Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Sometimes we read a story that gives us hope. Katie Godfrey’s life is one such story and now sees Katie reaching out to inspire others to help them follow their own dreams.
Thirteen year old Katie Godfrey felt her options were limited. She had dropped out of school due to horrendous bullying, but instead of letting this define her, it made her more and more determined to do something positive with her life. Now Katie is a household name in the beauty business, with a training academy and full product range as two of the strings to her ever-expanding bow. What Katie really wants us to see is the power of belief: through her training, she wants to share the way to making this a lucrative business and recognise the beauty industry as a way to turn your life around.
Katie Godfrey’s story could have been a very different one, as evidenced by many surviving victims of bullying, but she somehow went from high school dropout to owning her first salon by the age of nineteen. From then on, she became more and more determined as she grew her empire: a chain of franchise salons that she sold in order to focus on education, aiming to raise standards across salons and within the industry.
Soon enough, people within the industry were inspired by this story and contacted Katie for guidance: she is now a dedicated business mentor and looks after over thirty-five salons. She started this side business three years ago after being inundated by businesses coming to her for help as a result of her success story: she offers one-to-one and group mentoring sessions, and aims to launch the first comprehensive online business course for the hair and beauty industry imminently. She talks regularly at colleges and events about her story and is passionate about motivating others to build their careers. She is one of the authors of number one bestselling book ‘Extraordinary Women’ and she co-owns Salon Franchise, a consultancy company in the hair & beauty industry.
What Katie Godfrey now wants people to see is that people can make a lot of money through her training. Whether it is a side hustle or a main income there is so much money to be had within the beauty industry, when you do your job to a high standard; something she will help you achieve. In order to help with this Katie launched KG Professional, a beauty training academy which now has branches in Bedfordshire, Southampton, Gloucestershire, Derbyshire, Milton Keynes, Sussex and Essex, and an eyelash product range. Within six months of launch, the eyelash range was selling in five hundred salons and is now sold globally. Katie was also one of the first trainers in the UK to teach Russian Volume Lashes, flying to New York to learn and then bring the techniques back, in addition to maintaining the salon and pro businesses.
One person who was inspired to turn her life around was lawyer turned lash expert and salon owner Jenna. Jenna started out in Law but was obsessed with beauty and lashes, so trained on the side and started doing treatments in her home salon in the evenings and weekends. She became so popular that she ended up giving up Law and started Beauty full time and is now one of KGProfessional’s lash educators with her own salon. She is a new mum, so loves the fact that lashing is so flexible and that she can arrange her business around her baby. This is a great example of Katie’s insistence for people to follow their dreams.
Katie’s achievements are all the more impressive considering she has done this while single-handedly parenting her daughter. She is testament to the goals that can be reached with determination and hard work and is inspiring and helping many others to do the same.
Courses are fully accredited by ABT insurance, Professional Beauty and Lash Inc meaning you will gain industry recognised certificate after you have completed your course. All academies are easily accessible by car and public transport and training is held in small groups or individual one to one sessions.
If you are inspired by Katie’ Godfrey and her story and want to follow in her footsteps then sign up for her training academy here. Courses are available online or in person and she also offers advice and mentorship. If you are just keen to learn more about the courses and are looking to share with a family member of friend then click here.
MoneyMagpie’s guide to whether the beauty industry is for you here.
Well done her, lovely to hear something positive.