Educating The Educators ‒ Exclusive Interview With Rani Bain

Rani works with established makeup artists to unleash their expertise, develop their niche and work with fewer clients.

Rani Bain, Business Consultant to the Beauty Industry

What is your business name and how do you help your clients?

My name is Rani Bain, I have over 21 years of experience as a Professional Makeup Artist, Academy Owner/Trainer and Business Consultant to the Beauty Industry. The Business goes by the name Makeup Artist College and I am known as The Makeup Artist Business Expert.

I help Makeup Artists develop their niche and sell their expertise not their time. They do this by using a unique methodology, in a 6-12 month online programme from £2000-£4000. The majority of makeup artists are busy booking in more and more appointments offering the same service as their competition. Instead of working their business the same as everyone else, the programme identifies how they can work with fewer clients and charge appropriately for their expertise, by developing their niche. In doing so they immediately reduce the competition because, chances are, there is no one doing the same in their area, or even 100 miles radius, I can almost guarantee that. It’s this uniqueness that allows clients to identify the difference between working with an expert and hiring someone who can do what 100 other makeup artists offer this is an important difference.

How do your clients use this methodology?

Initially, it’s a bit of a mind shift really, they need to unlearn what they have been doing for years, i.e. working back to back appointments, trying to fill their diaries booking in client after client. There is nothing wrong with that, but it does cause stress when you are always chasing the next clients. But the problem with this is clients view this form of servicing clients as a transactional process ‒ they phone around, look for the bridal service, for instance, which most suits their budget. This often leads to these clients demanding more for their money because they view this as getting value. On the other hand, the clients I work with unlock their expertise and look at the whole client experience and the end result they desire ‒ the transformation. They consider the clients needs and how they can help them on a much deeper level. Once this is established the rest is easy. Another reason most makeup artists are struggling is because they are offering too many services and discounts. But when they are charging for their expertise, which many are giving away free, there is a huge opportunity to get their niche in the market and therefore eliminate the competition and charge appropriately for their expertise. In other words they ‘create demand’.

What kind of audience do you target your business towards?

My clients are established Makeup Artists who have reached a plateau in their business or those who want to get off the ‘hamster wheel’ they are currently on. They are self-motivated, willing to take action and want to work differently to transform their clients life by the results they achieve. There are obviously many deep layers to the process but the clients I attract are those wanting to make this change in their business, those who choose to develop their expertise to really make a difference to the life of their clients and are charging appropriately for their expertise and will also undergo a transformation in themselves, as they step into their expertise.

You also work as a Business Consultant to the Beauty Industry, what kind of consultancy work do you do?

I love this side of the business, having spent so many years in the industry and gained a diploma (IAP) in Business Consultancy I have enjoyed helping on a commercial level too. My passion has always been an education in the beauty industry. For instance, students in colleges and beauty schools here in the UK are not taught the business side of Hair and Beauty, in any depth. Which, considering 62% (Sourced BABTAC 2023) of Hair and barbering and 65% of Beauty students go on to be self-employed, is very surprising.

If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?

I have always recognised the importance of education in the beauty industry, especially the business side, so much so that I have always included it in my own academy and courses for over 15 years. Today, I am so excited to have had the opportunity of collaborating with the top of the beauty industry and governing bodies to produce an online programme specifically for Hair and Beauty Educators to educate their students on the business side. This has been needed for so long in the industry and to help students and give them advice and knowledge and skills that will help them when they start their own businesses.

Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.

I have achieved so many goals in my career so far but undoubtedly to be in a position of authority that helps educators pass on this business expertise to their students is up there at the top of my achievements. It has been a long process because I wanted to create an online programme and for it to have the highest accreditation possible and in achieving this it has taken some time, now it’s really happening and I am so excited to be part of it. You could say I am educating the educators! Originally I started offering zoom and live training direct to the students, then one of the trainers asked ‒ ‘why don’t you train the educators,” and it all evolved from that. This is probably one of the most rewarding achievements I have gained in my career to date.