EPISODE 1 — THE TRUTH ABOUT BEAUTY

What if the thing that made you feel different becomes the thing that makes you successful?

“Welcome to Chapter One: The Truth About Beauty.This is where my story really begins.Before the businesses, the awards and everything you might see today, there was a shy young woman who didn't believe she was academic and wasn't naturally confident.I didn't have a grand business plan.I had curiosity, a work ethic and a desire to make people feel good.And one of the biggest lessons I understand now is this:You don't need to look like a founder before you become one.Sometimes the very qualities you underestimate in yourself become the foundations of everything you build.So as you listen to this chapter, I want you to ask yourself:What are you overlooking in yourself because it doesn't look like somebody else's version of success?This is The Truth About Beauty.”

https://confidentbeautytherapist.co.uk/book/

Welcome to The RED ROOM.A space for Resilient, Empowered and Driven women who are ready to have the conversations that often happen behind closed doors.

I’m Carla Chatburn — founder, franchisor, mentor, wife and mum — and after more than two decades in business, I’ve learned that success is never just about what you build.It’s about who you become while building it.Here in The RED ROOM, we talk about the real stuff here is your free IP

And that’s another conversation from The RED ROOM.

A room for Resilient, Empowered and Driven women — where we share the stories behind the success, not just the highlight reel.If something from today’s conversation stayed with you, don’t just listen to it — do something with it. https://info.confidentbeautytherapist.co.uk/

Chapter 1. The Truth About Beauty. Do you want to know a secret? It's something I used to be ashamed of, but I think you should know. I am not an academic person. From an early age I knew that my school studies were not going to be a strength of mine. Let's just say that I was very much away with the fairies. I was a real people pleaser, and because I was quite shy, a bit of an introverted person, and I was easily, easily influenced and sometimes misled by people who appeared more confident and self-assured than me.

That doesn't sound like someone who would become an award-winning business entrepreneur, does it? But I want you to know that it doesn't matter who you are or what your background is, you have the skills that will make you brilliant, brilliant beauty therapist. You just have to find them. For me, not being a traditionally academic person meant that I just had to find other skills that I had inside. When I was younger, I knew pretty quickly that no one was coming to save me. No one was going to give me the confidence that I needed or make me better at school.

The only way that I was going to get anywhere in life was to do it myself. My dad left home when I was about three or four years old, leaving my mum to raise me and my sister, Adele, on her own. I had to watch my mum struggle financially and emotionally. But as hard as it was, she instilled in me a really great work ethic. She taught me that you have to show up no matter what. She taught me not to rely on anyone else because only you are responsible for your own career paths. There wasn't going to be a knight in shining armour or a rich aunt that was going to come and save the day.

So when I discovered the beauty industry, I was like, yes, I found it. This was going to be my ticket to success. And maybe you do feel like this too. I might not have been a good academic, but I was a real people pleaser. And making people feel good about themselves was a drive I had inside me. And I just discovered a job where I could do that every day. It gave me the courage that I needed to explore this industry. And I knew that if I could just stay on this path, I was prepared to give it my all, and I really found my passion.

When I was 14, I went and found myself a Saturday job. It was at a hairdresser called The Hairdressers. Yes, really. Just making brews and washing hair. It was the first time that I ever experienced this culture of what working in a hair and beauty salon would be like. Being around all these creative, talented people gave me the confidence to explore beauty on my own. I'm naturally a curious person and I learn more by doing. So I bought myself a little 99p pack of fake nails from the supermarket and I just sat at home and played with them.

And let me tell you something, I made my bitten-down nails look absolutely beautiful. I felt like a million dollars, and that feeling made making something look better, made me feel so good inside. I knew instantly that I wanted to go into beauty. But I had a problem. I didn't have the money for traditional training. Whenever I walked past a salon or saw a beauty therapist working for themselves, I would think, how could they afford to do that? That was the bit that intrigued me because I had very little money.

I came from quite a humble background and I had lived in several homes provided by housing associations. I remember one particular with no carpet on the stairs, but gosh, my mum always found a way to make it feel like home. Even so, I deeply wanted to try a different path. I like the thought of being in a salon actively training while earning, so I took a beauty apprenticeship. It wasn't a lot, it was maybe£60 a week back then, but I was like, yes, I'll take it. It was like a taste of freedom, learning whilst getting paid.

But it was here during my apprenticeship that I learned that the beauty industry wasn't as glam as it looks. The other side of glam. People often go into the beauty industry for the wrong reasons, and I am so guilty of this too. I was naive when I started. I've been educating apprentices for over 20 years, and they all have the same misconception of what the beauty industry is like. If you had told me that I'd have toenails flick into my mouth, go home with bikini wax stuck in my hair and clothes, I might have thought twice about beauty.

Indeed, housekeeping and cleaning toilets were not what I had planned for my beauty career. You need to be prepared to meet some interesting characters and have conversations that are absolutely mad. I was once tasked out on a date in the middle of a back second crackwax. When it happened, I just froze. I remember thinking, oh my gosh, what do I say now? I was in a professional environment, in a really awkward situation. They didn't teach me this during my beauty apprenticeship. Thankfully, he quickly realised that what he said was a little wrong and the moment passed.

But how do we prepare for situations like this? You have to be ready for anything this business throws at you, and that's why I've added modules on courage, emotional intelligence and confidence to the CBT programme, which is the Confident Beauty Therapist Programme. Working in the beauty industry also means that you're more likely to be judged on how you look. If you don't have nice nails, for example, how will your clients trust that you can do their nails too? You have to show confidence in yourself at what you can provide.

After all, first impressions count and you really do only have three seconds to make someone feel good about being in your presence. This is a people first industry, and it's all about relationships and building trust. So you've got to be a people person. You've got to genuinely like people, and people have to be able to like you too. Okay, you don't have to be everybody's best friends, but your clients have to find your personality positive and engaging if they're gonna keep coming back to you.

I have a story about one of my team members. She was absolutely brilliant, but to be fair, she was in the wrong industry. When she failed her probationary period with me, she admitted, I can't do a poker face like you, Carla. And I love that she called me out on this. At first I was confused. I don't have a poker face, I said. What do you mean by that? But then I realised she was right. I do have a poker face, we all do, and you do too. It's part of this industry, and if you're not able to smile at your clients and make them feel welcome, even if you're tired and in a bad mood, the industry is not for you.

This industry is about making your clients feel their best, and that means putting them first. Treat your clients the diamonds that they are, and I guarantee that you'll be rewarded in ways you never imagined. And if you're reading this and starting to worry, what if I'm not good with people? What if I can't do this? I want you to know that you can, because anything can be learned, any skill can be improved. Knowledge is power. Whenever I saw Salonorna, I was in awe of their achievements. I was also so curious how did they do that?

I always wondered, where did they get the confidence from? I knew they had to find a different way to build success, so I used the resources that were available to me. Knowledge is definitely power. So when I was starting out, Google was actually my best friend. After all, it was free. If there was something I didn't know and I didn't feel comfortable asking someone, I would ask Google. I remember once going to a networking event with someone and they'd used the word strategy. I'd never heard of that word before, and I thought, oh gosh, I am so out of my comfort zone.

I didn't have a clue what it meant. So I Googled it. I found out that it was a fancy word for plan. When I opened my second salon, someone said to me, You're really getting into this entrepreneurial spirit, aren't you? I just smiled at them, but I was thinking, what on earth does entrepreneurial mean? So I asked Google. Here I was being an entrepreneur, and I didn't even know what entrepreneurial meant. Don't assume that everyone you meet has all the answers. In my opinion, there's no silly question that you can't ask.

And honestly, I've asked some of the stupidest questions ever. But I use that to my advantage, and that curiosity helped me build a career. For me, curiosity is a massive drive. You don't know what you don't know. But if you're passionate about what you love and which direction you're going in, and your curiosity is insane, use it. If you don't know or understand something, it's not a failure, it's just an opportunity to ask a question that will move you forward into your career. It's all about to change.

I know you're going to have so many questions on the journey ahead, and I don't want you to struggle like I did. Going into the business blind was the most exhausting process I'd ever been through. This is because I had to learn everything three times, going backwards and forward and failing twice before I got it right. I reached out to friends to help me with marketing and law. I asked so many questions, I bet they got so annoyed with me. But I needed to know I couldn't afford to hire people to do it for me.

If you have friends who can help you, then reach out and get advice from them that relates to their skill sets. There is so much more to the beauty industry than making your clients look good. You have to feel as beautiful and confident on the inside as you do on the outside, and that is why this book is going to help you. Since working in this industry, my idea of what I thought confidence was has changed. I thought it was the loud, flamboyant characters that you see in salons, but in reality it's about knowing who you are and being confident and comfortable with that.

It's knowing your strengths and weaknesses and being okay with that too. I didn't realise at the time, but I think I saw beauty as my chance to be someone else. It's such a creative industry that I was able to express myself in different ways and become a new person. I wanted to feel accepted and part of a team, so I always adapted myself to suit the environment and I became a chameleon. But it was only because I was frightened to death of not fitting in. Whenever I stepped out of my comfort zone, it really was a case of faking it till I made it, on every level of my journey.

But I wanted to know that I had to grow and change in order to get where I am today. There was a lot of self-discovery and hard work involved in understanding who I really was so I could feel confident in my work. So I ask you to have an open mind. We only ever see the glitz and the glamour in this industry. But in reality, it's so much more. It's about the people, what their needs are, and how you treat them. The creativity that you find in this industry is wonderful and it's a big driver for many people going into it.

But there's also a lot to do with business, about profits and loss, about mindset and resilience. It's all about investing in personal growth, continued learning and professional developments. A lot of the things I bet you never thought you'd have to think about. Don't think once you're working, you've finished your training and it ends there. Whatever path you take in beauty, if you want to be successful, then my biggest lesson for you is that you should never stop learning. Core beauty tips. Number one, be curious.

Knowledge is power, so go and ask the silly questions. And don't be afraid of what people might think or say. If you can learn from someone who's doing it well, reach out to them. If you came to me and asked me for help, I would always want to help you, and so should people you reach out to. Core beauty tip two. Don't judge a book by its cover. If you see someone who is confident and assured, don't assume they might not be struggling to. Don't assume that just because someone owns a salon or has a skill you don't, it means they know it all.

Remember, just because it looks perfect on the outside, it doesn't mean it's perfect on the inside. Number three, keep your circle small. There's a belief that we have to have a ton of friends and a huge network in this industry. But if that's too much for you, keep your circle small. It can just be as helpful. Connect with people who you can trust, who have actually walked the walk, and who can give you facts and figures on the journey ahead. Number four, be open. This business has so many paths open to you, it's just about finding the right route for you.

You don't have to stick to the first beauty skill that you're gonna go into. Try a few and see what you like. But be realistic and don't expect results straight away. It will take time for you to find your place, and that's perfectly normal. You may find out your strengths aren't client-facing, but that they lie somewhere else, like in management or education. Number five. Don't compare yourself to anyone in the beauty industry or their business. The models will be different, the client base will be different, but your values and thinking will be different.

Your understanding of success will be different. You can't compare yourself to anyone, and if you do, you'll have a lifelong career of I'm not good enough. So don't waste your time comparing.