How NEIS Program helps beauty therapist open a dream Beauty Salon

Job seeker learns how to overcome her anxiety and start a flourishing small business

After being bullied throughout school, 22-year-old Breanna wanted to pursue a career that would help other people to feel good about themselves – which led to the start of her own successful business in beauty therapy.

Breanna enrolled into a hair and beauty course after finishing her HSC. This is where her passion for beauty really began.

She started working in the industry, but a string of tough bosses left her lacking confidence.

“I really only ever had one nice boss. She encouraged me to open up my own salon one day,” said Breanna.

“She was actually the person who sent me away to Dermalogica to do my training. I’m 1 of 200 in the country qualified in skin. So I’m pretty proud of that,” she continued.

Breanna’s Transition to Work (TtW) Youth Advisor at ETC also saw her potential and suggested she take part in the Exploring Being My Own Boss (EBMOB) workshop, which she did.

This sparked her interest in becoming self-employed and after completing the 2-week workshop, she enrolled into ETC’s New Business Assistance with NEIS Program (now known as the Self-Employment Assistance program as of 1 July 2022) for further assistance.

Watch the video below to see Breanna’s story. Skip the video and keep reading Breanna’s story >

About the NEIS Program

The NEIS Program offers accredited small business training and provides personalised support to help those wanting to become a business owner.

Here Breanna was introduced to ETC Trainers Darryl and Kim, who mentored her along the way and helped her to start her business, Breanna’s Beauty Room.

Breanna started the NEIS Program during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant all her classes were online via video conference, rather than face-to-face.

“We couldn’t do in-house meetings, so all of our classes were completed online. Everyone else had their cameras turned on, except me. Mine was turned off because I was extremely shy,” said Breanna.

Darryl helped Breanna come out of her shell throughout the Program, and this gave her the self-confidence boost she needed to turn her dream of owning her own business, into a reality.

“I think six weeks of classes went by and then Darryl was like, ‘I want to see your face. I want to see who you are’, so I finally turned my camera on,” explained Breanna.

“This was the first step of me opening up. After this, we had a big chat over the phone, and he really got to know me.”

“That really gave me the push that I needed to take the leap into small business ownership,” she said.

Opening a beauty salon

Breanna opened her salon last year, where she offers a range of services including facials, microdermabrasion, peels, waxing, tinting, nails, tanning, and massage.

As a part of the NEIS Program, participants are offered ongoing support for 12 months, which includes monthly mentoring catchups with their trainer.

“Each month I would meet up with Daryl and he kept me on track. He would help me with whatever I needed. It was really helpful,” explained Breanna.

Thanks to the support of ETC and the NEIS Program, Breanna and her business are now thriving.

“The Program gave me an insight of what it’s actually really like to be your own boss. It’s completely different to what you think it is… And it is possible!” she said.

What’s Breanna advice to other people thinking of starting ETC’s NEIS Program?

“If I can do it, anyone can!”

“It was really nice being able to learn with a bunch of other people instead of one-on-one, because everyone had different insights and opinions, which really helped along the way. That support was very valuable to my journey.”