Why the beauty business isn’t always pretty

The beauty business isn’t always pretty. Sometimes, it’s as tough as leathery skin long before it smooths out the wrinkles.

Entrepreneur Jaaminique Mooi knows all about the going getting tough, but she’s also the kind of tough that gets going (apologies to Billy Ocean).

Building confidence has become Mooi’s business, but building the business also demanded just as much resilience as many of the clients walking through her doors needed to win back their own.

There was a time when the owner of Revive Skin and Body Clinic in Waterfall, Midrand, wondered whether the business would make it through another month.

Cash flow was tight; stock was difficult to keep on the shelves, and the first thousand days of owning the clinic proved every bit as difficult as other entrepreneurs had warned her they would be.

Today, Revive has grown into a two-branch business, but Mooi said what clients see today was built on years of uncertainty, tough decisions and more than a few calculated risks.

“I thought buying the clinic would be the hard part,” Mooi said. “What I didn’t realise was that keeping it alive would test me every day.”

She bought an existing aesthetics practice after an unexpected conversation with a supplier at the company she worked for at the time, rebranded it, and set out to conquer. This, despite owning a business never really forming part of a carefully mapped-out career plan.

Days became like rinse and repeat

The opportunity arrived just after she had prayed for a breakthrough, because every day felt like rinse and repeat.

“You know that look when someone’s there, but just not present. That was me,” she said. “The next day the rep mentioned there was a clinic for sale. Something inside me immediately said this was what I was supposed to do.”

Aesthetics had already become a passion while working at her day job, where she discovered that treating skin conditions could change far more than a person’s appearance.

Having struggled with her own skin while growing up, she understood the damage poor skin could do to confidence.

“I know what it feels like when you’re uncomfortable in your own skin,” she said. “Helping someone walk out feeling confident again is what made me fall in love with this industry.”

Reality, however, bit hard after taking ownership. Although the clinic was attracting clients, the finances were under constant pressure, and every decision she made would decide whether it lived or died.

“I went into business without fully understanding what cash flow could do to you,” she said. “You can be busy every day and still lie awake wondering how you’re going to pay for everything.”

Then came the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Although the clinic continued treating medically classified conditions such as acne and pigmentation where regulations allowed, the uncertainty made an already difficult period even harder.

It was only well after the pandemic that the business finally began gathering momentum.

The first thousand days are a nightmare

Of course, momentum eventually led to expansion, although even that required another leap of faith.

When the opportunity arose to open a second branch, Mooi signed the lease before she knew where the money would come from.

“People think that’s reckless,” she said. “I saw it differently. I knew where I wanted the business to go, and I believed the rest would fall into place.”

The gamble paid off, though, and moved her one step closer to living her passion.

“When someone looks in the mirror and smiles again, that’s success for me,” she said. “You can see how much lighter they feel.”

Aesthetics is a people business, not just for clients but also for the staff that entrepreneurs rely on.

And Mooi said that she knows what it feels like to work for someone else, and her experience working for someone else continues to influence how she leads her own team.

“I want people to feel respected and valued because I know what it feels like when you aren’t, she said.

She said people often admire a successful business without appreciating what happens behind the scenes.

“Clients see beautiful treatment rooms and a brand that’s growing,” she said. “They don’t see the planning, the pressure and the responsibility that goes into making sure everyone gets paid and the business is still here next month.”

Although every entrepreneur worries about failing, Mooi said fear has never been enough to keep her going.

“I don’t chase money,” she said. “I chase the idea of building something that lasts.”