My Intro into the Beauty Business - Chapter 20

In 2006 I was 29 years old, and had lived what most would count as a lifetime.  Religion, Murder Trial, Retail, Restaurants, Car Sales, Radio, Night Clubs, Festivals, Marketing, and on… and on… and on…

Hannah Murray & Associates was doing very well.  I had several different clients and was getting referrals from all over.  I was able to contract who and what I wanted, and had a schedule that fit around my, then, four year old daughter.  As long as I was willing to hustle and do a good job – the work kept coming.

I was also going to school full time and getting good grades.  I felt like I was on the right track!

Then one day I heard about a Doctor who lived locally and had created a product for his wife who lost her lashes to Chemo.  I thought this was very interesting because I had a different client near Los Angeles, where I saw tons of these weird Lash Extension Salons all over the place.  They were opening everywhere!

I tend to be nosy so I walked into one of these one time and asked what it was.  I watched as this lady took these super long tweezers and placed ONE LASH AT A TIME on this woman.  It looked so scary!  She explained it takes about two hours and $250.  And you had to get them “filled” every couple of weeks!

What the heck?

You have to understand – I am not a girl who wears a lot of makeup.  It literally takes me 30 minutes to get ready in the morning.  So spending this kind of money was foreign to me.  But even more crazy to me was the TIME!  Who has this kind of time???

So when I heard about this lash serum that this Doctor had invented I was intrigued.  I had never done ANYTHING in the beauty business before.  I never even thought of it being a category of business.  But what I did know was that lashes were gonna be a THING. And I was all about getting into the next THING.

So I was able to get the Doctors number.  I called him up and told him what I did.  I told him that I would love to meet up with him and see if there is a way that I could help him develop this product.  He agreed and asked me to meet him that Sunday morning at a local coffee shop.

When I got there his business partner was there as well.  Both were very nice guys, easy to talk to, and let me ask my million questions.

They explained the formula to me, the wife had come up with the name, and now they were working on figuring out a logo, box, bottle, etc.  They had this young girl, who interestingly enough I knew, who had been helping them on the side, and wanted to sell it locally.  Apparently she had some ideas for the brand herself, and was supposed to present it to them later that week.

I asked if I could “throw my hat in the ring” and present my own proposal.  They agreed.

So I went home and made my usual proposal for them that included a business plan, marketing plan, list of items that needed to get done to even start the business, a listing of locations that I would love to target to sell to, etc.

I included graphs, market research, budgets. I had it printed and bound, and headed to the meeting.

I met them at the same coffee shop and pulled out my proposal.  They both looked at it and then looked at me.

Was something wrong?

The Doctor Smiled.

The Partner picked it up as if to weigh it and laughed.  The other girl came with a double sided sheet of paper.

Oh.  Well, let me show you my ideas. ( I still have the original proposal I gave them)

We talked for about two hours.  At the end I gave them my fee schedule.  They asked to meet with me one more time a few days later, where they agreed to my entire proposal.

In my proposal I talked of how my pay would go up once we reached a Million Dollars in sales after the first year.  They were probably amused and enjoyed my optimism more than anything...

For the next few months I worked with the Partner on the box, logos, inserts, marketing materials, website, etc.  My original proposal was for a 6 month project for a set budget.  We finished under budget, and in only four.

So one day, the Partner decided to take the website live.  He had made his fortune in the online tech world, and was a genius at SEO search terms, google ads, etc.

The phone started ringing.  And ringing.  And ringing.  It rang at all hours of the night and day.  So I forwarded the phone number to a pager with a voicemail.  Then answered the calls all at once.  Except that it just kept ringing.  I had no idea what was going on!

Apparently this lash thing was a THING!  Things were happening so fast that I just started packing.  Every day I sat down, answered every single phone message, every single email, then started packing orders.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I had never packed boxes or made shipping labels.

So, I took dozens of these lash products to a local Mail Stop and asked them to help me – which they did, thank god!  I had all the names and addresses scribbled down on scratch pieces of paper!

Every day this is how it went. The Partner had other businesses, the Doctor had two thriving practices, so I took care of everything.  In fact, while I was going back and forth in the beginning, I realized that he had an ALL LATINA staff in his Ophthalmology Office.  I told him that I knew a great way to bring in more clients - Spanish Radio ads.  He had agreed to it and I started running radio ads, through my marketing Company, for him.  He was busier than he had ever been in the history of his practice.  No wonder he wouldn't answer his phone when I called!

One day I realized that we had no business license.  I tried to tell them but again, no answer, so I went and got one!  Then another time we ran out of product.  The Doctor sent me over to talk to this guy who would give me product, then I would drive it to the other guy to mix it.  Then I would pick it up from that guy and take it to the “filler.”  Then I would pick that up, take it back and put it in boxes. And then ship out some more at my little mail stop!

Everything was moving so fast, and it was so hard to get a hold of the Partners, so I just kept going!  Oh wait – and did I mention that I was doing this all out of my living room of my little tiny apartment!  Yes, my four year old was making forts out of USPS priority mail boxes!

It got so crazy that I finally convinced them to get an office at an executive office building across the street from the post office.

When they got the office I called the local temp agency, which I knew from my Chamber of Commerce events, and asked them to send me some help.  I let her know that this was probably just a fad and I would probably only have work for a week or so.  No problem – she sent over Rachel.

I thought having Rachel would let me catch up and figure out how to do things better.  NOPE!  All of the people buying the product were telling their friends, their salons, their spas, and they were all calling me!

So now, the phone number kept ringing to the pager.  I would sometimes be on my cell phone.  Rachel would be on her cell phone, and I purchased another cell phone – and they would all just keep ringing!

I just kept taking all of the money that we were receiving for the product, making new product, mailing out the product, pay Rachel, pay myself, pay rent…. Keep going.

Rachel had a friend who could come and help on her days off.  That turned into another full time position.  Then I hired two more. Now there were five of us.  We were three months in, selling thousands of products a week.

The post office got sick of us tying up the line so they gave us one of those giant linen push carts to take across the street with us to the office.  Every day, twice a day we filled it up with orders  and wheeled it back across the street at the designated time they wanted us to come over.

One day the Partner came over and found (NOW) five of us, all on our own cell phones, talking to customers, and building giant piles of boxes of product.

What is going on?

I have been trying to call you for weeks!  THIS IS GOING ON!  You guys need to get me help, furniture, phones, PENS.  I’m just writing checks and paying bills with the money I am collecting!

He got on the phone and called the Doctor.  You gotta get over here. You can’t believe what is happening!

It all started in October.  And in about eight weeks we had sold over three thousand units and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Doctor finally walked in and looked around.  Very uncomfortable to see so much going on at once.  He did not say a word.  He just walked around the large room we were in, watching us.  He had no idea he had five employees.  He had no idea we were selling all of this.  He was very much a DOCTOR.  Quiet, methodical.  This was just sheer chaos, and he was not sure what to make of it.

He quietly walked over to a large stack of USPS boxes and read the labels.

What is this?

Those are for our Australian clients.

What Australian clients?

Oh – we are VERY popular in Australia!

Um…. I do not know if we are allowed to sell in Australia.

Oh.  Should I not send it?

Uh… no…. do not send it.

Who knew???  I had never heard of Cosmetic Laws, regulations, testing…  I had no idea what I was doing!  I just kept selling and shipping!

He quietly left, with Partner right behind him.  So….we just kept going.

I did not hear anything for a while after that.  Except for the Doctors wife, who the product was made for.  She thought that it was all exciting and decided to invite the five of us over for a Christmas party!

The other four talked very excitedly about who they were going to bring to the party.

Hannah – don’t you have a date for the party?

Nah.

You don’t want to bring a date?

Nah.  Then I would just have to make sure that they are having a good time.  I am much happier just going by myself. 

That is when I realized – I was GOOD!  I had been so busy for so long that I had not had time to think about it!  It was almost three years since I got out of that horrible relationship.  And a little less than that since I had run away from Derek and “retired” from the life.

I realized that I was actually very happy with the life I had built for my daughter and me.  I had actually started hanging around quite a bit with a couple of ladies – much older than me  - and much wilder!  We would drive an hour and a half north every other weekend, when Mia would be with her Fathers family, and gamble at a Resort Casino.

In fact, we played so much and so often that we had our own Casino host, Monty.  We would get there Friday night, stay at this ridiculous two bedroom suite with two fireplaces and a huge balcony overlooking the mountains.

We had a set table at the Posh restaurant, free EVERYTHING!  But most of all – we had Monty.

I was living the LIFE!  Why would I want to mess that all up?

And that is when it happened. I had been invited to a friend's Movie Premiere and knew Derek would be there.  At first it was nothing – but as the movie premier got closer I started remembering what a good guy he was.  I was looking forward to seeing him.

Then one week before the movie premiere – which was actually just a week after the Holiday Party, I got REALLY nervous about seeing him!

I called Dada and told him he had to go with me.

I went shopping and bought new clothes, purse, makeup, got my hair done…I was SO NERVOUS TO SEE HIM!!!

The night of the premiere Dada and I walked up to the red carpet and Derek was the first person I saw.  He saw me walking up and smiled.  He started walking towards me and I realized he had a date. A DATE!!!!

We talked for a few minutes, I met his date, and he walked away.

DADA!!!!  He has a girl with him!!!!! Why does he have a girl with him???

Hey idiot – So...DO ...YOU!  HELLO!  I’m standing right here!

Leave it to Dada to put things in perspective for me.

I was devastated.  I couldn’t figure out if he was mad at me and just being nice…?  Ugh. I remember now why I am not in a relationship.  It is too stressful!

But I had no time to worry about that now.  I was still selling hundreds of products a day, I was right in the middle of my finals at school, and it was Christmas.  I had to stop worrying about Derek and get my shit together.

But then on Christmas Eve this master plan of mine blew up in my face…