The nail industry has been thriving in recent years. Many experts expect that the revenue of this industry will reach 14.31 billion USD in 2028, according to Statista. With profound research analysis of the budget, goals, and market, as well as planning carefully, you can learn how to start a nail business at home effectively, even at home.
Before stepping into any venture, you have to imagine all the steps you have to take. In this blog, we will help you discover how to start a nail business from scratch.
Contents
1. Pros and cons of starting a nail business at home
It’s great when you can gain money when running a business at home with the things you love – doing nails. With a home-based business, you can choose a work location and schedule that fits your lifestyle and provides a good work-life balance. Also, you can start this venture with a low budget without hiring staff or renting a physical space right away.
This excellent business model can help you earn more money, however, be careful with some drawbacks. Initially, you have to deal with the limited visibility since you don’t have a physical store. As a result, it is difficult to expand your brand image and increase your customer base. Not only that, the nail industry is an extremely competitive market, with many famous established businesses. Standing out from the crowd and making a name for yourself can be quite challenging.
2. How to start a nail business at home
2.1. Research target market
Market research is the first thing you must do before running any business, especially in this competitive market.
There are tons of services, products, and nail business ideas that you can start from home. To choose the most suitable one, you need to research the industry trends and consider your interests and the resources you have. With thorough research and analysis, you will find out the appropriate niche to invest in.
Then, you have to understand more about your target customers, analyze your competitors, list potential services, and define the most important element in your business – a unique selling point.
Since there is a tremendous number of competitors who have many years of experience in your market, you must differentiate yourself by offering a unique USP that impresses your customers. Your brand will be attached strictly to your USP, thus you have to consider this carefully.
2.2. Analyze and allocate your budget
Starting a business is daunting, especially when you starting a home-based business with limited resources. So, how to start a nail business at home with a low budget?
It is important to estimate the budget. The more accurate the estimated budget, the fewer risks you have to deal with. To make it more easily, you can list some types of expenses in the order of priority. Depending on your services and the products you sell, the expense may vary.
For example, if you sell nail kits online, the costs include materials and equipment to create nail kits and digital marketing ads. On the other hand, being a freelance nail technician requires you travel expenses besides the ones above.
Want to reduce financial risks? Just conduct expense research in your market and estimate the budget based on the market prices of materials and equipment. Besides, you should consider the cost of risks after assessing the risk level of your business.
2.3. Define name, logo and theme
Creating an impressive brand image with a name, logo, and story behind it is the next step in how to start a nail business at home effectively.
Based on your story and the theme, you can list some meaningful nail business name ideas and choose table one that fits your target audience. Remember that the logo should express your brand identity with colors representative of your brand.
Brand image has to reflect your business values and align with your target audience. With a memorable brand name and logo and establishing consistent branding across all marketing materials will help you expand your brand in the future
2.4. Obtain licenses
If you offer nail services to your customers, you need to obtain some licenses to run the business.
The licenses and certifications can vary depending on your location and the specific regulations in your area. For example, opening a nail salon at home has to adhere to the highest personal hygiene and sanitation standards and complete a course or take an apprenticeship.
When starting your nail salon business at home, you have to obtain nail certification and verify that your home-based business satisfies the requirements of the local Board of Cosmetology. There are three main documents you will need to provide nail services at your home: a nail business license, a nail salon permit, and liability insurance.
2.5. Prepare materials and equipment
Preparing equipment and materials is a must to provide professional nail services. The list of items you need varies depending on the products and services you offer. There are fundamental equipment for any type of nail business:
- Nail polish and gels
- Manicure tools (scissors, nail files, spatulas, pencils, etc.)
- Nail polish thinner
- LED lamp
- Nail drills
- Sanitation and disinfection supplies
Make sure that you choose trustworthy brands with high-quality products since it affects your work results directly. If you don’t know what brands to pick, just consider OPI, NaCot, or Halo to start.
2.6. Create a business plan
A nail business plan is a solid roadmap that will lead you to success in this market. With this document, you can set up short-term and long-term goals and define the activities and strategies to reach targets. In some cases, it will help you communicate your vision to potential stakeholders, such as investors or lenders.
You need to outline your goals and target market and write down all marketing strategies, financial projections, and operational details. Make sure that you clarify your targets and activities and have a method to track the progress of each activity. You and your team have to revise the business plan monthly, even weekly, to ensure that everything on your plan can be managed.
2.7. Establish your services and price
How to start your own nail business that attracts more customers? The key is offering excellent services and reasonable prices.
Since you understand target customers thoroughly, you can offer suitable services that make them happy. Providing adding services and an attractive combo can satisfy your customers. Besides, you should experience some services of competitors, learn how they serve customers, and list some potential things you can do.
About the prices, make sure that your prices cover all expenses, as well as the products and services you offer. If you don’t know what prices are reasonable, you can look back at your market research and check your competitors’ prices to compare whether they are in the same ballpark.
2.8. Promote your business
Want to know how to start a nail art business successfully? Focus on effective marketing strategies! Depending on what are your ideal customers, you will have different promotion activities and priorities.
If your customers are housewives, you should distribute flyers in local supermarkets, partner with hair salons in the neighborhood, and promote your product in their forums and social media. On the other hand, you have to advertise your business in local office buildings and partner with beauty services around offices when you focus on white-collar workers.
You should combine offline and online marketing strategies, including nurturing impressive social accounts, running digital ads while offering promotion discounts, and partnering with other local businesses. And don’t forget to build strong relationships with your customers. This word-of-mouth method is a powerful marketing tool for your nail brands.
2.9. Create an optimized working management process
If you wonder how to start a nail polish business effectively, the management process is the crucial thing you should focus on. Customers often book services first before doing their nails. So, you have to collect customer booking information to avoid missing any orders, especially when you are a freelance nail technician.
Creating a weekly reminder that notify you when your customers doing nails by using some software is a great idea. You should choose some apps that have free trials to try and decide which one to invest in. Remember to include these expenses in your budget when you estimate your business costs.
3. Home-based nail business examples
3.1. Glosslab
With a classic and clean website design, Glosslab brings a pleasing feeling to the customers when entering their online store. Not only that, the navigation is easy to click through, and the different design elements pop out well so that customers can see through the pages.
Glosslab offers great deals and promotion programs to attract new customers, especially buy one, get one free manicure in exchange for the visitor’s email address. After that, they can leverage customer email and information to implement email marketing strategies.
3.2. JustNail
JustNail is a nail care products suppliers that provide all types of color gel, gel polish, acrylic, liquid, equipment, and more. With a wide range of product lines, high-quality nail design products, and reasonable prices, JustNail impresses customers and develops its brand.
To attract more new buyers, JustNail offers 10% off newsletter registration. Thus they can implement not only social ads and SEO, but also email marketing.
3.3. BeautyDel
Considered one of the most famous nail mobile services in Toronto, BeautyDel impresses customers with its diverse services and superb customer experience. This brand develops an app for iOS and Android devices so that customers can easily book their services, be reminded about the calendar, and update all promotion programs they have.
Besides, BeautyDel provides valuable tips on its website, so customers can know how to take care of their nails effectively. As with any nail brand, BeautyDel offers attractive deals and promotion programs, especially a discount of 15% for new subscribers.
4. Conclusion
Running a nail business at home is a great idea for nail lovers who want to earn more money. However, there are various challenges they have to deal with, from deciding a business idea, and understanding how to start a nail business at home thoroughly to creating an optimized business plan and executing strategically.
Not only that, the trends and customer requirements are changing fast, and entrepreneurs have to update products and services to ensure that they are not behind competitors.
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5.FAQs
