Free Marketing & Branding Class with Tal Thompson

Face and Body Art Television - FabaTVFABAtv stands for ‘Face and Body Art Television’. FABAtv is the place to be if you want to expand your knowledge of face and body art. From face painting & body painting to airbrushing or even balloon twisting, a FABAtv subscription will give you full access to the entire catalog of educational videos. That’s over 100+ classes each averaging an hour long and in stunning HD! Step up your game with classes by Mark Reid, Heather Green, Nix Herrera, and TONS more. Subscribe Today! [clear]

This months live class brought to you free of charge by FABAtv is with Tal Thompson from YBody USA! Take your business to the next level and explore the tips and tricks that have brought many others to the top. In this hour long free class, Tal will share her tips and tricks on marketing, branding, and business growth.

When: June 13th @ 8PM EST Where: FABAtv LIVE

Tal Thompson on FABAtv LIVE

The Green Brush Part 1: Introduction

The Green Paint Brush with Heather Green

This is the first installment in The Green Brush, a Marketing and Business tips and tricks series by Heather Green. sponsored by Silly Farm Supplies.

Why

I have spent the past six years making youtube videos on face painting to help you to become better painters, but I totally neglected that being the best painter isn’t good enough. It’s like living on McDonald’s, but then working out every day of the week. You have to combine business skills with talent in order to achieve a winning combination…. So I am dedicating one video blog a month to helping you improve your business, grow your business, and answer your questions.

What

What makes me qualified to be in a position to give advice? For those of you that don’t know me… My name is Heather Green and I am the owner of Silly Farm Supplies, the creator of FABAtv, the co-producer of the FABAIC, publisher of the FABA Blog, a business partner for My FAB Events, a mom, a friend, a face & body painter, and the First Lady of Greater St Mark Ame church. I have been painting for 15 years, have grown my companies into something I am very proud of. I spend much of my time researching, reading, and investing in learning how to be a successful entrepreneur. My goal is to condense my findings into useful information and business advice that you can use and make money from. I feel my face painting Youtubes and teaching style have been so well received because I take a lot of concepts from all the classes I have taken and simplify it to make it attainable for all levels of painters. I want to do that in the business sense too.

Who

My business video blogs are meant to help anyone, not just painters, but all entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs. I know that watching my face can be boring, but hopefully the content will make it all worth it.

When

My goal is to publish video blogs at least once a month. If you like them I will try my hardest to post 2 a month.

So what’s on the agenda for today?

Getting Started

In order to get ourselves in the business frame of mind there are a few things you need to do to get started on the right path.

Start with time management…. There is a direct correlation between time spent/ invested and success. When I bought silly farm almost 9 years ago I told myself I wouldn’t take a paycheck until we were out of the red. I face painted on the weekends and used that money to live. I didn’t mind working 19 hours a day, and I believe that my time spent obsessing, building, growing Silly Farm is the reason we have grown from 2 employees to 27 employees. If you are only spending two hours a week improving your company, investing in yourself as an artist, or your phones aren’t ringing like you would like then it’s time to take a look at how you are spending your time. I wrote the book on No Time. I get up at 5:00 am, go to the gym, get home to get my son ready for school, go to work, go home, feed him, bathe him, and then go back to work. Now my life style isn’t for everyone, but if you don’t make the time, you can’t expect the results.

Start by dedicating one hour a day to yourself and your business. Spend an hour emailing customers, or taking a class on FABAtv, or seeking new leads. If you invest an hour each day it’s easier to increase the time you spend on your business daily without feeling overwhelmed.

Setting Goals

How many times have you said to yourself I just want to loose 10 lbs or 20lbs? How many times have you said tomorrow I am going to eat better and start laying weight? For better or worse, goals are a huge part of the human psyche. Goals are important because they help create vision and focus. Set, type, and print your goals, make them visible at all times so that you don’t loose sight of what you are working towards. When I launched fabatv I printed a paper out that said 1,000 subscribers … Ready set go! Every morning I looked at my goal and within 9 months I reached my goal. I wish I could say the same about these last 8 baby pounds, but I won’t be too critical. If you make a goal to book five new parties a month, or a goal to save 30% of all your take home, then you keep it where your mind continuously views it. Then you will train yourself to keep the pot at the end of the rainbow in mind. Don’t let your goals become out of sight and out of mind.

Invest in Yourself and Your Business

We learn from others and feedback is essential! Please like and share this post if it helped you. Leave a comment below or send me an email if you have any questions! Who knows, maybe your question will be on the next video!

The Green Brush Part 2: Marketing Mindframe

The Green Paint Brush with Heather Green
This is the second installment in The Green Brush series sponsored by Silly Farm Supplies. Marketing and Business tips and tricks by Heather Green. Heather is the CEO and Owner of Silly Farm Supplies, an international supplies shop for face and body art. Heather is also the co-producer for the Face and Body Art International Convention.

In this segment of The Green Brush I will show you how to get into the Marketing Mind frame.

I breakdown the FREE steps to marketing your business and introduce the 4 P’s which I will explain in detail in future segments.

Marketing & Sales GraphMarketing and Sales are not synonymous, they compliment each other,. You don’t have to fear marketing your business. Marketing is relationship building. Marketing is taking the time to get to know how you can best service your clients. I will guide you on how to achieve effective marketing campaigns.

I urge you to choose a soundtrack that gets you motivated; to get in a working mode and pursue new business avenues.

I also explain sources of free marketing including grass roots campaigns and getting yourself organized to be able to effectively follow up leads. I have created a “Follow Up Form” for you to download and use free of charge. My goal with this form is to help you keep better records, so that you can keep in touch with your customers and build better relationships.

[button type=”ambitious_button” url=”http://www.fabablog.com/wp-content/uploads/forms/event-followup-form.xlsx” target=”” ]Download Follow Up Form(Excel Format)[/button]

I am focused on helping you create and build a business you are proud of. I hope you enjoy this segment of The Green Brush and I encourage you to share your ideas, stories and business successes. Please leave me a comment with your ideas or questions and don’t forget to like and share this article with your friends!

The Pro’s and Con’s of Teaching Body Art

Pros & Cons of Teaching Body ArtAre you getting requests to teach face painting or another form of body art? Are you wondering where you want to take your face painting career and if teaching is your next step?

It’s a great question to ask yourself and put some thought into. Teaching is rewarding, it also requires a level of selflessness, confidence, and organization.

Face Painting Class in Holland

The pros of teaching face painting are that you will share your passion with other painters and hopefully inspire them to transform their love of art into a business. You will no doubt become a better painter, because you will be forced to practice, refine your designs, and constantly be creative. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to teach a class, watch my students exceed my expectations, and leave energized.
Student at Holland Workshop

Heather Teaching in Holland Face Painting Practice Heads

However, there is a downside to teaching. Many of my workshops are 6+ hours. They require a level of dedication, planning, and energy to motivate your students. You also have to be willing to take criticism of the students that are unhappy or be patient enough to handle the students that require a little more help.

When you become a teacher you also have to factor in that you will potentially inspire someone else to try their hand at teaching. Are you willing to share your designs and teaching abilities with others that will use the information for their own personal gain? Will you be okay if one of your students gets booked for a gig you used to do?

The most important question to ask is: How will teaching benefit me?

Traveling to teach can be exciting. I am grateful I have been able to see half the world because of my teaching engagements. I get to travel to different countries, meet artists, try new foods, and advertise my companies. International teaching opportunities are worthwhile for me because I have product to sell after the class. If your money making opportunities stop at the end of the class, you might want to re-consider if teaching is for you. Every chance I have to teach is a new potential market opening doors for me to sell, increase my distribution, and expand my network, but for every day I am away from my desk I am also losing time and opportunities. So I weigh the pros and cons prior to planning classes.

Group Picture at Holland Workshop


My first class I was asked to teach was in Orlando for a clown convention. They did not have a large budget. They could only offer me $100 for gas, tolls, and my class. At that point I was just starting Silly Farm so I didn’t have travel inventory, a system in place to sell on the spot, or a website to direct students to. I jumped at the chance because I was excited and honored, but after I spent $75 on gas and tolls, $100 for a hotel, 8 hours of driving time, and 6 hours of teaching, I ended on a down note. It was a fun experience and helped me get my feet wet. From a business stand point it was not a good investment because I had no means to extend my money making opportunity.

If the local PTA, theater department, clown alley, or any other group want you to teach, start by making a list of opportunities and possibilities.

Ask yourself these short questions.

  1. What am I trying to accomplish from teaching?
  2. Will I cover all my expenses and have anything left?
  3. What investment in supplies, advertising, or travel will i need to make ?
  4. Am I okay if some of my students become teachers?
  5. Am I comfortable in front of a crowd for long periods of time?
  6. What would I like to see happen after the class?

Silly Farm Supplies - Everything Face and Body ArtIf you have a passion for teaching, consider finding additional means of profiting from your class. Do you have your own products to sell? Are you part of a company’s program that allows you to earn commission from selling their products, such as Silly Farm’s Incentive Program? Do you have a company you can work with to sponsor the class?

The difference between a career and a hobby, is that your career should be making money. If you want to take your business to the next level you have to get in the business frame of mind. Place a value on your time, services, and talents. When you sell your services remember the fee for your services should net you at least 10% more than the other opportunities you are turning down.

I love to see face painters blossom into strong entrepreneurs. Sometimes a little guidance and out of the box thinking is all it takes. I wish you a prosperous and success filled 2013!

Happy painting my friends, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!!

How To Get More Business

Creativity Takes CourageThere comes a time in every entrepreneurs journey where the road splits and we have to shift gears from operating as a hobby to full throttle sales. Many of us start off small, clients here and there, passing out the occasional card, and answering calls at our leisure. Problem with that is, at the same time, we have invested in hundreds and even thousands of dollars in supplies that aren’t generating income. So the real question is, “How do I get the business I want and need?”.

*Disclaimer: The thoughts, advice and information provided in this post are solely the opinions of the author and should be followed up with due diligence prior to holding them as truth.
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  1. Determine the level of business you are looking to pursue.
  2. If you want to do the occasional birthday or town event, or if you only want to work one weekend a month, I don’t suggest that you flood the town with business cards. If you are looking to work every weekend and possibly a restaurant or two during the week, then your strategy will differ. Some of us have BIG plans for our face painting businesses. We want to bring in the bucks, book tons of good paying gigs, and paint till our hands hurts. But it’s important to weigh the pros and cons. Typically a face painters busiest days of the week are Saturday and Sunday, which are also the days we like to spend with family, catch up on house chores, or attend our own personal events. Are you ready to commit your weekends to work? If you are, I will tell you how to get more business, but if you don’t want the responsibility of booking, invoicing, inventory, and working on the weekends, then you will want to consider working through an agent that will book you based on availability.

  3. There are no shortcuts to being successful in business.
  4. Investing is one of the most crucial aspects of business success and growth. When I refer to investing, I’m not just talking about in product. I am talking about investing your time in marketing (meeting people), volunteering, doing research and learning.

  5. Marketing yourself in most cases is free.
  6. Marketing involves putting your people skills to work. Get out there and network. Talk to your neighbors, teachers, friends, and get involved in your community events. Visit a local family restaurant and offer a family night to drum up business. That alone gives you the opportunity to network with other families in your area. Invest time in people and those people will turn into customers.

  7. Planning can mean the difference between success and failure.
  8. What am I talking about you say? Suppose it’s a busy weekend and you have three parties booked back to back. Rather than waiting until the day of to punch in the addresses in your GPS and drive frantically from event to event, map out your day on Thursday. Call the party mom’s or event managers to confirm locations and ask for any special instructions. Planning early will eliminate the surprise factor that can cause you to run late, mess up an address, or forget about a road closure that may take you 20 miles out of the way.

  9. Research is another core component of being successful.

Creativity is a way of LifeI spend no less than 20-24 hours a week researching trends, color schemes, browsing the web for ideas, new products, reading blogs, answering questions, watching you tube, teaching myself new skills and finding inspiration. If you are a newbie you will want to spend your time browsing the net looking for pricing ideas for your region, local events to market, research what services others are offering and at what prices, and how you can possibly collaborate with local agencies. Being prepared is important because when push comes to shove knowing your worth will mean the difference between ending the day in the red or the black.

Every year I face paint at the largest Hispanic festival in south Florida. Over 100,000 people attend this festival and being prepared pays off. I am hired to face paint the public at no charge. For me it’s a great event because I get paid whether I paint 10 people or 100 people. The difference is that we are allowed to accept tips. So it’s in our best interest to move the line. After several years of doing this event, I have my system down packed. I have a limited display and work from a board. I can paint almost 20 people per hour based on the board designs. I print off the flags of the various Hispanic countries, laminate the sheets and offer them as designs. This formula works to my advantage because I can move quick and my customers are happy.


open your mindLast year a local new painter decided to set up shop at the festival. Her first mistake was that she failed to do her research. One, you have to have a permit and insurance to set up a concession at a city festival. Two, she did not bring a table to set up her supplies, so she asked me to share mine. My client that hired me did not want her painting next to me because she didn’t know if she was using proper materials or had proper paperwork, so she made her move. Later that afternoon I saw the poor girl using an empty box as her table. Third, she didn’t come prepared. She did not have pictures for the people to choose from, she had to “look up” the flags on her iPhone, and she didn’t have extra water to use to change out her cup.

After the festival I walked over to her to talk to her and introduce myself. I handed her my card and told her to give me a call and that I’d help her. At first she seemed put off. Perhaps she was slightly embarrassed or didn’t know what my intentions were, but that call is the reason she is now running a successful face painting business.

If she had taken the time to visit the festival and do her research to find out if there were painters at the festival, what designs they were offering, what they were charging, if she was legally able to just show up and paint, what products they were using, etc.., she would not have faced the embarrassing challenges she brought upon herself.

Lastly, I want to stress the importance of learning. I have taken well over 300 classes on just face painting. I try to use any free time I have to watch a FABAtv lesson. Learning helps you be prepared, helps you service your customers better, and helps you gain an advantages over the other painters that only paint three designs or cheek art. For example, one of my favorite customers called and asked me if I could paint her daughters synchronized swimmers team and she was looking for water proof make up. Luckily for me I had just watched a class by Nix Herrera about airbrush make up application and that gave me the knowledge on what to offer her.

Another time when I was hired to paint at a boy scout convention. I stayed up till 3:00 AM watching classes by Mark Reid, Lynne Jamieson, Sammie Bartko, and Wiser just to brush myself up on the designs boys love. Learning is what engages us to try new things, explore beyond our comfort zone of butterflies and princesses, and can open up doors of possibilities. If you are struggling with speed, invest some time in learning techniques to help you speed up your designs without compromising quality. If you are uncertain about how to file your taxes or incorporate as a business in your state, invest time in reading and learning about it on the SBA website or business blogs. Don’t underestimate the importance of investing in yourself. You are selling yourself and your services. It makes perfect sense to be prepared with the right tools, the right knowledge, and the insight about how to do the best job possible.

Having those tools will certainly take you 10 steps in the right direction to create more sales, gather more clients and grow your business.

I write these articles to share my knowledge and help other artists grow. Please feel free to share you business advice with me and our community of painters. If you wish to write for the Faba Blog, contact us.

Happy Painting!

Creativity never goes out of style

Scared of the Truth

Better not Bitter We all have that friend or partner that asks the dead end question, “Does this dress make me look fat?”, and 99.9 % of us give the answer they want to hear because deep down we know no one wants to hear the truth. The truth might be that, yes, the dress is not flattering. The dress could be the wrong color, wrong length, too tight or just plain ugly, but if you told your friend that you would probably lose a friend and receive a bill in the mail for their therapy sessions.
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Scared of the Truth - Suggestion BoxThis happens in business too. We avoid the potential of hearing the truth because we are scared to hear the negative. When I worked at Chuck-e-Cheese I was responsible for collecting comment cards about my service as a hostess during parties. I was only 15 and super sensitive to all feedback. I dreaded reading the comment cards, and even though I aimed to please and I always felt I did my best, I took every comment personally. Sometimes I would cringe as I read the cards. I was so scared to hear that someone didn’t like me after I gave my all. The great majority of the comments loved my service and I could never understand why I was so uptight about it, but it took me years to get past the fear and to use it to my advantage.

During one summer I interned at a booking agency. We were required to call clients from the weekend and ask for feedback and to rate our service. Most of the calls were not related to my event, but sometimes they were. I would swallow hard, take a deep breathe and call. I would never let the person know I was their painter, because I wanted their honest opinion. I would fill out the survey and then I would make my personal notes.

Outside Your Comfort ZoneHearing the good, bad, and ugly helped me grow as a business person. It helped me improve my services, and think out side my box. One birthday mother said she loved me because I was early and professional, but was disappointed because I couldn’t stay an extra hour. She felt I booked my parties back to back and I didn’t leave her an option of keeping me longer. After that conversation I made it a point to keep 2 hours between events so that I had flexible room to add an extra 30 minutes at the end of a party.
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Another time, I spoke with a birthday mom and she said she loved my face painting but she really wanted balloons as well. I didn’t have a budget to hire both myself and a balloon artist separate, since she only had 12 girls. After that day I took a few balloon classes so that I could offer face painting and balloons to smaller parties.

Customers are looking for businesses that will increase their pleasure or decrease their pain. Work on your plan on how to incorporate those principles into your business practices. Don’t be scared of hearing something that might make you upset, instead formulate questions that will fill you with feedback that helps you grow.

If you ask the question “How did you feel about the quality of the face painting provided?”, that is the same question as asking, “Do I look fat?”. Instead try asking, “How would you rate the face painter on a scale of 1-10?”. Asking rating questions forces the person to think beyond just good and bad and assign a numerical value to their service. A great follow up question to the rating question (if the answer was not a 10) would be, “What can we do to reach a 10?” Not only does a question like this validate the customers concerns and opinion, but it might be your opportunity to gather information that can help you improve your services.

The truth doesn’t always have to hurt, it can be your best business builder.

Happy painting friends.
-Heather

Create a Conversation Piece

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman SchultzI recently attended a small business seminar organized by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Small Business Association. It was one of the most inspiring events I have attended in years. When I was in college, I didn’t appreciate the information they were sharing. At that time I couldn’t see how the topics and lessons I was learning could be applied to my real world, but this workshop was different. This workshop was full of valuable information and a networking opportunity that was much needed.

One idea that stuck with me as I walked out of the doors was how to make myself into more of a conversation piece. I am a self proclaimed shy person. When I am teaching or around my fellow painters I am an open book, but when I enter a room full of other entrepreneurs sometimes I tend to clam up. When they ask what I do, I search for words to describe what I do without sounding all over the place. I needed an angel to help jump start the conversation and keep potential customers interested in me.

One of the lecturers flipped a switch in my head. He said your goal should be to make yourself, your artwork, and your business into a conversation piece. As I explained to him what I do, he said, “Stop right there, you are using too many words”. His advice was to show him and not tell him. Too many words sink the interest ship. So I went home and thought about it and really racked my brain to try to come up with something that would show and didn’t force me to tell.

So that night I logged on to Etsy and created a few pins that I could wear to networking functions. The pins say “Got Face Paint?” and another that says “Yes! I Painted my face”. It got me thinking, depending on the function, I would wear either pin with or without face paint. The pin acts as an ice breaker and it introduces me before I say a word. It also engages conversation which is my goal. When I face paint at gigs I always paint a design on my eyes and I get asked, “Did you paint your own face?” every time. If I am attending an art networking event and I have painted my own face and am wearing my pin, I can get the conversation started faster and hopefully win over their attention.

Think about how you can make yourself into a conversation piece.

  • Wear your business shirt to the supermarket.
  • Go to the children’s library or museum with your eyes or face painted and make sure to keep business cards in your pocket to hand them out.
  • Take the time to google small business networking events in your area and get conversation ready.

No matter who you are or where you go, you will meet someone with kids, someone that has attended a birthday party, or someone planning an event and that’s your window to grab business and go!

Happy painting!
-Heather

Resources: Image of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz from Wikipedia Commons.