Fay Rezaei discusses business in lockdown and advice for small business owners during this time. 

 

Tell us a little about you and how you got into the beauty industry

Originally I  studied primary education whilst working for benefit cosmetics. While working for benefit cosmetics I discovered my passion for brows and gained a huge following as a brow artist. I rapidly moved up the ladder and started training the brow experts that worked for benefit cosmetics and became the number one brow artist nationwide while working for them. Benefit expanded into majority Myer stores across Australia and with the new launch of Sephora in Australia I was pinched and decided to work for another beauty brand under Sephora which involved training Sephora staff at Sephora University. Fast forward 5 years later I decided to start my own business and continue what i enjoy the most crafting beautiful brows which has landed me in one of the top 7 best brow bars in NSW. I continue to use my training and education skills by training brow artists nationwide. 

 

What do you enjoy most about working in the beauty industry?

I enjoy working in the beauty industry because we're in the industry of making clients "feel good" for me that’s a reward. Bringing a smile to anyone’s face in anyway I can is the best feeling. 

 

How do you manage your business at Royal Clinics Australia, through lockdown?

Lockdown has been interesting; we are so used to dealing with clients face to face and being a serviced based business that’s difficult to do. We're craving that interaction. What we have done is kept in touch with majority of our clients who were undergoing treatment plans with us and do consults to see how they're going with their skin. We have incorporated home treatment plans to help with the progression so we can pick up from lockdown rather than where we had left them just before lockdown. Social media and emails have allowed us to keep in touch with our clients. How to things to avoid tips and tricks it's all there to help! We have somehow managed to turn the service side into a virtual side.

 

What is your business advice for small beauty salons/freelance artists during lockdown?

A little bit of advice for other businesses during this lockdown would be to take this opportunity and build on your skills and relations with your clients. It's time to do those little things we are too caught up with every day prior to lockdown. Start planning your re-opening and setting those little goals. Utilise the time wisely it’s pretty much an investment once you re-open.

 

Is there anything you have done differently this time around?

This time round I have focused more on how i will manage the influx of appointment requests, last year’s lockdown was crazy once we re-opened. Everyone wanted an appointment on the first day of opening which was impossible!

 

Is there anything different small businesses may not have heard about that could help them in this difficult time?

There is a lot of tax benefits and support available for small businesses that has not been mentioned that is available. I would strongly recommend for small business owners to explore this opportunity on top of all the other support that is available to them.