Husband and Wife Earn $9500/Month Teaching Nail Techs
Read Time: 3 mins
Today's side hustle is...
This week I met a husband-and-wife duo based in Ireland, UK, who make $9500/month teaching nail technicians how to grow their client base.
But before their success, Jouvan, the husband, quit his full-time job when it was just making £500/month, or $631/month USD, with a baby on the way.
This story is beautiful reminder of the power of scalable internet businesses.
Instead of “doing what you know,” you can productize your knowledge by “teaching what you know,” and earn more than ever before.
Before we meet Jouvan, here are some fun facts about nail techs:
In the US, about 11,000 people look up “Nail tech school” on Google every month according to ahrefs.
To be a nail tech in the US, you must have a license from the state’s board of cosmetology, where the average tuition cost is $4,624 (some closer to $10,000).
But in the UK, it’s much more self-regulated. In theory, you could be a self-taught nail tech. But most opt for a VTCT Level 3 Diploma in nail technology to guarantee being fully insured. This license can cost anywhere between £2000-£3000, or $2500-$3800 USD.
Nail techs in the UK earn an average salary of £46,473 per year, and is attractive due to the inherent entrepreneurial nature of the profession.
Now, let’s dive into Jouvan’s side hustle turned full-time business.
How Jouvan Quit His Job To Grow His £500/month Side Hustle (With A Baby On The Way!)
Jouvan left the corporate world in 2021, where he worked as an Internal Communications Specialist.
Chantelle, his girlfriend at the time, was a nail technician who posted on Instagram (@clawgasmic) to grow her customer base. As she posted more content showing her skills and a growing clientele, she started getting inbound messages from people wanting to learn how she attracted so many customers.
That’s when Jouvan gave her an idea.
He convinced Chantelle to make an Instagram story promoting a paid Instagram live, where people would pay £19.99 to attend a video session to learn how she grew her nail tech business. The results were positive. She made about £200 (or $252 USD) from a single live video session.
This test was proof of product market fit.
Jouvan’s used his background as a scrappy online entrepreneur to help grow his girlfriend’s paid content model. When they grew the side hustle to £500/month, Jouvan decided to quit his job to go all-in.
It was a massive risk. The side hustle didn’t even cover their monthly rent, AND they had a baby on the way.
But as Jouvan reflected on this period of time, he remembers being “willing to do anything” if necessary – driving a cab, delivering food. There was nothing he wasn’t willing to do to make this work.
Today, Clawgasmic is a full-blown content membership community, with productized content, a podcast, and mobile app designed to help nail techs earn more.
Why it works
For thousands of women, the fascination with nails is something that starts early in a woman’s life. Based on hundreds of personal anecdotes and online forums, many nail technicians discover a natural passion for nails between the ages of 10-15 years old.
It starts with nail polish, gel polish or hard gels, and the next thing you know they have to do their nails whenever they go to school.
The mix of creativity, artistic expression and cultural trends has turned the nail tech industry into a $8.53 billion in 2021, with over 408,000 nail technicians in the US.
Early on, Chantelle found that posting on Instagram = more customers. And it turns out, her content creation chops were naturally eye-catching. She possessed a marketing skill that other nail techs were missing, and needed to learn if they wanted to turn their passion into a career.
Starting costs
Jouvan states that he and his girlfriend started with nothing but a niche Instagram following and their knowledge. He reports they started with “$0” in the beginning.
Marketing Strategy & Growth
Most of the business growth came from marketing on Instagram.
Today, Chantelle’s Instagram account sits at 126k followers that were grown organically.
While her following wasn’t always this large, there’s no doubt that social media played a massive role in making this content model work.
Her Instagram channel drives traffic to her website, where aspiring and existing nail techs can opt into an email marketing funnel, get helpful tips and advice to get customers, and learn about her paid community.
Time investment
Jouvan and Chantelle work about 4-5 hours a day for 5 days a week to maintain and grow their business.
For Jouvan, he describes this Clawgasmic as a “lifestyle business” where he has the freedom to earn enough to live comfortably, but work less if he chooses to.
Earnings
On average, Jouvan and Chantelle earn at least £6000 monthly, with some months earning up to £7500 (January 2024 numbers!).
We’ll share Jouvan and Chantelle’s full, in-depth interview on our website (along with dozens of detailed side hustle stories) in the near future.
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Tool of the Week
Last Sunday, I posted my first TikTok.
From ideation to filming to posting it, it took 4 hours.
Filming it took about 25 minutes, but adding images, b-roll, subtitles and trimming the “umms” and awkward pauses took over two hours to complete.
And that’s with a couple years of video editing and scripting experience under my belt.
Sure it’s my first video after a long break as a creator, so I’m a bit rusty. But as long as I could remember, editing has always been the most time consuming part.
While at work today, I was chilling in the lunch room when my colleague, Pedro, shared this AI tool he started using called Submagic. He literally cuts his short-form video editing time by a fraction, while making it more engaging for viewers.
After showing me a quick demo, it looks super user-friendly, with customizable aspects such as the video length, subtitle design, adding effects and b-roll, and more.
If editing your short-form videos is taking away from the volume game necessary to win on TikTok, or other socials, this might be worth checking out.
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Join side hustlers who are earning beyond their full-time jobs. Unlock side hustle ideas and tips to earn an extra $500–$10,000 a month by building a legitimate side business.
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Join side hustlers who are earning beyond their full-time jobs. Unlock side hustle ideas and tips to earn an extra $500–$10,000 a month by building a legitimate side business.