Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jennifer Waller. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jennifer, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
My industry, the “beauty biz” can be summed up in four words: smoke, mirrors, (white) lies and hope. The industry standard is: Make a woman feel shame about what she looks like, magnify every flaw and then sell her something to fix it (hopefully without breaking the bank).
Perhaps only the cosmetic industry (or the media) is more predatory on a woman’s self esteem.
When I entered the corporate world of cosmetics while still in high school, I was the perfect recruit. I was young (17) and my skin had not yet experienced the ravishes of time making me the perfect billboard for the emerging anti-aging market. I was also naive, idealistic and eager to make a good impression.
I spent over a decade in the beauty industry, working my way up from Beauty Advisor to Makeup Artist to Trainer to Account Executive to Beauty Director. In that span of time, I worked for over fifty brands in a dozen states with thousands of women all seeking the same thing: to look better (even if only for a moment).
The longer I was “in the business”, the more I became aware that I was selling hope in a jar and not a long term solution. The year I discovered that what I was selling was no more than chemicals, water and fragrance, I took a left at Albuquerque and never looked back.
If the industry standard is sell, sell, sell, my standard is educate, educate, educate.
If the industry standard is to make a woman scared of getting older, my standard is to blaze the trail of acceptance and help women see beauty in each stage of her life.
If the industry standard is to impress their audience with celebrity endorsements, my standard is to allow my customers to be the celebrities.
If the industry standard is to shout to their audience via social media , my standard is to whisper with my customers one-one-one.
If the industry standard is to spend the majority of their budget on marketing, my standard is to spend the majority of our budget on quality ingredients.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am the founder of Celtic Complexion Luxury Organic Skincare, a company that offers solutions to those who are pigment challenged, age like milk and are sensitive to most chemical based products available in the mainstream market. If you haven’t already guessed, that’s me and prior to starting my small-batch organic skincare company in 2011, I worked for most of the prestige brands of skincare and cosmetics (since 1985).
That makes me either very old, or I started as a child. I won’t leave you in suspense.
At seventeen, my part time job prospects were: grocery store cashier, a Hot Dog on a Stick ambassador at the food court in my local mall (oh, if you aren’t familiar with that iconic image, please take a moment now to Google “Vintage Hot Dog on a Stick Uniform”. Go ahead, I’ll wait here) or work for Estee Lauder.
It was a no brainer: I chose a better looking uniform and free beauty products (win/WIN!).
With my new found sophistication (at least to the 11th grade crowd) and frosted eye shadow, I set out to change the world, one complexion at a time (that’s the textbook idealistic version of my hopes and dreams as a teenager) and for the most part, I haven’t strayed too far off that compass needle.
Now there’s a whole lot that happened from 1985 to 2011 in my career, but let’s leave a little mystery and something for the biography :)
When you decide to start a company (no matter how small) and you don’t have investors, a business MBA or business collateral, it can be quite an uphill battle because you don’t know what you don’t know.
Looking back, had I known everything I needed to know, I might have been too scared to even attempt it, so blind faith and a bit of adrenaline is what ignited this little engine that could.
When I started my business, I only thought I would have to be good at making and marketing the products (and to some extent myself).
I did all of the conventional things a small business is expected to do operating on a shoestring budget: learn copywriting, graphic design and business accounting, create an e-commerce website and social media platforms, partner with influencers/bloggers for product endorsements, and make in-kind donations for “exposure”. Of course, as time went on, it was expected that we would become YouTubers, authors and influencers ourselves (Ted Talk anyone?).
Self taught is good, but it’s a long learning curve. The first eight years, I was cruising along following a healthy growth trajectory.
Then 2020 came and suddenly the entire business landscape changed.
I watched as many of my colleagues shut their businesses down, supply chains affected our inventory (not to mention bottom line) and oh yes, now we were expected to be political pundits, social justice warriors and health experts, all while acting as though everything was business as usual.
Collectively, I think a lot of small business owners were just floating along, waiting for things to pass (or waiting for the other shoe to drop). At the time, I felt like I was in professional limbo.
Towards the end of 2020, I made a radical decision: I took a little of Steve Jobs advice (“Think different”), a little of Gandhi’s advice (“Be the change you want to see in the world”), with a little Tess McGill’s advice for good measure (“You can bend the rules plenty once you get to the top, but not while you’re trying to get there. And if you’re someone like me, you can’t get there without bending the rules”) and I took the company off of all social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).
GASP! I know…a twenty-first century sin. But trust me, I’ve had my fifteen minutes. It was time to put the focus back where it belongs: on the customer.
In my heart, I felt that I had attracted this amazing audience of thousands of smart women (and exactly 7 men, lol) who trusted me with their skin. I thought they would appreciate more than fluff pieces, clickbait headlines and targeted hashtags. Many well meaning colleagues thought I was committing professional suicide. How would I attract new customers? How would people find me? How would customers be able to interact with me?
Without any social media presence, and only a monthly e-newsletter for marketing purposes, our business has grown solely by relying on repeat business and word-of-mouth advertising.
Our customers are the “sales force” and their opinions are the “marketing team”. I returned to old-school direct marketing campaigns, offering free samples and letting the products do the talking.
I also created a code of ethics, made it a front and center marketing piece included with each order and on our About Us page. It makes it very clear that we not only offer the best skincare, but also included at no extra charge, the human touch (which seems to be quickly evaporating these days).
Our Company Ethics
1. We are real, live, breathing humans, making your products, packing your orders, answering your questions and solving your problems. We do not use any A.I. technology.
2. Our work ethic is GenX strong. When we are at work, 100% of our time and attention is focused on our customers (first) and products (second).
3. We aren’t on social media because we believe a personal touch is a much better experience than hashtags, filters and FOMO. Our customers are our “influencers”.
4. We love saving you money, so we offer monthly BOGO sales.
5. We keep it real. No exaggerated claims or promises about what our products can do. It’s skincare, not surgery.
6. We offer no hassle returns. If something doesn’t work for you, simply let us know within 30 days, and we’ll refund your money and part friends.
7. Our products are created in small batches without harmful chemicals, fragrance or dyes. We use ethically sourced, non-gmo ingredients. The difference is like fast food vs. a home cooked meal.
8. The entire line was created for sensitive skin, so you’ll never have to worry about burning, itching or redness when applying our products.
9. No green washing: The practice of adding the minimum amount of an active ingredient to be able to use the marketing claims. Our formulas contain generous amounts of active ingredients so you notice the difference in your skin.
10. Customer service is not just a “department”, it’s the entire cornerstone of our business. We value your time, intelligence and your privacy.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
What funding?
Seriously though, this business started as a vague dream back in the 80’s after reading Estee Lauder’s autobiography (required reading for my first job). I read many books about cosmetic mavens and worked for a few female entrepreneurs.
I didn’t have a rich uncle, a private equity company banging on my door, or even good credit when I started my company.
What I had was a LOT of sweat equity in an industry that I spent my entire life in. I saw first hand the mistakes and successes of those I worked for. I had a very strong work ethic and wasn’t afraid to put in the long hours it took to learn-on-the-job.
I told my dream to anyone who would listen and I carried around a spiral notebook full of ideas because I knew that one day it would happen.
One day, quite out-of-the-blue, a colleague friend said “Why don’t you start your own company?” I replied “Because I don’t have the money to”.
Without much discussion or fanfare, I received an angel investment of 10k and the rest as they say is history.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn “corporate marketing” (I.E. branding-style marketing). In the beginning, I attempted (and failed quite miserably) at my best attempt to emulate Estee Lauder (and every other company I worked for. I figured that they were successful at it, so I would be too.
(Insert the Family Feud fail sound “X” here).
I was afraid to be me. I assumed that my audience would want to relate to me the same way they related to a corporate giant. I spent a lot of money learning the hard way that they did not.
I spent thousands of dollars on marketing experts, advertising and PR agencies that generated little or no sales at all. I was just another micro start-up brand in a sea of behemoth giants.
The best investment I ever made in my business was learning copywriting, specifically direct response-style copywriting. It taught me to identify my customer and speak directly to her (not at her) and has been 100% recession proof.
The thing is, I have a great sense of humor, I don’t take things too seriously (especially aging) and when I was free to express that, it opened the doors to receive others that feel the same way.
People buy from people but they have to know who you are before they give you their business. Direct response copywriting unlocks that door and virtually introduces you to each other.
Once they are inside, your products do the rest of the talking.
Contact Info:
- Website: celticcomplexion.com