Latest / The Action Catalyst / More Than Skin Deep, with Susan Beischel (Fashion, Entrepreneurship, Resilience, Business)

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More Than Skin Deep, with Susan Beischel (Fashion, Entrepreneurship, Resilience, Business) · The Action Catalyst

• 0:15
  Stephanie Maas: Susan, it is super nice to meet you. Thank
• 0:17
  you for being here.
• 0:18
  Susan Beischel: Thank you, Stephanie. It's wonderful to
• 0:20
  meet you.
• 0:21
  Stephanie Maas: So I gotta come right out of the gate. So the
• 0:23
  big strong question I see you're from Wisconsin. How do you feel
• 0:28
  about Aaron Rodgers going to the Jets?
• 0:31
  Susan Beischel: Oh, don't ask me about that. I go back to like
• 0:35
  Bart Starr days. And like Vince Lombardi.
• 0:38
  Stephanie Maas: I'll let you off the hook. Well, enough about
• 0:40
  that back to you. You have such an amazing story. I remember
• 0:45
  when COVID hit, there was so much doom, and gloom and fear.
• 0:51
  But yet, you would have these people pop up and talk about
• 0:54
  just amazing things that were coming out of it and would come
• 0:59
  out of it. And I think one of the huge positives that came out
• 1:03
  of it is an awareness around mental health, physical health,
• 1:06
  all those things. And you obviously had had this company
• 1:09
  for a long time prior to COVID. But then there was kind of this
• 1:13
  boom created because of that. So just share with me a little bit
• 1:16
  about your story prior to that with this amazing company. And
• 1:20
  then what COVID meant for you and your company.
• 1:24
  Susan Beischel: Okay, sure. Well, prior to COVID, I actually
• 1:27
  started the brand almost 20 years ago now. And it was with a
• 1:32
  mission. That skin, the four letter word, which I was able to
• 1:39
  trademark, I knew was such a powerful word. If you've ever
• 1:44
  thought about it, the skin on your body, the largest organ,
• 1:48
  right is so delicate and thin. But yet it holds up this whole
• 1:54
  body. I didn't even know how that's possible. If it were a
• 1:56
  balloon, and you tried to put your body inside all the blood,
• 1:59
  the guts, the bones, the organ, I don't think it would stand. So
• 2:04
  it's really incredible. So I knew that I had a powerful
• 2:09
  mantra, but I started the company and named it skin
• 2:13
  because skin is a container that holds this whole body. It holds
• 2:19
  the physical body, the mental body, the spirit body. And I had
• 2:24
  a vision that I wasn't just going to be creating a clothing
• 2:29
  brand. It everything was much deeper. For me, I had a history
• 2:34
  and fashion. But I never cultivated a lot of friends in
• 2:37
  the fashion industry. I don't know, I just always looking for
• 2:40
  meaning in things. And my vision was always to address the body,
• 2:46
  progressively as the brand group. So we started with the
• 2:50
  inner most intimate parts with the lingerie loungewear that
• 2:56
  touch the body. And during COVID, our company actually
• 3:01
  almost doubled. We were fortunate because we had the
• 3:04
  kind of clothing people needed to wear then. But we've always
• 3:08
  been offering comfort. The number one value of the brand in
• 3:14
  the clothing side is comfort. How does it feel on your skin?
• 3:18
  We want women to feel comfortable in their skin.
• 3:22
  That's again, addressing the body feeling good. First about
• 3:26
  yourself is the start to feeling mentally roll and healthy. Why
• 3:34
  is this for you? Why this for me? I think we're all born to do
• 3:40
  something. And actually, I was studying fashion out of college.
• 3:46
  And I ran track in college. And that was my big thing. I really
• 3:50
  wanted to go away on the weekends and run meats and go on
• 3:55
  spring break to Florida and actually kind of signed up for
• 3:59
  fashion as my major because they had an internship program where
• 4:03
  you could go somewhere. So I've found that I am a very dynamic
• 4:09
  person, I need a lot of things in my life. I'm a problem
• 4:14
  solver. I like scanning the world. I like adventure. I like
• 4:20
  all the things and fashion gave me that because it involves
• 4:26
  finance and numbers and people and creativity and travel and
• 4:32
  all the things and then I'm infusing this spiritual
• 4:38
  intellectual mental component to it as well. So I guess it's kind
• 4:44
  of all the things that I him.
• 4:47
  Stephanie Maas: So 20 years ago, or I guess 20 years before
• 4:50
  COVID. You go, Okay, I have this idea. I've got a little bit of a
• 4:54
  background and this kind of a personal mission, if you will.
• 4:58
  Where do you go? How do you do this?
• 5:00
  Susan Beischel: Well, first thing I would say to everyone
• 5:03
  and anyone is always listen to what's inside of you. It's there
• 5:08
  for a reason, the dream, the vision, the inspiration, it's
• 5:11
  planted in you for a reason. And it's not in anyone else. So you
• 5:16
  don't need to even look outside and scan and say to someone
• 5:20
  already do this, or there's too many people doing this, because
• 5:24
  there's a billion people on the planet, and we just need to
• 5:27
  connect to our, our group, our tribe. And the second thing I
• 5:34
  would say is, it's never too late, I started my company at 40
• 5:40
  years old. And I'm still starting things. And I'm just
• 5:46
  getting started, in fact, so don't ever think you are too
• 5:52
  old, or you can't start again. So starting, you asked, Where do
• 5:58
  you start? The first step is to start, you need to start, don't
• 6:03
  keep thinking about it, drawing it up on paper, creating all the
• 6:08
  plans. Start the idea, who is your customer? How can I get in
• 6:15
  front of my customer? What is my product is my product, right for
• 6:21
  that customer. So my experience, I always look for the white
• 6:26
  space, and I match the product to the customer. So I could walk
• 6:31
  into any office and any room and pitch the right product to the
• 6:37
  right people. It may not be my product. But if I'm building a
• 6:42
  product, you better believe I will find a know who the right
• 6:46
  people are, and know why they need my product and present it
• 6:51
  thoughtfully for them to understand why they would need
• 6:55
  it.
• 6:56
  Stephanie Maas: First of all, do you have a skincare line? But
• 6:57
  when you said you started the business at 40. And I did the
• 7:00
  math, I am thinking oh my gosh, so I'm gonna need some skincare
• 7:04
  tips later.
• 7:05
  Susan Beischel: I'm working on it.
• 7:07
  Stephanie Maas: That's exciting. What did you do before?
• 7:10
  Susan Beischel: I worked in fashion, I started my career at
• 7:14
  Neiman Marcus back in the day when Stanley Marcus was there.
• 7:18
  And in fact, it was the only company that I would even
• 7:23
  consider working for because Stanley Marcus created an
• 7:28
  experience. He created magic in stores. And at a young age, that
• 7:35
  was my jam. That's what I was doing. I was always into
• 7:39
  creating an experience, which is also part of my brand. It's a
• 7:43
  sensory experience. Anyway, so I started my career at Neiman
• 7:49
  Marcus, but I have to tell you, when I graduated college, it was
• 7:53
  during a recession. And to even get an on campus interview, you
• 7:57
  had to put your name in that hat and be picked to interview with
• 8:02
  a company. And I didn't get picked for Neiman Marcus, but I
• 8:06
  got all dressed up in my business suit. And I went and
• 8:08
  sat at the office at 7am. And I waited where I knew they were
• 8:12
  going to conduct the interviews and a man walks in dressed with
• 8:16
  a briefcase and I said excuse me, are you from Neiman Marcus?
• 8:20
  And he said, Well, yes, I am. And I told him the story. And I
• 8:25
  said Would you have any time today or over the next three
• 8:28
  days to fit me in for an interview? And he said well,
• 8:31
  yes, of course. Come on in. Long story short a month later, I got
• 8:36
  the envelope in the mail accepting into the executive
• 8:40
  training program. So that's where I started, I knew I wanted
• 8:43
  to be creating meaningful, detail oriented experiences for
• 8:48
  people. So I worked for Neiman Marcus for six years. Then I
• 8:52
  worked for a small, not so small, like $30 million company
• 8:57
  Mom and Pop fashion company. And there I opened the first Jil
• 9:02
  Sander store in America. And then I moved to New York. The
• 9:05
  reason why I moved to New York was because we sold the company
• 9:08
  to venture capitalists and they required a corporate CEO to come
• 9:13
  in and run the company. And that kind of didn't work out. They
• 9:18
  didn't have the same value system, same alignment as our
• 9:23
  core customer base. So I saw the writing on the wall and I left
• 9:28
  and where do you go in in fashion, it's either New York or
• 9:31
  LA. So I came to New York, and then I worked on the wholesale
• 9:35
  side and learned that side of the business. So I had retail I
• 9:39
  had wholesale, I was always itching to have my own company,
• 9:43
  but I didn't know what my big idea was. It took me a long time
• 9:47
  to figure it a hook. I trust the net will be there, but I need
• 9:52
  space to figure it out. So I think I was $50,000 in credit
• 9:57
  card debt when I moved to New York are moving here paying like
• 10:02
  crazy rents that you'd never seen before. I approached a
• 10:05
  couple of designers who were selling lingerie and I said, let
• 10:09
  me sell it for you, I'll sell it. You just pay me a
• 10:12
  commission. And by being in the lingerie industry selling their
• 10:17
  product, I saw white space. And then because I was on the
• 10:23
  wholesale side, I had connections with factories. And
• 10:26
  then I called them and they said, here's my idea will you
• 10:29
  produce for me, and you know, you're a startup. So you need
• 10:33
  people to help finance. They agreed, and that's where I
• 10:38
  started.
• 10:39
  Stephanie Maas: That's an incredible journey. And
• 10:41
  honestly, when I was reading through your bio, it can come
• 10:43
  across as it just seems so seamless and so easy. But
• 10:49
  there's nothing I just heard in that journey that sounded easy
• 10:53
  handouts, you pursued what you loved. And you took the risks
• 10:58
  along the way. But you also I mean, I love hearing that. And I
• 11:01
  think that's something that really sets entrepreneurs apart.
• 11:04
  That's what you do. But that's also what gave you ownership,
• 11:07
  don't you think?
• 11:08
  Susan Beischel: Well, entrepreneurship is not easy.
• 11:11
  Listen, Life is not easy. I'm good at making it look easy,
• 11:16
  because I love life. And the way you get through the recession of
• 11:22
  2008, the pandemics, the what's coming, all of it. The way you
• 11:28
  get through it is just accepting these are the realities. Now
• 11:34
  what next step? It's always okay, that happen next. Now,
• 11:39
  what do I do next? You know, just the biggest, I think, skill
• 11:45
  that entrepreneurs business people need, and certainly the
• 11:50
  successful winning ones have. And that's resilience. It's just
• 11:57
  the ability to get up every day because somebody quits, right?
• 12:02
  When you're ready to launch some, you know, bait calls or
• 12:06
  something. There's someone ships late, the internet goes down.
• 12:10
  There's always going to be something. It's not easy. I'll
• 12:14
  tell you. So when I launched, I went out and sold I created the
• 12:19
  collection. The factory was working with me. They didn't
• 12:22
  finance me. There was supposed to be a group who was financing.
• 12:27
  It was a month before we were to ship it. I called the factory
• 12:32
  checkup on them. How's it going? Everything good. We should like
• 12:35
  what production What are you talking about? I said, What?
• 12:39
  What do you mean? He basically said, Well, we never got the
• 12:43
  money. We never started the production. And I had sold to
• 12:47
  major stores names you would know of my credibility is
• 12:52
  everything. So I got off the phone, and I fainted. I fainted
• 12:57
  on a cement floor. I fainted on the floor. I woke up to people
• 13:01
  are you okay? Are you okay? I'm fine. Move sighs I went to my
• 13:04
  desk. I went to my computer. I cashed out my 401 K. And then
• 13:10
  all the factories said, I'm going to be the sole owner. I
• 13:15
  will be financing it. Will you still work with me? Will you
• 13:19
  produce? They said yes. I transferred the money. I moved
• 13:23
  forward. I emailed and called every one of the clients that
• 13:28
  purchased from me because obviously now it's going to be
• 13:30
  late. The production cycle is late. And that's a big no no. In
• 13:35
  retail world you got to deliver on time. So I personally reached
• 13:40
  out to every client. Everyone said yes, they would take it
• 13:46
  three months late, but it's super easy. I do love
• 13:50
  challenges. I do love the ride. I do love the ups and downs. I I
• 13:56
  just I think I'm built for challenge.
• 13:59
  Stephanie Maas: Where does that come from? And and I want to
• 14:01
  touch on the word you mentioned resiliency. I mean, I get that
• 14:05
  you're an athlete or newer college athlete. So I know a lot
• 14:07
  of it is just in that mentality, but going way, way back, where
• 14:11
  does that come from?
• 14:12
  Susan Beischel: That's a really good question. Because I knew a
• 14:15
  man he wrote a book are entrepreneurs born or made. And
• 14:21
  I've recently had a discussion with some people about your
• 14:27
  childhood, and how has it shaped you? And I would say I actually
• 14:34
  didn't even think about it until about a year ago that connection
• 14:40
  between events in my childhood that may have shaped me. But I
• 14:47
  would say a lot of the my brothers and sisters are
• 14:51
  similar. We all have a work ethic. We all have respect. We
• 14:57
  all were taught to To say hello to people in the room to greet
• 15:03
  people to think people to be grateful for things. And I, I
• 15:09
  mean, grew up in a small town of 1300 people. And I knew that I
• 15:15
  didn't, I wouldn't say didn't belong there. But I knew that I
• 15:18
  was different from all the kids around me. And I was a doer and
• 15:24
  a participator. And I was thirsty for knowledge for
• 15:29
  everything. So I tried everything, all sports, all
• 15:34
  arts, all clubs. And I knew that I needed to be a small fish in a
• 15:41
  big pond. In fact, I won state champion and stuff like that,
• 15:45
  you know, in high school running, and my dad wanted me to
• 15:49
  go to a small school near home and be a big fish in a small
• 15:54
  pond. And I did not want that. Because even though I won state,
• 16:00
  it was all done by class by how big your school was, and I was
• 16:04
  in school. So I don't consider myself a winner. And I was not
• 16:09
  having that. Like, Dad, I'm going to a big school where I
• 16:13
  can get better training, I can get better, I can be around
• 16:17
  people who are running better, and I will be better by the
• 16:21
  first year might have been the first semester I don't know, I
• 16:23
  got full scholarship, and then became an All American national
• 16:28
  champion relay member. And that's the whole key, you get in
• 16:33
  the room with people who know more, have done more, and you
• 16:39
  rise to the level as they say.
• 16:42
  Stephanie Maas: I think there's a lot of power in that. Oh, I
• 16:44
  love that rise to the level. Yeah. As you think back through
• 16:47
  the years, who were some of your key influencers? Either it was,
• 16:52
  hey, I want to go be just like that person. Positive or yep, I
• 16:56
  see what they're doing. And I'm never going to run my business
• 16:58
  like that.
• 16:59
  Susan Beischel: This is a really interesting question. And the
• 17:04
  answer may not be liked by everyone. Because, as I said, I
• 17:09
  didn't start my company until I was 40. And even when I started
• 17:13
  my company, it was head down, nose to the grindstone, and I
• 17:19
  had asked myself, who do I look up to? Who are people I aspire
• 17:25
  to be like, I honestly didn't know who they were. It's a good
• 17:31
  skill to be independent. And it's a good skill to be able to
• 17:35
  do a lot, but you can go faster and bigger with others. So it
• 17:42
  wasn't until actually the pandemic so during the pandemic,
• 17:47
  I actually had time to join masterminds to join Tim Grover
• 17:53
  was one of my mentors. He's the coach of Michael Jordan and Kobe
• 17:59
  a success coach, a joint Grant Cardone and Elena Cardone. 10
• 18:05
  axing everything, just because they're always focused. I was
• 18:10
  actually a kind of person that hated the word discipline. I was
• 18:13
  always a doer, but the word discipline meant like someone's
• 18:17
  controlling me, and I like, roll. But it's you controlling
• 18:21
  you. And discipline is really about doing what you say you're
• 18:27
  going to do.
• 18:29
  Stephanie Maas: Wow. Okay, let's have some fun.
• 18:32
  Susan Beischel: Oh yes, for sure, they call me the the queen
• 18:35
  of pleasure, actually. Because I do make things fun.
• 18:38
  Stephanie Maas: Okay, so if somebody wanted to wow you, how
• 18:43
  would they do that?
• 18:45
  Susan Beischel: Oh, it's everything designed. You walk
• 18:49
  into the space and it's amazing. It's gorgeous. It's everything's
• 18:53
  put together. It smells great. The food is amazing.
• 18:58
  Everything's thought through. That's how you wow me. It's all
• 19:02
  every detail because I will notice it.
• 19:06
  Stephanie Maas: What do you do for fun? Leisure wise, do you
• 19:09
  still run?
• 19:10
  Susan Beischel: I do not run. I got bad knees. But now since
• 19:13
  I've laid off for so long. I could probably run again. But I
• 19:18
  do everything. I live in New York. Like you cannot leave New
• 19:22
  York once you live in New York. I wake up every day. And I'm in
• 19:27
  love. You can ask anyone. I wake up and they load to the sun. It
• 19:32
  is an amazing place to be. I'm an adventurer and what eyes wide
• 19:36
  open. So I actually sing. And I'm not a singer, but I sing
• 19:41
  because it's fun and it challenges me. I sing on a stage
• 19:45
  every now and then I go to the arts. I go to the plays, I go to
• 19:50
  the restaurants I go to the Central Park I have a dog at I
• 19:54
  do everything in Manhattan that there is to do there are some
• 19:59
  days I just Google, what's there to do today in New York, and I
• 20:04
  go and do it.
• 20:05
  Stephanie Maas: What is next? And, you know, I think for a lot
• 20:07
  of folks, they have these visions and these big goals, and
• 20:11
  you've done it. I mean, you wanted to start your company,
• 20:15
  you wanted it to have this holistic meaning. Now what?
• 20:18
  Susan Beischel: Well, it's not over. I don't consider it done.
• 20:22
  Actually. It's how I approach all things that I do. Some
• 20:28
  people have coached me that I need to celebrate more things
• 20:33
  that I've done, and I just do it and then go to the next thing.
• 20:38
  And where I'm at now with this company, it's not done. There's
• 20:43
  still so much I would say, we're only a quarter of the way
• 20:49
  through this brands journey a quarter, and that's 20 years. So
• 20:54
  there is so much yet to do.
• 20:57
  Stephanie Maas: That is very exciting. Your story has been so
• 21:00
  interesting, and I appreciate your willingness to share. So I
• 21:04
  just thank you so much.
• 21:06
  Susan Beischel: No, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure and
• 21:09
  wonderful to be in your presence and to have the opportunity to
• 21:14
  meet you