Nail Salon Opportunity but have dilemma!

[Claire83]

Hi folks

Well today I was lucky enough to find out about a room for rent in a nail and beauty salon. I've been down and had a quick chat with the salon owner who has said the room can be on a 50/50% basis or rent for a day of £30.

The trouble is I have to advertise for my own clients heavily in both set-ups and as I've been mobile and haven't had any joy for around 6 months I'm a bit dubious as to whether it really is for me.

The salon opened in August 2010 and they have a few clients that come in, but they aren't exactly over-whelmed either. I often drive past and see the techs sitting around doing nothing.

Is this right for me? I can't really afford the money but my lovely moths has agreed to help me out in the hopes that this would get my name out there. If I rent I use my own products, if I go 50/50 I use the salons both of which are the same brand except I would have Shellac.

I'm stuck. I've rung around every hairdresser and salon within my area and all I've heard is no. A few have requested I send my CV in for possibly future purposes, but no job opportunity.

What I really want was to be employed by someone, to know I have an income rather than twiddling my thumbs wondering if I'll ever get a client.

Oh, she wouldn't budge from 50/50 either. She's broke and only actually pays an apprentice because she has to. The boss doesn't exactly seem that enthusiastic, with phrases like... "certificates placed on the wall are too much hard work!" "I can't be bothered to take down the cardboard on the wall" and much worse. All in all the salon wasn't as good as I was expecting, although I had been warned by friends it wasn't exactly the greatest.

Any suggestions or helpful tips?

 

[loveday]

Hi Claire,

I can't offer you any professional advice (yet!) but I think you've answered your own question in your last paragraph re the comments made by this salon owner.

I personally wouldn't want to work for / with anyone who clearly has no drive or passion. If this lady can't be bothered to proudly show off her certificates or even remove cardboard from the wall then god knows what it must be like to work there everyday with that attitude. I'm sure clients would pick up on it too.

x

 

[kirsty14]

Hi Hun

I agree with Loveday, sounds like you know in your heart it's not for you! why dont you stick it out mobile a bit longer? is there any reason why you dont like mobile or want a salon? if you are still new and don't haveyour name out there as such, I think I would try and build a rep mobile and once you have repeat clients they will follow you anywhere x

 

[lpq]

Hiya,
I was employed nail tech for 3 years and because i had built up a good client base i left to become self employed.
I actually went to a salon to get a beauty treatment and got chatting to the girl who said she absolutly hated doing nails and would love someone to rent in the salon and take all nail customers.
I thought this was great and asked to start renting.
the salon was massive, beautifully decorated and in great location - i thought id hit jackpot.
what i wish i had done was enquire more first.
Turns out it was only her in the place, which is fine but gradually i found out more and more it wasnt right.
She would turn away clients because she couldnt be bothered, not open the salon the hours that were stated in the window, the salon "special offer" which was a summer one, stayed in the window until december! there was just no passion or drive there.
in turn as you would expect the salon failed and she unfortunatly had to close it down - which also left me without a place to rent!

It did affect me a bit also - my clients would comment on her, without me saying anything they noticed how she just didnt seem bothered which made them feel uneasy and as they can see my passion for what i do i had them saying it should be me running the place!!

i think its very unfortunate when people are lucky enough to own a salon without really trying, ive been trying to get my own salon for a while now but even though i have a lot of qualifications, 6 years experience and a large client base, my age puts people of letting me take on a lease and its proving impossible.

anyway rant over - i dont think its right, purely speaking from experiance,you dont want to start paying to then find there are no customers there and the salon may even also close down. If you can see they dont have passion customers DEFINITELY will !! they see all !!

in regards to getting customers - do you have a website? what about facebook? i get a lot of customers through facebook and putting cards and flyers in all local shops!

hope this was helpful
LPQ (Cheryl) x

 

[Claire83]

Thank you!

I've been considering all of your comments and been thinking myself.

To be honest, I think I have finally decided that if I do go into the salon it will be on a 50/50 basis only so that I can use her products and earn some money (because it's definitely more than I'm earning now!) and hopefully build up a name for myself with some of the clients I work on.

Then if the salon does close down, I hope I can at least add to my CV that I've worked in a salon environment and had a little experience with it.

After speaking to my college tutor last night, she believes this is probably the route to go down and that I really have nothing to lose if I fail. At least I can say I have tried.

I'm still undecided as yet, still weighing up the pros and cons and all that. But at least I've made a decision with regards to the way in which I could go.

As for the mobile thing, I've been trying for so long and really haven't had a single customer. That's with my website and Facebook pages, advertising and even a fellow Geek here took some business cards of mine and gave them to some friends, but still no sign of a customer.

I'm just going to keep thinking on this, maybe soon the answer will pop in to my head. Thank you for all the advice.

 

[blush09]

i think you should go with your gut instinct .. you dont seem very positive about it to me, almost as if you're admitting defeat before you give it a go (saying the other techs sit around doing nothing etc) only you can really decide which avenue to take

on another note, im at a loss as to why you have no clients .. i have seen you post several times over last few months that you have no clients and are very quiet, ive had a nosey at your web site and you offer a lovely variety of natural nail services, your prices are very reasonable and your web site/logo/pics are lovely .. particularly love your logo, is it one of verves?

i think you should perhaps try and market yourself bit more, are you signed up to all the free business directories? have you left cards with hairdressers, florists, mum/toddler groups? are there no pamper days/evenings you could attend locally?

i love your nail art - can i be cheely and ask how you did the glitter heart on the last nail, was it a stencil
could you perhaps not do kids parties as a sideline until business picks up, would get your name out there and might pick up few of the mums - i plan to put £5 off voucher for mother/daughter pamper package in party goody bags, hoping the mums will rebook and perhaps start having their nails done, oh and dont forget the local school fetes etc, again another way to get your name out there

hth x

 

[lissa]

i think it to expensive i pay £50.00 pw for my room i qualified in july and decided to go self employed .
I started renting the room in october 2010 i had only 3 clients as whne i left the salon i didn't tell anyone i now have regulars that come every 4 weeks and am getting booked up you know you can do it but not at any price find something else there arealways rooms availble call the hair salons beauty places but don't go 50/50 you won't earn anything xx

 

[SJK]

If you genuinely really aren't happy with the salon - and you say it isn't great - then maybe it's an offer to avoid? Maybe you could decide it's a way of saying you should stay mobile, and then give your mobile business one more push. Check out Lynne Baker's thread on networking and promoting your business and really go for it. Optimise your website, go out and talk to people, drum up your new business. I think the problem might be that you are there waiting for people, but they need to see you to be encouraged to book you.

Alternatively, if you feel this really isn't an offer you can give up on, could you try it for two months?

 

[kimi1101]

I think £50 a week for a room is a very good rate. And it depends on where it is so I think it's difficult to say what is expensive and what is not.

Bear in mind if you are in a room and have the choice between paying 50% or £30 a day, if you do 2 sets of nails at £30 each you could be giving away a days worth in an hour and a half.

What I would do is ask her could you pay 50/50 up to the £30 day rate.

 

[Claire83]

i think you should go with your gut instinct .. you dont seem very positive about it to me, almost as if you're admitting defeat before you give it a go (saying the other techs sit around doing nothing etc) only you can really decide which avenue to take

on another note, im at a loss as to why you have no clients .. i have seen you post several times over last few months that you have no clients and are very quiet, ive had a nosey at your web site and you offer a lovely variety of natural nail services, your prices are very reasonable and your web site/logo/pics are lovely .. particularly love your logo, is it one of verves?

i think you should perhaps try and market yourself bit more, are you signed up to all the free business directories? have you left cards with hairdressers, florists, mum/toddler groups? are there no pamper days/evenings you could attend locally?

i love your nail art - can i be cheely and ask how you did the glitter heart on the last nail, was it a stencil
could you perhaps not do kids parties as a sideline until business picks up, would get your name out there and might pick up few of the mums - i plan to put £5 off voucher for mother/daughter pamper package in party goody bags, hoping the mums will rebook and perhaps start having their nails done, oh and dont forget the local school fetes etc, again another way to get your name out there

hth x

Hi, thanks. Yeah the logo is one of Verve's and I love it! Yes I have done the cards, the papers, have offered pamper evenings at schools etc and I'm signed up to the free website directories. I think I have practically tried everything.

The nail art, is simple and I love it. I've not updated any on there for ages, but I've got a lot more floating around on my pictures here. As for the heart, no it wasn't a stencil. Everything you see is all freehand and done by me. I just used a silver glitter nail art pen and got to work

 

[Claire83]

i think it to expensive i pay £50.00 pw for my room i qualified in july and decided to go self employed .
I started renting the room in october 2010 i had only 3 clients as whne i left the salon i didn't tell anyone i now have regulars that come every 4 weeks and am getting booked up you know you can do it but not at any price find something else there arealways rooms availble call the hair salons beauty places but don't go 50/50 you won't earn anything xx

Personally I thought it was too expensive. She just won't budge on the terms though. I am so desperate to get working, I'm about ready to throw my hands up in the air and give it a go even at 50/50 in the hopes it gets my name out there and gives me more opportunity. I still undecided.

Yep, SJK at the minute I probably am sitting here waiting for the clients to come to me, but I've tried so hard in the past and all has failed, that I just feel like giving up now. When this opportunity arose I thought it would be wonderful, but I don't think it is working out all the great now.

I'm going to send off my CV to a few salons who have requested it for future reference and keep my fingers crossed while I try and decide about this room.

 

[chazzybabe]

hello, do you advertise on gumtree?, i do this every other day and i made a new website from vista print, before i was using one of the free sites but having my own domain name has helped as i have been getting regular customers weekly and a lot of phone calls, i had an opportunity to rent a room with no client base and i turned down the offer because if i didnt have any clients on that day i would have still had to find the money to pay the rent, if your unsure about it i wouldnt do it imo give your mobile buisness another push hth :hug: xx

 

[SJK]

Personally I thought it was too expensive. She just won't budge on the terms though. I am so desperate to get working, I'm about ready to throw my hands up in the air and give it a go even at 50/50 in the hopes it gets my name out there and gives me more opportunity. I still undecided.

Yep, SJK at the minute I probably am sitting here waiting for the clients to come to me, but I've tried so hard in the past and all has failed, that I just feel like giving up now. When this opportunity arose I thought it would be wonderful, but I don't think it is working out all the great now.

I'm going to send off my CV to a few salons who have requested it for future reference and keep my fingers crossed while I try and decide about this room.

It sounds to me like you are talking yourself out of the opportunity, which is fine, if that's what you want.

How about you think through each option?

If you take the room, you've got to be in a salon where things are a bit miserable, and pay over some money to the owner, but at least you've got a room where you can work from. It would need hard work to get a client base sorted.

If you don't take the room, you stick to mobile, which might be what you wanted in the first place, because that's what you started as. It's harder work carrying your stuff about but you get to keep all the money. You still need to do the hard work to get a client base sorted.

Honestly, which do you prefer? Once you've decided you can then go for promotions work. I think getting YOU out there is what is needed. Websites, cards, flyers are all very well, but getting out and about would give you the big push you need.

How about doing something for Comic Relief on 18th March? You could do a paintathon in the salon or somewhere else. It would get you in the paper for free and be good publicity.