A life of leisure doesn't cut it for lottery winner

Aug 25, 2008, 9:27 am (11 comments)

UK National Lottery

A hairdresser who won a lottery jackpot as part of an office pool has opened her own hair salon — just yards from the shop where she used to work.

Natalie McGuire, 27, was part of a pool of fellow employees that won a £2.9 million (US$5.4 million) UK National Lotto jackpot last year.

But after living the high life and visiting places like exotic Mauritius in the Indian Ocean she has opened her own salon — employing three of the other girls from her pool.

Natalie, from Castlemilk, said, "The seven of us all worked at Smile Hair and Beauty in Burnside.

"Since we won last year a few of us have had children and been off seeing places and enjoying ourselves.

"People don't believe you when you say you still want to be doing something after you've won the lottery, but you do.

"So I decided to open my own salon."

Called Bliss, the hairdressing and beauty salon on Rutherglen's Chapel Street has proved a hit with locals.

And Natalie now employs her fellow winners Wendy Brown, Megan McCann and Lorna Alexander.

Natalie said, "I'm enjoying running the place.

"I didn't have to worry about the money to set up the place but I went to Business Gateway to help me get to grips with the business side of things — I didn't have a clue about things like tax, or business plans and so on, and it has been great."

David Hughes from Business Gateway Glasgow has been Natalie's mentor since the firm's launch in April.

"It's Natalie's drive and enthusiasm, and understanding of the business, that has helped the salon develop over the past few months," Hughes said.

"She's taken full advantage of all our free services which has given her the confidence and support needed to set up a fantastic business which is attracting new customers every day."

The pool members each won £418,000 (US$774,400) last year, after a fortune teller told pool leader Wendy seven would be lucky for her.

The office pool was created on August 7 and had seven members — one aged 77 — when it won in 2007.

Wendy, left, Natalie, center, and Megan are back at work.
Wendy, left, Natalie, center, and Megan are back at work.

Herald & Times

Comments

MillionsWanted's avatarMillionsWanted

That's the spirit! Now they can do what they like. If fixing hair is what they want of course it's better than sitting at home doing nothing.
The fact that they all are lottery winners will lure some people to their salon.

GamerMom's avatarGamerMom

Quote: Originally posted by MillionsWanted on Aug 25, 2008

That's the spirit! Now they can do what they like. If fixing hair is what they want of course it's better than sitting at home doing nothing.
The fact that they all are lottery winners will lure some people to their salon.

Interesting that you would use the word lure....I would think it would lure robbers!!!

MillionsWanted's avatarMillionsWanted

Quote: Originally posted by GamerMom on Aug 25, 2008

Interesting that you would use the word lure....I would think it would lure robbers!!!

That too, probably. Don't know if they allow anonymity in the UK. If they do, they should have stayed anon.

Captain Lotto's avatarCaptain Lotto

Nah, it's not like they won millions... People will flock to the salon to see if luck will rub off on them. 

GamerMom's avatarGamerMom

crackheads don't care if you've won 5000 or 5 million.  If your name/face are in the paper saying you have won you might as well paint a target on your back, especially when you give them the address right beside your picture.

jeffrey's avatarjeffrey

Quote: Originally posted by GamerMom on Aug 25, 2008

crackheads don't care if you've won 5000 or 5 million.  If your name/face are in the paper saying you have won you might as well paint a target on your back, especially when you give them the address right beside your picture.

Yes, if people hear you have money, they want it. Unfortunately, usually any way they can get it. Poverty has its own set of rules.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Congratulations to these women.  They obviously want to pass along good work ethics and morals to their children.  Regarding a robbery, I don't understand why this salon would be more of a target than any other business.  What about a jewelry store?  It's not as if they'll be displaying the jackpot money in the window.  In any case, I'm sure they'll be covered by insurance. 

petergrfn

Good for them!   I think this is where alot of lottery winners go wrong.   Thinking that they won the lottery now they should just sit back and do nothing all day.   "Idle hands are the devils playthings".   I'm not saying work yourself to death but find something to keep yourself active something you like.   These lady's enjoy each others company and cutting hair so I say go for it.   And mabey just turn a profit in the meantime.     I  enjoy working in the tech field although not my current job.   I would take several weeks vacation and then start working on what I want to do.    I would never answer another tech support call for one thing!  LOL    But start my own internet buisness and work on it when I wanted to from my home or the beach or where ever I wanted!    Would be nice working on my schedule and in what attire I wanted to instead of having a boss yelling at you for wearing shorts, T-shirt, and flip flops.(MY Prefered beach attire!!)

myturn's avatarmyturn

Money is just a tool, it how you use it that matters. It is great when people use lottery winning to start a business. It was wise of Natalie to realize that she needed advice on the bookwork side of the business. In any business, knowing what one is not good at and getting advice is the key to success.

JackpotWanna's avatarJackpotWanna

WTG Ladies!!!

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Aug 26, 2008

Congratulations to these women.  They obviously want to pass along good work ethics and morals to their children.  Regarding a robbery, I don't understand why this salon would be more of a target than any other business.  What about a jewelry store?  It's not as if they'll be displaying the jackpot money in the window.  In any case, I'm sure they'll be covered by insurance. 

I agree. I think the women will be fine.

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