Meet Jessica, 24, from Birmingham. She owns and runs a mobile hairdressing business called The Hair Bears, which is for adults and children with additional needs. Find out about her life as a business owner. Part of our Bitesize world of work series.
Jessica:My name’s Jessica. I'm 24 years old and I run a specialist hairdressing service for adults and children with additional needs.I was always around my mum who's a hairdresser. I didn't really think it was the career for me and then one day, I went to the hairdressers with my auntie who has special needs and she really struggled with the hairdressers. The hairdressers didn't really welcome her and they made her feel uncomfortable. One day I was sitting down and thought we could make something that was targeted for people with special needs so that they would feel more comfortable and more welcomed into the hairdressing service and for it to be more fun for them. After doing my NVQ in hairdressing, I decided to do a double A-level in Health and Social Care. And it was during that time that after taking my auntie to the hairdressers and she really struggled, me and my mum decided to cut her hair at home. She found it much more comfortable. We decided to make it really fun, put all of her favourite things around her and it was after that we realised there were so many more people that would need this kind of service and it was then that the Hair Bears was born.
After having the idea for the business, I wanted to go to a specialist business academy. They helped me set up the start of the business, so the business plan and everything from how I would set up on Companies House.
So in the future, we hope to train other salons to enable them to be able to meet the needs of people who struggle to get their hair cut. We want them to be able to feel comfortable going into a salon, hopefully have some kind of directory where people can search salons that can be able to meet their needs as well. And also we would like to train colleges and future hairdressers, so they'll be able to deal with people with special needs, mobility problems, anyone who struggles to get their hair cut, so that anyone would be able to go and get their hair cut comfortably.
Everyone should feel comfortable when they’re getting their hair done.
- Despite Jessica's mum being a hairdresser, she didn't think it was a career for her until she visited a salon with her aunt
- Jessica's aunt has both learning and physical disabilities and found the experience of going to a hairdressers very stressful
- Unfortunately there was no salon specifically for people with additional needs and Jessica decided to set up her own business
- The business is a mobile service for adults and children with physical and learning disabilities
- Her GCSE in Childcare and A-level in Health and Social Care have helped her set up a safe, friendly environment for her clients
- In this job, Jessica needs to be flexible and empathic in order to meet the needs of different people - as well as using her hairdressing skills.
What to expect if you want to be a business owner
The salary and working hours when you own a business can vary enormously but what's most important is that you work hard and love what you do.
Working for yourself looks different for each person and each business, but in general it means you:
- run your own business and are responsible for its success
- can decide how, when and where you do your work
- charge an agreed, fixed price for your work
- sell goods or services to make a profit
- can hire people at your own expense to help you or to do the work for you.
You can be both employed and self-employed at the same time. You can work for your employer during the day, for example, and run your own business in the evenings and at weekends. It’s important to contact HMRC for advice if you’re not sure if you’re self-employed.
You can get help with setting up or developing your business, through the government’s business support services, for example, for advice about tax or about how to find funding to start your business.
This information is a guide (source: GOV.UK).
For careers advice in all parts of the UK visit: National Careers Service (England), nidirect (Northern Ireland), My World of Work (Scotland) and Careers Wales (Wales).
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