I'm a CND Master Tech and have been doing nails using CND L&P (P&W) for approx 10 years now, I also have my City & Guilds in beauty Therapy (Level 2).

I made my first brave step to work part-time in a hairdressers salon on a self-employed basis, as I worked from home before and just had a small, but very loyal customer group.

7 months on and my reputation is spreading and business at the salon has grown beyond my wildest dreams....but.....

I am REALLY wanting my own salon, I'm fortunate that my parents own a shop in their local village, and as they are due to retire VERY soon, looks like I can take over...and have my own business (YEAH!! Doing soley nails at the mo, but want to attract a WIDER custom base by offering more services...what in 'your' experience is a waste of time/money to offer as a service and what would 'you' recommend as being a profitable service to look into offering???

Also, anything to avoid...or get help on re the 'business' side of things???

ANY advice or pearls of wisdom AT ALL, no matter how small would be sooo appreciated!!

Thanks in advance

Jenny-Nails
Notts-Derbyshire

hI JENNY - according my friend Liza Smith, waxing is a great add on service because of the amount of time it takes (as in hardly any) , but the prices you can charge. I also know that many rate sunbeds but there is the 'sunbed' stigma and I think they are very costly even when renting or buying. Many are spray tanning which apparently is excellent money. Go to the Olympia show and see what's new??? HTH's

Wow Jenny, what a fantastic opportunity!
The only thing that I have thought of doing is body wraps, they only cost a few pounds per customer but you can charge quite a bit more than that - they work - and everyone (well nearly) wants to lose inches!

All the best - go girl!

I would say waxing aswell as a Beauty Therapist i know says its her bread and butter especially so in the summer.


Shelley

hiya jenny
mrs geek is right about what i said about waxing.
in my experience as a beauty therapist, some people have the "knack" for waxing, much the same as some people will b natural when they 1st pick up an abrasive.

either get some qualifications yourself, or get someone who can already.
however i suggest you get them to do some waxing on you 1st.
just like any industry there is a good way to wax & lots of bad ways.
again, like other industry, unfortunatly, qualification is no guarentee of skill (some waxing companies will give you 4hrs training &send u off with your certificate & your wax kit!)

waxing also requires a lot of people skills, there's no room 4 people to b squeemish, or easily embarrased.
there is nothing worse than having a bikini wax done & having to constantly ask the therapist to take a bit more off!

also, self tanning (either spray or creme) is good options.

as for money...

for eg in my salon we charge
£23.50 for rebalance which takes aprox 1hr.15
£24.95 for full leg/bikini & eyebrows which takes approx 45 mins.

as u can c, more money for half the time.

however, the rebalance client comes in every 2 wks, whereas the wax client comes in every 4-6 wks.

ideally, if your day has 70:30 nails :waxing, then you profit margin would b at maximum.

hope everyone understands this!
lol liza xx

If you are working on your own, why not stay as a Specialist in nails??

I sure wouldn't want to be waxing when I could be doing nails. You only have one pair of hands and if you are getting the reputaion you suggest you are, isn't is better to be known as the nail expert/specialist rather than a 'jack of all trades'??

Just a question to think about.

Hi jenny
My most popular and profitable treatments are: nails, pedicures, waxing, eyebrow shaping and eb and eyelash tinting, spray tan and ear candling.

I have posted on this subject before, I don't know if these posts are still available ifyou do a search. It was quite a while ago.

Do some market research. Ask people what they really want, how much they will pay and the level of service they expect. Every area is different. Find out what your competition are (as well as are not)doing.

Once you have got some ideas you need to analyse the cost of bringing in new services calculate your break even point (i.e how many waxes/manicures/etc. do you need to do to cover ALL of your costs including your investment in training & kit, business operating costs, material costs). It is too simple to just look at the income something will generate. Income & profit is not the same at all.

Will you actually make any more profit if you offer other services? You might have a larger cashflow (money coming in) but you will have paid for training & extra insurance and have money tied up in stock.

Will any of the additional services have other benefits such as broadening your customer base or giving you an exclusive edge over your competition?

A lower risk strategy is to invite other good therapists to rent space/a table in your salon. This way you will have a known income. You might not make as much but your risks will be minimal. There will hopefully be other therapists out there with the skills but not the good fortune you have had to get their own salon. As you are a high calibre nail technician you will likely attract high calibre therapists who want to work with you. Effectively they are taking the risk for you. It also gives you a great training opportunity for free! Once you are established as offering other services, rework the calculations and constantly review your decisions.

A good source of advice is "Business Link". They have a website and will also have a local office near you. They have a range of skills available to you to make your venture a success and may be able to help with things such as grant applications, childcare costs, recruitment and good business advice.

I hope this post doesn't sound too pessimistic, it is actually meant to advise caution.

Personally, adding coloured gel overlays for toes has broadened my customer base with no additional outlay or training. It also brings in a very loyal regluar set of clients who get hooked on the service. The advertising is as easy as setting a few gems in my toenails & that of a couple of local hairdressers. It's a talking point. I charge £20 (plus gems or art) and it takes maximum of an hour. I use the same products as for finger nails.

Good luck!

That is a good point that Gigi made!

I had a customer tell me that she would prefer to get her nails done by a 'Nail Technician' than a 'Beautician'.

This made my mind work overtime because I have planned to do mainly nails in my Salon, but also spray tanning and Swedish Body Massage. I had to seriously sit and think if this was a bad move or not.

So I decided that Nails would be mentioned first on my sign, and that I would advertise the fact that I am a Creative Nail Technician as much as possible.

The massage is something that I want to be able to offer additionally as I have a lot of elderly ladies who would benefit from it, and I want my Salon to be considered as a relaxing place.

I am going to go and get further qualifications in Cosmetic Make-up etc, but part of that is for my own benefit as I want to be able to work on Fashion Shoots like Liza Smith.

I think it is important to state that nails are my main priority because I don't want people to overlook the fact that I trained with the best company, and have my customers feeling like I am no longer interested in nails and loose their confidence in me.