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Original Poster
#1 Old 14th Jun 2007 at 12:37 AM
How to open your own Beauty Salon
Heya ppl,

I'm tryin to open a beauty salon at home... but im finding it dificult!
I found the hair dressing chair to the salon but is the cosmetology badge only earn by doing that?

Tks to all in advanced!!! :bow:
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Top Secret Researcher
#2 Old 14th Jun 2007 at 12:41 AM
Yep, you can only earn badges by actually doing the activity and in this case, you must give makeovers on the hair salon chair. I must warn you though, running a business is a real challenge and even though I've only ran businesses on a community lot except the lemonade stand, home businesses will probably be even harder.

~* Childish, Eco-Friendly, Snob, Couch Potato, Inappropriate *~
Site Helper
#3 Old 14th Jun 2007 at 5:58 PM
You don't need to open the business to run the chair, though. You can give free makeovers to all your guests until you get good enough to open a business and charge.

A home beauty parlor does work, but everybody will be watching your tv and raiding your dinner table.

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
#4 Old 14th Jun 2007 at 6:39 PM
I would reccomend starting with something a 'tad bit simpler, such as a thrift shop. Create your own items with the work benches, or just use custom content meshes/recolors and if you're really brave .. Maxis meshes. x.x

Haha! Hope this helps,
Benny
#5 Old 22nd Jun 2007 at 12:28 PM
when i had a home beauty salon i just used the "lock" option on my doors til i closed for the night. It kept those annoying npcs out! ^o^
Test Subject
#6 Old 22nd Jun 2007 at 5:51 PM
IMHO, home businesses are easier than community lot businesses. I either make a seperate building on the lot or create a new floor in the house for the business. Use the "lock doors" feature! That's what it's there for! :D
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 22nd Jun 2007 at 5:58 PM
Running a home business isn't too difficult. You won't make a lot of money off of a salon, though, especially if you're hiring employees.

What I tend to do is put up one fairly expensive item up for sale, (only one!) and sell that on the side. Something like a statue or an expensive painting. That way, you can have the business you want and still earn a bit of cash, plus if there's only one object for sale you can have the same Sim run back and forth from the item, to the cashier, and back to restock it again haha.
#8 Old 27th Jun 2007 at 8:04 PM
To simply OPEN a business, all you need is to call on the phone and click business and make your house lot a business lot unless you have enough money to buy a community lot. But I'd say make your house a business lot to start off and get a feel for what you have to do. Then you need an open/closed sign you can get from Buy Mode through the OFB collection folders. And of course a beauty salon chair. After you make the lot a business lot, click on the open/closed sign and click on the open business option and then you will have customers come. This is the simple opening of a business. But later after you get the hang of it, make a floor or building for the salon, add a bathroom and some entertainment for your customers/employees (if you decide to get employees which should later especially if you get more customers than you can handle). And that's basically it.
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 29th Jun 2007 at 7:33 PM
oh, and if you are wanting to work on your badge before opening your own salon you can go to an unowned community lot that has the cosmetology chair, click on it and offer free makeovers to anyone on the lot. This is what I have been doing for a while to change the looks of the ugly townies. You get a few mess ups, but i offer the free makeover to that sim again immediately and am usually successful.

i'm a hazard to myself
Lab Assistant
#10 Old 8th Jan 2012 at 10:13 PM Last edited by MarylenaSTAR : 8th Jan 2012 at 10:16 PM. Reason: PS.
Get Outta My House!!!
hey! I love making home businesses, its easier than off the home lot businesses because you can keep an eye on the family at the same time! The only problem is, sims come and eat your food and watch your tv and are really annoying! My solution is to build a fence along the front of the lot and put in a gate and lock it for "household only". just make sure sims can get to your business, and I'll leave it up to you to decide how...
Be careful when doing your first haircuts! Sims can look TERRIBLE!

Guess what cheese
Mad Poster
#11 Old 8th Jan 2012 at 10:52 PM
I like to put vending machines (from Apartment Life) in my businesses, home or community.

For the Cosmetology talent badge--the higher your Sim's Cleaning skill, the faster that Sim will earn the badge.
Instructor
#12 Old 9th Jan 2012 at 4:05 AM
Hair Salon is my favorite type of home business, and it's the first type I ever did when I got OFB. For the sims who have had the business I've done like what others here have said, the business is in a separate part from the home and the home is locked for only household. For me doing makeovers was all my sims were doing at the time for their home businesses. Usually the spouse was going to work at the time so they had steady income. But I do prefer community lot salons only because you can sell townies new clothes - something you can't do in the home business.
Field Researcher
#13 Old 9th Jan 2012 at 2:26 PM
I love OFB! Never get tired of playing venues! Just a few tips. Make sure to lock any doors to rooms you don't want other Sims to use. You can mark them to allow household or me only, or household and employees. One of the best features of OFB EP.

I would have at least 2 chairs to start and have another family member or playable Sim work the other chair.

A tip I learned a long time ago, when you first place the OFB sign it will be on the open side..so Sims are all ready in route to your home or business before you can click close.
You might see a few wander around or stand on your property etc. Make sure to click closed then open again when you are ready to open. This will get rid of any Sims already in route to your lot (home or community) that won't buy anything if you weren't already set up for them.
Field Researcher
#14 Old 9th Jan 2012 at 8:28 PM
Do what they all said when it comes to opening the salon. But something you can do to get your Cosmetology badge really fast is just clicking CTRL+SHIFT+C, entering the code "boolprop testingcheatsenabled true", and then right clicking on your Sim. After that hit "Spawn", then go to "More..." until you find the Badge Juicer. Then press "Set Badge" and you can instantly be a pro at giving makeovers
#15 Old 10th Jan 2012 at 12:03 AM
If you have more then one chair do you still get to customize the sims that your sim isn't personally working on?

When Nina Caliente had her home salon while still living with Dina I was focusing on Dina's needs and Nina was still styling sims and giving good results but nothing on the sims changed. Is that suppose to happen? Because if so I don't see the need for employess for that particular style of business if you keep having to redo the sims they did over again anyways. Just charge high on a gold badge and have your awards displayed and that will draw them in anyways.
Instructor
#16 Old 11th Jan 2012 at 7:18 PM
Quote: Originally posted by SingleClawDesigns
If you have more then one chair do you still get to customize the sims that your sim isn't personally working on?

When Nina Caliente had her home salon while still living with Dina I was focusing on Dina's needs and Nina was still styling sims and giving good results but nothing on the sims changed. Is that suppose to happen? Because if so I don't see the need for employess for that particular style of business if you keep having to redo the sims they did over again anyways. Just charge high on a gold badge and have your awards displayed and that will draw them in anyways.


The selected sim will get the option to actually do changes. So if Nina is cutting hair, then switch to her POV to be able to make changes. This is so you can run the business on auto-pilot if you'd rather just focus on doing other things than cutting hair while still making money.

To balance this, I have a sim go do what she needs to do, but periodically change to the beautician in question if I want to make personal changes to the sim they're working on.

A hair salon isn't too difficult to get going off the ground naturally. It's just takes steps. First, if it's a home business, make sure the room or building (I started with a garage once) is completely locked off from the rest of the house, except maybe a bathroom. Guests will complain, but I think there may be a hack out there that makes them stop being stupid and only come on the lot for what's being allotted for them.

If sim knows she wants to work with hair in college, do the next steps there!! Someone mentioned doing free makeovers until you get badge skills - they are exactly right. If you're sim is starting from scratch with no skills, start doing free makeovers until you get at least a bronze badge.

At home or on a community lot, you offer a free makeover to everyone that walks by. Everyone. Even if in the end you don't change a thing on them, the experience will help build your talents and start earning loyal clientele.

When you finally get a bronze badge, start charging - cheaply. So cheap you shouldn't need to hire someone to pressure them it's a good idea. If your sim needs money to support themselves, get a side job (there's a Business Owner job on MTS that's pretty good with hours and wages), have their spouse/bf/roommate be the breadwinner for awhile, or if you have AL, get a roommate or 3 to help pay rent.

When you get a silver/gold badge you can start charging more. Hire a seller to justify this and maybe add a ticket booth but again, charge a low amount, so they won't need convincing to buy a ticket. Offer some food to keep them sticking around, so if they won't get a makeover, they're giving you something for being on the property.

When you have enough money buy another chair and hire another beautician. Charge low for their services if they're low in talent. Eventually hire another seller to justify your ticket prices (which should be moderately priced for 2 gold level stylists) and your services.

Key to a good Beauty Salon is not to let it get too huge and give it a focus. One of my successful ones was small but had 3 chairs, with only 2 beauticians at a time, 1 full-time and 1 part-time seller, a massage therapist that came 3 times a week and a vending machine. My sim also sold jewelry or clothes some days (which means either your sim or a seller has to have cashiering skills too).

If you're focused on making serious cash, with any type of business, all you really need is a talented seller and someone who has a gold flower making badge or a witch. You need a seller who can sell an outrageous ticket price and then have something addictive (a la a bubble blower) to keep customers there. The flower maker can make those flowers that ups motives and a witch can go around filling motives as well.

This way, all you need is 4-5 customers that stay all day to get enough money to buy a vacation home xD
Theorist
#17 Old 12th Jan 2012 at 12:16 PM
My problem with beauty parlors is that they cost so cheaply you can't profit. If you hire employees, then tend to earn as much as the profit is, so your own profit is zero. An average makeover costs ~57, and if you set it to ridiculously expensive, then you won't profit more because it will take a hell lot of time to convince customers to pay, so it better just be set at average. However, you still need a sales person to speed up the process, unless your sim does it. Anyway, I can't see how to profit from a beauty parlor with employees at all. I guess it's only ok if it's home business or only your own sims work in it, but that's boring.
Test Subject
#18 Old 5th Jul 2014 at 11:02 PM
I'm running a salon right now that seems to be doing pretty well. Granted, it's only been a few days, but still....

My main sim Emma House had a home makeover business before, so she's got a Silver Cosmetology badge and runs the makeover station, but I added a few extras to make a few more $$.

- Massage table (upstairs) The only problem is I can't figure out how to assign employees to give massages, so I just have Emma do it in-between haircuts.
- Retail area (she has one cashier and one salesperson and sells clothes, jewelry, and perfume from the little displays. Turns out you DO have to restock them!)
- I will eventually (probably) expand to include a hot tub and sauna, but I will likely have to add the Bandatron for that. I'd like to have it set to where you only need to buy a Bandatron ticket if you are going to that "area" and don't need to pay it if you are just getting a haircut. I don't know if you can do that, though. Perhaps I will set the Bandatron to be fairly cheap?
- I'm also considering having her start the Show Business career just long enough to get the plastic surgery station so she can give "botox" and other beauty services to the larger-jawed Sims that Maxxis is so fond of creating. Making Belladonna Cove more beautiful...one Sim at a time!

Regardless, the most annoying part is having my sim's needs decay so quickly while she's at work. However, because she has no kids/pets/spouse, it is quite easy for her to wake up, put in a full days' work, then come home super tired (and have the clock reset to 9am) then sleep until about 4pm (i.e. "normal" work hours) and continue her escort services (which is how she made her money before the salon) in the evening. She has quite a lot of friends (i.e. "lovers," i.e. "clients") so her reputation is pretty good!
Top Secret Researcher
#19 Old 6th Jul 2014 at 12:25 AM Last edited by k6ka : 6th Jul 2014 at 3:43 AM. Reason: syntax phail
@jforman For some reason, the Bon Voyage patch disabled the ability for Sims to assign others as a masseuse. I found that rather stupid... and nonsensical. Fortunately, SimWardrobe made a mod for it, available here. You might also want to download this mod as well, which prevents playable Sims from losing money after purchasing a massage (though your business will still make money off of that). There should be instructions in the readme.txt files inside the zipped folders.
Test Subject
#20 Old 6th Jul 2014 at 12:58 PM
I must not have downloaded the patch, because I can assign employees, but no one comes over to buy it. The only option I have to actually GIVE a massage is if my controllable sim sells it to them. Does the SimWardrobe patch fix that as well?
Top Secret Researcher
#21 Old 7th Jul 2014 at 12:34 AM
Test Subject
#22 Old 11th Jul 2014 at 12:33 PM
Thanks so much! I just downloaded them (I had to wait until I didn't have my game open, LOL) and will try today!
Mad Poster
#23 Old 11th Jul 2014 at 8:14 PM
If I want someone to run a salon, I start them off in a nice big dorm in college with a make-over chair giving free makeovers to the dormies, and get the badges built-up with a captive audience, since dormies always return to their dorm. That way I don't end up with townies wandering around community lots with bad make-overs and not coming back to get them fixed.

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Test Subject
#24 Old 1st Oct 2015 at 1:56 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Ghost sdoj
You don't need to open the business to run the chair, though. You can give free makeovers to all your guests until you get good enough to open a business and charge.

A home beauty parlor does work, but everybody will be watching your tv and raiding your dinner table.


unless you lock your front door :3
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#25 Old 1st Oct 2015 at 2:26 AM
This thread is years old @kaykayd please don't reply to it.

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