Face Painting as your full time job...

Hi everyone,

I know that this has come up in threads before, but I can't find it anywhere.

How many of you out there run your business full time?
Did you have another job when you first started face painting?
- If yes, how long did you build up your business before your took the plunge into full time painting?

I'm getting antsy and wish I could devote more time to building up this business and my hope is to be full time by next year. The numbers are looking good.

Tell me your business building stories, I'm curious to hear about the trials and tribulations you've encountered.

My business is very much part-time. I haven't been aggressive in marketing, as I like to just roll with the family schedule.

No other job (that I get paid for), I'm a SAHM.

It took me about a year of practice before I felt confident in offering my services to the public.

I'm a stay at home mom. This is my weekend thing. I can't do full time anything because of the kiddos.

I'm in the "Aggressive Marketing" stage right now in hopes that it will pay off by next year. I hand out business cards at every opportunity and shamelessly bring up face painting in conversation at every opportunity.

I used to be stay at home until my husband lost his job 6 years ago. So I bit the bullet, went back to work and have been working since then. He ended up getting a job fairly quickly, but I'm the main bread winner now which makes it so scary to think about taking this on full time.

I just want to be happy with what I do and be able to make my own hours for the most part ya know?

There's not enough work here in this area to justify full-time... I run another business during the week drafting house plans and just do this on the weekends or sometimes one day during the week, depending on the gig

My hubby is a full time college student. We get the Pell Grant, the GI Bill & his Navy Retirement. Face Painting is what pays the rest of the bills & puts the food on the table. I mainly work weekends & 1 restaurant gig. I am very aggressive in marketing & plug my business when ever I can. I'm trying to get more weekly work w/ daycares & prenatal work. I also homeschool the kids & this takes a lot of weekday time... and I'm their taxi driver

I started painting around this time last year. In october I quit my job running a cafe because my I wanted to get my daughter out of daycare, and I put all my efforts into starting a business. I painted for free until January and set up my website and printed business material in Feb this year. I have been steaming ahead ever since. My husband is a carpenter/safety advisor for the construction industry and he supports us, I bring in what I can to make up the bills and sometimes buy us a treat. We have nearly paid off our debts and I am looking forward to using my earnings for holidays in the future.

I love painting and I love being able to contribute to the household earnings but I could never be the main bread winner. Maybe if we didn't live in such an expensive city. Rent here alone can kill you.
I think it is fantastic that you are working full time and running your business and looking after your family - I know I couldn't do that.
I have a big client that hires me regularly on weekends for $500 plus $100 in movie tix. So those months I make $2000 - that would only cover the rent.
Good luck and keep at it. If the market is there and you avidly promote your business anything is possible!

This is the only job I have... if that makes it "full time" so be it.... I'm building it.

I started out as a clown because my resumes going out after a few years of being home with the kids and turning up not even a job at Walmart or a grocery store, I needed something. After watching the clown I hired for my daughters' parties do her thing, I figured I could do at least as well with my training in music and as a teacher.

I'm not quite as busy as I want to be just yet, but it is definitely growing and getting there. I've been at this for about 2 years.

I forgot to say, I've been at this for 5 years, but just shifted it from a sort-of, extra money thing I did sometimes to a hotly pursued business. I went from doing a bday party every few months to having 2-3 jobs a weekend since October 2009. I make $300-$500 a weekend(this is before expenses... about 20% - 30% goes back into the business).

I've be a "part time" make-up artist for 13 years - I work anywhere from 2 to 30 hours per week depending on the season and bookings.

I also have a 40 hour per week day job (with regular overtime).

During theatre season (Sept-May) I work double - 8 hrs at the day job and up to 6 at the theatre 3-4 days a week.

I'm relatively pro-active with my marketing and the majority of my business is repeat clients. I am booked up most weekends and holidays.

I never intended to give up the day job. I got my make-up diploma while working full time at a bank, and then continued working after while gaining experience and make-up credits in theatre and film.

I like the benefits that full time employment offers - dental, medical, paid vacation... so while I love my make-up business and work at it daily, I won't be doing it "full time" until I retire from the other or win the lottery. I like knowing I have a paycheque every two weeks and not having to worry about a sudden lack of bookings...

My "regular" job is part owner of a private school. My part time job is as a web designer. My fun job is face painting. I started doing it more as a hobby and it grew naturally. I really love the other stuff I do as well so, I play it day by day. The money from the web designing and face painting is just savings - for now.

Facepaint and a bit of temporary tattoos, makeup, bodypaint and special effects are my full time job.

When I finished makeup school in 2004, first I was in a program the government have, where they pay you for what you can't earn yourself. But for some reason you are not allowed to VAT register when on that and a lot of the companies I worked with for events preferred that, since it is easier when paying. And I was starting to enjoy events more than films, something I had worked with mostly.

So I registered in 2007 and to supplement it I worked with all kind of jobs, like cleaning, potting plants, packing even tried being out with some building a road. It was fun meeting new people, but often there was a lot of chemicals involved or people smoked - something I am allergic to - so I worked only with that around a year. Then I concentrated only on my real job and interest (and living for about nothing). When I did that, I also got more jobs, since I had more time to look for then, plus practice to get better.

I think I could have starting living from it before, but I have never been going for the jobs that paid, more for the ones that was fun.

Lonewolf - what is VAT register?

VAT

Sales tax. Though VAT was the normal definition of it, since it is written on a lot of the bills in English.

Gotcha, thanks. I really didn't know

Rosenberg-Cox wrote:Gotcha, thanks. I really didn't know

I know this is really late, But I think VAT stands for "Value Added Tax"

Like our GST - Goods and Services Tax

I am a full timer. I started my business in July of 2009 and was able to get it to full time status in less than a year. I have an internet marketing background and that is what I did prior to face painting. I now use my internet marketing knowledge to build my business.

I have not done much traditional "off line" marketing yet. That is on the agenda for 2011. But so far I haven't needed to, it's been crazy busy and I think it is mostly due to the fact that I live in a really great area for a face painting business to thrive.

Great Questions!

I would say that I am full-time "seasonal." Here in Montana so much revolves around the weather. So, there's only 0-3 gigs per month for me Nov-March and it starts picking up again in April. Then May - August is slammed -- full time and then some. September is the County Fair season which I am trying to break into but finding it challenging so far. But, I will this year!!

This is the most difficult time of year for me because it's the end of a seemingly long dry spell. But, there's more time for planning and learning new things. And, I am busy doing lots of re-bookings of last years summer events.

Thank you for sharing "wonderbrush"! I have been wondering what this industry is like in areas of the country that have cold snowy weather. Here in California this is a slower time of the year, but we are still very busy.

I book about 6 - 8 gigs per weekend around this time of year versus 8 - 12 in the summer time. The weather here is not nearly as severe as in Montana, although the rain seems to affect things a bit

Gigs are indoors in cold snowy weather!! Indoor soccer tournaments, bonspiels, craft sales, carnivals, fund raisers and winter celebrations. Family Day, Mardi Gras, St Pat's, Easter...

Shannon,

Do you find that it is just as busy now as in the summer and that the weather doesn't really impact your business?

Bye for now,

Brenda

FaceFormers wrote:
I book about 6 - 8 gigs per weekend around this time of year versus 8 - 12 in the summer time. The weather here is not nearly as severe as in Montana, although the rain seems to affect things a bit

I'm curious, how many painters are working these gigs? I've never been able to work in more than 3-4 gigs in a single day, and even that was really difficult with timing and travel between jobs. I end up referring away jobs that overlap, which depresses me. LOL. Is there a secret to scheduling so many in a day or single weekend?

I share gigs with two to three other painters I usually only do about 2 gigs a day myself. I typically make about $20 on the gigs I have other painters do.

I used to train people and make a bit more, but that was compromising the quality too much. Now I only work with established artists who do good work and just aren't very busy. They are willing to take the gigs and allow me a couple of bucks for marketing and taking the time to send out agreements and book the parties.

My plan for going full time is, if I can net 50% of my current income doing this 1/4 time, then I will quit my day job and go at this hard, hence I still work fulltime!

I think there is definite opportunity for me to do this full time, its just I don't put forth the effort. But I'm cool with that at this stage in my life.