Are you lying to yourself?

I have always been taught “honesty is the best policy”. I feel my honesty does help me in Business with my clients. I will take the road to help you grow, not just feed you a line of bull to help me grow.

With honesty however, comes a whole lot of tongue biting. Honesty is fine, yet we have to be careful in choosing our words and have some empathy. Which is why, you will seldom see me comment on social media. Not so much because I’m afraid to be honest. Because my brutal honesty could indeed alienate a whole ton of people…who may not like to hear the truth.


After following a thread on social media recently, I just can’t sit back and not say anything. Therefore, this thread has become my article.

The thread asked a question. Because I didn’t save it and of course can’t figure out how to get back to it, this isn’t exact. However, it was something on the line of “how has your Business been since Covid”?

The 100’s of answers were astounding with most of them being negative. Anything from being unable to raise prices, to losing clients. With…..a whole ton in between.  The gist however, not a whole lot of positive outcome.


My question to all of you who say Business has suffered since covid….what have you done?

Have you resorted back to the same thing you were doing before covid? I know with sanitary practices most people/salons did. Most aren’t taking the time they need to properly sanitize their spaces. Wiping bottles, cleaning door handles, polish bottles. Sanitizing their lamps between clients, wiping down chairs etc. I could go on and on about the precautions we all took during covid which…..most no longer do.

What about marketing? So you lost some clients. Yes, we all did. For us as a Distributor many of our clients closed shop and many of our clients downsized. The question is, what have you done to try to replace those clients? Are you attending community events? Are you actively seeking new clients besides making a post on social media? Have you re-evaluated your website, your search engine optimization? Have you given clients a good reason to come visit your Salon? Have you done any marketing at all?

This has been my #1 reason why I am not fond on booth rental or Salon suites. When you are independent you are responsible for bringing in new Business. We will lose Business by fruition. How will you win Business? It doesn’t just magically appear!


Raising prices was another big gripe. Why? What are you afraid of? Do you know your worth? Are you educated?

I know Technicians who take class after class on nail art and design? Do you think THAT will help you raise your prices? Owning a Business isn’t a hobby. If having fun with nail art is what you want to do that’s great. Just don’t bitch and complain that you aren’t making any money because that’s where your focus is AND….most don’t even charge for it.

When prices are raised it should be for justifiable reasons;

  1. Your cost have increased
  2. You furthered your education to help your clients
  3. By furthering your education, you increased your worth
  4. You choose better/high quality products

If any of the above have not been done, then yes….I can see your hesitation. Yet, if you continue to grow both professionally and personally, and rent has increased, product cost have increased or you’re bringing better products on for the benefit of you and your clients….then raising prices should not be a hesitation.


Another big issue for me in regard to this thread is everyone touting their titles? Master this, master that.  Certified in this, certified in that. What exactly is all those titles doing for you? By the sounds of the thread I was reading….absolutely nothing.

The problem in my mind is Technicians take all this classes to “learn” and be better. Yet, many never master any of the classes they took.

This is going to be a huge discussion in my Missing Pieces class. You must dwell down on why you take class after class after class…..yet, never perfect what you learned. Use it or lose it. The certificates look great on the wall. Do they really pertain to your actions?


Owning a Business is hard. Making a Business successful is harder. We just can’t sit around on our asses and expect that we can “dream” and it will come. We have to work at it. Every day, every minute. We have to stop complaining about not having Business, we have to work on getting more. We have to stop complaining about not charging enough (because our clients won’t pay for), we need to make a change to make our Businesses profitable.


Nothing is the same since covid. Including how you brought in and maintained your Business. IF you think for one minute anything has gone back to normal…you are so wrong.

Therefore, our thought process has to be different. And, choices have to be made. Do you want to continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. Or are you going to wake up and realize THAT cannot happen.

From what I read on that social media thread…many are stuck and many did expect things to be status quo. They aren’t. Once you realize that….well….maybe you’ll do something about it.


If I struck a nerve, I apologize for causing you a bad day. What I don’t apologize for is possibly opening the eyes of many who want the best of both worlds. A hobby AND an income.

This Industry can no doubt be fun and we SHOULD love what we do. However, what I’m reading is most of you aren’t happy.  Maybe it’s time you figure out why.

CJ Murray, President

14 thoughts on “Are you lying to yourself?”

  1. Cannot stress how much I love this! I see this kind of sentiment all over the industry and totally agree with you. We have to treat our businesses as such otherwise it’s just an expensive hobby.

  2. Shabam!!!! You nailed it CJ! I get super frustrated when I see similar posts on SM.

    One thing I am super proud of is our exceptional infection control and state of the art ventilation !

    I proudly share that info with anyone and everyone !

    Thank you for all that you do for our industry!

    1. Thanks Lorri and YES…I validate you for sure, having been to your Salon and seen first hand how amazing your sanitary procedures are. You should be very proud and shout it all over….you are a rarity for sure. Appreciate you!

    1. And, there are places who offer cheap prices….Salons who are up to standards with educated staff, should not be one of them.
      Thanks Marina for reading my blog. I appreciate it.

  3. CJ You can’t imagine how much I needed this!!!! Thank you for all you have done to make this industry and me better!!💗💗💗

    1. Awww thank you…you are my 1 person I hope for :). I have one seat left in my missing pieces class. Call me if you are interested. And, hang in there….YOU GOT THIS!

  4. “The problem in my mind is Technicians take all this classes to “learn” and be better. Yet, many never master any of the classes they took.”

    Whew!!! You said a mouthful! When I took a master class I brought in models that had very problematic feet and the other students in the class literally were grossed out. They literally asked me how could work on that and was I afraid. I told them you do realize what class your taking right? A year later, most have not done that type of work. Why waste time & money on a class when you can print out a certificate yourself!

    1. Haha….a mouthful indeed. Yet true right? Why waste time and money on a class and NOT use what you just learned. It just goes to show you the “certificate” is more wanted than the knowledge. Thank you. I appreciate your time.

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