Does mobile work for you?

[Elizabooth]

Hi,
I am almost finished with my training as a level 2 beauty therapist and looking for advice about where to go from here. Ideally I’d love to work in a salon for a few years to build up my confidence and client base, but I have 3 young children (5, 3 & 8 months) and I’m worried that I’ll struggle finding somewhere I can work around childcare, school runs, etc. I think going mobile would suit me best but is it really worth it once you factor in materials, fuel, time spent travelling, etc?
Thanks in advance.

 

[JCH]

I do some treatments from home and some mobile. I still make a profit doing mobile treatments. I include all those expenses in my prices and charge extra if they live over 20mins away.

Spray tanning is my biggest mobile treatment, then massage. I have a few mobile nail clients but I don’t do any waxing or lashes mobile anymore because they were such a hassle for me. I do, however, know that there are lots of people who do still do those mobile so don’t just count them out.

I’ve NEVER advertised and hardly use social media but have regular clients for spray tanning still. If you’re trained in this, I’d definitely recommend it.

Whatever you do, it’s going to take a while to start up anyway so try not to get disheartened at the start. Took me a good 2 months to get my first customer and 6-12 months to get enough to be making a wage.

 

[NailsbyHayley]

I still do a couple of ladies mobile, and nearly all of my enquiries want me to be mobile so I wouldn't completely discount it.

I like being mobile some days as it gets me out and about. I am also based Mondays and every other Saturday in a nail bar.

I think I have a good mixture and it covers all bases.

My most popular treatments are nails, I don't offer massage yet - but I will as they are very popular and the profit is high as your only using oil.

 

[Elizabooth]

I do some treatments from home and some mobile. I still make a profit doing mobile treatments. I include all those expenses in my prices and charge extra if they live over 20mins away.

Spray tanning is my biggest mobile treatment, then massage. I have a few mobile nail clients but I don’t do any waxing or lashes mobile anymore because they were such a hassle for me. I do, however, know that there are lots of people who do still do those mobile so don’t just count them out.

I’ve NEVER advertised and hardly use social media but have regular clients for spray tanning still. If you’re trained in this, I’d definitely recommend it.

Whatever you do, it’s going to take a while to start up anyway so try not to get disheartened at the start. Took me a good 2 months to get my first customer and 6-12 months to get enough to be making a wage.

Thanks for replying. I’m not trained in tanning but will be doing my level 3 between my own work so I will be able to offer it soon. I’m in a very fortunate position at the moment as my husband earns enough to not rely on a joint income but I’d love to have my own money coming in. I’ve got a couple of ladies I go to for waxing and tinting and have loads of people contact me for party lashes but obviously these aren’t a regular thing, I just need to persevere I think to build up a client base x

 

[Elizabooth]

I still do a couple of ladies mobile, and nearly all of my enquiries want me to be mobile so I wouldn't completely discount it.

I like being mobile some days as it gets me out and about. I am also based Mondays and every other Saturday in a nail bar.

I think I have a good mixture and it covers all bases.

My most popular treatments are nails, I don't offer massage yet - but I will as they are very popular and the profit is high as your only using oil.

Thanks for replying. I don’t do massage yet but will be training in it. I’m hoping that takes off as I really enjoy doing facials so I think massage would be right up my street. I’m just not getting anywhere at the moment as I’m having to buy all my set up, a lot of it should last a while though (bed, wax warmers, etc) so I suppose it’ll even itself out soon. Hoping so anyway lol x

 

[Enchanting Beauty]

I’ve been mobile for 9 years this summer & I can honestly say I’ve never been busier at this time of year.
It is hard work, the worst part is carrying everything, setting it up, packing away & the travel but I have a really good list of regulars & new clients coming in all the time & all of them now say they would never go a salon as it’s so much nicer having treatments at home.
I do facials, massage, manis & pedis, eye Treatments, Reflexology & waxing & do a lot of pamper parties. X

 

[Elizabooth]

I’ve been mobile for 9 years this summer & I can honestly say I’ve never been busier at this time of year.
It is hard work, the worst part is carrying everything, setting it up, packing away & the travel but I have a really good list of regulars & new clients coming in all the time & all of them now say they would never go a salon as it’s so much nicer having treatments at home.
I do facials, massage, manis & pedis, eye Treatments, Reflexology & waxing & do a lot of pamper parties. X

I think pamper parties are great, I’ve been thinking of doing that. Thanks for replying, by the looks of it mobile is the way forward for me too x

 

[Beautiful-you]

I used to offer mobile treatments 20 years ago, but the only mobile service I offer now is the occasional pamper party/evening. For me, what put me off was lugging all my equipment around! In the end I restricted it to just nail treatments after putting my back out getting my couch in and out the car and having my wax Pot spill in the boot, which cost me a new boot liner! But now, the thought of having to carry all my nail stuff around does not appeal either!

My daughter offers both salon based and mobile treatments. (only makeup, lashes and brows mobile though), but she's young! (But she's already complaining of back ache!). She does charge more for mobile appointments though.

 

[Elizabooth]

I used to offer mobile treatments 20 years ago, but the only mobile service I offer now is the occasional pamper party/evening. For me, what put me off was lugging all my equipment around! In the end I restricted it to just nail treatments after putting my back out getting my couch in and out the car and having my wax Pot spill in the boot, which cost me a new boot liner! But now, the thought of having to carry all my nail stuff around does not appeal either!

My daughter offers both salon based and mobile treatments. (only makeup, lashes and brows mobile though), but she's young! (But she's already complaining of back ache!). She does charge more for mobile appointments though.

Thanks. It’s the equipment that puts me off too. I’ve been hunting for a lightweight bed but I have a lady I go to in particular (who I think may turn out to be one of my best clients as she wants everything I offer) who is quite large so I need something sturdy. I’d love to be able to offer treatments at home but just don’t have the space. I tend to put all my waxing bits in a plastic box in the boot, I love my car so would devastated if that happened to me! Xx

 

[Beautylou87]

I’ve been mobile for 9 years this summer & I can honestly say I’ve never been busier at this time of year.
It is hard work, the worst part is carrying everything, setting it up, packing away & the travel but I have a really good list of regulars & new clients coming in all the time & all of them now say they would never go a salon as it’s so much nicer having treatments at home.
I do facials, massage, manis & pedis, eye Treatments, Reflexology & waxing & do a lot of pamper parties. X

How do u advertise? Xx

 

[lilyloukatiekoo]

I’ve been mobile for 9 years now
( beauty therapist for 20)

It works really well around family
But is really hard work
And is a lot of lifting!

For me I’m busier in the evenings
And work 9-3 6-11/12pm mon -fri
I earn a good wage
It has allowed me to be able to pick the kids up from school everyday
But I am knackered most of the time so ruined any social life x

 

[JanVenus]

I set up mobile, never worked in a salon, and it's great for fitting around your schedule. I have a FB page and advertise in local groups, take part in local holistic fayres and donate gift vouchers for local raffles and such. I have a lot of regular clients and when I returned to college to do my HNC I've actually had to stop advertising as I couldn't juggle the amount of clients with the amount of studying I had to do.
I'm not getting any younger though, and sometimes the thought of packing everything in the car gives me pause. After working for myself for the last couple years, I don't think I could work for anyone else, if mobile gets too much for me then I'll open my own salon.

 

[Freelancetrainer]

Hi,
I am almost finished with my training as a level 2 beauty therapist and looking for advice about where to go from here. Ideally I’d love to work in a salon for a few years to build up my confidence and client base, but I have 3 young children (5, 3 & 8 months) and I’m worried that I’ll struggle finding somewhere I can work around childcare, school runs, etc. I think going mobile would suit me best but is it really worth it once you factor in materials, fuel, time spent travelling, etc?
Thanks in advance.

Hi
Many many years ago I was called out to a few houses as a mobile even though I worked from home and I very quickly realised a few things.
1). Packing everything I needed into the car then having to unpack it at the other end and set it all up, then take it all down and repack back into the car to then repeat the whole process at the next house or back home, was extremely tiring, hard work and time consuming.
2) Parking outside houses wasn’t always straight forward if it was on street parking. There wasn’t always parking directly outside their front door so getting stuff out the car into their house and set up took several trips back and forth to the car. So again tiring and time consuming.
3) you really do need to make sure you forget absolutely nothing. Small things like tweezers etc can easily be forgotten.
4) having to melt wax in their home was time consuming. It couldn’t be kept melted very easily in the car and really needed careful packing into the car.
5) The time taking for all that packing in and out of car plus the journey and setting up time added easily an extra hour to my time, even if the distance was only a few miles.
So I’d be earning very little per hour.

So for me it was definitely a no. I don’t think I could ever be convinced to give it a try again. That said, lots of people do it, enjoy it and make a success of it. I’d say if working from home isn’t an option for you then make sure your prices reflect the extra time required for travelling, packing and setting up.

 

[Enchanting Beauty]

How do u advertise? Xx

I just have a website & have advertised on a few online directories. X

 

[Elizabooth]

I’ve been mobile for 9 years now
( beauty therapist for 20)

It works really well around family
But is really hard work
And is a lot of lifting!

For me I’m busier in the evenings
And work 9-3 6-11/12pm mon -fri
I earn a good wage
It has allowed me to be able to pick the kids up from school everyday
But I am knackered most of the time so ruined any social life x

Thanks for replying. I don’t have a social life anyway so that wouldn’t bother me lol, if I get to leave the house, even for work, I see it as a bonus haha x