Another thread has prompted me to write this as one of the most difficult part of trading is often overlooked - and by this I mean people.

The client
They aren't always right but they are your clients and you don't want to lose them unless you have to.
Handling clients in the right way is really important. It is a skill as much as doing nails or any other service and unless you get it right you will fail even if you are the best technician around.
You have to remain professional, calm, and firm. That is not to say you won't get some who really upset you but you cannot show it as you will lose the upper hand.

The staff
Staff are not friends they are employees, they need rules to follow, respect from you and a contract where everything is laid out plainly from day one. If problems occur everyone should know their place in the business and this will diffuse explosive situations.
You cannot assume all staff are alike - it is your job to establish each personality. They are not all either out to do you down or to serve you like a slave. They are there to do a fair days work for a fair days pay and you have to treat behaviour outside of this on its merits.
Employing very young staff often presents more problems than the more mature. If you do this then be prepared for things like poor timekeeping, absence and timewasting. They should be addressed immediately and treated accordingly.

I learned all these things in a totally different industry and then in my own previous business. They are not always easy things to learn but being prepared is so important. Many a business fails not on the lack of skills of the technician but on the lack of people management

So very true Adele. What Paul and I learned when this was us was to have a contract made up before we even thought about what we wanted in a new employee. Then after we worked out what was fair and legal then we looked at what we wanted in a new staff member. It still didn't always work out but it made it a lot tidier to part the ways for both parties if it didn't work out.

I remember,many moons ago,the head therapist and i would look at the potential employee's star sign to see if they would be compatible to work with us........

Seriously,it is a valid point that staff are employees and not friends.

What prompted you to this subject Adele....dare i ask....

Equally important is the concept that clients are not your friends, they are your income.

As you may know from my blog, Ive recently been to a tribunal with my previous employer due to his amazing lack of people and management skills. His lack of skills meant the salon was run into the ground and he eventually had to close it. Which ended up at a tribunal.
The first salon I worked in, the boss had the same thoughts as yourself (employees are not friends) and the working effect was fantastic. We had respect for her and slightly feared her, which i think sometimes you need.
The current salon i am at the bosses just plod along with their clients and there is no sort of guideance or rules. with 21 staff this means people get away with murder and there is certainly no respect off some staff to the bosses. Although i have.

x

What a fantastic thread, and I couldnt agree more.

I like to think I am good at dealing with people from all walks of life, and when all else fails I think I'm pretty good at smiling sweetly and burying my true feelings about a person/situation.

As far as staff are concerned, I havent got there yet but I do have plans to expand one day. I'd like to think I can benefit from the experience of others. As a legal exec I was an employment law specialist and I have seen so many situations that started of nicely-nicely, friends working together, no contracts, no proper boundaries etc, and those relationships quite often end up downright nasty, I would never knowingly put myself in that type of situation.

Fantastic thread Adele, a lot of food for thought there. I'm just a one-man band so thankfully don't have the issue of staff.

Dealing with clients, however, is an art in itself. I have always had public related jobs before I decided to go into the nail industry, so I do have a good bit of exerperience with the general public, but that was when I was working for someone else. The guidelines were there already from my employers, so I knew what could and couldn't be done.

Working for myself, well, I found it hard at first regarding prices etc., as now the guidelines were gone and it was now my terms iykwim. This was the one thing I found hard about being in business for myself, asking for the money and feeling that I deserved it. After some fanatastic advice on here, I don't flinch now when asked now. I have worked and trained hard and use a good product.

I really enjoy my time with my clients and they all bring something different to my day, even the akward ones.