#BossTalk Interview Series: The Secrets To Success with Jessica Haynes by Alyssa Caggiano

Jessica Haynes is a professional makeup artist with over 13 years’ experience to offer us WOL

bosses. Hayne’s brand, Makeup by Jess, is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and consists of a

multitude of services: makeup applications, one-on-one classes, and nationwide tours. Her story

is truly remarkable in that she went from doing makeup on a porch to having her own shop and

doing celebrity faces, such as Lala Milan and BB Judy. I had the opportunity to speak with

Haynes and share her insight as a boss.

“The very first client that I took, we were on a porch. I used to live with one of my ex-boyfriends

at the time, and I started taking clients on his mom’s porch. I would have a little lawn chair and a

coffee table. I couldn’t afford a ring light at the time, so I would just use the natural light from

the sun to be able to provide the lighting that I needed. [I would] provide them an overall

experience. It was to where they didn’t even have a fit that I was taking them outside just

because the experience was so nice…I went through a phase in my career that I was homeless.

None of my clients knew. None of my family members knew…so I know what it means when

people say they got it out the mud. I basically had to create something I’ve never seen before. I

had to be that trailblazer in my city.”

Although Haynes has a strong social media presence where she features her work and tutorials,

she was able to build her clientele through word-of-mouth. The experience she provides, as well

as her expertise, has helped grow her Instagram to over one-hundred sixty thousand followers.

“I’m a firm believer that a good name is better than riches, so making sure I’m a woman of my

word goes far. You can post a million pictures on Instagram, but that word of mouth will travel

further than your Instagram picture…The other day on October 4 th , Instagram and Facebook were

down the whole day. How are you going to get your business out there? You have to know how

to sell your business outside of social media…that excitement that you have, and that passion

that you have, you have to articulate that. It can’t just be pictures and videos. As much as people

want to see the pictures, they want to get to know you too. Social media is great. It’s a great tool,

but word of mouth works just as well.”

One of Haynes’ best words of advice for other bosses was to learn as much as you can.

“Never stop learning. When you stop learning, you start dying. Anything that’s not growing is

dying, so never feel like you know it all or that you can’t learn from somebody…I literally just

got out of a makeup class that I took. If you continue to learn and continue to grow, then you’re

always going to want more… you’re going to get there. It just takes time. Your story isn’t going

to look like everyone else’s, so just flow and take in as much knowledge as you can.”

Haynes’ willingness to learn has also taught her some valuable lessons on becoming a boss.

“I tried to take people along with me on my journey. Whether it was an intern or an assistant or a

secretary, whoever, I had to understand that everyone can’t come with you. Everybody doesn’t

want it bad enough, and honestly, a lot of the mistakes I made in business was putting people in

positions that they weren’t ready to handle. They didn’t understand how much work that it

actually took. The people who are on your team, if they’re not self-motivated, it’s not going to

last.

“It’s a journey, and you’re going to go through many ups and downs. Every day is not going to

be a great day. Every day is not going to be a huge day for sales. Every day is not going to be the

day where you do 20 faces, or however many you do in a day. I had to learn to trust the journey.”

Haynes wants to push her brand further and shared some of her biggest goals for the next five

years.

“I plan on having several schools and a product line. I see myself having a franchise where I’ll

have different schools where students can come in and enroll in my school. We really don’t have

many makeup schools out here, but people need to learn how to do sanitations and etc. because

they just know how to pop makeup on people. I want to continue teaching as well. I want to do

worldwide tours in different countries. With my worldwide tours, I’d like to raise money. I want

to have my own orphanage helping women and children who may have been in a domestic

violence situation because I am a survivor of domestic violence. I also see myself having a

product line that’ll be available at Walmart, Target, Walgreens, and CVS. I want to provide

products for the everyday woman, makeup artists, and aspiring makeup artists.”

Haynes is a testimony that it doesn’t matter where you start. Her entrepreneurship journey took

her from doing makeup outside to being booked in busy in her own shop. You can follow her on

Instagram, @makeupbyjess, or check out her website, makeupbyjessllc.com, to watch her

achieve her upcoming goals.