How did you all finance your business?

[nixnewcastle]

I saved every penny and worked all the hours God sent.

I would be in a salon working until 6pm and then did mobile too until 10pm including my day off and Sundays. That brought money in.

I cut out all unnecessary expenditure. To this day I still haven't bothered getting another mobile phone as I learned during that stage to live without one. I didn't have Sky. My car was falling apart. 'Dinner with friends' meant me going to Asda's reduced aisle and cooking whatever they had for "10p" and advising friends to bring a bottle when they came to my house. I had to read my food labels on my cans to discover what was in them as there were no fancy graphics or logos...it was 'supermarket basics'. I learned how to bake my own bread as it saved 40p per loaf. I didn't take any holidays. I didn't take any taxis. I wore the same 'clothes fashions' for about 2 years. I also skipped
a few things that most people pay such as TV license and simply switched the TV off unless I was watching videos/DVDs. Even now I can cook a mean pasta with nothing except supermarket basics pasta, supermarket basics tomato soup and the reduced veg that nobody wants - enough for 4 days!

My mum was a single mum on benefits all my life and so we had no money. She was always in debt when we grew up and I was determined not to follow that route.

I opened my first 7 seater salon with nail desk and beauty room when I was 23 without any loans from the bank, grants from the government or credit card debts either. From day one it was all mine and funded from my savings.

I'm in my 30's now with a while to go before I'm 35 and I now have 2 salons, a city center building that I rent out, a hair academy, a nice house in a
desirable postcode, 2 cars on the drive. Everything is paid for. I have no mortgages or debts outstanding. I also have enough cash savings to keep me comfortable for the next 10 years should everything go tits up tomorrow.

I'm sharing this because I'm hoping there might be someone like a "younger me" reading this thread at some point who is wondering if yet another night in is ever going to be worth it in the long run, or if it's worth just taking some of the money out of the bank that they have worked so hard to save and gettin a little something to treat themselves for working flat out yet again for another week.

The answer is 'keep going the way you are going'. Opportunities come to those who seek them. They are not delivered by a government or a grants program ... go do a paying client instead of sitting through one of their talks - it all adds to the pot - a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. Keep your eye on the ball and listen to people when they talk to you - you just never know who is going to give you a golden nugget of information about an empty premises or
other opportunities. Hard work and savings pay off - nobody ever gets rich by spending their money on whatever everyone else is spending their money on just to 'keep up with your mates'. Keep thinking about where you want to be in 5 years time and ask yourself if the takeaway/sky movies/newer car/mobile phone is a price worth paying to sacrifice that dream?

Hope this helps somebody.

I did mine in a similar way. Nothing is given to you on a plate. I was entitled to diddly squat from the government. I took out a 2k loan and poured every single penny back into the business. I remember standing in primark with a pair of £1.50 flip flops humming and harring over buying them or not which in the end I put them back.

I started out mobile but never once cut corners. Everything was done exactly by the book and I worked whichever day and time clients wanted. I've had 2 burn outs from being mentally and physically exhausted. When I wasnt working on a client I was working on marketing, reading business books, brain storming etc. I never took a holiday or even a day off from either doing treatments or working on my business.

We now have a small salon which we have now outgrown so we're needing somewhere bigger and we were once one of 5 beauty salons in our area and now we're the only one left

I love reading stories like the one I've quoted cause I know too how determine I was and how much you deserve it when you've worked as hard and also how good it feels when you can finally say it was all worth it

 

[ADiva1]

I saved every penny and worked all the hours God sent.

I would be in a salon working until 6pm and then did mobile too until 10pm including my day off and Sundays. That brought money in.

I cut out all unnecessary expenditure. To this day I still haven't bothered getting another mobile phone as I learned during that stage to live without one. I didn't have Sky. My car was falling apart. 'Dinner with friends' meant me going to Asda's reduced aisle and cooking whatever they had for "10p" and advising friends to bring a bottle when they came to my house. I had to read my food labels on my cans to discover what was in them as there were no fancy graphics or logos...it was 'supermarket basics'. I learned how to bake my own bread as it saved 40p per loaf. I didn't take any holidays. I didn't take any taxis. I wore the same 'clothes fashions' for about 2 years. I also skipped a few things that most people pay such as TV license and simply switched the TV off unless I was watching videos/DVDs. Even now I can cook a mean pasta with nothing except supermarket basics pasta, supermarket basics tomato soup and the reduced veg that nobody wants - enough for 4 days!

My mum was a single mum on benefits all my life and so we had no money. She was always in debt when we grew up and I was determined not to follow that route.

I opened my first 7 seater salon with nail desk and beauty room when I was 23 without any loans from the bank, grants from the government or credit card debts either. From day one it was all mine and funded from my savings.

I'm in my 30's now with a while to go before I'm 35 and I now have 2 salons, a city center building that I rent out, a hair academy, a nice house in a desirable postcode, 2 cars on the drive. Everything is paid for. I have no mortgages or debts outstanding. I also have enough cash savings to keep me comfortable for the next 10 years should everything go tits up tomorrow.

I'm sharing this because I'm hoping there might be someone like a "younger me" reading this thread at some point who is wondering if yet another night in is ever going to be worth it in the long run, or if it's worth just taking some of the money out of the bank that they have worked so hard to save and getting a little something to treat themselves for working flat out yet again for another week.

The answer is 'keep going the way you are going'. Opportunities come to those who seek them. They are not delivered by a government or a grants program ... go do a paying client instead of sitting through one of their talks - it all adds to the pot - a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. Keep your eye on the ball and listen to people when they talk to you - you just never know who is going to give you a golden nugget of information about an empty premises or other opportunities. Hard work and savings pay off - nobody ever gets rich by spending their money on whatever everyone else is spending their money on just to 'keep up with your mates'. Keep thinking about where you want to be in 5 years time and ask yourself if the takeaway/sky movies/newer car/mobile phone is a price worth paying to sacrifice that dream?

Hope this helps somebody.

This is certainly one to print and re-read when you have had a bad day, and will certainly keep you focussed - me including. There is so much to learn here. Don't just say it is inspiring; practise it! Thank you for sharing. Here is to even more success.xx

 

[olabecee]

wow. This is definately for keeps.

Sent from my Desire HD using SalonGeek

 

[Blue Rose]

My initial start up funds are a wee bit different from the norm!

I was in car prang in the January (something about me & car prangs!!). Eventually got a small settlement in the July which I just kept in my account as there was nothing really that I needed/wanted. Turned 20 in the September & opened a 2 room salon in the November. As well as having my car prang money, my mum & her then husband lent me some money & gave me some. I also had a part time job which paid quite well and so I carried on with that for some time after opening my salon.

Fast forward a few years & I was ready for another challenge. Bought another salon in the next time as a going concern. However, the previous owner diddled me & poached all the clients so I had these horrendous outgoings with very little coming in. Managed to keep it going for 12 months but had to pull the plug before I toppled over the edge. Ended up in massive debt. Paid that off eventually.

Last year, after many trials & tribulations I decided to down size the salon so relocated to a room at home. My therapist who came with me to the home salon resigned a couple of weeks ago so I've kinda come full circle. Is now just me on my own working part time. And I love it. I wish I'd have done it years previous.

It's now just over 20 years since I set up my business!