As you probably know, I founded, own, and operate a clean, cruelty-free and vegan cosmetics line. What you may not know is this is not my first entrepreneurial rodeo.
I’ve been involved with or around startups and small businesses for as long as I can remember.
My grandparents, dad, uncle, brother, cousins…they all ran (and still run, in most cases) their own businesses.
I worked for and was a Board Member for one of the largest real estate software platforms in the country and knew that I loved the hustle.
So when the chance to intern with a tech startup materialized during my junior year of college, I jumped – and ended up working there for three concurrent semesters.
Then I launched my freelance makeup artistry business. For some reason, I’ve noticed that people regard freelancing within the beauty community as “not running a real business”, but I can assure you it is! From maintaining a website, to marketing and client retention, to processing payments and admin, it is a legitimate biz.
Now we arrive at today: founder and CEO of CLOVE + HALLOW, exhausted all of the time, and an open book who’s ready to share what I’ve learned with you.
LESSON #1
Ask a lot of questions and don’t feel weird about it.
When I got into the beauty industry, I knew nobody. My network – which was largely tech and consultancy focused – was suddenly irrelevant. It was terrifying.
But it was a huge blessing, because nothing is more liberating than desperation, and I was hella desperate for information. Instead of getting caught up in my usual antics of “I don’t want to look stupid” or “no, that’s embarrassing”, I steamrolled ahead and asked as many questions as I could.
I DM’d strangers on Instagram and Facebook. I cold-called suppliers and manufacturers. I spent sleepless nights crawling in the corners of Google for answers, sending messages to email addresses that I found on ancient looking websites.
And surprise, surprise – I got answers. Yes, I felt silly at times. Yes, I got laughed at. YES, I wondered if I had just given my contact info to a serial spammer. But oh well – I got what I needed.
Success as an entrepreneur is largely dependent on your comfortability with feeling uncomfortable, and asking questions without fear.
LESSON #2
You can’t please everybody.
This one probably isn’t surprise, because I’m pretty sure every parent everywhere tells their children this growing up. But man, is it so so real.
Not only is it mentally exhausting to try to please everyone, it’s also damaging to your core product/service. If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up with a slightly-left-of-middle product that doesn’t grab anybody’s headspace.
Since launching C+H a few years ago, the number of times people have given me negative (and usually unsolicited) feedback because they are not my target market is too high to count. I’ve learned to compartmentalize and let it roll off my back.
(Here’s an example: recently, at a tradeshow, a packaging vendor was admiring our componentry – something we’re very proud of at C+H – and quite rudely told me I made a mistake in the colorways I’d chosen for a particular SKU and should change it. I moved the conversation right along with a polite but firm, “I hear you, but the people who buy my products really like it, so I probably won’t change it.” Boom. Case closed.)
The point is: your product or service doesn’t have to make sense to everyone, it just has to make sense to your ideal customer. And in the same vein, you don’t have to make sense to everyone either; the opinion of the majority often times doesn’t matter.
LESSON #3
Life. Isn’t. Fair.
I need to tattoo this on my freaking forehead because I *still* spend way too much time fixating on the unfairness of the world than I should, but I get over it way faster than I used to thanks to repeated exposure.
Look – sometimes shit goes wrong and there’s nothing you can do about it other than react in a way that’s aligned with your goals and values. Period. It probably feels better to hem and haw over the injustice (I am a professional hem-and-hawer), but you gotta get over that hump and move on quickly.
I can think of two examples in my career that were so unfair I wanted to curl up in a ball and die.
First, when I was a makeup artist I sent introductory emails to a bunch of bigger, famous makeup artists that I wanted to assist on set. (Assisting is one of the best ways – maybe even the only way – to really break into the ultra-competitive side of the industry, such as big editorial work.)
I never heard back from anyone so I put my head down and kept working, assuming it meant I didn’t have the chops to assist them just yet. I took a few weeks off to visit some family – okay, that’s a lie, I took a few weeks off because I was cripplingly anxious for no reason – and when I came back, I walked right into a living nightmare:
I received a crushing email from one of my favorite makeup artists, telling me I was unprofessional and maybe I should rethink my career if I was going to be so flaky.
Now LISTEN y’all – I have been called some names in my lifetime, but NOBODY has ever called me flaky. Flaky is not in my DNA.
Apparently, three weeks prior, she had actually emailed me back to invite me on a gig with her and I never saw it. I went to search for the old email, and bam, there it was, sitting as a “read” email tucked into a folder. (To this day, I still don’t know what happened, but my guess is I accidentally archived it in the email app without reading it while fumbling on my phone or something.)
When I told her what happened and asked how I could make it up to her, she told me she didn’t give second chances. Oof. Unfair.
The second biggest unfairness happened more recently, with my cosmetics line. We were working with a major beauty subscription box to the tune of tens of thousands of units.
I get a call from my contact at the beauty box saying there was an issue with the delivery due to a missing package. I call UPS or FedEx (I can’t remember which it was) and they tell me some vague information about it being located at one of their warehouses but that’s all they know. I call back daily and escalate up the chain as much as I can in order to get answers but I get nowhere.
Until I get a call saying “Miss Biggers, we’ve located your package. And I’m sorry to tell you, but it’s been destroyed.”
DESTROYED? That was a term I’d never heard in relation to shipping.
Turns out, “destroyed” is totally a thing. Someone, somewhere, decided to INCINERATE one of our packages with thousands of units (and dollars worth of product), leaving it on my shoulders to tell the beauty box that we weren’t going to be able to uphold our contract.
Un. Freaking. Fair.
And yet, life went on, so I had to, too.
If you can mentally and emotionally weather all the crazy unfair shit that will inevitably happen during your career, you will outlast the majority of your competition. I truly believe that.
LESSON #4
Good things take time.
Good LAWD this is the truth y’all.
There may be a few things here and there that are quick and simple, but you should savor those because they are not the norm.
I equate running a business to doing makeup. The beginning is all fun and games and the end is the big reveal. But in-between? Oh man, the in-between is messy as hell.
Many times I’ve been in the middle of a makeup application and thought, “oh bloody hell this is terrible…” only to end up with some of my best looks. In fact, I don’t let my clients sit in front of mirrors because they PANIC during the middle.
Yep, the middle is rough and can feel infinite. It’s usually the part where you seriously consider quitting.
But let me tell you this: if you’re feeling stretched, if you’re wondering where the finish line is, if you’ve started thinking maybe somebody moved the goal post and you should just quit, keep going. You’re probably much closer than you realize.
Good things take time, great things take time AND hella effort.
LESSON #5
Have a mission/vision/goal.
This is my favorite lesson and has translated the easiest from my career to my everyday life.
It is SO EASY to see what your competition is up to or how the hot new brand in your industry is doing things and get sidetracked. It happens everyday.
Losing sight of your initial goal or vision or mission (and then feeling the proverbial crash) is truly a tale as old as time. It’s why so many companies end up with middle-of-the-road product that’s totally watered down.
In your everyday life, you also need to have a vision/mission/goal and a plan to get there.
Now, hear me clearly when I say that making this plan is not a contract; there is no blood oath saying you can’t adjust along the way. In fact, your goals and plans SHOULD change as you grow and evolve.
But not having a vision and a tentative plan for bringing it to fruition is a sure-fire way to feel purposeless (read: depressed, anxious, and bitter). Don’t do that to yourself.
Right now, write down one sentence to summarize your vision for 3 years from now for the following areas of your life:
- Health
- Relationships (romantic, friendships, family, etc.)
- Career
Now, brainstorm how you’re going to get there and write that down as well.
Take a deep breath, relax your mind, and enjoy the peace that comes with being resolute in your mission.
Ahhhhhhhh…
