We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nicole Sanders a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nicole, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?
I would change how hard the educational system pressures kids into going to college after they graduate. I think the educational system should go more in-depth about all the alternative schools that are out there besides college that will make you just as happy, if not more!!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi everyone! I’m Nicole Sanders, but my brand name is “Nailbudz” which is what most people know me by! I started doing nails ever since I was a little girl, and being so young I couldn’t really do them myself, so I would make my dad paint them for me. I really dove into my career when I was a senior in high school and Covid hit. I was a 2020 graduate and the stress of college applications, ACT/SAT scores, and college tours were just so stressful to me. I knew I didn’t want to go to college. I just felt like I needed to do something else. When I finally told my family that I wasn’t going to college they definitely weren’t happy. So, I took a year off and worked full time in a restaurant constantly thinking about what I wanted to do with my life. I finally decided on going to cosmetology school, and long story short, I hated everything in that school EXCEPT for nails. After I stopped going to cosmetology school, my dad was the one who actually found a nail school for me! So, I enrolled in nail school on November 9th, 2021. I then graduated on February 18th, 2022, and passed my state board test on March 11th, and received my license! I decided I wanted to do acrylic nails, gel-x, and gel! While doing all this and trying to build up a clientele, I filmed a lot of videos and posted them to tiktok, when one day I woke up and my account blew up over night. I woke up to 1 million views on one of my videos called “recreating my old nails” and so I worked off that and my most viewed video got 22 million views! I gained up to 200k followers by august 2022 and that was a big push for my career. I now have my own business, clientele, and career I started all from scratch with support from my family. That’s definitely what I’m most proud of. I believed in myself even when no one did and created my future that I knew I wanted to have. The main thing I want potential clients/followers to know, is I make sure all the products that I use are safe and approved by the state! I also NEVER want anyone to be afraid to speak up if they want something fixed with their nail set. You’re paying money for a service and you should leave feeling relaxed, happy, and beautiful! Never ever be afraid to speak up! I always make sure my clients speak up about what they like and dislike!
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I realized the most effective strategy is really just word of mouth!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I actually had to pivot my business a few months ago in November 2022 because I did acrylic nails. When I first signed my lease I was told I could do them, but eventually we got a new manager and there were a lot of complaints about the smell of my acrylic monomer, so I was removed by my manager and I was out of business for a month and a half. Luckily majority of my clientele waited for me and came back as soon as I found a new salon to work at. I did lose a few clients, but things like this happen and you learn from them and you just have to keep going :)
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nailbudz/
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nailbudz?_t=8YgXmjlO8Ok&_r=1 Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PressedbyNailbudz