's $200, I'm going yeah, man, I'm paying that because there's that value there, it's that exchange for the outcome. So, so you know, when your audience is thinking about what do I charge, how is you know they need to think about? How is your, how is their mindset impacting this? But, more importantly, what value, what outcome are they providing? Uh, to their client and selling? From that point of view, rather than, you know, kind of letting mindset and worth come into the discussion, yeah, I love how you put that.
Speaker 1:there was some really good points there. Um, I know, for me, um, back probably probably actually not that long ago, to be honest when quoting jobs, I'd you, I'd be like sitting there thinking, oh my gosh, do I, do I quote them my full rate? Do I tell them this? What do I say to them? And just depending on how busy I was or how much I wanted the job, then I'd sort of be unsure of what to quote. I don't know why I'm unsure of whether I should quote my normal rate. Be unsure of what to quote, I don't know why I'm sure whether I should quote my normal rate. Anyway, um, since doing a lot more work, you know, on myself and things like that, now I, now I sort of go in with more of an abundance mentality. Yeah and um, when I'm doing the quote or when I'm writing things out, I I'm in the place where I believe I'm worth that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm energetically behind. My price is probably what I'm trying to say, which I feel is similar to what you were saying, but you've broken it down so well that, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2:I think that you know that's absolutely part of it. I think so many of us, you know we're always going to have this mindset. You know what we believe about money and, as you were saying, sometimes you're going to send that quote and you're thinking, oh gosh, you know what's this person going to say Should I charge my full rate for this um, for my service right now? And you know, I think there's there's that energetic um, you know, area of pricing which I'm absolutely, uh, embracing, which is why I talk about charging that value, really understanding and communicating how you know your particular service can provide an outcome that is valuable to that client, and it is. It's like, you know, the proof for me was in that one photography session versus, you know, the other day, when I was literally on a stage and I was having my photograph taken by the photographer but I had done my own makeup and then realising, looking at the results and saying, oh golly, you know I really should have made the effort to kind of get makeup done. But I think there are all the practical things as well that go into pricing and I think so many of us forget those. When we're pricing, we tend to look left and right and think about what's everyone else doing? What's the ceiling for my industry? What could I? You know, where am I going to sit? If I charge X or Y? What will that person think of me? And you've probably heard, you know, there's heaps of fish in the sea. There are so many different customers. You just have to find your customer and all that sort of stuff. And while that is true, what I would say to anyone who is listening that is unsure about what to charge particularly now when people are kind of closing down a bit about what they want to spend understand what your jumping off point is for your charge. So what do I mean by that? Well, essentially, every single quote you need to send out needs to cover the cost of doing business. So what does it cost you to run your business per year and then break that down into billable hours? What does it cost you to run your business per billable hour? It didn't say per hour that we're talking about our business, but per billable hour, so they're the actual hours that you're exchanging time for money.
Speaker 2:What sort of salary do you want to earn? You know, include that in the cost of doing business. Are you paying yourself superannuation Because you know older. You will thank you for it. You know older. You would much prefer you to be adding money to superannuation. If you're self-employed than you know looking down the barrel of drinking cask wine and wearing polyester and not being able to afford skin care when they're 70. So are you including super?
Speaker 2:And then are you adding a profit number to that, you know, in addition to what you're going to have to pay in tax, personal tax, gst, if you register for GST. So all of those things you have to think about. So they're really the practical side of things and the reason I say add a profit to that. So if you kind of come up with, you know, add all of those numbers cost of doing business, salary, super tax and let's say it's, uh, you know, a hundred dollars an hour. Um, is your jumping off point for your quote. Add 10%, add 5%, add a profit number. So that is the number, that is the amount of money that is totally unencumbered, that you don't have to use for any other reason. You can just use that for you know, to give yourself a salary bump, to throw back into your business, to improve your business, to do all those sorts of things. So you know, add that in, so add that 10%, and you know when you do that, that is your jumping off point. Then to base all your quotes on Now I'm not saying that you then charge $110 an hour for your service, I'm not saying that at all.
Speaker 2:That's where then the value piece comes into it. So to deliver this and cover the cost of doing business and my salary and all those sorts of things, I need to charge a minimum of $110 an hour for my time. So what can I actually charge that is sustainable and based on the value that I can deliver? And I think that's really important and we need to start embracing that, because then, when things happen like now, the economy is feeling a bit flat and so on. You know people are inclined to discount. But you and you know discounting I'm not a massive fan of, but I think it has a place. Uh, as long as you don't do it all the, but I think it has a place. I don't do it all the time, but I think you know what you can go to. So you're still making money and that's the most important thing.
Speaker 1:Some amazing points there. Justine, Are these the kind of things you cover in your membership?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, uh, yeah, yeah, I um. So I offer a range of services from you know, one-to-one coaching for people who want to write uh through to my big course, my business money magnet. I've got a quick and dirty uh pricing, uh profitable pricing formula, that um that I offer. That's 97 bucks where you can work out that calculation that I've just mentioned, work out your jumping off point, and I do. You know lots of different things cash flow.
Speaker 2:I do workshops for big groups, I go to events and talk on stage and then, of course, the culmination of that is going to be my book that's coming out in June, because I, you know, my mission at this point in my life is to really try and help increase that financial literacy for small business because, honestly, it just makes all the difference.
Speaker 2:You can have all the other fancy stuff in your business and there's no question you need the websites and the social media and, you know, have a great product that you're offering and, you know, do all the marketing and have great branding. But if you don't have the finances to back it up and you don't have the cash flow and you don't have the great money habits in place, then, yeah, forget it, it's all going to be for nothing at some point, because I think human nature is to see the money coming in and to kind of then spend it, whether it's on that bright, shiny object or whether it's, you know, dipping into it to take a bit of extra salary or no matter what it is. And so many of us don't plan ahead for the lean times, and I think good financial management can really help with that. So, yeah, so that's honestly, it's really why I put this book together, because for me that's that's the key yeah, wow, that was, I think, the most informative 27 minutes of my life.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for that. I will definitely be listening to this one back myself. So thanks for getting in touch and coming on the Makeup.
Speaker 2:Insider Justine. Thank you so much for having me, vanessa, and honestly, I, you know, really just would you know, say to all of your listeners to focus on the money, even if it drives you crazy, because, honestly, just a tiny bit of time on that will deliver you the biggest results and we all deserve to have a profitable, profitable business that we absolutely love and that fits in with our life and speaks to our definition of success.
Speaker 1:I love that. Your own definition of success. That's great. Thanks again. Thanks, Vanessa. Thanks for joining me today on the Makeup Insider. I hope you've enjoyed the show. Please don't forget to rate and subscribe and I'll see you soon. Bye for now.