Running a small business is no easy job
Lately, Jan and I have been working with a lot of small businesses in Toronto to learn about their stories. Our most recent visit was with Jessye Grundlingh, the founder and owner of Make This Universe, a brand that offers DIY skincare kits based on your personal preference.
When we first met Jessye through Facebook, her energy was palpable. She was excited to discuss what we do, how she can help our project, and the next steps. We arrived at her studio in the Yonge and Eglinton area, pitched a couple of lights, and here’s our conversation.
Like many humble startups, Jessye is a one-person team that does ev.ver.ry.thing. From packaging design to website to marketing strategy, she’s at the helm. One striking thing about Jessye is that she’s refreshingly candid about the challenges, or like I say, she doesn’t shit sandwich bad news and the real struggles of owning a small business in Toronto.
Insights in running a small business
Here are a few of her insights that didn’t make it into the video, but I think you’ll love as much as I do:
Jiali: So, how did you get this started financially?
Jessye: Selling the shares of my previous business. So, this is a self-funded business, which created this really interesting dynamic, totally different from the previous business.
For my previous business, I was waitressing and I was in school so I was working after hours, and the side hustle turned full time when I felt like I had enough clients. Whereas for this business, I needed to start making immediately. All of my startup cash went into branding, inventory, and product development.
A great side effect of not having money is the DIY skincare workshops… so (this business) is currently funded through my workshops.
Jiali: How are the workshops different from your workshops?
Jessye: The DIY skincare kits have a fair amount of packaging because I have to get my ingredients to you somehow, and this is a part of e-commerce… The workshops are a way for us to offer those customers a great alternative to packaged DIY kits.
Again, with our kits I didn’t want to send all of our customers 12 individual packages of ingredients — it’s a lot of extra packaging — so the DIY items are slightly less flexible in terms of percentages at which the ingredients occur. In the workshop, you can literally tweak every single ingredient in your deodorant. You can customize down to the 0.01 g.
Jiali: When you’re starting out and money is tight, what’s the one thing you shouldn’t skimp on?
Jessye: So I’m biased and I am sure I shouldn’t put this on the Internet, because when I get investors they’ll probably disagree with me, but as a designer, I don’t think you can skimp on your branding.
I always knew from the minute I started this business that we were going to go big on the branding. As a designer, I know that when something is well designed, you’re just more likely to read that longer Instagram post or share it on your social media platform.
As a skincare brand and a start-up brand, you have to teach people new behaviour (which many people tell you not to do in business), so I think you have to package it beautifully, make it drool-worthy content. I wouldn’t skimp on branding. Maybe I’ll change my answer in a few years.
As a designer, I know that when something is well designed, you’re just more likely to read that longer Instagram post or share it on your social media platform… I wouldn’t skimp on branding.
Jiali Ou: What was one shocking expense that came up?
Jessye: It’s a lot of money, that Toronto rent. And as with my previous business, people power is such a huge expense. And I would say product development: shocking in a way that it was more accessible than I thought to hire a formulator! Meeting her actually shaped the direction of my business and brand.
Jiali Ou: At this stage, what is your biggest small win?
Jessye: Just making my first sale. With my previous business, we would spend weeks doing presentations and back-and-forth negotiations. Our projects were generally quite big and we had to spend time developing the relationship.
For this business, a consumer-facing business, I’m selling products to people through Instagram; they don’t know me, they don’t know my work, they’re not in this to support me, they’re not my best friend or my family members. So when I got my first random sale on my Shopify store, that was a huge win. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment. It was a big win.
What was your biggest small win? Making my first sale… I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment.
Check out Make This Universe for workshops and DIY skincare kits. And if you have a story to share, give us a shout!
We hope you like our videos and posts, but if there’s any way we can improve on your experience — and if there’s something else you want to see — let us know and as Tim Gunn says, we’ll #MakeItWork.
