From the age of 15 to 18, I worked 5 part time jobs while at school, sixth form and college. During this time, I was saving with the intention to buy a house. I qualified in nails and beauty and started to do friends and family’s nails. Word of mouth got out and I started to build a clientele. Still working 5 part time jobs, I rented a small salon in Ruskington. We were fully booked for the opening day, thanks to promoting it across social media. I continued to waitress every night and took no money out of the business for the first six months. Four years later, I bought the shop I’m in now, by converting a house into a salon, with planning permission from North Kesteven District Council.

Social media has helped the business grow in many ways. It allows us to promote the business and space to those not local, helping to extend our customer base. We’re always looking for ways to get our name out there, and previously appeared on The One Show for Children in Need. We worked for 24 hours, from 9am Friday to 9am Saturday, social media helped us to publicise what we were doing and ensure customers were in at times that what would normally be out of hours. We made the most of this television exposure to help grow our following on social media and promote the business. Our contact with The One Show has led to us being contacted again on multiple occasions as we are now on the BBC’s database.

With aspirations to grow the business, I opened a second salon in Heckington in 2019. Unfortunately, due to financial pressures and other impacts brought on from Covid-19, I had to close it 15 months later. During Covid-19 like many businesses, our running costs alone faced us with uncertainty. Thanks to the Covid-19 grants delivered by NKDC, our debt was almost halved. Although financially turbulent, lockdown did help us to grow our social media presence as I had a lot more time on my hands.

I still have a strong desire to grow the business and I’ve just received planning permission from NKDC to extend the salon in Ruskington. I’m currently exploring ideas to improve the salon and the client’s experience.

Hare & Beauty
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