It’s hard to believe I’m at the six month mark in my new location, and it has been an incredible start! This summer really exceeded my expectations for growth, especially since we didn’t get much summer weather, so I think pedicure season missed a bit.

I didn’t really know what to expect, going out on my own, but one of the biggest surprises was how many hairstylists at various salons started referring to me. It turns out that they knew that I was in the area, but many didn’t refer their clients to me because I was working in a full-service salon. But with all these referrals (and with zero advertising on my part), I have averaged 3.4 new clients per week in my first six months, up from my average of 2.7 a week (when I was in a salon with four hairstylists and was paying for advertising)!

Looking ahead, there are some things that I just need to continue: My pre-booking rate is at 73% (yay) and 82% of the services performed were acrylic, gel, or gel polish. My weakest area that I will really be working on in the next few months is retail. Right now my retail sales are about 14% of my gross. I’d really like it to be more around the 35% mark. The retail lines that I have in the studio have done very well, but unfortunately, since I hate shopping, I dropped the ball on continuing to introduce new lines. Right now I’m hunting for retail for the holiday season, so if you have any best-sellers, please share your ideas!

— Candice, Panache Nail Studio, Stanwood, Wash.