It has been a long slog for most of us, the coronavirus has taken over our lives and our livelihoods. London Brow Clinic has not been open since March 2020 due to the virus (mainly because the clinic is situated at The Royal Garden Hotel in High St Kensington which has been fully closed since the lockdown came into place), and I (the microblader and business owner) have had the opportunity to use this time to think about some aspects of this business that need attention and that have been affected by this pandemic.
It is worth mentioning here that I have made various choices throughout my journey as a microblader that have affected the commercial aspect of my business. My business is not a machine that depends on a hierarchy of cogs; those at the bottom doing the work with those at the top skimming the rewards. The sinister side of many of the large microblading businesses and academies across London and indeed the world, work in this way. This is not to say that I have not attempted to scale my business by recruiting fantastic microbladers, I have absolutely tried to do this. The condensed reality of the aforementioned statement is that I simply have not managed to find or train, someone in whom I am confident can carry my brand name, and the weight of what that means for my business. I suppose the difference is whether the objective is to provide a consistent level of quality, or whether the only thing that matters is churning customers through in order to make as much money as possible.
Well... There has been one massive benefit to the above. I haven’t had to lay anyone off or furlough anyone other than a booking assistant. It also means of course, that the customer who books with London Brow Clinic, knows who will be treating them on the day and doesn’t need to worry about booking with a clinic whose master blader has fantastic reviews, but ends up being bladed by “god know’s who” who hasn’t even qualified yet and has very little experience. I could name many microblading establishements in London that operate in this way but I will not as I am not in the business of defaming other institutions without knowing all of the facts. I speak from the stance that I have trained with three separate academies and have seen with my own eyes what the internal politics looks like within these operations, and have been approached by some of these larger insitutions with the view of becoming one of their “cogs”. If I were only interested in money I may have even been more profitable by doing this. But in the end I wanted to stay true to the original reason why I started this business, to facilitate in making people feel more confident in the most natural and honest way possible.
The moral of this story is that London Brow Clinic will absolutely be one of the businesses that comes through this pandemic unscathed. It will continue to put the needs of the customer first, making sure to take the time to fully assess the objectives of the individual customer and not prioritise making money over customer satisfaction. I am keeping abreast of the political and scientific stance this country has over when businesses like this can re open and shall be keeping people informed via social media of when we are opening again. In times like these it is important to remember what matters most, and for me, one of the things that I miss terribly is speaking to my many customers in whom I have found many friends. I miss you all and look forward to making you look beautiful for many years to come. And for any new customers who have fallen upon this blog whilst researching for a microblader who cares about each and every one of their customers’ individual needs, rest assured that you are in the right place. All you need do is read the messages on the website and Instagram to see the sentiment of the people who choose LondonBrowClinic as their microblading clinic.
I wish you all the best, thanks for reading.
Galata xx
LondonBrowClinic
