If you’re having trouble finding and keeping good nail technicians, why not try a little bribery? Independent industry educator and platform artist Ada Menzies was frustrated in her attempts to recruit new personnel when she was a salon owner, so she enticed new employee’s with a promise to pay back their guaranteed student loans. According to Menzies, the benefit of this approach is two-fold. First, it ingratiates you with local beauty schools (who feel the heat when students default on their loans). Second, and even more important, it makes a big different to the students, who hate facing payments of $50 or so each month. Menzies implemented the plan by tying loan payback to retail sales. If the technician sold a minimum of $200 worth of product, she would pay the technician her standard commission and make the loan payment. Salon owners could also link ban repayment the other types of performance, or simply offer it as a hiring bonus. “This ties the technician to you in a special way,” says Menzies. “It usually takes two years to pay off a student loan, so the technician will stick around longer than she might ordinarily”

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