A bold beginning for Salon Smart 2014

A sold out Salon Smart, in association with Goldwell and KMS California, started in bullish fashion with a welcome from Creative HEAD publisher Catherine Handcock telling salon owners and managers that faster and cheaper is not the option for business growth and customer loyalty.

First up were digital entrepreneur Nancy Cruickshank and The Telegraph magazine beauty editor, Kate Shapland, founders of MyShowcase. Described as “Avon meets Space NK”, the two discussed championing smaller brands, offering entrepreneurial opportunities for women passionate about beauty, and the power of social shopping, where fun and sales go hand in hand.

Winning everyone’s hearts was Most Wanted Business Thinker, Caroline Sanderson. The Ego Hair Design salon owner had everyone captivated as she shared her no-holds-barred tale of a catalogue of mistakes that left her owing £11,000 to the taxman and no salon manager. Her message? Turn problems into the solutions, and she shared her obsession with mindset and marketing as the key to success. Today, she¹s on the verge of opening her third salon, runs an online training academy called Salon Jedi, and has unveiled a diffusion salon
brand, Hair Heroes. And that was all in the first 90 minutes­ – what a way to kick start Salon Smart 14!