Thank you ladies!
As of yet, I can't afford an assistant. I'm not consistently busy enough. So I would be breaking away for about 5 min (maybe less). The problem I'm having is that while I'm far from fully booked, the in demand times (which for me are week day evenings and Saturday) my regulars have a hard time getting in.
I was thinking of doing this before I'm ready to apply polish, Gelish or otherwise finish the last client I'm working on. They could wash their hands and put on jewelry. If it's normal polish, take out keys, wallet, etc.
This could be a 'way too far out there idea' but you are saying that your problem lays with the 'in demand' times but your 'quiet/not crazily busy/not fully booked' at other times.....could you cut an hour off another day or 2 (say open an hour later or something) and add on that hour to your 'in demand' times instead of doing this idea of breaking away from your clients?
So if you work Mon thru to Sat and you open every day at 9 and close at 5, you could open at 10 on a Tues/Wed morning (if it's quiet enough at those times) and add those 2 hrs onto the Sat times and another day in the evening and close at 6 instead.....if that all makes sense
It would mean your still working the same hours just at different times and at time where you seem to be needed more.
Or if you really don't want to cut out the hour in the morning in case you loose business from new clients wanting to come at that time, you just might have to extend your busy days by an hour or so in the 'high demand' time/days.
Or what about getting a newbie tech who has just started training or something and she/he could do your soak off's for you and other little jobs while you are in your peek busy times? Could you afford that maybe???
I think your idea is good but speaking from a clients point of view, I know I wouldn't be happy if you broke away from my appt time to work on someone else (unless it was a normal polish that is waiting to dry, which I think would be few and far between in todays world, now we have Shellac etc).
Even if you did it while the client is putting jewelery back on etc, I still can't see you having all 10 fingers correctly wrapped etc in that short period of time it would take your 1st client to be ready, which means that 1st client will be waiting on you.
And what about if 2nd client gets all chatty or just HAS to show you something on her nails before soak off etc while 1st client is waiting and you end up being 15/20 mins instead of 5.
I think it's a good idea in theory but not in practice I'm sorry to say
Good luck with your decision, it must be hard to make choices like this and I dread the day when I have to do the same thing.