Beauty School Drop Out? NOT!

I had the opportunity so speak at Raphael's School of Beauty Culture in Boardman this past week. I wanted to share what I told the students here.

It doesn't feel like that long ago that I sat where you are. I remember thinking I wanted to be up here one day, teaching, sharing and making a difference. Everyone you meet has something to share. I would like to share a letter to my beauty school self, ready to embark on this amazing journey.

This is not the end of your education, it is truly the beginning.

Don't believe your first few clients that told you that you have no talent and might want to consider another profession. We all start at the same place, with our education and our license. Your passion and willingness to practice your craft will make the difference. What you tell yourself must ring louder that what others tell you. You define yourself, no one else.

Don't get caught up in the lure of thinking this will be easy. There is no way around working an 8 hour day than putting in those 8 hours. Come in early, stay late, be available to opportunities. The reward is not always immediate and comes from the least likely places. Everyone on stage anywhere has done the work behind the scenes to achieve their place in this business. Even with a famous last name, you can't fake talent on stage, you have to own it.

Don't be afraid to network with your beauty heroes. Take a chance, get up your courage and introduce yourself. Many are hard working professionals willing to share their knowledge and mentor you. I reached out to my beauty heroes early in my career and soon I was writing in the same magazines I had been reading and teaching at the shows I had been attending. If you get snubbed, don't take it personally, move on, there are plenty of mentors out there.

Believe in yourself. Every path has its ups and downs and even the best have their doubts. Don't look to others to measure your success, run your own race. In the end you really only are competing with your best self. Help those around you and you too will be swept up in the wave of success.

Success in this business is just as much in your head as in your hands. Work on yourself, your communication, your positivity as much as your technical skills. They are equally important.

So to my 4th grade teacher that dubbed me motormouth Millie, I get paid to speak now.

To that client that told me I really had no talent, I worked with one of the top teams at New York Fashion week last September and my work was published in top magazines.

To my first exboss that told me I would never accomplish anything, I have a marketing segment every week on Nail Talk Radio and professionals from around the world tune in to listen. My salon was voted first runner up in the Artist and Visionary Salon of the Year it's second year in business. I am listed in Who's Who in America for Business and Marketing achievers. Success is always the best revenge.

This is such an exciting time to be entering this amazing business of beauty. So keep your voice louder than any others, stay true to the belief in yourself and enjoy the ride.

For the full presentation click the link below.

Beauty School Visit

Blogging 2.1

This week's marketing tip is about building your brand through blogging. Why blog you might ask? I posted about the simple process of blogging back in February of 2010. I would be curious to guess how many of our listeners started blogging and actually kept it up. I recently attended a blogging workshop with Beth Schreibman Gehring. Beth is an obsessive blogger and truly believes it is the best marketing medium out there for small business. Small business owners are passionate about their business, and sharing that passion is the definition of blogging. Blogging is challenging, trust me I live it. The only way I have kept up with my blog is Mondays. I know I have to have a marketing segment every Monday night for this show, Nail Talk Radio. Some posts come easier than others, but I still have to come up with content. And that is the major issue of blogging. Content. Blogging shrinks the world, it turns the ordinary beauty professional by day into a writer, a creative force, an expert, a brand overnight. Well maybe not overnight, but with consistency your blog can expose your business to so many venues you never even knew existed. Blogging shares who you are with the world, an online resume that showcases your heartbeat. Your blog shares what's going on in your world immediately, no need to wait for the monthly newsletter or weekly fan page update. Your blog can give readers a reason to become clients. So let's reexamine blogging for building your brand. Start with a free account on Blogger, Typepad, or Wordpress. These sites are very user friendly and setting aside a couple of hours to familiarize yourself with the process is usually all it takes. The real work comes in setting up the time in your schedule to actually write the content. Have a few categories like What's new. Favorite services. Staff picks. Nail of the day. Art gallery. Having several categories will make it easier to categorize and post your content. Blogging for business should be done once or twice per week. Having a nail of the day category is a quick and easy way to update your blog without a lot of writing, just post the picture with a catchy description and done. How do I get readers?
Some great headline strategies to get your readers intrigued enough to read more.
1. Ask a question. What is all the buzz about no chip manicures? What are things to look for at a top salon? What are the advantages of regular manicures?
2. Ask Why. Why gel polish? Why pay more? Why regular pedicures are a must?
3. Write a How to. How to plan a killer spa party. How to create simple nail art.
4. Lists. Top three spring shades 5 ingredients that should be in your beauty products
5. Best and Worst. Worst spa products or ingredients Best nail styles Best or most effective nail treatments.
Posting to Facebook and twitter will give your blog social media muscle. Connecting with other local beauty bloggers is a great way to get your content forwarded to their readers. Everyone is looking for content and will often times retweet or repost interesting blogs to their audience.
Here are a few blogging rules to live by according to Beth:
1 Set up a time to blog. I know myself this is critical Add it to your day planner like any other appointment and don't blow it off.
2. If you use someone else's images please remember to give them credit. Why yes we have an issue with this in our industry as well. If you don't know the source, post unknown but don't put them off as your own.
3. Copyright everything. You can get a free copyright covering your writing and images. Put the badge on your blog so that others know the terms of your copyrights.
4. Stay relevant to your topic. It promotes you as THE expert in your field.
5. Blog what you know. This speaks to your authenticity. If you feature someone else's articles on your site make sure to give them credit and not pass the post off as your own. If your reader senses any fraudulent posts your credibility is shot and they won't engage.
6. Don't use anyone else's words without their permission. There are ridiculous covert ways anyone can track information on Google so again, give credit where it is due. Besides many people you quote may be interested in quoting you one day. Getting your blog in front of a whole new audience. and after all isn't that the point?
So if you haven't started your blog yet, don't wait. Get blogging and get the visibility and the credibility you need to move your business forward. Move your business forward with marketing products from Pro Beauty Success.

ABS Chicago 2012 Monday

I was up bright and early again to be a participate in the Beauty Changes Lives program Monday morning to share my journey with 2000+ students. There were eleven of us beauty professionals sharing the diversity of our beauty lives and the passion of our careers. What an honor! Thanks to Bonnie Bonadeo for including me! Then it was off to the CND Runway show with none other than Jan Arnold emcee.

Jan backsgtage moments before the show.

Pave crystals are all the rage and the design team shared several of these looks combining power polish and bling.

The new rock and roll nails have amped up colors in nearly neon hues. They are dangerously long with the heels getting higher, nails are getting longer to balance out the look. The tips are thinner pushing the pointed almond shape.

Some of the looks CND shared included Organitech, mixing organic nature shapes with futuristic flashes.Treasured antiquities with tribal and prescious textures. Here are the nail "story" boards from backstage.

Many of these looks combined glitters, crystals and metallic foils layered with sheer colors like Moonlight and Roses, Iced Coral, Gold Chrome and Silver Chrome. The Deconstruction nails were very cool layering several colors and once cured taking a buffer and lighlty exposing them in a random pattern on the nails. Another nail was layered with Asphalt and sliver chrome before a fan brush was dragger across creating a brushed metal finish. Matte and high shine finishes were also combined to create dimension and texture. Brushes and stylus tools were dragged through uncured layers to create an etched effect.

Bottom line, get yourself to one of these runway shows or Master Painter classes offered by CND to learn these amazing effects for yourself!!

ABS Chicago The Rest of the Story

Sunday morning I was at the show bright and early to take in some classes. Dashing Diva offered a class featuring the amazing Pattie Yankee Williams where she shared her back stage secrets for her NYFW runway looks.
She is the creative force behind many of their ultra hip products and it was amazing to watch her in action. I was fortunate enough ot work with Pattie at Septembers Fashion week and not many are at her level of trend and design in this business! She is so very highly respected by the designers and well deserved. The runway looks she shared were the double french, pushing the french trend but conservative enough for even your business clients. She layered a wide french wrap white and narrow french wrap pink for this fun look.

Next she shared Dashing Diva's version of a Louboutin nail with a Dashing Diva Design FX. First she placed the full coverage FX on the full nail and layered the Rose FX under the free edge. This can also be done with a full coverage nail adding FX to the underside. She recommends taking down time to prepare before client appointments for this high couture look in a fast 20-30 minute service adding both a new service and extra income.


Next up she blinged out a metallic full coverage nail by adding a strip of Design FX Bling down the center for added texture and high fashion flair. This look can be capped with base and top gel for long lasting wear. I missed the photo at the class but I found an example on their FB page below.
Last but not least Pattie shared the ultimate in customized nails with a Design FX wrap cut out with added crystals for nails that stand out in a crowd! She chose a matching wrap, much like she does backstage at NYFW and added a bling accent mirroring the crystals in the bodice of the dress to tie the whole look together, stunning!

I got so many new and creative ideas from this nail master, hope you did too!

For complete photos check out my ProBeauty Success with Millie Haynam page on Facebook.

ABS Recap Part 1

ABS was certainly action packed this year! We hit the show floor looking for the latest colors, trends and techniques. First stop was to say howdy to our friends at Famous Names who generously donated their booth location for our NTR meet and greet!

I caught up with Holly Schippers at the CND booth! So great to see her in person! The CND booth was hopping with the release of their new colors!

Young Nails booth was hopping ... as usual ... and I was lucky enough to catch up with Rhonda!!
What a pleasant surprise!

Greg was busy showing off the newest colors for spring.

                                                                   But not too busy for a photo :)


Carla Collier was kind enough to help a girl out... I ran out of time to get MY nails show ready. She used Orly's Gel colors Rage and Luxe two tone with hand painted nail art. LOVE them! Got tons of compliments, someone even asked me if they were Minx. Great job Carla!!

I stopped by the Light Elegance booth to see a few of my favorite peeps. Jim and Lezlie. You may not know that I wrote the very first educational instruction booklet for LE, before they were even LE lol.That's how far back we go and I am so thrilled to see how well they have done!!

I spent some time at the Nailsuperstore booth with Kevin Huang who actually designs many of his products for nail techs. His understanding of our challenges and drive to help us succeed is so evident in all his product designs. He is really a gem in our industry so make sure to spend some time on his site and check out his products for sure! He showed me his new chair and stool design and WOW so amazing! His new pedichair is motorized, it goes up and down, reclines and has swing away foot rests. What more does a girl need? His new stool is designed for the tech in mind with the rest in the front so you can take the presure off your arms while you work stabilizing your elbows to work smarter not harder. Brilliant!

I also stopped by the Gelish booth and saw some awesome demos by MaeLing working the table.

We ended the day with the Nail Talk Radio meet and greet with our friends at the Famous Names booth and our loyal listeners. Chelli Eric was the lucky winner of the Valentino Beauty Pure Air Purification System and Vicki Jenson won the Famous Names goodie bag.

To see all the photos "Like" my page ProBeauty Success with Millie Haynam.

To be continued....

Sunday morning I was at the show bright and early to take in some classes. Dashing Diva offered a class featuring the amazing Pattie Yankee Williams where she shared her back stage secrets for her NYFW runway looks.

She is the creative force behind many of their ultra hip products and it was amazing to watch her in action. I was fortunate enough ot work with Pattie at Septembers Fashion week and not many are at her level of trend and design in this business! She is so very highly respected by the designers and well deserved. The runway looks she shared were the double french, pushing the french trend but conservative enough for even your business clients. She layered a wide french wrap white and narrow french wrap pink for this fun look.

Next she shared Dashing Diva's version of a Louboutin nail with a Dashing Diva Design FX. First she placed the full coverage FX on the full nail and layered the Rose FX under the free edge. This can also be done with a full coverage nail adding FX to the underside. She recommends taking down time to prepare before client appointments for this high couture look in a fast 20-30 minute service adding both a new service and extra income.

Next up she blinged out a metallic full coverage nail by adding a strip of Design FX Bling down the center for added texture and high fashion flair. This look can be capped with base and top gel for long lasting wear. I missed the photo at the class but I found an example on their FB page below.

Last but not least Pattie shared the ultimate in customized nails with a Design FX wrap cut out with added crystals for nails that stand out in a crowd! She chose a matching wrap, much like she does backstage at NYFW and added a bling accent mirroring the crystals in the bodice of the dress to tie the whole look together, stunning!

I got so many new and creative ideas from this nail master, hope you did too!

For complete photos check out my ProBeauty Success with Millie Haynam page on Facebook.