2015. My first real salon in Ostia

I love talking not only about successes but also about my failures. They are what taught me business. This project is about both.

First came a failure: 2013, Piazza Bologna

In 2013 I opened a small shop in Rome, in Piazza Bologna. Back then I had no idea about business. I opened a shop for products nobody was asking for.

On top of that it was too far: an hour and a half each way, every day. I worked very hard to keep it going and ended up deep in the red. After six months I decided to close it.

It hurt. But I took away the main lesson: first the demand, then the shop. And work where you can be every day.

13 December 2015: opening in Ostia

Two years later I opened my first real salon, in Ostia. Closer to home, and this time knowing what people actually needed: lash extensions and brows.

We did everything our own way: red and white, butterflies on the wall, one corner for lashes and one for brows. There was a buffet at the opening, and my diplomas were already on the wall.

The second failure: the name "Lash & Brow Bar"

We called the salon Lash & Brow Bar. I loved the American concept, where a bar is a place you pop into for beauty.

But most Italians do not speak much English. People saw the word "bar" and did not understand what we wanted from them. They were looking for an ordinary bar and found something completely different. Others just walked past because they could not tell what it was. A beautiful name that does not work is a lesson too: speak your client's language.

What came next

The salon ran until 2019, when I sold it. This is where I grew as an artist and as an entrepreneur.

Two failures and one real salon. Without the shop in Piazza Bologna and the "bar" nobody understood, I would not have become the entrepreneur I became.

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