I was born into small business, so l always assumed that when you grow up, you will own your own company. I was a fairly girlie girl and knew that when my time came it would be in either fashion or beauty!
I get to play out my ideas in my head in REAL LIFE, and l get to choose the people l want to play with.
Money honey! Unfortunately it takes some significant bucks to kick off a business. Donald Trump once borrowed $1million dollars & turned it into $1 billion dollars – so even the big boys have to find their financing from somewhere.
I was lucky enough to have a brother who believed in my concept so much, that he matched my savings and became a silent partner.
Yes ma’am, its called FOMO!
There is nothing like the realisation that you may be getting left behind or that you are no longer your industry leader. A little bit of fear keeps me going each day! Not great for my anxiety l must say, but lm sure some therapy can help that!
Social Media. Initially we were a nail and brow bar and nail art photography was top of the Instagram game. We were one of the first Australian beauty brands to have a Facebook page and soon after Instagram, twitter & Pinterest. It is difficult keeping up with what’s cool, but fortunately l have a great team now that ensures we are current with all of the trends and sometimes we are the trend setters 😉
When I had the idea to open up a nail and brow bar in Australia – something that had been done before, but not in a department store – it was audacious of me to think that the largest department store in a Australia would even consider my concept.
l figured that if l was going to convince them that l had the right idea, they first needed to believe in me. So I sent them a simple email that said ‘l’ would consider Myer to launch ‘our’ (l had no team then, it was just me, but they needed to believe that ‘l’ came with a pack) concept, but that I would require ‘them’ to sign a non-disclosure agreement before l was willing to talk to them about my idea.
With my corporate background, l knew that l had to speak a certain language when dealing with the leading market players for them to take me seriously, so l faked it till l made it!
Do not wait until you have all the plans in place, kick off with what you have. You can smooth out the creases in time, but time waits for no one.
