What has been your biggest challenge so far?
I think when you start a business everyday is a challenge to make sure it survives, especially the first few years. But as time goes by, there are added challenges. For example, I learned that sometimes you just attract people who work easily with you, but other times you might need to adjust your managerial style. Finding my leadership style and my people has probably been the biggest learning experience for me.
What are your weaknesses?
I think I struggle with finding the balance between give and take. As a founder, it’s easy to be so involved in the day to day and the constant grind of running a business on a granular scale that you forget the broader, bigger picture. Or sometimes I get into the mode of business growth and development and come up with all these ideas and growth plans without going down to that granular level. I get lost multitasking the micro and macro level of running a business.
What does the future look like for the business?
World domination! I have so many ambitions for the brand and its future. We work really hard to put all the pillars in place. From unique branding, our own software that we built from scratch, to our own product line, looks and training. Building a strong foundation that I hope will allow it to accelerate. Franchising is a big part of what we are trying to do. I believe it’s very important for a salon to have hands-on management, someone who truly cares within each place. We have more products in the pipeline and are looking to grow the line. Our salons are where the ideas are born from everyday styling. We also test all our products with our own in-house stylists and with our clients. It is a very exciting and natural process. We are speaking to a number of partners to look into a concession model where it will be a mini salon within beauty halls. But most of all, I would love to see the brand outside of London.