50 Useful Things You Can Do During Your Downtime

We're all in this together. Whether you're self-isolating, social distancing or just having a slow couple of weeks, here are some tips to keep you sane, occupied and productive during the quiet times.

Learning

1. Take an online course to level-up your techniques. Now is a great time to practice, learn, and practice some more. There are tons of resources on our own website, including our blog-posts, our digital academy and our YouTube channel!
   
   
2. Join an online forum. There are countless PMU-related forums on Facebook, Reddit and more. Join them, or create your own, and chat to other artists. The community spirit will help to boost your mood and keep your head in the game. Some of our favourites are Perma Blend and I Love Ink Pigments - Distributor Terry Lively, and Pay It Forward: Free PMU & Microblading Tips.
   
   
3. Practice your work using latex sheets, practice pads or even fruit skins! Oranges, bananas, and grapes are great for practicing on. Now is the time to perfect those strokes!
   
   
4. Tighten up your sanitary procedures. There’s no better time for a refresher on bloodborne-pathogens!
   
   
5. Practice good ‘procedure posture’. Your body will thank you.
   
   
   
   
6. Research ways to make your studio more sustainable. At Tina Davies Studio, we use digital consent forms instead of paper forms and offer digital receipts to all customers. Small changes can make a big impact.

Improving Your Business

1. Create gift cards that you can sell online. Promote the fact that these gift cards are available to be used in the future, so people have something to look forward to. Even better, attach an offer such as “Take an additional $20 with each $100 gift card” to incentivize early actions.
   
   
2. If you haven’t already, create and share a policy to your clientele to let them know what steps you are taking to keep yourself, your employees (if any) and your clients safe during this time. They’ll appreciate your communication now more than ever. 
   
   
3. Use this time to improve your customer service and client experience for your future bookings. Send out a survey (using an online survey tool such as Survey Monkey) to your clients and ask them how you can improve your service, what they like or dislike about their appointments, etc. We promise, it’s worth it.
   
   
4. Build a website! Nowadays, there are so many ways to easily build a beautiful, professional-looking website - no coding skills required! Websites like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress have presets, tutorials and easy-to-use tools to allow you to revamp your online business presence. If you already have a website, now is the time to revamp, redecorate or re-brand!
   
   
   
5. If you’re anything like us, you’ll have thousands of photos in your phone from countless procedures dating back months and years! Take some time to go through your photos and set aside the best pictures of your work. Edit the photos, write captions and save them in your Instagram drafts so that you’ll have content ready to post over the next few weeks and months. Your future, busier self will thank you!
   
   
6. Do you have a logo? If not, design one! Create a watermark that you can use on your social posts. Branding is important! We love the Watermark app for easily placing logos onto images.
   
   
7. Clean your studio! There is no better time to wipe down all surfaces, floors, ceiling, and walls and give your space a deep spring clean. Clean space = clean mind.
   
   
8. Audit your business. Do some research into where your clients are coming from. Is it through word-of-mouth? Client referrals? Social media? Use this information to inform your marketing decisions and see where you should be putting more of your energy.
   
   
9. Send thank you notes to all your clients from the past year. Thank them for their business and encourage them to book their next touch-up appointment. Better yet, offer your clients $100 off a new procedure or $50 off a touch-up for a limited time only, to incentivize early bookings.
   
   
10. On that note, develop a referral program so that your happy customers get rewarded for referring a friend. We do this at Tina Davies Studio - any client who was referred by another client gets $50 off their booking and the friend who referred them gets $50 credit to their account too!
    
    
11. Build your own colour chart or swatch book with your pigment collection. We have a template for swatching the Lip Collection here:
    
    
    

Click here to download and print this swatch chart

1. Create a coffee table book of your best work for your studio waiting area. We use VistaPrint to print ours!
   
   
2. If you have completed any of our online courses, download, print and frame your certificates. Display them in your studio so that your clients are assured you are constantly learning and growing as an artist. Pro tip: make sure your account name matches the name you want on your printed certificate!
   
   
3. Update your portfolio. You never know when an opportunity will arise to share it with others.
   
   
4. Don’t have a first aid kit? Order one online now.

Self-Care

1. Read a book. Whether it’s business-oriented or simply a way to relax. Take a break from screens, settle into a cozy corner and let your mind explore.
    
2. Take care of yourself. When’s the last time you had a long, relaxing bubble bath or did a 30-minute nap? Take some time to relax and make self-care a priority.
    
3. Breathe. We recommend the 4-7-8 method.
   
   
4. Plan your next vacation down to the very last detail. None of us know when we’ll be able to take our next break, but planning ahead and envisioning your future holiday will serve as a goal to work towards.
    
5. Research volunteering opportunities or charities in your area that you would like to support. When all of this is over, we’re going to have recovery time before everything is back to normal and the people who are on the front lines will need all of the support they can get. Making a personal contribution is a way to show the world that you care.
   
   
6. Create some playlists on Spotify! Make one you can play at your studio while working on clients, another for cheering yourself up after a day’s work and one to let your hair down to on the weekends!
   
   
7. Make a list of any annoying tasks you have coming up over the next few months, and try to schedule them in your calendar. Think; doctor’s appointments, meetings with your accountant, restocking products. Like your vacation, you won’t know exactly when these things will happen but listing them out will help feel like you have some extra control over the situation, and will pay off in the long run. Organization is key!
   
   
8. Transfer photos from your phone to an external hard drive. This is your chance to banish that ‘Memory Full’ message for a few weeks!
   
   
9. Start keeping a dream journal.
   
   
10. Better yet, start keeping a ‘future goals’ journal! Make a five-year plan and work backwards to figure out how you can take steps to achieve your goals.
    
    
11. Call your parents.
    
    
12. Call all of your loved ones. 
    
    
13. If you have international friends, tell them about your individual experience of this pandemic where you are. Share basic advice with each other on how to best deal with this situation. 
    
    
14. Write an email to your future self.
    
    
15. Unsubscribe from any newsletters clogging up your email inbox.
    
    
16. You might be reading more books than usual these days. Research some of your favourite authors through articles and documentaries.
    
    
17. While you’re at it, put aside three books to lend to your friends and family next time you see them.
    
    
18. On that note, join an online book club! Talking about your favourite written works is a fun way to connect with others. Or, if you can’t find a club you like, start your own group!
    
    
19. Tidy up your Instagram profile. Are you sure you want your clients seeing that photo of you on vacation in Cancun in 2015?
    
    
20. In the same spirit, unfollow anyone who isn’t inspiring you in some way. The more curated your feed is, the more inspired you will feel while scrolling.
    
    
21. Give yourself a manicure, do a hair mask, or anything else you can think of that counts as self-care. Indulge in yourself! 
    
    
22. Watch a yoga tutorial online. Stretching and practicing your breathing will do a world of good.
    
    
23. Download a meditation app and try it!
    
    
24. Document what’s happening, how you feel and what you’re doing every day. Although this is a scary time, it’s a unique moment in history.
    
    
25. Make a savings plan to get yourself on track for the vacation we mentioned before! You can use apps like Mint, Good Budget or Fudget to help you keep track of your finances.
    
    
26. Just, think. Take a few minutes every day to recall your life experiences and ponder over your future goals, devising strategies to achieve them. You’ll return to normal life stronger than ever!
    
    
27. Watch your favourite TV series from start to finish again.
    
    
28. Most of the activities we mentioned above can be done while listening to podcasts. We recommend ‘The Rewatchables’, ‘Sheila Bella’s ‘Pretty Rich’ and ‘How I Built This’.
    
    
29. Take a shower, fix your hair, dress up and take a selfie. Because, why not?