

Make It “Spa” in Five Steps
With Bonnie Waters at its helm, Changes Salon & Day Spa in Walnut Creek, Calif., transformed from an unassuming nail spa to an awarding-winning, full-service luxury spa. Waters just received the prestigious title Salon Entrepreneur of the Year for the Western United States at the 2008 Global Salon Business Awards. Here’s her advice on taking your salon to the next level.

Pride and Joi
Joi Nail Spa in Berkeley, Calif., enriches its community with a unique assortment of services, including authentic Chinese reflexology.

The 5 Most Important Things to Remember When Working With Gels
Understanding the characteristics of gels will help you apply them flawlessly.

Tiny Tootsies: Grow Your Base With Kids
The kiddie and teen demographic for money-making potential is anything by tiny.

Dear Shari: November 2008
Salon owner Shari Finger answers your questions on building a clientele, regaining the trust of a discount salon-goer, listening to clients’ personal issues, and clients who mistreat their nails.
No Bad Blood at Mi Salon & Spa
A salon in Florence, Kentucky helps with a blood drive in Cincinnati.

How to Host a Successful Networking Event
To organize a networking event for nail techs takes an enormous amount of work and discipline, but the rewards are worth it. Learn the steps to make your event go off without a hitch.

Beyond Polish [Selling Boutique Items Successfully]
We know that selling retail can increase our bottom line, but for so many of us, selling retail — particularly non-nail items — is a foreboding hurdle. The question to ask is not should I sell retail, but how do I sell retail.

Graphic Design 101
Graphic design can make or break the image of a nail salon. Whether or not you have a consciously crafted image, your nail salon’s brand is expressed through the look of your salon materials.

Tech Has a Gift for Graphic Design
When Colleen VanDurme designed business cards for her own nail business, another venture designing salon marketing materials for others took off.

On My Mind: Practice, Practice, Practice
Whether your aim is to compete professionally, or simply provide confident, skilled services, you must commit to practicing your craft.

A Nail Tech's Brush
My brush is my best friend. It is my life. Without my brush, I am useless.

Site Offers Personalized E-Mail Marketing
Through its website, SignatureB Communications works with salon and spa owners to create customized, branded stationery that serves as the basis for a wide variety of marketing activities, including client newsletters.

They Do the Marketing, You Get the Business
Through partnering with Spa & Salon Wish, a network of more than 3600 salons and spas, your salon will be more effectively marketed on the web. They provide consumers with the ability to purchase gift certificates for your salon and you receive face value less a 17% marketing fee when they are redeemed.

Business Advice You Never Forgot
It’s that little piece of advice you got while you were coming up. It may have been something quick and off -hand from someone you never saw again, or a lasting lesson from a mentor who still counsels you to this day, but for whatever reason it stuck with you throughout your career. We asked techs to share their stories of meaningful business advice.

Feel Good, Get a Manicure
OPI advertises complete polish line.

Consumers Get an Intro to Essie
Essie Cosmetics debuted a new print advertising campaign to introduce founder Essie Weingarten to consumers.



