Just Getting Started
Welcome to the very first The Nail Bar & Beauty Rooms blog! Jess here - aka AllWasPolished. I’ve never written blog before so let’s see where this takes us!
With the current situation coming almost a year into my nail tech career, this pause seems like good opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months.
You may think becoming a nail tech is simply going on a few courses, getting into a salon and away you go. It’s really not that easy! Now I was extremely lucky to have been given a chance at The Nail Bar; after deciding to peruse a career in what I love I didn’t really have much of an idea about realistically making it happen. So I reached out to local nail professionals just asking for advice on the best ways to go about it. Lisa was the only person willingly to offer her advice; as it turned out she was re-launching The Nail Bar at a new premises and was looking for technicians and therapists to join her there. And the rest, as they say, is history! The timing of it all and how it all worked out was pretty serendipitous.
So, countless courses done, desk in a salon found, now for the real hard work. Building a client base and building a reputation doesn’t just happen. Selling myself is never something I’ve been great at but I’m working at that all the time. And I really don’t mind working hard because if I do that and keep doing that I get to do what I love. Some of you may know that I still work a couple of days a week at a shop just around the corner from the salon - I hate it! That’s my motivation for stepping out of my comfort zone and selling myself, for spending time finding and researching new treatments and products for all of our lovely clients, for answering messages and working on things after hours and for all the other little things it takes to be self employed. That and keeping my little Lola cat in the pampered lifestyle to which she has become accustomed!
I’ve learned a lot in this last year, the most important being the difference it really makes when you get to do something you really love for a living. Going to the salon doesn’t really feel much like work. It’s been hard and there’s still a long way to go but I don’t regret it at all. All I can say is if you hate your job and wish you were doing something you actually like, take the leap! Whatever your situation it is possible. It won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight but it’ll be worth it. Just do it!