IT was a case of 'now or never' for three Inverclyde mums who took a leap of faith to set up their own beauty business.

Best friends Liz Jardine and Charlene Beckley became fed up of working in a local call centre, so they left their day jobs to follow their dreams.

The pair, along with Liz's daughter Ashleigh Beaton, signed up to study beauty therapy at West College Scotland and have not looked back since.

After leaving college and building up their experience at different salons, the trio have finally made their dream a reality by opening up their first salon 'Infinity' in West Blackhall Street.

Liz, 53, said: "It was a leap of faith for us all.

"When we left the call centre people were saying to us 'you'll never get better than here'.

"Now we are in a position where we can say 'look at us, we have done it'.

"We have our own salon."

It was five years ago when the the women took the brave decision to risk everything to pursue their dream of owning their own beauty salon.

Liz said: "Charlene had worked in T Mobile for 11 years and I had been there for 10 years - we worked in the same department.

"Ashleigh was looking after her son Kayden who has autism.

"All three of us had talked about setting up our own beauty salon.

"I was keen to do the wellness side of beauty such as massage and reiki while Charlene and Ashleigh were keen to do the beauty side.

"One day me and Charlene decided that we'd had enough and left our jobs.

"We all signed up to do the same beauty and wellness course at college."

The women managed to juggle family life with their studies and part-time jobs.

Charlene, 37, who is mum to Tai, 13, and Jay, 10, said: "It all happened so fast, it was just the spur of the moment.

"But it was the right time for us to do it.

"At the time my wee boy was in nursery but I managed to take him to college with me and put him in the nursery - it was great."

Ashleigh, 28, also put her son into the college nursery.

Liz, who also has two sons Alex, 15, and Kris, 30, said they all wanted to do better for their families.

She said: "My youngest son was 10 at the time and we just wanted better than the situation we were in."

After leaving college, the women worked in different salons.

Liz said: "Our plan was to go to college for three years and then open up our own business - that was the plan.

"However when we left college we went into all different beauty jobs."

Ashleigh said: "I'm a bit younger and I just thought I can't spend the next 20, 30 or 40 years on the minimum wage.

"I needed something to change."

Three weeks ago the trio secured their own premises.

Liz said: "Everything fell into place.

"We found premises and it just felt right."

Liz said they could not have got to where there are today without their family, friends, clients and the lecturers at West College Scotland.

She said: "The lecturers were really supportive, encouraged us to follow our dreams and to never let go of that."

The businesswomen are now looking forward to the future.

Liz said: "It's not just a job to us."