Redefining Beauty Standards with Naomi Browner

BBB Team

Building a successful business means knowing when to adapt, trusting your values and creating an environment where your team can thrive. It also means recognising that growth isn't always about doing more yourself, but about building a business that can operate without relying on you every day.

In this episode of The Business Owners Podcast, host Clive Enever sits down with Naomi Browner, founder of Bare Beauty House, to explore her journey through entrepreneurship, changing business models and creating a values-driven hair and beauty salon.

From opening her first salon in her early twenties to launching Bare Beauty House during the uncertainty of 2020, Naomi shares how she has navigated business challenges, motherhood, staffing changes and evolving industry expectations.

Naomi discusses the importance of hiring for personality and work ethic, empowering employees through flexibility, understanding your business numbers and staying true to your values. She also explains how her commitment to low-tox beauty treatments has helped differentiate her salon while creating a more conscious approach to hair and beauty services.

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Hire for Personality and Work Ethic, Not Just Skills

Naomi believes finding the right people is one of the most important decisions a business owner can make. While technical skills can be developed through training, personality, attitude and work ethic are much harder to change. Hiring people who share your values creates stronger communication, encourages collaboration and helps build a workplace culture that naturally attracts your ideal customers.

Build a Business That Doesn't Depend on You

When Naomi opened Bare Beauty House, she knew she wanted to spend more time working on the business rather than constantly delivering services herself. With a team of 10 and systems that support daily operations, she can now manage much of the business remotely while spending time with her family. Her experience highlights the importance of creating a business model that supports your lifestyle and long-term goals.

Stay True to Your Values and Be Willing to Pivot

Naomi's commitment to low-tox hair and beauty treatments began with her first salon, but she initially experienced resistance from customers. When she launched Bare Beauty House, she chose to fully embrace those values, creating a full-service salon focused on reducing chemical exposure while still delivering results-driven treatments. By aligning her services with the needs and priorities of her community, she developed a clearer business identity.

Give Your Team Flexibility While Maintaining Accountability

As more hairdressers choose self-employment and flexible working arrangements, Naomi has adapted her approach to managing staff. Her salon combines employees with independent chair renters, while offering team members greater control over their schedules. By establishing clear expectations, KPIs and performance targets, she creates an environment where flexibility and accountability can work together.

Understand Your Numbers and Prioritise What Matters

Naomi emphasises the importance of understanding business finances, performance indicators and operational systems. With guidance from mentors and business advisers, she developed greater confidence in managing the financial side of her salon. She also uses a simple daily productivity approach, identifying three important tasks, often covering finances, communication and systems, to maintain focus and make meaningful progress.

Naomi's Advice for Business Owners

Choose the Right People for Your Business: Prioritise personality, work ethic and shared values when hiring. Technical skills are important, but a team that genuinely connects with your business vision can make daily operations and long-term growth much easier.
Embrace Change and Learn to Pivot: Business rarely follows a predictable path. When circumstances change, focus on what you can control, adjust your approach and continue moving forward rather than becoming overwhelmed by uncertainty.
Create Flexibility with Clear Expectations: Give your team opportunities to take ownership of their schedules and responsibilities while maintaining clear performance standards. Trust, communication and accountability help create a workplace where people feel supported and motivated.
Make Time for Yourself and Focus on Your Priorities: Running a business alongside personal responsibilities requires boundaries. Identify your three most important tasks each day, tackle challenging priorities early and protect time for your own wellbeing.

The Bottom Line

A successful business should support the life you want to create, not consume every moment of it. By building the right team, understanding your numbers, staying true to your values and embracing flexibility, you can create a business that grows without depending entirely on your personal involvement.

Your Next Step

Take a closer look at how your business operates and identify opportunities to create more freedom, flexibility and focus.

Review Your Responsibilities: Write down the tasks you currently handle and identify one responsibility that could be delegated, streamlined or supported by better systems.
Evaluate Your Team and Culture: Consider whether your current working arrangements encourage trust, collaboration and accountability. Identify one improvement that could help your team work more effectively.
Set Three Daily Priorities: At the beginning of each day, choose three meaningful tasks that will move your business forward. Focus on completing these before becoming distracted by less important activities.