Training rates or not ?

[mdnaples]

I start my nail classes June 13th (3 evenings a week for 16 weeks to certification) but right now i have been learning as much as i can about mani and pedi's and have used friends to practice on so far. The thing is i feel confident enough to start applying gelish, Minx, rockstar toes and advancing into crystal pedicures.
I can't start the applications that require gel top coat till my UV lamp arrives, i ordered it 2 weeks ago, so hoping it will be here this week

My question is... I am planning on charging people once i feel i have mastered it good enough to charge for products at least since i will be still in training and probably remain that way even after certification.

What are your opinions on this since i have not even started college classes? I am not gonna charge for my services and product on the first few people but i will sooner rather than later.

I guess when i think back to when i was training in hairdressing i charged even while going through training and people were happy to pay a reduced rate. I'm thinking it will be no different when doing nails.
Would love to hear opinions on this ?

Michelle

 

[luci106]

Hi ya congrats on starting your course into the big world
Of becoming a nail tech in principle Starting clients once you feel confident is great however bear in mind that until you are qualified you cannot get insurance my advice would be to do your friends and family until you are qualified get your insurance then build your client base HTH and good luck x x

 

[Baggybear]

Hi ya congrats on starting your course into the big world
Of becoming a nail tech in principle Starting clients once you feel confident is great however bear in mind that until you are qualified you cannot get insurance my advice would be to do your friends and family until you are qualified get your insurance then build your client base HTH and good luck x x

You can get insurance as a student and if you plan to work on paying clients I would highly recomend you do this.
There are many insurance companies out there that offer student cover. If you search for insurance there are lots of threads about it and you will find details and people oppinions on them too.

Good luck with your course, I hope you enjoy it. Persoanally I have done all of my training sets for free. I qualify in June/July and am still doing free sets in college. I have done 2/3 sets for people that wanted them for nights out etc and they have paid for them as it was outside of college and in my own time.

 

[sarahc]

i couldnt bring myself to charge full price whilst i was in effect still 'practicing' and 'fine tuning' my skills .. i set up a freewebs web site, added details about my treatments, plus intro prices and emailed website address to all my friends, family and as got more confident asked for them to email to their friends, until was confident enough to do treatments on strangers and charge full price .. great way of getting portfolio pics too instead of having half baked web site with photos or info coming soon .. now charging full price on all treatments im about to have a web site constructed, but will keep the freewebs one for any more training i do HTH