Customer of the Week: Purely Polished

After trawling the net in search of a nail service that could come to her, Iman Davamoni soon realised there were few mobile nail services that were fresh and trendy. All businesses that did exist also used nail polishes that contained numerous toxic ingredients known to be harmful to pregnant or nursing mums and to be attributed to cancer, among other things.

“I was at home and really felt like getting a mani-pedi but I didn’t want to take my daughter along to a fume-filled salon.”

Iman was dissatisfied with the mobile services available. None had user-friendly websites or booking systems. Iman began chatting to nail technicians and realised that they didn’t have the time to do the business side of things like marketing, nor were many of them hugely interested.

Iman looked at the three things she wanted in a manicure service: convenience, style, and health. Purely Polished was born, an on-demand mobile manicure service delivering fresh, trendy, and pure manicures to Sydney!

While her technicians spend their time doing what they love, crafting beautiful nails and making their clients feel amazing, Iman takes care of business, pushing the boundaries and being creative with marketing and spreadsheets.

Iman has found a huge amount of benefits to having a mobile business, including fewer overheads. However, it also means that they need to work a little harder to keep a positive team vibe and morale up.

“We’ve kept the number of Purely Polished nail stylists to a minimum and make sure they really fit in with our culture.”

Staff are now working out of WeWork Pyrmont, a coworking office space, so they have a central place where stylists can come for training and meetings.

“It’s now really starting to feel like a business!”

For Iman, the best thing about being a business owner is the flexibility it provides.

“I’ve been very lucky to have had the last 1.5 years working from home and being able to work around my daughter’s schedule. Time flies by so quickly and I didn’t want to miss a moment with her.”

Iman started her business at a great time when ‘on-demand’ businesses were emerging in Australia. Purely Polished kicked off alongside businesses such as Airbnb and Uber, meaning people were more open to a having services at home.

Iman initially wanted to target home-based mums who struggled to get to a salon but noticed a gap in the market for workplace visits. In the scramble for work-life balance, this savvy business delivered services directly to the desk, suiting those who were too busy to go to the salon due to their demanding jobs.

“What we offer is super convenient luxury!”

Iman’s boundary-pushing personality has helped her see huge success in the beauty industry. She encourages anyone who is thinking of starting a business to simply “jump in.”

“A lot of people feel they need to do a whole lot of research, have an in-depth business plan, build a state of the art app, but you don’t need all of that – the best way to see if you’re onto a business concept is to get out there and build it along the way.”

One of Iman’s proudest moments was having Dame Julie Andrews as a repeat customer while she was in Sydney directing My Fair Lady. After only being in business a few months at this point, this gave Iman and her stylist a real boost of confidence in the business and what their true potential could be.

With a growing client base, and a new permanent office on the horizon, Purely Polished is growing stronger by the day. We cannot wait to follow your business journey, Iman.