Under Appreciated

Reader Submission


So I been thinking for awhile to raise my prices, I'm very inexpensive for the work that I do.


I love what I do but at the end of the day I feel overworked and under appreciated because the creativity I put out. I decided that this year I get my own place as well, so 2 weeks ago I posted a heads up I'm raising my prices by $5. Today I worked on my price list and posted it, honestly I still feel like I'm not charging enough, I cant get it through my head that I'm under cutting myself, for some reason I feel bad to charge more than I am, I know stupid on my part.


Anyway I had a client text me asking if that means her price is going up too. WOW! I didn't know how to respond especially since shes one of the reasons my prices are going up and her price is the same as everyone elses so I don't get what she meant by that. I'm a little offended she'd even ask me that. I finally text-ed her back and said "well it means everybody s price is going up"...


--Under Appreciated 

Things I Can't Say - Positive Edition

So most of the "Things I really want to say, but can't" are negative.  That's a no brainer.  How many positive things are there to say about life and business that you can't say, in fear of repercussions.  So, it got me thinking and I came up with some positive things about my business that I could NEVER say to anyone other than my spouse, children or close friends.  Why? you ask?  Well, because if I said these things to anyone, I would be accused of bragging.  I am not a bragger.  I am humble.  However, the Troll asked for it, so here it is - The Positive Stuff.

I have made entirely too much money this year.  I have paid off every debt I have ever had.  For the first time, in a long, long, time, I am totally debt free.  I never thought I would see this day.  I have started stockpiling money in different savings accounts.  I have tried to spend it, to get some tax write offs.  I did improvements at the salon.  I brought in new products, new retail and vamped up the furniture.  We are showering our clients with Christmas gifts.  The staff is getting BIG bonuses this year and we are having a formal party this year with spouses invited and entertainment.  I am considering a staff cruise as a reward.  Still, I have way too much money left in the bank.

We have too many clients.  I know that sounds like a good thing, but it really isn't.  We have so many clients, that if we worked non-stop, seven days a week, we would still be busy and have a waiting list.  We are working so much that our backs are hurting.  Our hands ache.  After working all of those hours, there's still the supply ordering, bookwork and cleaning that must be done.  Still, there is the disappointment when we have to turn clients away.  We have no more room in our books.

Our salon has the best technicians in the area.  Yes, they may be sloppy and sometimes be a little lax in their duties, but isn't everyone?  I can honestly say that our technicians are the best around to the point that our competition doesn't even hold a candle to our work.  I guess it's a good thing they charge $5 less than we do, they should charge even less considering the end result that they are putting out, that we end up fixing and thus earning even MORE clients, that we no longer have room for.

So finally, I am proud that I am a female business owner, in a business that I love and thrive at.  I am a successful one as well.  I employ a staff of  seven now.  Each and every one of my technicians is a trained professional, who was trained by me.  With all of the things I deal with each day from salon issues, to staffing issues to client issues, it's no wonder I have things to say.  Things to air out.  I mean really.  Who can I air these things out to?  My spouse doesn't understand.  My best friend is a teacher.  I can't complain about the staff to the staff.

So, I could vent to my peers.  Some of them, would see this as a sign of weakness.  Some like to see any form of it and they just go in for the kill, most of the time behind your back.  So, I and others, vent anonymously.  It gives us a way to get it off our chest.  Without the fear of ridicule.  It is quite cleansing.  You should try it.

--Nancy

Serious Stupidity

What the hell is going on with people now a days?  I have recently encountered a few people, who are just clueless.

Clueless number one.  A "NEW" client called and asked if we had any openings on Friday for that day.  I replied that we had a 5:00 open.  She said "Nothing earlier?"  I politely replied that when you are calling for an appointment the day of, you are pretty much at the mercy of the cancellation list.  That appointment was the earliest and actually the ONLY appointment we had available.

She then said she had another question for me.  "I don't get paid until Tuesday, can I write you a check and date it for Tuesday?"  WHAT??  I again, politely responded that we require payment at the time of service and we do take credit cards, so that is another payment option for her.

What the hell!  Seriously???  I know that WalMart brought back layaway for the holidays but there is no layaway for nails!!!  Now, had this been a regular client, who asked this, we most likely would have said no problem.  This is a brand, spanking, new client, here people.  Um, no.  Listen if you can't afford a $25 check to get your nails done, then maybe you shouldn't be getting your nails done.  Make sense??

Clueless number two.  A week ago, I spent a considerable amount of time on the phone with a new client, who asked for a MANICURE.  I asked her if she wanted a regular manicure of one of our No Chip Manicures like Shellac.  After explaining over and over and over and over, she opted for the Shellac manicure.

She arrives for her appointment and gets all indignant because she says she wants tips.  I explained again the differences between Manicures, Shellac, Acrylic Nails and Temporary Nails.  She then thinks she wants a full set of acrylics.  Well there isn't enough time to do them so she had me schedule it for next week.  She then decides that maybe the temporary nails are the way to go.  She then says, "But I don't want FAKE nails, I want acrylic nails".  REALLY?????

I politely explain to her that in essence, acrylic nails ARE fake nails.  The difference between temporary nails and acrylic nails are that temporary nails are TEMPORARY, you don't fill or maintain them.  Acrylics need to be maintained.  Round and round and round we go.  Twenty minutes later, I had 10 minutes to do Shellac on her, which is what she ultimately decided to go with.

I hope this was just a fluke last week.  I really don't have any room in MY schedule for new people.  When I do, I sure as heck don't want these stupid ass people in my book.  I want a client who is going to LISTEN to what we say and what we suggest.  Oh, and I want payment at the time of service!

--Nancy

Sharing

Well it's been about a week since I've posted.  No, I haven't run out of material and NO, people haven't stopped sending me things to post for them.  I have been near death with the sickness that has been going around here.  So, this topic is sharing.  It's great to share, we are taught to do it at a very young age.  But there are some things that you shouldn't share.  Your sickness is one of them.

If you are too sick to go to work, reschedule your appointment.  If you are too sick to go to school, reschedule your appointment.  Seriously, if you have to stop me three times, while I am doing your nails to go throw up, LEAVE and reschedule your appointment.  Really, we won't be upset.  We are totally repulsed that you are puking your guts 10 feet away from us and we can hear it.  We now have to go in and disinfect the bathroom so that your sick germs are not exposed to everyone.

Listen, we don't have sick days.  We don't get sick pay.  If we can't come to work, we don't get paid.  If we can't come to work, we have to work on our days off to make up what we missed and to fit everyone in again.  This results in no days off, which results in a cranky nail tech.

So, you can share your Starbuck's run with me, share your muffin with me, share your casino winnings with me, but for the love of everything great, keep your mother trucking flu, cold and sickness to yourself.  Really, I don't mind!

--Nancy

I’m Not Blondie……..

My name is not Blondie and you may NOT call me anytime.  You may call me during normal business hours.  I am still a little cranky, due to lack of sleep, due to an inconsiderate client calling my cell phone at 4:30 am on SUNDAY morning!

Imagine being awakened by a ringing cell phone at that hour on a Sunday morning, your first thought is “Who died?”  I run to my cell phone in the kitchen and see it is Patty PainInTheAss, a newer client.  SERIOUSLY??!??

Okay, Patty is one of “those” clients, a new one who is someone else’s Pain In The Ass aka PITA, who is now MY PITA.  I acquired her in July.  Sometime between now and then, I must have called her from my cell phone and she must have saved it.

We are closed Sunday and Monday.  What would make you think that it is appropriate to call someone on their personal cell phone on their day off?  What would make you think it’s appropriate to call at 4:30 in the morning on a Sunday?  Really?

Well, when Patty got my voicemail, I am sure she got the message loud and clear because it clearly states that you should only leave personal messages, if you leave salon messages, they WILL NOT be returned until they are left on the salon phone line.  Period.  I haven’t checked the salon messages yet, because IT’S STILL MY DAY OFF!

Now, Patty may have butt dialed me, I don’t know, but knowing Patty and the PITA that she is, she probably WAS calling.  See, Patty is a true PITA.  She breaks nails constantly.  She comes in with half of her cuticle area missing most of the time.  Patty tries to go 3-4 weeks between fills because she is cheap.  She doesn’t realize that she ends up paying more by going that long, because she ends up paying for multiple repairs.

Saturday, I was booked from 9 until 7, yes I am a glutton for punishment.  I had no breathing room in my schedule, as usual.  Patty came bounding in the door at noon and expected me to fix four nails that are approximately five days old.  Now these aren’t just a pink nail with polish, these nails have colored acrylic, glitter and extensive designs on them.  I explained to her that I don’t have time to do them that day and that the earliest I could do them is next Friday and since it is FOUR nails, it will be a fill, not a repair appointment.  She exclaimed “But this one is about to fall off!”  After repeating myself again and her repeating herself again I finally exclaimed “Well, then either rip it off or put a band-aid on it, because Friday is the best I can do unless I get a cancellation.”

Why do clients think they can come into the salon and demand to be repaired right this very second?  My schedule does not allow for repairs and for the most part, I don’t need to schedule repairs.  My clients usually don’t need them.  Yes a few break the occasional nail, but Patty, is a whole other ball game.  She is a train wreck, plain and simple.  Sorry, Patty, I will NOT extend my already long day to accommodate you, just because you don’t know how to take care of your nails.

So, either Patty butt dialed me on Sunday morning, or she called that early just so that she could leave me a message to cancel on Friday because she is going to become someone else’s PITA and didn’t want to tell me directly.  Personally, I hope it is the second option, since I would do the “Happy Dance of Joy” if she became someone else’s problem.  I am sick and tired of creating beautiful nails, with original artwork on them and having her trash them in sometimes four or less days, then expecting me to drop everything and repair them.

One thing’s for certain, if she calls my cell phone at that time again, on my day off, she is getting fired.  You don’t own me.  I am not your “Staff”.  I can and will refuse service to anyone at anytime.  I will put someone in my chair, in her spot, who respects my work and takes care of it.  See, my name is NANCY, not BLONDIE and NO, you CAN’T call me anytime, call me during normal business hours!

--Nancy

Retired People

Nail Techs all of the time, complain about teenagers or young clients in their twenties.  They complain that they are flakey, miss appointments, late cancel or no show.  I say give me a gaggle of 20 somethings, just take those retired people for me instead.

Retired clients have to be the most needy, annoying clients of all.  I know you know what I am talking about.  They have ALL DAY free, yet they insist that they have an after 5:00 appointment.  I mean really, you can’t come earlier so that someone who is busting their ass all day at work can have that after 5 spot?

So, you give them their precious evening spot and they insist that they want a standing, despite the fact that each and every appointment week, they call to change the appointment.  No matter what time you give them or what day, it is never good.  They want another time slot that is just not available.  They finally settle on a slot that isn’t their original slot and not the slot that they want.  Two weeks go by and the vicious cycle starts all over again.

Come on, YOU ARE RETIRED!  You don’t work!  Your agenda is free!  I should start an Early Bird Special where they get $5 off if they come before 4:00 bet that would make things different………

--Nancy

Dear Abby Says You Don’t Tip a Salon Owner

A lot of people still, to this day, go by Dear Abby’s advicethat you don’t tip a salon owner.  Her reasoning is that the salon owner gets all of the service money brought in as opposed to her staff members, who usually receive an hourly rate or a percentage of the service amounts.  If you are a salon owner, you know how much this is nothing but bullshit.

First, let’s define what a tip is.  It was originally coined to mean “To Insure Prompt Service.”  It is a gratuity.  It is a way for a client to say, that was a job well done!  Where on Earth did someone get the idea that a salon owner, who is providing the same exact service as her staff member, at the station next to her, doesn’t deserve to be tipped?

Let’s think about this.  A staff member will usually get a percentage of the service, customarily 50-60 percent in an employee situation.  Yes, the salon owner, providing the same service gets 100%, but what people forget is that she also gets 100% of all of the bills.  So when the day is done, the staff member actually makes more than the salon owner, even once you factor in the amount the 40-50% that the salon keeps of the staff member’s service.

The salon owner pays things like rent, utilities, advertising, insurance, supplies to do all services, paper towels, toilet paper, coffee, cups, creamer, snacks for the break room, cleaning supplies, office supplies, TAXES, licenses, magazine subscriptions, trade subscriptions, CLASSES, shows, and the list goes on and on and on.  Some think that salon owners get rich off of what they earn off of their staff.  Think again.  When you add staff members, your expenses increase.  Your utilities go up, your supplies go up, and on and on and on.  So, in most cases, it is safe to assume that even though a salon owner adds another staff member, they are NOT earning much more than they were before they hired the new staff member.

Why hire anyone then, you may ask.  Well, salon owners can only do so many clients.  By adding staff members, the salon owner can keep up with the calls for appointments that they can’t take.

Now that I have given you this little history and my opinions on this subject, I would like to tell you a story.  I had a client, who was very wealthy, who would never tip me.  No problem, tips are not an entitlement.  I get it.  So after a break from getting her nails done, she wanted to start again.  I no longer had an opening in my book, so she was booked with a staff member.  Each and every appointment, she would tip this girl $20.  Sometimes this was a $20 tip on a $25 service.  This reinforced to me that she didn’t tip me because I was the salon owner, because my service was just as good as the staff member’s service, if not better.

Fast forward a few years, the staff member decided to go out on her own and become a salon owner.  Wealthy client went with her.  Still, to this day, I wonder what wealthy client does now.  Did she continue to tip the girl $20?  Or, did she stop since she is now a salon owner?  If she did stop, how did she explain it.

Bottom line, don’t rely on tips.  Set your prices so that you don’t need tips.  Tips are then just a bonus.  If you are of the Dear Abby mindset, I hope you rethink that mindset and realize that it is just plain ridiculous.  Tip based on the service you receive, not who owns what or who pays who.

New Clients – Someone Else’s PITA

Don’t you just love some of these new clients that you get from other salons?  The best are the ones that come from the Discount Salons.  You know, the dirty salons, using MMA, cheap, fast, no appointment, churning out ugly, fugly nails all day long.

They arrive at your table with yellowed product.  Their nails look like a Chiclet.  The smile line is almost to the cuticle.  It’s a white tip with clear product over it.  It is, on that day, the worst set of nails you have ever seen in your career.  You think, this is going to be easy!  I am going to WOW her!  Think again.

These are by far, the pickiest clients.  They will tell you to take off a millimeter of length to make them even (even though they are already even).  They will fuss over the placement of one spec of glitter.  They fuss and muss about EVERY. SINGLE. THING. 

Really?  Seriously??  Did you take a look at your nails when you walked in the door?  Were you that picky when you got that set put on????  Oh, right, you couldn’t express yourself because your technician DIDN’T SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE.  I really doubt that you would have said anything anyway, so why be so picky now?  Your nails already look one million times better and I am not even half way finished!

Sometimes you get new clients from a neighboring salon that is not a Discount Salon.  You get bombarded with things like “That’s not how my other tech did it”.  Well, if you were so happy with that other tech, why are you not sitting in her chair?  Why are you in mine?  Seems to me you are looking for something new.  Something better.  Why not allow me to do that?  Why not allow me to do my job?  I promise you I will do the best job that you will allow me to do.

Sometimes you get rid of a Pain In The Ass (aka PITA)  Sometimes, you end up with someone else’s PITA.  The only PITAs I like have cheese in them.

Things I’ve Always Wanted to Say to Clients

Through the years, I have just wanted to scream at some clients.  Most clients are awesome, but you always have those few that really push your buttons and until you finally can’t take any more and fire them, you are screaming at them in your head.  Here are just a few things I would LOVE to say to some clients both current and past.   

Come at your appointment time.  Don’t come 10 minutes late because you put me behind the rest of the day.  For goodness sakes do not come 30 minutes early either!  Some of you come so early, then sit in the waiting chair and stare at me like I am late.  Um, you are early.  Also, if I don’t have a client when you arrive, do not expect me to start you early unless you have called and made arrangements before to start earlier.  We schedule time to eat, return phone calls and run errands.  Oh sure, I could eat after I am finished with you, but what usually ends up happening is the next person is early and so on and so on and I never get my break.  So just show up on time, it’s not too much to ask.

If you are one of these people who like to be really, really early, for the love of God, when you sit in my chair, you better have made a decision of what color you want, what design you are going with.  You just sat there for how long, you had plenty of time to make those decisions.

When you do arrive early, DO NOT try to monopolize my time.  My attention is given to the paying client sitting in my chair.  Your time starts at your scheduled time.  Do not ask me to help you pick out colors or answer questions.  I am with another client.  Would you like it if someone came in and barges in on your appointment?  Well don’t do it to someone else.

Put your flipping cell phone in your purse and turn it OFF.  You are not Donald Trump or the President of the United States.  You are not so important that you have to be reached every second of the day.  Instruct family members to call the salon if there is an emergency.  It is nearly impossible to do your nails while you are yakking on the phone, making your other hand stiff as a board, never mind that one of those hands has to go into the UV light (Hair prints in the gel and all).  It’s even worse when you are trying to text.  Your appointment is 60 minutes.  You can put your sucky woo woo blankie down for 60 seconds.  From now on, I am going to stop working until I have both of your hands in my possession.  At the end of your allotted time, if I am not finished, tough shit.  Turn your phone off and put it away next time.

Leave the brats at home.  Seriously this is a nail salon, not a day care.  We have never had one child that behaved in the salon.  Do you really think I can do intricate artwork while you have a baby on your lap and you are BOUNCING it to pacify it?  Really?  Also, do you really want file dust and chemicals blowing in YOUR BABY’S FACE?   That is exactly where it is going.  Do you think it is easy to work on you while you are squirming in your chair trying to keep an eye on your kid, who is doing cartwheels in the salon?  Do you think we enjoy hearing you scream at your child?  Do you think we enjoy watching your child out of the corner of our eye because you aren’t?  How good do you think your nails will look after all that?  Leave them at home.  Get a sitter.  This should be YOU time.

These are just a few things, I am sure more will be added by our readers soon.  Coming up next, we have a message for all of you clients who are coming from the Discount Nail Salons………..