WEB EXCLUSIVE!
Home Sweet… Business?
By Tracy Morin
Next, delineate the purpose of each area in the space. “I have a room with a hair station and a pedicure throne, and I also have an airbrush station in that room,” says Smith. “My bathroom is decorated in an outhouse theme—way cute!”
Determine your best use of space. Before you start, make a blueprint and sketch out the layout and furniture placement to get a better idea of how you can best arrange everything-—it’s easier to rearrange the design on paper than lug furniture around the room until you get it right! If you’re planning on providing additional services, such as hairstyling or waxing, set aside areas for these tasks and obtain the proper seating and equipment.
If you’re providing nail services only, consider the necessities: a desk, storage area(s), seating area, pedicure area or foot spa, etc. You’ll have to provide a bathroom (set aside for your clients) and proper ventilation, as well as impeccable sanitation standards. Make sure you have an effective sanitation schedule and the right products and tools—an autoclave, a set of implements for each client, and/or appropriate solutions sanitizing tools. “I have a box on my nail table that sucks up dust with removable filters,” Eric says. “The tabletop is dusted two times during each service—after filing and after each client. All of our implements are metal or plastic and are disinfected after each use.”
You need to be just as careful, if not more so, about keeping services spotless in a home salon to guarantee safety and improve your image in the eyes of your clients. “I am a stickler for keeping the salon area and the rest of the house clean,” says Barbara Savage from Nails by Barbara in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. “I use a new set of towels and dust brush for every client; they take the files home for their own use. The table is sanitized after each use; the towels and dust brushes are bleached every night. Arbor bands are new for each client, and the stainless-steel implements are sanitized after each use. I change the arbor bands and season my files right in front of the clients before the appointment. I think that it is important to convey a professional image to your clients even though you work from home.”
Advertising
When you work from home, you face a unique challenge: How do you draw clients to your home salon—most likely isolated from other businesses and heavy traffic flow—to build the clientele you require to keep your business afloat?
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“I’ve tried just about all of it!” says Eric about her advertising methods. “My website is my best asset other than word of mouth. A part-time staff member helps organize and market the site with our web person, keeping it fresh and changing it along with what’s going on in the salon: new products, services, specials, etc.”
Most techs find that old-fashioned word-of-mouth advertising is the best way to obtain a full book. “My clients are my advertisement,” says Brenda Anderson, owner of Great Lengths Nail Salon in Checotah, OK, and a Team Vicki coach for Kupa. “Word of mouth, a clean salon and quality work has kept me in business for more than 12 years.”
If you’re just starting out, you can facilitate the spread of your good reputation in a variety of ways. “I applied a lot of free nails to get the word out, which also gave me the opportunity to practice,” says Diane MacQuoid from Nails to Di For in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. “When I performed the free services, I asked the client/friend to help me in return by allowing me to test out different products and techniques. This resulted in creative nails that got more attention. And I got more referrals!”
“I picked out three women in the area whose hands would be seen a lot—the bank teller, the ad saleswoman for a local paper and a waitress—and gave each of them a free full set,” says Stacey Baumgartner from The Nail Nook in Grundy Center, IA. “They became regular clients as well as walking advertisements!”
Because techs literally bring clients home when working out of their own houses, most are quite particular about the caliber of clients they keep. “I only take referrals from my clients; I tell them to refer to me only the people with whom they would do business,” says Pam Smith from Nails at Last in Left Hand, WV. “For safety reasons, I must do it this way. Sometimes, when you advertise, you get the wrong kind of customer!”
If, at the start of your business, you want to attract more people through existing clients, try this tip from successful home-based tech Anna LaJourdie from Polished in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada: “When I was helping my sister open her nail salon in Spain, we ran a deal: Whoever recommended a client to us received 50% off her next session. This form of advertisement worked wonders.”
Tracy Morin is a freelance writer and editor based in Oxford, MS. She can be reached at tracy.morin@gmail.com.
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