Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Hailey Bieber, a deadstock money mistake & $100,000+ formulas with MARA Beauty’s Allison McNamara (part 1)

Transcript

Hailey Bieber, a deadstock money mistake & $100,000+ formulas with MARA Beauty’s Allison McNamara (part 1) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Alison McNamara for Female Startup Club.
• 0:13
  Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. It's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Today on the show, we're learning from Alison, the founder behind Mara Beauty. A lifelong beauty and wellness enthusiast, Alison has always had a passion for beauty and drummed up the idea for her clean algae-based skincare line, Mara, on a trip to Istanbul.
• 0:36
  Growing up with her father working in skincare and color cosmetics, she's had a robust knowledge of ingredients dating back to middle school and spent her weekends on commercial sets learning about brand marketing and formulation.
• 0:49
  In this episode, we cover her journey in creating the brand along with some mishaps that she's had along the way, the time when Hayley fricking Bieber bought her product and spoke about it on YouTube, and a painful money mistake she made early on. Now, before we get into it, a total side note here, I have been having so much fun over on TikTok creating quick business breakdowns and money mistakes.
• 1:19
  If you've got a money mistake you want to share with us, check out the format at Doon Roisin, which is D-O-O-N-E-R-O-I-S-I-N on TikTok and slide into my DMs with the deets. I'm going to be choosing a handful of favorites to create videos out of over the coming weeks. And I think you can't slide necessarily straight into DMs on TikTok. So feel free to slide into my Instagram DMs. Maybe that's easier. Yeah.
• 1:45
  Let's get into this episode. This is Alison for Female Startup Club. Alison, hi, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited to have you here too. I'd love to get started by getting you to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your brand and the ethos behind it.
• 2:06
  So my name is Allison McNamara, and I'm the founder of Mara, which is an algae-based clean skincare line. I launched it in 2018 with just one hero product, the Universal Face Oil. And every product that we create is centered around this proprietary wild collected algae blend. We spent two years clinically developing it. So it's clinically tested to plump, firm, smooth. We use two types of Alaria Esquilenta extract from Brittany, France, and Ireland and a microalgae.
• 2:36
  And so this is really like the secret sauce in all of our different products. And so I've grown the line from the one product to now include six full-size skincare products, lots of travels and minis, and some supplements, and more on the way.
• 2:49
  Oh, it sounds so good. I love anything algae related, like spirulina. I'm like, this sounds like health. Health and wellness. Health and wellness. It sounds like health. I know you started developing the brand quite some time before you launched in 2018. I think I read circa 2015. Where do you like to kind of start your entrepreneurial story with this brand?
• 3:11
  Well, honestly, I think my entrepreneurial story started when I was a television host, because even though I did work for brands, really, when you are the product, when you're selling yourself as the product, you have to become an entrepreneur pretty early on. You know, and I didn't always have a full-time job. I started out doing a lot of freelance work. So I think that was always kind of built in me in a way. But my journey started in 2015 for Mara when I thought of the idea on a trip. And, you know, I didn't know if anything was going to come from it, but I...
• 3:40
  I planted all the right seeds and did all the right exercises. And then I'm so excited that it actually did come to fruition. Where were you and what gave you the idea? Like, what's the light bulb moment for you? I was on a trip to Istanbul, Turkey. We also went to Greece and I've always been really obsessed with the Mediterranean. And so I thought of the idea of Mara on the sea of Marmara in Istanbul, Turkey. And Mara is also the last four letters of my last name. So I'm like,
• 4:08
  Mara, that's perfect. It's like my name, but also means C in Gaelic. And it pays kind of homage to my Irish heritage. So I thought basically, if I could get the name Mara trademarked, if it wasn't already in use, that would be a sign to kind of go forward with the business. And we were able to get it. So I took that as like my little sign, not that you need one, but that was my I kind of took that as my, you know, omen to try and put more direction into this versus hosting. And
• 4:37
  And then all of the color palettes are really inspired by my travels. I love just traveling like Italy and Greece and my hometown of Palos Verdes all really play into the aesthetics of Mara. Amazing. And so in that like kind of three years from when you have the idea in Istanbul to, you know, when you're on the trip to Istanbul and, you know, actually launching in 2018, what are the key kind of milestones that you like took to bring the brand to life and develop the products?
• 5:06
  hero product rather. Yeah, the hero product. There were so many small steps that really kind of led to the launch, right? Like you don't realize you're doing these small steps and you don't realize that they're so important until you have some hindsight under your belt. But I think really just learning as much as I could, I went to so many different, I call them ingredient festivals, but
• 5:28
  I'm sure anyone in the beauty industry would like cringe if they heard that. I went to like- I've never heard that. No, they're like Cosmoprof, all of those like makeup LA where you go and they're basically booths and there's everyone from manufacturers and ingredient raw materials to packaging. So I call it the ingredient festivals, but I went to all of the ones that were in close proximity to me. So luckily being in Los Angeles, we have a lot of them, you know, Cosmoprof.
• 5:56
  is in Las Vegas and they have Makeup LA and there's a scientist convention here of ingredients in Long Beach. So I did all of that in the years leading up to the launch. I met with lots of different manufacturers and formulators and I really found one who I thought specialized in what I was trying to create and also really understood the vision. So picking the right partner for your formulation if you're not a scientist is super important.
• 6:22
  And you also have to make the decisions if you want to own the formula or if you want to do more of like a white label manufacturer where you go to a manufacturer and you create a product, but you don't necessarily own it. You don't know exactly what's going into it. You have the inky list, but you don't know all the suppliers and the raw materials. So yeah. If you don't own it, just to cut in here for a second, if you don't own the formula, how does it work if you sell the business down the track? Yeah.
• 6:49
  You know, you basically have an agreement with these manufacturers, but they're not really permanent. So I've had friends who have had actually are going through issues where, you know, their manufacturer took on a really big client and they no longer can have time or make the quantities for, you know, the smaller brand. And since that manufacturer owns a formula...
• 7:11
  you basically have to backwards formulate, which is really hard. Oh my God, that's crazy. So in that scenario, like, is it really, cause I obviously don't come from the beauty world. So I'm just trying to understand here. If you go into like building a brand, but you don't necessarily know that you need to own the formula or not need to own the formula, is it made clear to you that you can buy the formula in the beginning? Or is it kind of like a gray area? It's only if you bring it up.
• 7:37
  Not really, because most people go straight to manufacturers to work on products. And most manufacturers don't sell their formulas because they'll use like a tried and true based formula and then add in your marketing components. I went to an independent formulator and had to like pay a ton for our formulas. And then I had to find a contract manufacturer to scale up the formula that we've created. So they're very separate. So it's more work.
• 8:04
  Got it. Okay. I understand now. Are you able to share like, you know, ballpark, what you spent to like develop those formulas versus what it would cost if you just went to like, uh, you know, off the shelf product, well, like white labeling a product. Yeah. So we, we got a bulk deal for our formulas. I created, I think five of them in the first package, you know, that was kind of what we built together and it was over a hundred thousand dollars.
• 8:31
  just to make the formulas without having anything. So no actual product? That's just blanket? That's like a piece of paper with how to make it and the raw materials. Okay, so R&D is expensive in the beauty world. Got it. Okay. Yeah, but I'm working on something with a manufacturer, and my R&D costs were between $500 and $2,000 for the one product.
• 8:59
  Right. So it can vary drastically. Much cheaper, though. If you're thinking about it, five products cost you over $100,000. That's on average, what, $25,000 a formula. It's a lot more than $500,000 to $2,000. Got it. Okay. So in that early time, you've obviously formulated in those first few years, you've formulated the brand, you've invested that amount of capital. How much do you then need to invest to actually buy into product for your launch product and launch the brand?
• 9:27
  This is so different now than it was when I launched my brand. So I almost feel like I can't speak eloquently on it because in 20, I started ordering my components in 2016, 2017. And at the time people were still really keen to work with indie brands. And I felt that the MOQs weren't quite as high, the minimum order quantities. So what I did is I actually purchased deadstock materials, which ended up being the kind of core color way for my brand. I found these
• 9:54
  blue bottles that were just here in Los Angeles that some other beauty brand had purchased and no longer wanted. So they're just, they're called dead stock. And so it doesn't happen for everyone. I actually looked at, um, several different houses that had dead stock or things that people had printed on that they rejected that I could easily just, you know, remove the printing from. And so I found those, so I was able to buy very small quantities. They let me buy, I think like
• 10:22
  5,000 units or even 3,500 units for my first order, which is like unheard of. Usually an MOQ is minimum 10,000. If you're going for somewhere in China, 20,000 plus units. So I didn't have to invest as much capital into my components, even though they're very expensive components. It was definitely a way that I was able to save money, but I'm not sure like with supply chain issues in 2022, I doubt there's dead stock anywhere. Everyone is just trying to like get stuff wherever they can.
• 10:51
  So it's a lot different now. That's so interesting. I've literally never heard of that. When you say like these houses where you would go and find the product, is it like, how do people research these? Like how would other people that are like listening, being like, oh, wow, I'd love to see if there's anything out there. What would they do to find those?
• 11:10
  So you go to those different raw materials, ingredient festivals, if you will, that I mentioned, Cosmoprof, any of the ones like Makeup LA, they have them all around the world. And like there's one in Italy, that's the biggest Cosmoprof, but that's where you can find, you can see different suppliers from different parts of the world. And if you know you want to maybe cut some costs, then maybe you do a Chinese-based brand for your glass. But maybe if you want to go a little bit more luxe, you go for like a Taiwan or a Korea glass, and you kind of see the difference
• 11:39
  suppliers there from where they're from. And you can learn a little bit more about their minimum order quantities. We just so happen to be in Los Angeles and there are a lot of different manufacturers based here. So we're kind of lucky. So I was able to go and physically see things. I got it. That's so cool. I've never heard of that. Love that. Great tip.
• 11:58
  I want to talk about, you know, you're kind of leading up to the launch and bringing this brand into the world. You obviously come from a beauty background. You've worked for amazing publications. You were a reporter and you had a lot of connections. You have an industry connection kind of black book, I guess you would say. So you're in this really great position to be able to launch with a lot of coverage. For anyone listening who is like wanting to get PR coverage and kind of doesn't have those connections.
• 12:26
  What was it about like when people were pitching you, when you were working in the industry, what stood out for you or like, what would get you excited about a new brand? And what's your kind of advice to small business owners who are in that position? Your brand has to be beautiful and stand out in a press release, because at the end of the day, you know, if you're a publicist, you're just getting, or if you're an editor, you're getting hit with all these different PR requests every day, these different blasts. And so
• 12:52
  Things that were beautiful always stood out to me when I was getting sent all those blasts, which actually I still get a lot of blasts. And it's funny to see the ones that I open versus the ones that I don't even open. I just delete. Because honestly, I'm not in that world anymore either. But I think, you know, having a beautiful brand, having a really strong founder story, having a really strong...
• 13:11
  point of view when it comes to what you're trying to deliver. And I think that Mara's messaging was very clear early on. And we also only had one product. So it was really easy for the customer to understand or the publicist or the writer to understand. So it made the whole thing really easy to pitch because it was one product. It did it all. It was super hydrating. It was in the clean space, which was new and innovative at the time. And so I think that was what really stuck out to people early on.
• 13:38
  And it was also this new concept of launching less. You know, back in the day, even in 2018 when I launched, people were still launching full lines, you know, like seven plus products. And I was like, here's one product. And a few other brands in the space also had the same idea. And I think we kind of started this new wave of like a less is more approach to beauty.
• 14:00
  And do you think when people are sending those blasts and emails, is it 100% necessary to send the PR package and the samples to the editor or is an email going to cut through? I think it's really important to get product in people's hands because where our product, yes, it looks gorgeous in photos and it reads well on a screen. But I think where it does the most is when you get to see it, feel it, you feel the weightiness of the product. You see the details on the box.
• 14:29
  And then you get to experience the formulas and they're amazing. We obviously worked really hard on them. So it's always my goal that even if someone is hesitant about the brand for some reason, as long as I can get it in their hands, I know I can convert them to be a fan. Got it. Got it. Let's talk about the launch. How did it go? What did you do besides like obviously the PR piece? What else was going on in the background to bring this into the world?
• 14:53
  Literally nothing. I look back and I'm like, wow, that was crazy that we did it that way. So I was just, we basically operated the business out of my house, which I'm currently sitting in. And we stored the product down in my guest house. And we actually had the pallet truck, you know, trucks come on pallets, you know, all the product is on one large pallet. We had them roll it down my driveway, which was steep because I live in the Hollywood Hills.
• 15:19
  And the pallet actually landed on my foot. I didn't break my foot luckily, but it was like a 3,000 pound pallet. And so that was... And also, thank God it didn't all break. Oh, I know. It was honestly like I have PTSD from that day when it arrived. But I guess launch day rolled around. We didn't send out any of the press product until the soft launch day, which was February 19th.
• 15:46
  So our fourth birthday is coming up in just a few days, but nothing. I literally put press live on the website and was like, okay, I wonder if people are going to come. And they did, you know, we, we had, we had some sales our first day. We had a good amount of sales our first day. We didn't partner with a retail partner for the launch. So it really was just,
• 16:04
  my reach and my contacts that got the business started. And then so like, what are those early months, like trying to get the ball rolling and what's happening? Like, can you fill us in a little bit of, you know, trying to get that traction in those early days? Well, kind of like you mentioned before, I did work in the industry. So I had a lot of great contacts that were really excited to try the product. And a lot of people, even though I didn't always work in the beauty space, I did a lot of fashion and beauty.
• 16:33
  I was always asked about my skin. I grew up with my family working in skincare. People would always ask me for what I'm using to keep my skin clear and healthy. So people were really intrigued. People that I didn't even think would be intrigued from my, you know, that I had met in passing, big bloggers, huge editors. A lot of people were reaching out about this product. And so I was very lucky to get a lot of like buzz early on. And so we launched in February.
• 17:00
  And then by May, we were at Credo Beauty, which is like one of my, it's my favorite store, honestly. It's where I shop for beauty products. They've been the most incredible partner. They believed in the brand so early on, and they were really excited about Mara. And so that was like our first big moment. So within the first three months, we were already at, you know, a pretty major distribution in the US. And then after that, we locked in Cult Beauty, which is an international, I'm sure you know it because you're London-based, but Cult Beauty is based in London. Yeah.
• 17:28
  And that's really big for a U.S. brand to be able to have this international distribution at such an early stage in the business. So they were incredible, too. And so it was a busy six months. It has always gotten busier every single month. So love that for you. Yeah. When you're talking like tactically about the, you know, stores like the retailers that you're getting into, how do you approach them and how are you getting stocked into those places?
• 17:57
  So Credo was word of mouth. I had reached out to the buying person at the time through a generic email that I had found. But I believe we were seen by the buyer on a big makeup artist Instagram and she had shared it. And I got they didn't respond to my pitch email, but I got a separate email being like we saw you on so and so's Instagram. We'd love to call in the product.
• 18:21
  And so that was really big for us there. And then Colt Beauty, I got introduced to the buying director through a friend. And so that was how I kind of got my edge in there. So again, it's kind of like it really is networking and who you know. But I will say I have gotten into retailers through blind emails as well. Like Blue Mercury is one of them. Repeatedly emailed them for a long time. And we launched with them in... Like how many emails? Yeah.
• 18:49
  I'm not overly annoying. I'll send one and then I'll wait three or four months. I only send when I have updates. I'm not sending things just to send things. But Blue Mercury, I probably emailed them for about a year before we got into their store. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty substantial. That's a long hustle. I love that for you.
• 19:12
  When you look back, you know, from those early months to now, what are the kind of key milestones that have moved you forward and propelled the business forward? Whether it's like a positive milestone or like a really big challenge that like made you pivot or whatever it might be, what are the kind of key moments since then?
• 19:30
  Yeah, that's a great question. I think the big ones were with supply chain issues that I had early on before COVID, you know, really making sure we had these amazing viral moments where the product would sell out. But when you only have one product, you don't have anything to sell if you sell out. So like you have to make sure you have something to sell. Whereas when you have more products now, like I do, it's a little less stressful if we sell out of one SKU,
• 20:00
  So I think that having that one skew early on taught me the importance of always being really on my supply chain and making sure I had, I was doing the proper forecasting and the proper order volumes to make sure we're meeting up with demand. And that is hard when you sign on a new retailer and you kind of go through what the predictions will be.
• 20:18
  sometimes you blow them out of the water and sometimes you don't, but if you do blow them out of the water, you want to make sure that you have at least a way to continue feeding that customer at this new retailer. So I think that was really big for me. And I went through some stuff in 2019, actually before COVID. So that I think really prepared me for this new phase of our lives where everything takes like a half of a year minimum to get in. It's true. And so that was big. And then
• 20:46
  I think the other things that have really propelled the brand are like the amazing celebrities, like true celebrities who have organically shared the brand. It's so cool when a huge public figure has the confidence to share like a small indie brand and is not only just pushing major brands that they're getting paid for, but also, or the brands that they own or their friends own, but push a small indie brand, it changes our businesses. So that's been really cool for us.
• 21:15
  Well, please name drop. Who are we talking about and how did they get hold of the brand or how do they know about it? You know, a lot. I'm so honored, honestly, to even have a list like this. But, you know, Hayley Bieber was the most recent huge person. Shut the front door. Yeah. I'm obsessed with Hayley Bieber. I know. I love her. Obsessed. I mean, totally obsessed. So she mentioned Mara's cleansing oil in a YouTube video last year.
• 21:42
  And we've honestly, it's still been viral since then. Like we're still getting press hits on this story just because Hayley Bieber is so trendy and Gen Z and they, you know, married to Justin. So like, honestly, perfect skin too. Couldn't have asked for like. I mean, perfect skin. Wow. That is so cool. Yeah, a more amazing spokesmodel. And for her, she actually bought the cleanser off of our website, which we did not realize because she used a different,
• 22:11
  name than her last name. Like I'm sure a lot of celebrities do, but she did purchase the cleanser, but she knew about the brand because my fiance has colored her hair in the past. So my fiance is a hair colorist. And so that's how she kind of was introduced to the brand, I think. But yes, the cleanser was purchased, which was very exciting. And then I guess some other people, I mean,
• 22:32
  Addison Rae has tagged us. Olivia Munn has tagged us. Chrissy Teigen, Rosie Ennington-Whiteley. We've had some really amazing people share or mention the brand. Oh, my God. I love that for you. When you say like someone like, we'll just say Hailey Bieber because she's obviously like who we just spoke about. When she does the YouTube video, are you able to share like what the kind of impact is? How many units does a celebrity like that actually generate?
• 23:00
  We don't have exact numbers to share on this, honestly, because it is, a lot of them are more of like a trickle effect. You know, yes, she mentions it in the YouTube video and she did link to the brand, but she didn't actually say the name in the video. So where we got the most,
• 23:13
  substantial, I think, clickbacks to the site would be from the press that we received as the aftermath. You know, Haley Bieber shares her entire nighttime skincare routine and gets picked up by every major outlet. And that's where the attribution comes from, even though I know it's directly related to Haley. So it is hard to kind of see. And sometimes those attributions take longer. You know, someone sees it once, they see it twice, and then a month later they buy the cleanser. But it's, you know, we definitely sold out of the product within a few days when that
• 23:43
  happened. So it definitely moved volume for us and it still continues to do so. That is so cool. When you think about now, like, you know, coming into 2022 and you're thinking about growth, what is working for you and what's your kind of like overall plan? So I know what's not working for us. How about that? Oh, yes. Please tell what's not working.
• 24:07
  We have had, and I'm sure lots of brands, if they're listening, will have the same thing. We've had a really hard time with our digital marketing since the iOS update last June. And when you are a small brand and those marketing dollars really mean something to you, you have to kind of go with what's working. So we ended up letting go of our digital marketing agency last month, and we are going to just kind of restructure how we do our digital marketing and media buys.
• 24:34
  It's so hard. I think actually investing in things like podcasts, like we're on, you know, is probably an easier and better and more effective way to actually reach the kind of consumer that we want to reach versus sending these ads out until God knows who's seeing them or not seeing them. You mean like ads on podcasts? Yeah.
• 24:53
  Yeah, I've been listening to a lot of great ads on podcasts. A lot of my friends are also are podcasters. So when I'm listening to them, I'll hear like brands. And I think that's so cool that they are doing that. So I think podcast ads, I think TikTok ads, I just think like stepping away from the traditional, like dump all your marketing buys into Instagram, Facebook, because they have not been performing at least for us. And so
• 25:17
  That's something we're really focusing on this year is how to re-engage with our digital customer because we're a digitally native brand. And so we really want to make sure that we are having access to our person and being able to serve them the things that they want to see. So that is what's not working for us. And I guess what's working for us, I don't know, we're having a lot of fun with TikTok. We don't have a ton of followers, but we get some really great viral hits that we find just to be so fun and the whole team enjoys doing them. So that's something we're focusing on.
• 25:47
  We've got some really exciting launches for this year. Products are at the core of Mara. Great formulas, great products. So exciting launches. Anything you want to tease out there? Any upcoming in the few months? We are very secret about our launches. We don't talk about them. They're embargoed until the day they come out. So we're one of those. Oh my gosh. I know. I'm excited for you though. That sounds so cool. Yeah.
• 26:15
  What is the best and worst advice you've ever received in business? Oh, that's a tough one because there's so much bad advice that you receive. You know, I just think like it's not one particular thing. I just think it's listening to too many people's opinions, right? Everyone's going to have an opinion on how you should be doing things and what you should be doing or what you should be doing differently. Your retailers, if you're in the product-based business,
• 26:43
  are also going to have a say in what you do and what they think you should do. And I think you should listen to all these different people, but also like keep your vision to the brand. And then again, the best piece of advice was from my dad that said, don't listen to all the advice you're getting. So they're kind of the same. Is that the advice that you like to pass on to other entrepreneurs? Or do you have something else that you like to share? I share that pretty often. And also I think it's important to, I think people...
• 27:11
  kind of glamorize this idea of getting big investments from, you know, you know, a big amount of money from another, you know, an investment banker or, you know, a big growth partner, which is a huge accomplishment. Don't get me wrong, but I think there is power in being scrappy and self-funded because you do control the business. And so that's something I oscillate between Mara has not taken any outside investment. So, um, yeah.
• 27:38
  Do you think you will take investment in the future? Obviously, given that, you know, building a CPG brand requires so much working capital to kind of keep that growth going. I do think at some point we will take investment, but not sure when that will be. Got it. Cool. Thank you so much for sharing that advice.
• 28:01
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 28:25
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 28:48
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 29:04
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 29:29
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 29:51
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.