As you’ve already noticed, entrepreneurs frequently imagine an opportunity gap, or a gap between what is and what may be, as Roberta Perry and her late sister Michelle did with ScrubzBody.
ScrubzBody started when Roberta Perry’s own skin was dry, sensitive, and itchy. She was literally not at ease in her own skin. She realized she needed something more than a lotion and discovered that exfoliating treatments were her best choice.
Roberta believed it would be a good idea to do something new because her sister worked in retail. “She joined me and together we created an entire line of products around the original 8 oil blends and scrub I had finally mastered,” says Roberta.
The duo wanted to spread the message that self-care is unselfish, not selfish, so they created high-fuss skincare in a low-fuss product.
Wendy, Roberta’s childhood closest friend, took over when Michelle died and is now her Vice President of Production. Roberta considers herself extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to build something with her sister and later with one of her closest friends.
Below are details of the interview:
Share your background and what did you do before you started ScrubzBody® Skin Care Products?
My background is, on the one hand, diversified, yet on the other hand, all the pieces of those businesses melded together when I started ScrubzBody.
I graduated with a degree in graphic design, and so my first few full-time jobs were with companies that produced books, marketing material, corporate logos, brochures, and things like that.
Then I had my kids so I started freelance designing from home. I then, through a friend, fell into selling long distance telecommunications at a discount when the industry had shifted, so I became really adept at sales and customer service. I was willing to do anything to be able to work from home.
A few years later, I became the marketing director of a failed Dallas start-up, called The S’Cool. While it was not a successful business, I learned about website setup, trademarking, Google AdWords, and starting a business in general.
I also learned about getting free publicity from a former Fox reporter, Jeff Crilley, who wrote a book called Free Publicity and spoke at one of our lectures. Because I learned about relationship building with writers and reporters, using HARO and other sources, I have been picked up over 100 times. I even wrote my own book about using the service called, “The Power of Free Publicity: Using HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to Build Relationships and Get Free Press”
So, when I decided to make my hobby a business, I called on all the pieces I had learned: logo and corporate design, sales, customer service, and the backend stuff that created an online presence. That was in 2006, and we have been growing ever since.
What gets you up in the morning? What are your responsibilities as the founder of the company?
After so many years in business, much of our routine is just that: routine, but I love it. My typical day includes: answering HARO queries, answering emails or sending some as follow-ups for our private label business, getting orders processed, creating new content, greeting and serving customers, and designing anything that needs designing. Update the website, rewrite the copy to keep it fresh, pay the bills.
Wendy and her staff take care of the actual making of the product. It was something I did in the early years, but as we grew, I took on the administrative, marketing, and face of business tasks and my staff did the rest.
If we create a new product, however, I am the one who starts the process and the formulations. That and creating new scents still gives me the same feel good “rush” I had when I first started back in ’06.
What kind of diverse skin care product line does ScrubzBody® Skin Care Products offer?
Our line began with the sugar scrub, and if I were stranded on a desert island and could only bring one item, it would be the scrub.
However, knowing people wanted different and complimentary products, we crafted a line based on our original 8 botanical oil blend. With the scrub, we add sugar. To the lotion, we add Shea butter. And so on. We have soothing balms, body-loving lotions, lip scrubs, deep oil cleansers, specialty scrubs, fragrance oil roll-ons, and more.
Each product, while initially specialized, is multi-tasking enough to be used on every part of your body, head to toe.
We love knowing our products make people feel good about their skin, which helps them feel good about themselves.
What is the best way to build a great team?
I have been really fortunate in that I started ScrubzBody with my late sister, Michelle. Wendy was part of the initial team and stepped up when Michelle passed away. My core group has been together for 16+ years, learning and expanding the business. My production team includes high school students who often stay through their college graduation. New staff are trained months before someone leaves to maintain quality standards and practices. Here at Scrubz, we pride ourselves on being leaders in helping students find and develop a passion that they bring with them to the business world.
How do you maintain a balance between your professional & personal life?
When I first started, I worked 12-14 hours a day. I was working from home, creating the products, doing all the design and marketing and driving around town to either sell or demo the product we made. I worked 6 days a week and even on the 7th day I was still “on”.
I did not take many breaks. And then we got the store. Now some people would think that having a retail store would have taken me away more of the time, but the truth is, it gave me “open and shut” hours and I did (and still do) my best to stick to them. I also created realistic store hours, based on what the town needed, vs what “retail hours” were supposed to be. No 9-9 for me! We open 11-6 and close on Sundays.
It gave me the chance to have someone open for me, or close, or watch the store while I went away. I get to leave things on my desk and go home. It took a minute, but when I really began to draw the line between work and home, everything just relaxed and felt better. And my business grew with my working less hours.
Kindly describe how you will specifically know what success looks like for you.
For me, personal success is so much more than making money. When a customer tells me I inspired her to pamper herself more often, I can’t stop smiling. When others tell me I helped them solve a problem or that I helped them jumpstart their own business with our private label program, I smile more.
So, I realized that while business friends of mine are growing multi-million-dollar businesses and I am so proud of them, that is not what I wanted for my own version of success.
What advice would you give to the next generation of female entrepreneurs?
Go for it. Give it a shot. Fail. Try again. Fail again. Try some more. Make it happen.
What are your future plans to sustain your and the company’s success?
I want to keep doing what we are doing. My business philosophy is to love and nurture the business I already have rather than to seek new opportunities. My customer service is on point. I love my customers, and they know it. So, because of this, they bring me more business. And that is how I will grow and sustain our business at the same time.
