Going to my first client in a weeks time and she has two daughters.

Mum wants natural coloured gel overlay (I will have to buy the colour she wants - £8.00 a pot).

Daughters want gel enhancements.

She is a friend of the family and a single mum!

Bearing in mind I used to charge £10 a set before I was qualified (and still not that confident and perfect) how much do I charge now?

Thats a tough one!

As she is a friend then you would want to give her a discount but be careful that she doesn't take advantage and want her nails doing on the cheap all the time!!!
I know this sounds harsh but you are running a business you need to cover all your costs, and as you are buying a pot especially for her then you need to make it well worth your while!!

Sorry I can't be much more help!!
Tilly xx

What colour are you going to buy? I normally use pink/blush or clear, dont you think you could get away with that rather than buying more in? still looks natural to me, just shiney! lol x

It is a coloured gel from the balance collection from NSI

oh right, is it the peachy coloured one? Ive thought about trying the coloured gel but havent got round to it yet..... do you have a local supplier then or are you going to have to pay postage costs too?

No I go to the warehouse/shop!

There are lots of different colours - I am waiting for her to choose!

Hi. Here's my opinion.... I know this is a a friend of the family, but why should her household status (single parent) be taken into account when she wants her nails done? I think it should be the case of whether she can afford to pay you or not that should be important. I am a single parent and nail salons dont have special rates for me!
Perhaps she could pay for the gel, KEEP IT, always have it for you to use when she needs infills, repairs etc, and then you charge her a bit for your time to do it?

I know what you mean about the single parent thing but when you have two teenage girls that want treatments for their holidays as a treat it can be hard to say no!

I assume she knew before that the reason you charged less was because you weren't qualified,so I'm sure she'll understand that you have to put your prices up to cover your costs. You need to decide what you are going to charge in future first of all. I would recommend that you charge them normal price but I realise that it is difficult when it is a friend of the family. Maybe do them a one-off reduced price but explain that in the future they will have to pay full price. Maybe say that your price is going up to £20/£25 (or whatever) for a few months until you get your time down, but you will do it for them at £15 or something. You need to cover your costs & make sure they don't think they can get cheap enhancements whenever they want. People soon start to take advantage without even meaning to. HTHs

Thanks for all your advice.

I think I will charge £15.00 for now but work it into conversation that my prices will be going up soon!

I just didn't want to sit there for five/six hours and come away thinking that I had peanuts to show for it!

Maybe you could come up with a price list & make a few copies to take with you? That way they can see your new prices & can pass them on to other people that they recommend you to. Are you going to give a 'recommend a friend' discount? If so, these are the ideal people to aim it at! If they get a discount for recommending new clients it will work out cheaper for them plus get you new full-fee clients. I offer a 10% discount on one treatment for recommending new clients. HTHs

Have you got a copy of yours?

Just for a nosey - obviously the prices would be different due to areas?

Mine are salon prices so they will be different anyway but I charge £30 full set, £12 backfill, £25 rebalance & £2 per repair in backfill/rebal. If you do a search you will be able to find quite a lot on pricing. I initially charged £25 full set, £10 backfill, £18 rebalance I think. HTHs