Student planning for mobile business. How to charge and profit goals?

[Missashhh]

So I noticed mobile seems to be pretty popular on SG (UK), but mobile salon services seem to be non-existent in my area in the US. I live in one of the most populated metro areas in my state, so i feel like this is a niche i can fill and hopefully capitalize on.

I have a name for my biz in mind, but since Im a student I still need to build up my stock. For the moment Im considering doing only Shellac and MAYBE pedicures. Ive selected Shellac for starters given the advice for it here on SG. Most salons around charge $30 for a Shellac manicure. How should I charge??

I am on a lease with my vehicle so i dont really want to run up mileage since i am already near my max...i was thinking of only working within a 5mile radius and adding in the charge for mileage at $.20cents/mile since that is what my car dealership will charge for overage. Is this fair and should i just add in a flat rate fee into my price? My confusion is what happens when I am within 5 mile radius, but I end up traveling 10miles to go to oppose end of the city and then still have to travel another 5 miles back home???

Do I charge what I want to be paid hourly, plus cost of product, plus cost of travel, plus what i want as profit? What would be a good goal for profit? Would it be easier to just charge $30, so I am still competitive with salons but offering the convenience of in-home treatment at seemingly no extra charge perceived by the customer? Remembering, there are virtually no mobile services in my area.

I will only be doing this part time..some evenings and weekends.

 

[Missashhh]

b ump

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[KHS]

So I noticed mobile seems to be pretty popular on SG (UK), but mobile salon services seem to be non-existent in my area in the US. I live in one of the most populated metro areas in my state, so i feel like this is a niche i can fill and hopefully capitalize on.

I have a name for my biz in mind, but since Im a student I still need to build up my stock. For the moment Im considering doing only Shellac and MAYBE pedicures. Ive selected Shellac for starters given the advice for it here on SG. Most salons around charge $30 for a Shellac manicure. How should I charge??

I am on a lease with my vehicle so i dont really want to run up mileage since i am already near my max...i was thinking of only working within a 5mile radius and adding in the charge for mileage at $.20cents/mile since that is what my car dealership will charge for overage. Is this fair and should i just add in a flat rate fee into my price? My confusion is what happens when I am within 5 mile radius, but I end up traveling 10miles to go to oppose end of the city and then still have to travel another 5 miles back home???

Do I charge what I want to be paid hourly, plus cost of product, plus cost of travel, plus what i want as profit? What would be a good goal for profit? Would it be easier to just charge $30, so I am still competitive with salons but offering the convenience of in-home treatment at seemingly no extra charge perceived by the customer? Remembering, there are virtually no mobile services in my area.

I will only be doing this part time..some evenings and weekends.

A 5 mile radius is,not a wide area, so unless you live in a built up area with lots of tower blocks, you may struggle to find clients. A good client base takes yrs,

As for travelling 10 miles while in your radius then another 5 home again...I'm.afraid that's the way it goes, you choose if you want to do it.

If it's a busy city or town and there are virtually no mobile services, maybe you need to ask yourself why?

When you 1st start mobile, you could go weeks with1 or 2 clients, 1 within your radius and 1, 5 miles from it.

A mobile round doesn't happen over night. It takes hard labour and graft



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[Missashhh]

A 5 mile radius is,not a wide area, so unless you live in a built up area with lots of tower blocks, you may struggle to find clients. A good client base takes yrs,

As for travelling 10 miles while in your radius then another 5 home again...I'm.afraid that's the way it goes, you choose if you want to do it.

If it's a busy city or town and there are virtually no mobile services, maybe you need to ask yourself why?

When you 1st start mobile, you could go weeks with1 or 2 clients, 1 within your radius and 1, 5 miles from it.

A mobile round doesn't happen over night. It takes hard labour and graft



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Thanks for your input but that wasn't exactly helpful :irked: Dont we all enter this industry with the understanding that clientele takes awhile to build..whether mobile or salon? Does anything worthwhile come easy?

As I mentioned in my post, I live in one of the most populated cities in my state. Its not NYC, but its Florida..where beach condos are plentiful and filled with retired NYCer's. There are, statistically, approximately 5,000 people per square mile in my city...a 5 mile radius will be a good position for starters, I believe.

I dont think mobile is common here because I dont think people have even had a thought of it. I never knew it existed until SG. If it DOES exist here it is unadvertised. But in my experience talking to people, they have never heard of it either but think it is a very good idea.


Now...if anyone has any advice or help with the questions I asked it would be greatly appreciated

 

[KHS]

Thanks for your input but that wasn't exactly helpful :irked: Dont we all enter this industry with the understanding that clientele takes awhile to build..whether mobile or salon? Does anything worthwhile come easy?

As I mentioned in my post, I live in one of the most populated cities in my state. Its not NYC, but its Florida..where beach condos are plentiful and filled with retired NYCer's. There are, statistically, approximately 5,000 people per square mile in my city...a 5 mile radius will be a good position for starters, I believe.

I dont think mobile is common here because I dont think people have even had a thought of it. I never knew it existed until SG. If it DOES exist here it is unadvertised. But in my experience talking to people, they have never heard of it either but think it is a very good idea.


Now...if anyone has any advice or help with the questions I asked it would be greatly appreciated

I took the time and pin pointed some of your concerns after you impatiently bumped the tread. Had I addressed ALL your questions and queries I'd if been here until the middle of next week! To come back with the reply you did, *shakes head* well...I wish you luck!

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[fluffy26]

I'm a mobile nail tech & beauty therapist & have been for over 13 years, its trial & error, in finding what works for you, I do anything within a 10 mile radius (after that I charge 40p a mile, or give the client the option of coming to me if it's a little too far!) after years of doing it I'm now in a position where I can make my clients location work for me & I do my best to try & book people in that day in a similar location, doesn't always work though!! 😬 one thing you have to take into account when being mobile is travel time, traffic, setting up, packing away, rebooking client in & then them paying you..... Then yapping for 10 minutes because they think you have no where else to be! ☺️ For prices I would stick with the average for your area, as you still have cost of products/petrol etc, maybe a little less if your still training!? I hope this helps! Good luck I hope you corner your market! 👍💋


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[GirlyGeek]

I took the time and pin pointed some of your concerns after you impatiently bumped the tread. Had I addressed ALL your questions and queries I'd if been here until the middle of next week! To come back with the reply you did, *shakes head* well...I wish you luck!

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Normally I'd totally agree with you - I hate people on here who don't take advice seriously and come back with attitude AND thread bumpers.

But I genuinely think in this case it was more crossed wires than anything - as it struck me as OP just thinking they'd already given enough info regarding target market etc. when in actuality because we live in a different country we don't really know how built up their area is in terms of customer base per mile etc. or money, age of customers etc.
***
I think the last sentence of your reply though Missashhh was rude! It discourages other posters from coming and giving you any advice as well. Any answer (whether it addresses one point or all) is useful and can give you a great insight.

You have to bare in mind, Missashhh that like you said - You are in US and majority of us aren't so we can only give you advice based on what WE know from our own country.

I live in a town with a population of 100,000 - it's not a particularly huge town and from where I live I can reach most of the populated areas in around 6-7 miles by car - and yet when I was mobile I struggled to fit in clients because, following on from KHS point - unless they are tower blocks or apartment buildings where lots of residents want services on the same day then a lot of your time is taken up by travel and set up.


In terms of your mileage - I haven't a clue how to help because I've never had any dealings with a car lease so find that very bemusing! I just used to have a set price for within 7 miles included in treatment price and then every mile outside of that was an extra X pence per mile.

In terms of what to charge - why not add up all of the costs of the service and see how close to $30 you are and then go from there. E.G you want to earn $9 an hour, $2 for petrol, $4 for profit, $5 for materials is $20 ... plus any money for tax contributions or any other factors ... lets call it a total of $25.

You could charge $25 to undercut the salons - or you could charge $35 for the convenience of going to their homes - and have extra profit.

What you need to look at is - is it really more convenient? Are there dozens of beauty parlours on every street offering shellac that your potential customers can easily access? Or is the nearest beauty parlour a good 2/3/4 mile away and a bit of a pain for parking?

If it's a trouble to go and get a shellac at a salon - then you can get away with charging $35 because it's easier and less time consuming for the customer so they appreciate it.

If it's super easy for them to walk around the corner and get a shellac at a salon then you're better off going for $25 - because they need that something to give them an incentive to not just walk around the corner.


Then you have to think about other factors too; How popular IS shellac in your area? Will there be enough demand for you to only offer shellac and one other treatment? And if everybody is offering shellac then what will you do [other than be mobile] to stand apart from the salons?

You also have to look at how many places locally DON'T use shellac but DO use the cheaper brands. If the salon next door to their house is doing gelish or something for $15 then why will they pay you $25 or $35 for shellac? Yeah sure, your product is superior - but will that matter to the customer, will they understand the difference between gelish and shellac?

(Gelish is an example. I am not a nail geek - It is the first name I pulled from my head. I don't know if gelish is cheaper or inferior or anything like that)

 

[GirlyGeek]

On a side note though; If there are no other mobile therapists and you think there IS a market - then go for it! As long as all the other factors are on your side as well then it could be a real smart move.

 

[Missashhh]

I took the time and pin pointed some of your concerns after you impatiently bumped the tread. Had I addressed ALL your questions and queries I'd if been here until the middle of next week! To come back with the reply you did, *shakes head* well...I wish you luck!

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No need to be hasty. Your post just wasn't helpful..re-read your post and look at it from a students point of view...it was very discouraging, If I wasn't a determined individual you could have talked me right out of starting mobile. Sorry, but I've had enough people try to talk me out of this career move..I understand that wasn't your intention, that's just how it came across. As GirlyGeek pointed out..I provided a lot of details about my area/goals so certain suggestions/points wouldn't be made or assumed that I hadn't already thought out, i.e. "are there enough people in your area?, 5 mile radius may not be enough",etc. I already considered those things in my original post.

Nothing personal..just a miscommunication I suppose. Sorry about that.

Also I didn't impatiently bump..I was told previously since I am in the US and different time zone, sometimes my post doesn't get seen depending on the time of day/night I post.. that's the only reason I bumped.

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[Missashhh]

Thanks for all your input GirlyGeek and for interjecting. I suppose it was rude, but I was just frustrated and felt the other post to be extrmely discouraging. My apologies for any disrespect felt by other Geeks on this forum.

You gave me some really good points to think on...I think I may just charge a flat rate and fit it into the pricing and see what number it lands me at once everything is totaled. If other salons are charging $30 I don't know if I should charge $35 simply because I will be a new nail tech graduate. Doesn't seem fair?...although Shellac is fairly easy.
Do you think I could justify $35 if I am a new grad BUT have my Shellac certification?
I do see this as trial and error..I suppose if the latter scenario is OK I could always start out high and come Down if need be.

There are numerous salons around, mainly chop shops, but I am thinking because of the large elderly demographic here being mobile may be successful regardless of the many other salons around... considering sometimes the elderly rely on rides from relatives, don't feel well enough to get out, or just should not be driving in the first place lol I do really love old people but my goodness I wonder what some of them are doing alone in a car with such heavy traffic! I would love to offer the convenience to them.

As a fresh nail grad I just feel Shellac would be an easy way to start.. but I am training with BioSculpture later this summer and, if being mobile turns out to be worth while, not only would I like to offer Bio enhancements but also pedicures. I've only seen a few threads on mobile pedis though, so I'm not sure how popular it would be .. not just for customers but also myself considering all the literal baggage that it would require lol

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