I had no concept of money or its value before coming to Dubai, and the first few years were quite a challenge in terms of learning how to budget. When I first moved to Dubai, in 2001, I worked as an assistant to the brand manager for Max Mara, a high-end Italian clothing brand in BurJuman Centre. I worked there part-time for a year, making Dh3,600 per month. At the same time, I was getting my MBA in marketing from American University in Dubai, which cost almost Dh100,000. I found it difficult to balance my tuition, bills and living expenses, but I paid out half my monthly salary for school, which was ultimately a wise investment. My father helped me financially for the first few months. After a year I was making enough to pay my own way.
I think those tight times made my purchases seem all the more precious. However, I have always been a great spender and a horrible saver. As a girl, I always ran to my parents for whatever I needed or wanted, and never quite understood how difficult it was to earn money and keep it. I was brought up in Esfahan, a lovely historical city in Iran. We were never extremely wealthy and lived within our means. My father is a civil engineer with his own business, and my mother is a teacher. Being the only child, I had the advantage of getting just about whatever I wanted. Although I was quite spoilt, we still had some difficult times, during which my parents taught me that the world does not fall to pieces if money is a little tight.
My daily allowance was about Dh15 while I was young, and when I began university, in 1994, my mother gave me her retirement salary as my monthly pocket money. This was about Dh800 a month. It was quite nice always having a bit of spending money. We moved to Tehran when I was 11, and I lived there until I was 26, when I moved to Dubai. While living in Iran I actually earned quite good money for that time in my life. At 19 I started my own fashion label. In university we were allowed to wear our own clothes, and this included any kind of mantoo [the Iranian style of abaya]. So I started making my own. My friends loved them. I began making them for other people under the label Tidel, and this eventually resulted in me putting on fashion shows every three months or so.
These shows were a huge success, with more than 400 clients buying around 500 mantoos at each show. When I started, I priced each one between Dh110 and Dh146, but just before I left Iran my designs were selling for approximately Dh550 to Dh735. The profit I made was around Dh10,000 every three months. I never valued money much when I was young, but building my fashion house taught me to look at money differently. It cost me about Dh1,835 to start up - that was with one tailor and just two mantoos.
I decided to move to Dubai because I wanted to enjoy a more independent life outside of Iran. I quickly gained experience working with Max Mara and selling for ALICO (American Life Insurance). Surprisingly, I was their strongest sales manager in the region, closing a deal worth more than Dh6 million in less than two months. After finishing my MBA in June 2004 I started on my current career path, working as the Middle East sales manager for Creative Nail Design. While I was working there, in 2004, the opportunity of a lifetime arose - to create and build Tips & Toes from the ground up.
When you're working in an industry you get to know all the other people in it. One day an Emirati lady called me and said she had four spots at Emaar properties and wanted to open nail studios, but didn't know anything about it. I started from scratch with her. She and two other Emirati investors put in the capital. I'm not a partner, I just run the business day to day. We developed the concept, brand and everything, from the bottom up, and since opening the first store in April 2005, Tips & Toes has become the largest nail-salon chain in the Middle East, currently employing around 380 workers.
I feel lucky to have a positive feeling despite the current economic climate. I try to save about 13 per cent of my monthly salary to invest in my future or for emergencies. I pay Dh12,000 per month for my mortgage on a two-bedroom townhouse in The Springs, and on average I spend about Dh5,000 on groceries and bills each month. I am crazy about shoes; I just can't stop buying them, but I also try to donate money every month to MAHAK, an Iranian charity for children with cancer.
I check my bank account about every two days to be sure all is safe and snug; I have been ripped off a couple times, but nothing as tragic as the time when I was 18 and travelling with my father in India. He would give me US$20 (Dh73.4) everyday during the trip to spend on food, transportation and souvenirs. I had decided to keep the daily amount and save it all up until the last day, being sure I had seen everything before purchasing. The last day came and I had a wad of $500 just waiting to be spent. We were having lunch and I left my bag on the chair for no more than a second - and it was gone. I was devastated, and my father refused to give me even one penny or buy me one of the beautiful items I had set my eyes on.
It was a successful lesson on the value of money - and on prudent purse placement. I think it is easiest to manage your finances if you have established goals and priorities. I like to draw up short-term and long-term goals to help visualise the future. It also helps me to prioritise whether I need to spend on something or save. It is always wise to keep some money saved up for emergencies and to keep to your financial plans. Money can build you, but it can also break you.