Joi Mebane of The Look By Joi: Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry
An Interview With Jilea Hemmings
Educating staff and employees. As a business owner, you need to be able to ensure the same level of quality from each and every employee. Training staff is crucial to the consistency of your business. At The Look By Joi, we have a virtual training system in place. Staff goes through an online training that covers all of our products, promos, how to do the services, etc. Since the training is virtual they are able to refer back to it as needed and take their training into their own hands.
As a part of our series about “Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Joi Mebane.
Joi Mebane is the strong black female CEO behind The Look By Joi. She has been one of America’s go-to experts and innovators in the microblading industry. During the pandemic, she created “The 60 Second Brow Kit” which helped those stuck at home get their brows done professionally. Now she travels the country to sold-out conferences teaching men and women how to open successful brow and microblading businesses.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
While in college for nursing, I did everyone’s makeup and brows in my dorm room. During my undergrad years, I realized that I was not truly passionate about a nursing career. Knowing I was not going to continue school to be in the medical field, I continued with business classes and transitioned into a salon where I specialized in only doing brows and lashes. I loved it! Other stylists thought I was crazy for pretty much only doing brows, but I was able to make more money doing fewer clients than anyone else in the salon. After being at the salon for a few years, I was presented with the opportunity to open my own beauty kiosk inside the mall and I went for it!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The most interesting thing that has happened to me in my career is that I actually opened my business in the exact same location that I started working in. When I first started doing makeup at a kiosk in the mall, they ended up having to close down. Losing my job at the kiosk really made a dent in my career and income but I remained determined. About a year later, the kiosk was up for sale and I knew it was a sign for me to stop working for other salons and start my own business and brand. Opening up my business in the same location I started was a real full circle moment for me and I’ve now been there for over 18 years!
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
The “tipping point: in my career and when I really started to see success is when I expanded the business online. Ecommerce wasn’t seen as important to salons back when I first started. Clients were upsold on products once they were live and in person in the salon, but I knew ecommerce would really take my business global.
Since getting my business online I’ve been able to reach new customers and educate them on how to use the products. Combining my website with YouTube education and social media, I was able to grow a wider customer base than just focusing on those who were physically in my store. The biggest takeaway others can learn from this is it is so important to diversify your business and income. Now in 2021, there are so many ways to make money in beauty so make sure you’re not leaving any money on the table!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
The person who I am truly grateful for in my business journey is my mom. When I first opened my business she was working full time. She would come help me in the afternoon after a full day of work. She believed in me and had me train her in all of our services so she could be able to fill any role when needed.
After years of helping me after work and on weekends she ended up quitting her job to work with me full time! Her faith in me and my business is a HUGE reason why I am so successful today. I am forever grateful for her passion and dedication to The Look By Joi and being such a support system for me! She also became a client favorite and has her own loyal clients that specifically request her for services.
Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The global beauty industry today has grown to more than half a trillion-dollar business. Can you tell us about the innovations that you are bringing to the industry? How do you think that will help people?
This trillion-dollar industry has had so many innovations over the years. At The Look By Joi we create beauty solutions for the everyday woman on the go. Since our main services are focused on the brows, it only made sense for me to find ways to educate and encourage our clients to take control of their beauty routine.
When the pandemic hit, the city of Atlanta closed all beauty service businesses. My clients were STILL trying to see if I could find a way to do their brows. Since it was physically impossible to work on clients, I teamed up with The Perfect Brow Stencil to create the 60 Second Brow Kit. This kit includes brow stencils so my clients could get the perfect brow shape on their own, paired with The Look By Joi signature products, our brow powder, brow gel and concealer stick. This kit was centered around the exact process and products I was using to do clients in person.
Our shift from doing services to educating clients to maintain their beauty routine on their own opened up a whole new space for us to interact with our clients. Creating products that are solutions to our client’s problems helps them to remain confident and inspired in the ever-changing world of beauty.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the modern beauty industry?
3 things that most excite me about the modern beauty industry are permanent makeup, social media and virtual education. Let me explain:
The beauty industry is going from cosmetics to cosmetic, meaning people want more semi-permanent and permanent solutions for beauty. In my specialty, brows, microblading and microshading has exploded! This is the process of inputting pigment into the skin to create the look of fuller, more defined brows. This solution lasts up to 18 months. The innovation of more permanent beauty solutions is so exciting because it’s just the beginning.
In addition to more cosmetic enhancements, social media has made way for so many new beauty businesses. With social media, now more than ever, people can start beauty businesses and attract clients and customers with little to no paid advertising. Social media trends and challenges have made up and coming beauty brands and artists more visible to the masses.
With social media exposure, beauty brands and businesses are also able to educate more than ever before! Virtual online training and classes have made it easier for these new beauty artists and brands to learn skills from established artists. YouTube has erupted with so much educational beauty content anyone can learn a new skill for their business or personal life.
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to improve the industry, what would you suggest?
The beauty industry is always changing and being able to pivot with these changes are the only way we can improve the industry. Here are my top 3 concerns in the industry and how to pivot:
1. Brick and mortar stores are becoming obsolete. In order to sustain this, beauty artists and brands can pivot into pop up shops and mobile beauty solutions. A pop up shop allows you to have the in-store experience without the in-store overhead. You can still meet and do services in person, while not having to invest in a full brick and mortar business.
2. Inflation in cost of goods sold. Even though this can’t always be avoided, doing more research to ensure that as prices go up, the quality of products and services can stay the same or even improve.
3. The world of filters and retouching apps has skewed the world’s perception of beauty. Since we’ll never be able to totally combat all the new filters being added to social media, as beauty brands we can empower our clients and customers to embrace their natural beauty. By educating clients on how to do their makeup, brows, etc like a professional, we can help them to say no to the filters because their confidence in their beauty routine is effortless.
You are an expert on beauty. Can you share a few ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”?
To me beauty is all about empowerment. When you feel empowered you feel beautiful and go through life with confidence. For my clients the biggest confidence boost comes from freshly groomed brows! Brows are 90% off your selfie! Keep your brows on point and you can’t go wrong! Embrace your unique features by enhancing them instead of hiding them!
Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry”. Please share a story or an example, for each.
1. Being innovative. Like I explained earlier, during the pandemic I was physically unable to work on clients. Instead of giving up and feeling defeated, I got creative. I asked myself, “How can I continue my mission without being able to see my clients?” My solution was the 60 Second Brow Kit. This kit combines my years of expertise with my professional products so my clients can do their own brows and feel the confidence of a professional’s technique.
2. Educating clients. In the beauty industry, our clients depend on us beauty professionals to look good in their day to day life. But I believe it shouldn’t stop at the chair. By educating your clients, either in person or online, you can empower them to have confidence in doing their beauty routines at home. At The Look By Joi, we include surveys to ask our clients what they need help with and create educational content centered around their specific needs.
3. Educating staff and employees. As a business owner, you need to be able to ensure the same level of quality from each and every employee. Training staff is crucial to the consistency of your business. At The Look By Joi, we have a virtual training system in place. Staff goes through an online training that covers all of our products, promos, how to do the services, etc. Since the training is virtual they are able to refer back to it as needed and take their training into their own hands.
4. Expanding your business with Pop Up Shops. Like I said earlier, brick and mortar businesses are decreasing as online and ecommerce is increasing. With an online business, you can meet and greet your online customers with a Pop Up Shop. This builds trust and a community. Your customers will look forward to a chance to meet and shop in person. Pop Up Shops are also a great way to cross promote with other brands and businesses.
5. You need a high ticket service. For so many years, the beauty industry has centered success and income around how many clients you can do. But this system is dated and really just wears us beauty professionals out and creates burn out. Having a high ticket service ensures your income goals are met and helps you to avoid burn out because you don’t have to try to service as many clients as possible. For example, I offer brow grooming services that range from $10–30, but I also offer a high ticket service, microblading, that ranges from $700 and up. This allows me to make more, while working less.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
The movement I am most passionate about is my push to educate as many people as possible in the microblading service. In December of 2021, I wanted to create a way to empower people and help them build pandemic and recession proof businesses.
Seeing how many people lost jobs and closed their businesses, I knew I had to figure out a way to share what I know about this billion dollar beauty industry with others. I teamed up with Artistry Brows and The Perfect Brow Stencil to offer my Microblading to Microshading Tour classes for $1,000 off. My goal was to offer my classes at a price point anyone could afford to invest in. Since then I have taught over 1,000 people how to make money doing brows and permanent makeup services, even in a pandemic.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite “life lesson quote” is Success Loves Speed. You have to execute and take action to reach your goals, there is no way around it! A great idea will come to fruition if you don’t put action behind it. In my career I dive right into anything that I do. Whether I’m confident or scared, I do it with speed and without excuses.
How can our readers follow you online?
You guys can follow me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube @TheLookByJoi. To learn more about classes and trainings visit AskMeAboutBrows.com or FreeBrows.com
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
