Gelousy.com

Our Country

2008-07-04T21:01:00.003-07:00

The Unanimous Declarationof the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely
paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their
hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer,
James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776

Hey, Let’s Mix It Up!

2008-05-27T21:38:00.001-07:00

One of the most controversial subjects I have come across in this industry is mixing product lines. I recently asked the question, “Why would anyone want to mix product lines.” One of the responses I received was… “Our reasoning for mixing lines is quite obvious”. Unfortunately I am not one of the sharpest knives in the drawer because it is not so obvious to me.

If you need to stray from our line, then I am not doing my job.

Some of the other responses I received are that there is little or no support from companies on this issue. Some companies say it is OK some say it is not. Still yet, others have said that no one company has the “Perfect” system.

OK I understand that. Nail Techs feel they have been abandoned by the very people that are supplying them. Sure, we show up once a year at tradeshows. We buzz into town, make everyone really excited then leave. But are we really listening to the people that are out there using our products every day?

The answer is; I hear you. I understand. While I am sure we can’t be everything for everyone, I am damn sure going to try.

Introducing the Gelousy Advisory Board…. Here is your chance to shape the future of nail technology. Very soon, I will announce on the front page of our website that signups are on. You can sign up to give feedback to the people that are designing your product line. We will have advisory meetings on a regular basis where you can speak directly to us in a group format and let us know what we need to do to help you become the best nail tech you can be. The best thing is we will hold the meetings on our Gelousy Live service so you will be able to see us as we are responding in real time to your questions and comments. As a member of our advisory board you will test out the latest products and see all the new stuff before it is released to the general market. You will receive, absolutely free of charge samples on a regular basis to evaluate and give us your comments.

OK I am lying when I say “Free of Charge”. Your charge will be to give us your HONEST opinion. We are not looking for people that will say everything is great. We are looking for people that will put these products to the ultimate test. If you sign up, there is a definite commitment on your part. You will get the products for free, but your obligation will be to give us honest feedback.

I don’t even care if you are our customer or not. We still want your feedback, perhaps we make the worst crap in the known universe. I want to hear about it. On the other hand, if it really works well for you, I want to hear that too. As well as everything in between, if it is just OK, I still want to hear about it. Tell me how we can make it better.

Keep checking back at gelousy.com for info on how to join, coming soon!

Mom was right

2008-02-25T07:47:00.001-07:00

You do have your clients wash their hands before they sit in your chair?

No?

Do you really know where they have been and what they have been doing?

Hand washing is the single most important step in preventing the spread of infectious disease.

Hand sanitizer is great, it works well. It is not a substitute for hand washing.

Hand sanitizer is like mouthwash. It has its place. If you don’t brush your teeth, even if you use mouthwash, guess what… Your teeth are going to fall out.

If you don’t have your clients wash their hands before they sit down, there is a simple solution to your problem. Start doing it. I don’t care if they get offended. I don’t care if they laugh at you. It is your job to keep your clients safe. If you don’t have them wash their hands you are directly responsible for the spread of disease. Do you want that on your resume?

Start today, just do it.

***
Hepatitis A virus usually enters the body through the mouth. Transmission occurs mainly when a person puts something in his or her mouth that has been contaminated with stool from a person infected with hepatitis A virus. Therefore, hepatitis A virus spreads most easily when sanitary conditions and personal hygiene are poor.–CDC (US Centers for Disease Control)

***
CELEBS including MADONNA, BRUCE WILLIS and GWYNETH PALTROW are at the centre of a Hepatitis A scare following a party thrown by DEMI MOORE.
Health officials yesterday warned guests at the bash Demi threw for toyboy hubby ASHTON KUTCHER’s 30th to see a doctor urgently.
The alert was sounded after a barman at the New York club venue was found to have the highly contagious liver disease Hepatitis A.

***
“This horrific and debilitating condition was left under my thumb nail as a direct result of the salon using non-sanitized instruments. This type of infection has caused not only me, but thousands of women the expense of medical attention, loss of wages, loss of sleep, traumatic medical procedures, fear of returning to nail salons, and in my case and many others, emergency surgeries.” “I'm no stranger to pain. My tolerance is this high…but this kind of pain was so excruciating, that even my hair touching my thumb and the bed sheet touching my thumb caused me to scream. If left untreated it could have lead to the loss of a limb or worse, death.” -Paula Abdul

In a tribulation that lasted 13 months and was proven to have originated from dirty equipment at a manicure salon, Paula Abdul had to fight a flesh eating bacteria that developed into a full blown streptococcus infection.
***

In 2000, an outbreak of Mycobacterium fortuitum furunculosis affected customers using whirlpool footbaths at a nail salon. We swabbed 30 footbaths in 18 nail salons from 5 California counties and found mycobacteria in 29 (97%) –CDC (US Centers for Disease Control)

Welcome to Hungry Town!

2007-11-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about business. He just couldn’t figure out why he was not busy. He had mailed out to people, done radio, TV, newspaper magazine even advertising on the screen at the local movie theater. He had written articles that were published in his trade journal and even done interviews with reporters. But he still couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t busy.

Here is what I told him.

There were two people of equal means that were getting ready to open up a restaurant. Both of them had a concept for a family friendly high end dining restaurant. Both of them had all of the details of the restaurant figured out, everything from staffing right down to portion costs. They were both ready to start building and open. Everything was calculated right down to the penny. The only thing still left to do is look for a great location to open up.

They both did much research and decided on a location. They were in different towns, but both towns were very similar.

Day one and the restaurant opens its doors for the first time. Both owners are 110% sure their restaurant will be successful, otherwise they wouldn’t have opened it. One of the restaurants is fully booked on the first day and pretty much every day after that. The other has a few people for the grand opening and customers slowly trickle in for the next week or two.

The owner of the slow restaurant starts to panic so he starts spending money on advertising, promotion, magazines, newspapers. He even invites the mayor to come in for a free meal. He does coupons, discounts, and charity events.

The other restaurant does not spend one dime in advertising, the dining room is always full, the customers are always happy and the servers always get big tips.

Six months down the road the first restaurant is going strong. The slow restaurant never really got off of the ground and now is closed.

How could you have two equal restaurants in two almost equal places and one thrives and the other dies?

Let’s go back to before the restaurant is even opened. Both owners had confidence that their place would be successful. That is the first thing you need is confidence.

One restaurant owner decided to put his restaurant in a town with higher income families with an average of 2.2 children. They were mostly busy home owners with lots of social commitments. The schools were top notch and there was ample parking.

The other restaurant owner opened up his restaurant in a town where the people were hungry.

You see, the best place to put a restaurant is in the middle of a bunch of hungry people.

You may have tried advertising your services in a monthly coupon mailer or the newspaper. You may have tried to get your clients to send you their friends. You may have even tried entering nail contests and writing letters to the trade magazines.

But have you tried marketing your services to people that want them?

Who gets their nails done?

Bank Tellers
Retail Sales People
Food Servers
Entertainers (ie. Strippers) You may have an ethical problem with this one, but you would be surprised about what great clients they make. They never miss appointments and they tip extraordinarily well.
Real Estate Agents

I would be willing to bet that at least 50% of the people that go to a nail tech regularly are not satisfied. They are looking for a change, but the search to find someone new is just not worth it.

Call the HR department of any large higher end retailer and offer to give them as many 20% off coupons as they need to be put in the next cycles pay envelopes or handed out at the next sales meeting. You will be giving them the opportunity to create good will with their employees and you may just end up with a more business then you can handle.

Do the exact same thing at every bank, grocery store, restaurant, real estate agency and yes, strip club.

You will not be able to handle the business you get, be sure to have two or three other nail techs in mind that would honor the coupon to get a new customer. You will probably be so busy that you will need to shut off your cell phone and put a message with another nail techs name and number to refer to because your book is full.

Welcome to Hungry Town!

Twitter

2007-09-22T20:27:00.001-07:00

I added a little gadget called Twitter to the blog. It is a couple lines of text that will say what I am up to at that moment. I hope you like it.

Just Silly

2007-08-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

There is no “I” in steam.

How is the economy doing?

2007-07-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

I thought it was doing pretty good. I hadn’t really seen any problems. I know housing prices are in decline. I heard that high risk mortgages were seeing an increase in defaults. But that is to be expected. When you buy a house and an expert tells you that you can afford it, you believe them. But then in a few years your rate adjusts and you payment goes up a few thousand dollars you’re in trouble.

Then I heard that there is a marked increase in defaults on people who have the highest credit scores. That made me take notice.

I went to the mall for the first time since Christmas the other day. I noticed a few stores were boarded up. A few big stores. This mall is what I would consider to be the most successful in town, is now starting to lose tenants. There were clearance sales everywhere and more stores going out of business. I also noticed a big increase in aggressive sales people. In one sunglass store the sales person kept steering me back to the store brand when I told him I just was not interested in it. I imagine that he was told to do that because the store makes a better margin on those products. Oh and he wouldn’t leave me alone for a second. Every time I picked something up he started to say something about it and offer an alternative in the store brand. Problem was the store brand just did not have any styles I liked. We didn’t buy anything there.

I counted three stores that we used to shop in that were either closed or going out of business. There were six or seven others that had already closed.

I haven’t heard that it has been slow for salons, our business hasn’t slowed down. But what is coming next. Is the mall a sign of what is to come for Salons and Day Spas? Time will tell. Perhaps it is time to start thinking about new ways to market your services. How about a gel manicure and a gel pedicure?

Now getting to the point

2007-06-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

During the next 30 days scrutinize every commercial building you walk into. Look at the floor, look at the tables and displays. Think about them from the point of view of a customer. Look at things you would not normally look at like the light switches and the lines in the parking lot.

I believe these are the things that subconsciously create the feeling of a business. These are not the things that you normally see. Not the obvious things like the products on the shelves or the pictures in the menu. This would be the ketchup on the corner of the menu or the dust around a box on a shelf.

After your 30 days are up, go into your salon and look for the same things and fix them. Take about four hours and just walk around, fixing everything. If there is a greasy fingerprint on the light switch that has been there for years, wipe it off. If there is a piece of paper in the parking lot, don’t just walk by it. Pick it up. If there is a light bulb that is out in the bathroom, put a new one in.

After your cleaning session, pay very close attention to your clients attitudes. I would bet that everyone that comes in will be somehow magically happier, more relaxed and more friendly. Then raise your prices. Guess what, there is no one else that is doing this kind of thing.

Congratulations you have just become one of top salons in your town.

Now all you have to do is keep it up and never let it get away again.

How to fire a client in 67 easy steps!

2007-06-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

Lets start the day with a story…

Yesterday I was in Las Vegas packing up during the last 10 minutes of the Las Vegas Hair and Nail Show, when a nail tech approached the booth. She said “I’m the one that talked to you on the phone.” Great… How are you doing, are you having fun at the show? I said.

Well come to find out she was having challenges with the product. Stress cracking down the middle, Pocket lifting, nails breaking and just falling off.

I was thinking that to have all of these kind of problems is very uncommon, unique even. I couldn’t remember anyone that had this many problems all at the same time.

So I said well your situation is unique, but I am sure we can find a solution for you. So I started to ask questions like, tell me how you prep the nail or how you apply the base. She interrupted me and said I apply the product exactly how you told me to. So I asked her about what kind of dehydrator she was using. She interrupted me again and said I only use your stuff. Then she said I was lying to her because she knew lost of people that were having exactly the same problems as her. So I asked who? And why I hadn’t heard from any of them. After all the phone number is printed on all the bottles and I had never heard from anyone that had as many problems as she did. She named someone who I was familiar with but as far as I was aware was not having the same kind of problems. She said I was lying.

I told her she could sit down and we would do a class with her to go over the proper application steps. So she sits down and we get started. We spray on the hand sanitizer and get the file ready when she says, well you aren’t doing a nail on me. Then we say well do you want us to do one on a tip? She says no you have to find something else….

Ummmm…. OK, what would you like us to do? She then gets up and starts to walk away, I say we can help you out. She keeps on walking and just mumbles something like… It has only been two months and we will see what happens.

After she left I started to recall our telephone conversation from two months ago. There were several steps she was doing that were just plain wrong. She skipped several important things and she was using a UV lamp that we have tested and does not properly cure our product. But she still insisted that we were ruining her life because she was not having success.
What more can we do if someone will not take our advise or even take the time to sit and have a nail put on.

….

I think that was the most confusing, and one of the most frustrating few minutes I have ever experienced.

What do you do when a client misses appointments without calling, shoves paperclips and other assorted items under their enhancements, picks constantly and always tells you they are not happy but they keep coming back?

Fire them.

Here’s how…

Start a policy of no shows and hang it on your wall. If a client misses an appointment without 24 hours notice tell them they must pay for that missed appointment in order to schedule another one. In other words do not schedule another appointment for them unless they pay for the one they missed. Let them know that you don’t charge to do nails, you charge for your time, weather they are there or not.

Start a policy that if there are more then three broken nails, you charge for a full set instead of a fill.

Or just straight out let them know that you cannot take them any more and refer them to someone else that might be able to accommodate their hectic lifestyle.

Firing a client is never easy but trust me, there are some people that no matter what you do they will never be happy. It is best to identify these people as soon as possible and send them on their way. There is no amount of money that is worth being abused.

What else do you do?

2007-05-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

I know you do nails, but what else do you do?

How long do you spend at work when you are not doing nails?

What does your station look like, what does your bathroom look like?

How long each day do you spend creating a clean, comfortable, relaxing, happy place for your clients.

How long do you spend between clients cleaning and sanitizing your station and your implements?

What do you charge for a set of nails?

Think about that tonight and come back tomorrow for something else to think about.

Tips

2007-05-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

Would you be willing to drop your prices to $0.00 and work only for tips? Think about that for a while.

Would you actually be willing to give your services away for free, without the expectation for payment? What would happen if you did?

Would your income increase or decrease.

Tell all of your clients that you are no longer charging for your services and will now only be working for tips.

Would your business change, would you do anything different?

Think about that tonight and come back tomorrow for something else to think about.

Master Nail Technician

2007-05-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

Are you a “Master Nail Technician”? Or even a “Grand Master” or how about a “Super Grand Poobah Master Squared”?

Thank about what that means for a second. Does it mean that you are in the top 1% of your field or does it mean you went to a couple of classes 10 years ago. Think about what it should mean.

If you don’t have an esteemed title, what do you think you should have to do to get one? What do you think you should have to do to keep the title? How do you think you should run your business if you are a "Master Nail Technician"?

Think about that tonight and come back tomorrow for something else to think about.

Too Long

2007-02-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

It has been too long.

Five months since my last post. I need to do this more often. There are so many things going on it is really crazy. Unfortunately it has taken me away from the blog.

The new building is seven months behind schedule, but we can see the end of the tunnel. Just a few more weeks and we will be all moved in.

Carol has done a great job with our UK office. It is up and running and will be in full service very soon. Look for us at several shows in the UK this year!

Issac, our new distributor in Canada is doing a great job giving all kinds of support in both French and English to our friends up north.

We have been to the Emmys, the Golden Globes and we have an invitation to the Oscars.

Wow, it cant get much better than that. We are having so much fun making great products and helping nail techs to be truly successful.

2007 is starting out to be an amazing year. I hope to be writing in 2008 with stories of even greater success.

We have a new web portal for technical support and will soon be adding all sorts of new features for registered users. Our new shopping cart is up and running, hopefully we will get the pictures posted up there very soon.

We are putting the final touches on our new instruction video. It will be released in the next few days.

We have just finished the requirements for a Gelousy Master Gel Technician certificate program and will be offering classes all over the country soon.

Of course we have several new products that will be coming in 2007.

Thank you for all of your past support, we know you will be very excited with all of the new stuff we have planed for this year. And... yes I will get better at keeping you posted on this blog.

Hope to talk to you soon or see you at an upcoming Gelousy event.

Take care and happy nails!

-Erick

Emmy Pics

2006-09-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the Emmy's
I will be posting the rest under the the "Gelousy Parties and Events" button on our homepage at www.gelousy.com

Karra and Andy Dick

Karra, Tarra and Anthony Michael Hall

Karra, Erick, Tarra and Jeri Ryan

The Emmys

2006-08-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody!

I am very excited today. I am writing this on the first morning of a two day trip to the Emmy Awards. We very humbly accepted an invitation to do Gelousy Gel Nails for the nominees, presenters and special invited guests. It is really fun so far. We landed at LAX two hours late after missing our first flight. The kind people at US Airways put us on the next flight out.
Then it was off to find a taxi. I was a bit familiar with the area because I had viewed it from Google Earth. But to be on the ground and drive by all of these streets you hear about on movies and TV is a surreal experience. Being a small town boy from Arizona it was a bit weird.

We pulled up to the amazing Sofitel Los Angles. This is one of the best hotels I have ever been in. The service is amazing, Breakfast this morning was incredible. We usually get room service because it seems we are always short on time. The breakfast came up in about 15 minutes and there was a tropical flower, fresh peaches and small fruit smoothies all that were complimentary, served with our breakfast.

Last night we ate at the restaurant in the hotel called Simon LA. Kerry Simon had battled on one of my favorite shows Iron Chef and won. He was serving the same appetizer he served on Iron Chef. It was a Kobe Beef burger that was half kobe and half bacon. It came with french-fries and a vanilla shake. It was the best hamburger I have ever had.

Our station is next to Prolinc, who was also honored to be invited. Prolinc will be using four incredible products that complement the Gel Nail and Gel toes that we will be doing. Cuticle Eliminator, Callus Eliminator, Dry Heal Eliminator and their sugar scrub. These products are some of the best I have seen. They are so easy to use and are very effective.

We are off now for our first day. I will post some pictures soon!

Google Earth

2006-08-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

I am addicted to Google Earth. I have spent many hours looking up things like Chernobyl, The Great Wall of China, my house, my office, the airport, the grand canyon, this weird Chinese military base that has a small scale mountain range reproduced with snow capped mountains and rivers, a federal prison near my house, The Panama Canal, USS Arizona in Hawaii, my old office in Sedona, Arizona.

It is one of the most cool programs I have ever seen.

Go check it out at earth.google.com

Here are some pictures of our trip to Vegas

2006-08-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is K'Stran Thral. He is a Lieutenant in the Andorian Imperial Guard. www.startrekexp.com

Togoshi Ramen Shop

lasvegas.citysearch.com/profile/7023230/

This is National Lampoons Vegas Vacation playing on the laptop in the car on the way to Vegas. They just pulled Chevy Chase up from Hoover Dam. www.imdb.com/title/tt0120434/

Hoover Dam
www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/

Our Booth
www.gelousy.com

The first day

2006-06-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Well I finally have a chance to sit down and write.

The show has been crazy busy. But also alot of fun.

I am off to do a demo.

If you are here in Vegas be sure to come by and say hi!

On our way

2006-06-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

8:00am
Well we are finally in the car and on the way. Only an hour late.

Here is a picture of Karra driving and Tarra kicking her in the head.

10:00am
We are in Wickenburg, Arizona. We stopped to fill up on gas and Pringles.

11:00am
Just passing through Wikkiup, Arizona.

12:00pm
We are now on I-40 about two hours behind schedule. Looks like it is going to be a late lunch.

The Begining

2006-06-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

We are off to the 2006 Las Vegas Hair and Nail Conference.
Well it is 5:00am on Friday, time to make the doughnuts.

We should be leaving Phoenix about 7:00am, this way we can make it to Las Vegas in time to have lunch at our favorite Ramen place about 12:00pm:

Togoshi Ramen
855 E TWAIN Ave Ste 107
Las Vegas, NV 89109-0820
Read a review of Togoshi Ramen

Come and join us for Lunch!

Spring is here in Phoenix!

2006-04-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

It has been a very exciting winter at Gelousy. Our new colors are out… Sedona Sand, Undressed, Midnight Red and Xtreme White. Our long awaited clear tips are finally finished. In addition to all of that we have several new things in the works. I just can’t talk about any of them yet. Sorry.

Except for one. In three short years we have gone from 750 square feet to 1400 square feet and now to about 5000 square feet.

Right now, under construction is the new Gelousy World Headquarters. We hope to be moved in by July. This new space will allow us to do so much more. There are so many cool things planned it is hard to keep everything under wraps. I was working in the lab yesterday and thinking about what we should release and when. How much is too much and will there ever be an end to the kind of innovation we have seen in the last three years.

It reminded me of a story, I can’t remember the exact details. It was something about being the turn of the century in 1900 when the head of the US patent office said that there was no more to invent. That we had found everything there was to find and invent and that there would be a strong drop on the number of patents issued because everything that could be invented was.

In the last three years Gelousy has gone from approximately 20 products to over 200 and fast approaching 250. That equals out to more than one new product a week for the last three years. And we still have so far to go.

We have no less then 50 new products finished and ready for production. We also have more than 100 in the development stage. Some will be delayed, some will be shelved and some will be produced.

The amount of growth we have experienced is incredible, thanks to our faithful Gelousy Nail Techs. Of course we could not have done any of this with out you. Still we need to live up to our end of the bargain. Producing product that will make your job easier, faster and more profitable.

This move to our new facility will make things go much smoother, you know this if you have ever walked into my office :)

With every move we make, with ever new product, with every referral we give we are thinking about you. I have two new projects in the works that have absolutely nothing to do with nails. I look forward to talking more about these projects with you in the coming months, because except for creating the best products in the beauty industry, this is where my passion lies. These two new projects will be one of the best things to ever come to the salon industry, yet they have nothing to do with nails! I hope I have intrigued you and hope you will stay tuned to what we have going on, because it is truly evolutionary.

New Colors coming soon!

2005-11-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

We have been working franticly in the lab to get some new gel colors finished. I finished final testing on one today and it goes into production tomorrow! We haven’t settled on a name for it yet but it is sort of a dark red with a fire red shimmer to it. Karra took it outside to compare the color to a previous sample. It looks absolutely amazing, the effect pigments pick up the sunlight and really sparkle.

Another that we are working on is a bluish purple with a burgundy shimmer. It looks great too.

Be sure to check out our website http://www.gelousy.com/ We will be posting the new colors there as soon as they are available for ordering.

After work today I went to my mom's house. Our kids spent the day there. My grandmother is visiting and had a great time watching them run around all day. I made everyone chicken enchiladas for dinner. Good thing for me I made them without the calories tonight :) I am really full and really tired, so goodnight for now and back to work on the colors in the morning.

You can't make everyone happy.

2005-11-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

I was on an airplane the other day. It was a rough two hour ride. From about 10 minutes after we took off to about 10 minutes before we landed we had turbulence. I really enjoy flying, so it didn't bother me too much. But it scared my traveling companions and several others on the plane. This was one of the roughest flights that I have been on. It wasn't bad in the sense that the plane was making severe, gut wrenching jarring but it was constant and loud.

When the wheels touched the ground there was a passenger a few rows in front of me that began to talk to the other passengers around her. She announced her intention to never fly this airline again. This was the worst flight she had ever had because of the turbulence and she would never fly with XYZ airline as long as she lived. She was going to call the owner of the company to complain. She encouraged everyone around her to stage a boycott of this airline because the pilots obviously did not know how to fly.

She then got on her cell phone and started calling her list of friends and acquaintances to tell them what a terrible time she had and to let them know not to ever fly this airline again. She was walking up the isle, cell phone in hand, telling everyone not to fly on XYZ airlines and suggesting the names of alternative airlines on which to fly in the future. She was saying how this sort of thing would never happen on those other airlines.

I just sat in my seat and watched the entire tantrum.

Was it the airlines fault that we took off in a storm and landed in a storm? Was it the pilots fault that we had turbulence? Did they really "not know how to fly a plane"? What exactly went wrong here?

I believe that every airline that flew between those cities that day had turbulence. I believe that every pilot no matter what their skill level ran into the same situation. I believe there was nothing anyone could have done to avoid a rough flight. But there was still this woman that was absolutely convinced that it was the airlines fault. How many people did she tell about her bad experience? How much embellishing did she do? I am sure by the 20th time she told the story she had changed it a bit to make it more dramatic.

This experience was an important lesson to me. It reminded me that just one person, who perceives a bad experience, can affect the minds of potentially hundreds of other people.

The next time someone sits in your chair to have a service, I hope you will remember this lady. I hope you will not cut corners. I hope you will follow all of the proper sanitation procedures. I hope you will do everything possible to make the client feel comfortable and secure. I hope you remember we are all in the service business, serving very important people. Give your clients more than they expect and your business will flourish. Give them a reason to switch nail techs and they will.

If you have any ideas about how to create a unique experience for your client, or if you are struggling to keep clients, give me a call at 602-493-9043 or an e-mail at erick@gelousy.com and tell me your story. Maybe we can learn from each other.

The future as I see it.

2005-10-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday, September 11, 2005 as I am writing this and I am finally just settling in from the Premiere Beauty Show in Orlando Florida. It has been a wild few weeks. Devastating hurricane going on while we were in Orlando, the anniversary of September 11, Gas prices topping $3.45 per gallon.

I just watched a documentary about September 11. It reminded me what a scary time that was. But it also reminded me that we live in the greatest time the world has ever seen. Even through amazing devastation we as a people and a society have survived, and are stronger for it.

Even in our personal challenges, when all seems lost, some how we pull through. I have someone who I consider very close to me who is going through an extraordinarily difficult time personally right now. I know she will make it through this difficult time and come out with more personal belief in herself.

I believe we are hinging on a number of breakthroughs that will totally change the world and improve everyone’s lives. These types of breakthroughs are sometimes called "paradigm shifts". In other words, the world was one way before and is now somehow different, hopefully for the better.

The last few generations have seen dramatic changes. I used to own a black and white TV that I would play my Atari 2600 on. My dad had a 4 track tape player in his car. I remember playing records when I was young. I know where the beef is. I remember when Pac Man was single. When the movie Red Dawn came out I remember a story about the electricity going out because of a storm in the state where the movie took place. I was in second grade when the first Space Shuttle was launched, now they are talking about retiring the fleet.

These are all things my children will never know about unless I tell them. What will the world be like when my youngest son turns 30 in 2032. There are many things I heard about when I was young that never came true. I don't have a flying car in my garage. But there are also so many things that have come to pass that could have never been foreseen. Like Post-its. We have had paper for thousands of years, but only in the last 20 could we stick it to a wall.

We have come so far, yet we also have so far to go. I hear about people shooting at rescue workers during the hurricane evacuations. How stupid is that? I do however truly believe that as a people we are getting better every day. Terrible things have always happened; we just hear about them more often today. I do believe there are less terrible things going on now then there ever have been before. The future is defiantly bright. There was an article the other day I read about how we are living longer than ever, there is less crime then ever and there are fewer wars in the world now than at any other time.

It is truly an amazing time to live. I need to take a few minutes every day to reflect on everything that I have personally, emotionally and physically. From this point forward I pledge to take a few minutes every day to reflect on where I have been, where I am and where I want to go. I hope you will join me.

100% Satisfaction?

2005-08-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

Is 100% satisfaction possible? With thousands of nail techs using the Gelousy system worldwide, I am not sure that it is.

Occasionally a nail tech will purchase a kit, sometimes not even unpack it, and decide that Gelousy is just not right for them. In most cases the kit would sit in a closet somewhere until future scientists uncover it in a archeological dig.

It makes me sad to see Gelousy products treated in such a manner. Each and every product that is shipped from our door is a little piece of us. We absolutely care about them. If you knew of the care, dedication and work that go into them it would bring you to tears. I think I am getting a little misty eyed right now...

Anyway getting to the point. I am very excited to introduce the Gelousy 365 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Try any of the over 200 products in out line for a full year. If you decide Sir Pink-a-Lott is a bit too pink, decide It's a Girl isn't quite pink enough or even decide the Gelousy system just doesn't fit in with the way that you like to do nails... Then return it and we will issue you a product credit or a refund. It is that easy. Now, I would ask that you give them a fighting chance. I am sure you will find the quality to be second to none. And I know your clients will thank you.

Or at least open the box and swish the packing peanuts around so I feel better. :)

I know that we have excellent products. I mean the absolute best possible... We work very hard every day testing, prodding, probing, researching... To come up with innovative new ways to make the job of doing nail easier, better, more fun and a better experience for both client and tech in every way. We have made several recent breakthroughs in different and new ways of approaching a few tasks that are very important in the salon but often overlooked. Some of this new philosophy and accompanying product line will be debuting at none other than the famous Academy of Nail Technology in Phoenix on August 8th, 2005. Our national launch will be at the Premiere Orlando Show August 28th and 29th, 2005. Come out and see us if you can, be sure to stop by our "Sanitation Station" to check out all the new stuff.

Thanks for stopping by my little blog. I look forward to our next visit.

Gelouflex White Gel Tips are now shipping!

2005-06-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

After almost two years of trial and error, formulating and tweaking, countless hours... We have finally created a white tip that will work with gel.

When working with gel white tips would split down the middle, separate at the free edge, crack at the stress area, etc.

I am very happy to announce this great addition to the Gelousy Gelouflex tip line. These white tips make stunning looking nails. They are created to match our xtra white gel exactly. They have a dramatic smile line that looks great.

There is no well so you can place them exactly where you want them.

Look for them to be featured in Nailpro magazine in an upcoming issue. Now back to work! I have to go get to work on finishing up the crystal clear Gelouflex tips that we have planned for release in September.

My First Blog Entry

2005-06-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

I am so excited!

Here it is, usually I am an early adopter of stuff like this. But it has taken me until now to jump into the fray and post a blog.

What will become of it I don't know? I anticipate some of the postings to be about things we have going on in the lab. Perhaps some will be about our every day lives at Gelousy. Further, some may be about things that just piss me off. I don't know.

Tune in to find out!