As a busy permanent makeup artist, you probably struggle to make time to stay on top of all your work - don’t worry you’re not alone! If you’re seeing clients all day, it can be hard to attend to admin tasks regularly, such as replying to clients, managing your social media accounts, and dealing with any finance issues. Trying to juggle too much all at once can lead to burnout which can have a huge impact on your mental and physical health.

We understand the struggle is real and are here to help. That’s why we have created this helpful blog to provide you with productivity hacks you can use as a busy PMU artist!



Time blocking

One of our productivity tips for a busy PMU artist is to plan out each day with time blocking. Planning your day can help you stay on top of smaller tasks. We suggest blocking out a set amount of time each day to complete any administrative work, such as replying to any queries via email, text, or social media platforms, arranging client sessions, confirming any appointments or meetings, ordering stock, and dealing with any finance tasks.

You might find it helpful to do this for a couple of hours each Monday morning so you’re better able to plan for the week or two weeks ahead. But you should choose a time that works best for you so you’re more likely to stick to it!

Save your time by protecting from no shows

We understand, as you probably do too, that last-minute cancellations or clients failing to turn up for an appointment are part of the job and sometimes they are unavoidable. However, you can save yourself a lot of time by implementing measures to protect your business from no-shows. 

Make sure you have a clear cancellation policy in place that informs your clients of the time frame within which they must cancel. You can also start up a wait list, so you have the option to fill any appointments with clients who were unable to book with you initially!



Avoid burn out with regular breaks

Make sure you give yourself enough time to recharge with regular breaks, including a lunch break, in between clients to help with concentration and avoiding burn out. As hard as it is, especially when you love your job, stepping away from anything work-related for short periods in the day can do wonders for your productivity!

When doing other tasks, you could try out the Pomodoro Technique if you struggle to sit and concentrate for a long amount of time. The productivity method involves breaking up your work tasks into 25-minute increments followed by a 5-minute break. After 4 sessions, you then take a longer 15–30-minute break for a fuller recharge before starting on a new task.

Manage client expectations

We understand that you’ll want to reply to your clients right away to show you’re a responsive PMU artist, but it can break your concentration and focus if you’re constantly switching between tasks. A good way to still show your clients you’re reachable and actively responding to their queries is to inform them of the times you’ll be replying to any messages each day. This manages client expectations and sets a boundary for yourself.

You can also turn off notifications once you have spent your allotted time dealing with any queries to avoid the temptation of replying after the times you have set for yourself and clients!

Manage your workload

Another of our helpful productivity hacks is making sure you’re setting a reasonable amount of work for yourself. Overloading yourself can lead to burn out and mistakes. A helpful way to prevent this is to work in batches by grouping together smaller similar tasks so you can tick off multiple tasks in one session.

You could also use helpful tools to assist with task management, such as Hootsuite for social media marketing management, including scheduling posts, and Monday for task and project organisation.



Find out when you work best

We’re all unique and work better at different times, with some of us preferring a productive morning session and others preferring to hunker down in the afternoon or evening. A handy and fun way to find out when you work best is by identifying your Chronotype.

Chronotypes are natural preferences the body has for waking up and sleeping and can affect sleep as well as your performance and activity throughout the day. There are several types based on different animals, including lions, bears, wolves, and dolphins!

Lions tend to be early birds and are most productive in the morning. Bear chronotypes generally follow the sun, waking up around sunrise and sleeping around sunset. They tend to be most productive between 10am-2pm. Wolves are similar to the classic night owl, often being most productive in the afternoon. Lastly, dolphins tend to be light sleepers with a disjointed sleep routine and are generally most productive between 3pm-7pm.

You might fall into one or more categories, but you know yourself better than anyone so plan your day around your own energy and concentration levels. Don’t forget to give yourself some flexibility so you can rearrange tasks if your energy and productivity levels are lower than usual on any given day!

Invest in professional assistance

As your PMU business grows, you might be unable to continue managing everything yourself. Hiring a personal assistant dedicated to handling any admin tasks or other work can help your business to flourish even more by allowing you to focus on providing the best service possible to your clients.

They can handle your bookkeeping and customer query management, so you’re not distracted by calls, emails, and texts throughout the day. They could also help you grow your social media presence by getting regular and updated content while you work! Or you could take it a step further and invest in a social media agency or freelance social media manager to take over your digital marketing platforms.



Lastly, when thinking about how to increase productivity in business as a PMU artist, try to stay motivated. You might not get everything organised overnight and that’s okay. Take it one step at a time when implementing any of our helpful productivity hacks.

And don’t forget to show yourself some compassion and recognise how far you’ve come as a PMU artist already!