Most of my training is 121 training which is half a day and the student gets my undivided attention for the whole of that time, so a full days group training is not 'more intensive', they just get longer because there are more of them and it's only fair. All of my training is intensive.

You can Google any course and you'll see that there's a lot of time spent on theory and not much hands on. My courses are ALL hands on. This was one of the reasons that I was reluctant to get my courses accredited as time has to be spent on health and safety, fire escapes etc. I don't want to change my style of training. I love the way I train and from the feedback that I get, so do my students.

Also, I changed my site to say mentoring instead of training but I've checked it out and it makes no difference what you call yourself. You can call yourslef what you like but at the end of the day, if you don't deliver the goods you won't get any biz.

Pink Potions..........I don't always manage to cope with the two sides of my biz but I'm single and my daughter is an adult, so I'm a free agent to travel etc. I'll be taking on help in the near future so that will leave me more time to actually train as they'll be dealing with the admin side of things, which I'm crap at.

Ah intensive .. sorry Kim... I used the wrong word there.. I meant more in-depth... ie.. the tanning would be a half day session covering theory and application, H&S etc ... but for something with more theory needed ie waxing for example.. some of the students I get may not have done any waxing before.. so they would need to know everything from scratch and it couldn't possibly be just hands on.. they have to start with a full grounding, if it was just mentoring then yeah.. one2one full on hands on - great.. that's what they want. either way the length of training will be appropriate to the amount of knowledge and application time needed to give them what they are paying for, and it may be more than one day.. and certainly in this case.. I could see myself struggling with fitting in clients. So yes.. it will ALL be intensive but some courses will be more in-depth lol!!!

Just wanted to clarify

I wish. She has no interest in waxing (works in computers). She's very supportive though and encourages me with everything I do.

My clients all know that I'm a trainer and they generally book in advance around my training.

Well, I'm gonna be the next Chip Queen.....off to have some dinner. xxx

Well, it has just taken me 30 minutes to go through and delete the personal, irresponsible and irrelevant posts from this thread.

Thanks (you know who you are). That is half an hour of my life I will never get back

Now, to contribute....

I suppose teaching qualifications are beneficial to a degree. However an NVQ in Uber Teaching doesn't really equate to an Uber Teacher any more than an NVQ level 3 in Nail Technology makes a nail professional. In fact, in my experience it can often mean the opposite!

A teacher isn't something you can 'make' via a program, a script or a verification process. A teacher is someone who inherently has a desire to inspire.

Sometimes a company (or school) will be littered with the inspirational bodies. Sometimes a company (or school) will be void of them. Why? Because it isn't the qualification process that creates them, it is the culture within the company (or school) that cultivates them.

That is the secret.

If you want to teach, you do not have to be the best at whatever it is you are teaching, you just have to have a real passion to connect, share and learn.

I totally agree with that, you have to have the desire to teach, the enthusiasm about your work. I am planning on doing a teaching course, after my experience in my last salon (all of one day lol) My heart bled for the young just qualified girls. They could all wax, but lacked confidence in there skills and through doing that they made mistakes, mistakes that caused pain and bruising. They were hesitant, neglected pulling the skin taught but had an overall view on how it was to be done.

One of the girls was sacked in front of me because of her nerves and i hate the fact that these girls will probably never come back into the industry. The salon manager wanted me to train the girls, which would have been great, but if i was to train girls i want to do it in an environment were they will get confidence not have it taken away from them.

We all have to advance our skills and become the best in whatever we do, we all choose our own paths, but life will decide whether the path is the the right one.x

That's fine Jen.......I was gonna go into a Wax Queen strop then LOL. You know what a diva I can be

You strop Kim.. no ... never.... Drama Queen maybe but thats why we all love you so much

I think to be honest guys every one has an opinion on a trainer, and many can slate others for following in a path that has come about through there excellent skills. There is sceptisum in regards to who should be allowed to train and who should not.
I have not read through all the posts, but by the sounds the mods have had some fun deleting posts.
How would i deffine a trainer. Well i beleive there are several types of trainers.
To work on the general public we therapists need specific qualifications to obtain insurance and to be able to work on the general public. These courses are accredited simply because collages and so fourth have specific guidlines to follow, to make sure that we are aware of the skins structure, the way the hair grows, muscles, lynphatic system and so on along with health and safety in the work place. Accredited courses are there also to help us the general public, to now whome will offer us a course that meets legislations and teach us correctly. ( At the end of the day when we are paying money out, we want only the best)
There are many trainers out there that are not accredited that portray them selves as the best in the industry, that talk the talk but simply do it all the wrong way.
For advanced training or to gain skills that only proffesionals who have worked in the industry have learnt over the years is hard to come by. Kim is right in saying that she is a mentor, she is there as a means to an end, to develop peoples skills so they can work competently in the industry and to encourage confidence. When i went to see kim, i did not go to gain a qualification i went to advance my skills, things that colleges do not offer. I could wax when i went to see kim. i new all about contraindications and health and safety but i lacked confidence in myself, which then showed itself in my technique. Ok so some would say why pay all that money to gain confidence. Well if u had scene me three months ago to now u would no why. I left kim armed with knowledge of theindustry, how to improve on my timeing, how to save money by applying the wax in a different way, how best to hold the skin and so on.
When i had my day in the salon i walked and talked on the shop floor like a proffesional, i waxed clients that were in shock with how good the finish was and how pain free there treatment was. The other therapist looked at me like i was some kind of god( yeah i no, but it was true, the owner pulled the other girls to bits, but me she could not do enough)
Our industry is a hard one, and we have many competiters and salons want only the best. Like that young girl who was staright out of college and ripped apart on her first day. People like kim, and hopefully one day myself will help people like this and if it means we have to be accredited then that is what we will have to do. Kim has helped many people and i am sure many tanning trainers and nail techs have whether accredited or not. What makes a good trainer is the person, and the will to want to help others become the best in what they do.

So to become a trainer, become the best at what u do, become an accredited trainer by taking the relevent qualifications or becoming a mentor like kim or others like her. x