Nail fashion is an option, not a necessity. Therefore you should not be feeling guilty about charging for it. If you have been giving it away, unless you built it into your service pricing, you are simply costing yourself money to offer a service.

Let’s do a hypothetical breakdown: You like to do complimentary nail designs. Each client takes a minimum of 10 minutes (this is a rough average). If you went by the industry average of $1 a minute, that would be $10. For easy figuring, let’s say you have 10 clients a day and since it is free all of them get nail design. That means you give away $100 every day that you work.

Let’s take it to the next step and say you only work five days a week. This means you give away an average of $500 a week. Can you afford to give away $500 every week? You never have to choose between groceries and prescriptions, or fuel and the electric bill?

Say you start charging for the nail fashion that you offer because YOUR TIME HAS VALUE. Since it is no longer free let’s go for a couple doomsday scenarios, shall we?

Scenario #1: Only two clients a day continue to wear nail fashion. They appreciate what you do for their nails, they know how hard you work to stay on top of current information and trends, and are happy to pay you for it. If that’s the case, you make $20 each day which ends up being $100 a week you earn instead of lose. For my hardcore pessimists who believe no one will get designs anymore if they have to pay for them is scenario #2.

Let’s pretend all your clients decide your designs aren’t worth paying for. They don’t want any more compliments on their nails. This means you free up 10 minutes for each of those 10 clients which is 100 more minutes for you! That could be a 60 minute service and a 40 minute lunch break or you could even leave a little earlier! Even in scenario #2 you gain a client a day which is more income.

Looks like there is not a situation in which charging for your time and work is a bad thing. It gives you income which is the whole point of going to work!! If you’re not convinced, let’s throw in another example.

What tools and products does a lawyer have to purchase in order to answer phone calls and return emails? Are those continuing purchases? The cost is pretty low, so when my lawyer charges me $225 an hour to do for his services, is he charging me for the computer or the phone? Nope, he is charging me for his time. His time has value; I’m paying for his education and experience, as well as the fact that he is hardworking and has an honest reputation.

If you missed it, refer back to the blog on raising your prices this October, and while you are at it please remember to develop a method of charging for nail fashion!

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