Guess what I did today??

Nurses Entrepreneurs

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I enrolled in manicure school!!! I am joining Lois Jean in the foot care arena. No we are not partners, but LJ is coaching me thru.

I have never done foot care, so I figured a pedicure is pretty close to what I should do, in addition to the assessment skills of the feet. So, for my own peace of mind, and for my own entertainment, I enrolled in beauty school.

When I am done I will only be able to be a manicurist in PA b/c it was the cheapest school. In NJ, the fees were outrageous, and I don't really need to learn how to be a manicurist. The owner of the school did tell me some manicurist are pulling in $1000/wk in PA. I find that hard to believe, but if it is true, I may just leave nursing!!!

I am the oldest student, at 40, all the rest are teeny boppers, except my instructors.

I'm excited!!

When I am about halfway through, I will finish enrolling in wound care school. I figured by the time the paperwork is done, it would allow me to finish nail school and take my nail boards.

I got a free manicure today too!! (But I tell you, I can do a better job w/o school than this girl did :rolleyes: )

WooooHoooo! Who wants a pedicure?? I will need to practice!

Oooh, please tell us more about your senior center clinics.

NRSKarenRN

Amen!!! Belly button dirt, belly button "stone" due to no cleaning in EONS!!! Large economy black zits on the back that are there for no reason other than the pt. has not been bathed properly. My pet peeves also.:(

Specializes in Home Health.

Oh Sher....TMI (Too Much Information!!!) :rotfl:

Yes, Karen, you can be first!!! :)

True enough I tend to rant.

Cool hoolahan! It's fun to learn something new when you want to learn! And it's good for you to have something else to do when the nursing starts to be too much.

(I know, I know, burnout HARDLY EVER happens to nurses ;) )

Have fun!

Well, Heather--I think Hoolie will still be providing a nursing procedure with every pedicure she does...

Karen: I'm a wee bit nit-picky about cleanliness. I like to have control over the soaking basins primarily to prevent cross contamination. Therefore, I provide my own soaking basins and use an anti-fungal spray to prep them between clients. I use 99% alcohol to clean my instruments. When my work day is done all of my instruments and basins are rinsed with a hot clorox/ water mix and wiped out with the alcohol in preperation for the next day. I also use barrier pads (blue pads) to place under my basins in the client's home and at my clinics. I can say that I have never had one case of cross contamination. By the way, I ONLY wear gloves if there is evidence of infection, rash, open cuts or scratches. OSHA does not require the wearing of gloves if the skin is intact and disease free.

Senior Centers welcome this type of care and many of them have never had a nurse offer to provide this care on a private duty basis. Once senior citizens realize this care is available and affordable for them they tend to become repeat customers. Here is where nursing care and teaching come together beautifully. Senior Centers love demonstrations, too! The folks will come for miles around to hear a nurse talk about the importance of foot care and observe foot care being done on a willing volunteer.

Setting up a foot care clinic at a local Senior Center is simple--but requires some thought and planning.

Peace and let it begin with me,

Lois Jean

So let me understand this correctly. You don't do clients feet at the senior center (except for a demo.). You teach, and make them aware of the availability of your services?

This was a big question in my mind because our senior centers are county owned where I live and you cannot conduct a for-profit business there.

Hi, Agnus--Yes I do provide foot care at Senior Centers! Absolutely! There are very few privately owned Senior Centers in this country. The vast majority are funded by their own programs, county mileages and State/Fed grants. I 'rent' my space at these centers. For every person who receives care, I give back to the center an agreed upon $$ amount. They give me a receipt...those $$ are added up after a year and listed as a deduction on my business taxes. I provide the center with a description of my business, a copy of my nursing license and a copy of a Certificate of Insurance in which they are named under my liability/malpractice coverage.

So, of course you can operate a for-profit business there. Who told you that you couldn't? If this is so...then they are in violation for allowing private food distributers to sell them canned vegetables and fruit for their meals.

Check this out, Agnus. Get back to me and let me know if your local senior center won't allow you to provide services under a rental agreement. In my experience, once foot care was instituted in our local senior centers, the attendance of other activities increased...along with membership. A good thing for everyone.

Peace and let it begin with me,

Lois Jean

Originally posted by hoolahan

The owner of the school did tell me some manicurist are pulling in $1000/wk in PA. I find that hard to believe, but if it is true, I may just leave nursing!!!

Hoolie, I hate to burst your bubble sweetheart, but, I highly doubt that this is the income of the majority of pedicurists. Being a licensed cosmetologist myself, I have to say that this is the extreme exception....not the norm. Do you think I'd be a nurse now if that were the case?? Mmmmmmmm.

The one or two manicurists that are making this, aren't doing it by foot pampering alone. They are probly doing sculptured acrylic nails (at approx 60-80 bucks a pop for a full set), are VERY efficient with their time...so they can fit more clients in per day, have a large client base, and have been doing this for many years in order to develop said large client base and raised their prices along the way.

Good luck with your schooling.....I know you'll kick those teenie-boppers butts!! Even if you don't benefit financially, your patients WILL reap the benefits of your newly learned skills. Oh, boy....will they ever!! Happy, happy patients.....Happy, happy patients!!:D

Anne

Specializes in Home Health.

Thanks for that KC. I will be learning that stuff too, so that is what I meant, that IF I could make $$ at it, I would leave nursing all together.

But I am kind of pokey, so not sure I can move people thru like that until I get a LOT of practice!!

KC, tell me: did you receive any kind of certification after completing the nail tech part of your schooling? If so, what kind of certification is it? A school cert only or a state certification? I'm just curious.

Peace and let it begin with me,

Lois Jean

I recieved training for both nails and hair....took state boards for both (ahhhh, memories. driving to the state capitol in '93 with my mannequin heads)....and have a Missouri license for nails and hair. It's a non-working license now...'cause I just use it to get wholesale shampoo and other goodies.:D I'm so glad they came up with this non-working license....it has no expiration date and I don't have to pay the renewal fees.

The training for both took 9 months. Had I just done the nails...I think it would have taken 3 months or so.

I know I won't be going back to doing hair. Most salons, other than corporate owned salons, don't offer benefits and the pay is variable. Most give you a percentage of what you bring in for services. This can range anywhere from 40-50%. There are busy periods, when you can make decent money, and waning periods when you don't make as much. Nursing was a much better choice for me.

....and I've run into other nurses who were cosmetologists first also. We're everywhere!:eek:

Anne:D

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