Ways to Make Money Online as a Beauty Expert

As children, we dream big; we want to be a fireman, astronaut, ballerina, or world-class veterinarian with our own talk show in which we ask animals questions, and they talk back, Doctor Doolittle-style (no? Just me?).

As we grow older, those dreams often, if not always, fall by the wayside. We become accountants, CMOs, or business developers – not that there’s anything wrong with our new titles and new dreams, but try explaining what a CMO does to a kid.

It may even feel like we’ve given up, regardless of how much money we make or cool vacations we take.

There is a way to get back to what you’re passionate about, whether it was operating on unicorns or becoming a unicorn by using rainbow highlighters.

Making money by becoming an online beauty expert – either as a side hustle or a full-time job – is not something that only children dream about. It is possible to do as a fully grown adult, and not as difficult as it may seem.

Vlog It Up

Beauty vloggers that record their own makeup tutorials on YouTube rake it in – top earners pull $40,000 per month – and if they make less than that each month, they are probably cashing in on book deals, television shows, even clothing collections.

But before you start penning your memoir, it’s important to know how to best utilize the proper tools to get your beauty vlog started:

• Branding. The most well-known beauty vloggers have a specific brand that they sell, whether it’s Jaclyn Hill and her relatable personality, or Michelle Phan with her precise technique. Branding your personality is key to gaining a high YouTube following. Some may balk at the idea of “selling themselves,” but keep in mind that what sells is who you are – acting like yourself should be the easiest thing in the world!

• Adsense. A program developed by Google in which advertisers bid to have their ads on or near a video, this way to make money is what most vloggers use. Basically, you’re telling YouTube it’s okay to run ads on your videos. Google keeps a little bit of the money, and gives a portion to the content creator. Ads will either stream before a video (and must be watched in full) or run near or on top of the video in order for the creator to receive compensation. Previously, content creators had to be in YouTube’s Partner Program in order to make any money off of ads; now, the opportunity is available to nearly anyone who wants to upload a video. Vloggers can track earnings through the Adsense dashboard – once your account reaches $100, Google will payout your total by the end of the next month.

Sponsorship. Having a sponsored video means that a vlogger is getting paid to promote a product. The bonus is you get free product in addition to actual money.

• Keep in mind that the expectation is that the company will have a say in how you present the video review, which may be a turnoff to some vloggers.

• Affiliate Marketing. With affiliate programs, a beauty vlogger can link to an online store as a recommendation; if a viewer purchases an item in said store by clicking on the link in the vlog, then the vlogger receives a commission.

Write It Up

Writing an ebook seems like a daunting task, but it certainly doesn’t have to be – and if you’re writing on makeup, which is most likely one of your favorite subjects, it can fly by.

However, it can be a difficult process, and one that you should not take lightly. Marketing your ebook will be a bit harder than actually writing it, but if you have built up a significant social media following (and have family and friends that believe in you!), selling it shouldn’t be much of a challenge.

If you do not have a large following, consider that you may have to hire a professional to coach you in how to best market yourself if you have zero idea of where to start. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money!

Do not spend all of your time on your ebook – the majority of your time should be spent building out your platform (blogging is a great way to do this, so that you can create a voice of authority online), with the rest of your time spent on writing your ebook.

Think about the 80/20 rule of business: 20% of your customers equals 80% of sales.

This same rule can be applied to time management – don’t waste time doing a simple job when you could be using your brainpower to do a more complex one, like figuring out how to find people who will buy your book! The writing process will fall into place, even if you need to hire a ghostwriter.

In Conclusion

The key to making money by projecting yourself as a beauty expert is content, content, content. Implementing an ecourse through a platform like Udemy, which can take you step-by-step on how to sell your how-to beauty lessons, creating a blog to boost your future ebook, or simply starting a monetized YouTube channel are all great starts to your beauty empire