Paula Short did not set out to build a global beauty brand.
She and her business partner were running a hair and beauty salon when they created a product called Glitter Lips. The original goal was simple: give people another reason to come into the salon.
Then the product started selling.
Short said they were moving roughly one unit an hour during an early three-week stretch. That was enough to make them wonder if they had stumbled onto something much bigger.
So they took the product to London.
Their first stop was Liberty, one of the city’s best-known department stores. The buyers there liked the product but said it was not the right fit for their customer. Instead, they suggested Short and her business partner walk across the street to Topshop on Oxford Street.
They did.
Three buyers happened to be on the shop floor that day.
That chance meeting helped take them from a small salon to one of London’s most visible retail destinations in what Short described as “one jump.”
That willingness to act before everything was figured out became a recurring theme throughout Short’s career.
“If they can do it, there’s a fair chance we can do it,” she said while describing the mindset that kept pushing the business forward. Instead of waiting until every detail was perfect, Short often said yes first and figured out the rest later.
It worked.
Beauty Boulevard eventually expanded well beyond the salon, with Short’s products reaching major retailers, airlines and international markets. She also appeared on BBC’s Dragons’ Den, the British television show similar to Shark Tank.
But as the company grew, the experience changed.
What had once felt exciting and creative increasingly felt like a job.
Short’s business partner left the company to have a baby. New partners came into the business. The work became more about numbers, spreadsheets and keeping everything moving.
“The fun element kind of went,” Short said. “It was just plate spinning after that.”
The pressure also started showing up physically.
Toward the end of her time with the company, Short said she was being treated for severe migraines that she attributed to stress. She described taking medication, trying acupuncture and massage, and still struggling with the constant pressure of running the business.
Eventually, she was ready to sell.
What followed surprised her.
Short said she had spent so much time being associated with the business that selling it created an identity crisis.
Who was she without the company?
It took time to answer that question.
Short said she eventually found a new sense of purpose by using everything she had experienced to help other business owners.
Then came another unexpected move.
Short and her husband had originally planned to retire and spend their time traveling through Europe and Asia. Instead, an opportunity brought them to the United States.
Short packed two suitcases and moved to Virginia.
She arrived with no real professional plan of her own. She expected to read books, spend time at the beach, travel and enjoy the experience.
That did not last long.
She eventually began working with businesses in Hampton Roads, helping owners navigate the same types of problems she had lived through herself.
Her approach is straightforward.
She does not believe spending more money automatically creates a better business.
She does not believe every new idea deserves to become a new company.
And when something is already working, she wants business owners to pay attention.
“If you’ve made some money, pull that thread,” Short said. “Just keep pulling that thread to see is there more and more and more.”
That may be the clearest lesson from her entire story.
Beauty Boulevard did not begin with a perfect strategy.
It began with one product that worked.
Short followed the opportunity, knocked on bigger doors, kept saying yes and figured out the next step as she went.
On Episode 328 of Fervent Four, Paula Short joins Zack Miller and Tim Ryan to talk about building Beauty Boulevard, appearing on Dragons’ Den, growing an international brand, selling the business, founder burnout, negotiation, moving to America and learning how to recognize the opportunity already standing in front of you.
