“I didn’t consider other beauty franchises,” Karmjit says. “CoLaz was the only one that offered me what me what I wanted. They explained to me everything very clearly and gave me the confidence to know that I could make the business a success. (CoLaz franchisor) Surinder Ahitan helped me a lot in finding the location and in ordering all the necessary machinery.”
Karmjit is now on course to open the latest outlet in early 2015, with the site for the store already finalised in an ideal location in Derby, found with CoLaz’s help.
Karmjit comments: “It is a really nice location. It is close to the city centre, but far out enough that people can park easily for as long as they want, allowing them to have the treatments in a relaxing environment in a quiet area with no traffic.”
New start
From here, Karmjit plans to run the full, extensive range of CoLaz’s advanced beauty treatments, including laser hair removal, electrolysis, slimming treatments and skin care, amongst many more. Much of this will be familiar to Karmjit, who has experience having worked as a beautician in India.
Since coming to the UK, she has worked for British Airways as a team leader, and is currently employed at Marks and Spencer. Her current role often involves working late shifts, which can be difficult, minimising the time she has to spend with her children, and looks forward to the freedom and flexibility of owning her own franchise and setting her own work hours.
“Being my own boss will certainly allow me to be more flexible with my hours,” she says. “At the moment, after a late shift, I often don’t get in until 11pm, but owning the franchise will allow me to drop-off and collect my children from school, get in at a reasonable hour and spend more time with them.”
At the time of writing, funding is in place for the advanced machinery that typifies a CoLaz branch, and Karmjit is putting the finishing touches to the financing for the store itself.
Enhanced business model
Investing in a CoLaz franchise comes with a proven business model, to which the company has recently made further enhancements, incorporating a three-tiered structure of packages: starter, beauty and advanced, which require capital of £20,000, £35,000 and £80,000 respectively.
The increased options provide each prospective owner with an entry point that works for their budget, while allowing for furher expansion if they are successful.
Despite Karmjit already having beauty therapy skills and qualifications, she was able to benefit from further development, receiving training at a college course with Surinder’s guidance that got her ready to open, confident in her ability to use all the machinery and effectively deliver the fantastic range of treatments offered by CoLaz.
The Beaulaz Beauty School and Laser Training Centres, which recently added a third and fourth branch in Birmingham and Edmonton, North London, to accompany those in Slough and Hounslow, are owned and run by Surinder’s wife Manroop.
The training centres provide the perfect starting point for individuals looking to enjoy a long and successful career in the beauty industry, and through them, CoLaz offers a fast-track solution to earning the Level 2, 3 and 4 NVQ beauty qualifications required to undertake certain treatments. A Level 4 qualification allows owners to classify as an advanced beauty therapist and perform IPL/laser hair removal, advanced electrolysis for skin blemish removal, chemical peels and slimming treatments.
That it does so in less than three months, as opposed to the more typical two to three years, is testament to the knowledge of the staff and the high-end facilities in place.
Expansion Drive
With the vast majority of CoLaz outlets based in London, Karmjit is enthusiastic to bring what she believes to be a unique beauty franchise to Derbyshire, as part of CoLaz’s current expansion drive into other key areas of the country.
She explains: “The company has a lot of outlets in London but here in Derby, I don’t believe anyone is offering the same advanced technology, so I believe we will offer the people of Derby something they don’t currently have.”If successful, Karmjit and her husband have ambitions to potentially open a second unit, actively encouraged by the company, and with the support and structure in place, there is no reason why this cannot become a really. She concludes: “It is a great opportunity and myself and my family are really looking forward to it. We are really excited about it.”