What awesome stories, dudes!

Gigi: What a refreshing (yet obvious!) way to look at things. It IS a business, and should be treated as such from beginning to end! I guess what I do is a small business, but I've never thought to use the same resources as other small businesses because I've never really thought that I'd be entitled to such resources, as I'm a one-man band. I'm going to research that right NOW! *High five*

Champagne: I'm doing the Wayne's World "We're not worthy!" dance!!! It's amaaaazing how far you've come in only three months! You have an amazing attitude, too, dude! May I ask, did you invest much in the way of marketing, or did much of your clientele come from the salon's existing roster?

Bev: "You've got to speculate to accumulate." What a great way to put it. Ever since I've moved here I've been fretting about money (or lack of...) and killing myself over how to pay for my supplies and a ticket to The Event in October... I need to stop being mingebag and JUST DO IT!!!

Many thanks for this thread! It has definitely put lots of stuff into perspective; I almost forget that I really do have my own business now. (That sounds so stupid! But if I'm honest, I'm honest.) That won't be happening anymore. =) *Own it own it own it*

/spazzy excitement

Hi Milk....

I literally started training with CND in March this year, I did my foundation and went for it straight away...

There were no beauty treatments offered in the hairdressers before i arrived, I printed and delivered approx 600 leaflets, had an A Board made for outside the shop & put my cards & price lists evrywhere i could....Oh and designed a free website...All my advertising is completed by me & it hasnt cost me anything except paper, ink & time !

I have a tiny room but am upgrading to a bigger room in there so I dont have to keep re-arranging the funiture everytime i get a pedicure lol

I dont have all the top salon fixtures, i have enough to get by and make people feel comfortable..And of course make money.....Without going into figures, I am earning a good monthly salary from nails/mani/pedi..

I am normally the first person in the shop & the last to leave, even now ill be found in the shop at 9/10 oclock if required....

I believe it is also the person that you are that attracts cleints..... You will get out what you put in...

I walk around the salon making cups of tea and chatting to clients, that gets the interest, then they are hooked ...

I was up till 4 in the morning some nights whilst training to 'get it right'

Im learning all the time and getting better with each day that goes by.....

I think its my addictive personality ... I WILL NEVER GIVE UP !

I hope this thread gives others the push that they need to just go for it !

xx

I have been in my business for 3 years next month. I quit my job and went back to school and knew all along I would open up my business in my basement. While in school, we worked on my little room and the day I received my certification I opened up. I absolutely love what I do and feel badly that I get paid to do it. I must say business is increasing and quite happy.

However, enhancements aren't going anywhere.

Geeg,

How do you know when to give up, I mean in my heart I feel I should just sell all my stuff and specialize in natural nail care only. I think in my heart it's what I want to do but afraid of failure. I don't have a need for this at all, competition is huge in my town. So I question my thoughts on this daily...do I give it up, is three years enough time to know if I'll succeed in enhancements?

This thread has popped up at the most appropriate time for me.
Very thought provoking, right what I need as I am in a upside down world with my thoughts right now, so please excuse me if none of it makes sense.

Right down to my question.

How do you overcome the fear? The fear of success or of failure?

That's awesome progress. Well done!

Paragraph one. Money is not my God nor is it my entire motivation but it is the reason I work. It is the reason most of us work. If not ... then what you are doing is a hobby and not a business.

With your attitude (about feeling bad you get paid to do it) you will be 'apologising' to your clients every day .. whether you know it or not this will come across to them in your manner and your body language and facial expressions. Maybe it comes out more when performing enhancement services, and this could be why that side of your business has not grown; because you clearly do not enjoy it.

Your 2nd paragraph says it all. You say your business is growing and it is growing in the area in which your heart lies. You've answered your own question. Why would it fail? If it is growing you are not failing.

Thinking of failure makes you fail. Why? Because you believe deep down you will fail instead of never even considering failure.

I never once EVER thought I would fail. It never occurred to me. The nail business was an adventure for me ... if I was good at my job and with people and in business and I worked all hours ... how could I possibly fail???

No one new about nails when I started .. no one I knew even knew what enhancements were!! So my challenge was making people WANT what they didn't even know existed!! Today the challenges are different. More competition so the challenge has to be that you are BETTER or the BEST at what you do. That if you don't have it you get the business training you need. That you work you little tush off.

I believe that people should specialise. Nails is a speciality service that should be performed by absolute experts. Adding on all the small beauty treatments to me dilutes your speciality and just says to people .. I haven't got enough business on the nail side so I'm having to add extras, and if you have time enough to do the extras then it's true .. you haven't enough business on the nails side.

IF your enhancement business is not building and non existent after 3 years then yes, my advice is to stop offering it. It is not for you. You have discovered where your passion lies so put your heart and soul into it.

Well you are absolutely right that the number one reason why people are afraid to do anything is the fear that they will fail. But if you don't do anything then you won't do anything.

Here are the questions you should be asking:

• Am I good at what I do?
• Have I got a pretty good head for business?
• Am I a hard worker and prepared to give it my all?
• Have I got the money I need to set up in business without doing it on a shoestring??
• Am I good with people?
• Am I in the right location to do what I want to do?
• Have I got the family support I need to allow me to do what I know I must do to ensure my success? This one is vitally important. Without the backing of your partner and family to allow you to give your all to your business it will never get off the ground.

If you can tick all the boxes then why would you fail?
If you can tick only some of them, are you prepared to put the hard work into gaining the things you lack and tick those boxes too?

From what I've seen you are good at what you do. Better than average. You will have to answer the rest.

I would say, you seem too optimistic with your 30% of success...

here, with the best education of the country, with ~20 Students per year learning gel, l&p, NNO, and the obvious polish and mani, there is ONE student who succeeds. success here doesn't even mean opens a business and survives and makes it grow. it also includes ppl who will work at other nail studios around.

with the "industry education" (60 students in a room, 2 "educators", one week, one day mani, one day l&p, 2 days of gel, last day exam [SIC]) the statistic gets even worse... they all go for the black market.
with bad products...

the few that I know who wanted to learn from the wrong option don't work full time, they may have tried but what do you know after one week, during which your educators repeat that you will be fully ready to open your nail studio?

when I started my course, the women with me were all is their late 30'... (and I'm being nice) and they wanted a hobby, a way to get some money because their hubby had gone with someone else. (10/12 students in this case)

the problem to me is the image of the job. when I say I work in the nail industry ppl still think you cannot make a living out of it because you are never paid enough, and how hard it is to listen to ppl talking about themself all day long. aestetic courses are the option taken by the ppl/girls who failed at school and their family convince them that finding a rich man to marry is quite a hard option.
then they pick nails because you just sit on your chair and it doesn't ask much.

it is just so sad to hear that everyday, to have to convince ppl who have this passion that YES you can make a decent living out of it (and more than decent) you can be your own boss with all the good things coming from it, you will see new ppl, etc etc etc, but you have to learn, you need the money, the place, the sense of nails... ppl act as if we were gonna give them everything like that.

Well the people you describe just fail .. here today and gone tomorrow. I do not waste my time worrying about them.

Creative techs have a better than ordinary success rate in the UK because they are mentored and helped and I also think the people who are attracted to CND have a serious head on their shoulders and are prepared to get it 'Right from the Start' with the best education and they know where to come for any help they need to further their business.

The ones you talk about Doorie are the ones who also have the attitude Like this:

I work when I want, my clients fit in around me.
How dare clients call my mobile out of hours for an appointment?
Me? Work on a Saturday, are you kidding?
I can buy products cheaper on Ebay!
I have this awkward client so I told her to sod off!
Retail?? What's that?
Client was rude to me .. I don't need to put up with that!
Can anyone give me a name for my business?
Can you believe it? A client wanted me to go all the way to her house just for a repair?

Any of these sound familiar?

Hi Guys n Gals

After reading the thread that Gigi started and all the relpies, I im 99% sure you have all helped me make a decision. I started working from home home as a Nail Tech in 2004, after training with CND (l&p foundation,Brisa, spa Mani/Pedi/one to one etc). You may recall some of you how I bought a summer house and converted it into a nail salon in my garden. This was working well, but unfortuntely my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2006 and for the next 11months I nursed him until he passed away in Jan 2007. Unfortunately this lost business the time I took of with dad, but worth it and glad I did, but since then I have had to re-build the business, so to do this I decided to train in Beauty, went to The White Rose School of Beauty in Huddersfield and this April qualified my Itec Level 2 Beauty Specialist course, and did this in honour of my dad.
Business is doing fine but I now need more space. I have just viewed a salon to rent from an adjoining hairdressers and really want to go for it, but also feel a little scared. Its a lovely salon,good location, (busy Passing traffic) its
£150.00 week rent all in (electric,rates,water etc) and I really want to go for it. I have around 35 clients at the moment from re-starting, but as I work from home I dont get the passing trade etc, so surely this would be the best move (i think). After reading all these replies to Gigis thread Im nearly there, I have until 2moro to decide thern the salon will be advertised in the newspaper.,A young girl has had the salon for 12months but is not interested in the business and never really opens much (apparently a relative did it for her).

Also can anybody advise me on Insurance, I have insurance with PB for client cover, can anyone advise for cover for contents etc.

Sorry for this long winded post but sometimes I am a little unsure of my own self, and need that kick up the rear.

Thankyou geekies, all advise would be really appreciated.

Regards
Carol
Cottage Nails/Beauty

Hi Geeg, i have seen a few post's floating around with these title's or similar! Why cant people be a bit more professional? I have read many a post with people ranting about "bad customers" yes people can be grouchy, yes people can get on your nerves, but why oh why would you want to work with the public if you are not able to just smile nicely and get on with whatever you are being paid to do?? If people are gonna get snotty with theirclients then they may aswell pack up shop and find something else to do. Sorry if it sounds harsh but it's true.

On another note, i cant wait to do my CND training, ever since i found CND i have wanted to train with them,

thank you gigi, on all accounts.

First, sorry about your dad, ((hugs))

I dont know if they do contents but why dont you give the Guild a call? They'll be able to help you and if not then they might be able to point you in the write direction.

As for renting a salon, that sounds like a fantastic opportunity, like you said you will also benefit from walk ins, i say take the plunge, go for it!

Thanks Jo. I will keep you posted, but I am gonna go for it

carol
Cottage Nails/Beauty

Good for you, I'm pleased for you.