Newly qualified - what to do next? Advice please!!

[Rene]

Hi all. I am new to this site. I have recently finished my foundation course with CND and also had 121 in sculptured nails.
I have had so far 10 clients who have all been happy with the results. These have all been family and friends who I have not charged.
I am planning to carry on doing free nails until end of December to gain more experience but would like to start earning money from January.
Where do I go next?? Mobile or salon? How much do I charge? I would prefer to be in a salon, but I am not sure if I could get into a salon with this level of experience.
Any advice or comments would be appreciated.... Thanks

 

[NoLimitNails]

NO MORE FREE NAILS HUN:lol::lol::lol:

Seriously why free?? you are using products on them, and as CND is a great course and you are qualified (I even charged my second set I done, charged for products, and then slowly increased everytime I had been yo a training night, etc. just saying now it's xx more, as I'm more qualified, not much of an increase, sometimes just GBP2,but enough to keep my prices rising) then certainly you can start charging at least a symbolic amount!! You are qualified now, so if you don't feel secure charging full price now, charge for products etc. Otherwise you'll never gonna start earning money, s if they have had some for free, they will stil want that, no matter if it's family or friends, actually they are often the worst...
I think most people on here will agree, that no good is coming out of doing any service for free.

Please do a search on that topic on here, as there's some really valuable advice on that.

Otherwise, is there any salons you can go talk to, maybe work for student wage for a time to gain experience, and then you need to find out what you really want to do with this, not everybody suits mobile, not everybody suits being on their own, or self employed. Set some goals, and work towards them...

Hope this helped just a bit...
Just reread, have you passed your foundation, or just training to, if just training, please still charge, but then training rates hun xx

 

[shedunlop]

Maybe free when you are training but you have your certificate now so you should start charging. Obviously you need to decide about family and friends but they should at least cover the costs of product used.

This is a tricky period, for everyone, we have all been there. You need to decide if your nails look good and if they stay on. If you have people returning for infills with the nails still intact with little lifting then you should be charging full price now!

The problem with undercharging is that decent clients will wonder what is wrong with you or the nails you produce. You will gather a lot of people looking for something for nothing and it is hard to increase prices with them.

Build your client base slowly with good, strong and reliable clients who will pay for a good set of nails.

As for salons, I have always worked alone, but a salon will give you a trade test at interview and will judge from your work if they will take you on or not. They may, however, pay you less due to your inexperience so it is up to you to judge if you want to be your own boss or work for less in a salon. If you intend to work for yourself then I would go it alone now and invest in some further training at regular intervals, subscribe to Scratch Magazine and read everything you can on here!

 

[geeg]

How about renting a chair and doing it on your own? That is how to make the most money. Mobile I wouldn't personally touch ... Too HARD work.

You have had the best start with your training and of course will regularly go on with that as and when you need it .... often working in a salon erodes the good start you have had as not every salon will have the standards that you have been taught and may insist that you cut corners .. it happens allot sadly.

 

[Rene]

Thank you all for your advice. You are right, I should at least charge the minimum to cover the cost of the products. I will probably try and rent a chair in salon. Thats what I always wanted. I just thought I ask you, I wasnt sure if I could do that as newly qualified. I def have a look round now. So thanks again.

xxxxxx