Funny enough, one of the most common questions I get asked as a professional makeup artist is if I have ever dealt with nightmare clients. I typically crack a smile and reply with a little head shake. One of the best and most rewarding experiences I have had in the beauty industry is successfully cultivating my dream clientele. Cultivating your dream clientele is fun and easy, as long as you know how to do the work. If you spend the time doing the behind the scenes work, I promise, you will start attracting your dream cliente like a magnet! 

Let’s quickly remind ourselves that like attracts like. This is a Universal Law of the Universe and before I get carried away and all woohoo-y on you.. Keep in mind that this is scientifically proven. If you are someone that has never heard of this Law before then I would advise you to study up! Until then, I will break it down briefly for you. The Universal Law that like attracts like is better known as the Law of Attraction. In other words, this means that people tend to be attracted to people that are similar to them. Take a look at your inner circle. Yes, you may have small differences but for the most part, I am sure that you are similar in a lot of ways. Birds of a feather flock together! This is the same between professionals and clients. Without even realizing it, every single client that you have or have had, you have attracted.

Once you begin to understand the concept of like attracts like, that you have attracted every single one of your clients and you are more powerful than you think.. you can then understand that you have the power to attract your dream clientele. All it takes is a little bit of thought and intention. Grab out a pen and paper and allow me to walk you through my exact formula that I used to attract my dream clientele. 

1. Take a Look at Your Current Clientele

The first step is to take a look at your current clientele that you have built. Of course, if you have not started taking clients yet, you can skip this step. If you have already built a clientele, whether that be small or large, this will pertain to you. 

We are going to begin with looking at what we don’t like about our current clientele and what we do like about our current clientele. We are not looking at this in a positive or a negative way, we are simply making observations. Ask yourself these questions:

• Do your clients respect your time?
• Do your clients arrive at appointments on time?
• Do you enjoy the company of your clients?
• Do you feel like you are making a positive impact on your clients lives?
• Are your clients generous to you?

Asking yourself these questions will better gauge your current clienteles behaviors. Once again, we are simply making observations. Write down everything that you notice, any patterns or behaviors that you like or dislike about your current clientele. 

2. Client Cleanse

Out with the old, in with the new, baby! This may be one of the hardest parts about attracting your dream clientele but holy heck, is it the most important. If you are allowing your current clients to walk all over you and disrespect you and your time, you are blocking yourself from receiving respect from other clients. You are basically telling the universe that you are okay with being treated the way that you are being treated and that is not okay. We have the luxury of deciding when we want to work, what services we are going to offer and how we are going to perform our jobs. Which means, we also have the luxury of deciding who is a best fit for us to work with. Your clients have to be best suited for you, just as much as you have to be best suited for them. 

A client cleanse is simple. You are saying goodbye to clients who may not be serving your higher purpose or who may not be a good fit for you and your business. By saying goodbye to these clients, you allow more space to attract better suited clients to you! This isn’t a negative action, this is a positive action. This could even be shedding services that you no longer want to offer anymore, and saying goodbye to the clients who are still booking that service. I myself have done many rounds of client cleanses. Some cleanses were due to clients disrespecting me and letting go over my boundaries, other times it was as simple as letting go of a few services I no longer wanted to offer. How you approach your client cleanse is completely up to you.

How do you properly cleanse your clientele and actually say goodbye to those clients? First off, do not overthink it. You do not owe your clients any explanation other than your schedule is getting too tight and you have to say goodbye to a few clients and/or services. Remind them that it is nothing they could have done or prevented, it is just the direction that your business is going in. Next, offer them a replacement or give them a referral! Any time I say goodbye to a client I always point them in a new direction of another professional who may be a better suit for their needs. Voila.. New space for new clients. Your dream clientele awaits!

3. Get Specific

Now that you have spent some time looking into what you don’t want to attract in your clientele, let’s take a look at what you do want. This is the fun part. Make sure you are really spending a lot of time on this step, because this is the step that will actually shape who and what clientele you are looking to attract. Here are some things we want to look into and get specific on:

• Who is your dream clientele?

• What is their gender?
• What is their age range?
• What are their interests?
• What are their struggles?
• Where do they live?
• How much money do they make?
• What do they do for a living?
• What does a day in their life look like?
• What are their beliefs?
• What are their goals?
• What makes them tick?
• How will your service benefit them?
• Why are you the right fit for them?

You are going to want to be as creative and clear as possible. Build up your client avatar. Name them. Give them an age. Do whatever it takes for you to feel connected with your dream client. You most likely want to attract a range of clients and it is okay if not every single one of your clients falls into this description. This exercise is allowing yourself to get reaaaally specific on your vision and know who you are talking to in posts, marketing, conversations about your business, etc. Like attracts like, remember? Your clientele isn’t going to be made up of clones from your imagination, but it will be made up of people of similar interest and needs.

4. Allow Your Dream Clientele To Attract To You

This is the fun part. Receiving! You have done the work that needs to be done in order to attract your dream clientele and you know who you are trying to attract. Now you can sit back, do your job and let them come to you. You will probably start to notice that your language and the way you talk about your business may shift. This is because you have a new goal in mind and you are now actively attracting. This may not happen overnight, but the more you are able to let go and allow space to receive, the quicker the attraction will work. Before you know it, you will have cultivated your own dream clientele.