Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / 6 quick questions with Briana Olson, Founder of Trio Beauty (Part 2)

Transcript

6 quick questions with Briana Olson, Founder of Trio Beauty (Part 2) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions. So question number one is what's your why? Why are you waking up every day and focusing on Trio Beauty? Why?
• 0:21
  To help women's beauty routines be more simple, more easy, and to kind of like give them the look that they want, that they can do by themselves without necessarily having like the skillset to do it. It's not like, oh, you've been given an eyeshadow palette with like 60 shades, have fun. Everything's been like curated, even down to like the stencil shapes, like there's 12 stencil shapes in the brow trio stencil kit.
• 0:49
  And all of them have been kind of shaped to fit everyone's kind of face. So everything's been like kind of curated so that you don't have to like choose from a big bundle of makeup items in your drawer or whatever. I feel like it speaks to me and the way I approach beauty. Amazing. Love that. Love that for me. Question number two is what's been your favorite marketing moment so far? Besides the big influencer moment.
• 1:19
  That's a tricky one because I was going to say that one. I would say favorite marketing moment was kind of when that first ad kind of took off.
• 1:34
  Yeah, probably that. Like just kind of like that kind of like, it's like when you're falling in love or whatever and you're like, could this be something? Like it's like that kind of a feeling or it's like you launch the ad and you're like, is this a winning ad? Is it? And then you see that it is and you're like, it was kind of like that feeling. I love that, the thrill. I fell in love with an ad. I don't know. Oh my God, I love that. I totally know what you mean.
• 1:59
  Question number three is what's your go-to resource at the moment, like a podcast or a newsletter or a book? Where are you tuning in? I love all sorts of podcasts. So I feel like I don't have the attention span to read, even though there are so many books I would love to. Maybe I need to do more like Audible. But I love like so many different podcasts of like different kind of books.
• 2:25
  genres, but all kind of like in the business realm. So I love yours. And then I love Ed Milet. And then another one I love is like the Skinny Confidential, like they have a lot of good, like kind of like business people on, as well as just like beauty things. So those three are like my top three.
• 2:43
  Amazing. Check, check them out. What was the middle one you said? I haven't heard of that one before. Ed Milet. Ed Milet. I'm going to check him out. Great. Love that. He's super influential and he kind of like pumps you up. You're like ready, you know? Love that. He's your hype guy. Yes. Yes. Question number four is how do you win the day when you're having a great day, when you're doing all the small moments and the boundaries, how do you win the day? What are
• 3:14
  Yeah. So the first part of my day is like kid family central. And then, so that's so chaotic. And then as soon as they leave, I'm like,
• 3:26
  Peace. So at that point, like, honestly, this sounds weird, but my favorite thing is to clean everything before I start work. I clean like everything I make. I make beds like everything is like perfect. I play podcast during that time and then I go and get ready in my sink. Yeah.
• 3:45
  Back up. Get ready in my sink by sitting in the sink. Please tell everyone. Yes. So anyway, I had this like amazing, like cut out vanity thing in our bathroom. And there's like a cute chair and everything. Like it's perfect for getting ready. There's even like a light there. I never sit there. I've never sat there. But so I sit with my feet in the sink.
• 4:07
  on the countertop, if that makes sense. And the reason why I do this, it sounds weird, but it's my thing. I run warm water. Actually, it's like quite hot to the point where my feet get red. And it's just like a cozy little situation while I listen to my podcast and put on my makeup. So...
• 4:25
  I love that. Super weird, but it like, it makes me feel so happy. It's like, like you're in the bath, but like, not, you know? It's a feet bath. It is a foot bath. And it's funny because I had like this ex-boyfriend in college and he like, cause I've been doing this since the beginning of time. And he's like, oh, I got you this like foot bath for Christmas. Yeah.
• 4:47
  And I was like, cool. Like in my head, I was like, the water is not going to be hot enough because it's going to be plugged into the wall. And I need it boiling. I need it boiling hot. So I used it a couple of times in front of him. Like, this is so nice. But secretly I was like, this water is not. This is not the sink. Not it. Yeah. This is not the sink. Nothing beats the sink.
• 5:06
  I reckon that's the best ritual we've had on the show. I've never heard of that before. It's a weird one, but yeah. Like I like kind of like weird rituals like that, as well as like, I get like Nesquik and like tons of like the chocolate powder and just a teeny little bit of milk. And then just have like a little like kind of chocolatey snack. So my rituals are kind of weird, but love. Yeah. I need to get more into like the normal ones, like breath work and meditation.
• 5:36
  We've got those. They're the good ones. They're the good ones. Oh my gosh. I'm so excited about question number five because you already brought it up a little bit. This is the question around your worst money mistake and how much did it cost you? I know this is still like, I mean, it's, it's that question that I love to ask because this is where people get a lot of learnings out of. It's like, they're able to be like, okay, this has happened. This is what I learned, but obviously it's not great for you. Tell us about your worst mistake. Yeah. So
• 6:05
  It is regarding an influencer. So we were like still learning of what works. And we were like, the bigger the influencer, the higher the followers, the higher this and that, the more we will see in sales. So basically we found this influencer that was like 1.2 million followers or something like big. And like she's posting like beauty videos and things like that. I won't go into a ton of details. I don't want her to be identified.
• 6:35
  So we're like, okay, she is the one, like she's going to create like the most amazing content. We're able to use it in ads for like a solid, whatever amount of time it was. And it's just going to kill it. And so we're like, okay, this is the date it's going to post. Everyone get ready, like fulfillment, get ready. It's going to blow up. Like, this is the date. Like everyone was like so excited. So my husband was sitting like across from me, just like who we're talking about with the other one. And...
• 7:03
  I was like, okay, she's going to post like today. And I think it's going to be in the afternoon. So that's kind of where it was at. And then I was like, just scrolling through Instagram. And I was like, there's like our kit on this person. I was like, she's already posted. And so I said to my husband, I was like, she's already posted. And he was like, hang on a sec. And he like went into Shopify and like looked at like,
• 7:26
  whatever the metric where it tells you how many people are on your site or sales, all of that. And it was just like unchanged. And I was like, she posted like 10 minutes ago. And he was like, yeah, there's, there's nothing. Was it like a story or was it like a feed post or like a YouTube? It was stories. It was reels. It was, it was, it was a reel and then like stories. So there was like a direct contact with,
• 7:52
  you know, link to be able to be like, okay, here's the page, go and buy it. Like it was like perfectly set up. There was seriously, I don't even think we could contribute like one sale. It was crazy crickets. It was insane. Do you want to know the amount? Yes. I want to know the amount. It was $30,000.
• 8:16
  Oh my God, that's so crazy. It was a disgusting amount because I was like doing the math before. I was like, oh no, for sure. Because I was like doing the math from this other unicorn that posted. I was like, okay, she has X amount more followers, like doing the math on like how much that would be. And I was like, 30,000, we're fine. It's fine. It was not fine. It was not. So what did you do? So...
• 8:39
  nothing, couldn't do anything. It just, it just sucked. So basically what we did was like, honestly, it was like a learning mindset thing. It was like, okay, like the bigger the number, it doesn't matter. Like, it's like about, you know, who is the follower of this person? Yes. Look into it more. And it honestly, we've never done anything like that since. And it like terrified me of the whole thing. So that's what I learned to be terrified.
• 9:09
  But like, what was the conversation with the influencer afterwards to be like, hey, this didn't drive any results. Like, what the heck? It was all through like an agent. And so it was very like.
• 9:25
  Deal is done, you know. So I feel like, I don't know, I feel like there might be a few out there that are like that. And it's honestly like maybe it's maybe it's their business or I don't know. And that's how they kind of like do it is like this facade. And then I don't know. I don't really know what happened. I have I have some thoughts. But it was crazy. That's a that's a that's a painful one.
• 9:50
  I've actually heard so many of these kind of stories around influencers that, you know, don't perform and like you can't attribute really any true sales or metrics to it. Yeah. And then if you said something that would just probably turn around and be like, well, like brand awareness. It's a product. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like a lot of things that people can't attribute back to an actual like sale, they just say brand awareness.
• 10:20
  So whether that's like a certain PR move or something, they just say, you're like, okay, like this did no sales. They're like, well, brand awareness. It's like, really though? Like, it's just kind of like,
• 10:33
  scapegoat. I don't know. Yeah. Like no follower increase, no sales. Like, yeah. You know, it should be at least driving. Yeah. Something like, wow, that's a tough one. Hate that for you. Holy shit. $30,000. Oh my God. Yeah. Cause you think about how else you could have spent that in the business and you're like, that could have been a whole new product, a whole new skew, but huge lesson. Hmm. Yeah.
• 10:59
  Yeah. It also makes me think there's a power in working with people who are open to doing smaller tests with the goal that if it works, then scaling up to the kind of like bigger deal. And if people aren't down to do that, then it's probably not the right person anyway. You know, finding people who are actually happy to work together to like find that sweet spot. Do you still work with the unicorn that actually did really perform for you?
• 11:24
  She went and got her eyebrows actually full on microbladed. Oh, right. But like they faded after a little bit and then she did post again and it still worked really well. So, yes, we do. But still on the search for more information.
• 11:44
  I'm still in search for more. Yeah. I guess it's that moment of like, or that saying of like, you've got to kind of, luck will happen in any business and it's how you kind of like plan for that moment when it just does happen out of the blue and how you can kind of capitalize on that moment versus like trying to recreate the moment.
• 12:01
  Yeah. Like making sure you have product in stock to where if it does happen, like you're okay. You don't have to be like, we're sold out or yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. That was a super crazy story. So I don't know if you've got another one in the bank to share, but question number six, last question is what's just a crazy story, good or bad that you can share from the last couple of years building trio?
• 12:27
  Okay, so it was around the launch of, I guess, the relaunch rebrand of the Brow Lifting Wax, which was the Allure Award winner. So basically, like, we had these due to come, like, any day so that we could, like, announce. And, like, basically, it was kind of, like, on a timeline. Like, we had this award announcement. Yeah.
• 12:50
  We had the product coming. We had to photograph it. Like all of these different things had to happen in a certain order. Anyway, the product arrived and the brush on the end of this was not the same. It did not work the same. Like basically it made the product...
• 13:07
  instead of like applying just like a light layer, it was so thick. It was so much product. And we were like, Oh, this is going to ruin this entire timeline. Like, and we can't just sell these. It's not, it's not an allure, a little award winner at this point. Like it's, it's so bad. Like it's unusable. So basically we contacted the manufacturer and somehow they were able to turn around like enough units that we were like able to be okay. Okay.
• 13:33
  and like fix this brush on there. And so it was like, but that initial like 24 hours, I was like, of course, like, you know, we have this like amazing moment coming up, like the rebrand, like this announcement of the award. And it was like, this happens, like it's like just a nightmare. So...
• 13:51
  It's just like so classic, the entrepreneur story of like, you have this amazing thing happening. You're on absolutely top of the world. You're like, yes, like I made it in this moment. This is so great. And then on the flip side, you're like, what the hell? How come everything's breaking in this moment? This is not fair. Yeah. And it comes in like groups. Yeah.
• 14:12
  like, I don't know how many, three things would happen. And then like three good things, which trio, but there's like a period of time of like maybe a solid week where things just suck. Like things are so hard. And then all of a sudden you catch wind of like three days. You're like, this is amazing. It's like the highest highs and like the lowest lows. Like it's crazy. Your emotional range just goes, like, it's crazy.
• 14:35
  It's really stretched to the limit. I just had one follow-up question just because I've never asked anyone this before. How does the Allure Beauty Awards work? Like, do you have to apply? Do people apply and nominate you? Is it a paid award? Is it like, do you know in advance that you've won it? Like, how does it, what's the process for Allure Awards? Yeah.
• 14:56
  Yeah, so I think you can apply on your own. But we had a PR agency at the time that kind of like applied us for it. So it's not paid or anything. So basically all of these products get sent in to the Allura team. They test them out for X period of time and they decide actually like which ones are like the best in each category. But yeah, that's kind of how it works. Oh my gosh, I love that. And then you just get a heads up if you're going to win something so that you can prepare for the traffic. Yeah.
• 15:24
  Yep. So we knew probably two months in advance. Yep. So we're able to get like really good photography of it and everything because it was featured in the Allura magazine, which was actually the last print print.
• 15:38
  version of the magazine ever like it's it's gone now it's no longer on the shelves which is crazy so we had the last um I actually bought like seven of them but like the last edition of the Allura magazine ever to exist unless they relaunch it but who knows um has our product in it which is pretty cool but
• 15:57
  sad that print is gone. Yeah, I know. It is sad. It is really sad. What's the impact of those awards? Like, does it actually drive a lot of traffic and a lot of kind of immediate sales? Or is it something that you're able to just kind of use as the credible PR hook?
• 16:14
  for your marketing? More that. Yes, more that. So it's not, it wasn't like, wow, like day one, they announced it and it was like this flood of traffic that didn't happen to us. I don't believe it happened to anyone else, but basically it's kind of like, almost like a badge of honor, I guess. So you have it on your website. It makes everything kind of more credible. You've got like a stamp of approval. Um, it looks great to investors and so on. So yeah.
• 16:37
  Right. Yeah. And any final tips for anyone who wants to apply to one of those awards, like how they should approach it or what they should do to kind of like stand out? I think honestly, probably what helps is having like at least a PR contact, someone that kind of
• 16:55
  know someone that can kind of like get your foot in the door a little bit. Whether you have like a full on contract with a PR agency or just like kind of like an as needed PR person just to like give you the heads up of, hey, here's where to sign up. It's coming up soon. Sign up now so that you don't keep having to be like, OK, each year at X date, like set a reminder and like figure it out yourself. You have like an on hand kind of as needed person to kind of give you a heads up.
• 17:24
  Totally. Oh my gosh, Brianna, thank you so much for all the insight. I feel like I've learned so much from you and I'm so grateful that you came on the show and shared your journey so far with Trio Beauty. Yeah, thank you.
• 17:44
  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.
• 18:08
  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.
• 18:31
  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.
• 18:46
  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.
• 19:11
  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.
• 19:33
  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.