Dented Confidence or just frustration?

[ladyvic]

Hi - Not sure if i posted this in the right place (apologies if i havent), not sure if i would just like some advice or just a rant really...

Basically, I have just moved area, this bit is irrelevent until later, i made friends with my new neighbour and said i was starting up my business again as a nail technician, to cut a long story short (ish) i gave her a full set of nails nearly 10 days ago - reluctant to go the whole shabang and do a forever french 1) because of the cost of product and 2) it was really just a training exercise as i have not done a full set in over a year.

nails looked lovely, and the fact she works in a shop in the local villiage kinda coupled up on free advertising for me iykwim.

anyway tonight i saw her and she said one of her nails had broken, ok thats fair enough, although she later confessed she had been using it as a screwdriver !!! .... so offered her a soak off and a replacement and said i might as well infill the rest at the same time.

she said to me " oh i thought you would have to remove them all and do the whole set again" told her that, no you just need to have them rebalanced every 2 weeks or so, and i can easily repair or replace a busted nail, its no drama.

Just been round to see her now to say if she has spare half hour or so ill sort the broken one, but noticed she was hiding her hands and then she confessed that she had removed the polish and used a acetone based remover to do so - I clearly told her when i did the nails to use non-acetone remover as part of the aftercare.

i am getting to the point .... honest! lol

she showed me her nails and quite obviously she has attempted to remove herself, the nails plates are in a terrible state - didnt need to use scrubfresh to see that they had been picked n pulled off.

tbh - i feel really peeved that she's done this, she wanted the set of nails i did them free of charge for the above reasons, but its the cost of product and my time. i really feel like my confidence has been proper dented now - i know not everyone will tell you if theres a problem and i know there was nothing wrong with that set of nails.

coupled with that i set my website up 10 days ago have had 205 hits and not a d1ckey bird ringing -

thanks for reading if you got this far lol

V x

 

[katiebbaby]

Well you could take this two ways one being your neighbour was obviously just after a new set, or she did not want them doing again and did not want to Hurt your feelings. I am not saying your nails are pants as I have not seen them but I know when I first started out looking back I done some pretty bad sets yet no - one sat there and told me so.

I would suggest you go around there and ask her straight up say you need her to be honest, hand on heart where you happy and pleased with how her nails looked, did they suit her as a person ( where they White tips, or p&w or natural? Some people do not like White tips etc.

If none of the above is relevant then one can only assume she was hankering for a new set, which amazes me really as I think on my opinion a rebalanced set of nails are much more pleasing than a full set.

Good luck xx

 

[ladyvic]

Thanks for the reply katie hun, i know exactly what your saying cos its everything that had crossed my mind,

i took pictures of the nails before and was careful that i did natural tips and pink acrylic just so i didnt have any embarassing narls ups on the whites - she even kept asking when id upload the pics to facebook as she was so pleased - said i should charge more as they were really good (at the time i was doing a £20 promo) ive advertised at £32 a full set as im not 100% sure on the market round here but in the neighbouring village its averaging £45 a set.

i know i shouldnt take it personally but cant help feeling a bit annoyed as when she came round earlier n said onehad broke she was quite happy for me to fix it n back fill the rest

oh well c'est la vie lol

V x

 

[ladyvic]

Forgot to add that she still wants me to re-do the french on her toes tomorrow! lol x

 

[endless]

Hi Victoria,
Dont let it knock your confidence in you, maybe take a knock in confidence in her.
I have this ALLL the time ",oh, they fell off" then later they admit, that actually they broke 1 whilst using it to do something they shouldnt be, so they prize the others off.
Its just not on, particularly when you did them for free.
And i totall agree with what you said about the free advertising, i often do this.
Sure do her toes for her, but charge her full price.
Just make sure you give her advice on how to care for her natural nails now,just incase she has damaged these whilst pulling the other off, as she may blame you for any nail bed damage(this has also happened to me a number of times!)

dont let it knock, or worry you, do any treatments for her full price from now on, and enjoy re-setting up your business, best of luck to you

Kate x

 

[Curiosity]

Why does someone picking their nails off dent your confidence? She's just an idiot, sorry but she is if she is using her nails as a screwdriver and picking them off, then she is. I would have just removed what's left of them off and then sent her on her merry way. Not fixed them, why bother when she is just going to ruin them again? It's clearly got nothing to do with your skill.

As for the hits on your site, don't worry about it. I worked in advertising and if you get one lead out of 1000 hits then you are doing very well indeed, even by professional standards.

 

[EMMA AT ELITE]

Dont worry yourself hun :hug:
You have not done anything wrong AT ALL it is totally the ladys fault.

If the lady would have paid full price for the nails she would not have treated them like that, as that would be wasting her money.

Do her toes tomorrow, BUT DO charge her full price. Trust me if you dont, or even do it discounted you will never be able to charge her full price.
I wish I had been more "businesslike" & wiser regarding charging people I know, but you learn from your mistakes, but once the mistake is made it is almost impossible to go back on. So please hun, start as you mean to go on & charge her full price.

Regarding the website "hits" it is really the "visits" you want to look at.
A visit is like every time someone has visited your website a "hit" is every time people have looked through different pages so for example say 1 person looks at your site a clicks on 10 pages that will show 10 hits & 1 visit - does that make sense

Add your website address to your tagline on here, that will create more advertising for you.

hope that helps
x:hug:x

 

[ladyvic]

Hi all

Thanks so much for the replies, I think i was more annoyed because of the time and product used, but also because of the fact i need more pics of my work for my portfolio on the website also - the orginal pictures i took got deleted from the camera when my 2 year decided to reformat the SD card lol!

@curiosty & Emma - thank you, you have put things into perspective - obviosly as she hasnt paid for them she wont treat them as if she has.

I think ill polietly decline doing her toes tonight - planned on doing rockstar toes with gel - maybe i should - cos if she wants those babies removed in 10 days time when she changes her mind she will have to sit there n buff em off lol!

Thanks for the replies feel much better now :hug: x

 

[Lorrainelola]

Hi

We've all had those clients and you do just have to ignore it. She obviously doesn't know how to look after her nails, she doesn't deserve for you to do them free for her.

I always give out printed aftercare sheets for all my treatments, that way on one can say I don't remember you saying blah blah blah about how to look after them.

I notice you are in Faringdon, my parents used to live in Lechlade, its lovely out that way.
Lorraine

 

[katiebbaby]

It's lesson learned I wouldn't worry as you said in your original post you haven't done a set in over a year and was more a learning experience ( so you were using her as much as her you iygwim) so therefore what does it matter if she pulled them etc.

It's very hard on the begining as you want recognition almost from clients and can come across as being needy, I say this in you going to her to ask her did she want a repair I would not do this if she wanted a repair let her arrange with you same goes for other appointments. Clients can smell soft touches a mile off and will walk all over you ( I know this personally ) as soon as you toughen up you will gain respect from your clients especially with friends and family they can sometimes be the worst offender.

Don't do freebies unless u really really have to for whateva reason.

 

[ris]

tbh - i feel really peeved that she's done this, she wanted the set of nails i did them free of charge for the above reasons,

Had you not done them free of charge maybe you wouldn't be feeling so 'peeved' now. Easy come easy go, they say. She had them free and removed them on a whim without thinking twice.

but its the cost of product and my time. i really feel like my confidence has been proper dented now

I think you may be fooling yourself a little - of course it's not the nails and the cost. It's the fact that you worked for free - it's also about your time effort and your unrealized expectations.

coupled with that i set my website up 10 days ago have had 205 hits and not a d1ckey bird ringing -

Oh, join the club.. I have two at the moment with one having about 20 hits a day but no cigar. Thought it might be down to the fact that not all people are that much into using the internet here where I live but I see that the problem is much more "world-wide." :green: