Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brooke Scott. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brooke, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I guess I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. My best friend and I sold handmade jewelry and hair clips out of the back of our Volvo station wagon as teenagers in the ‘90s. From there, I sold handmade greeting cards in coffee shops when scrapbooking was a thing – remember that? Thinking about it now, I have always had a side hustle. I need that creative outlet. Something that is totally my own and not for someone else in whatever 9-5 I was working at the time. I had a line of handmade jewelry for 10 years (missed the back of the Volvo! But there were plenty of times I made jewelry in the car on my lunch break).
Fast forward to 2018 – I had ideas swirling around in my head about skincare and nail polish. All those teenage years of poring over fashion and beauty magazines. I was always obsessed with nail polish. Fun fact: I worked in R&D and QA labs for big coffee companies and couldn’t wear nail polish on my hands for nearly a decade! Don’t worry, I always had my toes to paint! I remember driving to work one day, to a job that had sucked my joy and creativity dry. I didn’t even know who I was anymore. The Neil Young song Four Strong Winds came on the radio with the lyrics “Four strong winds that blow lonely, SEVEN SEAS that run high. All those things that don’t change, come what may. If the good times are all gone, then I’m bound for movin’ on.” and it hit me that Seven Seas was the name I had been searching for. Something with meaning to go along with my beach themed concept. On that cloudy Portland morning, Seven Seas was officially born.
I worked on formulas for over a year before launching the original line of lip colors, blush sticks and body oils made with Macadamia oil from Maui. I started a new Marketing job in February of 2019 while simultaneously finding out I was pregnant with our sweet Henry boy at age 39. From there, it was the age old story of being pregnant and not being able to find products that were safe and didn’t have a bunch of nasty chemicals and preservatives. I wasn’t about to put anything like that on my body’s largest organ (skin!) and expose my growing baby to that junk. So… I messed around with formulas and Gold Facial Oil was born. I gave it to friends and family who got addicted and insisted that I add it to the line. It is now our bestseller! I added the nail polish about a year later and the rest is history!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Sure! I’m Brooke – born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and have always been in love with all things beach. Seven Seas started with skincare and beauty products that I made in super small batches in my kitchen. As the business grew, along with my baby and full-time job, I quickly knew that it wasn’t sustainable. I kept the best-selling Gold Facial Oil in the line and decided to take the leap on adding nail polish.
The nail polish has taken on a life of its own! There is a whole wild nail world out there of artists, swatchers and enthusiasts that I honestly didn’t realize was so huge until launching Seven Seas. It’s so cool to know that there are others out there who love to paint their nails as much as I do! I love that nail polish is a fun accessory that you can switch up as often as you want. There are no sizes – it always fits! It’s more affordable than jewelry, shoes or purses, so you can collect a bunch of colors to suit every mood. If I’m having a crummy day, I buy a new bottle of nail polish – re-nail therapy! ha. My first memory of nail polish is buying a bottle of Wet ‘n’ Wild Ice Blue Pearl polish (80’s kids, you know what I’m talking about) from a drug store with my grandma. I was in love.
When I decided to add nail polish to the line, my main objective was to offer a formula that was as clean and healthy as possible, but still be durable and last! I tinkered with making my own, but quickly realized I am no chemist and had better leave it to the experts. So, it’s mixed and bottled for us as private label on the East Coast. I was blown away when I first sampled the formula. It is highly pigmented, so it has amazing coverage (I have had many customers say they only need one coat! but I recommend 2 for the best staying power), and it honestly stays on better than any other brand I have tried – even better than the big brands loaded with chemicals.
I am so proud to offer such a high quality polish that is a 21-Free Formula (free of 21 harmful chemicals like Formaldehyde that are in traditional nail polish), vegan, cruelty free, made in the USA and even recyclable! One of my favorite parts of the process is naming each little polish baby fun beachy names like Guava, Teeny Bikini and Seaweed. It truly never gets old, walking into a store and seeing Seven Seas on the shelf! It’s the best!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I launched Seven Seas a few weeks before having our son, thinking, oh this will be great! I will have time to fill orders and grow the biz while I’m on maternity leave and while baby is napping. HA! Overly ambitious? For sure! More like clueless about what having a newborn would be like. I made it work for a while and just told myself it was a slower start. What I really wanted to do was add nail polish, but it was a big investment for my little biz. So, I kept chugging along until I saved enough to take the leap.
I realized that the handmade beauty products were just too time consuming for the return on investment. So, I had to make some difficult cuts. I decided to keep just the Gold Facial Oil, because making batches of just one SKU seemed manageable while I built the nail polish collection. While I miss making the beauty products, launching the nail polish was a decision I’m happy I made. I have so much fun coming up with colors and names for the different seasons and seeing what people gravitate to.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
It’s usually around tax season that I consider throwing in the towel. Ha. Wearing all the hats in a small business is tough, especially when you are an art major and numbers aren’t your thing! But, it has also forced me to learn a lot. After another year of not making a profit, I knew I would have to make some major changes if I want to keep Seven Seas afloat (see what I did there?!).
Realizing you actually lost $$ after all of the blood sweat, tears (yes, there were a few), and time. So. Much. Time. Doing pop-ups, trying to get wholesale orders, driving to the post office, packing orders, making product, marketing, accounting, social media… and on…and on… it was so heartbreaking and discouraging. So, I made a plan. 1) Focus my energy and time on growing the retail side of the business by somehow getting more website traffic. Maybe pitch to some magazines and work with more influencers. 2) Stop hustling so hard for the wholesale accounts. While it’s incredible to see Seven Seas in adorable stores across the country, I make next to nothing on wholesale. The stores are getting product for half price and by the time you subtract the cost of goods and your time, well, you get the idea. At the end of the day, I have met some amazing small business owners and it’s wonderful exposure for the brand, so I believe it’s worth partnering with like-minded stores and brands that I love working with. 3) Stop giving away shipping. I’m not Amazon and shipping prices have gone way up! So, time to stop eating this cost. 4) Stop giving away so much free product. This is a hard one for me. I love giving discounts and throwing little extras in with orders. This all adds up.
So, this is where I’m at. Trying to make some changes and continue to learn and grow and keep this dream of Seven Seas going!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sevenseasbeautiful.com/
- Instagram: Instagram.com/sevenseasbeautiful/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/sevenseasbeautiful