Driving the Business: Beauty Brands & Entrepreneurship

Most beauty founders don't fail because of bad products. They struggle because they try to do everything themselves for too long. In the early stages, that hustle is necessary. You're the marketer, the operations manager, the customer service rep, the strategist, and the CEO all at once. But at a certain point, if you want the business to grow, you have to start building leverage. In Episode 40 of...

Want your beauty brand in Walmart or Sephora? Here's what you need to know first. Taking your beauty brand from direct-to-consumer (DTC) into big-box retail sounds like the dream. Target. Sephora. Walmart. National shelves. Bigger visibility. Bigger orders. But what most founders don't see is how complex, expensive, and risky that leap can actually be. In this episode of Driving the Business: Beau...

Why does your business still feel stuck when you're working nonstop? What if the problem isn't your team, your market, or your strategy? What if it's you? In this episode of Driving the Business: Beauty Brands & Entrepreneurship, I break down one of the most common and uncomfortable growth challenges founders face. Becoming the bottleneck without even realizing it. We get into the three clear sign...

Why does one moisturizer cost $15… while another sells for $65? The answer isn't as simple as it seems. In Episode 37 of Driving the Business: Beauty Brands & Entrepreneurship , I break down how contract manufacturers actually determine pricing and the behind-the-scenes factors most founders never see. From ingredients and packaging to labor, volume, and logistics, this episode walks you through w...

I'm so glad you're here. After a little break, we're back with a fresh new chapter of Driving the Business. In this episode, I'm catching you up on the journey, sharing what's new, and diving straight into the five things every beauty entrepreneur should know before they start. If you're dreaming about launching a brand, stuck in the planning stage, or trying to figure out if entrepreneurship is r...

As business founders raising money can sometimes feel like a complex mystery with lots of questions.   What do investors want to see from a business owner?   How do investors evaluate who to invest in?   Should owners expect to give away equity when raising money? If yes, how much?   Well I managed to book time with a venture capital (VC) investor who reviews and assesses deals for a living.   Jas...

I love bold people! Winnie Awa is a bold Black woman doing amazing work in the beauty space as the founder of an AI driven platform that is serving curly haired women in the UK.   She is also someone who understands what it is like to pivot your professional career to pursue her passion.   She also is confident enough to speak her mind when something does not line up and gave her opinion when Brad...

Does the Silicon Valley Bank or SVB discussion completely confuse you?   This is the podcast episode for you.   Do you see the direct impact of how the tech community's turmoil is going to impact beauty and consumer product good investments?   This is the podcast episode for you.   Would have a simple explanation of what's happening in the financial world help you?   This is the podcast episode fo...

Things rarely turn out exactly like how I think they should when planning big things in life. For me starting a business meant the promise of ultimate freedom, success and tons of money. Managing a whole damn beauty manufacturing company has given me insight and taught me lessons that have been eye opening and incredibly helpful.   I'm sharing 8 key insights as a reflect back on the last 96 months...

Since 2020 I have leaned hard into having conversations about the impact of race in my personal life and business with my non-Black friends and associates. These conversations have been nuanced and complex yet extremely enlightening. I've recognized that my white friends/associates don't get many opportunities to discuss what its like to live as a minority in the US.   On this latest episode of th...

I love talking with indie beauty brand start up founders and on this episode I sit and chat with a married couple who are taking a deliberate, disruptive approach to skin care with their line of omni sex products.   Jayme and Nick Valo of Valoie Skin Care give an intriguing discussion about the origins of starting a beauty line targeted at the recently coined phrase omnisex. We talk about the mean...

Somebody hand me my soap box cause I need it right now.   Going into formal retail chains without being prepared is the kiss of death or some very painful, expensive lessons!   20+ years of doing business with most every retail chain that sells beauty products and I have seen first hand how this game operates.   One of the secret weapons that indie beauty founders may enlist are the services of a...

We are getting extra cozy and familiar for this episode. I've recognized in my own journey as a Black man living in America with abundant blessings all around me that everything is not ok.   While things in my business have been thriving and we've been shattering ceilings with fundraising and hitting revenue targets, on the other side I have had to stand and face some issues that go back to my chi...

By far the biggest business challenge I hear from entrepreneurs entering the space or thinking of launching products is they don't have enough money to execute on their vision.   After hearing this statement no less than 200x's a year I have given some thought on how to translate the concept of a minimal viable product (MVP) from the tech world into the beauty product space.   Making it happen is...

I'M BACK! But I don't want to do things exactly like we were doing them before. This includes how I show up for one of my passions which is this podcast.   The last 2 years have changed me.   I just do not feel like "business as usual".  It took some time to really identify what was different and how I wanted to show up in the world.   For me it means still offering incredible value for those that...

I admit at first I was admittedly against the idea of hiring a virtual assistant. I did not see how their could be value in having an assistant that I would never see.   And then the great ponderosa hit aka COVID-19.   In today's episode hear about how wrong I was in my initial assumption and how having a virtual assistant has been a game changer for me and my business.   I do this in a direct con...

As a beauty product manufacturer and brand consultant I have worked with more than 200 brand owners over the last 7 years the topic of pricing and I've come to a huge conclusion. Pricing products is an emotional process for brand owners that leads to all the questions. What if you over price your products and no one buys? What it you under price your products and miss out on additional dollars you...

Calling all social media influencers & those who engage them.    This is the content you need.   The concept of brands paying content creators and social media influencers is a cumbersome, ambiguous process and both side  need help.   Influencers are trying to figure out how to attract and scale their reach so they attract brands to pay them.   Beauty brands (particularly the indie brand owners) a...

Working with a manufacturer can seem like an overwhelming, daunting project. But it does not have to be.   After 6 1/2 years and literally more than 1000+ discussions with potential customers I have compiled a cheat sheet that will quickly move you to front of line with any private label or contract manufacturer you're considering.   6 questions that once answered will give you the confidence to e...

We are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of COVID-19 shutting down the world and it's been almost a year since my last episode.  We've got a lot to catch up on. I don't want to act like it's "business as usual" which is why I'm getting raw and vulnerable about the last year of my own life. It's been a hybrid of the CRAZY & AMAZING!  We also talk about what a tremendous opportunity right now is f...

Not everybody should become an entrepreneur today!  Many are best served working inside a beauty company.   Navigating your career can be tricky so I assembled two of my most favorite people to help bring you the kind of sage advice you need to thrive!    I spent 14 years of my own career working for multiple companies and it was the BEST training guide I needed to prepare for my current place in...

Understanding the role of public relations as part of a beauty brand's marketing mix is a tough and sometimes confusing topic. What is PR? How is it different than other forms of advertising? What should I expect when I hire a PR agent or team? Well I've got a veteran in the space who is here to answer these questions and how beauty brands can successfully approach PR. Stephanie Scott-Bradshaw is...

As part of every beauty brand experience you are going to receive customer complaints about your product.  As an owner or someone who works in customer service you should get ahead of the issue by having a process for handling the issues as they come in. Don't let someone else's concern or anger set you up to be sued and manipulated out of money. I'm shelling out 8 quick tips that can be implement...

What would you do if Oprah Winfrey funded the start of your business? Well find out what one woman with an idea, passion and the guts to take multiple leaps of faith did in this new episode of Driving the Business.    It's rare to find entrepreneurs that will get real and raw with you. But Kiley Russell did both during this candid interview sharing intimate details of her highest successes as foun...

The REALITY is that Black women founders are getting a dismal 0.002% of all venture funding. Hear what beauty brand founder Kim Roxie decided to do when she found out this startling statistic while also working to pivot her own color cosmetics line - LAMIK Beauty.  We get REAL and talk about what it was like for Kim to shut down her store in order to pivot. Her quest for education and participatio...