choc choc
Well-Known Member
just interested to hear how you professionals/salon owners got where you are today. where you started at and how you got there. and any tips or advice you have to keep going .
How have you got where you are today?
- Thread starter choc choc
- Start date
Help Support SalonGeek:
A collegue that used to do my hair saw my nails and said "if you get your nail certificate, you can rent nail space". So off i went to NSI for my certificate, stayed there for another year then ventured off on my own for the last 7 yrs.
I have gone full circle and am now working back there, with new owners.
I have gone full circle and am now working back there, with new owners.
1) a desire for a lifestyle change
2) a house remorgage
3) thick skin
4) staminer
5) some luck...sometimes
6) willingness to alter and adapt targeted goals
7) getting others to beleive in me and become as committed and share a dream
8) willingness to work 24/7
9) be posative even through hard times
10) make the most of and enjoy the good times
11) never forget that with both good and bad customers that your buisness would not survive without them so learn to bite your tounge sometimes
12) have a very understanding and supportive partner and family
13) always be willing to take on board what others say and make your own descision from that
14)alway's be willing to alter and adapt your buisness to accomodate rescent trends
and so the list goes on.
Good luck to you :hug:
2) a house remorgage
3) thick skin
4) staminer
5) some luck...sometimes
6) willingness to alter and adapt targeted goals
7) getting others to beleive in me and become as committed and share a dream
8) willingness to work 24/7
9) be posative even through hard times
10) make the most of and enjoy the good times
11) never forget that with both good and bad customers that your buisness would not survive without them so learn to bite your tounge sometimes
12) have a very understanding and supportive partner and family
13) always be willing to take on board what others say and make your own descision from that
14)alway's be willing to alter and adapt your buisness to accomodate rescent trends
and so the list goes on.
Good luck to you :hug:
when i was 16 i went to college todo a 2 year beauty course then i went away to another college to do media makeup course when i returned home i got a job in a photography studio doing makeup and styling this got abit boring for me so i went into a local photography studio near my home and that also offered beauty and asked them to give me a job i was in luck! i stayed there for about 5 years building up a good client base i then asked the girl that ran it if i could rent space there instead of her employing me id always wanted to be my own boss i moved out of home and rented a flat this was a good move as it made me more motivated to work all the hours god sent otherwise my bills wouldnt get paid!! she sold up and i spent another 3 years renting a room at the back of a hairdressers when id built my client base up i went mobile and all my clients stuck with me and i have no overheads now im 32 married a child and one on the way i am looking into opening my own salon next year its taken about 15 years to get to this point and a lot of hard work passion and determinaation to get to where i want to be i could never work for anyone but i want a load of people to work for me haha so im just going to keep at it till i get where i want to be.
Hiya,
I always wanted my own salon from the moment I started college. When I was a young and very naive 22 I opened my own salon in a terrible spot, I didn't do any market research, all I had was some money my Aunt had left me in her will and this mad compulsion that I NEEDED my own business to prove to everyone what an important person I was. The shop was a fruit and veg shop and me and the old man took a couple of weeks to fit it out etc... anyway the salon failed because all I did was treat it like a joke, I borrowed money from my Mom to keep me going. After 2 years I shut it down and it was one of the most awful feelings in the world and I promised myself I would try again when I was older and wiser.
I got a job where I stayed for nearly ten years and in 2004 opened the salon I own today, all is great now we have a lot of ups and downs and it is very hard work and takes all your time and patience. I have to sacrifice family, holidays and having a regular income but on the whole it's fine.
I feel that if I didn't have the first salon I wouldn't have as much drive in me to make this one work so now thinking back I'm glad that I did ! It taught me how NOT to run a business and I learnt from my failure.
Good luck x
I always wanted my own salon from the moment I started college. When I was a young and very naive 22 I opened my own salon in a terrible spot, I didn't do any market research, all I had was some money my Aunt had left me in her will and this mad compulsion that I NEEDED my own business to prove to everyone what an important person I was. The shop was a fruit and veg shop and me and the old man took a couple of weeks to fit it out etc... anyway the salon failed because all I did was treat it like a joke, I borrowed money from my Mom to keep me going. After 2 years I shut it down and it was one of the most awful feelings in the world and I promised myself I would try again when I was older and wiser.
I got a job where I stayed for nearly ten years and in 2004 opened the salon I own today, all is great now we have a lot of ups and downs and it is very hard work and takes all your time and patience. I have to sacrifice family, holidays and having a regular income but on the whole it's fine.
I feel that if I didn't have the first salon I wouldn't have as much drive in me to make this one work so now thinking back I'm glad that I did ! It taught me how NOT to run a business and I learnt from my failure.
Good luck x
choc choc
Well-Known Member
bump. must be lots more great stories to tell.
I got into nails by accident really, my daughter wanted to go to college to do the nail course, and asked me to join her, i wasnt doing anything on the night in question so said yes, after the first night, i thought it was great, the following week i went to pick my daughter up for college, and she said she wasnt going anymore as she found it boring. Off i went on my own, and thorougly enjoyed it. I trained with NSI and the Edge at college, then trained with OPI. Once i finished that, i went on to do the beauty course level 2 and 3. I then rented space in a hairdressers, which i loved, and did very well, but the owner moved to new premises, and there was no space for me, so i went mobile for a while, but i grew tired of that with all the lugging about of equipment.after a short time i found this site, and wondered why everyone was going on about creative, i was told, "get a try me kit" and find out, which i did, and have been with creative ever since. When i saw that CND did courses for a title of MASTER, i thought oh great, i wouldnt mind some of that, i then did all the courses (averaging 1 every 8 weeks) and eventually got Grand Master. After a short break (personal reasons) i applied for a job (which took about 5 months to find) and got the job, im still there, and loving it, go to work, do the job, come home, no worries about tax, insurance, overheads etc. its great where im at, and my clients have all told me that they love me, they all think im their own personal therapist - i get to know all their secrets etc, which i love. it also makes my job so much better, to know that they feel comfy enough with me and trust me enough to confide their most personal things with me. All this comes thro too when they give me gifts, as a thankyou for making their hands/nails look 100% better than when they first walked in.................
as for advice to keep going....................BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE
JOB SATISFACTION all the way
as for advice to keep going....................BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE
JOB SATISFACTION all the way
Great thread, don't know how I missed this before.
I started when after getting my nails done for years and always had a secret hankering to do it myself. I knew it took a lot of money to do it so I never did anything about it as I was working full time just trying to make ends meet in our house. Then I saw a course advertised(I hadn't discovered salon geek yet) and went for it. Then discovered this site! I passed but knew that there was so much more to nails. So I went on and done more training and haven't looked back tbh.
It's all about keeping up your training and hard hard work, you get out what you put in. I have shed many a tear at my nail table practicing and flung every toy out my pram but have always went back and picked them all up and carried on, even when I felt I have nothing left to give, but it comes if you believe in yourself and are willing to give it your all.
Any advice that I could give to anyone and I have to tell myself at times, keep on top of your game, if you have the passion NEVER give up and realise that you are never going to produce the perfect set of nails as you will always see faults, and that is a good thing, as when you think they are perfect you stop trying.
Keep smiling and believe in yourself, because if you don't, no-one else will.:green:
michelle g
Well-Known Member
I was at college doing a decorative techniques course and we had to find
objects that we could do it on so I decided to do it on nails.
after the course had finished I still used to sit for hours doing nail art on nail tips.
I decided to do a nail course if I could raise enough funds as I was not going to actually take it up as a career just wanted to know how to do it.
so I done a couple of boot fairs and raised enough money to do a course.
I then became addicted and this hobby took over my life, I became unhappy in my full time secure job! and decided to take a risk and go full time working for myself. any regrets? not one.
I can honestly say that this site has got me where I am today everyone is so supportive and helpful.
objects that we could do it on so I decided to do it on nails.
after the course had finished I still used to sit for hours doing nail art on nail tips.
I decided to do a nail course if I could raise enough funds as I was not going to actually take it up as a career just wanted to know how to do it.
so I done a couple of boot fairs and raised enough money to do a course.
I then became addicted and this hobby took over my life, I became unhappy in my full time secure job! and decided to take a risk and go full time working for myself. any regrets? not one.
I can honestly say that this site has got me where I am today everyone is so supportive and helpful.
Lellipop
Lelli Loo Loo
A desire to learn
Stamina
Education
A willingness to listen
Loving what I do.
Stamina
Education
A willingness to listen
Loving what I do.
hi guys this post is well interesting,
THIS IS REALLY LONNNNNGGGGGGGGG!!!
i joined college to become an air hostess got there hated evry minute of my induction. so came out crying not knowing what to do!!
my mum suggested hairdressing, cos our family are good with our hands and we are very creative.
so i joined to do hair/ then hair and beauty/ then thought no just beauty.
i did nvq2/3 beauty therapy, diaploma in indian head/ reflexology. it took 3 years to complete this course. i now have 7 years experince.
my first job was at a very small salon, then they moved into a bigger salon that was a day spa with hydro tub sauna etc.
my first boss was very strict, mature student who scared me most of the time lol........but now being older and more experienced i realised she was the best thing that ever happened to me, she has made me have such i high standard and professional attitude. i stayed there for two years but was never apprieicated and always seen as a junior.
so i worked above a hairdressing salon employed by the owner(hairdresser) i satayed there for years. this salon was very slow run down, but with determination, hard work and good word of mouth it became a great success, it still is amazing now.
i left there to do a 6mth stint in a relaxis and chateaux golf/tennis and spa resort in ontario canada, this was 10 till 7 6 days a wk. it was such hard work but taught me a different aspect of the industry, also there were 4 other english therapist. who i absorded so much of the knowledge and wisdom. Also i did so much massage i became really good but got rsi not good
i came back from there went back to the hairdressers for 6 mths before moving to cyprus for two years (husband in the army)
i got a job in a english run nail studio, i turned it into a beauty salon and stayed there for just over a year.
then rented my own space from a cypriot nail technician and had my own nail bar and beauty room. this was the first time i had my own little business it was great choosing colour schemes, product houses and promotions the lot. it proved to me i could do it.
we can back from cyprus and moved to essex where i got a job in a great salon locally i lasted 4mths there. the boss was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and never appricieated what she had, was never there and paid crap wages and was generally a crap manager.
so in july this year i bit the bullet and have rented a beauty size room above a hairdressers, i cant work for anyone anymore, and wouldnt want to! i love my own independance. there was much more stuff to consider in uk setting up than in cyprus defo.
my future plan is for a salon but i am only 26 and still have more to learn.........
cant wait to hear other stories xxxxxxxxx
THIS IS REALLY LONNNNNGGGGGGGGG!!!
i joined college to become an air hostess got there hated evry minute of my induction. so came out crying not knowing what to do!!
my mum suggested hairdressing, cos our family are good with our hands and we are very creative.
so i joined to do hair/ then hair and beauty/ then thought no just beauty.
i did nvq2/3 beauty therapy, diaploma in indian head/ reflexology. it took 3 years to complete this course. i now have 7 years experince.
my first job was at a very small salon, then they moved into a bigger salon that was a day spa with hydro tub sauna etc.
my first boss was very strict, mature student who scared me most of the time lol........but now being older and more experienced i realised she was the best thing that ever happened to me, she has made me have such i high standard and professional attitude. i stayed there for two years but was never apprieicated and always seen as a junior.
so i worked above a hairdressing salon employed by the owner(hairdresser) i satayed there for years. this salon was very slow run down, but with determination, hard work and good word of mouth it became a great success, it still is amazing now.
i left there to do a 6mth stint in a relaxis and chateaux golf/tennis and spa resort in ontario canada, this was 10 till 7 6 days a wk. it was such hard work but taught me a different aspect of the industry, also there were 4 other english therapist. who i absorded so much of the knowledge and wisdom. Also i did so much massage i became really good but got rsi not good
i came back from there went back to the hairdressers for 6 mths before moving to cyprus for two years (husband in the army)
i got a job in a english run nail studio, i turned it into a beauty salon and stayed there for just over a year.
then rented my own space from a cypriot nail technician and had my own nail bar and beauty room. this was the first time i had my own little business it was great choosing colour schemes, product houses and promotions the lot. it proved to me i could do it.
we can back from cyprus and moved to essex where i got a job in a great salon locally i lasted 4mths there. the boss was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and never appricieated what she had, was never there and paid crap wages and was generally a crap manager.
so in july this year i bit the bullet and have rented a beauty size room above a hairdressers, i cant work for anyone anymore, and wouldnt want to! i love my own independance. there was much more stuff to consider in uk setting up than in cyprus defo.
my future plan is for a salon but i am only 26 and still have more to learn.........
cant wait to hear other stories xxxxxxxxx
choc choc
Well-Known Member
wow what great stories . keep them coming please.
Just constantly keep learning I guess and have patience.
Also be prepared to make mistakes..it happens to everyone....but learn to RECTIFY them...that's a good feeling.
I threw myself in at the deep end by renting a room in a salon when I could only do manis, pedis and nail art and eventually I got all the experience I needed (after more courses of course!)x
Also be prepared to make mistakes..it happens to everyone....but learn to RECTIFY them...that's a good feeling.
I threw myself in at the deep end by renting a room in a salon when I could only do manis, pedis and nail art and eventually I got all the experience I needed (after more courses of course!)x
fiona wallace
Well-Known Member
Most of what's already been said (including the remortgage, lol!) but also the tremendous desire to give everyone even more than they expect. That applies to clients AND staff! WHAT A KICK!
To be different in business!
To be different in business!
choc choc
Well-Known Member
anymore great stories to tell of how you have got where you are today.
Fitz
Well-Known Member
Ripping people off :TIC
Hello Choc choc
I qualified in beauty therapy 22 years ago and first worked in a hair and beauty salon for a girl who I have remained friends with ever since. After 2 years left and had a short stint at another salon, then went mobile for a few months before finding a room to rent within a solarium to do beauty. Stayed here for 6 years and did an advanced electrolysis course during this time. Then wanted to move onwards and upwards so after a few months of looking found a freehold salon of my own which I was able to set up with the financial help of my fantastic parents.
I have had the salon 13 years now and have 3 girls working for me who are more like sisters than staff. All our clients say what a lovely atmosphere the salon has. I have done an aromatherapy course in the last few years, taken on hot stone massage and spray-tanning and am about to take on a new product range this month as well as planning a complete makeover of the salon (carpet, curtains, colour scheme etc) with the help of the girls.
I really couldn't imagine working for someone else . . but you definitely need to be organised, calm under pressure, adaptable, careful with your finances and prepared to work long hours when you are the boss !
I qualified in beauty therapy 22 years ago and first worked in a hair and beauty salon for a girl who I have remained friends with ever since. After 2 years left and had a short stint at another salon, then went mobile for a few months before finding a room to rent within a solarium to do beauty. Stayed here for 6 years and did an advanced electrolysis course during this time. Then wanted to move onwards and upwards so after a few months of looking found a freehold salon of my own which I was able to set up with the financial help of my fantastic parents.
I have had the salon 13 years now and have 3 girls working for me who are more like sisters than staff. All our clients say what a lovely atmosphere the salon has. I have done an aromatherapy course in the last few years, taken on hot stone massage and spray-tanning and am about to take on a new product range this month as well as planning a complete makeover of the salon (carpet, curtains, colour scheme etc) with the help of the girls.
I really couldn't imagine working for someone else . . but you definitely need to be organised, calm under pressure, adaptable, careful with your finances and prepared to work long hours when you are the boss !
number1kitty
Well-Known Member
I went to college at 16 after being thrown out of school for truancy. I started hair & beauty and after my first year I hated it. To the point I went into town every day at midday and got drunk! I was the little rich kid with no sense but a lot of intelligence that I threw away.
I got a part time job in a perfume shop which I loved. and she made me see sense and so I stopped drinking and re-started my beauty course the following year. At the same time I started nails too. I met my ex at the same time and he kept me going to college and out of the pub/shops.
I got a job at ragdale hall spa and hated it. I was treated like a slave. I left there and started at another place and the owner there saw my true potential, but being young and big headed I screwed that up too and left.
At 18 I got the opportunity to rent a space in a hair salon. I had a lot of customers and was potentially earning a lot of money. However the salon owner was taking 40% of what I earnt and I provided everything!!!
I had a disagreement with her a year later and left. I was taking £1500 a week but after I paid her and bought my products etc I didnt have a great deal left over.
I went mobile but only did nails. I hated waxing as I couldnt do it without bruising clients or getting the wax stuck this meant I couldnt get a job. My aunty offered me a room in her sunbed shop and I turned it down on this very reason.
I worked full time in recruitment and sales as I just bought a house and needed a regular job to get a mortgage. During this time I left beauty all together and traded in beanie babies in the internet then spent the next two years climbing the laddders at Ann Summers winning lots of awards for sales and best teams etc.
I never quite felt happy without doing beauty so I retrained with creative and practiced my waxing on all my friends even down to brazilians. I had had another baby and when she was 6 months old I decided to bite the bullet and open a proper salon.
This time my parents refused to help me out. I got al my credit cards and within two months opened a salon above a hairdressers.I made a lot of expensive mistakes in that first year. But I soon got the hang of it and my business grew and grew and grew. I was taking over 4K a week on my own. I employed two trainees, two part time therapists and a full time therapist.
I was moving that business into a premises three times the size with ten treatment rooms. I had everything in place to go including £30K of free machines I had been promised as the salon had generated so much PR before it opened, promoting the company involved. I was also repping and teaching and making £1000 a day just doing that.
I was so happy, had a massive house, sports car and designer clothes but I split up with my partner because I didnt love him and it got nasty. I ended up quitting the shop and moving 2 hours away to get a fresh start.
The company I repped for then went bust, and I couldnt really travel because my new partner wouldnt have my kids and my ex never helped out!
I set up a salon in a hairdressers again. Again it took off and only working 3 days a week I took £600+. The boss wasnt happy though cause my ex wouldnt let me work late nights or saturdays because he hated me to be more successful than him.
I left that job and left him. Got another house and worked from home. building up make up work and waxing etc. This became successful and with a new partner meant I could persue my work again.
Now we are moving back to manchester. I am going to open another salon in a year and this time I know more than I did the first two times!
I still havent achieved my dream yet, which is a training school. But I now have solid plans in place to make it happen.
If you work hard at what you do it will always be a success.
well thats my long winded story lol!
I got a part time job in a perfume shop which I loved. and she made me see sense and so I stopped drinking and re-started my beauty course the following year. At the same time I started nails too. I met my ex at the same time and he kept me going to college and out of the pub/shops.
I got a job at ragdale hall spa and hated it. I was treated like a slave. I left there and started at another place and the owner there saw my true potential, but being young and big headed I screwed that up too and left.
At 18 I got the opportunity to rent a space in a hair salon. I had a lot of customers and was potentially earning a lot of money. However the salon owner was taking 40% of what I earnt and I provided everything!!!
I had a disagreement with her a year later and left. I was taking £1500 a week but after I paid her and bought my products etc I didnt have a great deal left over.
I went mobile but only did nails. I hated waxing as I couldnt do it without bruising clients or getting the wax stuck this meant I couldnt get a job. My aunty offered me a room in her sunbed shop and I turned it down on this very reason.
I worked full time in recruitment and sales as I just bought a house and needed a regular job to get a mortgage. During this time I left beauty all together and traded in beanie babies in the internet then spent the next two years climbing the laddders at Ann Summers winning lots of awards for sales and best teams etc.
I never quite felt happy without doing beauty so I retrained with creative and practiced my waxing on all my friends even down to brazilians. I had had another baby and when she was 6 months old I decided to bite the bullet and open a proper salon.
This time my parents refused to help me out. I got al my credit cards and within two months opened a salon above a hairdressers.I made a lot of expensive mistakes in that first year. But I soon got the hang of it and my business grew and grew and grew. I was taking over 4K a week on my own. I employed two trainees, two part time therapists and a full time therapist.
I was moving that business into a premises three times the size with ten treatment rooms. I had everything in place to go including £30K of free machines I had been promised as the salon had generated so much PR before it opened, promoting the company involved. I was also repping and teaching and making £1000 a day just doing that.
I was so happy, had a massive house, sports car and designer clothes but I split up with my partner because I didnt love him and it got nasty. I ended up quitting the shop and moving 2 hours away to get a fresh start.
The company I repped for then went bust, and I couldnt really travel because my new partner wouldnt have my kids and my ex never helped out!
I set up a salon in a hairdressers again. Again it took off and only working 3 days a week I took £600+. The boss wasnt happy though cause my ex wouldnt let me work late nights or saturdays because he hated me to be more successful than him.
I left that job and left him. Got another house and worked from home. building up make up work and waxing etc. This became successful and with a new partner meant I could persue my work again.
Now we are moving back to manchester. I am going to open another salon in a year and this time I know more than I did the first two times!
I still havent achieved my dream yet, which is a training school. But I now have solid plans in place to make it happen.
If you work hard at what you do it will always be a success.
well thats my long winded story lol!
choc choc
Well-Known Member
thank you so much for taking the time to reply, you have had a bit of a rollercoaster ride , but lets hope it is 3rd time lucky :hug:
hippy-chick
Well-Known Member
I got into holistics 14 years ago when I moved from Wales to Durham. I love learning and have always done evening classes, body massage looked fun!
I enrolled on my next course which was aromatherapy then the following year did reflexology. I then discovered short courses.
I was working full time as a cook teaching people recovering from mental illness, doing mobile holistic treatments and teaching aromatherapy and Indian head massage at a local FE college.
11 years ago I became pregnant, I decided to have time out to bring baby up (Master Chick). I still got asked to do some teaching and I also started teaching Baby Massage classes.
Baby grew up and went to school. I started working for a few organisations providing freelance therapy and teaching at another local college and places like the WEA, I have provided therapies and talks for long term unemployed people, asylum seekers and even lawyers for asylum seekers, I also did 3 years freelance at Seaham Hall Serenity Spa.
Then things peetered off a little, the freelance work dried up. the colleges funding ran out and I was told to not expect very much work. At the same time I was offered a room, a therapist was retiring after 6 years.
A year later I was offered another room. so now I rent rooms at 2 venues. One of the venues has a spare room which we have been doing up as a training room.
This year I became an accredited tutor in my own right. I now have 9 courses through accrediation and aim to have another 6 by the end of the year.
My plans are:
to teach therapies
to travel around the UK and eventually abroad to do in-house training
to continue with my treatments at both venues
I know that one day I will have my own training academy and salon. I would like to work with someone else as sometimes it gets a bit lonely. Although salon geek has provided me with 2 good friends that help me bounce ideas off.
I enrolled on my next course which was aromatherapy then the following year did reflexology. I then discovered short courses.
I was working full time as a cook teaching people recovering from mental illness, doing mobile holistic treatments and teaching aromatherapy and Indian head massage at a local FE college.
11 years ago I became pregnant, I decided to have time out to bring baby up (Master Chick). I still got asked to do some teaching and I also started teaching Baby Massage classes.
Baby grew up and went to school. I started working for a few organisations providing freelance therapy and teaching at another local college and places like the WEA, I have provided therapies and talks for long term unemployed people, asylum seekers and even lawyers for asylum seekers, I also did 3 years freelance at Seaham Hall Serenity Spa.
Then things peetered off a little, the freelance work dried up. the colleges funding ran out and I was told to not expect very much work. At the same time I was offered a room, a therapist was retiring after 6 years.
A year later I was offered another room. so now I rent rooms at 2 venues. One of the venues has a spare room which we have been doing up as a training room.
This year I became an accredited tutor in my own right. I now have 9 courses through accrediation and aim to have another 6 by the end of the year.
My plans are:
to teach therapies
to travel around the UK and eventually abroad to do in-house training
to continue with my treatments at both venues
I know that one day I will have my own training academy and salon. I would like to work with someone else as sometimes it gets a bit lonely. Although salon geek has provided me with 2 good friends that help me bounce ideas off.
