A good, qualified nail technician understands how to deliver personalized services to their clientele. There’s a lot that goes into perfecting the art of those flawless nails and toenails, including washing, filing, cutting, shining, and mending.
Professional nail care services can be professional wholesale nail supply profitable. If you want to increase revenue for your nail salon, you’ve come to the perfect place! We’ve compiled a list of eight strategies to generate more money as a nail technician so you can start earning more and expanding your business.
The good news is that with a little innovation and inventiveness, you’ll be on your way to nailing entrepreneurship in no time.
1. How Much Does a Nail Technician Make?
Before we get into how to make money as a nail technician, let’s have a look at how much the average nail technician makes.
The typical nail tech in the United States earns $16.24 per hour as of February 13, 2021, with approximately 2.7k thousand salaries reported. Of course, some locations are taller than others.
For example, Columbus, Ohio has an average dnd fall colors hourly wage of $21.31, while Fort Lauderdale, Florida has an hourly wage of $16.07.
The salary of a nail technician is determined by geographic region and varies from state to state. The average compensation, according to ZipRecruiter’s database, is $16 per hour or $33,077 per year.
2. How to Increase Your Earnings as a Nail Technician
While the average nail technician in the United States earns about $16 per hour, there are ways to improve your earnings and exceed that figure. Some of the best ways to boost your earning potential as a nail tech are listed below.

3. Service Upselling During Booking
Many nail technicians and manicurists employ the approach of upselling services during booking. The key to upselling is to strike a balance between not pressuring your client and informing them of various services that are available.
A full spa manicure, for example, with massage, is more expensive than a standard manicure or polish change. This service may not appear all that different to you as a nail technician. However, for the customer, it is an opportunity to indulge in something luxury. Upselling mani/pedi combos, spa treatments, or nail art is an excellent method to grasp in order to enhance nail company sales if you’re looking for ideas on how to make money as a nail technician.
Here are some pointers to remember when practicing the art of upselling.
Be Honest: When customers visit a nail salon, they expect to be handled with honesty and authenticity. Professional nail services, such as a full set of stunning artificial nails, are available.
Try a Consultation: Whether you undertake an email consultation or a spoken consultation, speak with your client before beginning the nail treatments. If you’re already halfway through, they can be less likely to agree to more services. However, if you have a nice conversation beforehand and get to know them, their likes and dislikes, you may collaborate to fine-tune the perfect nail treatment.
Consider the Time of Year: Is your client going on a tropical vacation where they’ll be swimming a lot? Maybe a winter getaway over Christmas and New Year’s where they’ll need a long-lasting gel mani/pedi? Consider the season and use your upselling strategies. Remember that your clients want their nail services to be of high quality.
4. Charge a higher rate for popular time slots
It’s no surprise that certain time slots are more popular than others in the nail industry. Consider charging more during busy hours if you’re wondering how to make money as a nail technician.
Your schedule may fill up more after 5 p.m. on weekdays and in the late morning on weekends. Because they can (increased demand translates to higher profitability), some seasoned pros in the beauty sector raise their charges slightly during certain timeslots.
Not sure when your busiest booking hours are? We handle the legwork for you using StyleSeat’s Smart Pricing method. Our data science analyzes your schedule to determine the most popular times for you and strategically raise your prices.
5. Locate Higher-Quality Clients
When discussing how much an average nail tech earns, the earnings are frequently determined by the quality of the clients. Clients who return provide consistency. You might see your usual clientele once a week as a nail artist or salon owner. A regular client who comes in once a week or once a month, whether nail technician supplies wholesale for a gel paint set or a simple manicure, is advantageous to a small business owner.
StyleSeat is all about assisting you in developing a high-value client list. Here’s how we go about it.
We Give You visibility: We run advertising and promote your profile across search engines, social media, and email campaigns to help you receive visibility to millions of clients.
We Market Your Business: You may obtain the Instagram book button and conduct your own email marketing campaigns and promotions with StyleSeat. Learn more about how these nail salon advertising strategies can help you grow your business.
We Keep Your Repeat Customers Happy: Clients who are consistent are quality clients. We provide targeted reminders and resources to help your current clients obtain the booking times they desire more often to keep them pleased. If you’re wondering how to improve your nail salon business, StyleSeat’s tools make it simple to run and scale your operation.
6. Keep an eye on Your Product
Your margin in the salon industry and nail salon business refers to the cost of performing your service versus what you charge to perform the service. When nail techs are first starting out, it’s easy to neglect this aspect of the beauty industry, but it’s critical to plan out every price before you begin.
When a customer comes in for a manicure or pedicure, they frequently want to sample polish (which, when totaled up, impacts your supply and leads to higher overall prices). Nail polish swatches are a great method to save your polish inventory while still ensuring consumers can receive the color they want.
7. Make Payments Simple
When it comes to how nail technicians opi bubble bath gel nail polish make money, it’s sometimes all about how simple their payments are. It is critical that your payment procedure be straightforward and seamless. After all, no one wants to be stressed out when getting their nails done — it’s supposed to be a soothing act of self-indulgence.
With StyleSeat, we handle all of your payments. After the appointment, we automatically charge the card on file. Your client can also provide a personalized tip in the text message we give them after the meeting.
We’ve discovered that when clients pay with StyleSeat, they tip up to 40% more. You sign up for free, and we assist you in increasing your profits.
8. Attempt Mobile Nail Services
A mobile nail technician is in high demand. As a mobile nail technician, you drive around your chosen area and provide your services to clients. In many cases, this degree of client service comes with the promise of good remuneration.
You might offer your services as a package instead of just conducting a nail treatment for one client. A nail painting party is a fun all-ages activity, from children’s birthday parties to bachelorette parties. You can also figure out the packages ahead of time, which is beneficial and allows you to negotiate and upsell (for example, offering mani/pedi combos, hand and foot massages, or collaborating with another beauty salon professional).
You can also bring a bag of things to offer, such as polish kits, during your mobile service treatments.
9. Begin Increasing Your Revenue
There are numerous techniques for making money as a nail technician that you can begin adopting right away. Making money as a nail tech is similar to many other businesses, from fine-tuning your art of upselling to working on that automatic payment system. Dedication, research, and experience are required.
If you need assistance along the way, StyleSeat is here to help. Register with us for free today and begin your journey to success as a nail technician. Because StyleSeat does more than simply assist you operate your business; we also help you grow it.