I didn't say it was a waste of time I said you would only get a part time return and you will get a large turn over of clientèle as they will drift off to those who are prepared to be service minded.

You yourself will determine whether or not you have wasted your time by what you make of what you have learned. Your learning curve will be slow by virtue of the fact that you will not easily get the numbers through your hands that you must have to get the practise you need and if there are problems, you may very well loose clients before you get the chance to solve them.

Of course I appreciate that some do not have the courage, or the means or even the support of their families to just give up a job and go for it .. but plenty of us have and been more successful than in any job I could have got working for someone else.

Everyone is different but service is service and if you cannot give that service as and when your clients need it (and they want it immediately if there is a problem) then what you end up with is a part time hobby.

You are in effect the nail doctor ... I'm glad my doctor is not part time .. I wouldn't like to get sick and find it was inconvenient for my professional doctor to treat me. Don't think that the doctor analogy is inappropriate because it isn't .. when clients break a nail it is important to THEM .. just as important as if they were sick to THEM ... a nail tech who values service needs to be on hand to provide it. True nail technicians treat their job as a VOCATION.

As for salon experience .. most salons will not entertain someone even if they work for free, fearing that they are just being used by that person to gain advantage of the salon's clientèle and experience that they will then use for their own benefit rather than that of the salon that helped them. These are the harsh realities, I'm afraid.

Every point you have made geeg is absolutely true thats why it gets me down so much. I hate to think also that Im not a true nail tech as much as I try to be, I've worked extremely hard over the last few months to be the best I can but I think I've come to the conclusion that it's not enough to be part time, I also think that although I treat it as a vocation people don't take me seriously not like they would if I was working in a salon, thats very disheartening. The current job I have has suffered a lot (among the rest of the world) with the current economic climate so I'm not sure how safe my job even is at the moment.....I think I'm secretly I'm hoping its not so that I can devote all my time to being a nail technician then and only then I think I will be on the road to be satisfied with myself and not feel guilty for quitting my job. I think today has been very significant in realising that I'm chasing a dream thats not going to come true....just yet!!

Thanks for the advice geeg.

I am a part timer earning part time wages and because of that, even after 4 years, I still do not classify myself as true professional.

I never advertise, because I know that if I do, I will not have the time or dedication to fufill all my clients with my part time services.

And because I never advertise, I never complain about not having enough clients either. If you put in part-time hours with part-time dedication and part-time enthusiasm, you will result in part time clients with part-time wages.

So instead of moaning about why I havent got any clients and why my 'business' is not as great as it should be, I use this time to improve myself in every way with more practising and education so that one day, when I am able to enter this industry as a full-timer, I can offer myself as a true professional with full-time commitment giving my full-time services to my full-time clients.

I do not like doing things in halves and I do not like short cuts.

When I started I worked in travel and could only dedicate a few 'after hour' app's and even after advertising I only had a handful of clients. This suited me as I was gaining experience, after 2 yrs I couldnt cope and took the leap and rented a desk in a tanning shop and havent looked back.
Take your time and build your clientele up. If you want to run a successful home business treat it no differently than a salon. Have opening times, a beautiful room, professionality (a uniform helps) and treatment cards, menu's and displays of your work - actually this is really important as I know how nervous new clients are coming into the salon I'd be worse going to your home! I always displayed my certs, pictures of my work and pricelist. The biggest falldowns for home salons IMHO is therapist becomes a mother and rushes out mid treatment to see to kids, never knowing the correct price as tech says 'oh just give me a fiver!' me arriving and tech not ready!

Funny enough my doctor did work part time (because he was retired ) and you would ring bell and have to take seat in hallway, then he would bring you into his surgery. It was always so professional and you didnt feel that you were in his home.

I work full time in a large call centre & have many girls that wear enhancements but have difficulties getting to a salon at weekends & they work full time & till 8-9 at night . If & when i'm ready to offer my services I will be running my home salon after work as this suite's the people I wish to target but by no means will it be a half hearted affair. My salon will be open from 6:00-11:00pm mon to fri & at weekends from 9:00am till 9:00pm. I totally agree with Geeg with running a part time business you are there to offer a service & you have to bend to the clients needs. My soon to be clients work full time so eve & weekends is what I will do to suit them. The minuite I find I have clients wanting my service during day time hours then I will drop a few days form work & open during the day as well. Remember we are there for the clients NOT the other way arround xx