My Business Journey, Chapter 2: Sleeping Babies and Homemade Price Lists
In Chapter 1: A Baby, a Beauty Couch and a New Beginning, I shared how a twist of fate brought me my first clients. This next chapter is about what happened when our family grew and that little home beauty business began to feel rather more serious.
Welcome to Chapter 2 of My Business Journey, the story behind Karen Alexandra Beauty and Well-Being in Tonbridge. There was still no grand business plan, but there were sleeping babies, homemade price lists and a great deal of teamwork. In Chapter 3: A Permanent Home, I’ll share how a growing client list led us to create a more permanent treatment space.
Two babies and a business to fit around family life
As I admitted in the first chapter, I began with a need to contribute to the family budget rather than a great ambitious dream. As our family grew, my husband Paul and I decided to wait and see whether baby Will would settle into a good sleep routine.
We had been so lucky with Alex that we had almost taken her amazing sleep patterns for granted. Looking back, I can hardly believe I used to book clients in for facials while she slept. She really was that reliable!
Thankfully, Will settled into the routine we had worked out around both of our work patterns. I treated clients around Paul’s shifts, and he took on the unenviable task of keeping the children as quiet as possible while I carried out treatments in another room.
Getting serious, one homemade price list at a time
Once we had the babies organised, we decided it was time to get serious with this little business of mine. Our first step was a slightly more professional-looking price list.
Although “professional” might be a generous description! I designed it myself, printed it on our home printer, cut it with our little guillotine, and then Paul and I folded the copies together.
Happily, it was Paul’s idea to take photographs of that time. I’m so pleased he did. It is lovely to look back: the children upstairs in their little beds while we worked on growing the business, little knowing where it would lead us.
Posting price lists through doors in North Tonbridge
I began posting those price lists through as many doors in North Tonbridge as we could manage. Can you tell I used to work for Jo Malone?
And what was I thinking with that font? I’m surprised anyone could read it!
Do you remember this? Those local ladies who took a chance on me became such an important part of the business, and many continued as clients over the years.
Word of mouth and a growing client list
Little by little, client numbers increased. Friends I had met through having babies joined my list, and word spread around the neighbourhood.
It was still very much a family effort: appointments fitted around shifts, children and everything else that comes with a busy home. But those small steps were helping the business grow beyond that first handful of clients.
When the living room was no longer enough
As the business grew, it became harder to keep transforming our living room into a treatment room every evening. Removing every trace of baby toys and family life was not much fun, and the arrangement was no longer as easy or appropriate as it had been at the beginning.
It was time to think about a more permanent workspace. That is where the next chapter begins.
Read all 12 chapters of My Business Journey
- Chapter 1: A Baby, a Beauty Couch and a New Beginning
- Chapter 2: Sleeping Babies and Homemade Price Lists (you’re here)
- Chapter 3: A Permanent Home
- Chapter 4: Discovering the Skincare Range That Shaped My Business
- Chapter 5: Finding Clients and Keeping Them
- Chapter 6: The Ultimate Juggling Act
- Chapter 7: The Pivot, Finding My Niche
- Chapter 8: The COVID Years
- Chapter 9: A New World After COVID
- Chapter 10: A Family Affair
- Chapter 11: A Huge Change
- Chapter 12: On into the Future!
Previously: Chapter 1: A Baby, a Beauty Couch and a New Beginning.
Continue the story in Chapter 3: A Permanent Home.
Explore Karen Alexandra Beauty today
From homemade leaflets to the business you see today, it has been quite a journey. Visit Karen Alexandra Beauty to explore skincare, makeup and wellbeing favourites, with personal advice from me in Tonbridge.
Thank you for reading and for being part of the story.
Karen xxx
Written by Karen Sochon
