Advice for starting out please

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Mum123456

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Oct 14, 2020
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Rotherham
Hi all I'm due to finish my acrylic course and hopefully be qualified in about 7 weeks time, i have previously done (manicure and a gel polish course) and I'm just looking for advice/your stories of how you started up in the nail industry, how you built clients up etc. I know its 7 wk away but just looking into things as much as I can so I have all the information and hopefully every thing In place to make a start. I will be planning on doing this from home so any advice / info on working from home would be great. Thank you all in advance xx
 
Ill tell you how I did nails here in the states.

Most Asian nail salons, we are paid by commission. Most do not rent booth. It is a 6/4 split, meaning I would get 60% of a $25 pedicure.

Turns are monitored distributed evenly as best as possible.

You build up clientele by becoming good at what you do. Some people pick up techniques very quickly while others are slower. In my experience, doing acrylics takes about 3 months to become good at. While painting gels polish/manicuring takes about 2-3 weeks.

Im a bit different from my peers though. I wanted to be the best at everything I do. So naturally, I seeked more info on how to do nails better or to learn more about the products I used. This gave me a major advantage over my peers. Asian culture, they tend to rely more on what they can see. The problem with that is, doing a quality nail job requires you to understand what is happening at the microscopic level. It requires some theory work. Some conceptual work. For example, you would want to know why some products are breaking down sooner than expected.

But honestly, I don't understand how you guys work from home. Because if you do acrylics, which is a big money maker, it will dirty up your house and turn it into something else that I wouldn't consider a home.
 
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I am an Australian nail tech. When I started out it was my second job and I just wanted to get experience to become better.
I have a salon in my home, very lucky to have a separate entrance to my family room at the rear of my home.

Here there are NSS nail salons at every shopping centre. They were my main competition.
I priced myself the same as the NSS salons. Making money in the beginning was less important to me than building my experience and clientele. I think one thing people need to realise is in the beginning you will most probably not make a huge profit, if any. There is a lot to outlay to get yourself set up and trying to build clientele at the same time can be difficult. It will take time.

I started in 2013 and the NSS stores only did basic nail art, a few rhinestones here and there and not much else. They focused more on getting clients in and out within an hour, so a large turnover.
I picked up clientele because I could offer lots of different nail ideas than those kind of places. I did foils, stamping, glitters , you name it. Quick and easy nail art.
I would do one nail on each hand for free, then I would charge an extra $1.00 for each nail. Sometimes I would offer to do one nail for free so I could introduce my skill level to my clients. They loved it and would get caught up in all I could offer.
Looking back I know 100% that my clients came to me because I was up for anything. They would bring in photos of a design and I would 'nail' it every time for them.
In time as I got more clients I could raise my prices. I only booked clients 3 days a week, nails was my second job and not what I relied on for my household budget so I was in a fortunate position that I did not rely on that money.... believe me clients can be fickle, they don't care you have bills to pay.

I also got many of my clients through word of mouth, one client would tell their friends and so on.

Social media is also important, I have a facebook page and IG, as well as a youtube channel.

A loyalty program might help also if you get clients to recommend a friend.

If you are finding it hard to get clients just get models and offer a cut price, so you can improve and build up a portfolio of photos.
If you are finding it hard to get models ask family and friends if you can work on them for free. But make sure as time goes on and you get busier you then start to charge them, most will try it on!

Best of luck to you and I hope things go well for you in these trying times.
 
I am an Australian nail tech. When I started out it was my second job and I just wanted to get experience to become better.
I have a salon in my home, very lucky to have a separate entrance to my family room at the rear of my home.

Here there are NSS nail salons at every shopping centre. They were my main competition.
I priced myself the same as the NSS salons. Making money in the beginning was less important to me than building my experience and clientele. I think one thing people need to realise is in the beginning you will most probably not make a huge profit, if any. There is a lot to outlay to get yourself set up and trying to build clientele at the same time can be difficult. It will take time.

I started in 2013 and the NSS stores only did basic nail art, a few rhinestones here and there and not much else. They focused more on getting clients in and out within an hour, so a large turnover.
I picked up clientele because I could offer lots of different nail ideas than those kind of places. I did foils, stamping, glitters , you name it. Quick and easy nail art.
I would do one nail on each hand for free, then I would charge an extra $1.00 for each nail. Sometimes I would offer to do one nail for free so I could introduce my skill level to my clients. They loved it and would get caught up in all I could offer.
Looking back I know 100% that my clients came to me because I was up for anything. They would bring in photos of a design and I would 'nail' it every time for them.
In time as I got more clients I could raise my prices. I only booked clients 3 days a week, nails was my second job and not what I relied on for my household budget so I was in a fortunate position that I did not rely on that money.... believe me clients can be fickle, they don't care you have bills to pay.

I also got many of my clients through word of mouth, one client would tell their friends and so on.

Social media is also important, I have a facebook page and IG, as well as a youtube channel.

A loyalty program might help also if you get clients to recommend a friend.

If you are finding it hard to get clients just get models and offer a cut price, so you can improve and build up a portfolio of photos.
If you are finding it hard to get models ask family and friends if you can work on them for free. But make sure as time goes on and you get busier you then start to charge them, most will try it on!

Best of luck to you and I hope things go well for you in these trying times.
 
Thank you both for your advice I am currently having an extension with garage built so am hoping to turn the garage into my nail salon so then I dont have to have every one in the house. Thanks for the advice on building clients too. Xx
 

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