We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nicole Guzman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nicole, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?
Specific to the nail industry, I think the most common disagreement is the price for a nail service.
Considering the fact that I play two roles in the beauty industry, nail technicians are usually undercharging. I feel many people are still used to 2015 $25 full sets; in reality, quality, time consuming, intricate nail sets that last 3+ weeks are not $25.
I know many nail technicians like myself are frustrated with the pricing in the industry. Sets $50+ are often frowned upon by clients, making the artist feel underappreciated.
Quality nails mean quality products, these products are expensive and keeping up with each nail trend is very hard at times. The entire nail industry must charge their worth in order for accurate prices to be the new “normal”.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Hi, my name is Nicole, I am 18 years old and I am an eyelash and nail technician! I provide lash extension services, sell press-ons, and provide nail services such as gel-x, manicures, and structured gel manicures. I also host an online gel-x class for people around the world who would like to learn nail services.
Like many, I started my business during the start of covid 19. I was 15 years old in high school, learning online, and had a lot of free time on my hands. I wanted to make money for myself and my family by becoming a lash tech however, I had no money to take a course or even purchase supplies.
Unfortunately, I did not have the funds to start my business. I tried finding ways to collect cash as a 15-year-old girl, I started to sell clothes I had in my closet, and resell clothes I found when thrifting. After about a year of selling clothes on Instagram, I had enough money for supplies, although the lash course I had hoped to take was far out of my budget. However, nail art was another hobby of mine, there was plenty of information online so I bought supplies for this instead. I wanted to sell clothes, practice nail art, and practice lash extensions.
I took my lash course in June of 2022; after 2 ½ years of providing all the services mentioned earlier. For the most part, I am proud to say I worked really hard to be where I am now, with the help of friends, and family. I have seen great progress in my persona; and business growth, as well as my own skill.
Making connections with clients and experiencing new things since I was introduced to this industry is something I am extremely grateful for. My goal as a beauty service provider is to make each client feel beautiful and comfortable. Beauty services are meant to be an act of self-care, and I hope my clients feel confident and at ease.
Learning this entire process while playing so many roles as a business owner, has been hard from the start. I hope to make the process easier in any way by educating others in an easy and fun way with my gel-x online classes and even in-person trainings in the future.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
I believe that doing my best in every service I have provided is what has gained me the most clientele. Word of mouth is truly the best way of growing your clientele. Clients of mine have told me about conversations they’ve had about my quality of work and effort. People take others’ opinions into consideration, so it is important to put your 100% into every service.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I am slowly figuring my way through the social media algorithm, just like everyone else. I love creating content, especially since I personally learned through videos like reels and tiktoks. It is important to make content that is eye-catching, intriguing, and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Another helpful tip is putting a face to your business; it was honestly very intimidating for me to show myself but I realized this grows connections with my audience. My audience will start to feel more comfortable interacting with my content. Consistency is also something that is very important, the more interaction you create with your audience, the bigger audience you will have. Something I struggle with, which I know is very important, is simply having fun with what you create and being yourself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://msha.ke/winksla https://msha.ke/nailedbyniicole
- Instagram: @winksla @nailedbyniicole
- Other: Tiktok: @nailedbyniicole