I have had a pretty horrendous few years, after leaving my husband due to domestic abuse I found myself as a single mum raising 3 children and struggling. I ended up on full benefits because I had a breakdown leaving me suffering depression/anxiety and high blood pressure. After various counselling sessions and advise I have decided to retrain and go into the beauty therapy sector where I can work for myself. However my dilemma is what therapies to train in?? I dont want to go to full time college to train but instead want to do one course at a time. The first course I am currently thinking of is a nail technician course but I wondering and hoping any of you out there would know if there is a big demand for nails as I dont want to spend out money training to do something if there isnt a demand for it and I wont be able to get any clients once qualified? Also is there any other type of beauty therapy I can do from home or go to clients houses that is in demand like spray tanning, massage, waxing etc etc I just dont want to pay out and train in something if there is no demand for it, so any help anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated.
threading, waxing, nails, hypnobirthing, coaching
If you want to do one course at a time, you will need to work at the same time to either fund the training or keep your head above water as a single mum. When I first trained in massage therapy 42 years ago...... (!!)....... the course was part time over 2 years. I signed up with a temp agency and worked in all sorts of places over that time, to allow myself time to study (at the library - no google in those days!) and attend the training by telling the agency when I would/would not be available. After I qualified, it took 5 years for me to become fully self-employed and build my client base. I temped whenever big bills came in. Any form of therapy doesn't make you a millionaire, but it does give you self-confidence and self-worth.
As for 'what therapies to train in' - nail tech is a good start, and often it can lead to other things like spray tanning and bridal make-up - all of which can be done in the privacy of peoples homes. The girl who did my daughters make-up when she got married last year, had 2 brides and 6 bridesmaids to do that day. She charged my daughter (well, me actually, as I was paying!) £240 - which included all the products used (probably spent all that on the false eyelashes!) plus her travel, as she came to the venue to do the make-up. She was with us for 2 hours, then went on to the next wedding. She did a spectacular job. The spray tan was done 48 hours before, in a salon.
After massage therapy, I did a course in reflexology. Other forms of massage therapy found me over the years (MFR, oncology, Bowen and 20+ years ago I did manual lymphatic drainage, and now work exclusively with cancer patients at my home clinic in my garden.
There are huge possibilities out there - you just have to go out and grab them.
If I can make one more comment - don't stint on training. Short courses may look good, but should be treated as 'introductory' leaving you wanting to learn more. I have seen literally hundreds of therapists come, then go, in very fast order, simply because they did a 2 day diploma and thought that the public would come..........
Jabba...so true. A lot of hard work and passion will give tons of opportunity but giving yourself the gift of education is most important and can be time consuming and experience but so worth the results.