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The Business of Makeup Artistry

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Author Biography

Toni Thomas is an award-winning beauty industry professional, New York Fashion Week and editorial makeup artist, beauty educator, and author of several beauty industry books. Her makeup artistry has been featured in many fashion publications and she can be found twice a year at New York Fashion Week. Toni is the founder of Women in Gear, The School of Makeup Artistry an online education portal for aspiring makeup artists. Toni has spent her entire career in the beauty industry working in and around the beauty business as well as the beauty education arena where she has taught for many years. Opening her first salon in 1993 she proved that even young women can and will conquer the world of business and she has been an independent small business owner ever since. Today you can find her working hard on a new book or on location doing fashion photo shoots, she also works as a consultant giving guidance to some of today's trendiest salons and spas! She has committed her life to her passion in the beauty business, teaching in the world of beauty to those who are willing to take a leap of faith on themselves, and it is what she aspires to do the rest of her life. As one of the pioneers for quality online education, she is committed to all aspects of an industry that has lacked credibility for far too long and she is committed to teaching women across the globe how to build their beauty businesses with passion and patience.

Born and raised in a small town in Montana, she now travels with her husband between their home in the mountains of Montana and their home in Washington DC. Her passion to inspire has made a global impact on the world of business, makeup, and beauty.

5 Star Reviews, Amazon.com

DIY Bridal Makeup Guide

This week I published my 2nd book that will guide any bride on her mission for a beautiful makeup application on her wedding day! This book makes a great bridal shower gift. You can get your copy on Amazon and free shipping with prime! http://amzn.to/2rXis22

Can Happiness & Success Coincide in Business?

I have two questions for you today.
Question 1: Are you happy?
Question 2: Are you successful?
Whether you know it or not you can have both in your life.
Why does it seem so often that we have different answers to these two questions? Today I want you to include happiness in your definition of success, and, as you work toward your goals in the future I hope you have happiness written into that equation. It will be so much easier for you to get up and go-go-go every day if you are fulfilled in every area, not just in your idea of what business success looks like.

Success doesn’t have to look a particular way. It can look however you want it to look. You have permission to design the life that works for you. Demand that your priorities matter, you have permission to create your business strategies with “happy” in mind, goals that match and support your life stage, grow your company and your career at a rate that works with your personal agenda, and keeps your health, relationships, and personal fulfillment at the center of everything.

Because what’s the point of success that doesn’t include your happiness?!

Cheers to happiness and success in your business!

Toni Thomas 

xoxo

#SeekJoy #BusinessHappiness #WorkingInJoy

5 Morning Habits to Start Your Day Right

Mornings can often determine a good day or a bad day. 

Here are 5 habits you can establish that will put you on the path to a great day.

Wake Up Earlier

In order to fit in a fantastic morning you’re going to need some extra time in your current routine to establish some new habits for yourself.

Give yourself at least an extra hour to begin to establish your new habits, this quiet time will give you a new sense of peace and allow you to complete your new habits without interruption. A new found joy for the morning sunrise just might be in your future.

Drink a Glass of Warm Water

Drinking a glass of warm water before your morning coffee is an excellent way to get your body going. It’s like oil for the body as it goes to work lubricating all of your internal systems. Drinking your warm water before your coffee gives your cellular system a chance to wake up and begin working.

Do a Stretching Routine

Stretch in the morning to wake your muscles and get them ready for the day. Find a routine that allows you to slowly wake the muscles and yet revives your system. 10 to 15 minutes is all you need to get your body awake and prepared for your day ahead.

Listen to Inspirational Music or an Audiobook

Starting your morning with music you find beautiful, or a book you find inspirational or motivational is the perfect way to set yourself up for success. It can give you something to look forward to in the morning, and helps you establish a mindset that is filled with purpose. Our minds are always ready for knowledge and inspiring music or books can give us that fresh approach each day.

List Your 3 To-Dos For The Day

In this busy life we can sometimes get overwhelmed by what we need to accomplish every single day. Writing down 3 things that must get done that day gives you a personal guideline to follow and it removes it from your subconscious mind. This is a great way to relieve the stress of trying to remember all those things you think you need to do. Studies show that if you write it down you are 7 times more likely to complete your task.

Giving yourself the gift of an extra hour per day to focus on you is one of the greatest gifts you will ever give yourself. Enjoy your day by starting it off right.

Cheers!

A Little Bit of Virgin Inspiration

Who would run their business like Richard Branson if they could? 
Well you can, all you need is a little bit of Virgin inspiration!

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson passes out beverages aboard a flight from New York to San Francisco.         (Photo: AP Photo/Virgin America, Bob Riha, Jr.)

Yesterday I was rolling along in my car and of course listening to my latest new craze called Periscope. Who has Periscope? Who loves Periscope?  I have become a Periscope fanatic!

Anyhow the scoper started to cover a topic that I don't hear about often enough, marketing your business with pizzazz. That all too forgotten technique of having fun while sharing information with your audience!!!

She was telling a story we all know too well. The flight attendant giving the safety presentation on a domestic flight and how those who were still awake when she started her boring monologue were reading, listening to their phones or talking to the person sitting next to them. We have all seen it a dozen times, the all too boring safety presentation on most plane flights. Boring, Boring Boring... No one listens and no one cares, including the poor flight attendant who has to perform this duty way to many times in her career.

Then the scoper said she was recently aboard a different airline flight and a video played on the small screen in front of her. The safety presentation was this amusing little video with a cast of fun loving characters performing the safety monologue, while at the same time dancing around and entertaining the audience. She realized when she looked around everyone seemed to be paying attention, almost everyone was watching the video and smiling. This she knew was how to market a business and get people to pay attention. Have fun, inform and entertain at the same time.

Image from the Virgin American safety presentation video. Credit: Virgin Airlines.

I knew what airline she was talking about, I have been on it before, and Virgin flights have even bigger marketing pizzazz than just their in-flight safety videos. They have taken the entire flight experience and given it a personal touch by dazzling us with amazing graphics and beautiful visions. From the moment we arrive at the check-in counter until the minute we de-board the plane we are enticed by their smart marketing techniques and graphic filled terminals that inspire fun days traveling to exotic destinations. The purple hued interior of their planes give a soft glow of warmth that envelopes us and their terminals are filled with gorgeous pictorials of people enjoying the world around them. They make us want to travel the world and even if we are sitting in coach we feel like royalty.

It's genius and yet so easy to replicate. It just takes a well thought out plan and a fun loving approach to your business marketing. So next time you are trying to market a new product or you are looking to brand yourself or your business start with this thought.

What would Richard Branson do?

Well I bet he would be cool, hip and have lots of fun in the process.

Cheers

How do I work a full time job and successfully work my Direct Sales Business?

IT STARTS WITH A PLAN

I am asked this question often and more often than not I am not asked this very important question.

When I meet with a business partner and their business is struggling, and I ask what might be the biggest issue they are facing, the answer is usually “I just don’t have enough time”.

Ask my friend Regan about my speech on time. She will howl with laughter and tell you not to get me started…

But the answer is simple; to have a successful Direct Sales Business it requires a well laid out plan. You must know what your action items are for each day and the strategy has to be laid out in a way that you will only need an hour each day to accomplish it.

Before or after work, find a comfortable spot at your workplace or even in your car. Believe it or not working in your car can be a perfect place to get things done, it’s quiet and offers you a place that is all yours while getting your action items completed for the day.

If you are working an 8-9 hour a day job and need to work your business during the day then here is the truth. We each need to take potty breaks. So my advice is to use them wisely. If you need to answer questions or post your daily pics or need to connect then by all means do it, post on the pot!

If you are unable to do this then get yourself an auto-posting program such as Pagemodo or Hootsuite. These programs can help you post daily. But if you need to reach out and connect with people this will require your personal time. So make a list and plan your strategy and carve out the hour each day you are going to do this. If you are hosting party’s remember most successful parties happen between 8-9pm and I get some of my best responses from people when I reach out to them at 10-11pm.

Each morning before you even get out of bed wake up an hour early and post your IG post, your Google + post, your first FB post of the day and so on. If you are prepared you will already have figured out what your posts are going to be the day before.

Know what personal message you are going to send to 10-15 people each day. Have a list of contacts laid out and a very fun and friendly message ready to send.

Scroll through your list of contacts and comment and like on pictures of people who are not in your news feed.

In short the strategy has to have a plan and then the plan has to be executed and then it has to be done everyday. Even on the weekends. You’re going to only achieve maximum exposure by daily and consistent working of your business, even if you only get to do it and hour or two a day.

Cheers,

Toni

1st Rule in Business Success~Fiscal Responsibility (not a Louis Vuitton)

Fiscal Responsibility is often easy to understand but hard to execute and implementing it into your life can be one of the hardest tasks you will ever have to accomplish.

What does this really mean, fiscal responsibility? And how can I become fiscally responsible?  

Fiscal responsibility at its core has a simple meaning: To be fiscally responsible, you need to live within your means today, tomorrow and in the future, and it is essential to creating a better, stronger and more prosperous financial future for the rest of your life.  The choices you make today will determine the kind of future you have years from now.  In short it means, you need to live within your financial earnings and to live within your earnings, you must spend less than you make.  In today’s society that is easier said than done.  With so many goods and services taunting us with their beautiful packaging it is hard to stay focused on our fiscal goals and don't even get me started on our need to stay neck-in-neck with the the women around us.  The saying, "we are in debt up to our earrings," is the just a drop in our Louis Vuitton bucket purse, the one we just couldn't live without.

Photo Courtesy of fashiongonerogue.com

So where do I start?

First you must take a look at your current credit debt, is it larger than you can pay off in a single month?  If so than you are already living beyond your financial earnings. Carrying large amounts of Credit Debt can make you feel trapped and often frightened about your future, carrying large amounts of debt can feel like a weight upon your shoulders that just never really goes away.  Removing credit debt can make you feel more alive and more in control of your future.  It is a sense of freedom very few people get to enjoy.

What can I do next?

Printable Expense Worksheet

You will need to sit down with pen and paper in hand and work out your current expenses on an income and expense worksheet, scary yes.   But this is a tool you will use to create a new approach to your spending habits.   Fill in every box on the expenses worksheet and if you have more expenses then by all means add those too.  Leave nothing out: This is where you have to be honest with yourself.  If it is a part of your monthly expense habits it needs to be on your sheet.  If you have quarterly or yearly expense then break those down by 12 months and add those to the sheet.

How can I stay on track?

Look at ways to limit your personal spending.  Cut down on those items in your life that just do not fit into the budget you have created.  Get rid of the wants in your life and focus on the needs.  Remove the clutter your home and make room for more time instead of more stuff.   Manage your personal expenses as if you had no idea how much money you were going to make in the next 30 days.   Find free and interesting entertainment ideas.  And by all means focus on the important essential items instead of those unnecessary items.

Living life in a more simple approach is never easy but with hard work and a commitment to your financial future the end result will give you peace of mind and a stronger financial foundation.

Be fiscally responsible and feel financially free.

Cheers,

Toni

Business Organization On-the-Go

Running a business is difficult enough but running a business while you are traveling requires careful planning and staying organized on-the-go can be relatively challenging. Technology gives us the flexibly to run our businesses from just about anywhere and selling our products has never been easier. But how do we stay organized with so much to do and where do we go to find the resources we need to stay connected and on track?

Here are a few tips to make running your small business on-the-go a little easier.

Invest in the right hardware and mobile devices that you will need to access your online business accounts. This essential element can pay off for you long after the initial investment, but only buy the hardware you need. In most cases a good smartphone may be all you need to stay well connected.

Download the right software apps to assist in your business needs.

You will need a good photo editing app like WordSwag, BeFunky or PicMonkey to create professional pics and collages.

You will need an online calendar to remind you of those essential meeting or conference calls you will be attending. I use Jorte Calendar and organizer but there are many many may online calendar apps to keep your calendar organized.

You will need an online file sharing app such as Dropbox, Evernote or Google Drive to access docs and or pictures.

You will need a payment processing app or device. I use SquareCard Reader but paypal has a new payment processing device called PaypalHere and intuit has a reader device called GoReader.

You may need an online auto posting app to post to all your social media while you are on-the-go. I use Pagemodo for my auto posting to my facebook business pages and even to my personal page when needed. I do not like to go more than one day without posting. Here is a short list of auto posting apps. Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and Buffer.

Office supplies are still needed even on-the-go, in fact they are even more essential. I never leave home without my three ring binder and my notebook with pockets for receipts and notes and business cards I collect. Pens in two colors as well as a small stapler and push pins. I never leave home without my push pins. How else do I hang-up my blitz card to a cork board. And never ever leave home without your business cards and a small stack of catalogs if you have them. I have kicked myself many times for never having enough of these items.

Set a schedule for yourself with regular office hours, then stick to your daily business routine and focus on your to-do list each day. Once you write it down you are seven times more likely to complete it then if you don't.

Staying organized is essential for your success and even more important when you are on-the-go. Becoming a mobile entrepreneur is easy. Staying a mobile entrepreneur requires attention to the details and a great ability to stay on top of all the required aspects.

Cheers,

Toni

10 Habits of the Uber Wealthy

Let's face it being wealthy and acting wealthy are not the same but following the habits of the wealthy could be the beginning of a bright future.
What habits do the wealthy do that separates them from the average person?

For many people who dream of riches wealth means fancy cars, fabulous clothing, expensive shopping trips and luxury travel.
But to the uber wealthy it is about the relentless pursuit of a future that is secure and stable. For them it means being ruthless in their goals with a laser focus on what they want and how they are going to make it happen.

Here are just 10 habits of the uber wealthy

1. The uber wealthy tend to be early risers. They usually wake up when most of us have just settled into our best REM sleep. As early risers they get the most from their mornings and utilize this time to build their daily to-do list. One study shows that 44% of the uber wealthy get up three hours before the mortal man.

2. The uber wealthy always have a to-do list, statistics show that most if not all uber wealthy people keep a to-do list and carry it around in a logbook with them with the intention of completing the tasks before the day is over. Now we know why the filo fax was created.

3. The uber wealthy have a strong tendency to focus on the future. Not just tomorrow but what will pay off in the long run with the thought process that what I do today will pay off in twenty to thirty years. Their ability to look far into the future and work toward that goal puts them in the in that 1% population, those who can focus for longer than a bat second.

4. The uber wealthy are self made and self employed. More than two thirds of those on the Forbes 400 list are self made. Let's face it getting to the top means you don't have time to climb over all those in the corporate world to get there. Creating your own business means you start at the top and work hard to stay at the top.

5. The uber wealthy network network network and then they network some more, spending up to five hours per day reaching out and shaking hands with people who can help them make things happen.

6. The uber wealthy have an uncanny ability to never forget a name or a face. This simple memory technique opens many doors and as we all know using a persons first name is music to their ears.

7. The uber wealthy have little time for romance novels but spend up to two hours per day reading goal based books or listening to audio books during their commuting time. Personal and professional development is high on the list of priorities. We all need a cheerleader in our ear.

8. The uber wealthy know that health and fitness are key to a strong mind. Most wealthy people eat less than 300 empty calories per day. Yes, that includes those high calorie cocktails we all love so much.

9. The uber wealthy get to the top on their own but they never do it alone. They find mentors and role models and spend time digging out the secrets to success. Having someone to bounce ideas off of gives the wealthy an edge we mere mortals never think about doing. We tend to keep our great ideas inside, they tend to talk and talk until the idea is rock solid.

10. The uber wealthy sock it away, saving for the future is not an option it is a way of life for the super rich. Where most of us put away 6% they tend to save an average of 19% of their income. Remember the uber wealthy are always looking into the future, way into the future.

Not everyone was meant to be in the uber wealthy world but if you are looking to have a more secure future following a few of these habits might just be the key to your future success.

Cheers,

Toni