Hello and welcome to this edition of Salon Stopover. Today, I find myself in a very interesting and intriguing situation. I've met someone called Monika Dimitrova, who is the owner of MD Beauty Empire, which is located in the capital city of Bulgaria in Sofia. So today, we're going to be joined by Alexandrina Yavarova, who's going to interpret for us, as we find out all about what it's like to run a salon, the entire nail culture. Basically, I came across

Monika through a very good friend of mine called Miraslava in Bulgaria, who judges for Nailympia with me. She told me that I needed to meet Monika. She's been a nail tech for 12 years. She moved from a hobby into a career. She's an international educator. She's also an accredited coach and speaker. And she's an educator for Nika Nagel, which is a German nail brand, heavily influenced by techniques and method from Russia.

And the exciting thing is, today, we're going to look at her salon, which being three years old, just got third place in the Nail Salon of the Year 2021 for Bulgaria. So let's find out from Monika all about this. And basically, Monika, how did you get into nails and move from your hobby into a career, twelve years ago?

Definitely, she turned her hobby into her job. When she was a little girl, she remembered that her mom always had a well-groomed manicure and watching her doing it, became her passion. She also started to paint her nails and make various decorations with toothpicks and with this instrument for dots. That sounds fantastic. So, what's the story, then, behind this salon because the salon I'm looking at here is absolutely beautiful. Can you tell us the story behind this salon that you've been with for three years now?

She started at 16 years old and then she had her first course for manicuring. Then she started training and practicing it and practiced it on friends. She did manicures and pedicures non-stop at home for two years and then she decided to start working in a salon, but this salon obviously wasn't hers.

Since then, she's been working in this industry and she enjoys it very much. She thinks daily work, practice, upgrading, and keeping improvements are very important. And that's behind the success. I see.

So, I can see from this salon, it's very sophisticated. Very elegant and incredibly opulent. Can you describe for me, Monika, the thought behind the style and design of your salon? Monika says that she's the only one who has decorated the salon. So the truth is that she tried to engage some designers, but they didn't understand her so she decided to do it alone. And this is all her ideas. Wow, that's so impressive because it is incredibly beautiful. Incredibly beautiful! So what does Monika think makes this particular salon special? What makes it stand out in Sofia?

She also thinks that this salon is special and she thinks that behind it is not only the interior of the salon, this is a combination of style and quality of service, just because the quality is really important for Monika. Okay.

So can Monika tell us about the layout? So how many rooms does the salon have and what are they all used for? Is it purely nails or does she offer other treatments and services?

So, Alex, at the moment, it is one big room where they do manicures, pedicures, also hairdressing, eyelash extensions, and microblading. There is a separate room where the manicure academy is, because Monika also teaches an academy for manicures. I see. So how many staff work in the salon and academy with Monika?

So, they have, in total, six people. So, in total, she has four manicurists, she has one hairdresser, and she has one lady which is for microblading and eyelash extensions. Can I ask though, something about Nika Nagel? Because that's not a brand I've come across where I am in the UK. Is Nika Nagel a full system or is it gel or acrylic? Does it have everything inside that brand?

So Nika Nagel has a very big portfolio, so they have everything, from hand care to the top coats and whatever you can think of.

So they have different things which can elp you for different techniques for example, or different decorations. Can we move on, then, to find out what would a typical client in the salon be? Your typical client, what does he or she look like? And what is the most popular treatment that's asked for in the salon?

Typically, she thought that they are high class clients that visit the salon. They are great and all of them are women with style. So the most, so to say, preferred procedures are manicure and pedicure.

Also hand care, foot care. In Bulgaria, the for the women it's really important to take care of the hands and feet. And everything that is popular in Europe, is also popular here, and in Russia.

How popular would nail art be in this environment? Do many people want nail art at all?

What Monika says is that every woman in Bulgaria, or at least 90% of the women here, take care of their hands. And... how to say it in English, this is the business card of every lady. So it is really important for the Bulgarian women to have nails which are pretty. So in Bulgaria, the situation is that they're all really different, the ladies. Some of them prefer only one color and short nails, for example. Others prefer decorations with long nails and stones and everything that shines.

You have a bit of everything there, then? Yes. That's nice. So can we now talk about your nail academy? So what training does Monika offer in her nail academy side? In her academy, she offers everything. She has basic courses. She has seminars. She also has upgrading courses, which are for manicurists that work, but they want to improve themselves. Okay.

So basically Monika offers absolutely everything. From beginner to experienced, all sorts of art, artificial systems, absolutely everything. So moving on to the business side of things, how important is social media for Monika, when it comes to keeping her salon in the eye of the public and promoting it and what have you?

So Monika says a lot. And this is not only for her salon, she thinks that nowadays, this is the fastest and the most secure access to to success of any business. Because this is the most easiest way to touch the public and the people.

Definitely, so which social media is Monika using? Facebook and Instagram. Fantastic.

International language there. I love it. I love it.

So does Monika use these platforms to speak to her current clients as well?

So to keep the clients she has interested and to grab new clients, is it used for both styles of marketing? This is with the regular posting social media accounts, promotional offers, paid advertisements, also, she posts very often videos or pictures of her and her team at their jobs, so the people can see what is happening in the salon. That's nice. So that brings the personal touch, when you utilize your staff as part of your posting, that does mean that you make yourself more approachable, don't you? Do you agree?

So she agrees, Alex, and what she added to this topic is that it's really important for the new clients to see what the people in this salon do and how they do it. So it is really important to have such information. I agree. It's very important to give a full picture for the client to know if it's their space or not. So what would

Monika's secret to running a successful salon be, because three years... not even on its third birthday yet, and it's already an award-winning salon which is a big award to get third place in Salon of the Year across the whole country. So what is the secret to running a successful business?

What she thinks is behind this successful business is the the constant progress, it's at the heart of her philosophy. So systematic work of her team and maximum reality to the clients because it is really important. So the customer is at the heart of a successful salon and very hard work and a team that works together, then. So can Monika answer for me, why does Monika love the salon business so much?

This is the thing that keeps her alive, Alex, and this is her passion. And one of the most important things for her is to see the smiles on people's faces after visiting her salon. Well, that's lovely. So in the same vein, why does Monika love nails so much? What is it about nails?

She's so passionate about it because there are always new things. She can constantly develop herself and end up bettering herself. So this is really important for her to learn new knowledge and to share this knowledge with other people. So, what plans and vision just Monika have for her future? Immediate or long term. What ideas and vision has she got coming for her business?

One day, she says she wants the name MD Beauty Empire to become an Empire. And she has many big and brave dreams for the future. Nice big plans, then. Very good big plans. So wrapping up now, what advice could... Monika is clearly a very, very successful business owner, successful in the salon, and can create a
beautiful elegant stunning salon space.

So she's got all the ingredients for success. What advice can she give to anybody watching this today who's about to embark on a salon journey and would like any special bits of good advice to help them?

So the advice that she can give to the people is to follow their dreams, not to stop upgrading themselves, and believe in themselves, also. It will not be easy to do it, but don't give up. It is really important to invest time for everything that they want to achieve. Brilliant. That's perfect advice.

That's definitely advice to live by. I love it, Monika. So, may I thank you very much, today, for sitting and speaking to me and showing us your salon, Monika. And Alexandrina, thank you very much for joining us to interpret so that we can get this flowing and and find out exactly what it's like to run salon in Bulgaria, which has been very exciting and and insightful for me. So thank you both very much. I appreciate you joining me. Thank you also.

And so that wraps up this edition of Salon Stopover where we hopped into Sofia, Bulgaria.

Thank you.