What starts with a 13-year-old charging 50p for face painting in her front garden somehow leads to architecture, nightclub face painting, a laser cutter in the living room and a physical face paint shop in Glasgow.
In this episode of Sponge Stories, I’m joined by Lisa, the face painter and business owner behind POP Stencils and Face Paint Pro.
Lisa shares how her early career took plenty of twists and turns before the skills she picked up along the way eventually came together to help her build multiple businesses within the face painting industry.
We chat about the reality of going full time, why buying cheap can mean buying twice, learning to trust your gut, pricing yourself appropriately and why we shouldn’t make ourselves small just to appear more affordable.
Lisa also takes us behind the scenes of POP Stencils, from designing and testing each stencil to the surprisingly complex process of laser cutting them herself in Glasgow. We talk about supporting independent suppliers, the impact of cheap copied products, the realities of retail, Brexit, stock, tiny profit margins and the pressure of balancing several businesses at once.
And just when I thought we were safely into the quick fire round, Lisa casually revealed the biggest face painting disaster I have ever heard on this podcast…
This episode is packed with business lessons, industry insight, unexpected career turns and a very strong reminder that you genuinely never know where face painting might take you.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
