How To Start a Nail Salon Business

Starting a nail salon business is a great option for someone who loves the beauty of nail art and wants to bring that passion to their work life. As the adage goes, if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life. While that’s not exactly true (starting a new business is a lot of work), if you’re working to realize your dreams in a field that excites you you’ll hardly mind the hard work at all.

That said, what does go into starting a new nail salon? Should you focus on finding a location, or can you start a small business from the comfort of your home? What goes into buffing out all the various details that an up and coming salon needs to think of? Before you give your first manicure or pedicure, you need a business plan, reliable suppliers, and a marketing strategy. If you’re wondering how to go about getting all this together, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s dive into the details; from clear polish to gel nail art, we’ve got you covered.

How to Craft the Perfect Business Plan

The first step to starting a successful nail salon is to plan everything out, and we do mean everything. How do you plan to fund this endeavor? What are the various streams of revenue you’ll plan to have as income? What’s the timeline for getting incorporated or taking out a DBA (Doing Business As) certificate? What is your brand identity, and how does that apply to everything from your aprons to your logo? All of these questions will be answered in your business plan, and having these details written down will serve as a map during your first year of work so that you can focus on giving gel pedicures and not on where the funds for the next batch of nail polish is coming from.

Finding Reliable Suppliers for All Your Salon Needs

You can’t very well apply nail polish to fingernails and toenails if you don’t have nail polish n the first place, can you? From the best nail buffer kit to Revlon lacquer, you should pick a few suppliers you trust and set up regular deliveries. By putting the lacquer and buffer deliveries on an automatic cycle, you know that you’ll never run out of gel or acrylic at an inopportune moment. Read reviews of buffer and polish companies beforehand. Remember—inexpensive isn’t always better. Sometimes, the best buffer or lacquer is the one that arrives on schedule, not the buffer or nail polish that costs a few dollars less.

Hiring Manicure and Pedicure Professionals

You may be able to start your business as a single proprietor, from the comfort of your home, depending on your rental agreement (if you’re a renter). If you plan to grow as a salon owner, though, you’ll eventually have to hire some mani-pedi pros to join your team. Look into a subscription with a site like Indeed or ZipRecruiter so that you can get access to the best resumes with ease. Make sure to find team members who have multiple skills. Can your new hire do pedicures with specialized nail art and also run a cash register? That makes them a more valuable team member than someone who only knows how to apply gel or acrylic to toenails and fingernails.

Developing a Winning Marketing Strategy

This is either the fun part or the hard part, depending on how you feel about social media. If you love Instagram and Tik Tok, you’ll love showing off your fingernail art on these social platforms. Either way, though, you need to be showing off the manicures and pedicures you can do online to reach new customers. Consider a nail buffer or nail file kit (complete with oil and buffing cream) giveaway or another promotion as a way to advertise your services. Be sure to align this with the brand identity you developed!