I met my future salon coach as I was about to throw in the towel on my nail career. I was living in Florida at the time and frustrated with my first job as a tech, due to my limited technical skills as a newbie and a challenging salon location, but somehow convinced myself to go to Premiere Orlando, an industry tradeshow. It was there that I was standing next to a woman who was getting her nails done, and we started to chat. It turned out she worked at a salon five minutes from my house, and they needed nail techs. Her name was Heather Goodwin.

I accepted the job at Rare Accents Salon & Day Spa in Palm Harbor Fla., and Heather and I briefly worked together. At the time, she was being coached. At first I couldn’t understand why anyone would pay to have someone else tell them how to run their business, but then I noticed how Heather’s changed approach made her more money! She suggested I check out Inspiring Champions, a salon and spa coaching firm, and pretty soon a few of us in the salon decided to attend some of their seminars. I took out of it what I wanted, and let go of what I felt did not apply.

—Adrienne, nail tech