Hello! Hope you all had a wonderful midsummer! :)
We have been closed at the salon Fri-Sun and I have been on long leave and spent time with the family, 18 people we were here at home on Midsummer's Eve ♥
But in the 4 working days I got so much done that I could be more or less completely free during the weekend, so it was really worth gold!
Financial reorganization
I wrote a few weeks ago that we got an idea that we should reorganize a bit in the company and now it is in full swing with the deadline last June when our financial year ends (the corporate year).
Me, Annika and Miska are co-owners and everything goes under the brand "Creative Makeup". But there are actually two different companies - Creative Makeup Sweden AB which is owned by Annika alone and is the company she has had since the start, then when me and Miska came into the picture we transformed my individual company into By Her AB where I, Miska and Annika are co-owners together.
We did this because in the beginning it was more divided, it would feel strange and me and Miska suddenly with co-owners in Annika's successful company. Before trying to work together, it would have been a big risk for her.
So financially, it has been divided by the fact that more expensive treatments such as permanent makeup and teeth whitening have entered Annika's company and the makeup studio treatments (lashes, eyebrows, makeup, threading) and product sales in store and web shop have entered our joint company. And so the costs are divided so that each company bears its own costs and common costs we share 50/50 (eg rent, coffee to customers, etc.).
But now we are starting to get so welded together that it becomes tricky to have it divided and it becomes a lot of extra work for me every month when all income goes into Annika's company and then By Her invoices her. For example. when Olga does a fringe permanent, that income will go to the By Her company, but a customer who does permanent makeup eyebrows at Olga will go to Creative Makeup Sweden AB. In addition, we then share the salary cost, so I have to count the number of hours with permanent makeup customers that Olga and Ida have had during the month.
In addition, it is super good for the company as a whole if Olga and Ida are fully booked with permanent makeup - but for By Her AB it is not good because then we lose revenue. And it's sad that it's going to hit me and Miska when it's really positive.
I do not know how interesting all that was haha but you hear that it is not sustainable anymore, it was easy in the beginning but now it is a big mess and I have lots of excel documents with all the calculation templates I have for different areas! There are more complicated things with the division we had that are difficult to go into.
BUT now all income and expenses will go through our joint company By Her AB instead! This way we avoid all complicated problems and I personally avoid a lot of financial tasks. There is now a whole list of things to do, the card terminal, swish, the booking system and everything to be redirected to another account and all invoices that come to the Creative company must be renamed.
Mail and phone calls here and there! But it will be so nice when it is clear, both mentally and physically :)
Here is the template that I plop in numbers for twice a month so that the money is distributed correctly to the two companies. Only one time left I have to fill in this template, so nice!
There is a monthly record on the make-up page!
If you managed to read the whole paragraph above this, you now know that we have had a split economy and the make-up side is flourishing this season! Everyone wants to fix lashes and eyebrows before the holiday and several makeup artists have gone up in time before their holidays :)
The first half of June was record high! I love breaking records, it's so much fun haha! And as long as we keep the level the rest of the month, the whole month will be record high on the makeup side.
It's not about the money itself, increased growth also means increased costs so By Her AB has no worsting profit directly (probably a little minus actually). But I still get so happy for money is a proof that we do something good - we have a lot of new customers who come here for recommendations, we have repeat customers, happy customers and are constantly increasing thanks to the fact that we do such a good job!
I am completely moved when I see the sum that all our customers have put together with us, there are people who believe that our services and products are worth more than the money - so it is a higher value for them to do the treatment or buy the product than what it is to have the money left. Gratitude is the word! :) ♥
Large-scale cleaning in the product room
Now I have had my photo studio at home for over a year - my walk in closet for beauty products / my happy place :) Being able to have all the products on the shelves makes me so inspired, even though I do not have time to use everything, it is still worth it I just need to go in there and the inspiration comes to me automatically.
However, it has been extremely messy in there lately, my two empty shelves "for press mailing" were full a long time ago and were now instead in drifts here and there, every single product had a visible dust layer on it and inside the drawers it was a mixture of sticky products, powder and pencil sharpener chips.
Do you know how long it has taken to clean everything? Kind of all weekend!
I have made a whole shelf for press mailings now, so when I get a refill, I just have to pick it up! :) I have also sorted the shelves in ranking e.g. "Prio-makeup" and "prio-skin care" is something I am very eager to try and also one called "photographed, awaiting review".
I've been a little bad at reviewing things for a while now because I've had such a mess, but now it's going to be more fun again!
I am also the master of everyday luxury and have started to light a scented candle every morning when I put on my make-up. So cozy! This one I received a press release on a long time ago and was now rooted out how the press pile. The scent is amazing !! It's called Blanche Lemon Macaron (Adlink) if you are hungry :)
Before, I lit scented candles regularly but Miska easily gets a headache when there is a lot of scent in a room, so when we lived in a small studio together, I put my scented candle-dependent on the shelf.
But the make-up room will now be my little fragrance oasis, so wonderful :)
Two home days in the photo studio
This week I worked from home for two whole days. I could check out lots from my to do list and even had time to film and publish a new video for the webshop, so fun!
Answer yes I kind of live in a sports top and soft pants when I'm home haha.
When I work at home, I often move around with the computer in different parts of the house. Sometimes I worked at the desk in the photo studio, sometimes in bed and sometimes on the couch. Environmental changes are nice indeed, both ergonomically and mentally!
I filmed a swatch movie on our best-selling lipsticks as you can see here! It's children's week this week (I live with my sister who has her children every other week) and they have summer holidays so it was not directly quiet and peaceful here at home - but then it was perfect to make a film that did not require sound :)
Editing and publishing the movies takes much longer than actually filming them! I think it's more fun with pictures because it's much faster to get everything out - but it's much more fun to see the end result with movies :)
Creativity
I have started listening to the podcast "Björn & Navid" and got a little extra hooked on the episode where they talk about creativity. There are different ways to be creative, it's not just artistic creativity like when I make up or sew (oh what I miss sewing by the way, it was a long time ago!) But all kinds of new ideas, inspiration and motivation.
What I thought was most interesting in the podcast was when they talked about that you are usually not very creative when you are "in production" e.g. at work or at school. Then you work best if you know what to do and then you do it. To be creative, it is important to let yourself take it easy. I often get ideas just when I go to sleep and sometimes even in my dreams and it's interesting, you are more creative when you are half unconscious than when you are at work!
Letting yourself be bored is also important, I have a client who works as a teacher and we talked about it this week (side track: having a job where you can talk about a lot of general things with your clients is a real LUXURY I teach me so much from my customers!) Anyway, she usually lets her students practice being boring. For example, she told me that they had an "outdoor day" out in the woods and she had no prepared information for them and all the children had the same attitude "what should we do?" and "this is boring !!" and instead of giving them information, she answered "yes but sit and be sad then" and in the end they instead became resourceful and began to invent different things you could play with such as cones and sticks and things. I really think it's super useful!
It can be applied to adults as well - if you sit and take it easy in the evening and feel the slightest feeling of boredom, what do you do then? Well you pick up the phone and scroll on it. I myself am not so dependent on the phone but I am exactly the same as keeping myself busy, when I do the dishes I listen to music and sing, when I put on make-up I listen to the podcast and I basically always fall asleep to the same movie.
Sometimes the above things give new ideas, but the majority of my creativity I think is blocked by constantly taking in new impressions and stimulating the brain with things around me.
Being alone with your thoughts is not easy - but something I should definitely start practicing because I really think it is very useful!
I have not learned to like meditation or yoga but I am most relaxed when I get to be around animals! ♥ I say it to Miska type every day we go to work "we have to get friends who live on a farm or something, I have cow abstinence!". There is no more wonderful relaxation I can imagine right now than standing and brushing a cow, it would have been meditation for me - and after that, creativity had received a real boost!
Are you also most creative and get ideas and inspiration when you are relaxed? :)
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