03/12/2007

Sharon Hilditch – Crystal Clear


Sharon Hilditch’s Crystal Clear clinic on Rodney Street is smart, sophisticated, and calm – a glamorous success story that transcends its Liverpool base to reach a Hollywood A list of clients.
Hilditch set up Crystal Clear with her partner Philip Ball in 1995. The opportunity was clear to Hilditch. ‘Looking back I suppose it was a risk, but I didn’t see it that way at the time. I think if you analyse things too much you’d never do anything. I am very black and white,’ she says. ‘My partner laughs at me because I refuse to see the grey in the middle, but there can’t be any. The longer you ponder, the worse the decision-making process becomes, and to be honest I don’t have time for that any more anyway. Of course, if I have an important decision to make I’ll sit down and think it through, but you can become paralysed by indecision.’
‘You have to learn from failure. Recently I met up with a buyer from abroad who’d said ‘yes’ to our eye pen, and was going to put it into scores of outlets. He changed his mind at the last minute – I was upset for the first two seconds, but five minutes later I’d made appointments with their competitors. I had to change it to a positive. Negativity can move in very quickly, so, for me, it’s all about how you deal with the rejection.’
Hilditch has a strong network of family and trusted advisors. ‘My sister is a huge inspiration. She’s a very positive person, and we know how to pick each other up............

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