Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in beauty and cosmetics but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Lauren Bilon, founder of Plume Cosmetics (aka Plumescience), located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Plume is a creator of lash, brow, and hair products that deliver elite performance without any of the risks associated with conventional ingredients, many of which are viewed as toxic or unhealthy. To date, all of our formulas are made with 100% naturally derived ingredients and are powered by our patented growth actives.
Tell us about yourself
Despite being a clean beauty brand founder, I'd have to say I'm equally as concerned with "glam" as I am with "green." This is probably the biggest thing that motivates me to keep conceiving of new Plume products. As ingredients and formulating technologies evolve, I'm constantly working on finding the best and most effective ways to incorporate them into new offerings from Plume.
What got me started in all of this is that I lost the majority of my eyelashes post-partum, both times I had children. After suffering through the side effects caused by the hormone-based lash serums I was using to grow my lashes back, I eventually got fed up and set out to find a safer and more effective way for women to enhance and protect their lashes. Today, Plume has the only non-prescription lash growth patent in the world, and our products are sold around the globe.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Building a respected brand while still maintaining a great home life with my children and husband. I think a big part of how that happened is that my husband, Brett, was able to run the business and handle all of the operating, technical, and financial challenges we faced so I could focus on coming up with products. Throughout all of it, we teamed up as parents and literally took on everything, together that life threw our way while building this business. So maybe I should say being, and staying, married (happily) to my business partner is my biggest accomplishment!
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Everything is changing all the time. Being able to adapt and overcome the million things that can, and do, happen unexpectedly.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Make sure you love it enough that you're willing to do it for free, or even at a loss, for potentially a long time, and that you might not even be successful.
- Listen, talk to people who know the market or industry you're looking to do business in, and learn from their experiences (and mistakes).
- Be bold and daring; we live in a world where it's really hard to get anyone's attention for very long, so stand out in the way they'll remember!
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Plume is about to grow again. We have ten new products coming across multiple categories, including hair, and we're going to make a crowd equity offering soon, so if you'd like to own a part of Plume, stay tuned!
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.plumescience.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plumescience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plumescience/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/plumescience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/plume-cosmetics-inc-/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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