Elizabeth Salter from The Kind Living Salon is our special guest today. You might be thinking, Kind living salon? Yes. Elizabeth is an advocate for being kind to yourself which in turn leads you to be kind to others and the world. The salon is a beauty and a holistic service provider for the vegan and wholefood-lifestyle kind of people. She’s keen to know all of her suppliers personally and gets to learn what’s included in the products she gets. In this episode, she opens up about the challenges she faced when starting the business, who her ideal client is, and how she’s changing the industry one organic product at a time.
Facebook – The Kind Living Salon Facebook Page.
Instagram – Kind Living Salon Instagram.
About The Kind Living Salon
The Kind Living Salon is based in North Somerset. It’s a beauty and a holistic service provider that is 100% vegan, natural, and organic and nearly getting to 100% sustainable. My purpose is to provide an inclusive hub. I’d like to have an environment that is more than just beauty therapy services and holistic-like services but where there would be well-being, nutrition, lifestyle choices and a nature perfect care. I don’t think this is going to be called a trend for a long time but rather a movement because people will realize they can’t keep doing what they’re doing the same way they’re doing it. I work with suppliers who tick all of my boxes; chemical free, natural, organic, sustainable vegan etc. However, it’s quite hard to find high end sustainable products.
What is your business superpower?
In the beginning I wrote down two things and the first one is kindness to oneself encourages kindness to others. From this, the superpower that I’m sharing is if you’re kind to you and you’re okay, you’re more likely to be okay and be kind to people and animals. This is because you’ll start engaging with your brain more, you’ll care more, and it’s not overwhelming at this point. The second thing is feeling good whilst doing some good. Everyone gets a buzz when they do something good.
How does The Kind Living Salon engage its suppliers, staff, and customers with your mission and purpose?
I align my ethical beliefs and values with my work but that doesn’t mean everybody else has to. If we isolate people because they don’t share our values, I don’t feel we share education. I engage with people through social media and I do a lot of networking, workshops, and community projects trying to reach out. Just recently, I did a workshop with my supplier, Pink and Green. She was the guest speaker talking about why it’s important to use natural and organic products on your skin. However, I don’t think I’ve quite hit the nail on the head with sharing what I do, where I am, and who I am but I am getting there.
What has been your biggest struggle so far when it comes to running an ethical and sustainable business and how have you overcome it?
There’s a practical struggle and emotional struggle. The practical struggle is the finances like costs. Certainly, if you’re transitioning, i.e. with set up and then you’re going into making ethical choices, then depending on what that means, depends on how much money you’re going to need to do that because everything will have a cost attached to it no matter what. Emotional struggle is the one you have to listen to more even if you have to do things in small steps. If you’re moving in the right direction, and that aligns your values with your work, then that’s only going to be a good thing because the outcome benefits you, your clients, your business, the planet, and the animals. My initial barrier was that I had a lot of old stock where I could have used or worked my clients on but I felt that there would be an element of dishonesty so I made the switch really slowly. I was honest about what I had and where I wanted to be and my clients were so receptive to that.
What’s the best way we can connect with you and learn more?
As mentioned, Facebook, which I find is a really good business tool. I also have a private group as well as a page. There’s a website coming in soon as well.
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