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Charting Your Path
“Your one-month goals may include picking up new service skills,” says Heidemann. For example, you decide, “This month, I’m going to learn gels, and within three months, I’m going to make enough money to buy a laptop computer so I can better organize myself by implementing new bookkeeping and appointment systems.”
Maintaining a clear view of your long-term goals also allows you to view each job opportunity with a critical eye. “You’ll find yourself asking, ‘How will this position help bring me closer to my ultimate goal?’” Fettner says. Perhaps after a year or two of perfecting your technical skills, you’ll decide to seek out an assistant manager position so you can learn the ropes of salon or spa management. If your path is set for manufacturing and product development, classes on ingredients and product formulation will be more likely to jump out at you from the pages of trade magazines and show catalogs.
Robin Cocking’s goal of spa ownership helped her recognize a great opportunity well ahead of schedule. Now the owner of Onyx Spa/Studio in Independence, IA, she entered nail school three years ago with the long-term goal of spa ownership. “I was an office manager for many years before I decided to become a nail technician, so I knew a lot about business management,” she says. “My plan was to finish school and then spend a year or two working as a booth renter to hone my service skills and build a clientele before I started looking for a location of my own.”
While investigating booth-rental options, Cocking found a salon deal that was too good to pass up. “The booth-rental rates were much higher than I expected, and I came across a salon for sale whose cost was comparable to the costs of the booth rentals I’d seen, so I went straight into ownership,” she says.
After spending two years building her own clientele and managing the spa, Cocking’s new short-term goal is to bring in a second nail technician. “Long term, I’d love to expand my business, so I’m also investigating larger locations that would allow me to add more services,” she says.
Photo ©iStockphoto.com
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Create Accountability
Laying out a step-by-step plan to climb the ladder to success can be an exhilarating experience, but as you have probably experienced, the excitement can be short-lived. One missed short-term goal or one down day can quickly push you off course. This is where a support system can make the difference between achieving your dream job and daydreaming about it for years.
The best way to start building a support system for your dreams is to not be shy. Once you have your goals set, share them with your family, friends and colleagues. By letting them in on the plan, you create accountability. “A friend’s favorite saying was ‘No pity parties—just get up and do it,’ and that is really how you get things done,” Heidemann says. “But you need people who will lift you up and remind you of that, especially when you’re feeling down.”
If you don’t have a strong support system in your life right now, finding a mentor or teaming up with a colleague or friend to create your own career support group will help. Through weekly or monthly meetings, you can share your short-term goals and provide each other with the encouragement and motivation you need to stay on track.
Re-evaluate Regularly
Because our needs and priorities change throughout our lives, it’s important to regularly examine our goals. “At various points in your life, you may start to feel like this just isn’t working anymore,” Fettner says. The change may come as a result of a new lifestyle—perhaps you’ve achieved your goal of becoming a sponsored nail competitor, but once you have a child, the idea of traveling for several months a year isn’t as appealing to you. You may also find that once you reach your goal, it just isn’t what you were expecting. “Oftentimes, people realize that once they reach a management or ownership position, for instance, that something’s missing,” says Fettner. “They thought they wanted this, but it’s not fulfilling, and they no longer feel passionate and driven about their career choice.”
Maria Sanchez, a nail technician in Olympia, WA, left her career as a nurse and entered the beauty industry in 2001 with the relatively simple goal of supporting herself as a full-time nail technician. “After several years, I realized I just couldn’t make the money I wanted to by doing nails only,” she says. Last year, she reevaluated her career goals and decided to go back to school to get her cosmetology license with an eye on salon ownership.
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