What Friend or Relative Has Openly Opposed Your Nail Career?

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mgloverfam

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2004
Messages
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Location
chicago, Ill
If I had done what my mother wanted me to do, I would not be a nail tech. I went to Business College immediately after graduating H.S. This was my mother's bidding. But I had always done nails for my friends. When I met my husband (in college), he saw that I was not happy there, and encouraged me to leave, and go to Beauty School. This idea made me very happy, so I politely DROPPED OUT of college! The day came that my mom saw me looking in the yellow pages for a beauty school, and asked me what the hell I was doing, and I told her. She immediately hit the roof, and told be to get out of her house. She felt that it was a "hobby" and not something you could make a career out of. I moved in with my now husband, and pursued my goals, and haven't stop since. Sometimes people can't visualize our dreams as we see them, therefore they can't support them. That was almost 6 years ago, and although my mom and I maintain a healthy relationship, I share non of my "nail business" with her. Does anyone here have a similar story? Has someone close to you openly scoffed at your dreams? Please Share. Thanks!
 
i'm lucky, my nearest and dearest are right behind me! But having said that, i started out 'later in life' at the grand age of 34 (i'm now 36). I'm married and went from being housewife to nail tech so it wasn't imperative that i 'earnt a living'. I'm not sure i would have had the confidence to do it had i needed to pay my own mortgage! My hubby still says i 'fanny' around with nails and can't believe sooooo many people pay what they do for nails!
 
for me i think i was my own opposition ! before i came to this job, i worked as a lecturer in textile art which was a career that took me a long time to break into because my parents wouldnt let me move away to college at 16. i persued my subject as a hobby for years and then finally found work teaching it. because i was so experienced i felt very comfortable about my abilities and loved my job. a few years later i was made redundant and changed course careerwise when i couldnt find a similar job to the one i did before. i felt that when i told people i was a teacher that it met with approval and respect. however, when i told people i was a nail technician that they perceived me in a totally different way and sometimes i felt almost appologetic about my career change !people seemed so shocked that i had gone from teaching to nails. :rolleyes: i think opposition comes from ignorance, where people know what a teacher does and respect their abilities, often they have no conception of the work that a nail technician does and think that they are just silly little airheads that paint nails all day, or at best take those stick on nails that you buy from the chemist and apply them for you. now i make no appologies for the ignorance of others. :(
mgloverfam said:
If I had done what my mother wanted me to do, I would not be a nail tech. I went to Business College immediately after graduating H.S. This was my mother's bidding. But I had always done nails for my friends. When I met my husband (in college), he saw that I was not happy there, and encouraged me to leave, and go to Beauty School. This idea made me very happy, so I politely DROPPED OUT of college! The day came that my mom saw me looking in the yellow pages for a beauty school, and asked me what the hell I was doing, and I told her. She immediately hit the roof, and told be to get out of her house. She felt that it was a "hobby" and not something you could make a career out of. I moved in with my now husband, and pursued my goals, and haven't stop since. Sometimes people can't visualize our dreams as we see them, therefore they can't support them. That was almost 6 years ago, and although my mom and I maintain a healthy relationship, I share non of my "nail business" with her. Does anyone here have a similar story? Has someone close to you openly scoffed at your dreams? Please Share. Thanks!
 
My father threw his hands up in the air and asked my why I hadn't saved him $100,000. in the first place for my 4 years university fees??? Why study chemistry for 4 years to become a nail technician???

Well the chemistry came in very handy for me!! And he became very porud of my business abilities ... bless him ... miss you every day, dad!
 
angel fingers said:
often they have no conception of the work that a nail technician does and think that they are just silly little airheads that paint nails all day, or at best take those stick on nails that you buy from the chemist and apply them for you. now i make no appologies for the ignorance of others. :(

I have lost track of how many times a new client has sat in front of me with their new set and said 'I cannot beleive how much work goes into doing these' :rolleyes:

I have always been lucky that my hubby has encouraged me in whatever I have wanted to do, parents .........well thats a different story :(
 
I also went into this at a later stage in life and my father's first reaction was "are you mad?" and "where are you going to get your client base from?" but once he got used to the idea he warmed to it and wanted to be involved in the setting up of it. My hubby, love him, is who made it all possible. I'm in the very fortunate position of him being able to support us whilst i get more clientele, although that is building nicely now :). He actively encouraged me to go for my dream and walk away from the dreary job that i had done for so long and no longer enjoyed.
 
Hell yeah Chick! My mum always gives me this sort of 'hmmmm nails eh?' kinda vibe (although she loves me to do hers!!) and Chris always 'jokes' I should get a proper job!!! I don't think alot of people realise how much work goes into learning and doing nails! I just smile smuggly when I'm out with either my mum or Chris and someone asks who did my nails as they are great and I hand them my business card! I think most parents/partners are worried due to the amount of competition and alot of nail bars open and close in a very short space of time so I guess they see it as an unstable career, I've got an idea, tell them you want to be a pole dancer and then when they realise you want to be a nail tech really they will be so relieved they won't care! :biggrin:
 
Tickled Pink! said:
i'm lucky, my nearest and dearest are right behind me! But having said that, i started out 'later in life' at the grand age of 34 (i'm now 36). I'm married and went from being housewife to nail tech so it wasn't imperative that i 'earnt a living'. I'm not sure i would have had the confidence to do it had i needed to pay my own mortgage! My hubby still says i 'fanny' around with nails and can't believe sooooo many people pay what they do for nails!

Funny my hubby says exactly the same thing - and of course is positive he can do the same job in half the time lol. I was a late starter too (I'm actually 40 now and only started in nails 2 years ago) and decided that I wanted a change of career when going back to work after looking after my kids (4 of them) for the last 14 years. My parents have been brill and financed the whole thing coz the hubby thinks its a waste of money. I am hoping my new salon will be open by the end of Sept (I am returning to beauty too after a very long break so been madly doing refresher courses) so lets hope I can prove to "him" that its all been worthwhile and give my parents the satisfaction of believing in me.

Shaza
 
Shaza you'll do fine!! If it's one thing I've learned, it's..."Believe In Yourself". No-one else can belive in you the way you can believe in yourself. Once you do, you're UNSTOPPABLE!! I felt that I had to prove to my mom how good I was at nails, and show her all the nice places I worked at....but it didn't impress her. Nothing did. So I stopped trying to impress her, and instead focused on my own goals. Thank God for your parents and all the help they provide.
 
I am lucky my husband has support my every move. I work full time and I am building a regular client base and cannot wait until I can give up my full time job! and spend all day going nails. I still go to college and will be going back in septmeber to do two more courses. Reading other people stories keeps me motivated because one day (soon) i know i will get there.

Going back to another commet made, I am suprised at how people react when you tell them it will take 1 and 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs to do thier nails. Thereis loads of work that goes into them and also you are constanly learning about new products etc.

Jen
 
Nails started as a hobby for me, Something to learn while the kids were small.
I had been studying psychology before, so a big change.
My hubby supports what i do, because he knows i love nails so much.
 
i started nails quite late age 31
i was in the royal navy till i was 25.
my parents where more apposed to me marrying as i met and married a royal marine at 21 then i found out i was pregnant at 24 so i came out of the navy my parents could not believe that i had given up a good job to become a house wife sadly my mum died 4 years ago. and 3 kids later my dad is very proud of me as a mother and now pursuing another carear in something i am passionate about.
if it wasnt for my hubby i wouldnt be doing this now his money patients and vision for me and nails has been 100% from him.
just wish my mum had been here as she would have been proud to as my mums appearance was everyhting to her and i know doing her nails would have pleased her no end
 
I have to say i think it was my Nan who thought it was a stupid idea to think i could do nails and earn money from it. My hubby has supported me 100% and if it weren't for him i probably would of given up.

Still building my clientelle, but i know i will get there as so passionate about nails.
 
my dad was kinda disappointed. i did my a levels, business studies and history (medieval-europe and english)

got a job in a local accountants, did really well, then upset boss and dad when i jacked it all in, and trained to be a gym instructor, (another job people seem to think is for dumn people) and then trained to be nail tec. then to add insult to injury my little sis dropped out to college to go to beauty school!

Hey-ho people will just have to lump it!
 
I'm constantly hearing comments like "oh, what a shame that you're doing nails instead of working in your field" and most of my family dismisses my job as though i don't really work. I've been doing nails for 2 years now and it has allowed me to work minimal hours, support myself, pay rent and live comfortably in a country where most people don't earn more much more than 400 euros/month! And I still get people asking me if i've found a job yet!!! All this because i have an engineering degree but decided to do nails instead.
 
the only thing that i don't like is that my mom even though loves the fact that i am branching into something new and love what i do she always tells me that NAILS is not going to be good to me as the family business is. I don't understand cause she has not even given it a chance, and maybe i don't need all that to live well, sometimes it can be confusing and it makes me want to just give it up to listen to her.
 
When I was at school, they sent a letter home to our parents asking them what they would like us to do when we turned 16. My dad's reply was that I was going to get a job with him at the local chocolate factory until I got married, then obviously I would stay at home and bring up children! I'm so glad he had something grand planned for me! I went from job to job, got married, had kids & worked part time to fit around the family until last year when I went to college full time. My dad's opinion of this was that I should be at home looking after my children. Now, at 34, I am planning on starting my nail & beauty business soon, he still feels the same. My dad is 78 by the way, so I guess in his day it was different, but I still think maybe I'd have turned out a bit different if I'd have had the support that I craved.

My hubby has never been too supportive of my ideas to make something of myself, until I mentioned the Make-Up artist course. Unfortunately its a very hard business to get into. He was full on supporting me with this, but I don't think he's so sure about nails. He has been very quiet about it.

Funny world, eh?!
 
The one person you want to share your joys with is your nearest and dearest but for me I have found this to be untrue. My partner has taken a secret disliking to me doing nails as it mean I can devote less time to him. I feel possitively sure that if I left my job tomorrow he'd love it. More attention for him. Sad but true.
The worst thing is I love ths job soooooooo much, it's taught me so much, made me a better person. Constantley challenging my ever inquisitive mind. Everyitme I master a new technique or sell a full set of french manicure I fall in love all over again, and let's face it. Nails ain't the easiest job in the world, I found it to be a love hate relationship but the results, the comments, recommendations really make this job worth fighting for as we provide a life changing experience.
I think we should give ourselves a pat on the back as no matter how hard it gets, persiverence is the key!!!
 
Just me,
Why is it so important to have other peoples blessing to reach your own goals in life?
I can honestly say my 'nearest and dearest' have never approved of anything I've done in my life and to be honest it really doesn't bother me.
They have their own views on things and I have mine and if never the twain shall meet wheres the problem?
If your goals are truly your goals, then go for it and have fun on the way.
Lifes far too short to worry about whatever 'they'(whoever 'they' maybe) think.
Go for it and good luck

Debz xxxxxx
 
:cry: Sad to say but i have to live with this feeling everyday. All my family are like that my husband is the worst, the pressure i fight against to succeed is so tiring as u want people to be happy for u but there not.

Being a mobile nail tech is a lonely life the only friends i seem to have are my clients. My husband hates the fact i love my job. My family describe my job as just painting a nail. I ask u people are sooooooo selfish, and spiteful.

The sheir love and individuality i get from my job keeps me goin.

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