Szabina Tomán: “If you believe in your product, you can sell everything”

– When you introduce yourself somewhere where they don’t know you, who do you say you are?

– Businesswoman. It was a conscious decision, because I have had a lot of titles in my life. I no longer wanted to be an ex-model, and I didn’t want to be identified by someone else. My goal is to do what I love now at a more professional level, so I vowed to present myself as a businesswoman everywhere I go.

– What does “more professional” mean? How were you building a business in a way that at a certain moment you could say: I am a professional?

– I still can’t say that about myself. I started out as a self-taught entrepreneur. When I realised that my company was already generating HUF 300-500m in sales, I knew that instinct wasn’t enough anymore. That was the moment when I started to learn and bring in experienced businessmen and businesswomen.

– How many of you are there now?

– We have nearly 20 Toman Salons in 3 countries, with our own employees in the Buda centre and in the downtown salon.

– What does it take to be as conscious as you are? Unexpected things can always happen, and you have to be really focused to stay on the path you planned to follow.

– I think this has several components. It is important to learn from mistakes and fears, instead of sweeping them under the carpet – this can help you get out of any situation. If you are confident enough and can face your fears or problems, and learn to incorporate the lessons learned into your system, then you will have a solution whatever comes your way.

– In your market innumerable companies are fighting for the favour of roughly the same people. How can you stand out from the crowd and win at the end of the day?

– Faith is a very important thing. If you believe in your product and service, that belief sells everything. I tell this to my investors and partners too: I only like to work with entrepreneurs who believe in their project. I am involved in product development and if there is any problem, I start working very hard on quality and mending things immediately. May be this is the reason why many of my dream projects are still on the shelf – I don’t launch them until I feel I can represent any of them with my eyes closed, in any situation, at any time.

– Business-wise, how can you provide personalised service with personalised products? A mass product would be more cost effective.

– You should make the product available to people who want to know a little bit more about themselves, and about the product. It is key to be available at any time and to be able to provide information – personalised if possible – that will help the customer change their lifestyle. There are only 17 franchise partners in the country now, but I would like to increase this to 30 by 2024. There is a strong education system behind them with trainers, dietitians, doctors, and product developers.

– Let’s talk a little about work-life balance. Even if you can’t give 100% everywhere, how can you feel you nearly do?

– I am in the fortunate situation that my husband is also a businessman, so he knows exactly when to be there. I had my second child as a businesswoman, and when the baby was born I knew how much time I wanted to spend with them and what my business plan was. If those two hadn’t matched, I would have definitely chosen family. But I managed to work out a system in the 9 months of my pregnancy that both my team and my family are were prepared for this. //