And the winner is…
Barrie Stephen, of salon group Barrie Stephen Hair, took a few minutes away from his busy salon in Kings Street, Leicester to speak to us about what winning the Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 award meant to him and about his future plans for the business
What did it mean to you to win the award?
“The award win meant a great deal to me. It was fantastic to be recognised not only as a hairdresser but as a business person as well. For many years people’s perception of hairdressing was very different compared to what it is now and so it was a great achievement for someone in the industry to be recognised as a credible business.
I also felt that Entrepreneur of the Year was probably the biggest award to get.
Winning the award has also opened up lots of doors and opportunities for me both within the industry and professionally and I now regularly get asked to be a guest speaker at events.
We’ve also had a lot of press around the award and have been great at shouting about it ourselves and linking everything we have done to it – I think everybody must now know that Barrie Stephens Hair won this award!”
Where are you now?
“We are currently a three salon group but we are opening number four and possibly even number five next year. The magic number for us is six salons and then after that the plan is to start franchising them to our managers”.
What’s the secret of your success?
“As a lot of people would say it’s about having all of the right ingredients including dedication, passion, drive, focus, commitment, enthusiasm and the team. It’s also caring and making the right choices. We have a successful, tried and tested formula which everyone in the organisation is aware of and works to. It’s a culture.”
What was your greatest challenge?
“The dream was always to not just be an ordinary salon but to be one which created a team of people who are dedicated to their art, passionate and driven like me. It was also to be recognised and to have a high profile within the industry in London. Our plan is very much to be the number one, premier hair dressing salon group in the midlands and then nationally.
The on-going challenges we face are keeping and maintaining standards, making sure the team has the best education and development possible and giving that red carpet, gorgeous service to every client who comes in!”
What does the future hold for Barrie Stephen Hair?
“Hungry and wanting more!”
Click here to see what essential business services Vantis offers for entrepreneurs
Click here to go to the Barrie Stephen Hair website