I'm thinking of ......

[fairydust]

I'm thikning of doing a nail technican course.

Does anyone know a techincan that has made a sucess out of this.

Also how many other mothers do this worknig form home.

Also how much would you be willing to pay to have your nails dones?

Thanks in advance

[aloha]

My local Korean nail bar charges £10 for manicures and £20 for pedicures, which I consider dirt cheap. It's not what you call luxurious and they don't speak a word of English (oddly restful) but they are frighteningly thorough.

[aloha]

Maybe you could also approach a local hairdressers which doesn't have a salon offering manicures while people get their hair done as an addition to their service?

[SueW]

A friend of mine did a course. Well actually she was a friend of a friend really but we all went to the same gym. No idea how much she paid for her course but she was very well-groomed and had often been asked by friends to give them a manicure.

Doing the course meant she had a certificate which allowed her to have insurance in case she cocked up ( e.g. snipped too far and it went bad, i think!)

She didn't offer anything like acrylics, just Luxury Manicures and/or Pedicures, which involved some kind of exfoliation, hand cream, cuticle oil/care and nail trim, filing, coat of polish of your choice.

She charged about £8-£10/time which was fine when she was doing it at home but initially she tried going mobile and found that travel took up too much of her time. It was reasonably priced compared with local salons and she was very familiar with local prices. She had set aside one of her bedrooms as a 'salon'.

I used to have my nails done by her but I found I didn't get on with the products she used as my hands and nails became more and more dry over the weeks in spite of her assurances that everything was natural (caution: natural doesn't mean your clients won't have a problem!)

If you are working from home then strictly you need to check it out with your home insurance companies and it would be advisable to check with your local council too. One of her neighbours was doing a craft business from home and was reported by another neighbour to the council which pretty much shut down her business.

WRT to advertising: her first few clients were people she knew, like me, who were not close enough to have done a girlie night in with her but were willing to pay for her service. Mostly it was done through word of mouth and she had some lovely leaflets printed up which I think she displayed locally.

She also had a set of index cards on which she noted all her clients' details (name address phone, what treatments they had).

Unfortunately I don't know how she is doing now (this was a couple of years ago) as she has since split with her DH and we have lost touch.

Good luck!

[sammac]

I used to get it done and the technician had stopped working in a bank to train. She was brilliant at it- best I've seen. Her prices were way more than yours- £40 full set and £22 for fills every 2 weeks!
She rented a table in a salon and that was all she did. Seemed to make a good living from it@ £40/hr. ps that was 3 years ago!

[fairydust]

i thougt about posting some leaflets out in the local area and asking if i could put posters up in the local nursery /school

The place were i'm thinking of going to do it - says it the inital cost to do one set of nails on a customer is only £1.00 so basically it's all profit - i thought if i charge £10.00 a set i'd be making £9.00 profit (been told it takes about an hour)

And as i'm not really doing this for the money - it'll all be a bonus for more luxuries.

So girls do i sound as though i'm dreaming.

Have spoken to dh and he says he'll support what ever - the course is £230.00 will a guarnteed pass at a national level

Then there a initial lay out cost of about £100.

Have decided to do it at home - as want to stay in the local area for dd's sake.

[jac34]

What about a mobile service like hairdressers offer

[Hulababy]

Just wanted to say good luck FD.

Can't offer advice as I have the worst nails in the world. I bite them and hate myself for it I really do need to stop, even DD tells me off for it now.

[outofpractice]

I don't have my nails done, but generally I think that beauty therapist skills are really valuable, because the prices are quite high, you can find employment in lots of different places, lots of salons employ part-time staff, and most therapists I chat to plan to have their own business later. Most of them seem to have acquired lots of qualifications over the years. I don't know about working from home, though, because I suspect that, like me, a lot of women just pick the salon that is nearest for home or work. There is a not particularly nice salon on the road near my work which makes a fortune just because hundreds of professional women come in at lunchtimes and pay over the odds because they don't have time to go elsewhere. Maybe you could develop a home business by undercutting the salons' prices, but how would you advertise?