The current situation does not favor the creation of projects and the path to setting up as an independent is often strewn with pitfalls.

How can you avoid certain disappointments, certain significant costs or get around them while waiting to see the profitability of your business?

Question no. 1: home, yours or your clients’?

At your place

Benefits

Offering your clients the opportunity to come to your home to offer them your care has a major advantage: you do not have to pay any travel costs.

The room that you dedicate to the exercise of your activity can be considered as "made available" in this context and thus allow you to benefit from tax exemption when filing your income tax return.

Your equipment remains in place permanently and you therefore have no handling constraints, which are often tedious when it comes to transporting, for example, a folding massage table or even a folding manicure table .

Disadvantages

When they pass through your door, all your customers know your address, but also, in part, the place in which you live. Your personal and professional activities can undoubtedly be combined, but thinking about distinguishing between them can be important to ensure that you maintain your privacy within the limits that suit you.

From the point of view of charges, certain fixed costs are added to your usual charges, such as electricity, or even the water that you use during treatment. However, this is generally a very reasonable level of charge.

The room that you reserve for your activity is often dedicated to this only, in order to always keep it ready to welcome your customers. This organization therefore implies having an additional room at home without it becoming restrictive.

In your customer acquisition journey, you will certainly encounter a segment of customers who prefer to avoid going to a professional's home. For them, it involves going to the home of a stranger and may feel uncomfortable with this approach, which they will therefore never undertake.

With your customers

Benefits

The first advantage of this home service offering is that your customers do not have to travel. Having you visit their home generally gives them confidence when it is a first meeting and you will thus reach the more cautious customers mentioned earlier in this article.

Depending on the radius of activity that you determine, you can reach a larger clientele than if you received your customers at your home. Indeed, if the distance does not scare you and you are well organized, you can consider acquiring a larger clientele, who will undoubtedly appreciate the efforts you make to reach them.

This is particularly true in more isolated regions, where the distances to travel in order to obtain care are sometimes significant and, therefore, demotivating.

Disadvantages

The travel you make is entirely your responsibility and it is therefore important to take these costs into consideration when calculating your rates. The wear and tear of your vehicle as well as the maintenance costs associated with it must also be taken into consideration in your calculations.

Good management of your diary is essential to allow you to group clients from the same sector on the same day and, thus, limit the travel time between each appointment.

Handling your equipment takes place several times a day and involves carrying at least one folding treatment table as well as a suitcase for cosmetics . This equipment must be chosen according to its size in order to allow you to easily transport it in your vehicle.

Conclusion

The major advantage of home is that it allows you to develop your clientele by limiting initial investments. The budget to plan for the acquisition of your equipment can be limited to a few hundred euros, then evolve as your activity grows.

Question no. 2: in an institute, more assets or more constraints?

Opening hours

The institute is a real showcase in which you display your know-how on a daily basis. This showcase being permanently visible, it requires your presence over a wide range of hours to allow you to respond to all the requests you receive.

Many institutes choose to open on Saturday and place their second closing day during the week, often on Monday. This day can be chosen at your convenience, as long as you communicate sufficiently about it, your customers will get used to it without difficulty.

Finally, the time range offered is often from 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. It is quite rare to find an outage at midday.

This significant range of hours therefore implies less flexible management of your daily life than when you work from home. Indeed, your customers appreciate knowing when they can come and meet you and respecting this time commitment is essential to retain them.

The care card

The advantage of working in the same place every day is that you always have the necessary equipment at hand.

You therefore have complete freedom to offer a very wide range of treatments, as you will not have to transport or move your equipment during appointments.

The visibility

The advantage of working in a fixed location is that you can choose it according to its visibility.

In conclusion, the choice to carry out your activity at home depends on several parameters which are specific to each of you. Weighing the pros and cons taking these parameters into account will undoubtedly allow you to make an informed decision.