Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / How to build a modern skincare company, with Isla Beauty Co-Founder Tracy Dubb

Transcript

How to build a modern skincare company, with Isla Beauty Co-Founder Tracy Dubb · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Tracy Dubb for Female Startup Club.
• 0:12
  Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. I'm your host, Doona Roisin, and on today's episode, I'm joined by Tracy Dubb, founder of Isla Beauty. Isla Beauty was created to make the best products at the best price from people who knew the industry inside and out. They leverage global relationships to create hybrid products that serve multiple purposes using leading technology, science, and potent active ingredients, all for under 50 bucks.
• 0:41
  In this episode, we're covering how Tracy built her company in partnership with a fourth generation manufacturer, the learnings she took from her VC background and how that formed her vision and business model for launching Isla, and her learnings from along the way. This is Tracy for Female Startup Club.
• 0:58
  Tracy, hey, welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hi, thanks for having me. I'm so excited to learn all about your skincare range and all the things Isla Beauty, but I want you to start first by introducing yourself and telling us what your business is.
• 1:16
  Yeah. So my business is called I Love Beauty. It's a skincare company that we launched in May of 2020. We were supposed to launch in March of 2020, but the universe had other plans. We were actually like trying to launch the company while like the shutdown was happening in New York. And it was like literally like a comedy of just things unfolding. But we launched in
• 1:45
  May and we have been around for a couple months. So we're relatively new in our journey. I'm one half of the founding team. I have a co-founder, another Australian. His name is Charlie. And he and I kind of
• 2:00
  met in New York a couple of years ago. And, you know, through, I think as probably a lot of founder stories go, like a lot of a mix of like luck and interest and, you know, just good timing. And we were kind of like these two people who are living these like totally different experiences, you know, from different parts of the world that just met and had similar ideas at the same time. And, you know, when I met Charlie, I was working in my role as a co-founder at M3 Ventures and
• 2:29
  I signed on to M3 Ventures when it was like a really tiny fund with the founder, Martin Dolphy, you know, probably five, six years ago. I was in my mid-20s. And, you know, at that point, he was getting started creating a fund that was sort of focused on investing in consumer brands, which was like, believe it or not, a relatively novel thing then. It's such a prevalent thing now.
• 2:49
  And I, you know, I joined him and we raised this fund and then we raised another fund and we stayed, you know, really focused on consumer brands, which would be like fashion, apparel, food, beverage, wellness. And, you know, we did that for a couple of years and I got, you know, more and more interested in this beauty space that I had just been interested in forever, you know, since I was a kid and...
• 3:11
  You know, I started to really see, I think, a lot of things that as a regular consumer, you don't see behind the scenes. And, you know, there was a lot happening in clean beauty and a lot of new companies being born. And, you know, basically to like summarize what I felt like I was seeing is like, just this like absolute prevalence of new brands coming online where, you know, the story would be great and the founders would be super inspiring. And, you know, there was tons of really, I think, exciting things about these brands, but there was...
• 3:40
  oftentimes just no connection to product and product development and product expertise. And you know, I think what you would find like again and again, is that like these products would, you'd spend a lot of money on them and they would fall short. And so, you know, there was like,
• 3:56
  For me, it's just a growing interest in like, how do you kind of bridge the worlds between like a history and heritage of product development and expertise and science and results with what people are wanting from their brands today, which is like authenticity and, you know, a voice and a point of view and integrity and stuff like that.
• 4:15
  And so I, you know, by luck, met Charlie and he was coming from like a totally different side. He is the fourth generation in a family contract manufacturing business that they would make products for other brands, you know, hundreds and hundreds of other brands out there, small, large, American, European. And he just had this kind of wealth of information that he was.
• 4:35
  sitting on and you know and all of these products and people that he had come to meet along the way and knew that they were doing something really special and he and I decided to sort of like create this brand that kind of bridges this world of, you know, the people that are making products and the people that are doing the R&D and the people that are doing the sort of discovery and innovation and
• 4:56
  the brands that are selling them. And so that's kind of how Isla came to be sort of conceived. And, you know, it's been a journey since then. We traveled around the world. We, you know, our first three products are from three different countries. One's from Australia, one's from Switzerland, one's from Italy. You know, we have some new products coming out this year. So that's kind of Isla in a nutshell.
• 5:19
  Wow. Yeah. Sounds incredible. I mean, I guess the challenges of having, you know, producing things all around the world must be easier to have given that you have this person involved in the business who is...
• 5:34
  you know, a manufacturing expert and someone who understands all the working parts of that, because it's something I had asked myself. I was like, wow, when I saw on the label, made in Switzerland, made in Italy, made in Australia, I was like, holy moly, that's a, that's a lot of different moving parts to get that going. Yeah. I'm wanting to talk about your knowledge coming from the VC landscape. Obviously, you're an expert in that space, you know, a lot about it.
• 5:59
  When you were wanting to approach the business with a lens of like funding the business from the beginning, did you still have to consider, should we bootstrap or should we go for funding? Yeah, I did. Having done VC for a really long time, I know how competitive it is. I know, you know, what kind of pressure founders put on themselves after raising money. And I just know that
• 6:21
  Whether you have the experience in that world or not, it's not always easy to raise money. Money's not always there when you want it to be. And so we weighed that heavily. We kind of bootstrapped for as long as we could. We sort of got these products kind of as far along as we possibly could and the concept as far along as we possibly could.
• 6:40
  And then we did, you know, raise money. And for us, I think that was really the only path forward that would have worked, you know, at for us at this time, we were working with, you know, the partners that we're working with around the world, they kind of have their pick of brands to work with and people to partner with on product development. And so, you know, we could have maybe bootstrapped it by working with partners that were maybe younger in their journey or a little bit less proven. But that was kind of
• 7:06
  counter to what Isla was. So we really just wanted to invest in that. So like the majority of the money that we raised up front really went into investing in, you know, inventory and those research and development partners. That said, the decision to raise money is always hard and scary. And there's definitely this, I think, giant sense of where do I begin? Like, how do I even
• 7:29
  start this, what feels like a monumental task. And, you know, definitely, like, I have so much respect for all of the different founders that I've met along the way and empathy for them, because it's a really hard journey. It's a really emotional journey. You know, you don't really have anyone to tell you what to do and what the right answers are. You know, it can be even with partners or whatever, it can be, you know, really lonely and really stressful. So it's a hard decision. And I definitely, you know, I think for...
• 7:56
  people that are, you know, planning to raise money, I think like the best advice that you can give them is like, get your business to the best possible place you can possibly, you know, you can get it and kind of talk to people and anticipate some of those questions and how you're going to answer them. Because
• 8:12
  There's definitely it's hard emotionally to kind of go through meetings and have people say no or poke holes in your vision, you know, when it's so young and so new. So, yeah, it's a tough decision for sure. And I definitely always recommend bootstrapping it, you know, as far as you can. And then even after you raise money, kind of bootstrapping it again, because I think that's a healthy mentality for a new brand.
• 8:35
  That's really interesting, especially given that you are essentially so prepared for VC and for going down that pathway. Was it what you expected it to be? Was there anything unexpected that came out of it?
• 8:48
  You know, more or less, we raised a friends and family round, you know, and then we had a couple of funds participate, you know, so we I was doing fundraising meetings with anyone from people that I've known for 10 years to people that I was just like put on an email with and just starting from scratch, you know, you don't know anything about me. And I never were in between. You know, I can't say that I had a lot of surprises along the way, because I've just done so many of these meetings.
• 9:15
  You know, I definitely feel like the biggest learning that I had was just
• 9:20
  how much, you know, these voices of these people that you're talking to kind of like can stay in your head. And that can be a really positive thing and a really negative thing. But I think you have to really be prepared for that. Like, you're going to get a lot of questions, a lot of criticisms, and some of them are totally irrelevant and like, frankly, offensive. And then some of them may feel that way. But upon further reflection, they're actually like really helpful. So, you know, I definitely think something that Charlie and I learned along the way is like, okay, let's just sort of treat all feedback as
• 9:48
  let's give it a fair shot and let's consider it and you know let's see how we can kind of incorporate it into our business and then at some point you kind of have to make a choice where you're like you know are we being true to what we think isla is or are we trying to conform ourselves into what like someone else wants us to be um which i think is just a question as an entrepreneur you just ask yourself every day for the first couple years yes totally yeah
• 10:13
  I want to go back a little bit to when you met Charlie. What was the timeline in terms of you met him, you kind of have this light bulb moment together that you might start a business. What was the timeline from that to launching? Yeah, it was actually really fast. It was probably, you know, meeting each other and then meeting each other again, then sort of deciding that, you know, this is what we were going to do. It was probably a couple months, you know, it was probably like
• 10:41
  three months. You know, I, when we first met, it was, I think both of us kind of were like, you know, maybe there's some business we can do together. I was still with my fund. I was like, maybe, you know, M3 can see this. And, and I think for him, he was like, you know, Tracy's interested in a brand and she works with brands. Like maybe my, my family can supply her products. You know, he was also already on a path where he was going to start a brand. I was kind of a path where I was going to start a brand, but, you know, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like
• 11:04
  we weren't obviously planning right away to do it together. And then we just kept talking. And I think we felt like we had really complementary skill sets and experiences. So like once we made that decision, you know, there was really like, it just kind of went from there. And I, you know, and I really...
• 11:21
  The one thing I'll say is like, I definitely credit Charlie with really like moving the conversation along. You know, he's the type of person that is very, has a lot of like conviction in what he believes. And so like when he was like, you know, this is right, like we're going to do this. He, he just, he didn't second guess it and he didn't.
• 11:38
  like equivocate. And I think that that's a really, really important skill for an entrepreneur. And I definitely think it's something that I will say comes easier to men than to women. And so I think it's a good thing for women to kind of,
• 11:51
  just take note of and learn. And I've definitely having met like hundreds of, you know, founders and entrepreneurs, like the boys seem to like believe, you know, more consistently that their ideas are really great, whether they are or they aren't. And I think, you know, that's something that personally I've tried to do more of. And I think like women in general can probably do a Yeah.
• 12:15
  So when you said three months, does that mean you developed your products in three months? No, that's just like the amount of time where we were like, okay, you know, from meeting to being like, we're really like making this happen. Let's get lawyers on the phone. Let's start, you know, figuring out names. And there was like checkpoints along the way where it was like, okay, we're going to have this branding meeting together and see if we're kind of aligned on the brand. And then it was like, what would the products be? And like, you know, let's have a call with some R&D people. But
• 12:42
  I would say the timeline from like first meeting to like we are in business together was maybe like six to nine months.
• 12:49
  So it was like, you know, I think it felt fast, but like appropriate. But I know that, you know, probably for co-founders, it's that timeline. Like, I mean, you wouldn't know better. That timeline probably is like all over the place. Totally. And after that, then for the product development specifically, how long did it take you guys to settle on? Okay, we're going to launch with three products. This is what we have in mind. We're going to go all over the world and source from different countries. And here we are on launch day and we have these three products ready to go.
• 13:18
  I think that took about a year. And I would say that that was, for this business particularly, that was like an extremely...
• 13:27
  expedited timeline. You know, that was like a year with people that have been doing this professionally for forever and their parents were, you know what I mean? And so, you know, the people that were helping us with the supply chain and logistics, it's like a family business. And so that was probably the fastest you could have launched a beauty company, honestly, while still maintaining, I think, the level of product integrity and uniqueness that we did in our products. Right. Right.
• 13:54
  And are you able to share something that comes up often when I'm speaking to women who are listening to the show is the money side of things. Are you able to share how much it kind of cost in terms of startup capital just to get started to build the brand when you were bootstrapping it pre-funding through to what was needed for funding or what you thought you might need for funding? Yeah, I mean, I don't know if this necessarily applies to Isla, but I'll say just generally for even from founders that I've...
• 14:24
  met through M3, I think like a couple hundred thousand dollars, you know, is sort of what gets people to where they need to be to raise money, which, you know, I think about how much money that is, you know, to ask for from friends and family or to like dig into your own savings. And so like when I would meet, you know, founders at M3 and they'd say like, we, you know, we bootstrapped it this far. And then now we're raising money. I was always super impressed by that because it's a lot of money.
• 14:48
  It's a lot of money to put on the line. It's a lot of money to ask for. But yeah, I definitely think that there's a certain like kind of unavoidable factor of just like needing some startup capital before you're really in a position to raise money. And I think most of that kind of goes into like fleshing out the brand and maybe developing or at least making some inroads with the people that you're gonna work with to supply the product and getting some samples made and stuff like that, which just unfortunately, you know, costs money. I haven't really found a way around it.
• 15:17
  Yeah. And I guess as well, like for you guys, you know, you launched with three products versus a company that launches with, say, 20. Yeah. It must be significant investment to buy into the products. Yeah. I mean, this is a very like inside beauty observation. But like if you see a beauty brand launching and they have like 20 products, like there's big money behind it. And so like, you know, there's just like no way around it because.
• 15:40
  It's just expensive. It's like a numbers game. And it costs a lot of money to make these products and buy the packaging and ship them to America or ship them wherever they need to go. And so, you know, that's why you'll see a lot of brands do these like tiny little launches. And I think that's why the first couple of years for brands are...
• 15:56
  super challenging. You know, it's hard to be in business with a small product line. It's hard to be, you know, trying to sell that product line and develop new stuff. It's just, it's a challenge. Yeah, totally. And then throw in the pandemic into the mix. You've just got a perfect storm. Yes. I want to talk about marketing and, you know, going back to the actual launch. It's been, you know, less than a year now. You launched in April, I think you said. What was that like? And what was the launch plan? And how were you starting to acquire customers from the get-go?
• 16:26
  Yeah, so our launch, well, our launch plan and our actual launch were like night and day. They were two totally different experiences. One really revolved around launching the brand in New York City with a lot of sort of in-person activations and sort of meeting people and seating the brand around in and around New York. We felt like that was an interesting strategy to kind of launch launch.
• 16:50
  products in a crowded space and just really focus on one geography where we could really meet people and talk to people and kind of explain our ideas and use, you know, we had kind of hoped to use these people that we had physical access to or proximity to and kind of seed, you know, some of our ideas and our product and what we're about with them and knowing that they kind of act as like mini, you know, podcasts or amplifiers within their own groups. There's like, I think there's people in every group that
• 17:16
  are like, you know, the influence in their group. And that's kind of what we really wanted to tap into with our launch. We definitely feel like the actual like overall influencer strategy that is so
• 17:30
  mostly tied to beauty and like consumer stuff in general is a little bit played out. And we wanted to kind of like empower people who are really passionate about something to be an influencer within their own community. And so, you know, that was kind of a big, I think, and that still is a big part of how we believe in growth and how we think about growth. Like we really want to talk to the people.
• 17:54
  spend time understanding our mission and understanding what, you know, we're trying to do and not just anyone with a platform. We were kind of looking forward to being able to do that and like bring Isla to life around New York. And then when the pandemic hit, we kind of had to pivot to online. And, you know, we made a really, we made a choice at the time, which was to try and like
• 18:14
  translate all of this, that stuff into an online experience or to just kind of launch organically and see what happens. And, you know, given what was going on at the time, there was, you know, obviously we still are, there was a massive international crisis and we kind of just wanted to put it out there and like let people find it and share it if they wanted, as opposed to maybe go through like some more of the traditional events.
• 18:38
  routes like trying to get pressed around it or, you know, any like paid advertising. So we kind of just went into business one day. And, you know, I think at a certain point too, it's like, whether pandemic or not, you kind of just have to go into business one day and start learning and see what happens. And so that's what we did. And we were really fortunate that, you know, people were excited and they wanted to share and they, you know, we started to get
• 19:00
  even though we weren't able to do everything we wanted to do, you know, we found a lot of people who were excited to hear that we looked different maybe than what they were used to in beauty and that we sounded different. And, you know, I definitely think in like an overcrowded online world, it's definitely important to stand out in what you sound like or what you look like, because I think, you know, you can kind of anyone can buy sales to an extent and you can sort of get to a place, but are you going to resonate with people? You know, that's
• 19:30
  Mm, totally. Gosh, it's such a challenging one when you have that whole plan and then you have to literally either throw it out the window or say, hey, we're going to do this. We're going to try again next year and regroup and re, I don't know, get going. So with your marketing then, what is it that you find does, you know, help you acquire new customers? Is it just social media or is it still working with those smaller kind of influential people within their circles to put the word out there? Yeah.
• 19:59
  We spend a ton of time like trying to find people, you know, it's obviously we've had to kind of move all of that online. But we're trying to find people who we believe based on like what we can figure out about them are going to appreciate what we're doing, you know, and talk to them and get them product and sort of explain to them what Isla is about, you know, and chat with them like Charlie or I or whatever.
• 20:23
  you know, some of the people that work with us. And, you know, for us, that is right now what's working for us as far as marketing. And then I think that goes hand in hand with having like,
• 20:35
  messaging that can resonate with people if they get to see it. And so I feel like it's like this two piece thing where you have to find people who are going to be really evangelical about your brand. And then you have to also make sure you're reaching people generally and that what you're saying is kind of resonating with them. And
• 20:53
  You know, I think in the beginning, that also means like constantly evaluating and asking questions and asking your customers like what they like and what they don't like and what they think and trying to understand like what their perception of your brand is and how that aligns with what you're trying to do. And, you know, and I think it's a lot of sort of evaluating and reevaluating. But I think taking a step back, like before you decide to go into business, the most important thing you can do is like identify like,
• 21:24
  does this thing need to exist? And is it already being, you know, met by something that's out there in the market? And if you can answer no to both of those questions, then I think the job that you have is to really find those people and, you know, and speak to them and communicate with them. So that's really what we've been trying to do, you know, now in our first couple months in business. And to dig one layer deeper, how many people are you, you know, sending product to every month?
• 21:54
  your ideal target customers, are you actually speaking to? Just to paint that picture for anyone who's new in business and they're thinking, well, you know, should I be sending five gifts a month or should I be sending 500 gifts a month? Yeah. I mean, I definitely think it's business by business. It depends what your costs are, you know, on that product. But for us, we really do, you know, recognize that this is like, you know, spending, you
• 22:17
  between 40 and $50 on a skincare product that you can't try before you buy it, that's a big purchase. And so we want, you know, people to either get recommended it from a friend or have the opportunity to try it from us and, you know, and decide for themselves. And so we, you know, for the first couple of months, we spent basically all of our spare time trying to reach out to
• 22:35
  anybody that we, you know, felt was interesting and get them product or make a connection, have a conversation. You know, I think for us, it made sense a lot of times to like send a product, but, you know, for another brand, it's like send a discount code, send more information, just set, just do something, you know, to make that connection.
• 22:53
  And, you know, I think send is do it as broadly as you possibly can. So like, we, you know, we are connecting with hundreds of new people every month, you know, whether it's to see product or to just like chat with them, or, you know, what, whatever it is, but like, you have to, you know, you can do all these things to like start a business. But at the end of the day, and this is probably why you're asking these questions, like the marketing piece is like the big thing, right? Because if you can't get it out there, then it doesn't matter, you know, how great your product is.
• 23:23
  you know, I think for every brand, it's a little bit different, but you just have to kind of keep trying and until you figure out what works and then just like push really hard on that. Double down, triple down. Yeah. Looking back, you know, it's been your first year of business, first year since launching. What has the feedback been and what are the key learnings that you've had so far? I think looking back, the key learnings are, you know, especially in
• 23:50
  the like digital world that we're in right now, there is a lot of noise. And there are, you know, a lot of there's a lot of I think, misinformation out there and sort of marketing led and maybe even like profit led or, you know, like, communications led, like systems that are in place there, if you're a small brand, or if you're just starting, like you have to know that you're
• 24:17
  people's thinking might not change, you know, overnight, but if you stay at it, like you will find, I think that people, you know, it will start small and it will kind of grow exponentially and people will really be interested in what you have to say, but you, you know, you maybe have to be prepared for like some pushback in the beginning or even just some feeling like, you know, why, does anyone even listening? Like, does anyone even care type of thing?
• 24:41
  But I think like the most exciting feedback that we've gotten was just like people that are sort of really grateful for our product, you know, doing what it does at the price that it does. And like the just general positioning of the brand and, you know, and how we are consistent with who we are and how we, you know, how we speak about our products and how we won't subscribe to some of the things that, you know, maybe like traditional beauty brands do. And so I think like,
• 25:07
  the things that we've stayed most consistent on as a brand are definitely the things that you'll then come to realize like you get consistent feedback on and that's, you know, slowly what makes you different in the market. And so I think that's really rewarding. Like when people kind of
• 25:24
  understand who you are and they can kind of get like, you know, a good sense of who you are and they like you for that, like that's great feedback. And so I think for us, a lot of that has been like just our authenticity in the market and just like our commitment to this sort of price and product level. And that will be different for every brand, but that's kind of what it is, you know, for Isla.
• 25:45
  What you were saying in the beginning of that, it reminded me of something that I tell myself every day. And that's just, I like have it written somewhere. Stop stopping. You've just got to keep going and you've got to stop stopping because it's those small compounded steps that add up every single day. And in a year's time and in two years time and in 10 years time, they will have all have made sense and made it worthwhile.
• 26:06
  Yeah, I think like the biggest thing, like really is like staying true to who you are, like, when you go into business, and then when you're trying to market yourself, like, there's a lot of pressure, I think, to like, you know, just say whatever that person wants to hear from you, whether it's like a retailer that you're trying to sell to, or a customer you're trying to sell to. And like, especially when you're trying to do something that is novel, and it sounds different, or looks different than the industry at large, like,
• 26:35
  you know, it's scary because you are going to say things that like people with bigger platforms maybe are saying the opposite of. And so I think that idea of just like being really consistent is definitely the most rewarding thing that you can do in terms of creating feedback. And then it feels the most rewarding when you get that feedback. Yeah, for sure.
• 26:58
  What does the future look like for you guys? Are you thinking you'll stay direct to consumer? Are you wanting to expand into wholesale and going into retailers and things like that? Yeah, I think, you know, our idea has always been to not be like strictly in one camp or the other. I think that, you know, and this is just my view on brands in general, like there was a moment in time where everyone was like, I'm just going to be direct to consumer. And then people are like wholesale plus direct to consumer is the winning combination, but
• 27:26
  I think for us, we have this story that we want to tell and we have all this information that we want to give our customers. And so the priority for us is always going to be like, how can we tell that story? How can we get this information across to our customers? And so if we can't do that in partnership with a certain wholesaler because we don't have that direct line of communication, then we probably won't do it. But if we can find wholesalers out there who are innovating in the way that they speak to their customers and that they connect brands.
• 27:53
  and customers, which so many are, then we'll definitely do it. And so, you know, we want to be direct to consumer. We want to have a physical presence. We want to have an international presence, but we also want to, you know, reach people where they are. And so I think, you know, I think wholesale is definitely like on the table for us, for sure. Exciting. So much to come. What is your top advice for women who have a big idea and want to start their own business?
• 28:19
  You know, I think my top advice is, well, first of all, is just go do it. But, you know, I don't think that that's like novel, like just go do something, just, you know, try anything and see how it goes. But, you know, I think another really practical step is like, ask yourself what.
• 28:36
  you feel like you can do, you know, to start the business and ask yourself like what you feel like you cannot do. And then you start to understand how you can fill in those holes. Because I think like the idea of starting a business overall, when you think about raising money, making product marketing, you know, writing copy, all those things, like, it is really overwhelming. But then when you start to break them down, it's not that hard. You know, people, there are people in your network can give you some advice on how to build a website, or, you know, even like how to maybe raise money, hopefully. And,
• 29:04
  you know, I think just like start small and figure out what you feel really comfortable with. Because like when you're, I think, starting a business, you're going to have to go back to that over and over for your confidence and for your, you know, feeling of like progress. And then you're going to have to get comfortable with the things that you're not good at. And
• 29:21
  you know, good at filling in those holes. Totally. And I think there's a lot to say as well about, you know, the school of YouTube, like you can learn everything online these days, you can Google it. And a big part of being an entrepreneur and owning a business is being a problem solver. And that means like figuring out the answers and YouTube is great for that. Yeah, I learned a lot there.
• 29:43
  We are up to the six quick questions part of the episode. So question number one is what's your why? My why is because I just have spent a lot of time and sort of personal energy on being, I think, like,
• 30:02
  not believing things or feeling pressured into doing things or buying things or feeling a certain way about myself. And, you know, through, I think, the consumer journey as it is in beauty or, you know, even in health and wellness, but for me specifically in beauty and skincare. And my why is to just like be, you know, this sounds...
• 30:20
  maybe a little cheesy, but like just to create like a little bit, a more honest and transparent reality in this industry that is everywhere, you know, in this industry that is not going anywhere and is really important and can create a lot of good for people. But, you know, I want to sort of be a force in, in maybe eliminating some of the, the negative. Yes, absolutely. Question number two is what's been the number one marketing moment so far that's made your business pop?
• 30:50
  The number one marketing moment is just like any organic, any person saying, you know, publicly like this product has like changed my life or this product is like, I love this product so much. Like you think that it needs to be like a celebrity, but it doesn't. It just really you just like really need some people to sort of fall in love with your product and then like endorse it.
• 31:11
  you know, that's, I mean, that's the honest truth. And then, you know, the bigger the platform, I guess, the more that endorsement goes, but it doesn't need to come from like someone huge. It can just come from anyone. Yeah. The importance and the power of word of mouth marketing is, is very real. It's the only thing, you know, there's like tons of other ways to kind of go about marketing, but when you're starting out, like that word of mouth marketing is really what gets people, you know, to your online store. Yeah.
• 31:39
  Absolutely. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you listening to? What books do you read? What newsletters do you subscribe to? Right now I'm reading Conscious Commerce by John Mackey, who's the founder of Whole Foods. I pretty much try to do all of that learning and getting smarter in reading. I know that we were talking about Tim Ferriss's book before. I just like consume all of that sort of
• 32:08
  like founder biographies or, you know, even just like inspiring people's biographies. And I, you know, I think that there it's like, for me, it's been like the best thing you kind of can like get lost in someone's story, but then also like take a lot for yourself as well. Yeah, I'm going to add that one to my, to my reading list and link it in the show notes for anyone who wants to check it out. Conscious Commerce sounds great.
• 32:32
  Question number four is how do you win the day? And that's around your AM and PM rituals that keep you feeling motivated and successful and happy and productive. My AM is like, I take an hour for myself in the morning. You know, I try to just not like jump into work, especially like in quarantine, you know, it's the routine can get monotonous. So like I take an hour, I do whatever I want to do. And then, you know, I kind of get into a
• 32:57
  my day. And then I think, you know, I've, what I've really started to try to do is like plan my day a little bit better, like time block and put things together that, you know, I think mentally makes sense because I found that just like severe fatigue from trying to switch, you know, into a million different roles throughout the day, like going from customer service to like, you know,
• 33:20
  social media to like trying to build a model to talking to a bank like it's just too much so um for me it's really like planning those things out uh has really helped and then you know and then I think it's important to end your day like the same way you started just like really doing something that is a clean break from the day um for me that's been like a lot of times it's cooking again there's like not a lot that I can do but just I just find like doing something physical um
• 33:46
  that's not typing has been like really helpful for me to like, I don't know, get rid of some pent up energy and just like take my mind off stuff.
• 33:55
  Absolutely. Getting your hands moving in like a different way. Yeah. I recently joined our local parks gardening group and it is just such joy getting out and like putting my knees into the dirt and weeding the lavender beds and being like, this is such a break from my usual day to day with what can feel such like, you know, monotonous activities because it's just, everything's the same. It's like Groundhog Day, obviously. But yeah, I just so love getting out
• 34:26
  dairy. Question number five is if you only had a thousand dollars left in your business bank account, how would you spend it? Wow. That's a great question. Um, I probably spend it on that, like seating budget, you know, just getting more product in people's hands. That's been like, you know, obviously we've already talked about this, but that's kind of been like what's worked for us the most. And,
• 34:50
  I would, I guess I'd try to pick some really great people. Nice. Yeah. And last question is how do you deal with failure?
• 35:00
  You know, I think you like take a minute to really think about it and like process it and be upset or be angry or, you know, whatever you want to do. And then you kind of have to like put it away and move on. And, you know, that's been definitely like something that I've had to train myself to do because my instinct is to kind of let it hang over me. But the one thing that, you know, I think that you can't do is just let
• 35:25
  that be like the narrative that's like running in your head all day. So you just have to like move on. And you have to, I think for me, the important thing is to like, force myself to focus on some wins that we've had as well. I by nature, and I think maybe a lot of people are like this, like the wins, they go in and out of my brain in one second, if I'll even like let them in and then the failures or feelings of rejections, like, they'll just linger forever. So I mean, you have to, I think, at some point, just
• 35:54
  be realistic and just, you know, say like this win is bigger than this loss or, you know, this loss is not bigger than this win. And, you know, just keep moving. Got to keep moving. Yeah. Tracy, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show today. I've loved chatting with you and learning about Isla Beauty.
• 36:14
  You too. And I hope you like your products. And I hope we get to do this again one day. Me too. Hopefully in Switzerland or something or something fun. Yeah.
• 36:30
  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.
• 36:55
  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.
• 37:17
  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.
• 37:34
  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.
• 37:58
  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.
• 38:21
  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.