Boss Babe: Victoria Robinson
Company: Beauty Boutique By Victoria
Website & Social: www.bbbyvictoria.uk | @beautyboutiquebyvictoria
Tell me a bit about your business.
I own a beauty salon in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, specialising in nails, brows, lashes and hair. Most recently, being pushed by Covid Lockdowns, I have branched out into making our own brand of products including cuticle oils, hand butters, body scrubs and oils and reed diffusers, wax melts and candles. I opened 6 years ago with 3 people working at the salon and have grown over the years. I train all my staff in nails to product an all-round standard, following on from in house training I have recently qualified as a further education educator and my nail training academy is going through its final checks now, this has been a huge dream of mine and it’s the next step for my personal career.
What made you decide to start it?
I worked for a friend’s salon after qualifying around 10 years ago and always knew I wanted to own my own salon one day. I learned so much from her and will always be thankful to her for her training and knowledge. I absolutely love being able to build and develop my brand, it gives me a sense of purpose and I love achieving new goals.
What’s been the most difficult thing to get your head around when you started up?
The most difficult thing when starting up, and still is now, is staffing. We are such a generation of go getters and creatives that young females are opening their own businesses instead of working for others, which is amazing to see so many women in business. However, it does make it hard to find new staff sometimes.
Have you encountered any hiccups along the way?
I think the main hiccup has been Covid, having to shut the doors to the salon for 8 months over the past year has had its stresses. But I’m a glass half full type of gal and when one door shut (literally) another opened. I would never had made the time to study for my educators qualification or made my own product line. So, it’s not been a complete negative. Also, during lockdown, the beauty community has really come together for each other and it feels amazing to be part of such a creative bunch of women still holding it together through these testing times.
How do you stay motivated?
My motivation is to constantly be doing the best I can and seeing the results from pushing myself. I love training my staff and seeing them grow. My new range of products growing and selling so well pushes me to create more products and think of other ways to expand the business. I never sit still, I just love being creative and pushing myself. You can never stop learning!
What’s your main marketing took/social media platform? Are there any you want to try out that you haven’t had a chance to yet?
My main social media platform is Instagram. I think because the beauty industry is such a visual industry, Instagram works best for being able to showcase your work. I am no social media genius and definitely need help at times, I know I don’t use Instagram to its full potential. TikTok seems to be the next platform for the beauty industry but having time to run the business, build the training academy, hand make the products, train the staff, keep on top of Instagram AND make TikTok videos just seems like a tad too much for me right now.
What’s next for your business?
The next step for the business is to open the training academy once I have passed all my checks. Hopefully that will be this summer, after I give birth to my little boy in March!
Do you have any advice for other women looking to start their own business?
Advice for women wanting to start their own business is to just GO FOR IT! The biggest thing I do is compare myself to others and I constantly have to remind myself to just stay in my own lane and do me! Unfortunately, we mostly only see the positive things people are doing on social media but you have to remember everyone struggles with business at times so don’t beat yourself up if you don’t think you’re doing as well as your competitors! Set yourself goals for your business and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing! If you want something badly enough and work hard enough for it you’ll achieve it!
And lastly, what did you have for breakfast?
Well being truthful I ate the last of the Keto cheesecake I made for desert last night for breakfast this morning…got to treat yourself sometimes right?!?
Thanks so much Victoria! So great getting to know a bit about your life as a business woman! If you're looking for a new, amazing salon to visit and get glammed up once the restrictions lift, head over to Victoria's Instagram @beautyboutiquebyvictoria for all the info you need to get booked in! x