Meet Belinda, a genial, conscientious, and hard-working entrepreneur who is the owner of Get Waxed Indonesia, as she shares with us her venture of starting her very own waxing service business, her goals, and her aim for empowering women in her country.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and describe the business that you have?

My name is Belinda. I built my waxing salon about 6 years ago. Basically, the first reason is that my mother-in-law has reached her retirement age and so had to stop working. So, in order to make her spirit alive, we established our new business for her. That’s when I thought of starting our waxing business because it has minimum supply and only needed little human resources to think about. 

And moreover, I have a space rented by my children’s doctor. It was cheap because it is located on the 2nd story of the building. We thought that it completes the puzzle and so I decided to begin our business. Initially, when I started our business, I thought it was only gonna be just one outlet, quite simple. But today, we already have three outlets and will have our fourth one. Also, we started by having only two waxing therapists, but now we have ten and we are still searching for other candidates to be trained. Within one year, we want to establish two more new outlets.                                                                                                                        

When did you start your business?

My main business or what I do is not really in the business industry but in construction. I’m actually an architect. I design and build private houses in Indonesia. Today, I have been working as an architect for 17 years now, since I was in my 20’s. But as for waxing, I started around 6 or 7 years ago.

What services do you offer?

We give waxing services for the underarms, the legs, and the body. But we also offer Brazilian wax, which is for the intimate area. 

There’s a lot of competition here in Indonesia, especially since the pandemic. More employees are being laid off but I never laid off any of my employees. But other companies fired their employees and so these employees started offering home services. Our prices are already low, but the benefit of these home services is that the customers don't even need to go outside. So, I needed to find something new that other people couldn’t copy. We started offering a new service, which is a skin-brightening service. My father passed away because of cancer, so I think that beauty product must be very safe and natural. So, I searched for different products and found this product called ‘Bright.’ I partnered with this company because their owner used to have cancer which was why they wanted their products to be very safe for future use. We imported these products and sold them here (in Indonesia). Because of this, I saw how skin-brightening products were very popular in Indonesia. I thought it was a good opportunity to offer more skin-glowing products and searched for another product with the same vision as ours; Being safe, natural, and for women's empowerment. 

What was your main motivation for becoming an entrepreneur?

For me, being an entrepreneur is like a game of life; I like to read graphs. With graphs, you see the customer’s behavior. There are times when the sales go down and the sales go up. Sometimes, the graph is affected by climate or political issues. And sometimes, it’s the service that you are giving, the hygiene. It’s something I find fun in life. 

Do you have any philosophy you follow in your business?

Be honest and never take anybody’s money that they don’t know about. You have to be focused and love your business. That’s the most important thing because, when I was just starting my first outlet, it was located on the second story of our building. It was not very easy to take customers. You have to make the customers want to go upstairs.

Also, if you love your business, you won’t feel like it’s a burden for you; it starts to feel like a game that you have to solve. You can try and you can fail but you never give up because you like your business.

The most important thing, I want to make this business bigger because I want to give it to my children as a legacy. Because I started from zero and that was very hard.

Do you have any goals for the next 5 years of your business?

I want to have at least more than ten outlets. Not only in Java but also in Bali. And then, well, in my idealistic opinion, I want Indonesian women to become braver. In Indonesia, many women are controlled by their spouses when it comes to working and making decisions. I want to make more women in Indonesia independent. One of the reasons for this view I have is, as an owner, I have conversations with my therapists (employees) about their lives and ask them what they want to do with their future and they answer ‘I don’t know but my husband or my boyfriend makes the rules for me’. I tell them ‘ No, you have to go to work and earn money and have your own say and authority about your life’. It already happened to some of my employees and I’m very proud of it. This is one of the reasons that make me keep going when it comes to my business.                                                                                                                                            

How did you first learn about Loyverse and what features did you like most about Loyverse?

My husband has a small burger/restaurant business and so we bought the necessary hardware from a local online store here in Indonesia. Loyverse was already the software installed in the hardware. So, I tried to know what it is and also how it is free because it’s very helpful for small businesses like us. After I learned all about it, I bought another piece of hardware just for my store and then installed it. It was not very difficult. 

I have a friend who also owns a salon and I suggested your app because it was free, helpful, and online every time. The technology for me is quite simple, and it never breaks down. Because sometimes (on other devices), there are always errors happening but with Loyverse, I never felt that. So, I highly recommend it to my friends.  

What do you think makes your business stand out from other competitors?

I think what makes us stand out from other businesses is that we don’t just do this for the money, but we do it by heart. Also, a lot of salons in Indonesia just think of the business. They don’t think about the hygiene of their business. Since I’m an architect, I have a lot of manpower in terms of construction. So, whenever I see something wrong, I renovate it very fast. I keep the customers very comfortable and happy.

Another thing is, my waxing services offer it at the lowest possible price. Because I don’t want the money to go to me. In salons in Indonesia, you usually get tips from your customers for the service your therapists offer. If the therapists gave a nice service, the customers will give more tips. I offer my services at a low price so that the extra money the customer has can be given as tips to my therapists. This is what I keep up, I’m not only earning but also my therapists earn a fortune as well.

Also, from the surface, we don’t just sell things but we sell our services. Human resources are important. My employees also never ask for leave at all, they’re very loyal. One time, one of my employees left for another salon and then wanted to return. This was when I knew I was on the right path.

Do you have any messages for other future entrepreneurs?

First of all, you have to love your business. It’s not about the money. Being an entrepreneur is very hard. You have to be prepared 24 hours a day and you have no holiday. If you think you can do it, just do it. If not, just drop it. But never give up if you love your business and always remind yourself why you started this business in the first place. And the most important thing is humanity.

Social Media Page: @getwaxed.indonesia