We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Wagenborg recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I took a huge leap of faith in 2020. Due to the pandemic, majority of the population was unemployed including myself. Losing my only job was unexpected but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. While unemployed, I had time to analyze my life, I knew that I wanted to start a business, but I was undecided on exactly what I wanted to do. During the pandemic, my go-to beauty stores were closed or the products I needed was sold out. Therefore, I started making my own oils, clay mask, and other home products. Then, I realized that I enjoyed learning about mixing ingredients and formulas. At the time, my stress was at an all-time high so making beauty and home products was so therapeutic to me.

So, I made the decision to start a business named “Blk Rose Self-Care” in the fall of 2020. At the time, I had a picture of black roses as my screensaver and I love everything about self-care and I would share tips on “Self-Care Sunday” on social media, so that’s how I generated the name “Blk Rose Self-Care”. In fact, making home products took me longer to formulate so I decided to start with selling beauty products. I’ve spent months and long nights to get my formulas right. I made formulas for herbal clay mask, body oils, and bath soaks. I think it’s interesting that my least favorite subject is math but somehow, I managed to figure out the measurements and prices for my products. Then, I went right into website, logo design, and product photography, this was the hardest part of the process. Building a website was VERY time consuming, it took me about 2 months to setup my online store. My hustle mode was ON, my time and energy were devoted to Blk Rose Self-Care.

As for launching my business, I didn’t announce any launch dates, I just came out with it. My products and online shop were ready in February 2021. My official launch day was February 12, 2021. There was no fancy business plan into place at the time, I just started. I had a vision and I executed it. I look at entrepreneurship as a journey, I am learning and adjusting every day. There is no such thing as “microwave success”, I am willing to be patient and watch my business grow overtime while being my authentic self. Within my first year of business, I was able to get my products featured in 3 stores. I love collaborating and working with other businesses. I took a big risk with Blk Rose Self-Care, and it was scary, but I truly believe that being the owner of Blk Rose Self-Care is my sole purpose.

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?

Blk Rose Self-Care specializes in handcrafting beauty and home products based in Metro-Detroit. The idea of opening my business transpired from me unexpectedly losing my job and I spent a lot of time learning about the ins and outs of formulating safe products. As of today, my company have linen+room sprays, potpourri, decorative car air fresheners, body oils, and herbal clay mask. My business is so unique because of the versality that we offer to our customers with our scents and designs. I also started working with customers to send gift boxes to their loved ones with personalized packaging. Blk Rose Self-Care most popular product is the linen+room spray in the scent called “Pillow Talk”. The linen+room spray is handcrafted, alcohol free, has a fine mist sprayer so my customers can spray their linen without staining. My vision for Blk Rose Self-Care is to open a consignment store where I can also showcase other business owners. I love collaborating and working with others, I know how hard it is to sell products solely online. Having my products in multiple stores gained my business exposure and long-term customers. I would love to turn around and do the same for entrepreneurs starting out.

One of the things I’m most proud of is being able to run my business while becoming a new mom. Being a new parent is very challenging and I instantly thought that I wasn’t going to have time to work on my business. But I was wrong, the hustle did not stop. I am able to work on my goals and task every day while being present in my son’s life. This experience alone is keeping me motivated to push through obstacles and challenges of being an MOMtreprenuer.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

My products are currently being sold on my website. I like Wix because it’s one of the most trusted ecommerce platforms for customers and it’s simple to set up an online store. Having your own online store means that you are responsible for fulfillment of products and services and making sure that it’s updated regularly. The only thing that I struggle with is driving traffic to my website, which can be challenging. Luckily, I attend to pop up shops throughout the year to increase my sales.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I listen to Ronne Brown’s podcast for motivation and business tips. Ronne Brown is a successful entrepreneur who help business owners build their brands. I like Ronne because she is authentic, a mom, she has her own outstanding beauty brand, and she shares information on how to build your business and her life experiences. I think having a brand expert and a successful entrepreneur to learn from is essential in this industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blkroseself-care.com
• Instagram: @blkrose_selfcare
• Facebook: Blk Rose Self-Care