Makeover studio

[Matia]

Hey Girls,

I'm considering starting a makeover studio, I would be very interested in your thoughts/feedback. I've got a girl who would be happy to participate
and do the services. At the moment there's nothing like this in my country so I think it's a good oportunity.

I think it should work something like this - client would book a date, she would come, pick an outfit she wants to wear, we'd work on her makeup and hair.
When it's done, we'll do the photoshoot, and give her some time to enjoy herself as a girl. For clients who don't wish to go public she could stay in, for those
who want to enjoy it more, we'd book some dinner, or go to club etc.

This would be the basic scenario, of course it's up to wishes of the clients to expand on it, what would you girls like to see or do in this kind of salon ?

Of course this kind of service would be mainly focused on people who are new to the whole thing, or have no space to do it in their common lives.
But some more professional help for advanced crossdressers would work too of course

[Kate Simmons]

Sounds good to me Hon. I'm thinking of doing something like this once I complete my Cosmetology course and become certified.

[VS Fan]

Matia - I think if the overall tourist industry there is strong (and I'm sure you have some beautiful architecture and tons of history to explore) then it's something that you could definitely build up. Would you get any hassle from the local government etc? Are there laws there to protect gender expression and so on? These are things that tourists would want to know in advance and feel safe about.... but just like so many in the U.S. do this kind of thing in Vegas where we're away from our home town, you could turn Bratislava into an international CD'ing destination - VS Fan

[Lacey New]

We need more of those kind of services. I'd love to have a makeover even if just for a day to see just how femm I could be but alas, never the time or the plausible reason for going to a city that has such a service. Bratislava on the Danube is I'm sure, a lovely European city that would get quite a flow of tourists.

[Jackie7]

Go for it, girl.

[Jaylyn]

I would love the thought of having a makeover by a professional and be a beautiful gal for a day. Would love to have some professional pictures done. In reality don't know if I would fork over the money to do such a thing. This might be one of those ideas that the thought is more exciting than what would actually happen. I am still not out to the world so have concerns about that. I would love to know more about the security of being able to keep certain amount of privacy about the whole scene. The thought of a club with only CDs is intriguing to me. I would enjoy being out and learning how to act and interact with other Crossdressers but the whole thing would have to be a discreet and safe place. Just my thoughts.

[Teresa]

Matia,
I think your idea could work, I was there this year and really enjoyed the openness of your people !
I wish I could help you with the photography as I was a professional for thirty years, still have tons of gear ! If you need some posing tips maybe you could PM me !

[Jorja]

While it is almost Christmas, summertime is coming. That means vacation time for millions. You better give directions to Bratislava.

[Amy Lynn3]

Go on and do it, and my hope would be....you become a chain studio and build one in my town. The best of luck with this/

[Nikkilovesdresses]

It's an excellent idea.

Start as small as possible, do it in your free time, put a lot of time and thought into advertising, learn how to build a website yourself- it's really easy, and see how it goes with this 'girl who would be happy to participate'.

I think you'll soon find out if the idea is going to work, and if it does, then think about getting a bank loan, renting a better space, getting better photo equipment, and starting to build up a stock of wigs, shoes, handbags, jewelry and clothes.

Most new businesses fail within the first year. By starting as low-risk as possible, you have the best possible chance- or perhaps you have plenty of money already!

I've looked at websites for such businesses in UK and USA and it's something I'd like to go and do one day myself- seriously, great idea- go for it.

[Matia]

Matia - I think if the.

To be honest, I think it would help mainly local people, and I think it might turn into something people from other towns and villages might go for, legally there should be no issues whatsoever on paper we are standard european country, the problem is in the conservativness of majority, so this would work like a safe haven, and a place where closeted cds have a chance to open up.

tourist wise, Bratislava is almost like suburbs of Vienna, and in a way it is turning into a "party town" for vienna, where Vienna offers a lot of classical entertainment, art, galleries, theatres operas etc, Bratislava can turn into a place for "young people" cheap drinks, clubs and (trust me) beautiful girls, it is already promoted as such in many vienna hotels.

It's an excellent idea.

Nikki - we definitely want to start small, my friend will use her apartment, she'll be dolled up herself, so that client feels good with her, I'm thinking something lady-like. About her - she always liked things around erotic business,
did some modeling herself, and it's in her nature to like crossdressers, she crossedressed her boyfriends for her own pleasure so she has no issue with it whatsoever

we want to see how many clients we might have, and if there will be big interest we will definitely invest more. Some products are way too expensive for people to buy, high class breastoforms or masks, but people want to try it out
the same for some dresses etc, so if it runs well, we'll definitely expand this way. It's still on paper atm so fingers crossed.

[bridget thronton]

Best wishes for prosperous outcome

[JenniferR771]

Nikki, is right. Reduce the risk, by starting small and planning carefully. And make sure you treat your customers as well as humanly possible--you will get referrals. In the first year or two, perhaps three days per week should be devoted to real women, makeovers and photographing them. Like Glamor Shots. This would give you and your photographer some great experience and provide a much larger client base. The shop could also do portrait photography--and general photography--advertising photos and more. Naturally, it will be fun shopping for pretty dresses, accessories and shoes for your photography wardrobe. (Large sizes are essential). Look around town for scenic spots for outdoor photography.
Naturally it will be fun shopping and trying out friendly venues and clubs for the after hours outings.
Be sure to read and understand some books on how to start and run a small business. You need a good website and excellent photos to go on the website, of course.

[Matia]

Nikki is right

While we would definitely accept women and whoever would wish for our services, I want it to be clear that it is mainly focused on crossdressing clients. So they know from the begining that it is exactly the place for them. Especially with shy ones,
to give them confidence, and to get rid of any confusion. Of course we want to treat clients as good as we can, and allow them to feel truely feminine. I think this depends heavily on what kind of person the client will be, because we are all different.
Someone would like to be treated as a lady other may prefer to be more of a sissy etc.

For photography, we have lot of friends who are great, we will start with promo photos before we run the whole thing, and these first makeovers will be start of building up the wardrobe and everything important.

My idea is to have 5-6 "characters" something like "lady" , "****" , "girl next door", "bride/prom queen", "athlete" and build wardrobe for these characters, of course I don't want to generalise too much, but you have to start somewhere, and have something ready to offer. With this concept in mind you have something to build on

Thank you all for nice feedback - I am still curious to hear what would you personally look for in this kind of studio or what would intimidate you to visit

[Molly James]

Hi Matia,
I think its a great idea and one that has taken off over the years here in the UK. I think my stance is the same as Jaylyn in that I'd love to go for something like this and see just how femme I could look but I'm not sure I can justify the cost if all I'm going to do is sit around at the shop for the day then clean up & go home en drab. The idea of getting all girlied up would be a wonderful experience but only if there was somewhere safe to go on to where the clientele were CD/TV/TS rather than the clubs in the UK which are CD friendly but are open to all. Just my own fears & lack of self confidence you understand but maybe a lot of CDs who dress in private feel the same?
Good luck with your venture and maybe I'll visit Bratislava again one day but this time as GiGi!
GiGi.

[Adriana Moretti]

ready for some negs ??? Just keep these in mind and believe me I am not discouraging it in any way, in fact I wouldnt mind doing makeovers myself...BUT.... How many people crossdress ? Whats the number ? Somewhere between 5 or 10% of the population ?
How many of those people are in need of that service? How many of those people are going to have the courage to actually show up? How many cancelations will you have ? What about return customers?? Lots of CD's are here today and gone tomorrow...My point is the market is pretty small and unreliable at best. Me and another gal pal have been tossing up ideas as well everything from a bed and breakfast, to an escort service ( no not THAT kind) ..the kind that that takes gals OUT on the town in NYC, dinner, dancing etc..we been brainstorming on the actual market for something like that and even in NY that is a very small market...I wouldnt expect to get rich off it...but as a side hustle...it may (keyword) be a good idea.

[Matia]

ready for some negs ???

Good points Adriana, I was thinking about it myself, the way I see it - the question is how many people have the desire to crossdress ? I would say it's about 1% of population, well male population so maybe 0.5% overall. It looks like a small number
but truth is, it's actually quite big. Let's say there are around 1m people available in metropolitan area of Bratislava - that would make it 5000 people. I would say that mainly people that are new to crossdressing would use such service, or people that
have no space to do it in their homes but still have a desire to be women every now and then. We are unfortunately very conservative country, and you have almost zero chance to see TG person in the streets. I started to go out more often recently
but I don't think it's at all common thing here. So I think if we could create safe enviroment and offer things that are hard or expensive to get, with a very nice girl taking care of it, it would be a nice experience. And a shelter from the major society
If it would be just 100 clients out of which 10-20 would be regular, it still could be more than one person can handle. As we want to start small we will only expand depending on the demand. If things would turn out really good, there's a good chance that CDs from all over the world who like to visit Vienna , which is major tourist place, may want to visit us eventually. It's only 40minutes drive from Vienna to get here that's nothing if you want to spend whole day as a girl.

I think the market quite depends on freedom of the country. If you live in uk or ny, where if you want to crossdress you can just do it and most people will be cool with it and where people can actually afford to spend money on clothes and extra, this kind of service is less needed because most of it's services you can do on your own. Compared to country where it's still a big stigma, and where this might be one of the only chances to do it.

Well we'll see anyway I am actually kind of rich already, at least for someone my age, I have very good DJ career, and that's also a reason why I don't want to become a face of this project. I want to help with my knowledge and passion and do something I have connection to. The same happened with me and music and I'm glad for it, my aim with this project would be mainly do be in positive numbers, have access to the products we will offer and enjoy doing something I like

[Dorit]

Hi Matia,

You might want to visit a similar business to learn more about how it works. There is a relatively large CD/TG store in Nurnberg, Germany, which is not too far from you. ( about 600 k) They also offer makeup and dressing services, besides the shop and their web site. Here is the link:
http://www.special-trade.eu/

I myself have never been there, but I have purchased from them.

Good luck!

Devorah

[Lynn Marie]

Matia, your full service makeover salon idea has been tried before without much success. That same idea failed here in Seattle a few years ago. Just doing makeup and hair can work, but it takes lots of work and talent. Amy in Las Vegas is pretty famous in the CD community but she still has to travel to CD functions like SCC to keep her income at an acceptable level. I have a hair dresser I go to. He does my wigs. He has a hair salon and only works 4 days a week. I only account for less than 1 percent of his business.

[Amy Lynn3]

Matia, a little more advise. I have two words for you.....Location and service. I went to one lady who works from her home. She had all the cloths and wigs and did my make up, and did a good job....all but one thing. It took many weeks for her to email me my pictures, then there were only two, out of about 20. To me that was poor service, even after asking several times for the remainder of my pictures. Her settings were not that great either, so, please give the people what they want.

Another thing to keep in mind is the location of your home/studio. If possible locate near a military base. You have increased your business pool by thousands of men. Men in the military will use your service, because they can't dress or keep cloths in the military. They come to your place, use your cloths and you take the pictures (with good equipment) and give them the CD. It is a great service to offer the military men and the turn over is great on military bases, so you get new customers all the time. You would need to advertise heavy in the towns and bases itself.

[Taylor Ray]

Sounds like a great idea!

In terms of a business model, sometimes it is reasonable to offer several different services/products.

Here in Denver, there is a studio that sells wigs as its main source of income, and does makeovers for the CD folks.

Best of luck!

[ophelia]

This is a very "niche" market, meaning tiny. Costs will kill you. Perhaps renting a nearby salon on slow night a week for clients by invitation only. In Ottawa there was a salon for awhile that offered crossdressing services one night a week. Even in a big city like Toronto or Montreal there are no quality full-time trans salons.

[Matia]

This is a very "niche" market, meaning tiny. Costs will kill you. Perhaps renting a nearby salon on slow night a week for clients by invitation only. In Ottawa there was a salon for awhile that offered crossdressing services one night a week. Even in a big city like Toronto or Montreal there are no quality full-time trans salons.

atm we are planning to have booking only clients, and we'll start in a flat where my friend lives, she will adjust it to work for the salon, we will only go for higher costs public space if we'll see there's market for it

[Sometimes Steffi]

Matia

A number of people do just what you're proposing in the US. For at least a couple of them, it's their "day job", by which I mean only job. One does CDs and traditional makeovers for events, weddings, etc. In the US, you really are (legally) required to have a cosmetology license, but I'm sure people do it without the formalities.

We need more of those kind of services. I'd love to have a makeover even if just for a day to see just how femm I could be but alas, never the time or the plausible reason for going to a city that has such a service. Bratislava on the Danube is I'm sure, a lovely European city that would get quite a flow of tourists.

Lacey: I could find you a place for a makeover in DC.

I would love the thought of having a makeover by a professional and be a beautiful gal for a day. Would love to have some professional pictures done. In reality don't know if I would fork over the money to do such a thing. This might be one of those ideas that the thought is more exciting than what would actually happen. I am still not out to the world so have concerns about that. I would love to know more about the security of being able to keep certain amount of privacy about the whole scene. The thought of a club with only CDs is intriguing to me. I would enjoy being out and learning how to act and interact with other Crossdressers but the whole thing would have to be a discreet and safe place. Just my thoughts.

I've had a makeover done in Houston. Texas is a big state, so I can't tell how far that would be for you.

BTW, probably the best money I ever spent. If you need proof, take a peek at my Profile Pic.

[sometimes_miss]

Good points Adriana, I was thinking about it myself, the way I see it - the question is how many people have the desire to crossdress ? I would say it's about 1% of population, well male population so maybe 0.5% overall. It looks like a small number
but truth is, it's actually quite big.

The greater question is, how many will pay you to do this? And how many will be repeat customers? For a lot of us, the enjoyment is just something we've always wanted to do, and after that, as is usual, real life doesn't live up to the fantasy expectations, so we don't do it again. I did something similar; I hired a call girl to come and be my (girl)friend for a day, she did my make up, hair, picked out an outfit, and we spent the day together (no sex involved). It was sorta' fun, she would tell me at times that I should check my make up, touch up my lipstick, little kinds of stuff that she knows girls do that guys don't notice, and yes it was fun and educational at the same time. Would I do it again? Probably not. Too expensive (I paid $750 in advance with her knowing no sex was involved). But it was fun. And I'd recommend it to anyone willing to try it at least once.