let’s nail moscow, art manicure, Anastasia Solomatina

“It all started with a great love for manicure: already at school I experimented with multi-colored varnishes, simple drawings and nail stickers. I remember one day I came to the library with a list of summer literature and stood for 20 minutes with outstretched arms while the librarians, running from department to department and calling their friends, examined my nails with stickers – mouse tracks.

The hobby existed for many years in “standby mode”, until one day I stumbled on the Internet at the site of the California nail-art studio. I was so shocked by their work that I immediately wanted such drawings on my nails, but I could not find at least one such studio in Moscow. Then I opened the closet, took out the first brushes that caught my eye, cosmetic sponges and all the available varnishes and … sat down to paint. This is how the first designs began to appear, a couple of months later a blog appeared, and a year later a studio.

My friends became the first clients. For starters, I decided to just practice on them. I was already confident in my abilities, but I needed to make time. So, sitting with a friend and sipping coffee, I honed my skills in a relaxed atmosphere.

Before opening the studio, I worked as a model in Moscow and Milan. But modeling gave rise to a certain complex in me: you work with your appearance, but in fact you don’t do anything yourself, with your own hands. A seamstress made clothes for shooting, a makeup artist created an image with the help of cosmetics, a photographer came up with a concept for a photo shoot and took pictures – everyone should have a specific result of their work on hand. And the catwalk catwalk is just a demonstration of someone else’s work. And even after a long exhausting working day, I did not feel satisfaction from the work done.

And that is why I am so happy to be doing what I am doing now. “

“I didn’t have any business plan. He is, of course, important. But I had reasons not to compose it. In the creative field, writing a plan can completely discourage the desire to do something, since from an economic point of view, any creativity is unprofitable. It is always cheaper not to make it by hand, but to buy it in China, it is always more profitable not to release a single copy, but to put it on the conveyor.

My young man supported me in my endeavors. Now I am absolutely sure that if it were not for him, absolutely nothing would have happened.

At the very beginning of the journey, it is very important that there is a person next to you who would believe in you and simply say: “Everything is cool! Everything will work out! ” Without a partner or bestowal, it is very easy to give up … “

“There are a lot of opportunities now to promote your business on the Internet for free. For a startup without a lot of capital, this is the best choice.

The first step is to create at least a couple of pages in different social networks: VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram. If you are doing something really worthwhile, then people will be interested in following you. Be sure to use hashtags, for these search words new readers will find you, try to keep all pages active and interesting.

E-mail mailings to various thematic publications also work well. You just write a letter to the editors and talk about your case. The worst thing that can happen is that you will not be answered. And in the best case, they will write an article about you. But you must understand that there are real people sitting in the editorial office and they receive dozens of such letters. Find out the name of the person you are writing to and include it in your message. Write what interests you and how your project differs from hundreds of others.

And the best advertisement is word of mouth. But for it to work, you have to offer a really good quality product or service. For me, the best praise is when a girl comes a second time and brings her friend. This means that she liked it so much that she came back and also advertised me to her friends.

So, in the six months that let’s nail Moscow has been working, I met a huge number of interesting and talented people. I keep in touch with the editors of several online and offline magazines and enjoy taking part in photo shoots for their publications. It is important for me to raise the recognition of nail art as a direction in the beauty industry in general. And I see that over the past year, interest in him in Russia has grown.

I am happy to participate in parties and events of the same young and bright companies. So, a couple of months ago, at the presentation of the new collection of the Swedish brand Monki, I did a fun manicure for journalists and bloggers.

Also, I always gladly agree to interviews. Firstly, I’m happy to share my experience and hope that I really help someone with advice; and secondly, I am very pleased when people are interested in my work. “

“The main difficulty of any startup is the lack of finance. Therefore, I went the path of the least investment: inexpensive furniture, repair and design of the room with my own hands, and most of the consumables and nail polishes from my collection.

The main expense item for me was renting premises. It was important for me that the studio was in the center and within walking distance from the metro, so that it would be easy and convenient for my clients to get to the studio. “

“Nail art is more of an entertainment than a purchase. And during a crisis, people usually try to cut spending on entertainment. But in my case it does not work – the drawings on the nails are very uplifting, and this is exactly what you need in not the best times. Therefore, the economic situation in our country will not affect the work of my studio.

Another issue is the exchange rate. In my work, I use American and English nail polishes, most of the consumables are also from abroad. I cannot save on products, for me it is important that everything is of high quality, rather than inexpensive. So, I have to order everything at new prices. But even despite this, I do not plan to raise prices for my work, my regular visitors appreciate it very much. “

“I am subscribed to about 1000 accounts on Instagram: artists, bloggers, clothing brands, fashion magazines. Every day, flipping through the news feed, I come up with 5-10 different designs. It can be a beautiful font, a bright print from a T-shirt, or a long-forgotten cartoon favorite in childhood. You can get inspired anywhere and by anything, the main thing is to look around and want to create.

In the first weeks of the studio’s existence, I constantly drew a design menu: these are plates with artificial nails, on which hundreds of variants of my drawings are presented. Now, when a girl comes to me and does not know what exactly she would like to draw, in a couple of minutes we can choose the options that she will like.

I also have a folder called Nails to do with several thousand pictures in my phone, and from time to time I add more and more new photos of beautiful color combinations, unusual decorations and designer prints to it – these are all the basics for my future drawings. “

“I have ambitious plans. Within the next year, I would like to find an assistant and start working together. So, I will no longer have to close the studio when I leave for shooting, and I can start working all seven days a week.

In another six months or a year, I would like to find a premise on the first line of houses with an entrance from the street. I am in love with the Kitay-Gorod metro area and I hope I can find something there.

In five years I plan to have two or three studios and possibly franchises in St. Petersburg, Kiev and Crimea.

But one thing I know for sure – no matter how successful my plan turns out to be, I want to always take a direct part in the life of let’s nail Moscow and make drawings myself. “

“If your startup is not directly creative, then the first step is to sketch out a business plan. It will help you understand what investments you will need, how long you will have to work without actual profit, and you will understand if you are ready for this.

Next, you can use simple but good business rules that helped me.

1. Determine what makes your business unique (if what you plan to do already exists on the market, then you need to clearly highlight the differences and advantages of your business).

2. Enlist the support of loved ones if you are not 100% confident in your abilities.

3. Love what you do. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to work 12 hours seven days a week.

4. Promote your business in every possible way. “