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Entrepreneur’s daughter, fashion college graduate and one-time Tatler assistant Thea Green explains how, with nothing in the bank, she walked away from the career treadmill to launch a new type of beauty salon. This is how she, co-founder of Nails Inc, did it. Text by Fanny Johnstone
Thea Green is immaculately turned out. With her sleek blonde hair, neatly polished nails and vintage designer style, she’s a proud ambassador for aesthetic perfectionism. Happily, though, this dauntingly flawless exterior is counter balanced by a direct approach, a rollicking sense of humour and indisputable London savvy. But as an ex-fashion editor on Tatler and co- founder of Nails Inc – which, after only four years, has an annual turnover of £4.5million – who would have expected anything less? And 'why expect anything less?’ was exactly what Green wondered when during her Tatler days she went to New York for Fashion
Week and discovered that American women could have manicures in 15 minutes and for only $10.
“I thought, well, if New York girls can have their manicures in less time and for less money, then why shouldn’t London girls? At that time, for many women in London the price of a manicure at around £25 was prohibitive, and you had to book ages in advance. I just didn’t see why we couldn’t have a walk-in system, where women would be in and out in under half an hour, leaving enough time in their lunch hour to do some shopping and grab a sandwich.
“And the more I walked around
Manhattan, the more I realised that nail bars were just about everywhere in the city. I’d walk down a street and see fifteen of them with neon signs flashing 'Nails, Nails, Nails’. I suddenly realised that in America nail bars were as common as coffee bars. And if coffee bars had been successfully imported to Britain, then why couldn’t I do the same with nail salons?”
Four years after opening their first nail bar in South Molton Street, Nails Inc now has 30 concessions around the country, employing 200 people. (However, when easyJet In-flight rang Nails Inc to enquire about manicure prices, we were informed that the very cheapest option would cost £22, which is still, for most, fairly “prohibitive”.) It’s a good thing, then, that the chain has found popularity with a host of celebrity clients, including Jennifer Lopez, Atomic Kitten, Kylie, Jerry Hall and Elizabeth Jagger. Quite how affordable Nails Inc is for ordinary folk is not so certain, nor does the 'walk-in’ thing appear to be as easy as it sounds. (“No space today,” we were told.)
But, maybe, if Green had stuck with her goal of offering dollar- priced value, the chain might not be running the massive profit it does today. “When I tell people I run a nail bar business,” Green laughs, “some still presume I’ve only got one salon and ask if I can come do their wife’s nails at home.”
The daughter of a workaholic entrepreneur, Green’s in-bred work ethic, together with her innate sense of style, her self-confidence and the conviction that if you work really hard you can achieve anything, has always propelled her rapidly into the positions she’s coveted. While studying at the London College of Fashion, she did work experience at The Daily Mail as a fashion assistant. When her Daily Mail boss moved to Tatler, Green moved with her. As luck would have it, a vacancy as fashion assistant at Tatler came up, and Green walked straight into a coveted junior editorial position.
“I booked photographers and models, dealt with PR and supported my editor on shoots. But, mainly, I was chained to the fashion cupboard. I’ve always been ambitious, though, and although I was doing well at Tatler, I wanted to do more.”
When Green returned from New York Fashion Week in 1999, she visited her friend Marie-Terese and shared her nail bar business idea. Marie-Terese, who worked in advertising and often travelled to the US, said that she had had exactly the same idea, and the two realised that lots of other people probably had too. “But the vital difference,” says Green, “is that we got going on it immediately.”
THE TIMING WAS EVERYTHING. IF WE HADN’T DONE IT RIGHT THEN, THERE’S NO DOUBT THAT SOME ONE ELSE WOULD HAVE.
They arranged to meet again and both started casually scribbling down ideas. They talked about the basics of the business: it had to be affordable so that everyone, from a receptionist to an MD, could afford it, and there had to be the option of either pre- booked appointments or instant walk-in manicures. They realised that having a manicure should be like buying coffee at Starbucks, a mini-luxury that most could afford.
The two women used their free evenings and weekends to explore all the angles before finally beginning to form a business plan. Marie-Terese started doing market research and the feedback they got was excitingly positive. From there, the project started to take on a life of its own. “The timing was everything. If we hadn’t done it right then, there’s no doubt that someone else would have,” says Green.
The pair decided that they wanted to create their own brand of nail products. They invented a range that could accommodate the 15-minute manicure – the same 15-minute manicure that industry insiders, from beauticians to manufacturers, had said was impossible. Having produced a quick-drying undercoat, nail varnish and topcoat to assist the process, they trained and retrained their manicurists until they could do it themselves.
“We decided to brand all our products with very British names to define ourselves as a British institution. For example, a bright red nail varnish might be called 'Manchester’, after Manchester United’s football shirts, or a hand cream named 'Belgravia Hand Cream’, to reflect its super-rich quality. Meanwhile, a branding company came up with the name 'Nails Inc’.”
But the hard part was paying the mounting bills (the corporate identity, the bottles, the caps) before securing any investment. “The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life was raise money for the business. All the venture capital houses turned us down, but we had such a strong business plan I’m convinced they didn’t take us seriously because we didn’t have a dotcom after our name; they kept on asking us how we were going to do this over the Internet! And whereas some of the dotcom companies were promising £10m return in the first year, ours was just a typical business plan. We knew that we’d lose money in the first year, break even in the second and make a reasonable profit in the third. I know some of the businesses those VCs gave money to, and 90% of the dotcom companies have all gone bust.
“We eventually raised money through small investors. Everywhere we went, both of us were constantly asking “Do you know anyone who will invest?” And although some agreed and signed on the dotted line, no one had actually given us any cash.”
But they eventually got an unsecured loan from NatWest. Although the loan meant the two founders didn’t have to personally fund losses, if the business had failed they would have lost credibility with both the investors and the banks. “Everyone in the industry told us not to do it because we both had great jobs with high-earning career paths,” says Green.
But after months of working their day jobs and then working until midnight and all weekend on Nails Inc they finally resigned, four weeks before they opened their first store in South Molton Street, in November 1999. Incredibly, it had been only four months since they had first had the idea. Since then, they’ve opened 30 stores nationwide and at most of Britain’s top department stores, including Fenwick’s, Harrods and TopShop.
“Undoubtedly, the best feeling is seeing a new store filling up on its opening day. When a new customer walks in and asks for the products and services by their actual names, that’s when I feel so proud because I know we’ve hit the spot.”
Apart from her wedding day, there’s no doubt in Green’s mind that the best two days of her life were when the South Molton Street store opened and when they won the coveted Achiever Award at the Cosmetic Executive Women Awards.
“It’s like the Oscars of the beauty industry. It was mad because we hadn’t realised that it was going to be such a big deal, so we were ill-prepared in every way. We’d pitched up after a gruelling day at work and we didn’t even know that we’d been nominated! It was very embarrassing when we had to go up and collect our award dressed in our work clothes. When I got home, I woke my husband and bounced around clutching this funny vase.”
The success of Nails Inc has spawned a whole range of competitive nail bars, which – as long as the New York-style $12 manicure still remains elusive – provides high-maintenance (and high-earning) British women with an outlet for their grooming woes. But Green still lives a relatively modest life. “I pay myself and my staff decent wages, but all the rest of the money goes back into the business. I still worry about it all the time and frequently work 12-hour days, so I can’t imagine a time when I’ll sit back and say 'Phew. Well done, Thea. You’ve made it.’
But my husband Nick and I are expecting our first child at New Year, so maybe that’ll slow me down. But only for a short time. Then the baby and the business can grow-up together.”
FIVE THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN BEFORE I STARTED
1. Starting a new business takes over your life.
2. It always takes longer than you think to be successful. However long you think it’ll take, double it.
3. Having a great team around you is of utmost importance. You can’t do it by yourself.
4. Learning how to invest in good people and good systems early on can save you a lot of money and heartache.
5. Delegate to the person you’ve learnt to trust.
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