Maria Young

Beauty Salon Owner, Beauty Course Creator

I started my business back when I left college in 2009! I got insurance right away to do mobile treatments and I created a kit and got a couch and would go to people at home providing all beauty and massage treatments. While doing this and building a reputation and clientele I also registered with a spa cover company, so I could help provide cover for different spas in the local areas.

I also had a part time job with Clarins on the counter as a skin care specialist straight from college, so I did 2 days a week on counter. This was amazing because it gave me amazing experience plus exclusive training in London, whilst I was also building up my own business in the local area. I was learning so much while building my reputation and business. After Clarins I went on to a part time job in a spa hotel. So I did regular part time hours there while still doing my mobile beauty and massage. This gave me a great amount of experience and new skills, and it also showed me that a golf hotel with a salon could cater for not only the guests but also locals too. We had a lot of regulars that came in for treatments AND guests wanting a pamper.

After being mobile for a while I was approached by a local business owner who had a nail salon with a room to rent. She asked if I would like to set up and work from there. I jumped at the opportunity to have my own treatment room, it was a great success and my reputation kept building and building. For a while I did mobile, and spa work AND the treatments in the salon. I worked 7 days a week most weeks for a long time to build it all up. Until eventually my own business was busy enough to let go of the part time job and focus just on my own business and growing it even more.

After a year we moved to a larger shop so I took on another room, and I took on another therapist. We got very busy and it was fabulous. I won multiple awards at the local business awards and got recognised for my hard work a lot. I got young business person of the year and health and beauty business of the year, plus many more! I even got asked to sponsor and present awards after multiple years of winning awards! It was a pleasure! And a very special time for me seeing as I had said to my mum years before that I wanted to win an award at that event when I saw it in the paper!

Over the years of being in the salon I actually spent a lot of time contacting the local golf hotel. I would email and call them almost daily for YEARS. Until eventually the managers agreed to a meeting with me! I explained to them the potential of having a salon within the hotel and how much it could bring to their site. I wanted it so bad and just knew it would work so well especially after working at The Spa Hotel! It took a lot of time and many meetings and pestering them via email and calls and random visits… but eventually they saw my passion and drive and determination… and let my dream come true. They gave me a section of the hotel to have my own salon! They let me design it and build the rooms so we had a reception area and 4 treatment rooms, so I took on another therapist. We won more awards and got even busier. I then after the first year extended the salon to provide 3 more treatment rooms and took on more staff! Every year it would grow just a little bit more. So it is now a salon with 7 treatment rooms and reception area. I called the salon THE SERENITY SUITE. I have had the salon there for 12 years!

A couple years after that a local holiday site approached me to help them with their spa salon so I ended up taking that on for a year or so and redesigning it, creating gorgeous treatments, training staff and creating a lovely space for pampering.

In my time of having the salons and employing staff I have noticed a serious gap between girls leaving college and then being super ready and confident to provide the treatments in salon. So I have spent a lot of time with new employees, especially the girls straight from college training them and perfecting their skills. I even got accreditation and created material and lessons in salon so I could teach one of my part time therapists her entire level 2 beauty qual! It was hard work but I am so glad I did it because the level she is at already is incredibly far beyond that of a girl straight from college and I am so proud of her. Using the materials and perfecting techniques we went through I decided to put online courses together and do more with the training side.

I trademarked the word PAMPERFECTION and created PAMPERFECTION BEAUTY COURSES. I have worked with Gloucester College over the last few years. I have visited the classes as a guest speaker to inspire the girls, but also promoted and taught some of them my courses which I have seen give them much more confidence! So much so that I have taken them on as part of my team multiple times, and they fit in so well and work so professionally because they complete my therapist perfection training.

But all of the above of course has only been achievable because of my insane amount of passion and drive for what I do! I love it and I love helping people to feel good as well as helping budding therapists to feel even better at what they do.