New To Mobile Therapy

[beautyseeker]

Hi everyone,

I have decided to work for myself as a mobile therapist and was wondering what advice you could give me, you know the definate must do's :biggrin: and must not do's :cry:. Also the best product range, there are so many, I just dont know where to start .

I was going to set up from home but my local council are charging £290 to apply for outline planning permission :grr:. Plus all ther other stuff you have to look at, like will your mortgage/house insurance allow it, risk assessments, etc. If anyone thinks all that is worth the hastle and money please let me know.

Thanks.

 

[tinkywinky]

I've been mobile for 7 years now, in four different counties!

Have had a small business in each, so here's my advice.

Do not spend hundreds initially on stock, get your business up and running and then buy stock from a good supplier or from your local wholesalers. Getting your clients is important at first through good advertising and promotion, then keeping them second is also as important. You can build your stock as required.

In the interim, get by with the basics from the suppliers - Sallys and Ellisons are a good place to start.

Have a minimum call out fee, eg £15 or so9metimes its not worth travelling out for.

Be careful and don't do visits to men when they are alone. In fact I never go to a man's house just to be on the safe side. Sorry to offend if I do, that's just my opinion.

Get yourself a good business name, register your details with the tax man :cry: and advertise well with a good price list.

Hope this helps, could provide more advice but my baby is screaming, better go! Good luck xx

 

[beautyseeker]

Hey Tinky Winky

Thanks for the advice. I was not keen on the idea of male clients (neither is my husband) anyway so I don't think I will bother with them. The only new equipment I am getting is a roller wax kit (did'nt want spilt wax in the car).

Good luck with the babe, mine is 13 now and going through the "terrible threes" for the second time in her life - oh joy.

:Love:

 

[tinkywinky]

good idea for roller wax, I have a wax heater & pot too, in case the roller sometimes drags on the clients skin and I have a double up then. I use clean and easee, it's good to have both just in case. Professional beauty offer good insurance if you haven't got any already. hth's xx

 

[beautyseeker]

Thanks, I had not thought of that but will have to let the wax in the pot go down a bit as its a bit full just now. I went with The Guild of Beauty Therapists (my old college recommends it) for my insurance, they have been v. helpful and alway reply to my queries so we shall see how it goes for now. :green:

 

[oey]

Hiya

Do you defintely need planning permission to use one of your rooms at home to do treatments in?

I know there are plenty of geeks on here that work from home and cant recall them mentioning that they had to have outline or full planning permission to do this.

What treatments are you planning on doing?

 

[BABSann]

Ok my recommendations for being mobile are as follows..firstly make sure you have some sort of protection,i.e plastic sheeting for clients carpets,take an extension lead so you can choose where to put your couch and waxpot,not have the decision made for you because the only sockets free are under the stairs.

Always have a check list and check it off everytime you go out for your days work,its all too easy to run out of something and you will look unprofessional asking for tissues or the like.

Take your own bin or just a bin bag,clients dont want your rubbish,take a mag light in case of bad lighting when waxing,remember clients homes can be quite dark.

Take matching white towels(whites good as you can boil or wash at high temperatures,also matching makes things look even more professional.

Tupperwear box for sterilised tweezers etc.

B&Q do fab tool boxes on wheels which are really good for transportation and save us from carrying anymore than we absolutely have to.

Last thing I would say is make sure that you have the correct equipment for the job,no clients ironing boards for manicures or dining room tables for massage/facialWe are professionals that want to keep our standards up.

I know someone else said about only using cheap and cheerful brands but please do be careful of this,it can actually prove non cost effective,reason being is you end up having to buy twice.For example if you buy a strictly professional range for facials,these are not well known products,and it would be hard to charge a reasonable price or sell the treatment.Then you will be in a position of having dead stock,and feel like you want to go a bit more upmarket,which costs again.

I'm only saying this as I did it myself, years ago now.I couldn't charge anywhere near what I wanted because of my products,I didn't even have a particularly good, well known manicure/pedi brand....believe me,it sells if you have good,professional products that people have heard of,and it's great when advertising as you can use professional logos.

I have spent as much as I can afford,without breaking the bank,but I am proud of my products and they are well known and worth every penny I charge.

Anyway,insurance and the like have already been mentioned so hope some of this in fo helps.Good luck.:hug:

 

[beautyseeker]

Hiya

Do you defintely need planning permission to use one of your rooms at home to do treatments in?

I know there are plenty of geeks on here that work from home and cant recall them mentioning that they had to have outline or full planning permission to do this.

What treatments are you planning on doing?

Yes, my insurance company said to check as some council's do. I know that in Edinburgh you dont need it, but in Fife, where I live, you do. So unfair, but what can you do about it. Its just another way of the council making money for nothing.

Just the usual treatments, man's, ped's, facials, waxing, tinting, massage, nothing out of the ordinary. I only need the permission because I will be having clients comming to the house and possibly taking up a parking space, which is silly as I live in a village, which does not have a through road, and there is tonns of parking space. So I guess I will have to put up or shut up as they say.

 

[beautyseeker]

Ok my recommendations for being mobile are as follows..firstly make sure you have some sort of protection,i.e plastic sheeting for clients carpets,take an extension lead so you can choose where to put your couch and waxpot,not have the decision made for you because the only sockets free are under the stairs.

Always have a check list and check it off everytime you go out for your days work,its all too easy to run out of something and you will look unprofessional asking for tissues or the like.

Take your own bin or just a bin bag,clients dont want your rubbish,take a mag light in case of bad lighting when waxing,remember clients homes can be quite dark.

Take matching white towels(whites good as you can boil or wash at high temperatures,also matching makes things look even more professional.

Tupperwear box for sterilised tweezers etc.

B&Q do fab tool boxes on wheels which are really good for transportation and save us from carrying anymore than we absolutely have to.

Last thing I would say is make sure that you have the correct equipment for the job,no clients ironing boards for manicures or dining room tables for massage/facialWe are professionals that want to keep our standards up.

I know someone else said about only using cheap and cheerful brands but please do be careful of this,it can actually prove non cost effective,reason being is you end up having to buy twice.For example if you buy a strictly professional range for facials,these are not well known products,and it would be hard to charge a reasonable price or sell the treatment.Then you will be in a position of having dead stock,and feel like you want to go a bit more upmarket,which costs again.

I'm only saying this as I did it myself years ago now,I couldn't charge anywhere near what I wanted because of my products,I didn't even have a particularly good well known manicure/pedi brand....believe me,it sells if you have good,professional prices that people have heard of,and it's great when advertising as you can use professional logos.

I have spent as much as I can afford,without breaking the bank,but I am proud of my products and they are well knows and worth every penny I charge.

Anyway,insurance and the like have already been mentioned so hope some of this in fo helps.Good luck.:hug:

Thanks, that's v. helpful . The only thing's I need to get are a mag lamp and try to sort out a product line, there are just so many to choose from. I have contacted several companies now and am just waiting for replies and samples. :hug: Thanks again.

 

[tinkywinky]

agree on the facial range thing, other items eg manicure kits are OK from suppliers, But invest in the best for facials.xx

 

[beautyseeker]

A friend of mine, who now runs her own salon using Dermalogica (which I could afford that:irked used to use Natures Way when she was mobile and has some left over and is willing to sell it to me (dont know how much for yet as she is pricing it up). She said her client's liked it (she had loads of clients who are all now at her salon) and she never had any probs. The only thing she did not like about it was the face creams are in pots rather than tubes which is not very hygenic. I have a few more to explore so as they say "onwards and upwards". :hug: