ROAD TRIP

My nail sister, Michelle, lives & works in Tacoma, WA. She's driven down to my area a few times in the last couple years, but until now, I hadn't driven up to her. I remedied that this past weekend. Three weeks ago, she came down on a Thursday, we had lunch at Bellagio's (my favorite local pizza joint), and spent an hour talking nails/business in my new studio (which she loves). I was supposed to bring her a vacuum I was getting rid of and some sourdough starter; both of which I forgot.
So, this past Saturday, at 830am, my daughter & I packed up the car with the vacuum, some starter in a small cooler, filled up the gas tank, and off we went. I was slightly concerned that I'd have to stop somewhere on the way home, but still in Washington, and fill my gas tank; I haven't done that in close to 20 years. I also get a little antsy driving to new places (although Google's STREET VIEW comes in handy to reduce that stress a little). We stopped at Toutle River Safety Rest Area for a potty break, and if I was in a more meandering state of mind, we would have hung out there a bit longer.
I turned on the voice directions just outside of Olympia; the last 10 minutes were a bit hairy with all the turns and hills... but at 1140a, we pulled in to Washington State University's campus in Tacoma; her salon is in one of their admin buildings. It's a nice campus, too; easy to navigate, lots of parking, and restaurants onsite. We were greeted by Michelle's daughter, Rain (age 20), who took the vacuum from me, and walked us up to Michelle's office. She has a tiny space (a little smaller than mine), but hers is like a wide hallway (set up with two tall chairs for waiting, a small nail desk, a small desk with for sale items on it near the front, a larger desk with her polishes/gel polishes/etc), and has a "large walk in closet" type space in the back that she uses for storage (behind a curtain in the corner) and pedicures.
The four of us walked over to the The Rock Wood Fired Kitchen for lunch (half a block); I'd never eaten at one, and it was better than expected. Michelle told me all about her meeting with (the famous, at least in our world) Tammy Taylor, Rain filled me in on her college classes/plan and personal life, and we just had a nice visit. It was over too soon, though; maybe next time, our nail sister Elyse can join us (she, too, lives in Tacoma) and I can stay longer.
We left just after 1p, but hit a bit of stopped/very slow traffic getting back out of Tacoma, and again in Olympia. We stopped for another potty break at Maytown Safety Rest Area (where not only did they have free coffee, but they had a little snack booth open!). Amazingly, I *didn't* have to stop for gas; I made it there & back home on 2/3 tank! We stopped at the Burger King drive through in Beaverton on the way home; my daughter wanted some chicken fingers for a snack. We pulled into my driveway at 443p; I had enough time to use the restroom again, get myself some juice, change into my "pajamas" (yoga-style pants, socks, and a hoodie), and turn on the Ducks game.
Now that I've made that drive, I'm totally okay with doing it again!

Service Menu Changes!!

For those of you that are current, or future, clients: please note that as of October 1st, 2015, my service menu is getting a revamp! I am adding a few things, and raising most of my prices. It's been two years since I last did so, and I'm the only one who will give me a raise. If you really need a reason, and you shouldn't, here are three:
(1) My new space comes with a higher rent cost.
(2) My product costs continually go up (and rarely do *I* get warning).
(3) My continuing education costs money; whether I'm taking a local class (on a day off, usually) or going out of town (sometimes state) for a weekend event. I continue my education to bring you the best products and make sure I'm keeping up on laws and techniques.

Anyway, this is the updated brochure. Keep an eye out for a lovely, framed, Service Menu to be hung from the wall next to my manicure station soon!

Let's Get To Work!

The OPEN HOUSE had less attendance than I would have liked, but that's ok... I am officially, fully, in my new space. Over 130sq ft of space, by the way, & a storage closet). I posted finished pics on my Facebook page, if you're so inclined.

My husband is going to build me a gel lamp platform at some point, & I have a new service menu coming next month (some price increases & some new services offered), but everything else is done.

Thanks to my husband, our daughter, my friend Julie, my salon owner, and all my other friends, family, & nails-fam who helped along the way.

**OPEN HOUSE**

I'm having a little Open House at my NEW studio on Saturday, August 1st, 9am-noon!! If you're in the Portland, Oregon area and want to stop by to see my new space, please feel free! It's Salon Shibumi, 1219 SW 18th Ave, Portland, 97205, about three blocks south of Providence Park. There is plenty of street parking in the area, plus we have a lot (the NORTH side of the lot, only!!), and the MAX stop is 1/2 block away (SW Jefferson/Goose Hollow). My studio is the center room upstairs. I'll have light refreshments/juice.

For those who have been following along on my FB page, I've been posting pics there... but I won't post any more until after the Open House (so the final product is a surprise to everyone).

Same Salon, NEW ROOM!

The detail work isn't quite done, yet, but I am officially in my new room. After we got back from vacation, I had a very full work load, so I didn't get a lot done, but I was able to bring my daughter to work a couple days... With her help, we got my drawers & two of the shelves lined, the new pedi chair all set up, and a multitude of other little things done.
I still have to put up my certifications, misc decorative items, and window coverings, plus put the glass shelves in the retail cabinet and fill it with items for sale. A friend of mine is hemming my closet curtain and making a liner for my clean towel basket, and I may pick up a new rug or two (one for under the pedi chair and one for under my mani desk) and maybe a new client chair... but I am *IN* the room now.
My old room has been cleaned out and cleaned, and I got all the little holes filled & painted. I still have to do some white touch up, but it is otherwise ready to be rented to another beauty professional.

Here are some pics of what I've got done so far --

Almost Done

One trip to Ikea, multiple trips to Home Depot, some internet purchases, three days of painting, two days of furniture building... I'm almost done. I know, it's the 1st. I was supposed to be done already. I blame my daughter. Yes, seriously. She insisted I wait until she could help me paint. That put my schedule back a full week, because she went on a trip with my mother & her best friend. When she got back, I had everything ready to go. So, here it is -- I only have to move all the wall hang stuff (polish/racks, certificates, misc decorative items, etc) then patch/paint the holes in my old room. But, I don't have the free time available this week. So, looks like I'll most likely be ready for clients in there when I get back from vacation -- July 14th (I'd be ready the 8th, but that's the first day of my vacation). If you haven't yet, and you want to see pics, go to my business page on FB (here) and follow along with my progress!

BIG CHANGES COMING!!!

Artistry of the Nail is *MOVING*!! Not too far, though; just down the hall. As of July 1st, I will be in the center room upstairs of the salon. Set up will be similar to the current one; with more room!

For the last six months or so, I've debated with myself, talked to my family, a few friends, and a couple of trusted nail sisters; I've been trying to figure out if I want to move my studio. I currently rent about 60 sq ft (tiny), but more & more, I've found myself wanting space to have a real retail area (I currently have mini bottles/jars of things, and a few pedicure items in the windowsill...), offer hot towels & paraffin (no room to store the equipment), maybe even have a waiting area so when the occasional client is early, they don't have to go back downstairs to wait for me to finish!

We had a salon meeting mid-February, during which we all found out we'd have a $100/m rent increase starting with April's rent. We also were (finally) getting new rental agreements. Now, the rent increase was quite a large jump, but deemed fair (she pulled comps in the area, and we're still paying less than the going rate for our neighborhood; plus we get free parking for us and our clients!). I, too, wanted to get a comp for nail-specific or small-office space, so I started calling around.

I asked my massage therapist (Rachel) to help me look around her building's neighborhood (she's six blocks from my current location), talked to my esthetician (Amanda; her building is 8 minutes directly north of me), and talked to a few of my reliable clients to see how far they'd be willing to travel. Obviously, the closer I am to my current building, the less client loss I'll see.

Rachel told me a few things -- (1) The other massage therapist in her building may be moving out. That space is ~100 sq ft, has a utility sink, and a small closet with a built-in desk. (2) The building across SW KING from her has a Spaces For Lease sign out front; it's been there a while and she knows from her own space-research that he had different sizes of rooms available. (3) There is another building around the corner a couple blocks further up the hill from her which also had a Spaces For Lease sign out front.

After a few back-and-forths, it was determined that her co-worker got permission from the landlord to sublet her space; if she can find someone to work in there 3 days per week, she could continue to use it the other 4 and hold down her other job. Ok, that's not going to work for me (unless she can't find a sub-letter, and has to leave, anyway)... I called the rental company of the building across from her, and as soon as I said I was a nail tech looking to rent a larger space, the agent told me that the owner is "looking for a Professional-type, like a lawyer or therapist..." So, your sign's been up for more than six months, and you're that picky about your renters? Your loss! I then checked in with the other building's rental agent. She said they have one space available right now; it's 365sq ft and $900/m. Hmmm... if only I had another beauty professional I could share it with. She offered to keep my number handy, in case another smaller space opened up.

I then contacted the guy in charge of all the local salon suites (the one company I looked at has four local locations). After much back & forth with him, I got that a normal space goes for ALMOST $1000/MONTH!! That's ridiculous. They see no difference in ability to make money & pay between nail techs and hairdressers or other beauty professionals. They also do not give you any discount if you want to set up your room on your own, and don't want the cable & internet the rooms come with. Um, no thanks.

I also talked to another massage therapist who rents space in Hillsboro; her landlord has multiple buildings and she gave me his number. Moving my salon to Hillsboro would probably lose me at least half of my current clients, but rent would be cheaper, I'd have downtown Hillsboro's professionals to draw from (plus recommendations from some of my Hillsboro-area beauty professional friends -- I have at least five or six who would probably send people my way), and the commute would be less than 15m (current commute is ~40m, depending on traffic). My esthetician friend game me her landlord's number, as well; that building is three stories, has parking for the space renters (4hr street parking for clients), and has multiple sizes available, as well (for a bit less than I currently pay). One of my nail sisters, Michelle, just got the ok to rent space on her university's campus, so she told me "Think outside the box...".

I started eyeing other buildings within my own salon's neighborhood. There are three just west of us, only a few blocks away, with FOR LEASE signs out front. However, before I started research on those, I shared information with the owner about the salon suites; thinking that if she sold the current business (something she's talked about off & on for a couple years), and she *didn't* want to stay, her & I could share one of the slightly larger suite spaces. She'd never heard of the company, so looked it up on her iPad while I was giving her a pedicure. She agreed that was definitely an option.

Then, I sprung another idea on her. How about I take the center room? I know it's a bit more in rent than what I pay now, but if I moved into that space, I have the potential to make more money. I told her I want to do real retail, offer hot towels & paraffin dips, have the storage that that room has. I'd be willing to sign a new rental agreement. Originally, I thought I should deconstruct my current room, but then I realized that doing that would leave a section of flooring & wall (the section under the pedi platform) incomplete. A better idea would be to leave it as is, and see if a new-to-the-business nail tech wants the space. Another option is that a massage therapist, esthetician, or office professional wanted the space; they were then free to do whatever they want to with the space (including removing or just repurposing the current set up). I would, of course, take everything else (except the little cabinet behind the desk; that would also stay), and set it up in the other room. She said, "Notice I haven't said no..." but asked to think about it.

That was last Friday. After sketching & researching things I'd need to move in there, I came in on Tuesday and took some measurements of the room & closet. I also snapped a few pics. Since I had to borrow a tape measure (I forgot mine at home), I asked to borrow the salon's, so she asked me what I was doing. I wasn't ready to share with the rest of the salon's staff, so I said, "Remember that thing we talked about Friday? I'll get you a sketch later today." When I got home, I asked my husband to draw it out using the software we bought to mock-up our house remodeling projects.

He got all fancy with it, of course, and filled in wall color, door color, shelving color, trim colors, a curtain for the closet, etc. Then, he showed me the 3D rendition. OMG; perfect! I had him screenshot the overhead drawing, and I sent it to Patti along with some notes and the links to the mani tables I'm considering as well as the pedi spa I found (no plumbing!!). I emailed her all of that Wednesday, and today, I got a YES!! This is the mock-up, if you're interested (rectangle in upper left corner represents the pedi spa chair in its OPEN position; closed while not using would take 2/3 of that space). I'll be posting pics on my FB page of the new room redo as I get stuff completed. Ikea trip, anyone?