Check Out Nicole Mins’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Mins. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Nicole Mins is the Owner and Permanent MakeUp (PMU) Artist at Savvy Creations Inc with over six years of experience in the beauty industry. The organization Savvy Creations Inc. has two locations their headquarters which is in Chicago, Illinois and the recently opened second location in Atlanta, Georgia.

Nicole came from humble beginnings growing up on the West Side of Chicago with her Mother Ruddie and younger brother Donald. She did not know her dad growing up, he at no point ever played an active part in her life. Ruddie always worked extremely hard to be able to provide for her two kids to make sure they had everything necessary to succeed. Younger brother Donald found himself many times following his older sister as they truly share a wonderful bond. The two have always been very protective of each other to this day.

During Nicole’s childhood she found herself captivated by the arts, sports and anything related to beauty. Her passion for the arts led her to act in several plays from the age of seven to fourteen years old. Forever the tomboy she could usually be found playing basketball at Moore Park against men and women who were typically several years older than year. Known as a busy body as a child she would also do nails, makeup, sew clothes and do hair for her family and friends. As she would earn allowance, it would many times be spent on buying fashion magazines such as Vogue, Essence and Jet. The magazines formed a lot of her style as a child which could be defined in one word as very distinctive.

After years of honing her basketball skills, Nicole was the starting point guard on the Hubbard High-School Varsity Women’s Basketball team. During her high school career she averaged 18 Pts, 5 Assts and 3 Stls per game. Nicole continued her education after high school by attending Malcolm X college in Chicago. Two years into her studies Nicole became pregnant having her son TJ.

Fast forward several years and working many odd jobs to make ends meet as a single parent.

Nicole deferred her dreams of attending cosmetology school after high school because her family didn’t believe she would earn sufficient income. But after years of hard work, perseverance, and self-determination, Nicole’s dream of a career in beauty blossomed into Savvy Creations.

Nicole decided to become a PMU artist after a terrible eyebrow tattooing experience which resulted in an extremely painful tattoo removal. Nicole holds several PMU certificates and prides herself on continuing her education and refining her skills. She is now known as one of the top permanent makeup artists and instructors globally having completed over 5,000 services and 2,500 students that have gone through trainings she has taught. One of the most fulfilling aspects of Nicoles career are the women who have taken her class who have gone on to become successful entrepreneurs leaving their previous jobs.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the journey of successful entrepreneurship, it is not a road one travels without obstacles. She has been challenged with many things initially it was raising the capital to be able to start her journey. In order to make ends meet at home while also affording the $3,700 she paid for her first permanent makeup class, she bartended and worked at a Marriott branded hotel.

After taking her class the next obstacle along the way was learning how to properly brow map her client’s brows. Being that there are so many aspects of the perfect brow shape such as the person’s face shape, bone structure and uneven natural hair flow to name a few. Nicole took 18 months to perfect a method that she could have consistent results and then as a test she started showing it to friends to see if it was simple enough, not realizing that this would be one of her skills that future students would rave about.

Lastly finding the time to actually complete the services that she desperately wanted to do. The security of having guaranteed money to be able to take care of her family was priority number one. She eventually built up the courage and was able to leave the hotel now working full time as an entrepreneur. “Success is not a road with perfectly paved highways and no other cars on the road, there are potholes at every turn and stop signals being able overcome the challenges that are bound to come forth is what separates a successful entrepreneur from those who never start or end up in the breakdown lane”.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Nicole specializes in Permanent Makeup with a specialty in Ombre Brows. She is known for her consistently flawless work as seen on her countless clients. An additional claim to fame is her Brow Mapping Technique which has allowed thousands of artists to be able to perfect the mapping of such services as Ombre, Microblading, Henna, Nano, Waxing, Threading and Makeup. In the industry, Nicole is looked at as the gold standard by many as to whom they compare their work.

She is also known for her product line under the brand name Savvy Creations which offers products such as the Queen Pen, Hummingbird Needles and her Brow Mapping Stickers.

Nicole is most proud of the women she has taught over the years that have been able to become their own bosses and regain control of their time. Additionally, the time that she’s able to give back to her clients who in many instances, spend 15 minutes per day or over 65 hours per year doing their brows.

I believe what separates me apart from others in the industry is my temperament and my believe in the importance of outstanding customer service, consistency in quality of work and a genuine heart who is open and willing to help anyone who seeks assistance from her.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I think one of the most important lessons that the Covid-19 crisis has highlighted for me is the importance of having different streams of income in order to weather any storm. I think many who are in the industry may only depend on the single-stream so truly investing in anything from real estate or stocks is key for longevity as you need to be able to generate income without physically working for it. We are in an industry that requires up close contact with clients in order to deliver service, which required us to shut down for a period of time during the peak of the crisis.

Pricing:

• Ombre Brows $1000
• Emerald 2 Day Ombre Class $4000
• Diamond 2 Day Ombre Class $3500
• Platinum 2 Day Ombre Class $2500
• Brow Mapping Simplified Online Class $500

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.savvycreationsinc.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ms_nicole_j
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savvycreationsBROWS/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCauVzqHxwsilpfgGBxkGuNw
• Other: www.mysavvyacademy.com