We are sooooo excited to bring you our brand new pricing calculator that we have been working on for a very long time! We wanted to provide you with an in depth set of instructions to help guide you through the process.
Let's get started...
Just to note, it does not matter what currency you use, this calculator will work for you. Simply enter the numbers, no currency required.
Yearly salary target
How much do you want to earn before tax? If you aren’t sure how much you want to earn as a salary figure, take the hourly figure you are looking to earn and multiply that by the number of hours you want to work and multiply this figure by 52 (the number of weeks in a year). To work out how much tax you would need to pay on a your chosen salary please see your local government website. If based in the UK head here .
Weekly working hours
In this box you want to enter the total number of hours you plan to work each week, ensure this number excludes the amount of break time you take in a week. For instance if you plan to be at work for 8 hours a day 3 days a week and schedule a 30 min break each day, you would enter 22.5 (24 hours minus 1 hour 30 min for breaks)
Holiday weeks per year
How many weeks worth of holiday time would you like to take off in a year?
Monthly business overheads
Ensure you enter all non product / equipment costs into this section. For Sundries and other expenses you might want to take into consideration things such as cleaning products or refreshments you may offer to clients. Remember to include things such booking system costs, card reader monthly fixed fees, Canva and banking fees. You may not need to enter anything into utilities if your studio rent includes electricity, water etc.
Card processing fee
Most card readers will have a transaction fee for using them based on the card type being used, typically this % will be anywhere from 1 to 2% per transaction. If the card transaction fee is variable enter an average, for instance if its between 1 and 2 % enter 1.5%. If your card fee is not as a % but as a standing charge enter this standing charge in the next section (products) and ensure you include this in every service).
Products & consumables
In this section you want to include everything you use during your treatments including files, lint free wipes, mani matts, gels etc. Its important to work out how many uses you get from each product to help accurately calculate your pricing, with items such as disposables you will only get 1 use per item but when it comes to gels its very important that you work out your specific uses and not just a a range or random number.
To work out how many clients you get from each bottle or pot of gel we suggest marking (using a sharpie or on a sticker attached to the bottle / pot) each time you use a product until its empty.
Whilst this is inconvenient, you only need to do this once and you will then have an accurate figure. The amount of builder gel, top coat, gel colour etc that you use per client will vary from another nail tech due to differences in technique and client base. Please also note that the amount of services you get from a bottle of top coat to primer to builder gel etc will vary massively too. For instance you may get 100 uses from a primer but only 25 from a bottle of builder gel.
Equipment
Equipment might include things such as your UV/LED lamp, e-file, dust extractor, tools, desk light etc. . All equipment has a lifespan and that lifespan very much depends on the quality of the equipment and how often its used.
Lets take a high quality lamp or e-file that you use on 20 clients a week, you might expect them to last around 2 years, whereas a low quality lamp being used on 20 clients a week you might only expect 6 months of use. The same can be said for tools, for high quality tools being used around 20 times a week, you should expect to have to replace these every 2 years or so.
Whilst its hard to predict exactly how long equipment will last, when entering these numbers try to take into consideration the quality of the equipment you have purchased as well as the frequency of use.
Service Management
This is where you are going to build your treatment.
Step 1 name your service.
Step 2 add the amount of time that this service takes you.
Optional step – enter your current treatment price to see how your current prices compare.
Step 3 add every item of product and equipment you use for this service.
Example:
Service Name: Builder Gel
Duration: 60 minutes
Products used : Nail File, Buffer, Builder Gel, Top Coat, Gel Polish, Sanitiser Spray, Cuticle Oil, Mani matt, Gloves, Primer, Lint Free Wipe
Equipment used: UV/LED Lamp, e-File, Desk Light, Cuticle Nippers, Cuticle Pusher
Weekly Schedule Planner
This section allows you to essentially build your week and see how many of each treatment you will need to achieve to make your earnings target, or exceed it, when combined with the amount of time each treatment takes. This tool provide you with a rough idea of which treatments earn you the most money too.
We hope this guide helps and we would love to see you sharing your results on social media!
Check out this related blog post: "How to become a financially empowered nail tech"