By Karen Peaty
Entrepreneur Becky Woodhouse has revealed ambitions to run at least 30 locations of her PURE Spa & Beauty business across the UK are on track – and she’s also targeting global growth.
Speaking on Go Radio Business with Hunter & Haughey yesterday, Mrs Woodhouse praised Scotland’s entrepreneurial approach to business, its “peer to peer” structure and the willingness of business people to share their experiences.
Asked if he had benefited from networking with like-minded people, Sir Tom Hunter said he was involved with various business groups and suggested the size of Scotland’s business community made it easier to make useful connections.
Ms Woodhouse said: “Scotland is a smaller society and everyone is happy to talk and help – and that’s vital, especially when times are tough.” “My industry is very female-led and there are a lot of smaller business owners who have their own salon or are mobile. It can be quite a lonely existence, so I try to help.
I also do a bit of government lobbying as I feel our industry is often overlooked, in fact in the UK it is a £30 billion industry employing 600,000 people. “When I fill out the official forms, there’s never a category for personal care – we go under ‘other’ and that annoys me.”
Ms Wodehouse told Sir Tom and Lord Willie Haughey that while Covid had been as hard on PURE Spa as any other business – particularly because it was stuck in the first lockdown in Thailand – she had successfully launched the company she started in Edinburgh. grew Lothian Road 20 years ago.
The Norwich-born chartered accountant, whose dream has always been to start his own business, said: “I started Covid with 15 locations and now I have 20 even though we were closed.”
It now operates across the UK in locations including Glasgow, Aberdeen, Peebles, Perthshire and Hamilton, as well as Coventry, Bristol, London, Peterborough and Brighton south of the border.
Responding to Ms Woodhouse’s initial difficulties in setting up the business while she was pregnant and struggling to secure funding, Sir Tom said the PURE Spa story is one of “optimism and resilience”.
He recalls that 20 years ago there was nothing like it in Scotland or Edinburgh, where he lived: “I spent a lot of time in London and I noticed that places were starting to open up where you could get treatment. Go there on your lunch hour.
Ms Woodhouse, then working for PwC, which agreed to let her work part-time to pursue her business ambitions, contacted around 15 banks before securing support from HSBC. “I’m still with them after 20 years,” he said.
“Anything that could go wrong” – from problems with shopkeepers to a lack of resources led to her trawling the streets of Edinburgh with her baby in a pram, handing out 10,000 leaflets. But the beauty salon opened – received only 40 pounds on the first day.
“It was slow to build but we did it and then we started selling gift vouchers which was good for cash flow and helped us build loyalty.”
After opening a few more locations and finding herself “different” managing multiple branches, Ms Woodhouse reassessed her business and put common structures and processes in place – deciding she was “ready for business growth and ambitions “I am universal”.
The outlet on Glasgow’s West Nile Street, he said, “recognizes my vision for the company – it’s accessible and a haven of peace in the middle of the city”, adding: “You have a lovely experience and you leave the float – it’s That’s us. The goal. You should feel amazing when you walk out the door.”
Asked what her tips for success were, Ms Woodhouse said: “You can spend all your time whining about the government and the economy, but you have to find a way around it. You have to find solutions. Which may be the right solutions, but sometimes it’s better to just make a decision and go with it than to avoid it.
“You have to take each day as it comes – every day is a different day and a new day and you have to do your best every day.”
Asked what her tips for success were, Ms Woodhouse said: “You can spend all your time whining about the government and the economy, but you have to find a way around it. You have to find solutions. Which may be the right solutions, but sometimes it’s better to just make a decision and go with it than to avoid it.
“You have to take each day as it comes – every day is a different day and a new day and you have to do your best every day.”
Making sure your team is aligned with your goals is also important, he added. With three new branches opening this year, Ms Woodhouse admits she still has a way to go to reach her target of 30 branches and one million customers on the PURE Spa database, but is confident her strategy and “amazing team” will ensure she reaches This goal will be achieved.
