The Guild of Entropian Beauticians

p.s I am not talking about a society here, just a group of friends helping each other

this is exactly what i am talking about!

well im a newcomer to this scene... barely started 3 weeks ago....

not sure what to contribute after what pinky had already covered.. lol... but thus far i have been skilling on soc members

ummmm .... anything else? lol... but if theres a guild coming up i wanna be part of it!

Rooney said:

this is exactly what i am talking about!

well im a newcomer to this scene... barely started 3 weeks ago....

not sure what to contribute after what pinky had already covered.. lol... but thus far i have been skilling on soc members

ummmm .... anything else? lol... but if theres a guild coming up i wanna be part of it!

Click to expand...

What sort of skilling method are you using?

When I first started, I used only 1 gel a time.. soon discovered if you put more in, say 5 gel and 5 spray that the skill gain is a lot higher - jumping on occasion several levels at a time... as time has gone on this has become a necessity - If i put 1 gelin now, i gain virtually nothing, and on average I use 10 gel and 20 spray - costing about 3.5 ped (including the markup) per click..

Why not experiment a little and see if this helps speed things up... I wouldnt go too high too soon, as it has its limits - experimenting is the only way to find the right sort of level for your skills...

lol im just using the 1 gel method...lol

about 700 now in skills...

shall we meet up?

Hello!

I also think this is an amazing idea.

Though I am not new to EU, I have just bought a hairstylest chair, and would like to get into the profession.

Other than the odd gel and hair spray (I think I may even have 1 can of dye! ), I have no other supplies (not even scissors) as I just purchased the chair an hour ago.

I would love to be a part of this guild (+rep to Pinky for the idea), to hopefully learn what exactly I am doing, and one day, to pass that knowlege on to the next generation.

I'll try to keep you updated on my progress and experiences, I think I may add this into the story I am writing.

Best of luck to you all,

Iset

just an udate - the last VU totally nerfed the unlock levels for cuts - everything has now being lowered... the skills i showed in the first post are enough to unlock 14 cuts now...


Not a moan... more cuts is good!

I will post at my next unlock, but wont know how many levels between unlocks until 2 unlocks time...

Just an update:

I have set up my chair in my apartment, and have even bought a pair of scissors, and spent last night practising on a friend. I have gone through 50 tries, and I think I am at lv 50 for Hairstyling.... but I cant really remember. I have been taking the advice from Pinky and a couple other hairstylists, and will work hard all weekend. Perhaps by Monday I will be able to do the first three hair cuts (bald, long hair, and basic mohawk) with some proficiency.

If anyone would like to come visit, my apartment is TI City Gold Building, room 8C.

And to comment on what Pinky mentioned about the change in skilling; perhaps this was a good time to enter the profession after all

Cheers and good luck,

Iset

EDIT: I am now at lv 500.... 500 more and I'll be up for business

Getting started

Before I buy the chair, scisors and go about annoying everyone in PA for hair gel and spray (LOL) i want to know:

can I carry the chair and supplies with me and do haircuts on the go at any location?

If I get into plastic surgery, can I do the same? It would be nice to be able to set up shop anywhere and make hunting revenue that way?

I have a flat in Omegaton, and could operate from there, but the new commers wont be able to travel that far, so I need to be able to get the "locals" of PA.

can you help or advise me?

Nicky

Very good idea Just want to wish you all Lootius blessings with business. Unfortunately I sold both hair-chair and face-chair + tools LONG time ago .. who regrets now?

Happy sculpt'ing

Fashion Desgin?

I thought that was a tailoring related skill

Anyway gl with your guild

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to PINKY again.

nickythenose said:

Before I buy the chair, scisors and go about annoying everyone in PA for hair gel and spray (LOL) i want to know:

can I carry the chair and supplies with me and do haircuts on the go at any location?

If I get into plastic surgery, can I do the same? It would be nice to be able to set up shop anywhere and make hunting revenue that way?

I have a flat in Omegaton, and could operate from there, but the new commers wont be able to travel that far, so I need to be able to get the "locals" of PA.

can you help or advise me?

Nicky

Click to expand...

Well, to the best of my knowlege, you cannot do this unless you own a flat/shop in each location you wish to do hairstyling You can only set up the chair (and therefore your business) in a location that you own. It makes sense, otherwise you run the risk of having someone steal your property.

Hope that helped, and I look forward to hearing about your progress! (Oh, and Pinky is an amazing helper, and has a wealth of knowlege to anyone looking)

Cheers,

Iset

Violet said:

Fashion Desgin?
I thought that was a tailoring related skill

Click to expand...

I thought so too, but it turns out we were both wrong!

Take a look HERE

nickythenose said:

Before I buy the chair, scisors and go about annoying everyone in PA for hair gel and spray (LOL) i want to know:

can I carry the chair and supplies with me and do haircuts on the go at any location?

If I get into plastic surgery, can I do the same? It would be nice to be able to set up shop anywhere and make hunting revenue that way?

I have a flat in Omegaton, and could operate from there, but the new commers wont be able to travel that far, so I need to be able to get the "locals" of PA.

can you help or advise me?

Nicky

Click to expand...

Iset is absolutly right, if you put the chair down in the middle of PA it will get stolen.

When you set it up in your own aptartment no one can take it... I would suggest New Oxford or TI City as ideal locations - New Oxford all players have as default, and TI city is normally the first TP picked up in amtherea by new players, so will mean your business is open to as many potential customers as possible...

I must admit, I would agree with you on the Omegatron being an issue if looking for customers in PA... but maybe you would have a better chance of finding customers who have the tp if you go to Twin, or Argus...

Good luck, let us know how you get on!

my hair is at 700+ only 6 styles now lol....

genesis is where i am situated... its not too bad, just a 5 min swim from new oxford...

PINKY said:

#11 UNLOCKED @ 2670 Number 12 was due @ 3020 but occured at 2937 - since then I have another 3 styles, but put that down to the VU messing with the skill levels required... (There were all unlocked before I chipped the Dexterity so this did not influence them)


For hair unlocks, they previously seemed to come every 350 skill levels, however as i mentioned before the gaps between them are shortening as I skill up in the other beauty areas. The last gap was only 267 - could this mean cheaper and faster skilling?
​

Click to expand...

I have to admit, I am skilling much faster than I thought I would, and at a much quicker pace than my husband is at tailoring (and we've skilled aboout the same number of times). I have only been skilling hap-hazardly the past four days, and already I am at 419 in hair styling

Not complaining at all though!

Cheers and gl,

Iset

scenario and profit.

Ok, so i cant set up stall anywhere and I have to do it from my flat.

So, as one cannot get "passing trade" what is the best way of promoting the service? Obviously shouting it out in PA woudl be no good, is it more of a question of advertising in game or via message board your "opening hours" and arranging appointments via MA time or what?

naturally I am interested in doing htis for business and not just for a laugh, and it is a question of providing my avitar with peds, rather than relying wholy on MA to pay via hunting trips and other random "solutions", and if I am going to risk the cost o fthe chair, scisors and the time needed to get hair gel on cheap in certain locations, i have to get a better idea as to promotion techniques, ways of bringing in the business and making markup.

Is there an average price for a new style of hair, face or body respectively and if so what is it? And taking into account the cost of equipment and the cost of the gel/spray to keep myself in business, how much markup and profit would I be able to make IG per x amount of sessions?


sorry if these questions seem daft, its just I am rather new to th idea of becmming a barber/beautician...

nicky

Iset said:

I have to admit, I am skilling much faster than I thought I would, and at a much quicker pace than my husband is at tailoring (and we've skilled aboout the same number of times). I have only been skilling hap-hazardly the past four days, and already I am at 419 in hair styling
Not complaining at all though!
Cheers and gl,
Iset

Click to expand...

Yes, the skilling is fast on beauty, jumping skill levels at a time (sometimes 5 or 6 ) rather than partial amounts of a level like all the other trades, however, be warned - to maintain those type of skill gains, after about 1 - 1.5 K skills, you have to seriously increase the amount of Gel/spray you are using... at the level i am at now, it costs me 3.5 ped per "click" (tt+%) and I gain about 1 level every 3/4 clicks = about 2-3k ped per unlock you need to get some serious customers to fund that! which brings me on to...

nickythenose said:

Ok, so i cant set up stall anywhere and I have to do it from my flat.
So, as one cannot get "passing trade" what is the best way of promoting the service? Obviously shouting it out in PA woudl be no good, is it more of a question of advertising in game or via message board your "opening hours" and arranging appointments via MA time or what?

Click to expand...

To be honest, yes you can advertise in PA/twin - but I would suggest adding your location in your "shout" if you are not easiely located... I would strongly suggest using the forum - I like to think I have got the message accross that i do hair to everyone on this forum - and a number of people now PM me for appointments...

nickythenose said:

naturally I am interested in doing htis for business and not just for a laugh, and it is a question of providing my avitar with peds, rather than relying wholy on MA to pay via hunting trips and other random "solutions", and if I am going to risk the cost o fthe chair, scisors and the time needed to get hair gel on cheap in certain locations, i have to get a better idea as to promotion techniques, ways of bringing in the business and making markup.

Click to expand...

One thing to remember is you are not really taking a big risk with the cost of the startup equipment - unless the price suddenly drops like a stone (which I doubt) it will maintain its value - so if it doesnt work out for you, simply sell it on again... The cost of them has been steadily rising due partly to people seeing that it is possible to have a successful business in this field, and partly because one specific reseller buys all beauty equipment going too cheap and puts it back on auction with a big fat markup... Not going to get into that here (but simply look at whos selling the vast majority of beatuy tools if you want to work it out for yourself)

nickythenose said:

Is there an average price for a new style of hair, face or body respectively and if so what is it? And taking into account the cost of equipment and the cost of the gel/spray to keep myself in business, how much markup and profit would I be able to make IG per x amount of sessions?

Click to expand...

not as such... but all have followed a set pattern of starting off cheap and increasing their prices... this is mainly due to discovering the cost of skilling goes up as time goes on...

I suggest setting your prices to cover your skilling costs...and increasing the more high level cuts as and when you unlock them - for example, my high end cuts cost about 100 ped - sounds expensive, but when you think it costs 2-3k to unlock them, i need 20-30 customers to afford to unlock the next style... Akoz top end cuts can go for 250 ped - but he is the highest skilled beautician in the game, so its hardly supprising it costs him more to skill than any of us...

Remember, the one advantage you have over the high skilled beauticians, is that you can under cut them on price (me included) as we simply cant afford to give away cuts when we pay so much for the skilling, so we tend to avoid the low end cuts as they dont generate as much money as we need... for that reason, we put the prices up from when they were the only ones we could do, because they dont really benefit us anymore... the benefit for you is that they will earn enough for you to skill on and the benefit for the entropian citizens is access to cheap cuts. The one thing I cant recomend strongly enough is to keep your prices reasonable - I like to think the reason I have made a success of beauty is that people know I charge as low as I can afford as my aim is not to profit, only to survive in game without depositing...

nickythenose said:

sorry if these questions seem daft, its just I am rather new to th idea of becmming a barber/beautician...

nicky

Click to expand...

Not at all, thats the whole point of the thread - instead of me typing these answers out time and time again every time someone PMs me a question, if I put it here, I can direct people to the thread
Maybe ultimatley we can creat a massive Q & A from this thread and sticky the whole thing as a guide...

i would really like not to undercut each other, i mean the whole EU is 24 hours, do you think one salon is enough to cater to the whole community? i would suggest a fixed price on cuts and all salons to adopt that price (reasonable of coz) in fact when i go public, probably next week, i will ta all my prices according to pinky's. i think hers are fair.

Rooney said:

i would really like not to undercut each other, i mean the whole EU is 24 hours, do you think one salon is enough to cater to the whole community? i would suggest a fixed price on cuts and all salons to adopt that price (reasonable of coz) in fact when i go public, probably next week, i will ta all my prices according to pinky's. i think hers are fair.

Click to expand...

I would strongly suggest you don't... There are a number of beauticians, at least one on in any time zone... if we all set prices the same, (and i mean no offence by this) why would they come to you to choose between 6 or 7 cuts when they can come to me (or anyone else more skilled) and choose from more...

While you have the ability to skill cheaply, I would use this time to build up a customer base by setting inexpensive cuts - its the only way you can compete with the higher skilled...

I have an ongoing discussion with Akoz about setting prices that we can both agree on - ultimatly, I think the only people that benefits is the beuticians, whilst I dont want a price war, I think it is possible to set prices that fit your skill levels and dont "steal" the main cut type you do... for example, most of my cuts are midrange in price - I dont have many "uber" cuts - Akoz specialises in Uber cuts, so my charging slightly less does not have a major impact on his business. By the same token, if you charge slightly less than me for the lower end cuts, it wont affect my business, but you get more customers, and entropia benefits from cheaper prices... all IMHO of course, and you are free to charge whatever you want

I totally agree with Pinky, although I am going to wait till I have got to lv 1000 before I start chanrging (right now I give a free haircut for half an hour of skilling...which with soc mates usually ends up way longer! or with a "donation of supplies"). I'll then have to figure out what my material/decay costs are to find a suitable lower price would be for my cuts until I become more skilled.

I also think that because of the nature of Hairstylists in EU, in order to become really successful, you need to do at least one of these two things:

1) Advertise, advertise, advertise.... whether through word of mouth, ads, etc. For me, even though I am at TI City, a common tp for most new players, it is still somewhat iscolated. So having as many people know where you are, and what you can do, is a must to be successful.

2) Offer something that no one else has. Be this a product/service (which unfortunitly is very hard to do, as we are limited in our creativity with what we can or cannot do in EU), or an idea only we sell. For Pinky, its well.... pink. But she alone is associated with that, and people can easily recognize her (or her house, oh god-the pink! ) and it helps her out with the image she is trying to convey. Also the fact that she is "mistress of scissors" here on EF leaves no room for confusion of what her beloved profession is. Though Akoz is not well known among the newer players as a hairstylist (most know him only as a land owner, as I did, until quite recently I am afraid to admit), to more experienced players he is known for doing the "uber" hairstyles, and that is great for his business.

As I have not been doing this for very long, I have yet to figure out what this something special is that I can offer, but at the moment, am more concerned with becomming more skilled

If there are any other new hairstylists out there who need to skill, I would love to swap and be each other's "victims" Just pm me, or visit me at my apt! (TI City Gold building, 8C)

Hope this helps,

Iset

hmmm pinky, i admit i never looked at that pricing perspective before.... i think it makes sense...

and yea i agree totally with isset...

in fact i have been laying down the foundation for my new venture a while ago...

website up 1 month ago, not launched to public yet )

skilling up on soc mates

getting an accessible apartment

getting the parlor like deco which came with the apartment as a package deal...and guess what color it is?..PINK!!! and im not gonna spend a ton of peds recoloring them to my fav orange yellow purple combi...just yet lol...so pinky..its not my intention to follow your color scheme!

i have something special like a lucky draw per customer that comes to cut their hair set up already...

employed some people who will spread adverts for the salon when it is ready to be launched...

in fact im now about 800 skill, i think i might just carry on the launch next week... so stay tuned )

Hey folks, I am another wannabee hairstylist and could use all the help i can get! Any baldies out there wanna model for me, give me a shout, I have caused havock on my soc mates and they are all attending therapy right now because of the emotional trauma caused by sitting in my chair!

Monkee said:

Hey folks, I am another wannabee hairstylist and could use all the help i can get! Any baldies out there wanna model for me, give me a shout, I have caused havock on my soc mates and they are all attending therapy right now because of the emotional trauma caused by sitting in my chair!

Click to expand...

Try HERE hon, someone offering free skilling.

Just a quick word of thanks to Monkee who very helpfully let me 26 hair colour sets yesterday.... This is what i hope the guild will be all about, giving each other a hand


Just an idea for you guys to discuss, but I thought of a possible mutially beneficial idea... I often have people asking if they can have a cut I have not unlocked yet - I normally refer them on to Akoz... What about if someone asks you for a cut you dont have? Rather than simply loosing the customer, why not refer them to me, and I will give you 15% of the cut value as commision. For example if someone wanted a 100ped cut, you would still get paid 15 ped even though you didnt cut them....


What you think?

i dont see any harm done...

I also see no harm done, though I would have no problem doing this without the commision . Not only will you keep your customers happy, but it will help out all beauticians in-game. Because there are not a lot of us out there, and because we offer varying skill levels, I think us working together will be WAY more beneficial to all in the long run.

Just to let you all know, all I seem to be doing lately is skilling lol, and setting up my website/game plan. I should be up and running at the beginning or december (I should be over 1K skills then!), and to celebrate, I will be throwing a party. Everyone here (the guild) is invited, and will be a chance to meet you all in "person". In addition, I will also be inviting all the people who have happily been my "victims" while I skilled on them, as a thank you.

I would love for you all to be able to come, and I will have a finilized date set in the near future.

Cheers, and best of luck to you all,

Iset

Iset said:

(I should be over 1K skills then!), and to celebrate, I will be throwing a party. Everyone here (the guild) is invited, and will be a chance to meet you all in "person". In addition, I will also be inviting all the people who have happily been my "victims" while I skilled on them, as a thank you.

I would love for you all to be able to come, and I will have a finilized date set in the near future.

Cheers, and best of luck to you all,

Iset

Click to expand...

PARTY!!!!

I will be away for 2 weeks from 22 November, so may have to miss it ! (good chance for you guys to catch up on the skilling!)


BTW - On topic a bit:

At 3000 Hair skills, I have had to increase to 3.1 ped (TT value - 4 ped including %) per click when skilling now - its getting more expensive

yes im feeling the pinch now too

its so expensive to skill

but im at spending about 70 pecs per click, and i can click and get nothing for 10 x in a row

does this skilling also come in cycles? or its just random?

I am not sure, but I am experiencing the same as you. I think I took it for granted how easy it was to skill at first, now it seems that I am catching up to how the rest of the EU world skills lol

But it must be some sort of randomness, because I will go through periods where I'll skill every single try, and others where I'll go through several without a single skill. Very disheartening I know

But keep plugging away, and best of luck!

Cheers,

Iset

Great Idea

I hope to get into this at some point and thought that it might be a good idea to try to group in a good location.
Right now there are a bunch of TI Silver apts forsale - just up from the teleporter - on auction. The guild, if it has the funds could probably pick up
1 whole floor except for the G...

If that was known as the location to go for cuts you could even get walkin business.

I'll probably try to advertise as more of a plastic surgeon/barber than beautician :>

But the guild is a great idea!

ps I'm available to skill on ... just pm me
pps I just randomed this character when I made him so..
He's real ugly with bad hair :>

Rooney said:

yes im feeling the pinch now too

its so expensive to skill

but im at spending about 70 pecs per click, and i can click and get nothing for 10 x in a row

does this skilling also come in cycles? or its just random?

Click to expand...

If thats consistant at 10 clicks with no gains at all, its probably time to up the amount of gel/spray you are using...