Self Employed Treatment Pricing

[Beauty143]

Hello guys, I was wondering how other self employed colleagues here set treatment pricing. I rent a room in an existing salon and pay a weekly rate.

1. Do you set treatment pricing according to your qualifications and experience, location and other factors? I do not want to set pricing too low but also want to be competitive with other businesses in the area.

2. The room I am renting does not have any equipment and I am buying everything I need for treatments. Is it advisable to also invest in redecorating the room and paint the walls.

3. In the room renting contract/agreement, what would be a reasonable notice period for either myself or the salon owner to end the arrangement? I would like to have some security as I will be investing in all the equipment and products, and would like a reasonable period of time to look for alternative venue/room in other businesses, in case the salon owner wants me to leave.

4. I will have some of my products and equipment in the common area of the salon especially for nail treatments like nail polish. What precaution should I take to make sure my products and equipment are not used by other workers on my non-working days? Or shall I put my things away everyday at the end of my working day and then put them back on display the next day? Or would a cctv be a better option?

Thank you so much for your guidance and advice. I really appreciate it.

 

[TheDuchess]

Hi Beauty143 and welcome

You raise some interesting questions, my thoughts are as follows
1. Set pricing according to how much you want to earn in a year, you want to be well paid if you are busy and adequately paid if you are quiet. So work out what you need based on 5-6 clients a day and your assumption of what everyone will book. If you set your treatment prices too low you will struggle to raise them without alienating your regulars so you need to be sensible. Then be practical you don’t want people popping in for little bits, so you’ll need to upsell and cross sell your clients, turning them into your fans.

Don’t forget pricing can be used to deter custom you don’t want. I charge a lot for gel manis because I don’t really want the business. I still get a few enquiries so people must think I’m reassuringly expensive!

Yes there is a “going rate” for a treatment. In business terms you can build a good business out of being the cheapest or most luxurious, if you’re piggy in the middle it’s harder to find a point of difference and the competition is greatest. Ultimately you don’t want clients shopping around and deciding whether they want the best or cheapest service, you want them picking you for your USP which is about experience and perceived added value.

2. If you want to paint the walls etc you need a lease period of 3-5 years and renegotiate well in advance. That’s the best way to manage adequate notice. Otherwise ask your landlady to paint the room for you before you move in. Decorate and personalise just as any tenant does, by buying things you can take with you and maybe invest in a lamp which projects little star like pin pricks of light on the ceiling and walls, it will romantically conceal a multitude of ceiling sins, and invest in a cupboard to tidy away your stuff so the room doesn’t feel cluttered.

3. One way to manage notice is maybe to consider deposits. One month deposit = one month’s notice. 2 month’s deposit plus a month’s rent up front = 3 months notice, Ultimately concentrate on building a good relationship that works well for both of you. You won’t want to stay if your landlady is envious of your success or tries to steal your business by bad mouthing you, so I wouldn’t worry too much about notice. If your landlady wants to kick you out, she’ll do it and there’s not much you can do (it happens a lot) Sometimes it’s just business, they need the room and can earn more money using it than having you as a tenant, end of.

4. Regarding security for your stuff, ask your landlady for her thoughts and expectations. Leaving your products out on display with a pricing menu and your opening hours is good advertising, a locked cupboard is safer and neater. Borrowing is unlikely to cost you much more than the irritation. You can take photographs of your layout and see if things get moved as a starting point. Trust is earned.

It sounds like you’ve thought very carefully about how this will work and that’s a great starting point. Remember that being in business is rarely how you imagine it and you’ll need to be adaptable, don’t spend all your money up front, keep a fighting fund up your sleeve just in case you decide you hate something or need some money to fall back on. When I set up originally it was a bit of a shoestring operation with a lot of second hand kit. I gradually replaced equipment, focussing on one treatment a month to see if I could build the business I needed to justify investment. So I had a pedicure focus month, a manicure focus month and so on.

There’s a lot of mood setting you can do with piled up rolled towels, shells, flower petals and pasta bowls filled with raked sand and a single pebble etc. You get the idea. And buy a screen to pull in front of machines with cables.

Good luck