How do you build confidence?

[Nail Envi]

I'm still at college and have been really enjoying it and felt I was progressing okay but up until last night I have only done myself, friends and family, but a friend of a friend who is going on holiday this week asked if I could do her hands and feet for her holiday, I did explain that I was still training and she said that was fine, but before she arrived I got really nervous and couldn't stop my hand from shaking when doing her gel toes, they came out okay but not brilliant, then I did a set of acrylics on her hand which again were ok but not that great, I am really dissappointed in myself as I know I can do much better and due to my nerves I have possibly put her off of becoming a future client and I'm now thinking that if I can't overcome this confidence issue, then maybe I'm not going to be able to do nails. I feel really despondent and just wondered if any others have experienced this and can offer any advice on how to overcome the nerves and build up my confidence. Will practice practice practice help or should I just sell my nail stock on ebay and continue with my current job!

 

[geeg]

I'm still at college and have been really enjoying it and felt I was progressing okay but up until last night I have only done myself, friends and family, but a friend of a friend who is going on holiday this week asked if I could do her hands and feet for her holiday, I did explain that I was still training and she said that was fine, but before she arrived I got really nervous and couldn't stop my hand from shaking when doing her gel toes, they came out okay but not brilliant, then I did a set of acrylics on her hand which again were ok but not that great, I am really dissappointed in myself as I know I can do much better and due to my nerves I have possibly put her off of becoming a future client and I'm now thinking that if I can't overcome this confidence issue, then maybe I'm not going to be able to do nails. I feel really despondent and just wondered if any others have experienced this and can offer any advice on how to overcome the nerves and build up my confidence. Will practice practice practice help or should I just sell my nail stock on ebay and continue with my current job!

Confidence is something that comes with good experiences. Someone once said it takes at leat 100 sets of nails before one is more or less happy with their application. I can't say if this is true or not but it gives you some idea maybe of where you are at the moment.

I suppose you have to ask yourself is your lack of confidence to do with doing nails or dealing with the public or people you don't know very well?
If working on people is not comfortable for you then doing nails will never be comfortable for you either.

I always say, if you don't LOVE what you are doing you are best not doing it. You will know inside if this is something for you or not. I'm sure many will write as they always do ...just keep practising etc etc .. I think this advice is meaningless if you do not LOVE and have a PASSION for doing nails. If you do , you will overcome the nerves eventually.

 

[anna592]

aww bless you hun. try not to worry too much. everybody is nervous when they first start out.

i used to be really bad for shaking and nerves. over time with more practise through both working on the public and doing nails you gradually stop getting so nervous.

i used to joke to all my customers when i was shaking really bad saying things like look at my hand shake or i didnt think i was that nervous. im guesing your friend knows you are still in college, in which case im sure she would understand.

just remember everyone has been in your situation, everyone im sure has been nervous, but just remember with anything new-it takes a little bit of time before you are comfortable with what you are doing.xx

 

[VHunter]

Confidence is something that comes with good experiences. Someone once said it takes at leat 100 sets of nails before one is more or less happy with their application. I can't say if this is true or not but it gives you some idea maybe of where you are at the moment.

I always thought it was you that had said that :lol: Wish I could remember who told it to me.

A trick that might help you is to pretend. Yes, I said pretend.
The mind is a funny thing.
I used to lack confidence in many different ways, and was very insecure as an individual.
But I learned a trick... If you pretend to be confident, and tell yourself that you are confident and tell yourself that you CAN do it... the confidence will come.
Much like focusing on positive as opposed to negative will put you in a better mood?

It was a trick that I used going on job interviews. Going in believing I was the best person for the job, telling myself I could do anything. And when they asked me if I could do such-n-such, I'd answer "I haven't done it before, but I can learn anything I set my mind to, and I'm a quick study"
Once I started doing that, I never had a job interview where I didn't get a call back.

If you believe in yourself, the confidence will come to you AND other people will SEE the confidence and have faith in you. It's when you doubt yourself, that you'll have a rough time.
It's ok to question yourself occasionally. But questioning is different from doubting.

Prior to starting a set, go over notes if you must, or have an index card at ready with the steps written out as a quick reminder.
And as Gigi says... it takes about 100 sets before you start seeing nice nails.

Good luck and keep practicing:hug:

 

[Nail Envi]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I know that I am probably expecting too much from myself as I have only done about 8 or 9 sets of acrylic, but I am a perfectionist and in my head I know exactly what I need to do, and I just panicked a bit when it didn't go according to plan! As Gigi said, I need to question myself about whether or not I have the confidence to work with the general public, but I am very passionate about nails and there is no question that this is what I want to do, so I will persevere and hopefully I can overcome this. I totally agree, that you need to "pretend" to be confident, unfortunately I failed with this last night, but I've got another client who is a friend of a friend coming on Thursday so hopefully I will get on better this time, not giving up yet, (although I did feel like it last night and this morning), but the encouragement on this site and from my work colleagues is keeping me going for the moment. thanks again.

 

[Violet Star]

Nerves and non confidence comes with every new thing you learn in life but as Gigi says confidence comes with experience once you know your creating perfect nails and you get some great feedback on your nails then your confidence will build up over time.

I'm the same though at the moment i do not have confidence in the nails i do but i have confidence in the other treatments i do because Ive been doing beauty treatments for a long time.

xx

 

[Vetty]

Nerves and non confidence comes with every new thing you learn in life but as Gigi says confidence comes with experience once you know your creating perfect nails and you get some great feedback on your nails then your confidence will build up over time.

That's a bit of an over-ambitious statement - I've been doing this 5 years and I'm a CND Master but I don't create 'perfect' nails! I have confidence that my nails look good and last well but they are so not perfect.

The only way to build confidence is to do nails and tackle the problems as you have them. By ironing out each issue that you have your nails will improve and so will your confidence. Accept that you will have problems and learn from them. You can't buy experience.

hth's