January business blues

[jurate]

ok first things first, new businesses take approx 2 years to get off the ground so dont worry,

stop offering free sets of nails it gets you nowhere! offer discounted nails if you want but you need to at least charge for products used. dont add more treatments until you have a bigger client base and are at least earning regular money.

as a mum you are in a great place, mums at the school.....make sure your nails always look fab and not something plain but something that is eye catching even if just on your ring fingers, then people will notice and you can strike up a conversation and hand your card over

everything else your doing is right you just have to keep plugging away. use this quiet time by doing some nail art colour wheels, keep up the free advertising and once you get a few new clients and they reccommend you you will get busier and busier xxx

I once did a set of lashes on neighbour free of charge hoping she could get me a client or two since she works in a shop.

Well, people were commenting on her lashes and she was telling them that they were done by me... At the same time telling them I had done them on her free of charge!!!

I got so upset that since then I've not done a single thing free of charge. I may give loyalty discounts but noone gets things free of charge any more!

Sent from my HTC Sensation XL with Beats Audio X315e using Tapatalk 2

 

[lavender_chiq]

I suggest that you carry on with whatever treatments you offer now and you cld maybe do new courses one at a time as they can be costly. Also, January is usually a very slow month for most beauty salons so you shouldn't worry too much. Continue to ask your clients for referrals and always hand out your cards ( I've never actually believed that it wld work but I still did and I have gotten quite a few clients from doing that). Please don't stop doing what you're doing and continue to practice, practice, practice on what you already know. I also suggest that you specialise in a few treatments rather than trying to do everything.

 

[Jigglyb4ll]

I know u said u didn't want to do loyalty cards while its just friends and family, but they are the BEST people to get involved, as they will then advertise for you!
All my clients have been a ripple effect from the few close friends I practiced on in the early days. I don't advertise as I get all my clients word of mouth. Look after the ones you have, they'll do the work for you.
Don't learn anything new yet, get great at what you already do so u dont spread yourself so thinly.
If you can do local pamper events they worked really well for me too.
Good luck. It's early days and there will always be times when u don't believe in yourself but it will get better!!
I always doubt myself, it's very hard to have confidence in your own ability but give it everything you have and it will pay off
And try not to think about 'the others' who are rubbish but do well. It's a waste if your energy.
You're great and will only get better!
Give yourself a break. And well done for coming as far as you have, you should be proud xx

 

[411]

Hey I'm in the same boat 😞

I only opened up in Dec 2012.
I've given out leaflets to all high st shops. Advertise at work (quietly!).

The thread on "how to promote your business" by Lynne is great!
Took me 3 days to go through it, but I picked up so many things!

I've got my website up and running.
Advertised big posters in local shop.
I'm sending out a intro letter to all schools this week with leaflets, offering staff 10% discount.
Also offered free vouchers for upcoming events at school for raffles etc.

My hubby's going to take leaflets to his work place.

From what I've read on here, it takes time, a lot of selling yourself. I agree it can really get you down, but you gotta fight that off and think of ways to promote your business if its your passion. I'm also 7k down, but I ain't giving up that easily!

I got 2 clients before Xmas, then this week I got a ph call from someone who was looking for a salon in my area, that does shellac as she went to a nss and they drilled her shellac and her nails have gone weak!

Once I get this client in, ill give her leaflets & business cards to pass on, add on fb, so hopefully word of mouth it should pick up.

Good luck! Keep marketing! 😃

 

[411]

Heya Hun don't give up its hard I've recently opened a salon and sitting at a about 10 grand down lol. It's hard going and I'm in the same boat with no more cash to throw at it, I have had new queries though so a few things you may have forgot;

Have you registered you business and website with google places? Google search engines and yahoo and aol?
Have you registered on 118118 telephone directories?
Have you sorted out your seo on you website? Without this done correctly your site will never be found (for more info pm me its long but needed)
Twitter? And Instagram? I have intstagram set up so the pics will be sent to my business fb page and twitter account and as fb and twitter also update each other, they send the pic across again with me only uploading it once!!! And then the best part those who have fb will be able to see the pic and you can tag yourself in it so all your friends not on your page see it and when they click like all their friends see it... So on and so forth, for the customers with twitter they can access the pic without having to have fb etc.

Also check out the link on here for promoting your business loads if ideas and tried and tested approaches, I have it highlighted to read when I have chance to sit and go through it

Business can take anything from 18 months to 3 years to become profitable if you give up now you will always be wondering but what if I'd stuck it out

Hi there

Was reading this thread and saw you mentioned Seo for website/fb?

I'm not technical at all so really don't know what this means!!

Help!

 

[souz]

I once did a set of lashes on neighbour free of charge hoping she could get me a client or two since she works in a shop.

Well, people were commenting on her lashes and she was telling them that they were done by me... At the same time telling them I had done them on her free of charge!!!

I got so upset that since then I've not done a single thing free of charge. I may give loyalty discounts but noone gets things free of charge any more!

Sent from my HTC Sensation XL with Beats Audio X315e using Tapatalk 2

sorry you learnt the hard way hun, people just dont get that we are actually running a business when things are given for free x

 

[souz]

Hi there

Was reading this thread and saw you mentioned Seo for website/fb?

I'm not technical at all so really don't know what this means!!

Help!

it means Search engine optimisation hun, basically the more times your website or facebook page are mentioned on the net, free adverts etc then it is more likely to come up when people are searching xx

 

[souz]

it does take time people, i remember sitting here last january and thinking am i ever going to get busy! by the summer i was turning people away but was still working till 10pm three nights a week and starting at 10!!it was hard but i got there, then come october i was quiet then november and december were nuts again! you just have to persevere and once you get clients and then there friends/family start coming then it all starts to take shape.

Just remember though that at first you will have busy times and quiet times until you can build up your regular clients. I am still building mine and although i have regulars and ones that just come when they are going on holiday/nights out etc i still need to carry on building and im over a year in now.

dont give up x

 

[NiCshairstudio]

Hi there

Was reading this thread and saw you mentioned Seo for website/fb?

I'm not technical at all so really don't know what this means!!

Help!

It's all about how you word your pages and page description and key words, how google scans your pages to be real vent for the search, the more popular your page is the higher up the rankings it will be

Any company guaranteeing to get you on the first page of google cannot guarantee this!! They just know more tricks for SEO etc.

I had someone call me, and promise all sorts inc top ranking etc, was so surprised when I replied 'are you at a computer?' Yes mam, 'ok search mobile hairdresser in x' tell me where you see my name, 2nd mam, so how are you going to make it go up that 1 space? I'm already on page 1?

Google seo and there's loads about how to do it for your site x

 

[Lovelygirl85]

I honestly get where you're coming from. December was a busy month for me and 3 days ago I was feeling rubbish because my January diary was bare.
So I got on facebook, posted a few offers, posted a gumtree offers post and I now have 5 bookings for this week, and 1 freebie booking of a blogger in Glasgow who I'm hoping will give me a great review and I'll get some business that way.

Have you did some leaflet drops?

 

[411]

It's all about how you word your pages and page description and key words, how google scans your pages to be real vent for the search, the more popular your page is the higher up the rankings it will be

Any company guaranteeing to get you on the first page of google cannot guarantee this!! They just know more tricks for SEO etc.

I had someone call me, and promise all sorts inc top ranking etc, was so surprised when I replied 'are you at a computer?' Yes mam, 'ok search mobile hairdresser in x' tell me where you see my name, 2nd mam, so how are you going to make it go up that 1 space? I'm already on page 1?

Google seo and there's loads about how to do it for your site x

Thank you ill do a search!