We stop at Creative Makeup!

It's like the end of an era.

It's not often you feel that way: ') but now I do! This is because Miska and I stop at Creative Makeup!

Annika and the rest of the team will continue to run the salon and the webshop, only Miska and I will stop ♥

Miska and I started my web shop in 2012 with a start-up capital of SEK 23,000, which has since grown into the product stock and sales we have today. Great! My webshop byher.se ("here" as in Helena Rönnblad) was then an individual company then became By Her AB - which today is a limited company that runs an entire beauty salon with employees.

What a journey it has been! On the one hand, it feels like I'm leaving my baby behind and thinking. ”what have we done? How is this going to go?? ”. On the other hand, I feel like I'm done with this chapter and welcome the change! :)

We published this picture today on Creative Makeup's social channels and wrote a "goodbye message" from me and Miska. It feels !!

Why do we stop?

That we made this decision is a mixture of several reasons. It is not a spontaneous decision but has been growing for about 1.5 years!

Partly it's because I'm starting a brand new makeup brand, which is a full time job just that. I do not have time to develop Creative Makeup and do not like to do things half-heartedly.

I started the webshop because I thought it was super fun, I love products!

To then merge with the salon, however, I did not do because I so wanted to run a salon, but because I wanted to build a self-employed business to have a secure salary and at the same time time left to start what I really want to do - a own make-up brand. A goal I had for over 6 years, in other words! :)

The result, however, was that the salon took so much time and focus that what I thought was most fun, the web shop, suffered. Which is totally okay - I have learned so INCREDIBLY much from the salon and do not regret a single second! :) We had a lot of fun!

But 1.5 years ago, it struck me that I ran a salon that I knew I would not continue to work with in the future, it has never been my goal. And an online shop that I do not feel as strongly about anymore as I did not have time to develop it as much as I wanted.

And as I said, I do not like to do things half-heartedly! So we then had two choices; stop Creative Makeup and do something else, or start developing again with new product news, marketing and make the webshop fun again! We chose the latter! I am a fighter, haha! :)

But just when we were going to invest in new products, marketing, etc., the pandemic came. The buffer was instead used for the salon to survive. My and Miska's salary has been minimal for a very long time. The company is doing well financially if me and Miska do not take pay. Being an entrepreneur means that you sometimes need to work a lot for free to get a return later. But if you feel that there is nothing "later", it fails completely.

In other words, we realized that it is better for everyone to "hand over my baby" to my colleagues right now and instead put all the gunpowder on the makeup brand I develop! :)

You have worked a lot, believe me! ;)

How does it feel?

It's really mixed feelings! Partly scary financially, there is a while left before I can take a salary from the makeup brand. I also do not have time for a job in the meantime, with fixed working hours and so on, but must be able to work remotely with freelance assignments.

At the same time, change feels good! I do not like when things go in the same rut. And everything works out!

But also nostalgic, I have met my regular customers more often than I meet my friends, they ARE my friends, haha!

And so my fine colleagues that I have grown with for several years, I have grown and they have grown!

I see myself as a pretty good boss at the moment, but when I started at Creative Makeup I was not! I started my own company the same year I graduated and had barely even been employed myself. I did not even know the basics :) I was 22 years old and when my first employees asked “am I free on red days? ” so I answered ”uh I do not know" Lol.

We have also "floated away" from the salon over and over for a long time, so it is not like pulling off a patch immediately. 2.5 years ago we started working from home (due to relocation and we no longer had an office at the salon) and for two years I was at the salon only 1-2 days / week and took regular customers. But due to the pandemic, I have not even done it now, have not had customers since January!

So it would probably have felt stranger if we had stopped 2.5 years ago when I worked at the salon every day :) But now, as I said, it is very mixed, there is a lot I could be stressed about if I allowed myself - but I say myself that everything will only get better!

Nostalgia! The whole salon gang gathered a few years ago ♥ Many great memories !!

What happens now?

Now I will continue with my and Miska's company MH Media AB where we do not "invest time for the future" but do more concrete jobs that provide income immediately. Miska builds websites and does digital marketing for other companies. I photograph, write texts and do various freelance assignments. It gets pretty mixed! :)

And invest time in my other company that develops this makeup brand together with Emma Filipsson. It takes time! :) But it's moving forward, haha! We do nothing half-hearted so it takes some time but OJ so good it will be late. So annoying to be able to show you when it's time !!

The blog also generates some revenue via advertising links and Google ads, so I will continue with it as usual of course!

So it's only Creative Makeup and the webshop that I end up with, but mine makeup course online, the blog and Instagram will continue as usual :)

As I said, the whole Creative Makeup incl. the webshop to remain! There is great potential with what Miska and I have built up so I think it will flourish even without us ♥

I think of this Laleh song "it will never be the same, just get better!" Lol.

And do you know anyone who would need to hire me and Miska at MH Media AB, so shout! In addition to websites and digital marketing, I like to do writer-job and photo-job. I am neither a copywriter nor a photographer, but a perfect middle ground when you do not have the time / skills yourself but also no budget for the prices that a real photographer charges. For example. product images / content for social media, product descriptions, photoshop edits, etc.!

Really want to strike a blow for me and Miska as a team if you need a new website - he builds the website and I take the pictures. Our customers so far are super happy! : D Check e.g. Peragenda.se and Malbyglas.se to see our previous jobs.

So now I'm going to stop chatting! I like to be honest here in the blog and share with me all parts of life as an entrepreneur :)

Have a continued glorious day fine you !!

Also read: 12 simple make-up tips for beginners + Make-up (step by step)