No clients

[dudeymel]

I have been doing nails for 3 months now and when I first started I advertised treatments for 5 pound to cover my costs and I was inundated with appointments, then I changed my prices to 10 pounds and I had quite a few for a month but now they've gradually dwindled out and I have 1 regular client that comes for a 10 pound treatment every 2 weeks. I know my nails haven't been brilliant because I'm just learning and I've only ever had 1 person come back for infills and I know it's because my nails aren't lasting. I'm doing bio sculpture training next month and I'm trained with ASP and OPI. It's just really disheartening as how am I supposed to get better if I have no one to practice on I've got a facebook page that I regularly update with pics of the nails I've done, mostly on myself now but still no interest, not even from my friends because a lot of the work i've done on them hasn't lasted and I'm too embaressed to ask them . I dread to think what would hapen if I actually put my prices up to full cost, I'd end up paying myself to do my own nails and lose my 1 client who doesnt even want to pay a tenner for a soak off!!.

 

[PinkRobyn]

I know how you feel, business was like that for me at first, and slowly but surely its picking up. I know it will for you too so hang in there. Have more confidence in your work and ability
When you have time, practice your technique and learn about new ones while waiting for walk ins. Maybe market yourself a little more. Put a sign outside the shop promoting a couple of services that you offer, pass out business cards and flyers everywhere you go when you can.
As far as pricing, its up to you, just know that your time, knowledge and expertise are worth it, don't sell yourself short ;-)
Things will pick up, just remember that practice makes perfect.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using SalonGeek

 

[tjmadmum]

I have been doing an offer on nails as I am recently new too. Basically I offer a full set and infills 2 weeks later for £12. (Also, at the moment I charge a nominal fee for a soak off). It's not ideal as I don't earn anything but I see it as a long term investment. This just about covers my costs and sometimes people return and sometimes they don't. Its great when they do as I can then see how much lift they have and it gives me the chance to practice. I have a leaflet that I hand out around my local area explaining that I am looking for case studies, that I am not the best (yet! lol) and some basic background info on me, and I get lots of enquiries. I also advertise on Gumtree and on my FB page. From what I am learning it takes a long time to perfect so I am going to continue offering my nails at this price so I gain the experience. Just an idea you could try? I hope this helps and I wish you all the luck, let me know how it goes xxx

 

[dudeymel]

thanks for the advice guys, I only charge so low becuase I know my nails aren't the best but a lot of people say I need to up my prices and not sell myself short but then I'll just have a lot of people coming back complaining because they've paid full price for a set that did not last but at the same time I'm getting nothing from charging £10 so I feel like I don't know what to do for the best. I work mobile at the min and I don't rely on the money as I have a full time job so luckily I'm not desperate but I would have loved for it to take off enough to do it full time. I'm going to go round some hairdressers and nail salons tomorrow and ask them if they would be willing to let me work in a little corner for a few weeks and they can advertise me as a trainee for say £15 and i'll supply all my own products and they get say £5 from every customer, so really they'll get money for nothing xx

 

[PixieBeauty]

Firstly, do you have a nail trainer? If not invest in one, £50 on eBay & you can do as many sets as your time allows - no excuses then.

Secondly, you're getting nowhere fast if you're not learning from each set. You need to take one or two people (if you can't get any more) and get a deal going with them. They pay you an agreed price & you do their nails. Find out why they don't last, how long do they last, what's the problem?? You need someone's help as a model. Advertise on gumtree for models you need to work with you. I did this & charged £25 a set, £15 infills & genuine repairs inbetween infills I did for free as it helped me to learn & kept the client onside.

You need to tackle this head on or you won't be moving forward.

Also you'll improve massively when you go on further training. So take it one step at a time, break down your problems into individual areas to work on, & get some decent models xxx

 

[Chrisole]

I do not want this to sound rude or anything but before worrying about getting clients you should worry about getting better at your job since you do say the nails you do don't last, I am still new at this also and i also don't really have much clients other then friends or family but i still practice everyday and try to figure out what i do wrong when i do something wrong before moving along. So you need to practice more, if not on people then a practice hand or finger if you can not afford the hand. If you do not have confidence in what you make then other people will not have confidence in you either, so try to fix you non lasting nails first and slowly clients will come.

 

[dudeymel]

I definately need more practice and training but I think my problem is I don't know what I'm doing that makes them not last as to the best of my knowledge I'm doing everything I should be and as I'm doing every new set I don't know what to do different x

 

[lila22]

Great advice already given, I also felt the same and was told just practice practice practice, if no one free do your own hand, you can take as long as you like and get it just right, I do bio sculpture you will love it but you will need practice. Good luck and dont be too hard on yourself x x

 

[Bo]

Nail educator extraordinaire Fingernail Fixer said at first she had a hard time with smile lines. Her mentor told her to do 50 tips with smile lines every night! Watch her videos on you tube along with Young nails to see how the masters do it.

 

[PixieBeauty]

I definately need more practice and training but I think my problem is I don't know what I'm doing that makes them not last as to the best of my knowledge I'm doing everything I should be and as I'm doing every new set I don't know what to do different x

Ok then let's try identify the problem hon, cos till you know what's wrong I guess you don't know how to improve.

Tell us a bit more about your nails. Answer these questions & it'll help us:

- Are you happy with them once you've done them? If not why not, what's wrong with them
- do they last on your nails?
- what's the first thing to go wrong, chipping or lifting? If lifting, where does it occur?
- how soon till the nails start to 'come off'
- are you meticulous with your prep?

We are here to help xx

 

[PixieBeauty]

There's a bargain nail trainer on eBay at the moment hon just to let you know, in case you do decide to get one xx

 

[Christine Mary]

I think you could do with a one to one training session with your product provider.
It's one thing practicing, but you really need to be practicing the correct methods, I know from experience how easy it is to slip in to bad habits, and before long your application is way off the mark, so in effect your just practicing how to do inferior nails!

As suggested, a nail trainer will help, but it's no substitute for real hands.

I'm just assuming your offering enhancements here, but if so, why not try and add another service in the meantime to increase revenue whilst you improve on your enhancement technique? Possibly shellac or luxury manicures? Also, don't charge rock bottom prices for these, there's a well known saying, if you want more work put your prices up.

Consistent persistency, and you'll get there, nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

 

[nailomania]

Hello
I don’t really understand why anyone would pay for nails not good?
Think a nailtrainer is the best option to training doing 5 exactly identical nails on, over and over again. The hand will not put U down in anyway. And when U feeling confident enough to take on clients U can also ask for the money without selling your time and hard work short. I think maybe I did about 200 nailset on my trainer before I even made nails on my family.
And to train on your own hands is a splendid idea it is really hard work doing great nails on yourself, and when U do nice durable nails on yourself U knew , now I’m worth the money and U can sell your nails with head held up high!! GOOD LUCK with your training!!

 

[dudeymel]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I think I have just got into bad habits and now I'm just learning to do things wrong but I don't think the company I trained with have reps that can come out. They have a helpline but thats no good if I need someone to sit and watch me. I've got my bio sculpt conversion nxt month so that will be extra training and I'm hoping to convert to CND but they keep telling me theres dates soon to be added but they don't appear but I know they have one to one training so I can get that aswell. I've been round hairdressers and tanning shops today and I've got 3 meetings next week to go over my idea of setting myself up in a corner, charging £15 a full set using all my own products and the owner gets £5 for every client I have so its extra revenue for them and practice for me, I won't make any money off it but I don't mind as I'm just desperate to be better.

In regards to the questions :

- Are you happy with them once you've done them? If not why not, what's wrong with them I'm rarely happy with them but they are not horrific and the client always says they are lovely. I can often see that with natural tips ive not buffed the corners of the tip properly or I've got some acrylic on the skin but they usually leave me looking reasonable but then they must just start to lift and come off
- do they last on your nails? I don't wear extensions on my own nails because I tend to catch them constantly with my file or get acrylic stuck on them and they look a mess and plus I stuggle to file with my opposite hand but I always wear gel polish with a coat of extension gel over the top because my nailsare thin and they look nice and neat but I do still catch them with the file so they end up a mess
- what's the first thing to go wrong, chipping or lifting? If lifting, where does it occur? Its usually lifting and its mostly the sides, I've not had anyone say theyve chipped but then Ive not heard back from most people
- how soon till the nails start to 'come off' I'm not sure to be honest but not long after becuase they usually say they'll see me in 2 wks for infills but they must all come off before then
- are you meticulous with your prep? I do everything the best way I know how, I push back the eponychiums and get as much of the cuticle off as possible, sometimes theres the bits in the corners that just will not come off and I could scratch at them all day with no luck. I do often get air bubbles under the nail but I reapply and reapply and it still happens but thats the kind of thing where I can be told how to do it but unless someones sat next to me teaching me I don't know how to fix it. Ive bought some non buff natural nails but im wary of using them because they dont have the stop ridge so I think the glue will probabl run all down the nail but i'll give them a go tonight but also they are still quite thick so are they really not buffed at all??? x

 

[dudeymel]

Essential Nails Trainer Hand Plus Extras !! | eBay

is this the nail trainer? can you use acrylic on it and if so is does the acetone to remove them not damage the hand? x

 

[Chrisole]

When you say you get bubbles under the nail you mean under the tip? if that is the case you need to use more resin.
if the main problem is lifting from the sides the 2 basic problem will be you are not doing a very good job of cleaning the sides and/or your product runs to the sides.
Try to do a more thorough prep, there are tons of threads here talking about prep also many videos on youtube about it, those can help you with it.
The parts you say that don't seem to come off, have you tried using a cuticle softener or remover with them ?that might make them easier to get off?
If your product runs to the sides this is something that only practice can solve.

 

[PixieBeauty]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I think I have just got into bad habits and now I'm just learning to do things wrong but I don't think the company I trained with have reps that can come out. They have a helpline but thats no good if I need someone to sit and watch me. I've got my bio sculpt conversion nxt month so that will be extra training and I'm hoping to convert to CND but they keep telling me theres dates soon to be added but they don't appear but I know they have one to one training so I can get that aswell. I've been round hairdressers and tanning shops today and I've got 3 meetings next week to go over my idea of setting myself up in a corner, charging £15 a full set using all my own products and the owner gets £5 for every client I have so its extra revenue for them and practice for me, I won't make any money off it but I don't mind as I'm just desperate to be better.

In regards to the questions :

- Are you happy with them once you've done them? If not why not, what's wrong with them I'm rarely happy with them but they are not horrific and the client always says they are lovely. I can often see that with natural tips ive not buffed the corners of the tip properly or I've got some acrylic on the skin but they usually leave me looking reasonable but then they must just start to lift and come off
- do they last on your nails? I don't wear extensions on my own nails because I tend to catch them constantly with my file or get acrylic stuck on them and they look a mess and plus I stuggle to file with my opposite hand but I always wear gel polish with a coat of extension gel over the top because my nailsare thin and they look nice and neat but I do still catch them with the file so they end up a mess
- what's the first thing to go wrong, chipping or lifting? If lifting, where does it occur? Its usually lifting and its mostly the sides, I've not had anyone say theyve chipped but then Ive not heard back from most people
- how soon till the nails start to 'come off' I'm not sure to be honest but not long after becuase they usually say they'll see me in 2 wks for infills but they must all come off before then
- are you meticulous with your prep? I do everything the best way I know how, I push back the eponychiums and get as much of the cuticle off as possible, sometimes theres the bits in the corners that just will not come off and I could scratch at them all day with no luck. I do often get air bubbles under the nail but I reapply and reapply and it still happens but thats the kind of thing where I can be told how to do it but unless someones sat next to me teaching me I don't know how to fix it. Ive bought some non buff natural nails but im wary of using them because they dont have the stop ridge so I think the glue will probabl run all down the nail but i'll give them a go tonight but also they are still quite thick so are they really not buffed at all??? x

Hiya - yes that's the sort of thing I'm talking about, the nail trainer above. You cant soak off the acrylic it comes with changeable little practice nails that you can remove once you've done your nail.


OK I'm going to try address everything you've said, one point at a time.

With the tips, you need to thin them out before you apply them (with a file), so they are much easier to blend. Especially the little 'ears' or corners. Then once you've got your tips glued on, you need to gently blend over the smile line till it disappears.

If your product (acrylic) touches the skin at ALL, you will get lifting almost immediately. This is because the oil in the skin in contaminating the product & it will not last on the nails.

Are you using cuticle eraser or doing dry cuticle prep? a lot of new techs struggle with perfect prep - if you leave any cuticle on the nail you will encounter lifting, same reasons as above. See this excellent video to find out about using products and proper prep Removing Cuticle....the real cuticle - YouTube

Air bubbles - do you mean under the tip? If you are not using the correct sized tip you will get bubbles, or if you're using a rubbish glue! But mainly, probably not using the correct tip. They not only have to fit the correct width, they have to have the right depth of c curve. If you have a tip with a very deep c curve on a flat nail, it will ping off & take the acrylic with it within days I imagine. You need to use a brand that give you a variety of tips to choose from (I like CND tips). It's fine using well-less tips just make sure you don't overload with glue.

I know there is a LOT to take in, and you are going for further training soon, but I thoroughly recommend reading every single word of Geeg's tutorials (go to Articles at the top of the page) and she discusses prep, brush control etc. Also - buy her Nailclass book. £15 on Amazon and you will learn so much from there. Plus check out more of Fingernailfixer's videos on youtube (same person as I posted above) she has fab advice on l&p and gel.

Xx

 

[PixieBeauty]

Oh and I forgot to ask - are you using a dehydrator to prep the nail, such as scrubfresh? Xx

 

[dudeymel]

hiya, sorry for the late reply I've been a busy bee. Ive bought my hand trainer off ebay, I missed out on 3 and then found one which had been misspelt so it didn't come up in the search engine so I got it quite cheap so I'll be practicing non stop! I've also asked a local nail technician to give me extra training so ive got an appointment with her on friday but I'm going to see if I can find someone who is trained in CND for extra training. I have a friend who pays £40 for a full set of CND acrylics and her technician is fully booked and I've seen the nails and they are lovely so it has inspired me! x