A New Life: Swapping the account books for the nail files has paid off for one beautician. Danielle Barron reports
Throughout our phone conversation Siobháin Lenagh mentions various beauty treatments and different facials that this writer has never even heard of, let alone had the pleasure of experiencing. But then she's the expert, not me.
Lenagh was a regular in beauty salons since her teens, so when it came to opening her own salon, she knew exactly what she wanted it to be like.
"I wanted a laid-back nice atmosphere, where you knew your therapist. I never liked the fact that one week you could have one girl looking after you, and the next week you'd have somebody different."
Lenagh has now morphed from salon-goer to salon-owner. Back when she left school, however, she didn't contemplate a career in beauty, opting instead for the business world.
"Like everyone, when I left school I had hundreds of choices, and I just fell into administration through a job in the local government offices in Nottingham, England, where I grew up."
Lenagh obtained what was the equivalent of a National Vocation Qualification (NVQ) in business administration, but made a gradual shift into accountancy. "Initially it was small-time accountancy, invoice inputs and things like that," she says.
She then obtained another qualification in finance, and worked in various accounts departments for another three years, eventually returning home to Ireland when she was 19.
Once home, Lenagh continued working in finance, and says she preferred bookkeeping to actual accountancy. "You've got more to do with the bookkeeping - you've got the wages, the data input, the staff and the controls."
About five years ago, she had a sudden change of heart. "I had one of those days where I woke up and said: 'I've just had enough'," admits Lenagh. "I decided that I would go back to college and do what I wanted to do, which was beauty. The accountancy was great pay, but beauty was where I had my interest."
Having found a course that suited her schedule, Lenagh continued to work at her nine-to-five job while studying beauty therapy on Saturday mornings.
"I did facial aesthetics, which included waxing, facials and make-up, but I also learned how to use a lot of machines."
Once she had finished that course, she started another one, this time studying electrolysis each Tuesday evening. Even after she had qualified as a beauty therapist, Lenagh continued to work in finance and became financial controller of a large furniture company based in Swords, responsible for 50 staff.
"There I was in charge of hiring and firing, wages, credit control, accounts department, warehouse, reception . . . so you can imagine, it was a 70-hour week," she says.
As the financial controller, Lenagh was obviously the first to realise that the company was facing serious financial difficulties and says that that forced her to make the break from business once and for all.
"I realised I could either go down with a sinking ship or take my wages while I still could and get out. So that's what I did, and I opened my salon."
Rather than obtain a large bank loan, Lenagh used the money she had saved for a deposit on a new house. "I didn't want finance as I didn't want the bank chasing me every month but it was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. It was either the house or the business but I took the gamble and opened the salon," she says.
Beautylicious opened its doors in July 2004. Lenagh describes setting up her own business as "no walk in the park" and says she initially doubted whether she had made the right choice.
"For the first few months I wondered had I done the right thing, sinking all my money into the business. But it soon turned around," she says.
Two years later, the salon is still thriving and Lenagh says she attributes it to the fact that Beautylicious is the opposite of the stuffy salons she used to frequent.
"The slogan on my brochure is: 'Real beauty, at real prices, for real people'. I know it's a bit corny and a bit American, but we want every walk of life to come in here, and they do. The priority is having a relaxed clientele," she says.
Lenagh readily admits that she is not a stereotypical beautician, impeccably groomed and perfectly made up. "Today I had no make-up on in work. I don't always have the tan done or the nails on - I'm certainly not the conventional beauty therapist," she laughs.
According to Lenagh, the biggest compliment she can receive in her trade is being recommended to someone else by a customer. She cites the recent example of a new customer coming in for a spray tan treatment, having been directed to Lenagh by her cousin.
"We got chatting, and between us we actually counted eight members of her extended family who come to me: sisters, in-laws, cousins and mothers. I get such satisfaction from hearing things like that because if you're recommended, you know you did something right."
Her past experience in administration and accounting has come in extremely useful, says Lenagh. "I look after the books, the advertising; I do everything on the admin side."
She now also lectures in beauty and offers nail training classes to aspiring beauticians.
"I miss the numbers and figures up to a point, but finance was tough and it was stressful. It was just pure tension all the time. I love what I do now and it's a different kind of hard work - an enjoyable kind of hard work."