Editor's Note: Congratulations to Ramar for successfully making it through his first year with a nail department! You can read all of Ramar's posts by clicking on the Ramar tag at the left column of this blog, under "Post Categories."

Before I added nails to True Envy and became a licensed nail tech, I was mainly doing administrative work at the salon as the owner. But for the past year, I’ve both run the business and been a part of the business. I never had to do all that before.

Before, I had time to send out the postcards, schedule e-mail blasts, and wash towels. But now I have to do all of that on top of building my nail clientele. Before I was trying to get other people busy, but now I'm trying to build my own business and still get our salon known, plus do the day-to-day management of the salon.

Time management was the biggest lesson I’ve learned in my year of being a Blueprint blogger. I’ve learned to pick a specific day to do certain things. For instance, the salon isn’t open to clients on Mondays, so that’s the day I’m using to do paperwork, pay bills, and place orders for the week. Basically, that’s when I do all of the admin stuff. Some of it I can do remotely – for instance, scheduling Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus posts for the week — and some of it, like inventory, means I have to physically come in.

The guy who owns the small business that does our printing recently said to me, “You always have to 
be working, in some form or fashion. When you’re out socially, you will see something and think to yourself, ‘That’s something we can do in my business.’”

So I work seven days. Well, six days for sure. On Sundays, I don’t do as much. And I take clients whenever I can get them in, because my book isn't full yet. 

For 2013, I'm trying to get to the point where I can be open on Sundays for nail services. While talking to my clients, it seems that the majority of people who want nail services want them on Sunday and will go to the competition if they’re the ones open. Ultimately, I would love for the salon to be open seven days a week.

When that becomes the case, I will set aside one- to two-hour time blocks to do the administrative work.

I will also work on getting my chair to be constantly busy. I want at least 20% of my salon’s business coming from nails.

--Ramar, True Envy Salon Spa, Orlando