Off around the world again, this time its fast paced Rio and over 2000 people in a seminar itching to hear how to make money in the nail business – what a fantastic turnout!  It’s always incredibly humbling to see so many people in different parts of the world who take the time and effort to attend my seminars, with the hope of picking up hints and tips on how to move their treasured businesses forward.

The seminar itself was a 3-hour presentation ending with plenty of questions from an eager audience, which I just love!

It is always really interesting to see what techs from all over the world are interested in, I am never tired of it.  Naturally, in the countries that have less money, they focus mainly on how they can take their skills and make a basic living for themselves.  However, in the more developed countries it does tend to focus on skills and those extra techniques on how to produce the most beautiful nails for the clients as well as keeping up with what the latest trends are.  It never ceases to amaze me what a huge interest nail technicians have in new products and trends.  It seems that if we keep turning out new and interesting lines, there will always be a demand for the next new product . . . just like I never tire of meeting new people, techs all around the world never tire of trying new things – which is great!!  As I have said before in these articles you have to keep ahead of the game at all times and not fall by the wayside, ever!

In a way it is interesting to see how all of this interrelates into a global industry.  I was asked by one tech how similar running a global nail manufacturing business is to running a salon and I had think about the work we had recently been involved in with the launch of some of our latest brands to come up with the answer for her.

Just like a salon, we have to research the market, look at what products will be attractive, how we should position our price, how we are going to build demand, how we generate new customers with offers and promotions, how we keep our customers coming back and buying new products and of course, keep tabs on our competitors – always!!  We have to look at our sales service, our after sales service, then we have to adapt to changing market conditions, new product innovations like our soak off gel colors and of course deal with the ever changing economic climate.

I realize now more than ever that what it takes to build a truly global brand of nail care products is really so similar to building a first class salon business.  We all have to be ideally placed to be able to help and support our customers; we have the same basic needs and benefits

Just keep an eye out for those cowboys who come around trying to steal your business with cheap products and empty promises.  Steer clear and protect yourself against these types of shady individuals, they have no idea or understanding of what it takes to run a successful business or how to look after their customers properly.

See you next time.