Lockdown learning made beautiful with Hannah
27/04/21
27/04/21
Following a successful career in managing health club spas, owning her own salons and managing one of the UK’s top spa resorts, Hannah Johnson found herself out of work as the pandemic hit the industry hard.
Hannah used her skills, knowledge and teaching experience to set up an online training facility in the beauty sector.
Hannah’s objective was to offer a high standard of training with valuable content, at affordable pricing. The training would be easily accessible so that it could be completed from anywhere and at any time. Alongside delivering the training Hannah wanted to build a supportive community within the industry and break the stigma of online training being poorly regulated and not accredited.
How Start Up Loans supported Hannah with her business idea
In September 2020, Business in Focus supported Hannah to secure a £5,000 loan from the Start Up Loans Company to enable her to build a professional website and funding towards initial working capital. As well as support with the finance application, Hannah receives ongoing mentoring and support from Business Advisor, Steve Hammond to ensure that she grows confidence to make business decisions that will help her business thrive.
“Steve was incredible and his response time for any queries was amazing.
His advice was relevant and thorough, listening to my ideas and helping me build on them”
Success starting in lockdown
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Hannah launched her website and took advantage of the Christmas selling opportunities, using Cyber Monday, 12 days of Christmas and Boxing Day sales as hooks to attract high volumes of traffic to the website, resulting in good sales for the training packages.
Learners signing up for the accredited online courses receive four free mini courses that focus on the general health and safety in the industry as well as the latest information and new courses via a Beauty Spa Training weekly newsletter.
“I had a lot to evaluate before taking a risk but Steve was so supportive and understood my concerns.
He made me feel at ease and confident with my business idea and nothing was too much trouble”
Plans for the future
Hannah is currently setting up links with other businesses to offer the beauty courses through their websites, along with developing a chat portal through her own website, so that she can connect with her potential students on a more personal level.
She has connected with therapists in the media and is looking to get involved in a TV show but Hannah’s ambitions for the future are to own her own premises to offer face-to-face training, as well as offer apprenticeships relevant to the beauty industry.
What is a Start Up Loan?
A Start Up Loan is a government-backed personal loan available to individuals over 18 years old looking to start or grow a business in the UK. The main goal of the Start Up Loans scheme is to ensure that viable start-ups have access to the finance and support they need in order to thrive.
If you receive a loan, we will then support you through your journey, providing you with your business mentor for 12 months from the date of receiving your loan. Start Up Loans are available for businesses yet to launch or those that have been trading for up to 24 months.