Need help getting business back off the ground!!! Please advise :)

[nickynok]

Hiya Peeps....wow, I love this site, I've been reading it constantly since I rediscovered it the other day!!! lol

Ok....a bit of history for you. I'm a hairdrresser & beauty therapist, & I work from a small salon at home. Two years ago my marriage started going into freefall & eventually at the end of June 2009 I said Id had enough & wanted a divorce. Now my husband had always earned really good money, so anything I earned was really pocket money for me & my daughter....I didnt really do much to promote & had a loyal clientelle. Mainly for hairdressing, but only because I didnt really promote the beauty side very much, cos Hair is more of a passion for me.
Well.....the divorce was damned hard....my ex was & is a bit of a nutter & I ended up sufferring terribly with stress & depression....still sharing the marital home, clients could feel the atmosphere & my clientelle started dwindling away, apart from a very loyal few that I have left.
Now.....the ex has totally ripped us off, lied about working, so we have very little maintenance coming in from him....I am going through the process of buying another house but really need to turn my business around in order to be able to cope & provide for me & my daughter.

This is where you all come in ....any idea's for me?? I'm doing some NOUVATAN training on monday, so I can begin to offer spray tanning, what else is really popular at the moment??? Any promotional idea's??? (I cant do leaflets yet, till I know the new house is a definate, and I wont know for sure addresses or landline no's) I have a website for my bridal work which I will also update & also update my list of treatments too....help guys????? I'm really worried, cos its all down to me to pay for everything & am a little spooked that i will lost the new house before Ive even got my feet warm!!!

thanks in advance xxx

 

[Caro]

Hiya Peeps....wow, I love this site, I've been reading it constantly since I rediscovered it the other day!!! lol

Ok....a bit of history for you. I'm a hairdrresser & beauty therapist, & I work from a small salon at home. Two years ago my marriage started going into freefall & eventually at the end of June 2009 I said Id had enough & wanted a divorce. Now my husband had always earned really good money, so anything I earned was really pocket money for me & my daughter....I didnt really do much to promote & had a loyal clientelle. Mainly for hairdressing, but only because I didnt really promote the beauty side very much, cos Hair is more of a passion for me.
Well.....the divorce was damned hard....my ex was & is a bit of a nutter & I ended up sufferring terribly with stress & depression....still sharing the marital home, clients could feel the atmosphere & my clientelle started dwindling away, apart from a very loyal few that I have left.
Now.....the ex has totally ripped us off, lied about working, so we have very little maintenance coming in from him....I am going through the process of buying another house but really need to turn my business around in order to be able to cope & provide for me & my daughter.

This is where you all come in ....any idea's for me?? I'm doing some NOUVATAN training on monday, so I can begin to offer spray tanning, what else is really popular at the moment??? Any promotional idea's??? (I cant do leaflets yet, till I know the new house is a definate, and I wont know for sure addresses or landline no's) I have a website for my bridal work which I will also update & also update my list of treatments too....help guys????? I'm really worried, cos its all down to me to pay for everything & am a little spooked that i will lost the new house before Ive even got my feet warm!!!

thanks in advance xxx

:hug:

Nicky

Good for you for getting out of an unhappy marriage - you've done the hard work, the rest will be cream cheese!

Spray Tan for me is my fave treatment it's quick and has that instant wow factor ... I would look into Minx and Shellac on here too - they are two latest buzz words in beauty. Pamper parties are also in demand at the mo and with your hairdressing skills you'd be able to offer allsorts!!

There's lots of ways of advertising for free - facebook, freeindex, yell.co.uk and gumtree and many more that the guys on here will be able to suggest.

Get yourself to Professional Beauty on 10/11th October at Manchester this will be a good way to update yourself on new treatments and ranges..

 

[jotommo]

hi
i would look at semi permanent eye lashes, great earner and they need regular visits so that gives reg income..

can anyone just go to the show i manchester?? i would love to go, but thought you needed tickets? x

 

[newintown]

can anyone just go to the show i manchester?? i would love to go, but thought you needed tickets? x[/QUOTE]

You can register for tickets on the Professional Beauty website.

 

[nickynok]

Thanks girls...yeah, ur right, its really hard getting out of a bad marriage & I'm not out of the woods yet!!! Almost there tho! lol

Yeah, I've been hearing a lot about Minx nails too....have sent them an email....I have also been thinking about Semi permanent eyelashes....but am not sure how much call there is for it locally to me.....I dont want to shell out a lot of money on kit & then not have any clients willing to use it, then be stuck with a surplus of kit just costing me money.....does anyone do this that can advise me what they think???

AM also considering doing a bit more of the holistic route.....I always wanted to do massage/aromotherapy/reflexology, but allowed the ex to talk me out of it......is this still as popular as it was a few years ago??? What du think???? & Is there anything else I may not have thought about??? Also, while I'm at it, are there any kinds of government business loans or retraining I may be missing out on???? I was signed off sick for a while with stress & depression, but just couldnt afford everything so had no choice but to get a part time bar job (nothing much else around & at the time I was just desperate for anything) but am now wondering if thats an avenue I should have looked at.....

Love the way everyone is so helpful on here....think everyones admirable for how supportive everyone is of each other, Its great!!!

xxxxx

 

[smooth]

You could really do with trying to do some market research to see how keen clients would be for the treatments you are talking about. If the feedback is good then go for it but if the feedback is poor then don't spend out on training just yet! Hope this helps

 

[smooth]

hi
i would look at semi permanent eye lashes, great earner and they need regular visits so that gives reg income..

can anyone just go to the show i manchester?? i would love to go, but thought you needed tickets? x

Yes, just register or sometimes the manufacturers will send out free tickets for you. Where about in St helens are you?

 

[beauty.bylauren]

hey nicky, if ur going to be doing tanning aswell maybe get into contact with dance studios performing arts schools and thearters in and around ur area and offer dicounted rates if the tax a fixed slot each week for all the staff e.c.t may sound strange but another spray tanner i know does tanning strip clubs and earns loads from it beacuse they are always regular and always more than a couple in one go. x

 

[nickynok]

You could really do with trying to do some market research to see how keen clients would be for the treatments you are talking about. If the feedback is good then go for it but if the feedback is poor then don't spend out on training just yet! Hope this helps

Tbh hon, the whole point of me adding new treatments is to try & bring in a new range of clientelle. My main bulk of clients at present is for hair, instead of beauty, so I want to try & bring in new clients that want beauty treatments....thus hopefully seeing what other treatments I do they may cross over!!!! I can totally see where ur coming from, but the clientelle is now so small theres very little point in asking them! xxx