2 Questions regarding your business

[MrsR]

Ladies

Sorry if I am picking your brains but laying in bed last night with a billion things going through my headache about this new journey I am now on and wondered with all your knowledge and experience if you could have changed/prevented/not done one thing what would it have been and if you could have done something sooner what would that have been.

Again I appreciate all your advice and help :hug:

 

[red35]

Hi
I think if there was one thing I would advise you to do is to st your working hours before you start. I started working in the eveings, and now find it very difficult to stop them.

Good luck with your new business

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

......... mmmmmm, easier said than done, but stand firm on maintaining a professional relationship with your clients. For example:

. if they are habitually late or fail in arriving for appointments then take action.

. have a chat and a giggle, but don't become too pallie pallie. This can potentially breech professional boundaries.

. be strict about your working hours and don't go outside of these stipulations otherwise you will find yourself working around your clients and not them around you. I learned the hard way and in the long run my clients took advantage of me!

. last but not least, don't swop services with other professionals (and this is just my personal preference here). Don't accept free babysitting in return eg. for a free set of nails or facial. Pay for the babysitting and accept payment for the beauty services. Keep the two separate.

Interesting thread by the way.

 

[Susie H]

mine is take a deposit.
As soon as I started doing that the only no shows I had were when one of the girls took a phone booking and didn't get a deposit.:irked:

 

[hippy-chick]

well I used to do mobile, and now pay rent on 2 venues. I'm finding it difficult to tell people that are ringing up now for an appointment that I am not available to do mobile anymore.

 

[Katelisa]

i would say have some money saved up to keep you ticking over for the first few months. I didnt make a decent profit till my third year! And its only now in my fourth year i can say i earn a good living.

other than that as already been said, state your working hours, take deposits, dnt take no crap from clients.

 

[geeg]

Some points that define a nail technician
There is more to being a great nail technician than just being able to turn out good nails (although this is very important). Here are a few thing to think about.

:!: Doing nails is not for the timid personality or the faint hearted ... you need to be able to be strong and firm with people.

:!: Doing nails needs a person with an empathetic nature, one who cares for and about people.

:!: Doing nails is a business, and a good business head is essential if you want to be financially successful.

:!: Doing nails requires self sacrifice and a vocational attitude as you need to be there when and if your clients want you. Staying in late and going in early etc.

:!: Doing nails is not a fun little hobby ... it is a profession and should not be done by amateurs but only by professionals in the true sense of the word (look it up in the dictionary ... interesting).

:!: Doing nails requires a great sense of responsibility. We work on people's bodies. They trust us to work safely and to nurture and care for their natural nails while they are wearing nail enhancements.

:!: Doing nails requires integrity (as should everything) and good business ethics. Business ethics is something allot of newbie technicians know nothing about in the UK ... thinking they can use someone Else's good will ... work in a salon and then leave trying to poach business from the very salon that hired them and helped them in the first place.

:!: Doing nails is one of the greatest most fun and rewarding and satisfying businesses in the world. Enjoy your learning but realize that the learning process never stops ... you will know when you are ready because you will feel confident to make that start.

:!: Doing nails requires an atitude of Life Long Learning. Regular classes are not only necessary, they also increase your average earnings and keep you motivated.

 

[michelle g]

Look at your price structure it is hard to put your prices up!
but you can always do offers.
If you are going to have staff have a contract drawn up.
if I can think of anything else i'll let you know.

 

['chelle]

Hey hun!

My biggest regret is that I didnt start saving some money, both to keep me going with my mortgage and such, and to have some funds to start the business with. I knew I was looking or premises and didnt think about this. I now have to trust my husband to pay all the bills till things get going, and I've had to build my business up gradually and havent got the money to do the things that would have been good to do as soon as I opened eg a leaflet drop. i'll save up and get there, but that would be my regret.

My thing I'm glad I did is jack in my job to become a full time tech. Its scary, I've always had a monthly income to rely on thats not there any more, but for a while I tried being part time tech/part time worker and it just doesnt work. If you really want to go for it then at some point you have to bite the bullet and go for it full time. I'm earning nothing now, but I have a full time commitment to making it work in the long run.

Go for it hun, you wont regret it, being self employed is the best thing I ever did!

 

[Shellie xx]

Definately being strong with clients and setting up a cancellation charge or deposit for no shows. Also, as already said too, state the hours you work and stick to them xx

 

[Katelisa]

My thing I'm glad I did is jack in my job to become a full time tech. Its scary, I've always had a monthly income to rely on thats not there any more, but for a while I tried being part time tech/part time worker and it just doesnt work. If you really want to go for it then at some point you have to bite the bullet and go for it full time. I'm earning nothing now, but I have a full time commitment to making it work in the long run.

Go for it hun, you wont regret it, being self employed is the best thing I ever did!

gotta agree with this. I have only ever done it full time. but i have ever had any financial committments. What i would say is, bite the bullet, go for it 100% and worst comes to the worst get a part time job. not the other way round.

 

['chelle]

ok whilst I'm not saying its wrong, I can completely understand the principle behind it, I dont agree that you should set your working hours and not deviate from them.

I set my hours. Amongst them I do late night Thursdays and Fridays, and finish at 2 on Saturdays. I have had clients wanting late appointments on other nights, and wanting pm appointments on Saturdays. I have obliged where I can because I'm not in a postion to turn down business, and I think you have to listen to what your customers want and respond to their needs. Now thats not to say that clients say jump and I say how high, but I make it clear to them that i am a new business and am "testing" my hours. That is to say that I can stay later by appointment if needed, and that if I find that, say, saturdays are always busy in the p.m's I may change my hours to suit down the line. Obviously there may be times when I cant oblige, but being a new business I think its suicidal to turn business away just because you've decided what your hours are and dont want to be flexible.

 

[Katelisa]

if you have nothing better to do then yeah, work when you can!
I occasionally will work outside my hours. And if someone desperately wants me on a day off there is a 25% surcharge!! because on my day off i really do have better things to be getting on with!

but thats the beauty about being self employed. you can do what you feel best.

 

[Angelaznailz]

I occasionally will work outside my hours. And if someone desperately wants me on a day off there is a 25% surcharge!! because on my day off i really do have better things to be getting on with!

Good Idea, Katelisa ! I might adopt that.
My regret would be that I didn't buy 'pukka' equipment at the start - it's cheaper in the long run. I'm on to my second couch (in the last 4 years) and looking for a replacement, and my pedi chair needs replacing. I'd love one of the spa chairs with plumbed-in water , massage and drinks tray etc etc ......but if I'd bought them at the start, I'd probably have saved in the long run and would have had a better corporate image from the outset.:irked:
One thing I'm glad I did was.........to find this site !

 

[geeg]

Most nail technicians start up their businesses underfunded ... worst mistake in the world to start any business short of money!!

You will get out what you put into your business. If you have a part time mentality you will only have a part time return on your investment. If yougo at it as you should, with a vocational atitude doing whatever it takes you will get what you deserve.

 

[gillian w]

Apart from all the other good advise you have had i would add not to get carried away spending money.

I have been terrible in the past with getting things i really don't need and rarely use because at the time i wanted them.Or they were on offer.

Things like nail art bits and nail varnish colours that no one has,essential oils that i don't need.Its mainly bits and pieces but it all adds up.

Its really easy to overspend especially at trade shows or when buying from trade catalogues.

 

[stampy]

My top tips, based on my own experiences, would be:

If you decide in the future to go into business with anyone else, be it a good friend or otherwise, think very carefully before you do so and have contracts drawn up so that you both know exactly where you stand.

It's been mentioned already but do not become too 'friendly' with your clients. They may start to take advantage of you, expecting freebies, etc and it's not easy to stop once you've started. Oh and then the present buying starts at Christmas, birthdays etc which can be so expensive to keep up with and you don't want to appear mean not getting them anything!

I'm also the world's biggest sucker for products ... I should be on Spendaholics as I just can't resist. I need to shut my purse and start thinking about making a profit, basically stop splurging on everything new! (Doesn't bode well for Excel!!).

Have fun and best of luck with it all. x