how to handle this one

[Tavinailtech]

Ok, here is a pickle! I am a fairly new nail tech. I started work in a very high priced spa. Which has been okay, I have to work every friday night and every Sat. and i just hate that! but the experiance has been very, very good on the learning end. My problem is this, I have a set up at home to do nails, (i live in a small town, work in the closest big city) anyhow, i would like to be just at home doing nails but word is slow going around just yet, as I am not a registered business i can't advertise. I was doing a client , at work, from my home town and she had lost a nail, she said she was going to call me at home but didnt know if she should. I told her yes, that would have been fine, and lots cheeper for her. She was in a rush yesterday when i was doing her nails, and had to leave before i was "totaly pleased" with her nails. Now i am wondering if i should call her at work, to come in for a few mins, or from home ? My boss is really coming down on me about lifting at work, i am trying so hard, and it is getting loads better, but she never sees my good work, only the 2% that come back with lifting, and of course they are allways the ski jump, fan nails that i seem to get the trouble with. If i get this girl coming to my house a whole new client list could open for me at home, as word will travel that I am doing nails. But I could really tick my boss off by leaving after she has worked with me now for 6 weeks. What to do? Any advice on my little mess would really help. Sorry for rambling. Hope i made a little bit of sence.
Oh I should add that i seem to do nails better at home, I think I am more relaxed. HELP!...lol
~Jackie~

 

[jac extreme]

Hi Jackie,

thats a tricky one, your boss could accuse you of stealing her clients, did she put anything in your contract? on the other hand if the client likes you she should be able to find your number if she wants to.

what ever you do decide to do, make sure you stay within the law or she could come down hard on you. iI happend to a friend of mine when she left a salon, the owner sent the police round to her house, saying she had stolen her client base,I think they checked her computer, nothing came of it but it was very upsetting.

If she has invested a lot of time and money on you, you have to understand how she feels.

 

[jac extreme]

Saying all that tho.

I took my clients with me:o so i will just shut up

 

[Tavinailtech]

Well she has spent a little bit of time with me. A few sets of nails that i watched her do, some that she watched me do. But not a whole lot of time I would say. more just picking apart the sets of nails that comeback in. It is not alot of money that I get there, little over min wage per hour. Hell my 15 year old daughter makes more working at the local pizza shop! I never signed a contract, and she knows that i am a hairdresser as well and that i do have a salon in my home. They dont offer gel in the salon so most that i do at home have been that. Have to get this figured out!! So i can sleep..lol...shaky hands make rotten nails!!
Jackie

 

[Little Angel]

Hi

I do think that ethically it would be wrong for you to approach the client or any other clients that come to the spa you are working at. If however clients or this one in particular approaches you or rings you then thats fine, as it wouldn't then be considered poaching.

Its a tricky situation but if your not happy there then do what you feel is the right thing for you to do but with a clear conscience.

hope it all works out for you.

 

[Urban Geek]

If it is a very well established spa with a good reputation, I think you should stick it out for another few months. I realise the money is not great but, believe me, it is extremely hard to build up a clientelle at home, particularly if you are not that confident. It sounds to me that you still have a lot to learn and if you continue to learn at the spa that is so valuable. You are probably learning more than you realise. Try not to take the criticisms personally. I know it is unpleasant when problems are highlighted but try and take it on the chin and learn from it. When you have gained all the experience you can and are still unhappy perhaps then try and set up at hom but, for the time being, I think you are in a very lucky position. I am struggling at home getting a decent clientelle and feel that I would have progressed so much more quickly had I the opportunity you now have. Good luck!

 

[geeg]

The clients belong to the Spa and not to you.
They come to the Spa because it is the Spa and most likely not because you are there.
Ethically it is toatally wrong to be doing clients from home that are Spa clients when you are still employed by the Spa.
If you leave then clients may try to find you, but any attempt on your part to let them know where you live or work before you leave would be very unethical.

 

[Kim Lawless]

I can see where you're coming from but I don't think it's right to steal clients. Can you imagine if it was your business and your staff did that to you? You could go under in no time.

It's my experience that clients are, for the most part, very disloyal and they go where it suits them best (at the time). Also, you'll never get away with it as they love to gossip.

I'd stay there and learn all I could.

 

[Tavinailtech]

I am not really stealing clients, as she did ask if she could call my home. I would not want to take the clients i am doing from the spa, they are a little too preppy for my style. Just not sure how to fix this now.

 

[RedAdmiral]

I agree that you should stick it out as it doesnt sound as though your ready to go off on your own. The experience that you'll get at the spa is completely different to working at home and the ease of obtaining clients will save you time, effort and money.

Ride it out n get the practice in. Dont poach the staff as even if they follow you they will still go back for other treatments so you dont want a bad rep before you've begun!