We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jasmine Kelly. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jasmine below.
Jasmine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Would you say you are more focused on growing revenue or cutting costs? We’d love to hear how you think about these two critical drivers
I’d like to say I have a nice balance of focus on growing my revenue and cutting costs simultaneously. That are both equally important. The amount of your profit literally depends on how well you manage both.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Jasmine Kelly and I am the owner of Smooth Like Jas. I hand make a wide range of organic products, catering to people who have sensitive skin, allergies, or for those who are looking for a line of products that has very simple ingredients. I started making products at the end of 2019, and quickly saw the demand for a natural brand of products that had ingredients you were familiar with. I make all of my products with five ingredients or less and make sure all the ingredients that I use ingredients that are safe to eat (such as coconut oil and avocado oil). Because I make everything from scratch I have created, trusting relationships with lots of clients. I provide hair care, face care, body care, and natural remedies with essential oils to help treat lots of different conditions from dark spots to sinus and headache products. I have 2 locations, and I have a team of 10 people I have trained and trusted to help me gain more clientele and serve the needs of customers. You can find us in Memphis, TN at the WolfChase or Oak Court Mall.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
I manufacture my own products, because I wanted very simple ingredients, I learned all of my recipes through reading blogs on Pinterest. There are lots of people who share their simple at home remedies, because it cheaper, or because they can’t use all of the terrible ingredients that are in store bought items. I formulated my recipes by comparing their recipes and using the best ingredients for what u wanted my product to feel like. Over the last year, I have been teaching my team members how to make product so that I can find a quality of life from the high demand of natural products. This is something that I wish I would have done from the start. It’s very important to structure your business to be able to run without you. Anything can happen, and you’ll want to take vacation sometimes.
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
I found out the hard way not to have payday on Mondays. When the holidays roll around, you don’t want to have to tell people that their check will be coming in Tuesday.
Contact Info:
- Website: smoothlikejas.square.site
- Instagram: smoothlikejas_
- Facebook: Smooth Like Jas,LLC
- Yelp: Smooth Like Jas
- Other: smoothlikejas.etsy.com
Image Credits
Photo Cred: Patrick Bonney