Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / 6 quick questions with Dr Clara Hurst, Founder of The Secret Skincare (Part 2)

Transcript

6 quick questions with Dr Clara Hurst, Founder of The Secret Skincare (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. Question number one, what's your why? Why do you wake up every day and build these two businesses? I guess two things. One is to push myself to be the best version of myself that I can be.
• 0:28
  That's really important to me. Not in competition with anyone else, just with myself, you know. And to be a good mother, that's my drive. To be a good parent, that's actually all I ultimately care about. I love that. So beautiful. Question number two is what's been your favorite marketing moment since you launched The Secret?
• 0:52
  The sustainability series launching that was really successful, went so well, hard work paid off and just seeing all the industry leaders love it and be really supportive. That was amazing for us. Love that for you. Question number three is what's your go to business resource if you're learning something, be it a book or a podcast or a newsletter?
• 1:22
  Well, I'm currently listening to Simon Sinek. Don't know if you're listening to his podcast, but that's...
• 1:29
  really good. And then there are different books. There's a book I'm reading at the moment called The Culture Code. Oh yeah, I've heard of that. The Culture Code Playbook. Yeah. And that's really good. So just tips on, culture is really important to me. Running two businesses, I've got 32 employees. I want them all to be happy. I like going to work somewhere that everyone's happy and thrilled to be there. I don't want anyone to come to work and not want to be there. And
• 1:57
  it really matters to keep building that. So I like listening to stuff like that. Have you got any kind of gem out of that that you can share that's top of mind? Oh, my God. Not really. I mean, I don't know. The last thing I was listening to was, I guess, when you do performance reviews, not to tell them how they're doing, but to ask them how they're doing. You know, so ask someone.
• 2:24
  You know, instead of going and going, oh, well, I've noticed that this and you've been doing this. Well, how do you, that's usually based on what have they been doing for the last two weeks for starters? OK, because that's all you remember. And then you're telling them the observation of what you think. Whereas actually, if you ask them, you know, how do you think you're going and what do you like doing and what do you not like doing? What do you think you could do more of? What do you think you could better? You're going to get heaps more information and actually work together to make things better.
• 2:52
  Oh, yeah, I love that. And I feel like that starts an open conversation versus potentially a closed conversation if you come in with the information first. Wow, that's powerful. Yeah. That's a good one. Thanks. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated?
• 3:17
  I don't really have one. Like I don't have a route. I'd love to tell you that I love getting up early. I do go, you know, sometimes go to the gym, but I don't enjoy it. For me is actually a really positive person. So I win the day with just positivity. Like I always look at the bright side. I always look at like the upside of things and why we can do things rather than why we can't do it.
• 3:42
  And sometimes I get a bit carried away, I need stopping, but I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. And I would just get really excited. I'm just a really positive, glass full kind of person. And that's how I win the day, just that in my head all the time. Love that. Love positivity driven. It's funny because I did a podcast last week and then the lady who was interviewing me asked me something about...
• 4:09
  it was a negative question. I can't remember what it was. It was like something about challenges or I can't actually remember, but then I didn't even realize this, but I started answering in a way that turned the question into some kind of positive experience. She was like, yeah, I like, this is wild. Like everything, you just turn into a positive, like you've just done it again. And I didn't even know I was doing it, but I guess,
• 4:32
  I mean, it's a great way to see the world. Look at the bright side. Yeah, we want to see the bright side. We want to see the silver linings. I'm sure there'll be a silver lining for this next question. Question number five is what's been your worst money mistake in the business and how much did it cost you? I guess not so much for the secret, but for my clinic, I...
• 4:57
  did I once when I was growing and developing, expanding the clinic and doubling the size and tripling the size. I didn't necessarily pick the best builders, pick somebody thought they'd do a great job. And then they ended up walking out halfway through with all my money. And then on top of that, we had to rip out everything that they'd done. So it cost me to then rip it out and start again. And I'd already, my budget was gone because he'd walked off with it. And,
• 5:23
  Turns out I couldn't sue him because he doesn't have anything. So that was a very, very costly exercise. I wouldn't make that mistake again. I always think employ the best people you can afford. And those are mistakes that I've learned as I've grown that in my business, I just always pay more for literally whatever your business can afford. It might just be a little, but just the best you can afford. That's what you should go for.
• 5:45
  And how do you like for that specific type of problem that you encounter? Is it, you know, like how do you know if someone is like, how do you kind of do due diligence on someone like that? Like, is it by recommendations and referrals to different kind of people or is it, you know, I don't know. Well, this one was actually a kind of kind of a recommendation, but usually, yeah, look at the previous projects and talk to people who work with them and that kind of thing.
• 6:11
  for me when it comes to hiring and investing in people and spending them getting the best people you can afford I actually go obviously by qualifications and getting the resume and checking the credentials but then when I interview I never go on that I just go and vibe like if you give me a good feeling and I feel like you're also equally a positive person and a yes can do kind of attitude that's going to get you the job I hire on
• 6:41
  gut feeling. Yeah. Love that. Love vibes. Love vibey people. Question number six, last question. What is just a crazy story you can share, good or bad, from the journey of building your businesses? You've shared a couple already, but. I think one, a really wild thing was the first time that we had a Daily Mail story come out. We didn't know it was coming out. And suddenly the Daily Mail picked up
• 7:07
  the story that there was this skincare brand that was getting amazing results. So they went through all our Instagram and took photos of before and afters and posted that. And then actually took some really favorable photos of Deb and I as well, both of them and wrote this amazing story about how we were changing women's lives and how women who had gone through the whole life with the most awful pigment and insecurities had transformed their skin, but just transformed their lives.
• 7:37
  That was wild because the sales skyrocketed. We woke up to a crazy amount of sales online and the spike was just like this. Oh my God, the thrill.
• 7:50
  The thrill. I know. We're like, wow, what's going on? And then we realized, oh, my gosh, the Daily Mail story. And it was a global Daily Mail story. It wasn't just Australia. It was amazing. And since then, we've had, I mean, they've picked up heaps of stories. And every single time, it just drives the business up, creates that exposure. And for us, look...
• 8:10
  We're not like selling, I guess our drive is a bit different because of course we're selling product and we want to grow the business. But actually helping people and reaching people out there who are so self-conscious and going through life, hiding the skin because they might have acne or rosacea or pigmentation or melasma, anything. And they're really struggling with their confidence. And then suddenly, and they're wasting everything.
• 8:34
  like thousands of dollars on treatments and products that aren't working and they're being sold a dream that is never going to happen. Brace my heart. So the fact that the,
• 8:44
  these publications can put you in front of people who really actually need it. Like, you know, for us, it might be a bit of vanity and we might just want our skin to be a little bit better, 10% and it's fantastic. But there are people out there who genuinely don't have healthy skin and my products just give you healthy skin. And to be able to achieve that with just one or two products at home, in an affordable way, is actually life changing for people.
• 9:07
  Yeah, absolutely. And we love that. And that is what drives us. It's so powerful. I mean, even if I think back to my own, you know, experience doing the peel a couple of weeks ago, I don't usually post anything personal on TikTok, but I posted it because my husband was like, you should post this. Like people should know what you're kind of going through. And, you know, I've always kind of been not...
• 9:30
  sad about my skin, but I've always dreamed of having beautiful, clear skin. And my melasma was just like starting to group together, like really badly under my eyes, above my lips, like across my nose. Like it was just getting worse and worse. And I didn't even know melasma was a thing until, you know, I started going to see someone. And anyway, so video goes viral, whatever. The whole series goes crazy, you know, all over the internet, whatever. But the amount of people who are so like quick to judge people,
• 9:58
  changing your aesthetic appearance because people think freckles are cute. And I'm like, yeah, each to their own, but freckles, like I've got sun damage. Like I've got dark sunspots that are not nice. They're not the cute little freckles that we're drawing on our cheeks. And people have a lot to say about freckles.
• 10:17
  Yeah, and each to their own. You know, you can do one. But look, ultimately, we don't necessarily want to fade freckles. If you want, you can. We have products that you don't. But what we want to achieve is healthy skin and the products achieve healthy skin. When your skin is healthy, it doesn't have, it's not overly prevented. It's not overly oily. It doesn't produce, you know, pimples and skin.
• 10:39
  it just glows because it's healthy. Like children's skin glows because it's healthy. So that's what we're trying to achieve for people. We're not trying to achieve anything like crazy. It's just healthy skin and healthy skin, like a healthy body, you should look after your skin like you look after your body. People focus so much on like, I want my hair to be healthy and put all on the ends. But, you know, and having a healthy body and healthy mind, I think it's just as important to have healthy skin that reflects how you feel on the inside. And it makes you feel like, I think that,
• 11:08
  I mean, and as you know, you treat so many different, you know, men and women. Skin is very tied to self-confidence and like self-esteem, I feel, especially when it comes to like wearing makeup or no makeup. You're kind of like, oh, like for me personally, I'm talking about, but I'm sure you've encountered that as well. It's just such a crazy thing. If you have skin that you feel really good in, you know, your loving life. Oh, that's, yeah, no, 100%. And that's why our...
• 11:35
  Our business has been driven by real results, real people. We call it real results, real people, real results. And essentially, all of our content is user-generated. All of our before and afters are user-generated. We don't, I mean, people are in all over the world. We can't.
• 11:51
  get them in for a photo. So they'll send a picture. They'll actually take a photo before because they have to take it to perform. And then they're so blown away by the results that they can't help but take photos and send them to us. We don't even ask them. People are just like, oh my God, I just need to share my results with you. They're just amazing. And because then they feel so confident, then they're happy to share the story. So then we'll post, we'll do a post and say, this person used this, this is how long it took them. And this is their story. This is what they struggle with. And this is their comments about it.
• 12:20
  And, you know, it's interesting because obviously then other people can relate. And that's really important that people share. But what's interesting is that you will still get people hating on that and saying, oh, well, you know, you must have edited that photo. That's not possible. That's not possible. It's just a cream. And then we have we have all these people.
• 12:41
  People who are like ultra fans who go on there and go, well, actually, yeah, it is. And I also use it. Or people go, that's my skin. And that's really rude, what you've just said. And it took a lot for me to share this. It's really personal. And for you to just put a negative comment on it, it's inappropriate. But, yeah, we just use genuine content. And that's why it's often, it might not be the exact same light. It's close. We do ask that you take it in the same light with no makeup. But sometimes the angle might be just slightly off. And that's because they're not professional photos.
• 13:11
  Yeah. They're just genuine people. Oh, my gosh. So powerful. I love it. Thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your story and your journey and how you're impacting women and men, I assume, at scale around the world. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited for this next journey. Thank you. And we look forward to putting you on the secret. Yes, absolutely. Yes, you must try it.
• 13:42
  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.
• 14:07
  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.
• 14:29
  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. Thank you.
• 14:45
  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.
• 15:10
  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.
• 15:32
  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.