HCUO’s “Who Runs the World?” series aims to highlight the stories of female founders running small businesses while completing their studies.
Do you wish you could do your own nails at home without spending a bunch of money? Look no further: Nails by Nancy is here to bring you custom press-on nails that are even more stunning than ones from the salon, and they’re cheaper too! Talk about a win-win!
Nancy Ton, founder of Nails by Nancy, studies Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo, works 40+ hours a week, and STILL finds time to create beautiful nails! She has always been a nail person and has explored many ways of doing her own nails before settling on press-ons – all the more reason to trust that her products are the best option for you. Read on to find out why you should get your hands on some custom press-ons from her shop!
HC: What is your typical procedure for completing an order?
Nancy: “At the beginning of the week, I sit down and look through the orders I need to get done, I make sure nothing’s missing from the orders (for example, unusual sizing), and then I take all of that information and put it into an Excel sheet that has everyone’s names, sizes, and designs, then I organize them so that I can collect information like ‘most people are a size 4’ or ‘this design is more popular.’ I also have a colour-coded tracker so that every time I complete or ship something it turns a different colour. I have something outstanding, it turns to red. After that, if I have time, I’ll prepare the little nail kits I include – each set of nails comes with a nail application kit that includes a buffer block, a nail file, a cuticle pusher, and a nail glue. I’ll just put them all into a little bag, grab a business card and write their name at the top to personalize it, and then I keep them all in a box so that when I’m ready to ship their order I can just throw them in. I do the same kind of prep with the poly-mailers as well – I put the shipping label and a sticker on the front and add the stamp then throw them in the box. It usually takes about an hour or two to do both those things. The actual nails can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours to do a set of nails. I don’t typically like to spend more than an hour doing them because at that point I feel like I’m overworking myself for $15. I’ll take on designs as I see them, but if something takes too long then I won’t do it in the future because that would probably involve me charging more, which I really don’t want to do! After I shape the nails, I put them into a little Ziploc bag and then I put it with everything else in the mailer with a little sticker on the back to spice it up.”
HC: What is your favourite part of running a business?
Nancy: “My favourite part is probably the fact that it’s mine – I used to always think that the rest of my life I’d just be working for other people and in that scenario, whatever work you do, the outcome of it benefits the company, not you. If you work for a bank and you make them 2 million dollars, that money is theirs, not yours. But whatever time I put into my business and whatever success I see from it comes directly from my efforts and that’s the part that I really like.”
HC: Do you have any tips on how to make yourself stand out in the market? What makes your business stand out in your niche?
Nancy: “What makes me stand out is that my nails are affordable and short. When I was initially considering who I wanted to offer these nails to, I was thinking of students. And because my target demographic is students – who need to use their hands to type, take notes, participate in labs, etc. – I decided that I wasn’t going to go down the same route as other press-on shops, who normally don’t carry short lengths, because why would students need Cardi-B length nails? The other factor for me is affordability. A lot of press-on shops will price based on time, materials, their skills, and the design, which I do too but to a lesser extent; I really want to keep my prices reasonable. As for tips, you have to be knowledgeable and passionate about the business you’re running. I always followed nail trends, did my own nails, I’ve tried acrylic gels, dip powder, press-ons all on myself so I know exactly what the options are and why press-ons would be better. Essentially it comes down to knowing what the problems are with the alternatives and how your product will fix them. Let’s say everyone in the press-on industry offered the same long nails: no one’s solving the problem that yes, they’re pretty, but are they actually usable all the time? Probably not.”
HC: What advice would you give young entrepreneurs?
Nancy: “Don’t be afraid of people judging you and just be confident in what you’re offering. When I was considering starting my business, I had a lot of doubts about myself and the products I wanted to offer; I thought everyone knew about press-ons and just chose not to use them because acrylics are so much better – I was already making assumptions about other people that I didn’t know, with no proof. I was even worried about what my friends would think because I hadn’t talked to them about starting my own business, I just did it. I thought: ‘What if they think I’m weird?’ ‘What if they don’t like the nails I make?’ However, as soon as I started eliminating all those thoughts and not focusing on what other people would think, that’s when I grew the most. I felt free to do whatever I wanted, like there was nothing holding me back.
The second part is being confident; if you know you’re good at something then just go out and do it. Confidence, if I had it from the beginning, would’ve saved me so much time, so much anxiety, even time and money. I didn’t think I would get a lot of orders, so I didn’t order in bulk at first (and things are a lot more expensive when you buy in small quantities). That mistake taught me that if you’re going to offer something, put your all into it, invest in it, and trust that it will go well. I also struggled with the fact that a lot of people don’t know about press-ons – I’ve had to change the way I communicate things with customers; I have to be really precise with my words and I try to articulate things as if someone who’s never done their nails before is going to read them. You also have to communicate in a way that is clear, engaging, and that doesn’t bore the reader. My biggest concern is that somebody gets their nails, and they can’t wear any of them. So, I try to make sure that I tell everyone everything up front so that they can have clear expectations.”
Ready to get your hands on some custom press-ons (or rather, some custom press-ons on your hands)? Find Nails by Nancy on Instagram @nailsbynancy.t or check out her Etsy shop: HERE !
Know someone who would be perfect for this feature series? Send us your suggestions in an email at hc.uottawa@hercampus.com with the subject “Who Runs the World?”
Note: responses have been formatted for the purposes of this story.