Transition from Full time employed to mobile

[Nail Style]

Hi

I'm currently employed and hating it although it pays the mortgage! I have done my LCN Gel course and planning more training for next year and have flyers to post out locally to try and get some experience...

But I was wondering if anyone else had any experience or advise to offer on making the change over from employed to a home based/mobile business

Thanks

xxxxx

 

['chelle]

I am exactly where you are at the moment! I cant offer you any advice about being in business as a nail tech, because I only very recently established my own mobile business. However, I do know how extremely difficult it is to make the transition from employment to self employment, and on this note I can offer you two pieces of advice:

Number 1, see if you can go part time at work. The difficulty is that you have to strike a balance between paying the mortgage, and putting enough hours into your business to make it work. If you carry on in full time employment and only give your new business the odd few hours here and there you will be unlikely to ever make a living out of it. Personally I have gone part time at work. I now have the afternoons to commit to my new business, and although I know I will need to leave work for good at some point to focus on my new business, at least this way I have a chance of having a few regular clients when this happens.

The second thing is, look into what benefits you might be entitled to, I have! when you no longer have any employment and are full time self employed, you will very likely be earning little or nothing to begin with after your business expenses are accounted for, and so you might be entitled to some supplementary benefit whilst you build up your business and your earnings. Personally I intend to apply for some working tax credits in the early days if my income is low or nil, I would recommend that you research the benefits you might be entitled to. (if youre anything like me, dont feel cheeky doing this, you've worked and paid your tax for benefits like this which are there to help people in circumstances like these)

so, I hope this has helped, good luck! :green:

 

[Missy G]

Hi to you both,
I'm in the same boat too, and its getting all very frustrating,i only work part time ,and have a 6 year old daughter,i dropped mondays and tuesday afternoons in September so i am free to start mobile nails,i dropped about 700 flyers in total,had a few bookings for peddies,had a couple of calls for extensions,but im only doing overlays,and then a few calls for acrylic.

I dont like the product im using 100%,and after having a few calls for acrylic ive booked in for a conversion course next week.

My boss in my current job really teeed me off last week when i was ill,(i wont go into detail as ive already done a thread on this last week,)so now i just wanna get the acrylic course done,(ive done acrylics before,so hoping i should be ok in it),and leave,but like the same as you i have bills to pay.


My husband pays the mortgage ,but we cant survive on just his wage,i really want to take that chance now,but its oh so scary,and on top of xmas...mm i keep debating to hang on in there till the spring.In my recent thread i was told to go for it as December is a busy time for nails,its just January,& Febuary that worry me ,when peoples pockets are empty.


I contacted the Tax credit peeps to tell them my hours had dropped,they sent a letter back to me saying they will upt my payment in April 2008...wot good is it too me then....another thing i was thinkng of doing was getting a buisness loan and paying off a few things so i might feel a bit more financily comfortable ,but then the thought of xmas coming up....its very difficult isnt it,thats why im debating to hang on to the spring when people want their feet sprussing up as well as their nails.

 

[xAnnaBannAx]

I think you might be worrying too much...you should go for it! Give it your all....as long as you are confident in yourself and your ability and your well prepared..youll be fine...youve got to start somewhere and like everything in life..theres never a good time....good luck! x

 

[Nail Style]

Thanks for the advise geeks, I don't think there is an easy way to do it, today was my first day back after 2 weeks off and it confirmed it for me I HATE IT... I'm gonna immerse myself in advertising and getting clients..

xxxxx

 

[Missy G]

Good luck with it ,let us know how you get on,i so wanna go for it ,but im so scared too,im gonna have to pull me self together,if it wasnt for xmas being round the corner,i would go for it...ou i dont know,everyone keeps saying go for it...:irked:!!I ll see how i get on in my ezflow conversion next week,if im 100% happy wid the product,may be thatll give me the push..:lol:

 

[julesgems]

Hi there

I was in the same boat as you - decided to go for it and went part-time in April this year in my other job. I only work Mon/Tues there, so that freed my time up to advertise and take bookings for wed/thur/fri/sat.

I started advertising in local shops, posted leaflets, produced a website and finally signed up to yell.com. It is only this month (7 months down the line) that this has started to pay off. I have this week taken 4 bookings (2 from yell.com, 1 from flyer and 1 from shop advert) so be prepared for it to take time. The only way I have managed to keep going is by working 19 hours at my other job to keep a regular wage!

Despite all that, its the best decision I have ever made - so go for it - advertise like mad and good luck with it!

By the way, welcome to the site!

 

[maguire]

I have a full time job my hrs are 6am - 2pm so I have the afternoons,eve and weekends to do nails, I have an advert on yell.com and posters in tanning shops and and shops, I also have buisness cards in most of the resteraunts nearby. I am mobile and home based, and it is working for me, once I have a bigger client base then I will consider it full time and really enjoying it.

 

[Nicksyb]

Hi
I am also in the same boat as you. I am semi qualified in Beauty Therapy (As in i have a certificate saying that i am qualified but i am producing a portfolio for a city & guilds qualification) .
Anyway, i hate my job, my boss is a bully and loves to make my life a misery so i decided to drop a day so now only work 4 days a week and concentrate on my mobile business.

I ordered my leaftlets from vista print and sent them out to local businesses on Tuesday so hopefully i might get some response soon.
I can understand how scary it is dropping your hours to do something that your not sure will work, but i have to say i have never felt better. My partner supports me 110% and though we will struggle big time with money he beleives that we will be a lot better in the long run and also that i will be happier.
Sorry if i droned on a bit and went off in a tangent :lol:

 

[Bagpuss]

I used to offer nail appointments at weekends and evenings when i was employed....this soon got quite busy and i felt like i needed to start offering daytime appointments as i was losing some clients that didn't want evenings or weekends.

TBH....its not till you have done it that you work harder at making it work...cos you still have the safety net of your employed wage. Once that safety net has gone you will find you push yourself more to get those clients and keep them.

 

[_sabrina_]

I used to offer nail appointments at weekends and evenings when i was employed....this soon got quite busy and i felt like i needed to start offering daytime appointments as i was losing some clients that didn't want evenings or weekends.

TBH....its not till you have done it that you work harder at making it work...cos you still have the safety net of your employed wage. Once that safety net has gone you will find you push yourself more to get those clients and keep them.

Bagpuss you really said it all. From my personal experience, I had a part time job and was always thinking about leaving to do nails full time, but was always afraid I wouldn't cope with the expenses. This went on for about a year! Can you believe it. One morning I just woke up totally miffed because I couldn't fit in new clients and quit.
When I left, I found that I did more efforts to increase my clientelle and eventually built it up quite well now! (I am solely mobile). I have never looked back and loving every minute of it because my work is my hobby. Something that I really want to do.

So my advice is, switch to part time hours, and if you can't, search for another part time job until you get things going with your nails biz. Do more courses so you gain experience. Just go for it if you feel the time is right! :hug:

 

[amber tan]

Thanks All U Fab Geeks Out There. I Too Am Toyin With The Idea Of Going It Alone. U All Install Such Faith In The Nail Business That It Makes Me Feel So Much More Confident And That I Can Do This. If It Wasnt For All You Wonderful Peeps, I Think I Would Still Be Toying With The Idea At The Grand Ole Age Of 95. Ps Sat Ere Printin Off 2000 Leaflets To Deliver.

 

[Nail Style]

What would I do without you guys your an inspiraton :hug:

I've got loads of ideas from your replys thankyou all so much.


xxxxxxxxx

 

[Gettin Nailed]

Hello all, I am new to this site and I am also a part-time Mobile Nail Tech. I have 3 very young children (twin boys aged 4 and a daughter aged 3), and used to work part-time as a contract worker. I decided that I was sick of lining some-elses pocket and decided to take up a gov grant that was on offer to have mums returned to the work force. Luckily the Cert II Nail course was available. Well I attended tafe at night, worked part-time thru-out the day and looked after the kids & hubby in between. I must say that since setting up all required for running a mobile bus, I have not looked back. (I specialise in week-day evening & weekend appts) I only have a small clientell base at the moment but hey it is slowly building at very little cost. My boys are starting prep school next year so hopefully I can start to look at building a client base for day time appts. So if you have a passion for success or you can clearly visualise what can come of it, then don't hold back. Life is far too short for pauses.

 

[Missy G]

Good news this week,ive told a few of my customers im thinking of leaving in a couple of weeks ,said im hoping to be running my own mobile nail business,im also looking for a few private customers(i do domestic cleaning by the way)to clean for,(well i thought if i could get a few together first then i know ive got some permant doe coming in ,)and ive had a couple say theyd love for me to clean for them privately,ive also called an old customer i used to cleaned for ,there happy to have me back ,and also said theyve a friend whos after a cleaner,so if all works out ok i could be doing this three days a week and my nails two days a week to begin with ,and just go from there , the money i get from the cleans will be what im getting at the moment ,so any nail money will be a bonus..ive just got to hand in my notice next week...not looking forward to it...i know she will be gutted...she ll be even more gutted in a few weeks when some of her customers start cancelling...lol:lol:

 

[Nail Style]

Good news this week,ive told a few of my customers im thinking of leaving in a couple of weeks ,said im hoping to be running my own mobile nail business,im also looking for a few private customers(i do domestic cleaning by the way)to clean for,(well i thought if i could get a few together first then i know ive got some permant doe coming in ,)and ive had a couple say theyd love for me to clean for them privately,ive also called an old customer i used to cleaned for ,there happy to have me back ,and also said theyve a friend whos after a cleaner,so if all works out ok i could be doing this three days a week and my nails two days a week to begin with ,and just go from there , the money i get from the cleans will be what im getting at the moment ,so any nail money will be a bonus..ive just got to hand in my notice next week...not looking forward to it...i know she will be gutted...she ll be even more gutted in a few weeks when some of her customers start cancelling...lol:lol:

Oh wow I'm so happy for you well done you :hug: you must feel as if a weight has been lifted. I can't wait for that feeling