Dont know which way to turn

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grace

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Location
Poole, Dorset
Hi,
I am having a bad day well feels like a bad week month etc at moment. I had got all excited at the start of the week when i recieved a phone call from a company called wedding daze in dorset, they basically promote businesses to brides etc and asked if I would be interested in being in there mag. Being a little wrapped up in the excitement that someone had actually phoned i totally forgott that I would probably have to pay.

Today the rep came and went through it, well it is quite a large base, www.weddingdaze.co.uk one would be listed in there very lovely glossy mag, and under that website with a link to my web site etc, also would get a free monthly listing of all the brides etc getting married in order to contact them and offer my services, they would also gove out my leaflets to all peeps that came to there shop or phoned for a mag etc. It sounds great and yes perhaps I could get a lot of business but its £487.62 inc vat per year. Ok maybe not a great deal of money I don't know but I have none :|.

Basically although i hate admiting it but I have been taking things very very slow since i decided to get back into this trade and side of things after taking a huge long break from beauty therapy so returned with the idea of staying upon the nail side of things to start with, work for myself and try to get a good rep, however I have not done a lot of advertising just word of mouth realy, this would be why my client base is so so small you could call it a hobby not a career, basically I can count my clients on one hand for pete sake ahhhhhhh.

So my problem is which way do i go what is best to do, I have no money, i am all maxed up still on my overdraft and credit card, my products are running seriously low, and my retail is crying out for a restock, yes even with my sneeze load of clients I do manage to sell things weird or what. Any how I don't know whether to just go out and sell myself a bit popping flyers about a bit more to save a bit of money or go for it all in a big way and try this wedding daze dont ask me how i could afford it I dont know but need some ideas to play with if you get my drift.

Olympia is fast aproaching and I was so hoping to get some new stuff there and try and re stock, but now the stupid car tax is due and the nasty council tax and I feel like I am going backwards down the stream dispite rowing faster and faster up it. I refuse to give in, I will be successful one day. I want to do a creative conversion course also but have to wait a little longer to do that well only 5 months now, still seems an age but hey ho.

Bleeting on also, i decided to create a nice portfolio of my nail art and nails, to perhaos take round some of the local shops perhaps wedding shops to see if they liked them and would pop a poster up in there window or recomend me however i spent the whole day using my poor friend as a model yesturday, snapping shots of her hands nails and re spraying after respraying buffing polishing etc to find out today after taking the film in that my camera is pants and all the photos are useless, yep i need a digital camera, but i havent got one and I dont even know anyone with one, it just gets better by the min hey. I have put photos on my website that are very poor quality and although i have tried hard i am rather ashamed of my lame effort, so am reluctant to let anyone see it.

In case you had not guessed I am on a real downer today and just need a little perking up with some any ideas, my husband cant think of anything, but then he is just a football freak not into nails, ahhhhhhh.

Ok im zipping my mouth now before I turn everyone suicidal, my spellings are terrible so I appologise for this.

Help help help.

Grace x
 
hello grace,
i got caught up in something like this a couple of years ago, nothing to do with nails it was lifecasting wedding hands, and babys feet/hands etc, like a daft mare, i paid over the money they wanted, they said it was going to be distributed all over the uk and also on british airways etc etc they made it sound fab, i never heard another thing from them again, i had no leads, phonecalls nothing, the only time i heard from them again was when it was due to pay again, i had`nt quite read the small print as they had the right to take another payment direct from the bank, when i contacted then directly in london they then said i had to give them 18months notice to quit in writing :eek: this meant i was REALLY tied to them for nearly 3 years, but i caused a stink, complained about there representative and got my solicitor onto them it nearly got to court, it also gave me piles of all things :lol: (murder they were) they then reimbursed the 2nd payment, after my experience i would`nt touch anything like it again, but saying that THEY MAY be very good at what they do, i dont know, and neither will you until you pay em, not much help i know grace, but if ya do it for gods sake at least get your solicitor to look at the contract first before you sign anything.
i would get some flyers done, get walking on a sunday afternoon(they dont have much junk mail through the door then) pubs, clubs anywhere :lol:
 
hey there,
Thanks for the advice, I think getting the old walking boots on is a super idea, will shed a few of the old pounds from my hips bum and tum aswell hey.

I know that wedding daze are ok, I used the directory when I married my em er hmm, oh yes husband thats what he is surposed to be called i think. lol.
They are based just around the corner from me and have been established for the past 5 years and apear to be getting larger and larger.

I had a chat with hubby and thankfully he said he would phone them tommorow and give em a quizzing and find out all the things I didn't, you know like the important stuff :lol: hopefully he will be able to relate it to me better tommorow. until then i shall be making plans to get my walking feet on and get some great little promotion ideas together.

Some how need to think of how to get the business in and fast ready to be able to spend spend spend at olympia, I wish..........

Thanks again.

Grace x
 
Hi Grace!

Don't despair, I have my own business and have tried countless ways of advertising, including one similar to the one you have been approached about (don't bother by the way!)

The best means of advertising we found was to give out flyers in our City Centre, actually targeting the people who you think would be potential customers ie the ladies that look like they take care of their appearance or have their nails done already.

On the Flyers, we offered an incentive e.g £10 off the price of a full set of extensions.

We have also contacted many of the local 'BIG' employers, eg Council, Sainsburys, Tesco etc and offered their staff 10% off all services. This has also proved popular.

Good luck!

Emma x
 
Thanks for that, I am back to getting excited again thank god, yes I like these ideas a lot, tell me though may be a dumb question but do you need a pedlers license to stand and give out flyers, or is it only if you are selling something on the street? I like to keep on the right side of the law at all times lol.

I am now looking into the idea of some pro flyers produced rather than the ones I do on my home computer, may be a better investment.

Thank you
Grace x
 
Hi Grace...
I have been feeling exactly the same way as you have... i know i have to go out there and sell myself but just haven't done so yet!!!
I think the reason boils done to the fact that i am not very confident about the service i give...i know i WANT to give a good service but worry that others will not think very good of me!
My room looks really lovely, my products are the best...so what is holding me back?...experience! i think i need more...soooo much to learn with each product and techniques.
We live quite near to each other Grace so maybe we should get in contact and put our heads together...swop ideas etc...
I feel very alone in my quest to being a great 'nail technician' (other than this site), i think i have bored my family and friends too much with this!
 
Sounds great, lack of confidence has a lot to answer for hasn't it. We will just have to boost each others and make it to fame and fortune through encouraging each other lol. we will get there.

Grace x
 
Oh dear girls.......................
Well best foot forward as they say................
Just think what could all that money buy you?????
Even though it sounds great, there are no garanties are there, that it will work...........
So why not advertise your self, first if you have a website, make sure it's visible to the world.................get it listed with search engines............... some offer this free............ do a web search keyword..........free search engine llisting...........
http://www.addme.com/submission.htm
this is just one I found and they include...........Subjex, Alexa, Scrub The Web, FAST Search AllTheWeb, Google, LookSeek, ExactSeek, Jayde, InfoTiger, NerdWorld, Aeiwi, Walhello, LifeTips, and EntireWeb, for starters............

So thousand of potential clients and no money involved!!!!

You have a PC, do some leaflets ,design them, print them and then hand them out to local Hairdressers, out side schools, and so on................ small outlay!!!!
Get to know your local florist................
Brides get their flowers made up there.......... ask if you can leave some bizz cards with them.......www.vistaprint.co.uk great offer on Business cards there...............
Leave Business card in the lady's loos...........I always do lol........
Supermarket notice board.............the list is endless..............
There are so many free options out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You just need to sit have a drink and think.......
You will do well xxxxxxxxxx
 
There will plenty of other opportunities like this. Also - are brides your real market? I mean - will they just be one off clients? The money I beleive is in repeat clients.

Have you thought about becoming a body shop agent? You can get into that for about £40 I think (No I am not a body shop rep, but I know techs who are). You would get to meet lots of ladies and if your nails look good you will sell yourself. You would also be able to get other reps in your team to promote you to what is after all EXACTLY the right target audience. You would also start making money immediately. All the more to spend at Olympia!

Maybe you could do some work in a salon for a while?
 
Oh - don't I know where you're coming from!!!

I am much the same, I have a fair few clients now, and more importantly, they are regular, but I need more. Advertising in local papers is SOOOOO expensive, and I didn't find it was a great provider of clients (for the outlay involved).

I find it really hard going as I'm holding down 2 jobs (p/t nail tech, and now p/t in the office - having upped the nail teching from 1 to 3 days a week :D ) then trying to find the time to get ad's out - Sunday's my only day off and that's when I need to get the housework done (coz there's only so long u can leave it :o ) .

I'm gonna write letters to the managers of the shops in town, Boots, M&S, BHS - the ones that are famous for encouraging staff to keep up their appearances - asking them to post flyers offering a 10% discount to staff. Don't know if they'll go for it tho - and if they do how well it'll work.

I've been looking tho the previous posts on the site for advertising ideas - loved Ella's direct maketing envelopes :D

It's so hard thinking 'bout how to ad (and knowing what type of advertising will actually work!!!) when you're getting into this business for the 1st time - I know your best ad is the nails you create, and word of mouth, but even client referal schemes didn't work for me :cry: - I've even got one client who tells me every fortnight how she has collegues who are always admiring her nails, but she doesn't want to give them my info as she wants to be unique!!!! :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: what am I to do?!?!?!?
 
That's a lot of money to invest. I got carried away in the beginning and was really stung by something similar (as featured on Watchdog!!) What I got into was a complete con and cost me and loads of other local businesses £500 each. Yours doesn't sound like a con, but it would need to bring in an awful lot of clients to warrant the outlay.

As someone else said, the bridal market is mainly one off clients. You need to concentrate on the repeat business market.

Ruth is right that you can produce decent flyers yourself on your computer. Decent semi-gloss paper is the key to making your flyer look professional. Put 2 or 3 or 4 flyers on each page of A4 to save money and to make them purse/handbag size. A good investment is a guillotine (only around £15). I think I produced around 1500 flyers when I first started and I reckon it cost me about £50 in paper, ink etc. It took me a few nights to design my flyers (but that was fun) and loads of time slicing them up, and loads of time delivering them door to door, dropping them into hairdressers, shops etc. But it was well worth it.

Go for it.
 
feebeast said:
- I've even got one client who tells me every fortnight how she has collegues who are always admiring her nails, but she doesn't want to give them my info as she wants to be unique!!!! :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: what am I to do?!?!?!?
This one made me laugh sooo much! why? because Im having the same problem! ....Couldnt you just kill them :D
 
Glorsclaws said:
This one made me laugh sooo much! why? because Im having the same problem! ....Couldnt you just kill them :D


meeeee too! Only I have offered a discount to my clients if they refer their friends to me and they subsequently have a service. Depending on the service is the discount they get!!
 
falsies said:
...I have offered a discount to my clients if they refer their friends to me and they subsequently have a service. Depending on the service is the discount they get!!

I tried this too - but no one took me up on the offer ( refer 4 ppl to me and get a service of your choice free ) - dunno why :rolleyes:
 
What happened with this Grace, did you go for it in the end?
 
hey there, no i didn't go with them, I decided that it would be far better to go with the views and advice given by you geekettes that no better, I am pleased i did now, because looking back it is true exactly how many of my clients would be brides and lets face it how many would return for infills especially after a honey moon?

So no I have saved my money and feel it far wiser to put it towards products and maybe some do some leaflet drops myself.

The advice and help here is so valuable I am pleased I found you all

Grace x
 
hiya hun i bet you are feeling slightly peed off ,i know i am the same and it does my head in,i have tried the papers no luck there,why not put your biz cards in any shop i have done ok by leaving them in a bakery,wot about leaving some in your dentists waiting room, i also do beauty thinking that it might bring in more so far had a couple , wot about your local trendy clothes shop , and you can get the magnetic signs for your car i think they are about £50,i am sure i read about them on this site,i am thinking of doing that,it is cheaper than £500,maybe you could meet up with someone off the board that lives near you and have a bit of practice,and you can bounce ideas off each other ,the best of luck ,take care love dee
 
grace said:
hey there,
Thanks for the advice, I think getting the old walking boots on is a super idea, will shed a few of the old pounds from my hips bum and tum aswell hey.

I know that wedding daze are ok, I used the directory when I married my em er hmm, oh yes husband thats what he is surposed to be called i think. lol.
They are based just around the corner from me and have been established for the past 5 years and apear to be getting larger and larger.

I had a chat with hubby and thankfully he said he would phone them tommorow and give em a quizzing and find out all the things I didn't, you know like the important stuff :lol: hopefully he will be able to relate it to me better tommorow. until then i shall be making plans to get my walking feet on and get some great little promotion ideas together.

Some how need to think of how to get the business in and fast ready to be able to spend spend spend at olympia, I wish..........

Thanks again.

Grace x
Grace, I can relate exactly to your situation I have no financial savings right now and only 12 clients on my books with 5 regulars after nearly 6 months - but anyway - when you speak with the magazuine find out what their circulation is, and ask them if they have and audit for this eith by the ABC, VFD or by a registered auditing company - this then proves they are printing the quanitiy they say they are - you be surprised at the mags out their that will lie and tell you they have 100,000 copies printed every month when in fact it is actually say 45,000. From a costing point of view heres a comparison £150 for a 6cmx2cm advert in the Yellow pages which is out ALL year round and ask your self how much will this advert cost for a one off....maybe you could consider walking round a bridal fayre in your area and keep some price lists cards in your handbag...hope this helps
 
Grace,

I am constantly getting phonecalls from businesses saying they are offering me a true advertising bargain! I say "WHATEVER!"

I know exactly what you mean, and the offers sound tempting, but the way I see it is there has to be a catch otherwise why are they so desperate to sell it to you??

Here a few that you could try, some of which may have already been covered;

* Word of Mouth (I think most af the techs on here agree that it is the best form of advertising!)

* Do somebodys nails who is in the publics view a lot, i.e hairdresser, shop assistant. This will gain interest and they can reccommend you.

*Discount for OAP's (My Older ladies appreciate this & come back, then tell their friends who come!)

* Contact Thomson local, Yell.Com, & Yellow Pages. (I have had quite a bit of business from this)

* Design flyers on your computer (Cheap, & lets face it, half the people you hand them to in the street will throw them away unfortunatley!)

* Drop some Business cards into a hairdressers etc, in exchange for some of theirs. You stratch my back, I'll scratch yours type thing)

* Write your customers name on top of some business cards, and for every friend of theirs that comes for a service with that card, they get a special offer.

* Contact you local newspapers and see if you can talk them into doing a special piece on you. FOC!

* Send out quarterly newsletters to your customers and let them know what are the latest services you offer. Maybe put a special offer in there for certain seasons i.e Christmas.

* Send customers a Birthday or Christmas Card. Could end up that your sending quite a lot as business picks up. But even if you don't put a voucher in, the thought is nice and will be noticed.

* Go on the WANTED Forum on here, and ask for a tech in your area who has a Digital Camera & who is willing to come to your Salon and help you take Photos of your nails. (I'm sure somebody would love to help you.

and last but not least;

* Send some of your tips into magazines like 'Scratch' & 'Nails'. They will publish these, and then that can go in your portfolio! What better for your portfolio than to have your nails displayed in a magazine!



Hope this helps, PM me if you need any advice.

Remember that the first year of business is tough. I am going steadily, but my book isn't nearly full! I suppose we just have to be patient, and advertise like mad! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Take Care

Victoria x
 
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