"I think self-belief plays a large part."
Belle Barca’s first venture – The Cosmetic Hub – is a leading Brisbane/SEQ clinic for cosmetics, skin & PMU + an academy where she teaches students almost monthly the art of cosmetic tattooing and business basics. The clinic itself now also houses three artists (plus herself) who also specialise in PMU, plus skin.
Secondly, Satori Minerals came about a couple years ago when she couldn’t find a reputable and credible mineral makeup brand that was good for the skin and okay for post-skin treatments. She’s personally researched and chosen a range of products, looking into the ingredients to ensure our makeup is all natural, mineral, cruelty-free, ethically made and with no nasty hidden chemicals. Satori is stocked in a range of clinics across Australia and also available to B2C.
Finally, The Cosmetic Shop is an online e-commerce store supplying other artists and salons with all their industry essentials. Yet, the main reason they started this was because of her drive to make the PMU industry more eco-friendly and eco-conscious. They offer one of the largest ranges of eco consumables and started a program called #permanentmakeupforpermanentchange.
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Table of Contents
Thank you for joining us, please introduce yourself to our readers.
Belle Barca: Hi – I’m Bell Barca, a business owner and permanent make-up artist. I run three businesses across the industry – The Cosmetic Hub – a skin and cosmetics clinic in Brisbane Australia, where I also run a PMU academy, teaching other artists permanent makeup tattooing; Satori Minerals – a mineral-based makeup company; and The Cosmetic Shop – a B2B clinic and salon supplies online destination where our focus is making the industry more eco-friendly & eco-conscious.
Can you tell our readers in what ways you are disrupting your industry?
Belle Barca: In a number of ways! Firstly with The Cosmetic Hub, our PMU academy offers an unparalleled hands-on experience to learn the art of cosmetic tattooing. Unlike many courses out there, we pride ourselves on the holistic approach to it all, and our emphasis on both theoretical and practical learning. Many courses now are online, which we don’t agree with. Cosmetic Tattooing is something you shouldn’t take lightly; not only are we tattooing someones face, but the dermal, health and hygiene aspects are so important – which then plays into hands-on experience. PMU is something you need to be taught in-person so your art can be finessed, rather than through a lens where detail and mentorship can be so easily lost.
In regards to The Cosmetic Shop, we’ve really disrupted the industry by creating a movement and focus on making the PMU and aesthetics industry kinder on the environment. With so many products and essential consumables heading straight to waste every day with every treatment/appointment, I knew there had to be a better way which is when I delved into sourcing products that can be recycled, biodegradable and overall nicer on the environment. We started a movement with this called Permanent Makeup for Permanent Change. We were one of the first supplies stores to have this as such a focus & business mission.
Did you become a disruptor by choice or by necessity? Tell us more about the journey.
Belle Barca: Both! I wanted to share my personal PMU experience and teach the components I’ve learnt over the years with new artists wanting to break into the industry and thats when the academy came about. I want to provide all aspects that I wish I had when starting out, while merging my own personal growth and lessons into a course.
For The Cosmetic Shop, I felt this was a necessity. I personally realised the amount of waste I was contributing at the end of the day working in-clinic. Multiply this per artist, per clinic across the entire industry and the significance was shocking. I found it difficult to find eco-friendly essentials and after delving into some research and suppliers from across the globe, I wanted to make these more readily available to other artist and clinics which is how The Cosmetic Shop started and why we have such a focus on sustainable products.
Now for the main focus of this interview: Many readers may wonder what are the biggest challenges women entrepreneurs must overcome to be successful?
Belle Barca: I think self-belief plays a large part. Traditionally, we expect men to be the business players – to have the confidence, gusto and intelligence. But, these components are characteristics shared by women – we just need to have a bit of self-belief. To play into this, research and education is key – knowing your stuff back to front and back again so you’re the expert and have the confidence to back yourself when push comes to shove. And finally, I think one of the biggest challenges is deciding whether to prioritise business or our biological clocks – yet, why can’t we do both? We don’t have to choose – we can have both.
How did you overcome these obstacles? Who helped you during these difficult times and how did they?
Belle Barca: I think I’ve always been so independent which contributed to my confidence and self-belief. I’m fortunate enough for a great support network within family and friends which of course contributes, too.
How did these lessons shaped the way you conduct business today?
Belle Barca: As selfish as it can sound – you have to put your own interests first in business and make sure you’ve got your own back. I learnt this the hard way, but what a significant lesson that was. This doesn’t mean you have to be a hard task-master or rude to work with at all – it’s moreso to know that you’ve got your interests insured, covered and that it’ll be okay worst-case-scenario; and, if it’s not – then was there anything in your control you could’ve done better.
What advice you wished you had received when you started, that you’d like to share now with aspiring women entrepreneurs?
Belle Barca: To be business minded and leave 80% of the emotion at the door; don’t do things just because you have an attachment to them.
Mitigate risk, but still take risks! If it fails, it won’t be catastrophic.
Out of all of your proudest moments as an entrepreneur, is there a particular one that stands out the most?
Belle Barca: Owning my commercial space.
What do you plan on tackling during the 2022 year? Share your goals and battles you expect to face.
Belle Barca: In 2022 I want to bring our monthly sales targets down to weekly with The Cosmetic Shop + engaging more students at The Cosmetic Hub academy and showcasing Satori and the magic of mineral cosmetics – which will in particular be a challenge considering how quickly the industry is catching-up to the importance of cleaner beauty.
I’m sure our readers will be very thankful for the insights you have shared. What is the best book you’ve gone through lately and please share some take away lessons from it.
Belle Barca: Haven’t had time to read lately! When I have some downtime I read business-based books and e-books based on e-commerce!
Thank you so much for your time but before we finish things off, I do have one more question for you. When was the last time you did something for the first time and what was it?
Belle Barca: Spoken on live TV! It was 2 months ago and an online news channel interviewed me live about my three businesses.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Belle Barca for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Belle Barca or her company, you can do it through her – Instagram
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