Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sheena Lewis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Sheena thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

It’s not often that I consider going back to a regular job because I am extremely happy as a business owner! This is literally THE BEST decision I could’ve made for myself, my family, my career, mental health and happiness overall. I’ve spent my entire life working for someone else so when I made the decision to step out on faith and quit my job in the corporate world it was very scary. Being an entrepreneur is a full time job because there is literally always work to be done and right now I’m just a one person business. There have been slow days (sometimes months) where I’ll question myself and wonder if I should just go back to a regular job but I have to remind myself that God has never failed me or my business. I also have to remind myself of how miserable and unhappy I was when I did work a regular job. I never want to feel like that again so the minute I have those thoughts, I push them out of my head again! I would still choose this any day over having to work a corporate or regular job. I’m extremely grateful and blessed that my customers continue to support me!

Sheena, 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?

I make handmade cosmetics products. I’ve always shown an interest in skincare products because I have very sensitive skin. I started working at a spa in 2008 and that’s what really made me dive into the world of skincare. I started mixing up my own products at home because I just loved the thought of being able to pamper myself! In 2015, I hosted a baby shower for a friend and made sugar scrubs as thank you gifts. Everyone fell in love with the scrubs and were asking if/how they could purchase them. It was truly the spark I needed to start my business because that meant that other people loved my products as much as I did so Spa Bliss was officially formed in September 2015. When I first started the business, I was only selling body butters and sugar scrubs. I eventually ventured into melt & pour soaps and candles but I remained pretty stagnant for years because I was still working an 8-5 job along with going to school to get my degree in HR. I was still making and experimenting with different products throughout this time such as hair oils, face masks, and soaps but I’d start selling them and eventually stop due to a lack of free time and money! In early 2020 right before Covid hit, I started heavily promoting my hair oil because I’d had some post-partum hair loss and my hair oil is what regrew my hair and edges. I made more in one month of sales off my hair oil alone than I had made at my real job and I knew then I had struck gold! I decided to start selling and heavily promoting some of the other products I was making (facial soaps, cleansers, toners, serums, and masks) and month after month I saw that my sales and customers were steadily increasing. My customers started seeing their skin getting clearer, hair getting longer and just enjoying the products overall! By this time, my regular job had us working from home and I also had a 2 year old that was home with me. The demand for my products started to interfere with my job because I’d have to work my regular job during the day and then stay up late at night making products. I also started to have some issues at work that solidified my decision to put myself and my family before the job so that’s when I decided to quit and just pursue entrepreneurship full time. I knew that I needed to put more time and energy into the business and I haven’t looked back since!

I now have an entire line of products for the face, hair and body. I offer cleansers, bar soaps, toners, serums, facial creams. masks, scrubs (face and body), body butters, candles, shampoo, conditioners, styling gels and creams, edge control and so much more. I’m literally a one stop shop for all of your skincare, body and haircare needs! My products are designed for the person who wants to experience self-care at home. Maybe you’re a working mom who rarely gets time for yourself or maybe you’re a person who is having issues with acne or dark spots … I have something for every skin type and my products can be used on both kids and adults. I even have bundles where you can get all of the products you need for a full skincare, haircare or bodycare regimen to be used at home. I want my customers to take care of their skin and hair, pamper themselves at home and feel like they’re having that luxury spa experience every time they use some of my products!

I am most proud of my growth and perseverance. I was stagnant for so long because I didn’t think that people would purchase my products. I was afraid to expand for fear of laughter and failure. When I finally decided to put myself out there more, that’s when I started to see the results! Customers from all over the US have purchased from me. Some of my most loyal customers reside in Georgia, Nevada, Texas, Ohio and Tennessee and I’ve never even met some of them! My customers love my products and they believe in me so much that it truly inspires me to keep going and continue creating amazing products for them. I think that one of the things that sets me apart from other businesses is the level of customer service I give to my customers. I personally respond to EVERYONE that inquires about my products or interacts with me in any way. I also have huge sales, giveaways and even give out free products and samples to my customers to make sure that they know how much they are appreciated! My amazing customers are the root of this business. I wouldn’t be in this position without them so I always want them to know just how much they are appreciated!

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

No, I did not have any prior manufacturing experience. When I first started the business, it was honestly just guess work as far as what and how much of each ingredient to use but I was also only making body butters and sugar scrubs at the time. My recipes were very simple and didn’t include things like preservatives or chemicals. Once I started to venture into hair and facial products, that’s when I decided to hire someone else to make sure that I was making products correctly. I’ve worked with labs, chemists and formulators to create the products that I make and a lot of my recipes are original and specific to just my business. I searched internet forums, social media, freelance websites and even YouTube to find the right people to formulate the products I wanted to make. Finding the right chemists and formulators was not always easy. Over the years I’ve invested thousands of dollars into contracts, ingredients, supplies and lab fees to come up with the right products but it has definitely paid off!

One of the lessons I’ve learned is to ALWAYS test your products first before putting them on the market. Don’t create (or have anyone else create) something without it being tested first. If that means you have to personally use everything yourself then do so! But it’s also helpful to have friends, colleagues and family members give you honest feedback about the products before you release them to the general public. It’s also helpful to know what ingredients you’d like to use in a product to help narrow down the type of manufacturer or formulator you work with.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

When I first started the business, I used Etsy to sell my products. There were a lot of features with Etsy that I wasn’t fond of so I then decided to move to a WordPress style website. It wasn’t very user friendly either for the amount and type of products I had so I then changed to a Shopify hosted website and this has been by far the best! It’s very easy to use. I can see and manage all of my products and orders from my phone, iPad, or laptop anywhere at any time.  I also had my products listed on Amazon handmade for a while but it was just easier for me being a one person business to have just one source for all orders. I may eventually expand again into listing on Etsy and/or Amazon handmade but for right now, I like the convenience of managing everything on my one website through Shopify.

Contact Info:

• • Website: www.spablisscosmetics.com
  • Instagram: @SpaBlissBySheena
  • Facebook: @SpaBlissBySheena

  • Other: TikTok @SpaBlissCosmetics
• • Email: [email protected]
• • Pinterest: @SpaBlissBySheena

Suggest a Story: CanvasRebel is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.