A lot of nail techs follow this approach: You tally up your costs - rent, stock, disposables, wifi - then add 20-30% on top. It’s quick, it makes sense, and most importantly, it feels like profit. But this kind of pricing is one of the biggest reasons why, at the end of the week, there’s less money in the bank than expected. Here’s the issue: that 30% you’re adding isn’t your profit - it’s markup, and markup doesn’t tell you how much you’re keeping. What’s the difference? Let’s say you price a set at $104. Your total costs to do the service come to $80 (including booking system, hourly rate, electricity, etc). That leaves you with $24 in gross profit. Markup -> $24 profit divided by $80 cost = 30% Margin -> $24 profit divided by $108 revenue = 22.2% That’s a 7.8% difference. That 7.8% loss might seem small on each service, but spread across each service, over a year? Let’s say you do a service that costs $80. Then you add $24 profit. Charge: $104 That’s 30% right? Wrong. That’s only 23%. To get 30%, You’d need to charge $114.30. Here’s why… Markup is the percentage you add to the service cost. Margin is a percentage of the service price. Always add margin, not markup. Services add up. That $10.30 mistake? Over 980 sets = $10,094 lost. Every. Single. Year. (And then you add tax 😂)

Drop an emoji to describe the “crazy” season you’re having 🫶

If you've noticed your reach plummet lately, it’s not you. The platform’s priorities have changed. Here’s the quick breakdown of the stuff that matters for us nail techs: What Instagram cares about now - Engagement ratio > likes. Old IG needed likes to grow. New IG wants ratios — how many people interact compared to how many people saw it. - Comments are losing power. In 2026, they’ll matter way less. DM shares, saves, and replays are the new heavyweights. Private shares, especially, they’re worth 12x more than other interactions. - Hooks matter. Those first 0.8–2.1 seconds? That’s your hook strength score. If people pause, you win. - Share ratio% (how often people send your post). - Save-to-view ratio (especially important for carousels). - Completion rate (whether people swipe through your first 1–3 slides). I'd recommend shifting the bulk of your posts to carousels. Instagram is clearly favouring them again. So give the platform what it wants. For nail techs, this is actually easy mode. We already take multiple pics of the same set from different angles - that’s an easy carousel 💛 What to post Think savable, educational, “oh I need to come back to this” content your clients will keep. Examples: - 5 ways to make your gel last longer - 3 habits secretly ruining your cuticles - What to do the week after your appointment - Signs your nails need a different base product You’re not just showing work, you’re also creating tiny cheat sheets people want to save. The more they save and DM-share… the more IG pushes you. 🫶 I’d love to use The Nail Tech Corner IG account to help lift up your posts too 🫶The only hiccup is that Instagram mostly shows me the accounts I interact with the most, so sometimes I simply don’t see your posts in the feed. If you want me to catch them: Just tag @thenailtechcorner when you post. It sends me a little notification so I can come over, leave some love, and help move your post along x

Here's a fun spot to dump all the Christmas sets you're doing this silly season 😍

I hope you're all keeping well and remembering to take care of yourselves during this super busy time of year ✨ I’ve been a little quieter lately while I juggle the usual end-of-year whirlwind in the salon, but I’m still here 🫶 . There are still awesome Christmas tutorials being shared, and conversations being had x December has a funny way of turning a normal calendar into a Tetris game… and somehow I always think I can fit “just one more client” in. (I cannot. But here we are.) I am busy reshaping my schedule for next year so I can pour far more time and energy into this community. More guidance, more resources, more of the juicy behind-the-scenes support you joined for. Thank you for being here 😍. How is December going for you? 🫶