Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Helen McNeil. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Helen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.
The greatest challenge I ever faced when preparing to launch the Facial Treatment Services for Body by Helen McNeil was accepting the decision that I had to quit my first full-time Esthetician role. The beauty giant I previously worked for prohibited performing and selling the exact services you offered their clients. Because this decision was so difficult, I was very resistant to leaving my job for months. As time passed, my manager became more spiteful, a few clients left without paying, and I developed nightmares of frightening store thefts. My lack of peace grew as I noticed the lack of career advancements despite being one of our district’s highest retail and service-selling aestheticians during a pandemic.
I remember standing in my mother’s living room complaining on the verge of tears about my career situation and my fear of my future with Body by Helen. My sister looked at me, furrowed her eyebrows, and asked, “Where is your faith?!” Instantly, there was so much overwhelming conviction that it made me ask, “Where the heck is my Faith?” I realized that I was not leaning into or trusting in God to guide me out of this dark place and trust that everything would be okay. Over time, my spiritual health and relationship with God began to strengthen. Each day, I took mental notes on what I would do differently with my facial business at work. Those mental notes broke down into three things: a healthy mental state, better quality back bar products from acneic skin, and an uncap success for my brand. A few months later, I leaned fully on God, accepted a new role with a different aesthetics company, and unapologetically launched the facial services of Body by Helen McNeil. Looking back, I would not change anything because every adversity I encountered and every mistake I made was necessary to have a resilient relationship with God. Now I know what it looks and feels like physically and mentally to trust and lean on Him whenever adversities come my way! My advice for other young professionals is to take God with you in every aspect of your life and business. Allow yourself to wholly lean and genuinely trust in God every day. Always remember that everything is going to be okay!
Helen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
The greatest challenge I ever faced when preparing to launch the Facial Treatment Services for Body by Helen McNeil was accepting the decision that I had to quit my first full-time Esthetician role. The beauty giant I previously worked for prohibited performing and selling the exact services you offered their clients. Because this decision was so difficult, I was very resistant to leaving my job for months. As time passed, my manager became more spiteful, a few clients left without paying, and I developed nightmares of frightening store thefts. My lack of peace grew as I noticed the lack of career advancements despite being one of our district’s highest retail and service-selling aestheticians during a pandemic.
I remember standing in my mother’s living room complaining on the verge of tears about my career situation and my fear of my future with Body by Helen. My sister looked at me, furrowed her eyebrows, and asked, “Where is your faith?!” Instantly, there was so much overwhelming conviction that it made me ask, “Where the heck is my Faith?” I realized that I was not leaning into or trusting in God to guide me out of this dark place and trust that everything would be okay. Over time, my spiritual health and relationship with God began to strengthen. Each day, I took mental notes on what I would do differently with my facial business at work. Those mental notes broke down into three things: a healthy mental state, better quality back bar products from acneic skin, and an uncap success for my brand. A few months later, I leaned fully on God, accepted a new role with a different aesthetics company, and unapologetically launched the facial services of Body by Helen McNeil. Looking back, I would not change anything because every adversity I encountered and every mistake I made was necessary to have a resilient relationship with God. Now I know what it looks and feels like physically and mentally to trust and lean on Him whenever adversities come my way! My advice for other young professionals is to take God with you in every aspect of your life and business. Allow yourself to wholly lean and genuinely trust in God every day. Always remember that everything is going to be okay!
-A few months before graduating from the University of Illinois at Chicago, I realized I no longer wanted to pursue Health Administration. Instead, I wanted to do something more impactful that reached people on a more personable level. However, I still wanted to remain in healthcare and had a few months to decide what to do with my debt and the four years of education I acquired. So I did the cheesy thing we see on TV and thought back to childhood. What is it that I love to do? And that was combining my mother’s lotion and perfumes to create customized body care products for her. Her beautiful smile lit up the room, and her expression of genuine love and appreciation towards me warmed my heart as I reminisced. That feeling is something that I wanted to continue to not only feel for myself but also share with others. I wanted to develop my wellness-centered body care business from that moment. Then, I had to contemplate what I am naturally known for so the things I love to do can be profitable and successful. Throughout my entire life in high school and college career, I was known for having beautiful skin and being wellness-centered in my advice and being. Combining those two thought processes birthed the concept of Body by Helen McNeil, a wellness skincare company committed to providing ethical, elevated, natural body and hair care products.
– At Body by Helen McNeil, we believe luxury should be clean, ethical, and nourishing. Rooted in passion and expertise, our skincare, body care, and home essentials are crafted and formulated by Helen (licensed esthetician) with pure, natural ingredients to heal, protect, and elevate your self-care experience—without compromise. Our products include everyday hygiene essentials from our honey-based Luxe Body Polishes, dynamic multi-use Luxe Body-Beard-Hair Oil, healing Luxe Lip Conditioning Balms and Luxe Lip Polishes, and our newest launch and best seller, The Luxe Whipped Body Oil Cream, also known as the softest and most moisturizing body cream you ever used. Since we are all family, you’ll be among the first to know that we are soon launching our first home essential, The Luxe Linen & Room Refresh Spray! -Beyond skincare, everyone should have multi-use, nutrient-rich essentials that simplify routines while enhancing overall well-being and making self-love second nature.
– The proudest moment in my business was when I listened to my consumers’ requests and desires for me to create a body cream with the same high ethics and standards as my other products. Accepting this task gave me a run for my money because each body cream I could think of contained phenoxyethanol as a preservative. This synthetic preservative is safe to use up to 1% of the product’s weight before it can harm our internal and external systems. Even though the smallest and largest brands use this, I didn’t want to compromise the values and mission I branded and invested into Body by Helen. I prayed every day, several times a day, throughout my formulation process. I would ask God for guidance regarding ingredient selection and where to research. When I started to hear God’s voice and see His blessings during the formulation process guiding me to natural, non-caustic preservatives, I knew that The Luxe Body Whipped Oil Cream would be my golden child product without a doubt.
-It warms my heart to create batches of a product that led me to integrate God even more into my brand, which inevitably deepens my relationship with Him. Plus, the cherry on top is seeing you all’s beautiful smiles light up when you first experience the best-smelling and feeling body cream that you ever used. I understand entirely, considering it’s the first natural body cream that hydrates and moisturizes my skin all day while elevating my self-care routine.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
The most effective strategy for growing my business will always be to listen to my consumers. Asking and observing how I can solve common problems or fulfill needs in the wellness and beauty community that my audience didn’t realize they had makes my business successful. I always try to figure out how I can put myself into my audience’s shoes and experience what it’s like to live without having a specific product be the answer to their everyday concerns. When I started to listen to my clients’ demands, specifically for a natural moisturizing body cream, my revenue increased by 400% year-to-date, and my target audience became more defined.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the biggest lessons I learned in my business is everyone is not your customer. God has blessed me with a family of entrepreneurs who taught me never to let someone pay you to disrespect you or demean your values. Welcoming an environment for clients who disregard your policies, boundaries, and comfort level for other clients can quickly cultivate a toxic environment and simultaneously stifle your brand’s growth and mission. Staying in control of how I present myself and sustaining positive energy throughout my brand has graced me with clients with such beautiful, uplifting spirits.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bodybyhelenmcneil.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodybyhelen_
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-mcneil777
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Bodybyhelen
- Other: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@bodybyhelen_
Image Credits
Featured photographer: Trinity Jackson, owner of Instagram: @byfaith.imagery