E007 - Lizzie Salter from The Kind Living Salon

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Welcome to the Green Element Podcast, where business and sustainability come together.

Hi Lizzie, welcome to the Green Elements podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today. Would you like to just introduce yourself and tell me a bit about your business, etc.?

Sure, I'm Lizzie Salter and I'm based in North Somerset near Bristol, and the kind of in-salon, and it's kind of Longer title is projects because it's an ongoing journey with the business. It's a beauty and holistic service provider that is 100% vegan, natural, and organic, and nearly getting to 100% sustainable. Yeah, so that's the business and that's where I'm at.

Okay, so what's your purpose and who do you work with?

My purpose is basically to provide an inclusive sort of, I suppose, hub where, you know, my bigger goal would be to have an environment where it's more than just beauty therapy services and holistic-like services, but there would be well-being, nutrition, lifestyle choices, kind of almost naturopathic care, that kind of thing. Because I feel that under one umbrella, the ethos is shared, but we're all dotted around in different places, which makes accessibility quite difficult for a lot of us. And I just don't feel like it's going to be called a trend for much longer. I think it's more of a movement, and I think it's because people are gonna really catch on to the fact that we can't keep doing what we're doing the same way we're doing it.

Yeah.

So that's kind of like the purpose of it. And yeah, I think— what was the second thing you asked? I think it was mission, was it?

Who do you work with?

Oh, who I work with? Oh yeah, well, I'm a sole trader at the moment.

But also, you know, suppliers or, you know, your type of clients that you have and all that kind of stuff.

Sure. So my client base, my market, I've really, really tapped into the, I suppose, vegan, whole food kind of lifestyle choice kind of groups on, if you're talking like social media and out in the community? I think massively as well connecting with another industry that helps. So like food and stuff, that's really worked really well because a lot of people care about what they're eating. It's the same as what they're putting on their skin. So that's a connection. My suppliers are I did spend a long time trying to find, just to start off, just one or two product ranges. And I work with a fantastic artisan. She's the founder of Pink and Green Skincare. She makes it all herself, an organic skincare range in Swindon, Carol Aplin, and it's beautiful. It's remarkable really because I think I was also quite naive when I went into work with her. I use her products on my clients because I didn't know myself if those results were going to match, shall we say, across the board some other high-end or high-standard kind of product lines with chemical ingredients. And I think I'm getting a better response.

Brilliant.

You know, less is definitely more when it comes to good skincare, healthy skincare, because we won't go into the science of it, but skin is an organ, and at the end of the day, it's no different to what you're eating. So it's that important.

Yeah.

So they're, they're, yeah, they're quite local. Um, the only kind of supplier, I guess, that I don't know so well, but I like, I know the person who provides the products, but, um, like globally, because they're getting bigger, is Zao Makeup. So they are, they're really big in Europe already. And they are eco-certified. They use a huge amount of bamboo. But they replenish like double, triple the amount that they use. Their CO2 emission footprint is really tiny. They use all their packaging is recyclable and reusable. So you keep your packaging forever and you just buy a refill. It's just a fantastic approach to makeup. And it's really good makeup. And yeah, it's just trying to find things that tick all of my boxes: chemical-free, natural, organic, sustainable, vegan. Like, there's quite a lot of boxes to tick, so it's quite hard to find high-end sustainable kind of—

You're almost making me want to go and see a beauty—

Yeah.

Beautician now.

Yeah, and the thing is, it's fine. I mean, I think the approach, the best approach to that entire question is to Just be really patient, take your time, trial things, talk to companies, ask them to send you samples and see if they work for you with what you work with. And it's the same with food or drink or even, you know, even things like objects and technology. And if they say like a bamboo drinks bottle, but it doesn't work, it's great that it's bamboo, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't work. So there's a functionality element there as well. So Yeah, just explore, just be really brave and explore loads of new companies and support them because they're only little too.

No, absolutely, absolutely. So what would you say your business superpower was?

Oh, okay, so I did think about this a little bit in the sense that obviously I had talked before to yourselves, and I think I wrote down 2 things. So the first one was that it would be kindness to oneself encourages kindness to others. So the superpower that I'm sharing is that if you're kind to you and you're okay, you're more likely to be okay and be kind to people and animals and the planet, because you'll start engaging with your brain more, you'll be calmer, you can care more. It's not overwhelming then because you're okay. And then I think the second thing was just feeling good whilst kind of doing some good. That's really important.

Yeah.

Because everyone gets a buzz when they've done something really good. So it's just finding what makes you feel good, and that was really the kind— where I've sort of, I suppose, you know, the salon is the Kind Living Salon, but that is really what it is. So yeah, that would— the superpower would definitely be kindness.

Yeah, they're definitely some of the best superpowers we've had yet. Can you tell us a bit about how you engage your suppliers and customers with your mission and purpose? So how do you get your name out and how do you engage them?

Well, I think I missed off of the last question though about my clientele. So my clientele are all people. So I'm, you know, I do align my ethical beliefs and values with my work, but that doesn't mean that everybody else has to And that sole purpose is because it needs to be inclusive. If we isolate or ostracize people because they don't share our values, I don't feel we share education. And that's probably part of the problem with systems, is one is better than the other, and I don't agree with that. I think there's something for everybody, but you can still all be kind and that kind of attitude. So that was where I came from with that. So I think how I engage with people, yes, I use social media. Facebook. I have a private group and I also have a business page. I have a new website that is launched and has a few little teething problems at the moment, but we're working on those. But the vision is on there, the goal. And I think, yeah, I do a lot of networking and workshops, community projects, trying to reach out into where I live as well, all of the local groups here. I've actually got an upcoming workshop that's just free of charge where, again, another act of kindness, another therapist sharing their space with me so that I can then engage with other clients. And my suppliers, just recently I did a workshop with my supplier of Pink and Green. So she came and was the guest speaker about why it's so important to use natural and organic ingredients on your skin. Just giving it a different angle for people. And yeah, I mean, I don't think I've quite hit the nail on the head with sharing what I do and who I am and where I am in little old Weston, but I'm getting there.

I think you're doing a really good job personally, from what it sounds like. Yeah, it sounds brilliant. Yeah, certainly engaging me. When it comes to running an ethical and sustainable business, What has been your biggest struggle so far and how have you overcome it?

I would say there's probably a practical struggle and there's an emotional struggle. The practical struggle is definitely finances, like costs, and if you're— certainly if you're transitioning, i.e., you were set up and then you're going into making those ethical choices or more ethical choices, then depending on what that actually 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 in business. But I think the emotional is the one that you have to kind of listen to more. So 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 gonna only be a good thing because the outcome is it benefits you, your clients, your your business, the planet, the animals. So then it just radiates outwards. So I would say that initial barrier, 'cause I had it, I had it myself, where I had quite a lot of old stock that I could have easily kept and used that, you know, kind of, I could have worked with my clients on, but I felt that there would be an element of dishonesty as well there. So I just kind of made the switch really slowly. I was dead honest about what I had.

Yeah.

where I wanted to be. And my clients were so much more receptive to that. Even, you know, the— should we say the staunch vegans who use nothing but fresh air, which is wonderful, but, you know, not everyone can live like that. But they were really open to the fact that I was making those changes. And I guess I was in a privileged position in the sense that I had no salon hub site as yet. whereby I've had to make all of those changes just myself, whereas in the future when I have that set up, yes, I would be looking at sort of more ethical energy companies, all of the things you can think of that you think, well, is it going to be more money? But ultimately, probably no more than if you start from the beginning in that way. That's how you operate as a business.

That's brilliant. Really, really interesting. So finally, is there a way that you can— I don't know what best way that we can connect with you? Where can we find you? How can we learn more information about you? And obviously we'll be putting all of this up on the show notes as well. But yeah, so where can we find more information about what it is that you're doing?

Sure. Well, as mentioned, Facebook. I think probably Facebook must get a mention every second in this world, but it's a great business tool and I use it for that purpose. So, you know, there's a private group which is a little bit more free because then the values are really connecting with the people that share those values. That's fine. That's great. Then I've got my business page, a bit more— I think people just are interested in reaching out and then they try a service and then they get a little bit more education or a bit more awareness and they want to know more. They may join the group. I've got my website which I'll give you the link to and That is being tweaked this weekend because it's only been live for a couple of weeks. So it's quite graphically heavy and that's for the purpose of sharing the goal and the shop and the products. And yeah, like email and people phone me quite a lot and that's fine, but I'll pick up messages when I am working. And of course you can come and actually see me in person. For a service, a treatment, or even just a one-to-one hour, which is on my website. You can book that, and I charge £10 just to talk about business, really, which sounds cheeky, but I kind of put it straight back into the Kind Living because I want to progress. I want to share that awareness. So I'm always looking for collaborations or business ideas to make this go forward.

And the Facebook and all of this can be found under your business name?

Yeah, so it's The Kind Living or The Kind Living Salon. It depends, like on Instagram they cut it off. So just kind of just type in The Kind Living Salon. There is, from what I can see, and I keep checking daily, there seems to be one other Kind Living, but it's in California.

Right.

I'm in the UK, so don't panic. So if anyone worries, you know, I would think, and that's not the person. Yeah, I'm definitely in the UK one.

Well, thank you very much, Lizzie, for joining us today. It's been really informative, and I hope our listeners and viewers have found it equally as informative. Thank you very much.

That's great. No, thank you.

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