A beautician who started her own business by doing people’s nails for £5 now runs a successful salon.
Taylor McMullan, a 23 year-old from Wallasey, runs By Taylor Jade. The salon is popular in the area and is packed with returning and new customers.
Taylor had always carried an interest in beauty and nail work when growing up but never considered it as a career path. She argued that working in beauty carried a taboo at the time which made her wary to pursue her passion.
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It wasn’t until she decided that studying law at university wasn’t for her that she began to look into it as a full-time occupation. Taylor said: “It’s such a big industry now but six years ago it wasn't that big. Anyone who did beauty, it was like, ‘you've dropped out of school’.”
She added: “I was so scared to do it. I remember saying to my mum, ‘I want to really do something else, I’m not happy.’”
Taylor threw herself into her beauty apprenticeship, with learning more about the trade occupying her mind constantly. She said: “When I came home, I was doing all my friend’s nails. For Christmas, I’d never ask for presents, just courses, lessons or anything to do with nails.”
Aged 18, Taylor began to think about opening her business, and was eventually persuaded to do so by her mum Zoe Hopson, who also works in the beauty industry. Though she had expertise to draw on and could live at home, it was still a risk.
Taylor said: “I started off with nothing, no clients. I was offering £5 for a set of nails just to build myself up.” A year after starting, lockdown hit, providing another challenge.
However, she quickly innovated and changed her business model, making press-on nails and sending them out by post to customers nationwide. Taylor said: “I was sitting at my dining table all day, making nails and posting them out to customers. After about a year, I was fully booked, which was more down to word of mouth than social media.”
Taylor has since reverted back to her original model, and now her salon in Wallasey is packed with clients who come back so regularly she considers them friends. She also offers training to aspiring beauticians in the area.
Going forward, Taylor plans to open up another salon with her mum, who also wants to start training the next generation. She believes the beauty apprenticeship she trained on was limited, and was often just her doing menial tasks at other salons.
Taylor said: “I want to hire my own people, do my own apprenticeships and give back to all the young girls and train them up properly.” She believes that perceptions of working in beauty have now changed, with those doing it now looked up to by others.
Reflecting on her journey, she is grateful that she decided to take that plunge and work in an industry she was so passionate about. Taylor said: “It was such a risk that I took but honestly I'm so glad I've done it. I’m very proud of myself for how far I've come. I didn’t think I’d ever be as big as this.”
She added: “I had a little girl last year. I was panicking thinking I was gonna lose out on clients, but everyone's stuck with me.”
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