Totally stuck...

[glitz and glam]

Hi all,

Im in need of a bit of help, and hope you can help!

I started an NSI course and am desperatly trying to find people to practise on. before i started the course i told my f&f what i was doing and had pleanty of people saying you can do my nails,ect. however now it comes down to it and i say im ready to do enhancements and will only be charging 10 for all models for the next few weeks. No one wants them done!!! it sucks,.
I guess everyone thought id be doing it for free although i did tell them from day 1 that there would be a charge. i would love to do them for 3 but i need to do lots of sets nd cant afford to keep replacing my kit.

I am designing leaflets ect and have sent lots of emails but dont know what to do other than that.

I knw that i have to do models to get up to a good standard and knew it was going to be hard , but this is driving me mad. a whole week and nothing!! Love acrylics though !!

TIA for any suggestions
Chauntelle

 

[angelina221]

How much does it actually cost you to do a set of nails? Sorry i don't do nails so have no idea. Maybe you could just get them to cover your costs while you are training. When i did my training for spray tanning i admit i didn't charge people i was practising on as i felt bad as i didn't feel competent enough to give them a good tan. My family would still give me money to cover the costs though. As i got a bit better i would charge to cover my costs and now everyone pays the going rate.
It's hard cos people think that if you are practising then they should get a free treatment. I admit that it's not that much for spray tanning and i probably only spent about £25-£30 on solution to practice and i felt that i should incur the costs as they were brave enough to let me do it-lol
Maybe you could just ask your family to cover costs for you.

 

[glitz and glam]

i am doing my family (some of them ) for free other for about five pounds. i am limited with family who can wear nails with their profession ect!! just a bit dishartened that friends who origanially asked me rather than me ask them dont seem to want to pay at all!!
in the long term i am running a biz and dont want to under value myself.

 

[angelnailz]

Hiya

I also did an NSI course and I have to say I didn't charge anyone a penny until I qualified. I felt if people were willing to give up there time and come along to the training centre to support me then i just wouldn't have felt right charging anything. I don't know about you but my sets of nails throughout training were FAR from perfect so for me I wouldn't have been happy taking money even to 'cover costs'. Just my personal opinion. I included the products I used throughout training in my start up costs, kept all my receipts and will be passing them onto my accountant and i believe I can deduct these from tax - so I don't think I`ve lost anything, just gained priceless experience that was much appreciated.

Karen x

 

[loubylou]

Do you have a local community centre where new mums etc go for a chat and cuppas,
ask if you can put up an advert in there,
these are the type of people who will be glad to have nails at a cheap price, hth :hug:

 

[glitz and glam]

Thanks for all your suggestions!
Yes there are quite a few mother and toddler groups actually but they break for easter next week. i have joined one of them. i think i will use the 2 weeks off to produce some 'introductory offers' leaflets and see if that generates any interest.

I am doing both my sisters nails this week(foc of course) and did a friends last week, although she seemed to compare how long i was taking to somebody who had been doing it years!!!! it kind of knocked my confidence because i no im slow anyway, but she does have a friend who has asked if i'll do her nails and said she would definately pay because shes had her nails done as a model before and always paid!

Just wanted to update you all and thankyou for your advice