Tax Return for Beauty Therapist

Being a beauty therapist gives you the opportunity to make people look and feel their best, while doing it freelance means you get the freedom to choose when you work, and who you work for.

What skills and qualities does a freelance mobile beauty therapist need?

Being a successful freelance beauty therapist requires a diverse set of skills:

Being able to make people feel relaxed and comfortable.
Being a good communicator for when you’re explaining beauty treatments, listening to what the client needs, and general chat while performing the treatments.
Good at applying make-up and nail art.
Basic knowledge of human biology, anatomy, and chemistry.
A head for business to ensure you are making enough money, and to market your services.

Learning to be a beauty therapist – training and qualifications

Even if you have a natural talent in beauty therapy, you’ll need to have relevant qualifications if you want to trade as a mobile beauty therapist.

Apprenticeships – working as an assistant

You can go down the apprenticeship route and work in a beauty salon or spa as an assistant while studying for qualifications.
This will give you good, practical experience while earning a wage.

Qualifications

While you’re working as an assistant, there are various relevant courses, including:

Edexcel Level Diploma in Beauty Therapy
ITEC Level 2 Diploma in Beauty Techniques
VTCT Level 2 Diploma in Hair and Beauty Services
City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in Beauty Therapy Services

There is also the option to complete a beauty therapy qualification with either CIBTAC or CIDESCO, both of which are recognised around the world.

Private beauty school

If you want to get to work sooner, you can go to a private beauty therapy school. It’s more expensive, but you’ll learn all the right skills in less time. Before you sign up to any private school, make sure that completing the beauty therapy course will result in a recognised qualification.

Offering specialist beauty therapy treatments

One of the ways to grow your freelance mobile beauty therapy business is to offer specialised treatments.
You can complete short courses in specialist areas such as:

Piercings
Face and body art
UV tanning
Laser and light treatments
Epilation techniques

Though these short courses can be expensive, the extra skills you’ll acquire mean you can charge clients more for specialist treatments, as well as making it easier to market yourself to new clients.

Being a mobile beauty therapist

If you want to be a mobile beauty therapist, which involves travelling to you clients rather than working from a beauty salon, you’ll need to invest in a trolley to carry all of your equipment, and a car to drive to the clients.

Finding work as a freelance beauty therapist

Many of your clients will hear about you through word of mouth, but before that happens you’ll have to spend time marketing yourself and your services as a freelance beauty therapist.
Here are a few ways to market your business:

Make business cards: Give business cards to friends and family so they can pass them on to anybody who might need your services, and to potential clients.
Set up a website: Having a professional website will make you look more credible, and is a great place to show what services you offer, prices, and contact details.
Free directories: Put details of your business on free directories such as Yell.com or FreeIndex. People will find your business when they search for beauty therapists in their area.
Social Media: Social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are great for telling people about what you do and making new contacts. You could also post photos of some of your treatments such as nail art.

Accounting as a freelance beauty therapist

There are various benefits to freelancing as a beauty therapist, from the freedom and flexibility to work with a variety of businesses and individuals to more take-home pay. But there is one downside – accounting.
As a full-time employee, your tax is usually taken care of on your behalf in the form of PAYE.
As a freelancer you’ll have to keep a range of financial records and then prepare and pay a Self-Assessment tax return at the end of each business year.Accountancy can be very confusing and can distract you from making your clients look and feel beautiful.

Getting tax and accountancy advice

With most accountants, you’ll pay them to do your year-end accounts, and then they’ll forget about you until the next year. But for your business to be run smoothly and successfully, you’ll need advice on tax and accountancy throughout the year, especially in the early days.

Citi Accounts is different

Citi Accounts provides an affordable and specialist accountancy service designed just for freelancers.
Throughout the year we’ll be on hand to give you any tax and accountancy advice you might need, including things like:

Take-home pay
Which VAT scheme to register for
Expenses
Tax allowances
Choosing between sole trader and limited company
Running your business in a tax-efficient way

We charge for our accountancy services in a clear and simple way, which means you’ll never receive an unexpected bill, and you can get in touch for advice whenever you want without the worry of being charged a fortune like you would with many other accountants.
If you’re creative and love to make people feel better by making them look more beautiful, a career as a freelance hairdresser could be perfect for you.

What does a hairdresser do?

As a freelance hairdresser, you’ll have to perform tasks including:

Helping clients choose what hairstyle they want, based on their tastes and what you think would suit them.
Cut, styling, and dying your clients’ hair.
Advising your clients on the best ways to look after their hair.
Work out prices for each of the services you offer, taking into consideration your wage and the cost of equipment.

Learning to be a hairdresser – training and qualifications

A qualification or working as an assistant in a hair salon are the two main routes to learning to be a hairdresser.
Some of the courses relevant to becoming a hairdresser are:

Certificate in An Introduction to the Hair and Beauty Sector – Level 1 Award
Certificate in Hairdressing and Barbering – Level 1 (NVQ) Award
Diploma in Barbering – Level 2 (NVQ) Certificate
Diploma in Hairdressing – Level 3 (NVQ) Certificate
Diploma in African Caribbean Hairdressing – Level 3 Certificate

Many colleges offer courses in hairdressing. Ask your local colleges to see what they provide.

The skills a hairdresser needs to succeed

Here are a few skills and qualities that will make your career as a freelance hairstylist successful:

A good talker: If you cut a client’s hair in a way they don’t like, they’ll be heartbroken, and won’t return. Listen carefully when they say what hairstyle they want.
Creative: Often, a client won’t be sure what hairstyle they want. It’s your job as a hairdresser to give them some ideas.
Good with numbers: You need to be able to price your services so that you earn a decent wage and are able to afford materials and equipment.
Have a fashionable haircut: Having a fashionable haircut will show your clients you keep up to date with the latest trends in hairstyling.

Where does a freelance hairdresser work?

An employed hairdresser works in a hair salon. You won’t have that option as a freelancer. You can either work from your home, or travel to your clients’ homes. You’ll probably need to do a mixture of the two or risk missing out on some clients.

Finding work as a freelance hairdresser

To be a successful freelance hairdresser, you’ll have to spend time marketing your services.
Here are some ways to effectively market your hairdressing business:

Set up a website: A professional website will make you look more credible, and is a great place to show your portfolio, talk about the services you provide and show how to book a session.
Portfolio: A portfolio showing all your previous work is essential to growing a successful business.
Business cards: Give them to friends, family, and any person you think could potentially be a client.
Local advertising: Put advertisements in your local shops and newspapers.
This is relatively inexpensive, and it allows you to target customers by location, which is especially important if you’re running the business from home.

Accounting as a freelance hairdresser

There are various benefits to freelancing as a hairdresser, from the freedom
and flexibility to work with a variety of businesses and individuals to more take-home pay. But there is one downside – accounting.
As a full-time employee, your tax is usually taken care of on your behalf in the form of PAYE.
As a freelancer you’ll have to keep a range of financial records and then prepare and pay a Self-Assessment tax return at the end of each business year. Accountancy can be very confusing and can distract you from what you love doing.

Getting tax and accountancy advice

Citi Accounts is different

Citi Accounts provides an affordable and specialist accountancy service designed just for freelancers. Throughout the year we’ll be on hand to give you any tax and accountancy advice you might need, including things like:

Take-home pay
Which VAT scheme to register for
Expenses
Tax allowances
Choosing between sole trader and limited company
Running your business in a tax-efficient way