No influencers. No ad spend. Just five years of showing up.

Originally published on LinkedIn, 20 August 2026.

Last month, Petersfield had the highest revenue any salon in Mooeys has ever seen.

Five years in, at exactly the point Vanessa's first franchise agreement came up for renewal.

She's just signed her next five years, in the strongest position she's ever been in.

That's the bit I actually want to talk about.

We talk a lot about milestones in this industry, the launch, the first month, the big number, but we don't talk enough about what it actually takes to get somewhere like this. It isn't overnight. It's five years of a franchise partner and a franchisor working hard, sometimes side by side and sometimes through proper disagreement, to get to a point where signing another five years isn't even a question.

Getting through the hardest part of a first franchise term and coming out wanting to do it all again, that's the real milestone. The revenue is the proof. It's not the story.

Here's what this hasn't been built on. No viral videos. No ad spend. No influencer posts. No paid growth strategy borrowed from someone else's playbook.

It's been old school marketing: proper networking and good old fashioned customer service. Vanessa is brilliant at that. So is every franchise partner and salon manager we've got across this group. It's not glamorous and it doesn't make for exciting content, but it's the thing that's actually built every single one of our salons.

Our clients choose us because of how our salons feel. The treatments and the results matter, of course, but the connection, the chat, the way a place makes you feel, that's what keeps clients choosing us over anywhere else. You can't buy that kind of marketing, and it's exactly where we put most of our energy when it comes to business strategy. How do we make our clients feel, and how do we make sure they choose us every time?

I'll be honest, because I think most entrepreneurs will recognise this in themselves. I love the excitement of building and growing. New ideas, new projects, the next shiny thing. I think most of us who start businesses are wired that way, it's what gets us going in the first place.

But I'm learning to relish the slow and steady wins a lot more than I used to, because they're the ones that actually hold. Small acorns and all that. I'm not chasing rapid growth anymore. I'm chasing this kind of growth. The Vanessa growth. The kind that gets to the end of a first franchise agreement having achieved exactly what I always knew she was capable of, and comes out the other side signing the next five years from the strongest position she's ever stood in.

I'm proud of what Vanessa has built. I'm proud of the revenue milestone she and her team have achieved. But if I'm honest, I'm more proud of the relationship that got us here.

It's always been honest. Sometimes brutally honest, because we both care equally as much. We're both strong women with strong opinions on absolutely everything. We speak our truth to each other and we work through the challenges together rather than around them. We support one another and we listen to each other's viewpoint. Neither of us likes being wrong, but we own our shit when we are. It hasn't always been easy, and it certainly hasn't always been rosy, but there's a mutual respect between us that you don't get any other way than earning it, over years, properly.

That's what a franchise partnership can be, at its best. Not a fee arrangement. Not a brand on paper. Two people who backed each other through the hard bit and came out the other side choosing to do it again, knowing that if one of us wins, we both do.

I think this is the part of franchising that should be shared more. These relationships are nurtured, and they don't always go to plan. But when they do, something magical happens. Both businesses grow, both businesses get stronger, and both of us get stronger individually as well.

I do believe in a bit of woo woo, and I do believe souls come together for a reason. I have a deep respect, loyalty and even love (dare I even say it in a business space) for my franchise partners. We're all in this together. They're building their own businesses under my brand, but they're business leaders in their own right, and that's exactly why they get it.

Business relationships aren't quantifiable. They don't show up on a strategy slide as growth. But for me, they're the most important part of what we're doing. The money comes, the growth comes, but only if the foundations are there, only if we're all aligned and focused on the same end goal. We're stronger together, and when we lean on each other, support one another's vision, and celebrate each other's wins, that's the pure magic of franchising, and quite possibly my favourite part of it all.

Here's to five years, Vanessa. And here's to the next five!

Amy x