Nail Pros Must Watch This!

--- Vera Wang, American Fashion Icon and Coveted Bridal Gown Designer

Nail professionals are often creative types first and business people second. The Biz Talk often hones in on very specific nail industry business strategies to support professional nail techs at every stage of their career. We know that the things that initially attracted you to salon life appear one way on the surface but are an entirely different beast once the business gets rolling.

Here we break down a few universal constants involved in building your business from scratch no matter what industry you’re in. Habib speaks with Tyson Tripcony, owner of Fuel Your Life and Dietitian Life based in Australia (a friend through our Vayner Media program) about what it means to be an entrepreneur. Tyson talks about how he got his business off the ground by differentiating his services to fill certain gaps he identified in his unique market all within the fast pace of three years. Tyson has created a niche market of dietician services that started out in a single site and now has branched out to over 200 locations today.

A SOLO ACT
Building a business is brutal and there will be many long nights. Starting out you have to look out for yourself first. Everything falls to you as the business owner/entrepreneur. You have to have a mindset for the details. As much as humanly possible, you have to roll hard and plan to outwork everyone. The result is a successful business. The hours are less than ideal even if you get to make your own schedule. There is a lot of work and crazy hours. It doesn’t come easy. A lot goes into it. Here is a string of basic questions you need to answer for yourself as you begin your journey to becoming an entrepreneur:
-How do I plan to build revenue?
-Do I know my bottom line interms of profit and loss? What is my break even point?
-Where do I plan to set up shop?
-How do I market my services?
-What are my taxes and how to I make sure they get paid?
-Where is there a gap in the current market? How can my business fill that gap?

MIND THE GAP
Find the gaps in your industry and try to do things in your business that other people haven’t done or haven’t done well. You can do amazing things as an entrepreneur if you see what can be improved upon in your industry. From there, you can really change things. At first, the focus will be on making less money for the short term. Then grow to hire someone and pay them more than the industry standard for them to feel empowered to take more responsibilities off your shoulders. This is how we started rolling one dietary clinic after another. We saved up and then rolled out location after location. We built a steady clientele and it required a lot of patience. Then after making sure everything was running smoothly, start paying yourself well.

CHANGE THE STATUS QUO
You can choose to build your client base the typical way (the way it’s been done historically). In our case, marketing is done through a single channel via referral. We had to choose beyond the status quo. We wouldn’t have made it unless we cast a wider net to less traditional avenues; to everyone really. So we figured out a way to pitch to a wider audience beyond that. You have to get in front of people and start talking to them. Through these conversations you can then identify the missing link and adjust the business strategy to address it one person at a time. This is how you differentiate yourself from the person down the road. Analyze your market and inventory what’s there so you can see what’s missing.

DRIP FEED
In our business, each dietician is required to adhere to evidence based guidelines. However there isn’t a formal script to follow. As an entrepreneur, how can I connect authentically? Our services deliver a framework focused on providing education on nutrition by way of little bits of information to the client. It’s not a data dump; it’s not overwhelming. Ask, where is the repeat business? For us, when we talk to people at the start we provide a resource for crucial information and then we continue to drip-feed additional details and knowledge to insure they can nail their dietary/nutrition services each time. This way they can come to rely on us, feel supported and learn new skills to still feel confident in themselves as dietary practitioners. It doesn’t work to throw 20 things out there and see what sticks.

ONE PIECE OF ADVICE
The one piece of advice for all the entrepreneurs out there is this, know that it’s a process and focus on the long term. Short term thinking isn’t going to work out on the first day, no matter how qualified you are at your work. It is always a process.

Nails and nutrition are both service based. As nail techs, we work to educate our clients about the health of the natural nail and why our particular techniques will keep them healthy over time. This education is a point of connection and not enough nail techs are really going out there to let their clients know about their specialized education. Sure a client experience is enhanced by the use of quality products. Yet if you connect and build a relationship; that’s the part that maintains repeat business. It creates continuity.

**This is an adaption from our YN Biz Talk playlist on YouTube, “NAIL PROS MUST WATCH THIS!”

Follow our YN YouTube Channel and click here to watch the full discussion here: