Starting out in the buisness?? Need advise please

[Karen Minx]

Im not a working tech just yet has i've not long passed my foundation course with CND and im still waiting to do my CreativeSpa day which will be next month.
I have recently decided that i cannot really afford to give up my day job and i dont think i want to just yet. Has i work 8.00-4.00 mon-fri, i am thinking of just offering Natural Nail services on a saturday.
Due to the fact that tipping, pinks and whites, and rebalancing the pink and whites takes me so long and the fact that im not going to be available in the week for tip repairs ect, i am thinking of just offering CreativeSpa Manicures, Pedicures, Polishes and Natural Nail Overlays using all CND products just for the time being.
My questions are...

Do you think this could work?
Will i be qualified enough to offer Manicures/Pedicures with the CreativeSpa cert? Or will i need a more in deph course like the CND Nails Naturally course/or a college course?

Also i will be Home-Based and i know there are a couple of army wifes around here who also do nails (but not on my camp), so i need to try and make myself stand out from the rest and i need a really good buisness name which reflects what i am going to offer and not lead people to think i do full p&w enhancements. I want a buisness name which includes 'Natural' or 'Polished' so any idea's welcome!
I also want to offer a Nail Biters program but have no idea how to word it in my price list or how long it should take before the client will have a decent length of natural nail? Again any ideas welcome. :green:

 

[spn01]

Im not a working tech just yet has i've not long passed my foundation course with CND and im still waiting to do my CreativeSpa day which will be next month.
I have recently decided that i cannot really afford to give up my day job and i dont think i want to just yet. Has i work 8.00-4.00 mon-fri, i am thinking of just offering Natural Nail services on a saturday.
Due to the fact that tipping, pinks and whites, and rebalancing the pink and whites takes me so long and the fact that im not going to be available in the week for tip repairs ect, i am thinking of just offering CreativeSpa Manicures, Pedicures, Polishes and Natural Nail Overlays using all CND products just for the time being.
You have invested in the CND foundation programme, why not continue working on your skills in the weekend. surely if a client is unfortunate to have done damage an require a repair, it should take no more than 15mins and you could do it in the evening (for the sake of good customer relations and building you business and name - all in the name of service) and for the few clients that you would have you would not have to work each evening.
The best way to get quicker and better at doing enhancements is to do them and practice on real people.
My questions are...

Do you think this could work?
Will i be qualified enough to offer Manicures/Pedicures with the CreativeSpa cert? Or will i need a more in deph course like the CND Nails Naturally course/or a college course?

Also i will be Home-Based and i know there are a couple of army wifes around here who also do nails (but not on my camp), so i need to try and make myself stand out from the rest - my advise it do really good nails, offer the epitome of service and be a full service nail technician, enhancements and natural nail care, a business name is catchy but word of mouth and the walking billboards - your clients nails are your best advertisement. and i need a really good buisness name which reflects what i am going to offer and not lead people to think i do full p&w enhancements. I want a buisness name which includes 'Natural' or 'Polished' so any idea's welcome! how about "Simply Polished"
I also want to offer a Nail Biters program but have no idea how to word it in my price list or how long it should take before the client will have a decent length of natural nail? Again any ideas welcome. :green:

I do not offer a Nail Biters Programme, however I do have a foot note under my enhancement menu "nail biters are most welcome, I look forward to transforming your hands and nails"

I advise, work on your nail enhancements skills, do your CND mani/pedi course, be prepared to practice and work hard at building your business in the weekend, the rewards will be so worth the effort.

 

[Karen Minx]

I do not offer a Nail Biters Programme, however I do have a foot note under my enhancement menu "nail biters are most welcome, I look forward to transforming your hands and nails"

I advise, work on your nail enhancements skills, do your CND mani/pedi course, be prepared to practice and work hard at building your business in the weekend, the rewards will be so worth the effort.

Thankyou for your reply Andrea the thing is that a repair would take me ages... alot more than 15 mins! I dont know how to sculpt a repair yet so i have to do it with a tip still. I still do my friend's nails once a fortnight, free of charge, and have been since my foundation. She was my model for the foundation and i kept doing her nails for the practice. She would break her nails and i would repair them and they took ages. She now has NNO using just pink powder and hardly ever breaks anymore but i gave her an infill last week (my first ever infil without a p&w rebalance) and they still took about 3 hrs! :cry:
She has been a little gem to me but her nails are not easy to tackle, she has very short stiff fingers, short nail beds and they grow mega fast! Her nails where almost non existant before i started doing them. I can remember it took me an hour to prep them at my first class because her cuticles were so overgrown and the tutor had to help me do the other hand! :lol: Maybe i should have a change and look for a different model? I have thought about it and think its about time i started charging her has i've had to replace my bottle of Retention and pink powder. I just feel tight doing so because she has been a little gem to me and a loyal model.

Love the 'Simply Polished' name btw. I had a browse last night for ideas and this one i did write down along with 'Perfectly Polished' I've just got to find out and make sure there isn't any in my area with theses names.

 

[julesgems]

Thankyou for your reply Andrea the thing is that a repair would take me ages... alot more than 15 mins! I dont know how to sculpt a repair yet so i have to do it with a tip still. I still do my friend's nails once a fortnight, free of charge, and have been since my foundation. She was my model for the foundation and i kept doing her nails for the practice. She would break her nails and i would repair them and they took ages. She now has NNO using just pink powder and hardly ever breaks anymore but i gave her an infill last week (my first ever infil without a p&w rebalance) and they still took about 3 hrs! :cry:
She has been a little gem to me but her nails are not easy to tackle, she has very short stiff fingers, short nail beds and they grow mega fast! Her nails where almost non existant before i started doing them. I can remember it took me an hour to prep them at my first class because her cuticles were so overgrown and the tutor had to help me do the other hand! :lol: Maybe i should have a change and look for a different model? I have thought about it and think its about time i started charging her has i've had to replace my bottle of Retention and pink powder. I just feel tight doing so because she has been a little gem to me and a loyal model.

Love the 'Simply Polished' name btw. I had a browse last night for ideas and this one i did write down along with 'Perfectly Polished' I've just got to find out and make sure there isn't any in my area with theses names.

Hi

Is there any way you can work mon-thurs 8-5 therefore freeing up 2 days per week to do nails? This would help give you more practice time for your acrylic nails.:hug:

I am liking "perfectly polished"!

 

[Karen Minx]

Hi

Is there any way you can work mon-thurs 8-5 therefore freeing up 2 days per week to do nails? This would help give you more practice time for your acrylic nails.:hug:

I am liking "perfectly polished"!

Nope absolutely not my boss would never allow it! I have just been premoted to Supervisor so they need me on site mon - fri and the hours stated above.
I like 'Perfectly Polished' too and cannot decide between the two...'Simply Polished' or 'Perfectly Polished'
Thanks for your imput :hug:

 

[spn01]

Karen, I know we can't give up our full time jobs as we have bills to pay, but sometimes we just have to push ourselves that little bit extra to get through.
I use to work 7am - 7pm Monday-Friday (ok on Fridays 5pm - 7pm was drinking :lol in my accountancy job. I worked doing nails on Saturdays and Sundays (only 1 client per day - as they use to take me sooooo long) I had a grand total of 4 clients, some were friends and all got charged a nominal fee to cover product and a little bit of my time. I appreciated them helping me and they also appreciated the lower fee. I only ever did "free" nails on my mother.
I am so glad I stuck with it and was determined to succeed. I eventually became quicker and was able to fit in more clients, so left my accounting job and worked part-time flexible hours in an engineering business as a fitter, turner, welder (now thats a story to tell over a few drinks:lol while I built up my nails business. Now I have a successful salon and educate - love what I do and really encourage you to stick with it and work through the tough times as it is such a rewarding career.

There is an abundance of support on this site, and a 1 on 1 with your educator sounds like it would be a great investment.

 

[geeg]

I think it would be an absolute shame to not concentrate on the enhancement side and I don't think offering just manicures and pedicures will give you a business to be frank it will be a little something on the side. If that is what you decide to do, then you need to take a manicuring class such as 'Nails Naturally'. You can't offer your services as an expert manicurist without it and you will be essentially manicuring 'blind' with no understanding.

Perfectly Polished was my suggestion and I think it says it all. Simply Polished doesn't do it for me. Thing is, you have to live up to the name!!

If you do not buckle down and perfect your enhancement skills, you will never get them at all and you will loose it entirely, which would be a great shame after doing the course, in my opinion.

 

[Nail Envi]

I know exactly where you are coming from, but if nails is what you really want to do, then you must be prepared to commit your time and energy. I am also new to nails, I'm almost finished my college course, and I am also hoping to do the CND conversion courses very soon, but I have realised that the only way to improve at doing nails is to get plenty of practice. I work full time and have a 40 minute journey to work, so I leave home at 7.30am and return at 5.40p.m, but for the last 3-4 weeks I have been working every day, then having a client/friend at 7p.m. for a nail enhancement, these are still taking me just over 2 hours so I'm not getting finished until after 9p.m., last Friday I had 2 people, one at 6pm and one at 8pm, I also had one client on Sat but Sunday was completely free and a well earned rest. As you can imagine I am feeling the strain, but I am so determined that this is what I want to do, I know that I've got to put in this extra effort and hopefully in the future I will feel confident enough to go part time in my current job and set up my own business for the other days, then the hard work will all have been worhtwhile! Just keep at it as I'm sure one day we will reap the rewards for all the hard work BTW I think perfectly polished sounds fab, if you only feel you want to offer natural nail treatments at this stage then you should go with how you feel, it will enable you to start to build up a good client base but keep practising nail enhancements and maybe one day in the future you will feel ready to offer that too. Good luck.

 

[Karen Minx]

Wow thanks for all your replys, this has given me the incentive to buckle down and work harder to pefect my skills i've already learnt and to get my timings down. Even if i have to give up my free time to do it, which is a bit spooky has this is exactly what my Husband said to me this morning! Thats probably my main problem... i enjoy my free time too much, there's nothing better than kicking off your work shoes at the end of the day, sticking your slippers on and chilling with a brew! :lol:

Its also good to know im not the only one who is having to do this part time for the time being and to know you can be successful if you really try hard at it.

I think it would be an absolute shame to not concentrate on the enhancement side and I don't think offering just manicures and pedicures will give you a business to be frank it will be a little something on the side. If that is what you decide to do, then you need to take a manicuring class such as 'Nails Naturally'. You can't offer your services as an expert manicurist without it and you will be essentially manicuring 'blind' with no understanding.

Perfectly Polished was my suggestion and I think it says it all. Simply Polished doesn't do it for me. Thing is, you have to live up to the name!!

If you do not buckle down and perfect your enhancement skills, you will never get them at all and you will loose it entirely, which would be a great shame after doing the course, in my opinion.

Thankyou for your response to my question geeg. :hug:
I am a little confussed thou has to what i will get out of the CreativeSpa course if im not going to be qaulified to offer a manicure & pedicure treatment? I have been considering taking another class which teaches the whole upper arm/lower leg anatomy, but will i be qaulified to offer a basic mani/pedi?

I have started to regret my choice of course now if im not going to get nothing out of it except product knowledge. I think the Brisa course would of been a better choice for me.

Im loving 'Perfectly Polished' and i have decided to use this name. :green: