How do I get Insurance for my Beauty business?

Insurance is the bane of everybody's lives - you feel like you are paying a lot of money for nothing every year. And then when you try to claim on your policy, they make it difficult for you.

Ever since we started Daniel Beauty we have been covered by the same company who seemed to offer good insurance rates to cover our massage, waxing, facials, threading treatments.

But now, as I have Marcio working with me, and we take bookings for him, I am now suddenly a "clinic" and the rate has rocketed from £100 pa to the think end of £500!

The fact that Marcio has his own insurance makes no difference. To me that sounds like we would be insured twice!

After a few simple phone calls, we have now found another provider (Tower Gate Insurance) who have provided the same cover for just £150.    

Good news, then. Just don't get me started on insurance for Tattoo Removal....

Anyone for a Snail Facial?

As a Beauty Therapist I offer facials. But a Japanese beauty salon is offering facials with a difference: they use snails! The snails are placed on the cheeks of the customer and are then allowed to move freely around the face. 

Tokyo-based beauty salon says that the slime left by snails has an anti-ageing effect on skin. It helps remove old cells, heal the skin after sunburn and moisturises it. The hours treatment – costing 160 pounds - leaves you with 100% pure snail essence on your skin. 

The treatment is followed by massages and masks using creams containing snail mucus. Sayaka Ito, who has already had the treatment, said: "You can feel the snails moving on your face. At first, it is surprising, but it's actually rather nice. "My skin really does feel smooth and moist." 

I don't fancy it myself, maybe you do? 

How good are Woking Massage Therapists?

On my previous blog you may have read about me checking out the competition in my field as a beauty therapist offering massage, male waxing and Laser Lipo (among other treatments.)


Well after my visit to get a massage in Weybridge, I moved closer to home to check out massage in Woking. From the name of this place it sounded lovely – the name suggested relaxation and tranquillity in a very smart setting.

Not quite.

Indeed it looks smart from the outside and the building is beautiful. However it’s on a main road and when I could hear the music being played from the CD it was skipping all over the place. But mostly I couldn’t hear the music because of the incessant drilling outside. (That’s the trouble with beautiful old (listed) buildings: double glazing isn’t allowed.

The massage itself was perfectly fine – if a little light (maybe they are used to only massaging women) but the room was cold; my toes and fingers felt like ice all the way through. I always make sure my massage therapy room is very warm.

But the most peculiar thing with the massage table – which I absolutely hated – was that there was no face hole – just a u-shape which meant that I couldn’t lay my head down properly as my forehead was not supported. Because of this it was absolutely impossible to get comfortable and therefore relax and get the best out of the massage.

Competition? Not much competition at all.

How much does Laser Lipo cost?

I have been a trained Laser Lipo technician for a while now - and offer Laser Lipo inch-loss treatment sessions at my home salon in Woking Surrey for about a year. I have even given myself and my partner several treatments over that time.


But now - thanks to our special offer - we are too busy to treat ourselves and take a brisk walk afterwards.

As we have building works going on at home for a few months, I thought that we'd offer a discount for new clients - as a sort of compensation for the noise, mess and disruption and so that we could get some Laser Lipo clients during the day (before the builders go home at 3pm). So we came up with the idea of £400 for 8 treatments as long as the treatments were paid for in advance. (Well we have to pay the builders somehow!) Anyway that's a whopping 40 per cent discount on an already-discounted price and values each Laser Lipo treatment at just £50 each.

With a newly-written Google Adwords campaign highlighting this offer running, I have never been so busy with Laser Lipo treatments (let alone my male waxing, massage, facials and threading clients) that I don’t get chance to treat myself anymore! I even have two clients with the same name - which is a recipe for trouble.

I have just remembered - I did have one day off recently when the builders had to prop up the hall ceiling by putting an acro-prop in front of my treatment room door - preventing anyone getting in or out. Every cloud...

Inch loss by Laser Lipo begins in Surrey

You may have read my blog a couple of weeks ago about how I am now ready to offer inch loss and body sculpting by Laser Lipo from my home in Surrey.

So how's it going I hear you ask.

It's going very well so far. The Google Ad words -along side my regular newsletter with the latest news about Laser Lipo, Massage, Male Waxing, Threading and Facials -appears to be working.

I have had a fair few enquiries, several clients beginning their weight loss programmes already and I am confident more people will sign up shortly.

Don't forget that lipolysis is a completely natural process which you body does all the time and the laser lipolysis treatment just encourages your body to use up the fat in a particular area - an area which you want to be slimmer (whether its your moobs (man boobs), stomach or thighs etc)

Oh and I now have the "beware Laser in use" sign for the Therapy door. Now I all I need to do is get round to putting it up...

Daniel
http://www.danielbeauty.co.uk/ 

How to keep your skin looking good

How do you keep your skin looking beautiful and young-looking?

As you get older it gets increasingly difficult to keep that youthful appearance of firm, clear skin. Having a good facial in Surrey is a good start but what else can you do?

Well you can do a lot for yourself. Here are a few ideas:

You can make sure you have a healthy diet with lots of fruit, vegetables and greens. What you eat shows in your skin especially your face.

Make sure you drink plenty of water every day. Not tea or coffee or coca-cola. Just water. This keeps your skin hydrated and plumped up (thereby reducing fine lines on your skin.) Tea and coffee are diuretics and the liquid just goes in one end and out the other.

Don't smoke.  Do I need to say any more? Smokers tend to look older than they actually are.

Don't drink excessively. We can all recognise a heavy drinker by the broken capillaries which show on their nose and cheeks can't we?

Don't use tanning booths and limit the time that you spend in the sun and always use sun cream when you do. Sun damage is the single most important cause of premature aging. Remember to put sun cream your chest and the back of your hands and neck. They're often the first place to show your age.

Rather than using soap on your face, make sure you use good quality cleansers that are right for your skin.

And make sure you get a professional facial to deep cleanse your skin - ideally every four to six weeks - but at least four times a year, as the seasons change.

Find out how facial treatments can help you keep a youthful skin by visiting my website.

No Need to Wait in Your Car

If you arrive early for your male massage or male waxing appointment, there's no need to wait in your car outside. My glamorous assistant is around most days Monday to Friday to let you in if I am busy with my previous client.

If you are very early he may also offer you a drink. Either way you can sit and relax in my waiting room and thumb through old copies of the Woman's Weekly and Readers Digest.

Sometimes, of course, the previous client may have arrived late and I will try to be with you as soon as possible. At times I can also be too busy to deal with enquiries about a facial or threading so my assistant may also answer your calls and texts while I am working in my massage and therapy room.

All this is to help to provide you with the best possible service and return your calls, texts and emails as soon as possible.   

Daniel

How building work is affecting my masssage and male waxing business

For many months now we have been planning improvements to the home from which I work offering male waxing and male massage in Surrey.  We have done the dreaming part: wouldn't it be nice if... couldn't we just do... I'd really like a... etc, we have had the plans drawn up and approved by Woking Borough Council. And now the time has finally come for the builders to move in. Well time for them to start work anyway.

They were due to start later in June so I thought that I still had plenty of time to make alternative arrangements to working from home, but - for one reason or another - (lack of work?) the builders are starting sooner than anticipated so my plans for alternative working arrangements have not yet been finalised.

However here is my plan as it stands at the moment: I will work the odd day here and there along with another male massage therapist near Tottenham Court Road in London and the rest of  so-called "office hours" at the Spa at the fantastic 5 Star Brooklands Hotel in Weybridge.

Then for the evenings and weekends I will continue to work from home between Woking and West Byfleet. If you can put up with the dust and disruption! Please make sure you know where you will be going if you make an appointment between now and the end of July.