FingerNailFixer

Passion Leads to Talent

by Holly Schippers | February 17, 2011 | Bookmark +

Where are you in your nail career right now? Are you at the beginning still feeling like a sponge? Have you been around long enough you presume to know it all? We all start somewhere, and we each travel a different path. How many of you started out amazing? You walked into nail class and banged out a fast beautiful nail; there were a couple in my class at school that just blew my mind. Some techs are gifted with a natural talent that simply needs to be honed. The rest of us start out with something that doesn’t even really resemble a nail yet took half the day to create. If you do not do perfect nails at school, after a year or even after five years is it time to give up? Do you love it though? Ponder this thought:

Passion can give birth to talent with the right teachers.

What does that mean to you?

To me, it means that you do not have to be gifted with natural talent to do nails, but if you’re not, you have to be willing to put the time and the effort into learning them “from the ground up,” so to speak. Yes you will put in more practice time than others, and yes the road to a full book will be longer and harder for you, but if you have the passion to fuel the drive, it can be done. I pity my nail instructor having to keep a straight face after the beginner nails I did, and I am truly grateful for the clients in my first years that were kind enough to wear the nails I did. Something you may not have realized until you got to school is that nails can actually be hard to do! Have you realized at some point in your life that the best things in life are worth fighting for? If you have kids you would gladly take out anyone that hurt them, right? If you have an amazing life partner, while you probably take them for granted, you also know that the relationship is worth working on every day because they are the perfect yin to your yang. Why should your career be any different? If doing nails and sharing them is your passion and your chosen path, giving up when the road gets rocky should not be an option.

Challenge yourself. Look at the nails you do and mentally note what you could improve. Educate yourself. Make the effort to find the education that will help you learn how to improve the areas that you struggle with. Ask for help. There are people out there who love nails so much, not only do they want to do them, they want to share what they have learned to not only take their skills to the next level but those of everyone in the industry as well. Practice. When you think your nails are so amazing you don’t need to practice anymore, find someone who can give you a reality check. The industry changes, design changes, products change, perfection should always be a goal you strive for but are humble enough to admit you never reach because the passionate can always find things that would be worth improving.

After 12 years I find that my skills have come a long way from those first days, but I still find imperfection in everything I do and continue to strive to learn and practice the things I wish to improve. I hope you find a day in your career when you realize you do some seriously great nails, but I also hope that you continue to strive towards perfection, even when there seems to be an obstacle in your road.

—Holly

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