Customer of the Week: Kate Devlin Makeup

Like many high school graduates, Kate wasn’t set on a career path straight away. After dabbling in hospitality and retail for a few months, she began to set her sights on what she loved — beauty.

“I had always had a passion for the beauty industry. I used to spend all of my wage on makeup and beauty products.”

This obsession led Kate to complete the Certificate IV in Makeup. After this, she began working for beauty giant MAC and was finally in a world she loved, surrounded by all her favourite products.

Although she’d found her place, Kate didn’t quite have the freedom she desired. So she began freelancing.

Freelancing was a way that Kate could create her own business vision, and her foremost goal was to bring transparency back to the beauty industry.

“Unfortunately the beauty industry is saturated by those whose work looks a lot different to what it does in real life.”

In a world full of altered and photoshopped images, Kate prefers to fill her social media with natural and raw imagery so her clients know what to expect. While her social media following has grown slower than most, she finds that the consistency between her imagery, and her clients’ results, get her a lot of repeat clientele.

Since choosing to become a freelance makeup artist, Kate is relishing in the freedom.

“I love being able to make my decisions, not having to rely on others and having an amazing work-life balance.”

For Kate, the most satisfying element of business ownership has been watching it grow.

Kate remembers when having five clients booked in for a week was a milestone. Recently, she saw a whopping forty clients in one week.

“Nothing can prepare you for the sense of pride and achievement that brings.”

Although Kate’s business is blooming, she doesn’t see herself as a ‘success’ and because of this, she never settles.

“I compare myself to the best constantly and while that can sometimes take its toll, I find it motivates me to try to surpass those people by working harder and smarter.”

Kate used to spend hours responding to questions regarding her availability. As she grew, she needed a system that could help her look good, and be better organised. With clients able to take charge of their own bookings through Timely, Kate was freed up to spend more time growing her business and doing what she loved.

“Whilst I have used some of this time to continue the growth of my business, Timely has largely freed up my personal time so I can have the work-life balance that I want!”

 

Although still so young, Kate has had to make some very mature business decisions which have taught her multiple lessons along the way.

She encourages anyone thinking of starting a business to step out of their comfort zone, and just do it.

“There is never a ‘perfect’ time to start.”

She stresses that once you make the decision to start, keep at it.

“You’ll have a million setbacks and make many mistakes. What matters is how you respond. Your response dictates your ability to be successful as a self-employed person.”

Kate has shaped a lifestyle that she loves — one that perfectly balances her work and her lifestyle.