17/10/23 was my first day starting as a self-employed nail technician based in my sister’s salon, Bank Hair, and Beauty known as ‘@Jsmithnails’ At this time, I was also employed part time in retail, doing a job I absolutely hated. The nail industry really felt like a breath of fresh air and almost unbelievable to even call ‘work’
6 months later I trained in brows and another 3 months later I trained in LVL and soon became @jensmithbeauty which stuck for a very long time. After 1 year of being qualified my client base built up quickly and I was able to finally in a position to leave my part time job which felt like a weight off my shoulders having worked there for almost 4 years.
As soon as I worked as a full-time beauty therapist, I found my feet and passion for this industry, especially for nails. I loved everything about nails, I feel like they were my calling. I loved the monthly client catch ups; the nail growth journeys but most of all the nail art.
From 2019-2020 the growth and clients continued and soon enough I was fully booked unable to take on any new clients. My little business was my life, and it was booming however without even realising I was majorly overworking myself and burnt out. I lacked a work life balance and knew this but at the same time felt extremely guilty turning anyone away.
Then along came covid, likewise for most people in the beauty industry lockdowns left us unable work 3 times which was an extremely daunting and a worrying time however I tried my very best to use the time productively. I started making press on nails, soak off kits and cuticle oils which were particularly a success, I put my everything into creating and promoting them and managed to sell over 1000 oils shipping them worldwide. I also gave myself the opportunity to reflect on the way I ran my business. I promised myself that when I returned to work, I would give myself set shifts and a dinner break every day as 3 minutes in between clients wasn’t enough lol.
Once I returned to work, I implemented a work life balance which I can now say is KEY to running a successful business. I also gave myself an extra day off to make time to study to take my business to the next level… Introducing ‘@BYJENAcademy’ Which is hands down the best decision I have ever made! I qualified as an educator in 2021 and then become accredited in 2022 and in my first year as an educator I taught over 100 courses to both complete beginners and qualified nail techs looking to level up from all the UK.
But we didn’t stop there, from the first face to face lesson I taught I always knew I needed to create an online Academy. My NO.1 goal has always been to take BYJEN Academy world-wide and here we are today on route to achieving that. I feel so lucky to have a client base I now call friends and a forever growing nail community we call BYJEN Nail Gang. Stay tuned to see what this fifth year will bring…