Unsure about job opportunity

[Julie-Liz]

Hi geeks,
Need a little help with a decision.

I applied for a job recently that is with a new company, so new it hasn't launched yet. Basically it's as a mobile therapist but they supply the clientele, they pay an hourly rate and supply equipment etc, if I leave all I do is return the equipment. I can use my own if I wish.



The company asked me for my quals, what equipment I already own and my own personal price list, as I told them I'm already doing some mobile (friends & family) I just wanted to ask if anyone has done freelance type work like this before? What it's like, if it's worthwhile etc? I have some reservations but I have quite an over active imagination. I can't find the company online anywhere to gather more info, so thought perhaps my fellow geeks could shed some light on employers/agencies with a similar business model.
My concerns are, they pay £7pr/hr including travel time and petrol costs are covered, but I am expected to arrive in 30mins from when client makes the call (almost like ordering a pizza?) I have to log absolutely everything, where I am when I receive the call, what times I do the treatment, what treatment I carried out and when I left. The client has to fill out a feedback form and give a rating, I have to carry takings around (it's cash only) til the end of the week, meet with the managers to hand over the money and they give me my cut. I am very unsure about handing them my own price list and meeting two men on my own in a location determined by them at the time. I don't know if I'm being silly but I don't know them or if they even have beauty quals themselves. If anyone has experience of this I would live to hear about it. I would like to be excited but I have a niggle.

Thanks for reading and any insight would be greatly appreciated

 

[libbylou]

Can you not just get these potential clients your self ? if you are already mobile.

 

[Julie-Liz]

Tbh I only do the same handful of clients on a relatively regular basis, it's not picking up, they are just friends and family. So to be honest it's a struggle so I was hoping to find employment and came across the above. I much rather get more experience working with a company with a more regular income so perhaps that answers my question right there, I should probably leave it alone. It intrigued me how such a business is viable, they are yet to launch so I don't even know if they have clients. I just never heard anything like it before so thought this would be the place to ask for more insight. If it was worth doing to add to the few clients I have. Hope I'm making sense.

 

[Myarka]

Alarm bells ringing. Before doing anything with this company get their company registration number and VAT number and check who they are. Companies can be checked on: https://www.duedil.com/

 

[Julie-Liz]

Alarm bells ringing. Before doing anything with this company get their company registration number and VAT number and check who they are. Companies can be checked on: https://www.duedil.com/

Thank you for that, I did get concerned when a simple google search turned up their job advert only. But they said it hadn't launched yet, but it would still have to be registered for tax so I will check this out.

 

[surf girl]

Defo do some investigating first, what kind of a cut are they going to take for giving you the clients? From a business perspective it couldn't be very much so it would have to be a huge company to be worthwhile to the owners? Surely the money could be banked and transferred online? Bit dodgy I think tbh x

 

[Julie-Liz]

Defo do some investigating first, what kind of a cut are they going to take for giving you the clients? From a business perspective it couldn't be very much so it would have to be a huge company to be worthwhile to the owners? Surely the money could be banked and transferred online? Bit dodgy I think tbh x

Well for starters I can't find the company anywhere, it seems to not exist. They told me I get paid £7pr/hr travel time is included too, I get 7-8% commission for good customer feedback at the end of each month, my equipment supplied for me and insured. So if I did a treatment that took me 30mins to get to and 2hrs to carry out including set up and clear up it would cost them £17.50 just to pay me. Doesn't include the cost of product, insurance, any commission etc. that's based on what they told me during a phone interview. Not even sure if that's viable for me given the cost of petrol and general car costs.

 

[Julie-Liz]

I personally would prefer to bank the cash and wire it. It's secure and has a paper trail. It makes very little sense to me, why they need my own little pricelist is beyond me too.

 

[Charlistar]

This doesn't sound worth it even if it is legit. re you paid £7 an hour full time whether you're with a client or not? Cause if its only £7 an hour when/if you're called to a client then I wouldn't even consider it.

 

[surf girl]

Well for starters I can't find the company anywhere, it seems to not exist. They told me I get paid £7pr/hr travel time is included too, I get 7-8% commission for good customer feedback at the end of each month, my equipment supplied for me and insured. So if I did a treatment that took me 30mins to get to and 2hrs to carry out including set up and clear up it would cost them £17.50 just to pay me. Doesn't include the cost of product, insurance, any commission etc. that's based on what they told me during a phone interview. Not even sure if that's viable for me given the cost of petrol and general car costs.

Yea I don't see the figures working out either tbh, like I said if the company was huge it could possibly be feasible but it's not even running yet so it can have much of a client base surely? All companies can be found somewhere online so the fact that you can't find anything does ring alarm bells, if you ring hmrc they'll be able to tell you if it's registered or not, you'd have to tell them who your working for too when you start with them as you'll be a subcontractor and need to pay tax accordingly and they'll have to do something towards your paye, I'd give hmrc a ring and see what they say x

 

[TanBird]

This "company" is probably a couple of people with an idea for a business.
I'd be surprised if they have any beauty industry experience.

From reading what you've written, I doubt they'll be able to make it work.

I am not sure you'll ever get a booking from them, it's not a "job", just another form of marketing for you.

So by all means stay on their books, but don't hold your breath. In fact forget about them until you hear from them.

 

[Julie-Liz]

I would only be paid once a client is booked for me, so if nobody gets booked for 3 days I don't get paid.

So I can see that it's definitely not worth it, as someone said above if I could get those clients myself I would be in a better position. If this was a salon based job where I travelled to one place of work then it would be pretty normal but it seems like a lot of work for very little pay.

I will check with hmrc and see if they can shed any light but I really think it's something I shouldn't enter into, I mean if this company doesn't exist and it's all cash in hand I could end up in lots of trouble! It has the potential to be illegal if the tax office don't know about it.

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions, I think I will just continue to look for work elsewhere and keep plodding along with my handful of very loyal clients.

 

[Myarka]

This company is wrong on just so many levels:

- the figures don't make sense, most mobiles operate at lower costs and aren't VAT registered. So that's got to be add on to their pricing structure.
- commission based on customer feedback just looks like an excuse not to pay.
- A new company, so how are they going to market your services? Are there any targets?
- I would love to see their contract because there are likely to be so many areas that will disadvantage you, i.e. will it be an exclusive contract? Who do the clients belong to, i.e. does it say anything about your own clients?
- What's the termination policy?
- do they have a code of practice / ethics for their staff?
- do you have an exclusive area?

 

[Julie-Liz]

This company is wrong on just so many levels:

- the figures don't make sense, most mobiles operate at lower costs and aren't VAT registered. So that's got to be add on to their pricing structure.
- commission based on customer feedback just looks like an excuse not to pay.
- A new company, so how are they going to market your services? Are there any targets?
- I would love to see their contract because there are likely to be so many areas that will disadvantage you, i.e. will it be an exclusive contract? Who do the clients belong to, i.e. does it say anything about your own clients?
- What's the termination policy?
- do they have a code of practice / ethics for their staff?
- do you have an exclusive area?

Considering I had no opportunity in the rushed phone call to ask these questions and don't know the answers it says a lot. They definitely did display some upset to my own personal clients which means I would have to prioritise theirs or even not do treatments for my own clients ever, the ones they source for me possibly remain theirs, just going on the slight distaste to my tiny client base.


I don't know where they get them from, I can't find any adverts for the company, it sounds like they are running before they can walk by offering "employment". I get the feeling the two men running it may not have a beauty qualification between them. They did send me a text saying great news my business partner agrees we should hire you. But I haven't responded. I was busy answering interview offers with Clarins and other well established places I have heard of and know well. I can't see this mobile type "company" giving me any opportunity to grow and develop new skills. It has the potential to earn the people who dreamt it up lots of money, but any therapists who join them may just work their heart n soul out for very little reward, I don't just mean in monetary terms but in areas such as additional training, you would lose your own business identity and I can't see the opportunity for progression. It seems like a continuous round of just doing their clients for life. Where as if a person grew their own mobile business it could lead to opening a salon of their own, employing staff and in extreme dream come true circumstances building a chain of salons or having a brand and product line. That's how I see it anyway lol. I may not be making any sense at all and being negative but it seems dead end and I have bigger dreams and ideas.

 

[surf girl]

Are u allowed to share the name of the company?

 

[Julie-Liz]

I don't know, the only reason I didn't name them was because I was unsure of salon geeks rules on naming businesses.

Anyway, it's called fast and fabulous beautu (the typo is deliberate, a mistake was made and it can't be changed by all accounts).

 

[surf girl]

I don't know, the only reason I didn't name them was because I was unsure of salon geeks rules on naming businesses.

Anyway, it's called fast and fabulous beautu (the typo is deliberate, a mistake was made and it can't be changed by all accounts).

Lol even that sounds dodgy! maybe their foreign and just trying to do a scam here in the uk?

 

[libbylou]

So you have responded to a little advert, the so called company is run by 2 men, they have no paper trail, no searches bring the company up,and they wont to send you by text message, to an address you dont know ? not only dodgy but very dangerous. Stay well clear xx

 

[Julie-Liz]

So you have responded to a little advert, the so called company is run by 2 men, they have no paper trail, no searches bring the company up,and they wont to send you by text message, to an address you dont know ? not only dodgy but very dangerous. Stay well clear xx

Exactly why I started asking questions. I'm an anxious person anyway so thought I would ask on here in case I was just being silly. Thank you for all your help xx

 

[NailsXpress]

Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Nothing available to check them out, cash only, meet two strange men! No, no, no.