Why No One Is Coming to Save Your Books: How to Market Yourself & Build a Full Client List

If you’re a nail tech struggling to get clients… this episode might be the wake-up call you didn’t know you needed.

Because here’s the truth—
 👉 No one is coming to build your clientele for you.

Not your salon.
 Not social media.
 Not luck.

In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly how to market yourself as a nail tech, build a loyal client base, and fill your books—even if you’re brand new.

After 30+ years in the beauty industry, I’ve seen the difference between techs who stay booked… and those who sit and wait.

And I can tell you this with love:
 👉 Waiting is not a strategy.

🎯 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

•  Why “waiting for clients” is keeping you stuck 
•  How to build a full client list from scratch
•  The truth about discounting (and why it’s NOT undervaluing yourself)
•  How to turn first-time clients into loyal, repeat clients
•  Simple daily habits to grow your nail business consistently
•  Creative marketing ideas that actually bring clients in 
•  How to stay fully booked—even during slow seasons 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, everyone. Today we're going to be talking about something that will determine your success more than your talent. It's actually marketing yourself. Because here's the truth, and I'm going to say this with love. I really am going to say this with love. No one else is going to build your clientele for you. I'm so sorry, but not the salon, not social media, not luck. It's going to be you. And one of the biggest mindset gaps I see in new beauty industry skilled providers is this. If I show up, clients are just going to appear. No, this is not how the industry works. And I know that because I've been doing this for 34 years. And I still market myself today. So, and I'm booked all the time. I don't even need new clients and I still have to market myself. So why? Why, why doesn't why does waiting it doesn't work anymore? So we're going to talk about that more in, I like to call it, let's talk about it in reality. Because yes, some salons have a great reputation. And yes, you might get some walk-ins. But here's the most important part that people don't understand. The reputation was built by someone else putting in the years of work. So, yes, it's slow, like in January. Sometimes beauty professionals who survive are the ones who have already built their clientele, not the ones who are waiting for the phone to ring. Because waiting is not a strategy. You have two choices. You can sit and hope or you can create an opportunity. And the ones who create are the ones who stay booked. So how can we market ourselves? How can we get ourselves out there? Especially if you're new to the industry, or maybe you redid, revamped yourself. Maybe you changed salons, maybe something else is not working for you. So you decided this is it, I need to renew myself. Sometimes the best way to do it is discounting your services. And I'm going to hear somebody go, Are you kidding me? That is the worst advice ever. Why discounting is not actually undervaluing yourself. That's what I want to talk about because there's a belief out there that says if I discount, I'm undervaluing my skills, right? And I'm going to lovingly challenge that. That is not what you're doing when you're new. Okay, we're talking about new. We want to reframe that. We want to reframe an opportunity over your ego. So let me ask you this. If you're new and you don't have clients, would you rather have an empty chair or a full chair with opportunity? Because that's what a discount gives you. Now I get it. Someone may say, what opportunity could that possibly give me? Because most people who answered the call of a discount or a coupon are only going to use it in that one moment and never come back. I'm going to challenge you. Yes, that could absolutely be a certain percentage of people. But I'm going to challenge you in saying it's still an opportunity. It's an opportunity to practice, an opportunity to build confidence, to build your speed, to build relationship skills, and to turn someone into a long-term client. So here's a real example. Let's say Sally comes in because she has a coupon. And again, some service people are thinking she's only here for the discount, right? I want you to shift that thinking to Sally sitting in my chair. I have an opportunity where there wasn't any. Because if Sally has a great experience, she doesn't stay a discount client. She becomes a loyal client with one appointment. So either I'm sitting there making nothing, or I'm sitting there with an opportunity to create a loyal client. And sometimes giving someone a discount is the only way to do it. Now, I do have technicians who are like, well, I gave someone a discount when they came in, and then before they left, I gave them another 20% off coupon. And then before they left for the second one, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about you're empty on Friday, so now you're gonna put another 50% off all your services online to try to get your books filled. I'm talking about doing this in order to practice, build confidence and speed, and again, relationship, and try to turn someone into a long-term client. If people are not returning, there's other issues going on, which in like my last episode talked about, they don't have to be loyal to you. Is your consistency there? Are you appropriately discussing conversations with them and subjects with them? So I want to be clear: this is not about giving yourself away. You are not giving your talent away, you are investing in your growth, you are building trust and trying to repeat, create, repeat business, not by giving repetitive discounts. And when you're new, you're not charging for 10 years of experience. So expecting top-tier pricing right away, that's not confidence, that's actually misalignment. So the hard truth again with love is if you are brand new to a situation, and I just mean brand new in case you've changed salons, or maybe you're brand new because you're in school, and you expect people to pay high prices without experience, without skill and speed, without reputation, and without client trust, you're gonna struggle. That's gonna be a big old struggle bus. Not because you're not good, but because trust hasn't been built yet. And trust is everything in this industry consistency, trust, just repetition of care and skill and loyalty that the client doesn't owe you, you owe them. And please remember discounting is a season, it's not a lifestyle. So this is key. You are not going to discount forever. I actually beg you not to. I think when someone comes to me for coaching in the salon industry and they're like, I have been discounting for six months. Well, there's your problem. There's your problem. It's a building phase, one person at a time. It's not giving that one person a discount just so that they keep coming in. I've even had students at my Inspire Nail Academy say, I'm not even concerned about building clientele because I know my friends and family will be my clientele. Oh, that's not gonna happen because you're doing your friends and family in school for free right now. You you do you think they're gonna actually now start paying full price? Or do they always expect that friends and family discount? That's not building a clientele. That's not a building phase. That I think is a destruction phase. So I want you to think about the building phase like this. I'm trading a lower price today for a full book tomorrow because I'm getting an opportunity to show people what I have. Because once people trust you and they love your work and they re-book consistently, the discounts go away. And you can do that in their first appointment. So I want you to remember this philosophy. An empty chair gives you nothing. It doesn't give you practice, it doesn't give you photos, it doesn't give you relationships, it doesn't give you referrals, it doesn't give you growth, but even a full chair at a discount for one time gives you everything. It gives you an opportunity, way more than an empty chair. And I I want you to hear this impact. I want you to feel this because I would rather you have an opportunity. I would rather have an opportunity sitting in my chair than an empty chair sitting in my schedule, right? I I want you to understand that an empty chair, what does that feel like to you? To me, that felt like failure. To me, that felt like what am I doing wrong? To me, it felt like I need another thing. I need something, I must need to go to more education, or I must need to read another book, or I must need to do this or do that or whatever. It gave me no opportunities. But handing someone a card when I got my coffee that morning for 20% off a manicure and a pedicure gave me an opportunity to show them what I am, to show them what I do. And it also gave me an opportunity to take pictures of their feet and of their hands, gave me an opportunity to say, could you please leave a review for me? Could I please use these pictures on social media? Could I please give you some referral cards? And if you know anyone else that would love this type of service, please give them my name. I would really appreciate that. So discounting isn't weakness, it's short term. Again, it's a building phase, it's strategy, it's growth, it's how you build something real and consistent. And once you understand that, marketing actually becomes easier because now you're not thinking, am I giving it away? Am I giving money away? You start thinking, how many opportunities can I create this week? I love to be able to think of my week and say, where could I hand out these cards? Where? So excited to do this. How many opportunities can I create this week? And remember, repetition is gonna build that recognition. So let me give you one of the most important principles that I learned that repetition does matter, right? Not just once, not occasionally, but every single day for months. Because when someone finally thinks, like, I need my nails done, you want them to think of you. When someone says, Oh, I want that style that I had, the color that I had, I want that facial that I had that time. There's only one name that comes to mind, and it's gonna be you. You want them to think of you. Not because you told them once or you gave them one discount, but because they've seen you over and over and in different places and in different ways. That's how you stay top of the mind. I had someone stop me in a grocery store one time and she said, Oh my gosh, are you Jerry? And I said, I am. And she said, 26 years ago you did my nails for my wedding. And I'm telling you, every time I look at that picture, I think of you because my nails were absolutely perfect on such a perfect day. And anytime someone says, Oh, I'm gonna get my nails done for a special occasion, I tell them to go to you. And I think, wow, 26 years later, she just wasn't the type of person to always get her nails done, but it was a very special day, and that's what she still thinks of is when someone says, I need to get my nails done, she goes, You gotta go to Jerry. 26 years, and I only saw her one time. So I would have loved to have had uh, you know, kind of an air tag on all the people that she commented on and how many people she actually brought to me. And she did mention a couple people, and I thought, my gosh, those people come to me consistently every two weeks, and it was because of her and that one appointment, that one time. So everywhere can be your marketing space. You're not just in a salon, you are literally a walking business. So, of course, it looks like drive-throughs, and and I'm telling you, people go, Well, I can't even afford to go out to eat sometimes. I get that, but I guarantee you you're getting some coffee every once in a while. The drive-throughs are a great place that when you hand them your card, you also your credit card, you also hand them one little card. And it doesn't have to be a business card. I actually started with my own cards 34 years ago because I couldn't afford to get them printed. I started by making my own. I would stick actually a nail tip that I had done nail art on. I would hot glue it to a little piece of construction paper with my name and phone number and say, hey, this is the work that I do. Can you believe that? Nowadays, it's like so crazy to think about, but I'm telling you, I didn't have two pennies to put together. So anytime you go to restaurants, I write on a card, thank you so much for your service. Please let me um repay you with some downtime and some quiet time. Here's 20% off. Banks, every time I made a deposit, I put a card in the deposit. Every time I went to a store, every gas station, events, anything I was with family or friends, people would always ask me nail questions. And I would love it because before you know it, I'm talking to one person and then I'm talking to five. And I really believed that the information I gave them was teaching them, hey, you know what? You don't necessarily have to come to me, but when you do go get your nails done, this is the level of standard you should be looking for. And again, when I see them two, three years later, they're like, every time I think of my nails, I think of you and what you taught me and what you told me. That is still my reputation being built. Because everyone is a potential client. Hand out business cards, fridge magnets, promo cards, whatever it is, and don't just hand them out, attach it with an offer. You can do 10%. It doesn't matter. You can do get a free lotion. And I'm gonna explain this to you. So if you're doing 10% off a $50 service, we can do the math. That's $5, right? You can also get a bottle of lotion for $5 and tell them if you get a $50 service, you get a full eight-ounce bottle of lotion for $5. And yes, the C and D lotion, I was just looking this morning, is like $487 a bottle. You can find them on discount and buy a bunch, right? You can do those kinds of things and still create a percentage off without necessarily listing a percentage off. And here's the key: you can actually do little cuticle care bags and tell them you receive a free gift for getting the service. A cuticle bag is probably gonna cost you $3 because it's a little nail file and a little bottle of cuticle oil you could make yourself. Be creative. But here's the key, not just once, every day for months. Every day, every week for months. That's how momentum builds. Another part that to me is a non-negotiable. Always have your nails done. Always have your hair done. Always have your face looking fantastic, especially if you're an aesthetician and you do waxing and facials. Always have your nails done. Have the service that you provide always done. It's a non-negotiable. You are your own billboard. If someone asks who does your nails, the answer always is me. Your work should speak before you even say a word. I just went out for breakfast with a friend the other day. And as I was walking into the restaurant, she goes, Oh my gosh, you look fantastic. What are you doing with your skin? And I said, Really? I don't know. It must just be the sun today. And I stopped myself and I said, No, actually, I get my facials done at, and I gave her the name and phone number of my facialist and said, I think I'm gonna give her all the credit. That's reputation, that's marketing. And creative marketing, I mean, that's this is one of my favorites. I love coming up with creative marketing. So one time I had um, I did this a couple years in a row, but I had a little terracotta pot sitting at my nail station and it was just full of dirt. And there was, I put some grass seeds in it and I would water it every day and whatever. And it was so funny because I took a business card and I also stapled a little packet of seeds, but those were like wildflowers, you know. On the card it said grow with me. So someone would come in and go, What's with the dirt? And I'm like, oh, that's a new way I'm doing manicures, you know, as a joke. And I said, No, I'm asking for your help. I have some openings and I would really love it if you would grow with me. Here is my business card with a packet of seeds stapled to it. On the back of the business card, it said $10 off a service, and I would write the person's name who I gave the card to. And then I would say, you keep the seeds or give them to a friend and give this card to someone you know. Now here's the magic. When the new client gets the $10 off card and she comes in, that original person that took the seeds gets also a $10 off. So now I've created a referral system that just keeps growing and she's growing with me. And because she already trusts me and loves my consistent services for her, she already knows this is really gonna be fun. I'm gonna watch these seeds grow at the same time I watch my nail technician grow. And the best part, the best story that I have with this, I did five different people on the same street in the neighborhood. And it got so big that I started to do all of their family and all of their friends and everything like that. That I remember one of them saying, I think we all need to call weed man because I think we all grew too many seeds for you. Because if they were having a hard time getting an appointment, they would say, You just got too big, right? But this is about building return clients immediately. So another really fun thing that I like to do, again, it's nail-oriented because this is this is what I do. But I believe this is so universal and can be used in so many different ways. So again, be creative with what you do specifically. But if you want return clients immediately, what I like to do is I like to offer um a full set, and I call them actually a model program, and I say it's a full set, and then your first fill is discounted. But I actually create a commitment card for them. So when they come in, let's say my full sets are 65, my fills are 50. I actually means that the first fill that they get is gonna be 25. So the total commitment um is gonna be like $90. Okay, so it's a $90 special. They get a full set and a fill. But then they have to sign this commitment form. And the commit is that I commit to you, I'm paying you $90 today, but I commit to you that I'm going to get a fill in two to three weeks. The appointment is going to be pre-booked. And if I need to cancel for any reason whatsoever, I forfeit my first fill if I cannot reschedule within the first three weeks. And the reason being is after three weeks, who knows what they're going to do with their nails? Like you need to make sure that they're still safe and healthy. But what you can do with this is still do this even with your haircut. You can do a haircut and color, and then, you know, possibly how many of our weeks after you decide, you can say your first haircut, your next haircut, then in between your two colors is going to be discounted. But they have to sign the commitment card so that it is completely clear what's expected of them and what's expected of me. So why does this work? First, you're training your clients to stay on schedule that I need you to book out with me because it's going to be hard to get an appointment. You're also building retention from day one. So if you also want to build quickly, your hours matter. Your hours matter so much. So when people come to me and they're like, I'm totally free and I can do whatever hours, great. You know what my suggestion is? Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday, Thursday, two to nine, two to nine, and three Saturdays a month, work nine to four, ten to five, whatever you want to work. Why? Because that's when clients are available. And I'm gonna say this confidently: if you commit to the schedule for at least 12 to 18 months, you're gonna be booked. So now here's the question: when somebody says, but I don't always want to work two evenings and Saturdays, I get that. I have to say, based on my schedule and my family life, I did Saturdays for like 17 years where I worked every other Saturday. But it was also because my husband was home and I didn't have to pay for a sitter. And again, we didn't even have two pennies to rub together, so it was important for me to be able to make money. Without having to pay a sitter. And also he'd get home like four or five in the afternoon, and then I'd go into work and I'd work until 10. So those were some of the hours that I did when my children were small. So my thought process is though, when somebody says, I don't always want to work nights and weekends, I get it. But the more you build trust with your clients, the ones that are working at night are the ones that come in on Saturday, the more you're able to say after 12 to 18 months, hey, you know what? I kind of heard in our discussions you have off on Wednesdays. Is that true? And she'll be like, yeah, yeah, that's true. Do you mind if I book you like at one o'clock on Wednesday instead of two instead of like four or five in the afternoon? Could you do it any time on Wednesday? Oh, absolutely. In fact, I'd appreciate a morning appointment. Oh, that would be great. I would start booking them during the day. Or if my Saturday clients, maybe those were teachers that couldn't come in during the week, I would say, hey, you know what? My four o'clock just opened. Because again, my four o'clock, I just moved to like a noon appointment because I found out she actually has off. Now I can offer that four o'clock to that teacher that comes in. Before you know it, it took me about three to four months, and I got my entire schedule to one day, full day during the week, and two evenings. And as I started, and no Saturdays, and as I started to filter them through, and actually the longer I did them, the more they would start to retire, and their schedule changed and my schedule changed. I now only work like eight to three. I don't work evenings or Saturdays, but again, I've done this for 34 years. So it takes some time. But I believe you can actually do it much faster than working Saturdays for 17 years. So a weekly client building accountability is also super important. You need rhythm. You need every week that you need to require this, that you say, you know what? Three new people I told about my services, one new collaboration attempt with someone, maybe three social media posts, and maybe one follow-up message with a client. That's what's gonna build consistency. So, what do I mean by like a follow-up client? So the well, first let's start with the three new people. So, three new people you told about your services. Check your box. One collaboration attempt. So a collaboration attempt can be this. I love to be able to connect with someone that maybe is in photography. And I say it's they're gonna see so many people that are going through special occasions of their life. I ask them, would you want to collaborate on something? So we could do a salon special with a photography special, or I just say, Here are my cards. Anyone that you send me to, I'm more than happy to give you a discounted rate on you coming to see me as well. I also like to be able to say, hey, I could use some really great professional hand pictures, um, model pictures, things like that. Again, I don't really have a ton of money, but I would love to be able to collaborate. And she may say, you know what? I would love to get my nails done or have a pedicure, and then we can work off each other's services instead of paying each other. Three social um media posts. I think that's really simple and self-explanatory. But the one follow-up message, what I like about this is when you have someone new, I believe in following up with every person. So approximately a week later, I love to send out a little text message or a little message, whatever way I can reach them through email, and just say, hey, just want to say thank you so much for coming into the salon. I really appreciated meeting you. And if you have any questions regarding your service, I'm here at any time. I think that is so important because people just don't do that in today's day and age. Another thing to do is like a daily 10-minute marketing power session. So just 10 minutes a day where you're gonna share that photo, message, or comment someone, share what you did today. Tell them what you a day in the life is of someone that works in a salon. Um, actually, I do engage locally with a lot of different companies and a lot of different organizations as well. And I think just 10 minutes of being able to market something is really, really powerful. It builds a massive visibility too. So I don't even think it takes me 10 minutes. I really want to say it takes me about a minute and a half to do these now. So again, with the with the power sessions, that doesn't mean every single day you're gonna put some type of discount out there. It's just making yourself more visible to other people. So as we talked about, you know, the the help me grow and and things like that, it really does build build so much faster by word of mouth. I still think word of mouth is the number one marketing tool, and I will say that forever. Um, but the fill your book challenge is really, really, it's important to me. Oh, I I would say marketing word of mouth is number one. Fill your books challenge, I think, is just so incredibly important. So I like to set a 30-day goal with some of my um students and some people that are new that I work with in my life coaching as well. A 30-day goal is this I want you to do 20 posts of your work, 20 pictures of something that you've done. I want you to hand out 50 cards that you literally handed out yourself. And I want to see three free sets of um photos or tags, you know, that kind of thing. So it's basically like, you know, tag a friend and then kind of do like a post where you're um doing a contest or things like that. So it doesn't mean you're doing three full sets of nails, it's three free sets, basically like something to promote people to tag other people in it, and then invite a friend. Promo works really good. But action creates that momentum and having that 30-day goal where you're literally putting this into your phone calendar so that it's reminding you, hey, you have five cards to hand out today, and you follow through with that goal. And I always tell people put it in a time when you know you're gonna do it. So many people said, Well, I put it at noon and I was still at work at noon. Put it when you're not working, so that when that timer goes off, you're not gonna be able to know what to do. And then follow up and rebooking. This is so huge. Ask every client, ask their address, send them a thank you card or that little follow-up message, and always say, Hey, can I book your next appointment? No exceptions. Ask every single time. I really feel like the last thing that you should say to a client is always thank you. I've heard too many times up at the front desk where somebody's like, Can I, you know, let's book your next appointment? And the person goes, Oh, I'm just gonna do it online, and you're like, Okay. The woman goes, thank you, and you go, you're welcome. Or yep. That's a really fun one. So that's my point, too, is to make sure that everything is just filled with thank yous, with no exceptions. Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming in. I just really appreciate your business, and this just has supported me in so many ways. I hope I can help you again sometime. And then get comfortable with the no because you're gonna feel awkward and that's normal. But ask yourself again, would you rather have an empty chair or a discounted chair, uh discounted full chair with an opportunity? Because again, that empty chair builds nothing. So sometimes you're gonna get a no. That means that you can still keep trying, still keep trying. And some of my real life examples that people ask me about. Um, sometimes we do project uh events at the salon, and no, I don't get paid. A lot of people don't get paid. My whole salon is all rental salon, so people are not getting paid if we're not having a client, right? Well, we do these really big events, and sometimes there's ladies' nights, or there's something called midnight madness, or there's all these big events. And you because we all rent, no one's forced to do it. And I have to tell you, it's the same four to five people that always sign up to do these events. And I try to impress on some of the newer people when they say to me, Well, why would I come? I don't get paid. It's the same as having an empty chair or a full chair. So I'm gonna tell you a midnight madness experience that I had with um one of the techs that I work with. And this was our very first midnight madness, and it's like from six to midnight, and people come in and out and they're shopping and coming into the salon again, sometimes for the first time. So this nail technician um welcomed somebody, said, Hi, how are you? And the woman said, Oh my gosh, your nails are so pretty. And she said, Thank you. Let me tell you how I do that. And she started to go through a process with her, and she gave her her card, and that was kind of it. The next day, the woman um called back and she scheduled one appointment every three weeks for the next year. And her exact message was, I've never had anyone care for me the way that that person did. My nails always look horrible, and she didn't judge me. She actually gave me tips of what to do at home, and then she gave me her card and said, if I could ever help you out in the future, that would really um I would appreciate your business. And she said, This is the person that I want the business with. So, no, the tech didn't get paid from being there from six to midnight, but she just got a client for every three weeks for the next year. That's what sometimes you have to do. You don't get paid in the moment, it's that long-term commitment. And a personal story for myself is a client of mine that I've had now for probably 12 years. She comes in every two weeks for a fill, and every um two weeks again after that, every four weeks basically for her fill and a pedicure. So huge amounts, huge amounts of business for me. And I just I just love getting to know her. And so I've done her nails for like 12 years. Do you know what she was? She was someone that came into the salon as I had my coat and my my purse and my bag and everything. And I was walking out the door. I opened the door for her and she said, Oh gosh, I don't, are you okay with a walk-in? Like, is everything okay? And so she I said, Yeah, I can help you. And I walked in with her and I said, What are you looking for? And she explained that she just left her nail technician and she was not happy with what they did, and she was so frustrated because she has a big event this weekend and she just needs an appointment. And is anyone going to be available? And because I was able to in that moment, I was able to say, you know what, let me help you. I took my coat off, took my purse off. She's like, No, no, no. I said, no, honestly, I have the time. Let me just see what's going on. Literally took me 25 minutes to fix what was going on with her nails. They were just way too thick. Shape was wrong. I just took the polish off quick, reshaped them, and was able to repolish them and charged her. She was thrilled. She's like, charge me whatever you want. I just charged her actually a little bit less than what a fill was because uh, based on my product and my time, I was still fair. She's seen me for 12 years straight. Those type of real life examples, that one conversation can turn into years of clients. Please don't pass them up. Please. I want you to remember that clients don't just fall into your lap. They come to the stylist and the technician who shows up, who speaks up, and who follows up. The salon can give you the tools, but it can't give you the drive. And if you commit to this, you won't just have clients. You'll actually have a career. Because success in this industry isn't lucky. It's consistency and courage and showing up every single day until people can't forget who you are. Thank you so much for joining me.