At 19, Kitty Godfrey found herself nearly AED 300,000 in debt after opening her first salon with no prior experience. What began as a high-risk decision with little planning ultimately paved the way for a successful and professional business built on helping others succeed in the same industry.

Although opening her first salon without any qualifications or experience was a significant risk, Kitty said she wouldn't be where she is today if she hadn't taken that step. Now, the former salon owner turned entrepreneur makes a living helping and mentoring other salon owners.

🔴 Paying off AED 300,000 in Debt

When she first started her salon business, she enthusiastically invested in new industry trends, something she later said she should have been more cautious about and waited to see how long those trends would last. She then fell into debt, which accumulated more and more as she continued to invest in her business. At one point, the debts piled up, leaving her with £65,000 (AED 319,000) in debt.

"Not paying it off was never an option. I set myself a five-year goal to pay it off completely, and that's exactly what I did," she said. In addition to financial investment in her business, the entrepreneur and salon mentor invested heavily in her time, using it to build the business and learn everything she needed to know to progress, which ultimately paid off.

Kitty's turning point as an entrepreneur was working on the business, not in it. "When I started getting clients and building a team, I saw money start coming in more consistently. But the real turning point was when I stepped out of working in the business and started working on developing the business," she explained.

"That was a huge turning point for me. Changing my role in the business was one of the best decisions I made, and it led to significant growth across the salon chain, training academies, and my product line."

🔴 Lessons Learned Along the Way

Kitty said she made some big mistakes, but in hindsight, those mistakes proved necessary to build the career she has today. The first was opening a salon without any clients and with zero knowledge of how to run a business, which made it even more difficult given that she was in debt.

"However, I had no option but to keep going and learn how to build a business, otherwise I would have gone bankrupt," she said.

Another key lesson came from becoming a leader for her employees. "I had no boundaries and just wanted people to like me, but as we grew, that didn't work. Through my mistakes, I learned how to become a great leader, which led me to manage over 45 team members across multiple branches, and now I help my clients with their teams as well," she confessed.

Kitty added, "After 16 years of owning a chain of salons, my newest and biggest risk was putting everything into the business coaching space. I was no longer passionate about running my own salons and wanted to focus on helping others build theirs."

Today, the beauty business entrepreneur is an author, podcast host, and even a judge for major beauty awards. She has been recognized with accolades including "Beauty & Aesthetics Business Strategist of the Year" at the Corporate Vision Global Business Awards and has founded award-winning salons, training academies across the UK, and a professional product line sold internationally.