Wow 10 Years! Let’s Celebrate 🎉

Wow grab a cuppa and take a look back with me over the last 10 years!

September 15th 2015 was the first day I opened my business … 10 years on I’m still loving running my business and treating all my wonderful clients.

There have been many changes over the last 10 years, a couple of name changes and a big location change!

But I still love my job and love making all my wonderful clients feel good after their appointments no matter what you’ve had done, not many people can say that about their job so I’m really happy about that.

10 years ago I took the plunge and started my own business. For 5 years this was based in Milton Keynes.

I had been trained for many years in various holistic therapies when I decided to take voluntary redundancy from my corporate role in 2014, I trained in lots of additional beauty treatments including eyelash extensions to add to my offering and opened The Tranquility Room. I successfully ran my lovely business from home / a cabin in the garden in Willen, Milton Keynes part time around my children who were at school etc.

In October 2018 I entered my first awards, the MK Beauty Awards 2018 for my Eyelash Extensions which had become a passion of mine. I’ll never forget how nerve racking it was having the category judge Katie Godfrey from KG Professional come round and watch me whilst I was creating a set of lashes for my client and then we had a chat afterwards, I won Runner Up Winner for Eyelash Technician of the Year which was an amazing achievement.

I have subsequently been finalist and silver and gold winner in many other awards, it’s a lot of work submitting all the supporting evidence for any awards you enter but it really does elevate your business and give clients additional trust in the standard of work you produce, your customer service and the overall pride you have for your business that you have put your heart and soul in to create.

In early 2019 I trained in Facials and loved adding this to my treatment menu and expanding my offerings.

I’m not going to dwell on the next part but I can’t skip it because it lead to the location change and a significant closure!

Fast forward to near the end of 2019, my marriage broke down after 24 years together, in December 2019 I ended up moving out of my marital home and moving back to Brackley (where I grew up).

This also meant leaving my lovely log cabin salon. My clients were amazing and I worked mobile for a few months travelling back to Milton Keynes and going to my clients homes to perform their treatments.

I was also very lucky that my sister also has her own home salon in Brackley and she allowed me to use the space a few days a week to start building up clients in Brackley and some of MK Clients would travel to me until I had my new home in October 2020.

Now for the real unknown that was thrown in to the mix:

‘A Global Pandemic’ I don’t think we’d ever really heard of that word before then?!

March 2020 we are locked down, not able to work apart from a few weeks at a time between lockdowns, the beauty industry was one of the last business to fully re-open and we eventually fully reopened in April 2021 with many restrictions and lots of PPE requirements.

It did feel a little like starting my business again but I had lots of loyal clients who travelled to me and I also rented a room from my lovely friend Dassah at Flutter MK a couple of days a week in Bletchley for a few months but over the last few years I have built up a wonderful client base in Brackley and the surrounding area and now solely based here.

During lockdown I also completed my teacher training and created and had 6 lash and brow courses fully accredited with professional beauty direct. These launched once we reopened. I love teaching others how to create amazing lashes and brows.

I’ve continued training myself and introduced more new treatments; including collagen induction therapies, Radio Frequency, Microneedling & Mesotherapy, advanced face and body treatments but utilising our own bodies natural healing responses.

I’ve also trained to Master level in Reiki Energy Healing to add to my holistic therapies.

Coming very soon:

I am introducing Korean Lash Lifts which is a much gentler way of doing lash lifts for your natural lashes and gives amazing results. This will be offered alongside the traditional method of lash lifts.

I am also trialling BeamLight LED/UV Lash system for eyelash extensions, it is fully tested, certified and safe, instantly cures the glue and has 80% reduced allergy risk and vastly improved retention. Once I am happy with my trials I will add to my booking system.

I am also training as a Meditation facilitator very soon too so that will be a great addition to add to my business and holistic treatments.

Last year in September I won the British Hair and Beauty Gold Winner in the East Midlands Home Salon of the Year category, such a proud moment for me.

Being self employed is not easy and a lot of hats have to be worn here’s just a few examples; marketing/social media, accounts, planning, emails, building up clientele, training/cpd, stock management and ordering, website management …

Is it worth it? Absolutely 100%, I love my job, get great satisfaction from making people feel good and being the best I can be at the treatments I offer. I can also set my own hours and have been able to work around my family commitments.

What have I learnt over the last 10 years? What advice would I give my younger self?

Hmmm ….

• Know your worth and charge accordingly (including paying yourself an hourly wage!)

• Only offer treatments you love doing because you will always deliver the best service if you enjoy doing it.

• Surround yourself with other amazing business woman, it can be lonely being a sole trader / solopreneur but having a relationship/support of others in the same business and not seeing these people as the competitors can be so valuable. I am a member of an online salon owners community and have found this incredibly supportive.

• Know your numbers (the most boring part for me) but over the years I fully understand the true importance of this and the contribution it has to you being a success.

• Continue to train / specialise / do masterclasses and keep up with this ever changing industry.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little trip down memory lane.

Thank you so much for being a wonderful client or student, whether you still come and see me now or have at any point over the last 10 years I truly appreciate you and you are the heart of my small business.

Much love, Laura x

Let’s celebrate 10 years in business with some special offers. These are valid for use from 15th September to the end October 2025.

£10 off any Collagen Lift Treatment Face or Body area. Use code: 10CL10

£10 off any full set of Eyelash Extensions. Use code: 10EE10

£10 off a Microneedling & Mesotherapy Face Treatment. Use code: 10MM10

Valid for one use per customer, enter discount code online when booking.