Galina Panchenko

My name is Gali, and in 2019, I moved from Russia to Mexico. In Russia, I’ve already worked as a manicure master. Moreover, my sister and I have had a beauty salon for seven years. But I had a long way to go to achieve a successful salon.
After graduating from my school, I’ve been working as a shop assistant in one of the bed linen stores. I was 18 years old, and the store was so expensive that there were almost no clients. I was paid very little, and I was simply bored. In those times sitting at the reception of that store I began to think through a plan: How to increase the income?
“Gali, go to study manicure. It’s in great demand, and your income depends only on you.”
So, at the same moment, I decided to go study manicures.
But no, it was not the school from that magazine. At that time, I didn’t have enough money to pay for the manicure course there, but this school definitely played a big role.
I took my savings (I remember as it was yesterday). I had 5000 rubles, which is now about $50, and I went to study with a girl who has been teaching extensions of nails at her home.

The course was cheap and not of high quality, but I was so motivated! In any case, this teacher gave me a big push into the world of the nails. Specifically, I saw how many clients and students she had and how much she got paid for a manicure. It was very inspiring! And all my thoughts at that moment were: I want the same as her! And looking ahead, I couldn’t even imagine that I would be many times better than her!
I studied hard, and after that, the most interesting things began. Practice, first clients, first income.
I went to clients’ houses on uncomfortable, crowded buses with a suitcase with manicure tools. At that time, I worked as a manicurist on days off from regular work.
One manicure cost 500 rubles ($5). This was my first year of working as a manicure master.
After almost one year of doing manicures in the clients’ homes (when I needed to go there on uncomfortable, crowded buses with a suitcase with the manicure tools), I finally set up my own workplace at home and left my main job (as you remember, I’ve combined the work in the bed linen store as shop-assistant and work as a manicurist). Clients finally began to come to my home for manicures, and I didn’t need to go to their houses anymore. I raised the price then, and I felt like a successful businesswoman.

I’ve had a quiet life, I’ve earned good money, I could buy everything I needed, and I felt happy.
But then my sister and my friend got me involved in an adventure: To open a beauty salon.
I was 22 years old. I didn’t understand anything about business, but I knew how to do manicure. My sister has been working as a hairdresser, and my friend has been giving manicure and pedicure services. We were beauty masters but also directors and cleaners in our salon. We didn’t have money, so we took a loan from a bank to make our salon a reality, but of course, it was far from luxury. But we worked hard, we developed, and we grew from this salon. Together with my sister, we created such a cool salon!
Our business was developing, and more and more new clients were coming, but I didn’t stop being a manicurist; I was also a director, a marketer, etc.
It was difficult for me; I didn’t receive the same joy and inspiration as before.
And then something happened.
Yes! I met my future husband at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and I fell in love.

A completely unknown country, a completely different culture for me, So everything is new!
In my house, I equipped a room in a small beauty salon for my clients. And, of course, my first clients were my husband’s relatives and acquaintances of acquaintances.
At that moment, I decided to develop my Instagram page to receive more clients from there. So, I used all the life hacks to tag myself and did different contests.
Was I afraid of the competition? BUT NO!
If you work in the Russian manicure technique and you do it with 100% quality, you will ALWAYS have clients.
In the city, in general, there were only a couple of masters who worked in Russian manicures.
Little by little, I began to settle down and feel better in the new country. I was preparing dinners, inviting my husband’s friends to try Russian food, learning Spanish, painting the walls of my room, and meeting Russian girls who lived there.
After six months, I started actively giving live courses on the Russian manicure technique, then I launched online courses, and now I inspire girls to obtain one of the most requested beauty professions.