Disillusioned with the state of the Nail Industry? - here's one for us ALL to debate!

[Sassy Hassy]

But if someone has no business sense then they are prob not going to earn much anyway.....I know of some techs that are on less than £5 an hour, because they just have no clue about running a business - they would get at least £5.50 an hour in a salon! I mean, I wouldnt go and work in a salon beause they couldnt pay me more than what im earning now, but I have good business sense!:lol:

Sharron this is the whole crux of this thread and I couldn't agree more, I was jumping up and down when i read this!!!!!!!!!

When i mentioned the mobile tech charging £15 a set way back when in this thread this was my whole point. By the time they have taken out the running costs of the car, the time taken from when they left home to the time they walked through the door to the next appointment, the cost of the products, training, advertising etc they will be earning less than the minimum wage. Why put yourself through the stress? Go and work in a salon, get a fixed income, gain the salon experience and do the nails that you are good at. You will earn so much more in the long run, and leave the business side to those that can handle it and keep the industry afloat.

My whole point is that people see that they can charge £15 a set and think that is what they are earning (in this example), but don't realise this is gross profit and not net profit. BIG difference, HUUUUUGE!

 

[gemsie1983]

But if someone has no business sense then they are prob not going to earn much anyway.....I know of some techs that are on less than £5 an hour, because they just have no clue about running a business - they would get at least £5.50 an hour in a salon! I mean, I wouldnt go and work in a salon beause they couldnt pay me more than what im earning now - but then I have good business sense!:lol:

Yeah suppose some see themselves doing nails for £30 a set, getting paid £6 an hr and think hang on i can do this and make more money. x]

Sorry Sassy you beat me too it!

 

[pippadoodle]

Very good thread, and I totally agree with everything you are saying. I have been in this business now including training for 2 and a half years. Not long, compared to lots of you. I worked so hard and dedicated so much of my time into theory and hours and hours of practise before I felt confident to go it alone.

Yes, we hear many times, oh so and so does nails and she does them for such and such!!

I have come to the conclusion now, that I am going to get harder, going to make myself thicker skinned to some of the comments that are received. To all of us who have gained this achievement through hard work and perserverance and lots of money on products and training, we deserve every penny that we charge. We are professionals. I am very proud of what I have achieved and all the hours of training and theory put into gaining this.

Its great to hear all the comments, so thanks Sass for bring this thread up. :hug:

 

[Hope]

One thing that also hasn't been touched upon yet are all the nail/beauty therapists who work with neither insurance or having declared themselves as being self employed.

These people give the public the impression that this profession is a hobby/easy money option. If the public feel that we ourselves don't take our profession seriously, why would they?

Great thread BTW Sass xx

 

[Clairet]

There have been many valid points been made and poor training seems to be top of the list.

I can only speak for myself. I enrolled on a two day course, many years back. I thought after this I would be qualified to do nails. I soon realised that there was no way I was going to set myself loose on the general public, even though I had a certificate and insurance that would allow me to do so. That was my decision. I wanted my nails to be so good, that people would want to come back to me. I continued training to get myself up to standard, and continue to do courses to keep myself ahead of the game. I see this as a life long part of the job.

As far as clients wanting cheap and cheerful nails, I had an incidence of this on Thursday. A lady rang wanting Weekender nails. She was horrified that I charged £20 - "how could I charge £20 when I'm ONLY mobile"!! I was livid. She told me some other tech only charges a tenner and she was going with her.! Maybe this "tech" does fab nails and has had excellent training and still only charges a tenner - my feelings are though that that is probably not the case!

Our industry standards need to be raised. The general public need to be aware of standards they should be looking. I don't know how this can be done.

However, sadly, price will always been a factor - people want something for nothing - often not caring about the consequences on their nails and the people who are out there inadequately trained will continue to perform their 'treatments' on these clients, giving the industry an even worse reputation!!!

Not sure how bright the future looks!!!

Sorry - I did ramble a bit on this post!!!!:lol:

 

[becki x]

I can only speak for myself. I enrolled on a two day course, many years back. I thought after this I would be qualified to do nails. I soon realised that there was no way I was going to set myself loose on the general public, even though I had a certificate and insurance that would allow me to do so.

Sweetie i did a course over about 30 weeks and i thought the same.The tutor even encouraged people to go mobile asap.

How wrong could she be thinking "that was it " ????

 

[Hope]

Lets also not forget that there are those who no matter how long or short the training is will always be unable to produce a great set of nails.

That becomes clear very soon, even over a five day course the quality and appearance of the nails being produce by people is huge, yet most likely all of them will be passed! How often I wonder do people not pass?

 

[Clairet]

Sweetie i did a course over about 30 weeks and i thought the same.The tutor even encouraged people to go mobile asap.

How wrong could she be thinking "that was it " ????

You are so right. Teachers have to be held responsible for part of this. It seems ridiculous to me that after spending a few days on a course, people are told that they can go and start a business.

Self employment is not easy. Mobile business is not an easy option. It takes a great deal of motivation and organisation to keep your business running smoothly.

 

[EllaX]

You are so right. Teachers have to be held responsible for part of this. It seems ridiculous to me that after spending a few days on a course, people are told that they can go and start a business.

Self employment is not easy. Mobile business is not an easy option. It takes a great deal of motivation and organisation to keep your business running smoothly.

2yrs its taken me to get it sorted, theres no way on earth i could have done it straight after my foundation course!! strange thing is people think they can!

 

[gemsie1983]

You are so right. Teachers have to be held responsible for part of this. It seems ridiculous to me that after spending a few days on a course, people are told that they can go and start a business.

Self employment is not easy. Mobile business is not an easy option. It takes a great deal of motivation and organisation to keep your business running smoothly.

Yeah they do. The lady that ran my course was a disgrace to the industry as far as i am concered. Mobile was seen as a starting block to running the business when this is just as hard if not harder than working in a salon.

 

[Anna Lee]

Recently.. i have has many offers from people who want to go into business with me... my boyfriend even tells me that he wants to sell his flat so i can open my own shop... but i have turned every one of these offers down on the basis that i feel i am not ready yet...

some people may jump at the chance to start their own business given these great financial back up opportunities.. but i myself feel i need to reach a certain level of standard in order to have a nail salon of my own..

my friends and family do not understand what the 'level of standard' is that i am working towards... afterall.. i am a already qualified nail technician am i not..??

i also have a BTEC diploma in Business and Finance.. i have learnt about advertising.. marketing.. forecasts... profit margins.. business plans and SWOT analysis...

on top of that.. i have also experience in running a business as i onced owned a bar for 2 years... so i know about tax.. P60s.. Wages.. etc.. so what am i waiting for...??

well... i am waiting for this... my own scenerio of being a salon owner is this:

i have a premises.. i employ 4 or maybe 6 nail technicians... they MUST all be qualified and have certificates to show for it.. if they are not then i will see potential trainees and pay for them to be trained at a well known company...

my level of understanding nails must be one level higher.. the things that my employees can do.. i must be able to do myself.. the things that they can not do.. i must be able to do also..

this way.. i am running my own business and not relying on my employees or anyone else to run my business..


so instead of jumping at the chance of having my own salon so soon.. i hold back... i connsider myself still new in nails.. i want to use this time to learn, practise and better my own knowledge and skills until the day when i feel i am at the level of standard to understand exactly what i am doing there..

so sassy is right.. what good is it to own a business in which you havent enough knowledge in..?

just my humble opinion geeks...

 

[oey]

Ok - this is my view - I am a person who left my previous employment field because the industry became over regulated and in my opinion was no longer benefiting the client, so my comments may suprise you.

Now, we can go on as much as we like about who is to blame for the state of the Nail, and I add the Beauty Industry, but without tighter regulation over the Beauty Industry as a whole, including reviewing: Training Companies, Governing Bodies, Insurance Companies and Manufacturers we wont get very far.

I think all of the above need to be controlled to the same standards, which is aimed at benefiting the clients then we can start moaning about what is a NSS and what isnt.

Couldnt somebody who has had 1 or 2 days training, be classed as None Standard purely because they do not have the ability to say what it the required procedure for a clients needs. This in my opinion is worse than somebody been classed as None Standard because they take 45 minutes to do a set of nails with white tips.

I did my Beauty Training over a year and as I think a number of you will agree some of the students were classed as competent in doing a treatment purely because they had done the treatment on 2 clients. The standard that they achieved was in my oppinion appauling and shouldnt be let lose on a client on their own in a million years. Wouldnt they be classed as None Standard because of their incompetence.

Insurance companies - who is to tell them that what standard needs to be achieved before a "skilled person" is competent.

Manurfacturers, who tells them how competent a person is before they buy products form them to use on the public.

Now I have said my bit I just want to summarise that until we have 1 governing regulator over the industry then nothing will change.

Thats life.

 

[gemsie1983]

The question is what can we do about it???? - because and i'm sorry to say this it is ONLY nails to most people. So its not seen as an important issue.

 

[naturalnails]

....
Now I have said my bit I just want to summarise that until we have 1 governing regulator over the industry then nothing will change.

Thats life.

You are so right but unfortunately this will never happen mainly because all of the manufacturers have their way of doing nails and who will be the one to say this is the way to do it (I sound like a Punch and Judy show LOL).

I was watching a video today and was appalled at the way the nails were being done, because it was not the way I was trained - but who is to say I was right and they were wrong.

The wheels grind really slowly and I know that there are things going on that we dont know about within say ANT and Habia but at the end of the day will it be enough to make a difference - OMG I do hope so.

 

[oey]

The question is what can we do about it???? - because and i'm sorry to say this it is ONLY nails to most people. So its not seen as an important issue.

Zilch, Nada, Nothing!

 

[gemsie1983]

You are so right but unfortunately this will never happen mainly because all of the manufacturers have their way of doing nails and who will be the one to say this is the way to do it (I sound like a Punch and Judy show LOL).

I quite like the fact that all people's nails look different though because if every system was the same we would all end up with McNails!

 

[*JOANNE*]

This thread really got me thinking - I have never done a business course and I am embarrassed to admit that I never did a business plan.

I think I am quite an intelligent person and am able to do my own accounts within reason to be able to analyse how much each service brings in etc.

I decided that in order to grow my business I should look at doing some business courses - I went to Business Link and spoke to a lovely lady who is going to send me some information and then I can make a free appointment to discuss further how to move on:

Business Link

Thanks Sass for moving me out of my comfort zone LOL

i am the same as you fiona but when rob came out of the marines he went self employed, so good old me had to learn very quickly about doing the books and it was down to me to sort out mortgage bills, tax insurance, ni etc...so this stood me in good stead for myself also being on my own now it is a total necessity to have good business sense and good book keeping husbandry to support myself and 3 "eat me out of house and home" boys
this is a great thread and everybody has made a really great contribution.

 

[ValencianNails]

I quite like the fact that all people's nails look different though because if every system was the same we would all end up with McNails!

It's not so much the finished look, more the way the look is achieved.

ie some companies teach and encourage you to use a 100 grit on the natural nail...
other companies teach you to use a 240 grit... and so on...

For it to work properly in the UK the companies would all need to get together, maybe one spokesperson from each company, sit down and sort out a general guideline that is agreed upon by all of them, if there isn't an agreement then it wouldn't work.

 

[Sassy Hassy]

this is a great thread and everybody has made a really great contribution.

I would like to second that Joanne, I was actually afraid of posting this for fear it would end up with the padlock, but I am heartened that people really want to make a difference, and I am chuffed that people have had their say and not been chided for it and I thank you all xxx

Maybe we could have some input from those who have taken heart from what is said and would like to raise their prices but are afraid to, or maybe feel that the price they charge works for them so why would they change? You can see how well it has been discussed so far, so why not help us make the change for the better for everyone, and that means you and you and you!

 

[oey]

I quite like the fact that all people's nails look different though because if every system was the same we would all end up with McNails!

As long as they insist on what level of competence somebody has then the products will always look different.

Companies/manufacturers can insist with the same health and hygiene standards are adhered to with their products whilst keeping their own uniqueness.