A press-on nails business plan is a plan for minutes and sizes. The tips and gel in a set cost well under a dollar; the kit and the box cost more than that, and the minutes of shaping, painting, curing and decorating cost more than all of it. Custom sets are made to one customer's sizes, one at a time; ready-made sets come in standard sizes and can be made ten at a time, which cuts the minutes. In the example below, a press-on nail maker in Ohio sells ready-made solid sets and custom solid, French and full art sets online, and ends the first year about $11,700 ahead on $36,700 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for about 700 hours. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.
The short version
- Describe the business in a paragraph: the designs, custom or ready-made, where you sell, the goals.
- Cost a set from the tips up: tips, gel, decorations, the kit, the box, your minutes, the platform's fees.
- Ready-made sets in standard sizes are made in batches and leave the most for each hour.
- Custom sets carry a higher price for the fit, and need the customer's sizes first.
- Full art sets leave the most a set and the least an hour.
- TaroStack keeps gels by color, ready-made sets by size, and every set costed from what it used. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Short North Nail Co., a made-up press-on nail maker in Columbus, Ohio, I use in these examples, writes:
Short North Nail Co. makes gel press-on nails at home: ready-made solid sets in small, medium and large, and custom solid, French and chrome, and full art sets made to each customer's sizes, sold online with a sizing kit.
Part 2: what each set costs
| Per unit | Ready-made solid, in a batch | Custom solid | Custom French and chrome | Custom full art |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tips, gel, builder and top coat | $0.96 | $0.96 | $1.16 | $1.36 |
| Chrome, rhinestones, charms | $0.50 | $2.50 | ||
| Kit, box, insert and care card | $2.10 | $2.10 | $2.10 | $2.10 |
| Time at $20 an hour | $6.67 (20 min) | $10.00 (30 min) | $20.00 (1 h) | $40.00 (2 h) |
| Platform and card fees, 10% | $2.00 | $2.70 | $4.80 | $9.20 |
| Variable cost | $11.73 | $15.76 | $28.56 | $55.16 |
A ready-made set takes 20 minutes because ten are shaped, painted and cured together; a custom set of the same design takes 30, made to one set of sizes. How each set was priced is in how to price handmade items, and costing the box and card properly is in packaging cost per unit.
Part 3: customers and prices
| Product | Price | Variable cost | Contribution | Margin | A month at full speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ready-made solid set, made ten at a time | $20.00 | $11.73 | $8.27 | 41.3% | 90 |
| Custom solid set | $27.00 | $15.76 | $11.24 | 41.6% | 45 |
| Custom French and chrome set | $48.00 | $28.56 | $19.44 | 40.5% | 30 |
| Custom full art set | $92.00 | $55.16 | $36.84 | 40.0% | 10 |
On top of the $20 an hour already paid, a ready-made set leaves about $25 for each hour it takes, a custom solid set about $22, a French set about $19 and a full art set about $18, because the margin is on the time. At full speed the ready-made sets bring about $740 of the month's $2,200 of contribution, the French sets about $580, the custom solids about $510 and the full art sets about $370. Ready-made stock is money on a shelf in colors and sizes that may not sell; how much to keep is in how much inventory to keep on hand.
Part 4: the first year, month by month
Fixed costs are $275 a month: the online shop and website ($40), photos and ads ($150), insurance ($30), lamp and tool upkeep ($20), and software and card fees ($35). Sales start at 15% of full speed and reach it in month 11:
| Month | Ready-made sets | Custom solid | French and chrome | Full art | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 2 | $893 | $90 | $90 |
| 2 | 18 | 9 | 6 | 2 | $1,075 | $165 | $256 |
| 3 | 23 | 11 | 8 | 3 | $1,417 | $305 | $561 |
| 4 | 27 | 14 | 9 | 3 | $1,626 | $391 | $952 |
| 5 | 36 | 18 | 12 | 4 | $2,150 | $606 | $1,557 |
| 6 | 45 | 23 | 15 | 5 | $2,701 | $831 | $2,389 |
| 7 | 54 | 27 | 18 | 6 | $3,225 | $1,046 | $3,435 |
| 8 | 63 | 31 | 21 | 7 | $3,749 | $1,261 | $4,695 |
| 9 | 72 | 36 | 24 | 8 | $4,300 | $1,486 | $6,182 |
| 10 | 81 | 41 | 27 | 9 | $4,851 | $1,712 | $7,894 |
| 11 | 90 | 45 | 30 | 10 | $5,375 | $1,927 | $9,821 |
| 12 | 90 | 45 | 30 | 10 | $5,375 | $1,927 | $11,747 |
The year's sales are $36,737 and the profit $11,747, on top of about 100 hours a month at full speed paid at $20, about 700 hours and $14,000 in the year. Profit from the first month, because the fixed costs are small; the hours are the limit, and proms and the holidays bunch them up.
Part 5: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| UV and LED lamps | $150 |
| Gels and colors to start | $400 |
| Tips, tools and an e-file | $250 |
| Light box for photos | $150 |
| Boxes, cards and kits, first order | $400 |
| Sizing kits | $100 |
| Website | $200 |
| Working cash | $500 |
| Total to start | $2,150 |
Nail products are generally regulated as cosmetics, and cosmetics sold at retail need a list of ingredients and any warning needed to prevent a health hazard, which is why nail glue carries one (FDA); keep the glue maker's label and warnings with each kit. At $11,700 a year, the $1,650 spent before working cash is earned back by month 6.
Get the template
Download the press-on nails business plan workbook. Four sheets: your ready-made and custom sets with price, variable cost and a month's volume at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Forty gel colors, tips in ten sizes, ready-made sets in three sizes and a dozen colors, custom orders each with their own sizes, glue and kits by the case, and a prom season that triples the orders. A notebook can't say how many medium nude sets are ready to ship, which gels are running low, or what a French set costs now that chrome powder went up.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps gels by color, ready-made sets by size, and every set costed from what it used.
Ready-made sets by size and color. Each ready-made design and size is an item with its own SKU, counted on a phone, so medium nude sets ready to ship are a number.
Sets as recipes. A set is a recipe of its tips, gels, decorations, kit and box; a batch of ten takes them off stock at what they cost, with the minutes it took, so each set's cost is what it used.
Reorder before prom. Gels, tips and kits come up on a reorder list in days of cover, and the price creep report shows when a supplier's chrome powder went up.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Medium nude sets ready to ship | Count the drawer | Stock by design and size |
| Gels running low | When a bottle is empty | Reorder list in days of cover |
| What a French set costs now | Last year's number | Each batch, at what it used |
| Glue and kits before prom | Hope | Reorder list in days of cover |
Counting, recipes, batches and reorder lists are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.