How to grow your nail business with apprentices
By Scratch Staff | 10 February 2022 | Expert Advice, Feature
Multi award-winning salon owner, Liza Smith, reveals why you should consider hiring an apprentice…
Do you often find yourself working long hours and turning away clients because your appointment book is full? One way to reduce this stress is to increase your treatment prices considerably. This may cause you to lose clients, but it means you’re free to take on more – and earn twice as much. Another option is to grow your team, however many feel that the biggest business overhead walks on two legs.
I see many posts in professional groups saying that salon owners are struggling to find quality staff to employ.
If they are out of college, they are often not commercially ready for the salon floor, but if they have been working for themselves, they struggle to let go of control and be employed.
What I have found is, picking a great school leaver, sometimes after work experience from school, and starting their journey as an apprentice has been a better choice. My salon, Bodylines, has been employing apprentices for years now.
We find an apprentice through a local education provider, who educates them one day a week, achieving their NVQ Level 2 in one year, with the option of Level 3 thereafter. In their first three months at the salon, we give them beginner classes for manicures, pedicures and CND SHELLAC™. By Christmas, they start taking on clients, meaning they quickly earn up to three times their standard wage.
In between their training and clients, our apprentices are the backbone of the business as they keep the salon tidy and set up everything needed for the rest of the staff. They also cover the reception area during lunch breaks.
A good mix of outsourcing training and offering it in house should give both you and the apprentice a good balance.
As these apprentices get older and better qualified, their wage will increase, and you need to be sure that they are a good fit for your business. Taking them on at an early stage and providing them with great qualifications gives you the opportunity to decide after one or two years if this is the case.
Apprenticeships allow both the employer and employee to build a relationship that has a possible end date, and I believe that growing your own team can build a great business.