Yes, thank you NAILS Magazine for the opportunity to write this blog with Jill. This has been a wonderful learning experience for myself and for my cohort in the salon.

I completely agree will you Jill, it is so much more productive to share our struggles and successes with new techs in the industry. I don't know if I would be where I am today without the mentoring and coaching of  people like you and Kristi. That information is invaluable to developing a successful career and to working smarter not harder.

I regularly go to education and if the techs in our salon are unable to attend with me I take copious notes and video clips on my camera if needed in order to bring back to my coworkers what I learned. This helps all of us grow. It not only cements the information in my mind (you learn something much more fully if you teach it to someone else), it also makes certain that I am not the only person in our salon who knows how to do that technique. This is crucial for our salon’s growth because I can only be at the salon a certain amount of time.

If I’m away from the salon, what good does it do my client for me to be the only person able to provide their service. That is just frustrating and inconvenient for them and they may decide to go elsewhere. It is also extremely stressful on us if that was the case because then we feel obligated to kill ourselves to be available. That is no way to live in balance; it will just cause you to burn out quickly.

Passing on your skills is smart business. Think of it this way: It is just another form of excellent customer service.

— Sandy