Tanya Parsons was at a very low point when a sudden leap of faith set her on a pioneering path to success in a sector that she would never have thought she could find a home in – the beauty industry.
She was feeling miserable because of her husband’s six-month work stint in Namibia and frustrated at the lack of promotion at the tracking company she worked for. Her video shop in her hometown of Boksburg had succumbed with the rest of the video-rental industry and led to her sequestration. As a bit of self-care therapy, she decided to treat herself to a new slimming therapy called laser lipolysis (ultrasound cavitation) that she came across online.
She was highly sceptical but drove an hour to the other side of Johannesburg for the session. The exceptional results of the treatment had such a great impact on Tanya that she made the spontaneous decision to start her own salon. She had no experience in the beauty industry, and even less knowledge of the highly technical treatment that uses laser light to break down fat cells so that they can be eliminated by the body.
Tanya’s profound faith led her to interpret the experience as a divine calling. In just six weeks she had done a huge amount of research, acquired a good quality laser lipolysis machine, went for training, converted a room in their Boksburg house into a salon and treated her first client. And over the next fourteen years she never seemed to have slowed down that intense pace.
Today, Tanya owns Beauty & Laser, which consists of no fewer than seven divisions, employing a total of 23 workers: Laser Lipo House, the original salon, Beauty & Laser Equipment, which imports world-class laser lipo machines and helps salons set them up, Aesthetic Laser Academy, a roaming team that trains student therapists at various institutions, the Beauty and Laser Academy, an inhouse training centre where students from all over the world sign up to learn about different beauty treatments and laser lipo, as well as salon-management skills, Aspire Student Salon, where student beauty therapists gain practical experience, and Beauty & Laser Staff Solutions, a recruitment and placement agency for the beauty industry.
Growing up, Tanya would never have dreamt of one day owning her own business as entrepreneurship was never considered an option in her family. Over the years, Tanya started a dating club, a women’s gym and the video shop, among other ventures however due to her sequestration caused by the demise of her video shop, Tanya’s mom agreed to raise the finance for her first laser lipo machine and setting up the salon.
One of the doors they knocked on was Business Partners Limited, but they lacked the track record in order to qualify for a loan. But a few years later, when Beauty & Laser was bursting at the seams and Tanya wanted to find a building of her own to mitigate the increasingly high rentals charged by her succession of landlords, Business Partners Limited was ready to provide the finance.
Tanya found a property for sale in Bardene, Boksburg, with ample room to grow into. Business Partners Limited agreed to provide 100% finance, when her bank only offered her an 80% loan. Tanya says her accountant was a great help in dealing with Business Partners Limited’s thorough due diligence process. One of the difficulties of the life of a business owner is the wide range of areas that you have to manage on an expert level, from HR and tax to computer networking and client liaison. Working with experts helps to ease the burden, says Tanya.
However, for her the most difficult aspect of building a business is being responsible for the livelihoods of her employees. Yet it has never dampened her pursuit of new opportunities, today Tanya is working on an online directory of local beauty services, and on opening more salons. The secret, says Tanya, is to just start, even if you are scared and even when the naysayers say it won’t work. Being spiritually grounded and having the support of her spouse, family and team with a “can do” mentality made the seemingly impossible possible says Tanya.
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