What I'd Tell Myself in Year Two

Year one of PMU, you're surviving. You're learning what questions to even ask. You're just trying to get through each client without something going wrong.

Year two is different. You're past survival, but you're not yet where you want to be. You can see the gap between what you're producing and what you know is possible. That gap is uncomfortable in a new way because now you know enough to recognise the problem, but not always enough to fix it.

If I could go back and sit with that version of myself, here's what I'd say:

Stop trying to master everything at once.

The artists you admire have usually gone very deep in one area before they widened out. Pick one thing: hairstroke technique, shading, lip blush and stay with it until it feels like yours. Breadth comes later.

Your worst healed results are your best teachers, if you let them be.

Photograph everything. Review everything. Stop deleting the ones that didn't heal how you wanted. Those are the ones holding the information you need.

Charge more than feels comfortable.

Not for ego. Because underpricing attracts volume at the expense of space, space to learn, to be selective, to rest between clients and do your best work. You cannot learn well when you're exhausted and overbooked on a rate that doesn't reflect your skill.

Find one person who's ahead of you and actually pay attention to how they think, not just what they do.

Technique is copyable. Thinking is what you really need to absorb.

Year two is where a lot of artists plateau or burn out. It doesn't have to be that way. But it requires you to be intentional. Intentional about what you're working on, how you're pricing, and what you're letting yourself learn from.

You're closer than you think.

~ Cathy