We Are Located At:
1187 Upper Serangoon Road
#01-62 The Midtown
Singapore 533971
(5 mins walk from Hougang MRT Station)
Contact: +65 6909 0068/ 8221 3582
Email: hello@raeshabeauty.com
Website: www.raeshabeauty.com
In Business, Patience is an Exceptional Virtue
Beauty is a trait that women will always strive for, regardless of age. For this reason, the beauty industry is always constantly growing and booming. It was for this reason that Ms Ann decided to start Raesha Facial & Embroidery Beauty Salon in 1992, offering facial services, eyebrow embroidery, and sell their own line of in-house products, too.
“I felt that I could make clients more beautiful, and I enjoy making others beautiful and confident,” Ms Ann explains. The location also played a huge part in this decision, where they feel that Hougang is a good location for a beauty-oriented business. Indeed, there are a lot of beauty salons around Hougang Mall, she says, and the recent opening of the Midtown building gave her an opportunity to establish her salon in a new space.
Naturally, every business faces its fair share of obstacles, and Raesha Salon was no exception. During the difficult SARS period, Ms Ann recalls, they persevered through and kept their shop open, making sure to “take safety and hygienic precautions to make our customers feel as comfortable as possible, helping them to forget about SARS.”
From then on, it just became a good practice to have. Ms Ann focuses a lot on hygiene in the shop, as well as offering her customers a sense of trust. Honesty, to her, is really the best policy. “If I’m able to do something, I will tell the customer. But equally, if I can’t deliver, I will also let them know,” she explains. “If customer doesn’t have any problems, I don’t pretend there is one just to earn a quick buck.”
As a result, business has been good, and now they’ve separated into two shops, focusing on hair and beauty respectively. In the next three years, she adds, they intend to expand that to 10 shops. She is also hoping to make a name for her own line of in-house products.
Behind the scenes, Ms Ann and her daughter, Ms Alicia, have certainly sacrificed a lot to make this dream come true, working hard 7 days a week, 365 days a year. “We have no off days, as we need to cover our staff,” she elaborates. “And every day, we are constantly thinking how to improve ourselves and to innovate, to keep up with the times.”
This, however, has enabled the duo to earn the trust of their customers over the years, which in turn motivates them to work even harder for them.
Not surprisingly, to Ms Ann, patience is the greatest virtue a prospective business owner can have. “Don’t practise favouritism with yourself – accept the things you’ve done wrong,” she says. “Failure is the root of success.”
Ms Alicia also believes strongly in this. “It is important to have perseverance, but to listen to the opinions of others – don’t be caught up in the mindset that your opinions are always the best.”