I started a business at 15

​

My story starts when I was addicted to getting lash extensions. I loved them so much and you’d never see me without them. I then decided one Sunday afternoon that I was going to try to do eyelash extensions on my friends and family because I thought to myself how hard is it? I bought some products with the help of my mum and then started practising, don’t get me wrong it was hard but not like I expected… I had many friends and family willing to lie down and let me practise. It was fun. I then started an Instagram page to show off my work and a way for people to book appointments. I was working out of the spare room on the spare bed. I decided if I was going to keep growing like this I needed to expand and buy a lash bed and tidy up the spare room to look more like a salon.

After a year I was already outgrowing this spare room, I was growing and getting a lot more business than expected. I then had to decide whether this was going to be my job or still a hobby. After many weeks of thinking I decided that this was going to be my job, I mean why wouldn’t I do something I love everyday for the rest of my life? So mum decided we would get a cabin for the front lawn. I was now working most afternoons after school until 7:30pm as this was the only time I could work. It was fun, but man it was stressful.

Sometimes I would wish I could be a kid again - come home from school, eat chips and watch some cartoons. But that would never happen again, if I wasn’t working on a client I would be cleaning the salon, booking clients in, working with the social media side of things, there is so much in the background of a business that people don’t understand… I have now completed NCEA Level 3 and am excited to run my business next year with a lot more hours to work.

I have now realised that there is background behind businesses, especially small businesses. It’s not just the front they put on. I understand now that if they do something wrong, there probably is so much going on in their mind and they may be stressed or overwhelmed because of all the necessary background work that we as clients/customers don’t see and some may not understand. It has made me more understanding that they may be struggling and that we shouldn’t give them a hard time because they may have gotten our order wrong.

Every day is a new day. I would stress about what clients I had the next couple of days etc but I wish I realised I should have lived every day like it was my own. After my last client of one day I would stress about who was booked in the next etc, I wish someone told me to just relax for the rest of that day and live your life. I would stress because I haven’t posted on social media and hadn’t taken any photos of my clients. I wish I knew that I could just forget about all that type of stuff for a few hours and focus on my family and friends.

I wish people understood that my business is a real business. It has been so difficult with the pressure of uni and future schooling, for people to understand that I am not doing any of that. I am staying here and taking my business full time. I wish people understood that eyelash extensions is a raging business and is so popular and what I do isn’t easy. I get messages 24/7 about future clients wanting to book in, which is what I love! I have so much in the background that when people judge me and say it’s an easy job that I do. It makes me so upset that they can’t even take the time to ask me politely "How is it going?" A nice simple way to understand the business and what I do. I also wish people understood that using the phrase, just wait until you reach the real world isn’t a thing anymore. I reached the “ real “ world at 15 when I decided I was going to take a leap into business. I would be at school from 8am - 3pm and then work started which was 4-7:30pm. I wasn’t a kid anymore, there was so much maturing that I had to do at such a young age that I considered myself already in the real world, it was hard but is so worth it now. I look at all my clientele that have stuck around because I squeeze them in for a booking whenever because I always want to make them happy.

On the hard days I think about my future goals! I push towards my goals every day, because they are what is leading me to my future. I’ve already completed a few major goals in my life, like buying my very own car. It’s fun and exciting to work towards these goals every day because I look into the future and can see that it will all be worth it in the end.

My parents were the best, they helped me so much at the beginning. If I didn’t have enough money to buy anymore stock mum would buy it for me and I’d pay her back by doing her eyelashes a few times. It was a win win, I got practice and she got eyelashes for a few weeks. Mum was one of the only ones that believed in my business becoming what it is. She never laughed or joked about it because she knew I loved doing what I did and she could see me going far! She never talked down about it because she saw all the work I put into it. She helped me with taxes and how to record everything and taught me most of that side of business as she has experience. If it wasn't for her support I don’t think I’d be where I am today.

I started a business at 15

​

My story starts when I was addicted to getting lash extensions. I loved them so much and you’d never see me without them. I then decided one Sunday afternoon that I was going to try to do eyelash extensions on my friends and family because I thought to myself how hard is it? I bought some products with the help of my mum and then started practising, don’t get me wrong it was hard but not like I expected… I had many friends and family willing to lie down and let me practise. It was fun. I then started an Instagram page to show off my work and a way for people to book appointments. I was working out of the spare room on the spare bed. I decided if I was going to keep growing like this I needed to expand and buy a lash bed and tidy up the spare room to look more like a salon.

After a year I was already outgrowing this spare room, I was growing and getting a lot more business than expected. I then had to decide whether this was going to be my job or still a hobby. After many weeks of thinking I decided that this was going to be my job, I mean why wouldn’t I do something I love everyday for the rest of my life? So mum decided we would get a cabin for the front lawn. I was now working most afternoons after school until 7:30pm as this was the only time I could work. It was fun, but man it was stressful.

Sometimes I would wish I could be a kid again - come home from school, eat chips and watch some cartoons. But that would never happen again, if I wasn’t working on a client I would be cleaning the salon, booking clients in, working with the social media side of things, there is so much in the background of a business that people don’t understand… I have now completed NCEA Level 3 and am excited to run my business next year with a lot more hours to work.

I have now realised that there is background behind businesses, especially small businesses. It’s not just the front they put on. I understand now that if they do something wrong, there probably is so much going on in their mind and they may be stressed or overwhelmed because of all the necessary background work that we as clients/customers don’t see and some may not understand. It has made me more understanding that they may be struggling and that we shouldn’t give them a hard time because they may have gotten our order wrong.

Every day is a new day. I would stress about what clients I had the next couple of days etc but I wish I realised I should have lived every day like it was my own. After my last client of one day I would stress about who was booked in the next etc, I wish someone told me to just relax for the rest of that day and live your life. I would stress because I haven’t posted on social media and hadn’t taken any photos of my clients. I wish I knew that I could just forget about all that type of stuff for a few hours and focus on my family and friends.

I wish people understood that my business is a real business. It has been so difficult with the pressure of uni and future schooling, for people to understand that I am not doing any of that. I am staying here and taking my business full time. I wish people understood that eyelash extensions is a raging business and is so popular and what I do isn’t easy. I get messages 24/7 about future clients wanting to book in, which is what I love! I have so much in the background that when people judge me and say it’s an easy job that I do. It makes me so upset that they can’t even take the time to ask me politely "How is it going?" A nice simple way to understand the business and what I do. I also wish people understood that using the phrase, just wait until you reach the real world isn’t a thing anymore. I reached the “ real “ world at 15 when I decided I was going to take a leap into business. I would be at school from 8am - 3pm and then work started which was 4-7:30pm. I wasn’t a kid anymore, there was so much maturing that I had to do at such a young age that I considered myself already in the real world, it was hard but is so worth it now. I look at all my clientele that have stuck around because I squeeze them in for a booking whenever because I always want to make them happy.

On the hard days I think about my future goals! I push towards my goals every day, because they are what is leading me to my future. I’ve already completed a few major goals in my life, like buying my very own car. It’s fun and exciting to work towards these goals every day because I look into the future and can see that it will all be worth it in the end.

My parents were the best, they helped me so much at the beginning. If I didn’t have enough money to buy anymore stock mum would buy it for me and I’d pay her back by doing her eyelashes a few times. It was a win win, I got practice and she got eyelashes for a few weeks. Mum was one of the only ones that believed in my business becoming what it is. She never laughed or joked about it because she knew I loved doing what I did and she could see me going far! She never talked down about it because she saw all the work I put into it. She helped me with taxes and how to record everything and taught me most of that side of business as she has experience. If it wasn't for her support I don’t think I’d be where I am today.