“I started my business when I was 16, I’m 23 this year,” said Regal Beauty Co owner Elizabeth Jayne, who started her business and moved out of her home around the same time. For her, the business was born out of necessity. Today it is a thriving salon and retail shop. Around 2021, Jayne says she rebranded her business removing makeup and focusing on lashes and brows. “Because of COVID with no events, people didn’t need their makeup done, it was dying off and they were getting good at doing it on their own.”
Leveraging social media to extend the brand
Regal Beauty Co currently has a storefront in Wyong, Australia, and customers will come from as far as Sydney, nearly an hour and a half drive in order to have their lashes and brows done.
Jayne says social media has played a big part in the growth of Regal Beauty Co and reinforcing the recent rebrand. She started making TikToks to promote the business at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as she posted frequently, some even went viral. “One video just went off and got like 17.5 million views or something. It was wild. I think I grew overnight to 50K [followers]. It was insane,” said Jayne. Whether posts gain traction or not, they all serve a purpose. Some might be to showcase the business, others to educate potential or returning customers. She has also experimented with Instagram and other platforms, but says she’s not having as much success as she once did.
Jayne focuses on creating an omnichannel experience so that whether her clients find her on social media or through word of mouth, the experience is consistent for all her customers. She leverages Square to create a seamless checkout experience for her customers, offering payment options like Afterpay and contactless payments. “My clients love it because I spin it it [Square Stand] around to them, easy access, and they can select whether they want a receipt. Half of them don’t even want a receipt these days, they don’t have to worry about having paper and losing it,” she said. Many of her clients opt for an email or text message instead.
Hiring staff for a growing business
Often a salon will operate as a chair rental salon where the owner acts similarly to a landlord, renting out chairs and booths to individual stylists who set their own rates and appointments. They may also run a commission-based salon, much like a traditional small business, where the owner hires stylists as employees and sets the rates, appointments, and schedules. Regal Beauty Co operates in a way that combines those two concepts: on one hand, Jayne has tenants from related businesses she rents to, and on the other she has an employee of her own for the salon.
After regularly working a minimum of 50-hour weeks with clients, Jayne decided it was time to hire staff. After two years of working solo, she is looking to grow her team and scale the business. She hopes to open up new locations in the future, potentially in Sydney and Newcastle.
“I already have my first employee,” said Jayne, who currently rents out space in her building to other business owners.
Eventually she’d like to have a separate salon for her team while maintaining the current concept of a space with related businesses near each other. She sees this as a connection hub for herself and the other business owners. “I have a two-story salon so I’ve got three rooms upstairs. One is my office and the other two I’ve rented out to beauty and wellness-related businesses — so I have a cosmetic injector and spiritual healing lady as well,” she said, adding that they have referral programs and cross-promotional marketing between their businesses since they have similar clientele.
Putting mentorship first
Having a seamless and integrated system has helped her manage in-store appointments, payments, and online offerings. “I do online master classes at the moment. I’m working on doing online courses as well,” Jayne said, adding that she also runs in-person training.
Jayne’s goal is to grow her salon’s storefronts, training, and the retail side of the business, extending her beauty shop offerings. She hopes to expand locations, and eventually create a space that is both a training centre and a beauty supply store.
