By Karen Peattie

ENTREPRENEUR Becky Woodhouse has revealed that ambitions to operate at least 30 locations of her PURE Spa & Beauty business across the UK are on track – and that she is also targeting global growth.

Speaking on yesterday’s Go Radio Business Show with Hunter & Haughey, Ms Woodhouse praised Scotland’s entrepreneurial approach to business, its “peer-to-peer” structure and the willingness of business people to share their own experiences.

Asked by Sir Tom Hunter if she had benefited from networking with like-minded people, she said she was involved with various business groups and suggested that the size of Scotland’s business community made it easier to make useful connections.

“Scotland is a smaller community and everyone is happy to chat and help – and that is vital, especially in difficult times,” Ms Woodhouse said. “My industry is very female-led and there are a lot of smaller business owners who have their salon at home 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 when, actually, in the UK, it’s a £30 billion industry employing 600,000 people. When I’m filling in official forms, there is never a category for personal care – we come under ‘other’ and that annoys me.”

Ms Woodhouse told Sir Tom and Lord Willie Haughey that while Covid had been difficult for PURE Spa as it had been for other businesses – not least because she was stuck in Thailand during the first lockdown – she had successfully grown the firm, which started in Edinburgh’s Lothian Road 20 years ago.

“I started Covid with 15 locations and now have 20, even though we were shut down,” said the Norwich-born chartered accountant whose dream was always to start her own business.

It now operates UK-wide in locations including Glasgow, Aberdeen, Peebles, Perthshire and Hamilton as well as Coventry, Bristol, London, Peterborough and Brighton south of the Border.

PURE Spa’s story is one of “optimism and resilience”, Sir Tom stated in response to Ms Woodhouse's initial problems setting up the business when she was pregnant and struggling to source funding.

“I spent a lot of time in London and noticed places beginning to open where you could go for a treatment in your lunch hour,” she recalled, pointing out that 20 years ago there was nothing like that in Scotland or Edinburgh where she lived.

Working for PwC at the time, which agreed to let her work part-time to pursue her personal business ambitions, Ms Woodhouse approached about 15 banks before receiving backing from HSBC. “I’m still with them 20 years later,” she said, admitting that even with that support her business journey was far from plain sailing.

“Everything that possibly could go wrong did” – from issues with shopfitters to lack of resources which led to her trawling the streets of Edinburgh with her baby in the pram hand-delivering 10,000 leaflets. But the beauty salon did open – taking just £40 on the first day.

“It was a slow build but we did it then started selling gift vouchers which was good for cash flow and helped us build loyalty.”

After opening a few more locations and finding herself “run ragged” managing several outlets, Ms Woodhouse reappraised her business and put common structures and processes in place – deciding that she was “up for growing the business and my ambitions are global”.

The outlet in Glasgow’s West Nile Street, she said, “epitomises my vision for the company – it is accessible and a haven of tranquillity in the middle of the city”, adding: “You have a lovely experience and leave floating – that is our aim. When you walk out the door you have got to feel amazing.”

Asked what are her tips for success, Ms Woodhouse said: “You can spend all your time moaning about the Government and the economy but you have to find your way around that. You have to find solutions that might be the right ones but sometimes just making a decision and going with it is better than avoiding it.

“You have to take every day as it comes – every day is a different day and a new day and you have to try your best every single day.”

Asked what are her tips for success, Ms Woodhouse said: “You can spend all your time moaning about the Government and the economy but you have to find your way around that. You have to find solutions that might be the right ones but sometimes just making a decision and going with it is better than avoiding it.

“You have to take every day as it comes – every day is a different day and a new day and you have to try your best every single day.”

Ensuring your team is aligned to your goals is also crucial, she added. With three new outlets opening this year, Ms Woodhouse admitted she is still some way to realising her goal of 30 outlets and one million customers on the PURE Spa database but is confident her strategy and “amazing team” will ensure she gets there.