Master of the craft
If you want to be a professional in your field – then this philosophy is meant exactly for you. Read everything related to your profession, go to seminars and not just attend it to get a piece of paper that is called a diploma, but listen closely. Yes, when you attend countless seminars, you begin to notice that information is repetitive, you just sit there and think – I know this, I know that, and then bam – just one sentence, a trifle, and your world turns upside down. For example, in the courses I attended, they talked about the cuticle on the nail, that it should be pushed back, but they never told us why and what for. It turns out that the cuticle grows to the nail plate and slows down its growth. Just one sentence, but everything immediately became clear.
Listen and ask questions. If you hesitate to ask them when there are other people all around you, you can always go to the moderator after the seminar and ask the questions that are important to you. There is no such thing as too much information. It may sound smug, but remember, who owns the information – owns the world. In our case – the world of nail service. Moreover, there is no limit to perfection.
Just for example. Once a beginner asked me for a lesson she wanted to see everything with her own eyes and during the procedure and explanation to her, I also communicated with my client. The student at this time was absorbed in her smartphone, and before each next step I had to pull her out of there in order to explain some technical issues. In the meantime, she missed one of the most interesting topics – communication between a master and a client. If you came to get some knowledge, you are to absorb each and every bit of it like a sponge, every tiny detail because you never know when all of a sudden it will come in handy.
Read, check for accuracy, verify, share your knowledge with others, work to be the leader. About ten years ago, in the market of nail service, a new product appeared – gel nail polish. Masters-manicurists took it rather reluctantly, as they had to learn a lot. Six months later, in one of the popular newspapers, I came across an article that the procedure of painting gel nail polish or rather the use of lamps designed for drying polish, causes skin cancer. A woman is an amazing creature, who has her own logic, she will be petrified of some kind of beauty procedures, but she will still have them, since the wish to be beautiful is stronger than the fear. Recall the old days when women whitened their faces with powder with lead, poisoned themselves, but continued to do so. I realized that nothing will stop clients in their desire to look well, but they will start asking questions, so I went to Google for answers. I read everything – researches, scientific works, medical indications, I looked at the statistics of diseases available for the last twenty years that nail lamps have been available on the market, I read the characteristics of ultraviolet lamps. Funnily enough, I have just managed to relay everything that I learned, acquired and accumulated in just several sentences. When a client came to me concerned about this issue I was able to explain everything in a normal language and she was satisfied, soothed and boldly took advantage of the desired procedure.
* When gel nail polish appeared on the market it hit the finances of the masters, because the materials were expensive, the training also required money, and not everyone wanted to change, so an allegation that this procedure spoils the nails occurred without any basis. And again I spent a couple of sleepless nights with my friend Google. Having compiled a sufficient amount of information I went on to compare my work with that of other masters’, called some of them, questioned them, argued with them. The result – gel nail polish or the procedure itself does not spoil the nails but on the contrary, it protects them. Nails are spoilt by irresponsible manicurists who are too lazy to learn and do not love their job. Who, instead of admitting a mistake, correcting it, just disclaim responsibility and misinform the client. At the same time, they lose client confidence. All they had to do was to read, find out and learn.
One should also mention that it is a common situation that innovations are met with great distrust and meet much resistance on their way as stagnated groups do their best to postpone the innovations as they see them as a real threat to their businesses. So you can see for yourself that gel nail polish as well as everything that is connected with it is not an exception in this case. Summarising my own extensive experience I can give you only positive feedback.
A couple of examples:
* Every season, fashion magazines publish articles and trends of new shades of nail polish for the next season. Although it must be noted that trendy colours do not always suit a particular client and her image. One crucial example: just imagine it is winter; it is windy and chilly the client's hands turned slightly blue or there are some people who have natural bluish skin tone. The trendy colours, the novelty of the season – faded brilliantly blue, or grey with a tint of lilac, or cold silver. As soon as you use these shades for the nails of the client, her hands would look like the hands of a drowned man. Trendy colours are not the ones that someone wrote about and named, but those that suit your client. I would also advise you to learn the colour scheme.
* Another thing, different women's magazines like to publish articles for example – “Home pedicure”, people love free stuff, but as we know, free cheese is only in a mousetrap and only for the second mouse. A client reads an article then follows their advice, and you will be the one who has to solve these mistakes.
Now look at the situation. The article my have unconfirmed facts and consist of the imagination of a journalist, who was tight on time and simply did not re-check the information. It was read by about a thousand people. Out of these people who troubled to read the article, only twenty have come to you the rest went to other masters, and we cannot be sure that those other masters were as prepared as you were. Next – only about three clients of these twenty, whom you told and explained how everything should be in reality, will relay the right policy to their friends. Can you imagine the scale of the dissemination of misinformation?
So keep your finger on the pulse, independently follow the trends from professionals, compare the facts, analyse, befriend the doctors, other professionals in your business, learn to think with your own head, and you will become an unsurpassed master – the master, who will be talked about with reverence and advised to all friends to visit.
What if you suddenly do not know the answer? Admit it honestly: “I do not know the answer, but by the next time you come – I will have it.” It is crucial to keep your word, but most importantly, once again – do not misinform. Some masters, again because of fear of losing a client, begin to say any nonsense, because they don’t want to seem ignorant. Practice shows that such masters still soon lose their clients. Do not think that clients are stupid as they feel, see and hear. Be honest, it always attracts. “And may the force be with you” from the Star Wars.