Success Stories: Peak Perfections

Former mature student and mum of two Julie Settle graduated with a Bsc in Health Related Studies from Leeds Metropolitan University in July 2004. Needing to dictate her own working hours around looking after her children she had a desire to be her own boss.

Working part time as a personal trainer at Peak Physique Julie also wanted to start up a Beauty Salon business. Having ten years experience from co-owning a gym with her former husband, Julie had extensive knowledge of the leisure industry and to diversify her skills further she had undertaken a course in Beauty Therapy at the Thomas Danby College in Leeds.

Lacking the confidence to do it alone wasn’t going to stop her and so Julie teamed up with Diane Royal, a fellow student from her course. Giving her the final push before starting up, Julie attended Business Start-Up @ Leeds Met’s Annual Entrepreneurial Summer School in 2004.

Despite overhead costs being minimal she needed advice on finance. Martyn Robertson, Head of Business Start-Up @ Leeds Met, advised her at the Summer School “…you may only be a small operation but you need to raise your prices to cover the cost of all the training you’ve done and your University course”.

Benefiting from the advice on marketing and the pricing of her services at the Summer School Julie’s business ‘Peak Perfections’ has gone from strength to strength.

Julie says “I learnt to promote the new business more by word of mouth in all my gym classes and I put the prices up. We started with just four days a week between us in the Salon but now, just six months on, we have extended to five. I also now offer classes for 13-16 year olds after school twice a week – an idea I had and got help with at the Summer School”.