Living as a student and a makeup artist has to be the most interesting ride ever. There are times where I’d be having papers back to back and I would get an emergency deal that I need to show up for because not only is it my passion, it is also a way for me to make ends meet as I lost both parents and have no one fending for my expenses.
There was this regular customer of mine, she really loved my work and she paid good. She never argued with the prices and she brought her other friends as well.
This particular day, she called me up that there was an emergency makeup she wanted me to do for her and her friend for a wedding. She actually thought she had called me the previous day when she found out about the wedding.
So when she found out she hadn’t and so she just called me two hours earlier to start coming. It was a Saturday and so because of house chores and everything, I stayed to complete them.
I am the kind of person that I cannot leave my house dirty so I felt it will take just a few minutes but it didn’t. I quickly rushed to take my bathe and then rushed on a bike to her place.
On getting there, I realized that someone else was there doing her makeup already. I had just travelled from school in ughelli to sapele. If you know the road in delta you’d be aware that it’s quite far.
It was my fault because I arrived late and it wasn’t until I got there that I realized she had called me while I was on the road to tell me that someone else had already come to do the makeover. I felt quite sad but most importantly I learnt from it.
It was particularly a painful experience because after that my customer never patronized me again. She found out that the lady who came to do the makeup in my stead actually stays closer to her than I do.
I enjoyed having her as my customer, she was one of my best actually. Ever since then, I decided to be punctual for all my jobs. I arrive thirty minutes earlier or sometimes forty five minutes earlier and even wake my customers up. I use the time to set up or just wait till they are ready.
I also realized that I should constantly talk about my business and build my customer base. In order not to still get my customer back, there are steps I could have taken. I could have called her, given her a free makeover or something nice.
I still intend to do that. However I won’t overdo it. It’s still her decision to allow me to continue to do her makeovers. Even if she doesn’t, I’d still keep in touch and also ask her to continue to recommend me to her friends.
Fingers crossed, I hope it all works out well for me. I don’t want to keep beating up myself because of that mistake I made. I realized that only sets me back and makes me unproductive .
