Living The Red Life - The Fairy Godmother of Skin: Jacine Greenwood

Episode Date: January 29, 2024

In this inspiring episode of "Living the Red Life," Rudy Mawer welcomes Jacine Greenwood, the ‘Fairy Godmother of Skin,’ all the way from Australia. Jacine shares her visionary journey in the skincare industry, her pursuit of global domination, and her personal battles with confidence and imposter syndrome.---Key Topics Covered:Vision for Global Domination: Jacine discusses her ambitious goals for her skincare brand and the importance of mastering digital strategies and paid advertising to achieve global presence.The Fairy Godmother of Skin: Introduction to Jacine Greenwood and her unique moniker, exploring her influence and impact in the skincare industry.Self-Taught to Industry Leader: Jacine's story of teaching herself cosmetic chemistry, eventually formalizing her education, and the challenges and successes along the way.Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: Jacine opens up about her struggles with imposter syndrome and how she overcame her doubts to enter and excel in prestigious industry awards.Power of Recognition and Awards: The strategic move of entering awards for recognition, third-party endorsement, and credibility, including her experience with the Australian Financial Review Fast 100.Inspirational Takeaways: Jacine’s journey serves as an inspiration for entrepreneurs, emphasizing the power of self-belief, perseverance, and strategic thinking in business.---Key Takeaways:Dreaming Big: Jacine's story is a testament to the power of having a global vision and the determination to realize it.Self-Education and Growth: The importance of continual learning and self-improvement in one's field.Battling Self-Doubt: Insights into overcoming imposter syndrome and building confidence.Recognition as a Growth Strategy: How industry recognition and awards can elevate a brand's status and credibility.---Join Rudy Mawer and Jacine Greenwood in this episode of "Living the Red Life" for an enlightening conversation about ambition, self-discovery, and making a global impact in the skincare industry.---Subscribe for more insightful episodes and join our community for ongoing discussions and updates!#LivingTheRedLife #FairyGodmotherOfSkin #RudyMawerPodcast #GlobalDomination #Entrepreneurship #SkincareIndustry #SelfDiscovery---Connect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

Even though we had scaled quite well, I'm not a small thinker. I'm a visionary. I want global domination. I want our product in 30 countries and I want to be one of the best in the industry. And so I knew that if I wanted to do that, I had to learn to master digital strategies and paid advertising, because if I didn't, I would never get there. My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. Guys, welcome back to another episode of Living the Red

Life. A very special guest. I've had a lot of amazing people on my podcast before, but I've never had a fairy godmother from Australia of all places. So we have the fairy godmother of skin joining us all the way from Australia. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. So when you're not being called the fairy godmother of skin, what's your name and what do you do? My name is Stacey Greenwood and I'm a cosmetic chemist. And what I do is I get people the skin of their dreams. Great. And when you go to the grocery store, do they call you by your name or the fairy godmother of skin? By my name.

Okay. So it's not that, it's not taken over just yet. No, not yet. Okay. Well, we'll see what's first, me being called the man in red or you the fairy godmother of skin. So look, I wanted to bring you on because you've been working with us for a long time and we've seen you grow. You know, you're close to that 10 million mark in annual revenue, but more than the

revenue side, you've dominated an industry, right? So it's just a matter of time now, not only to cross the 10 million mark, but probably the 100 million and those bigger goals. So can you just tell everyone listening a bit about the company and how disruptive it's become? Okay. So we started the company 10 years ago, literally from my kitchen table. And it was because I couldn't find anything on the market for my skin.

So I originally self-taught myself cosmetic chemistry. And then I decided maybe I should get the piece of paper. So we did that. And so I had been getting told for years that my products were ahead of their time. And originally when people were telling me, I lacked that confidence in myself. I really didn't think that I was that good with what I did. And it wasn't until about 2019 when my suppliers started seeing my before and after photos. And they were like, wow. And I could see that they were so visibly shocked.

And that's when I realized I had a gift. And I just thought everyone got these results. And they said, no, they didn't. And so my whole world really changed in 22 when I entered an award called the LA Awards and it's by cosmetics and toiletries which is the leading industry magazine and resource for chemistry and for all brands and it's literally known as the Oscars of cosmetic innovation and with major imposter syndrome I entered and not expecting to come anywhere I actually thought

you're never going to come anywhere in fact I left my entry till the very last day and put myself under so much pressure to put it in and so then we were told we were in the finals and I screamed the house down because I was like oh oh my God. And then to learn that we'd actually won was just like such a solidification of my skill and my ability as a chemist and for our brand, it just catapulted us. Yeah. Yeah. And I think what's funny about that is I teach a lot of people. There's generally in business life, a few hockey stick moments,

right? The steady growth. And then there's a few hockey stick moments. And it sounds, you know, after the years of you doing this, that was one of the hockey stick moments. And obviously, I've known you in those last couple of years. Yes. And then, you know, every time we speak, there's this new distribution channel or a new award you're winning or whatever, right? So talk about a little, you know, what you've done in the last couple of years and how you've grown the company and all the awards and the marketing strategies behind it. So we started entering, as soon as I became aware of it, I started entering awards because I realized the recognition and the third party endorsement and credibility it gives you.

And so the first award I went for was the Australian Financial Review FAST 100. And I found that from someone else who had actually entered it. And I realised when I did the math, because I worked backwards and worked out what the last person on the list actually got. And I went, that's what the minimum I need to hit was. So I actually strategically targeted it. And I knew we were going to come in it because our revenue was already where it needed to be. And it was four years of compounded growth to enter those awards. So it's not just one good year.

It's four good years. And then I looked for other ones that we could actually enter as well, allowing me to make claims such as the fastest growing beauty brand in Australia the fastest growing beauty brand in Asia Pacific and this year we entered the fast global which was for export and we came in at 43 on a list of 50 so that now allowed me allowed me to make the claim fastest growing beauty exporter from Australia so for me it's all about perception. Everyone knows this in business. It's not what reality is, it's what people perceive you as and that external validation for the awards and the growth and everything actually drew a lot of interest to us, not just from

prospective clinic owners and customers but also from the banks who then gave me increased funding because they wanted to be on the ride and they wanted to be part of our journey. Well, and that's what's crazy about like branding PR and the sort of things I teach too is people often look at just the ROI and it's like you can't always measure some things directly. And I spoke with Kevin Harrington on stage about this, right?

It's like that one thing with Celsius and that story could have led to tens or hundreds of millions. And that's the difference with most entrepreneurs. They can't see the big picture. They just see the hammer and nail, whereas the creative people can see all the ways to use it. And you're obviously great at that. And I know right after this, you're actually going to teach some of the cast on my TV show, some the startup econ brands how you're using awards and positioning your brand and and i think understanding how to leverage it like you did it's not just like oh i can do a facebook ad now it's like actually this could change my whole business because now i can get bigger credit lines and i can order more inventory

and i can expand in america or get into a grocery store right right, or whatever, a beauty store, and those could be the small, subtle differences in one decision that could actually change your life or your business life, right? Absolutely. Like one of the biggest things I found from entering the awards was all of the publicity and the backlinks that I got from it, especially like the major ones. So like prior to me entering these awards, there was some you know Google

search ability of me but now I've got under just under 50,000 searches that come from my name and my business has even more but I think it's also too like you know every business owner should be thinking of an exit strategy I mean if they're an entrepreneur that's what they should be doing and those third-party endorsements of winning the awards and all of the backlinks and everything gives so much credibility to your business in itself. And so it actually adds to the value of the business. And so for me, like now that I've started down the PR branding,

marketing, to me it's like it's a necessary thing. It's not just about the Facebook ads. It's also about having that brand. As you said, you can't really put a tangible value on it but it's priceless yeah yeah yeah and I see the same with me right like it might be a business award I've won but for me it could be like hey I wasn't going to go to this event but I ended up taking the speaking gig and they didn't pay me much but in the green room I met Les then, you know, we went on and changed the world or made millions and millions of dollars.

And it is literally sometimes like, hey, I wasn't going to go, but something inside me said, oh, let's just go. Who cares? You know, no matter what, let's go and let's figure it out. And that's actually the reason I was telling some of the members last night why I moved to Miami. I learned that if I can just take a car or an Uber

to an event versus a flight, I'm going to go to way more events. I can just get a car, take a car or an Uber to an event versus a flight, I'm going to go to way more events. And it's just a numbers game for me, like the networking side, because I'm kind of past the business side where I have to sit and write the next funnel, right? Like once you build to 100 staff like me, it's all about who you know, and then the rooms and you're obviously getting to a point of that too, right? Where you're here in American network, and you're going to see manufacturers and logistic companies. And you're starting to do that CEO-like stuff versus in the business. But let's move to in the business because I know you are still in the business.

What are some of the marketing tactics and strategies you've used to grow to millions of dollars so quickly? So one has been positioning myself as an expert. So when I first started, I actually started my own Facebook group and I invited people from my industry into it. And I, from there, educated and that's how I got well known. And that's how I actually broke the American market, which I know for some Australian companies, they're still trying to do that. They're like, how did you break it? And I've said I said it just happened and then because I presented my knowledge they're like you should come over and teach and I'm like really and I'm like I had never taught in my life so I booked a room had 40 people in there they told me afterwards it was the best training they'd ever had and then

I confessed I'd actually never done it before and they went you are natural so I'm like fantastic so it just sort of grew from there and for most of our business we didn't actually do advertising and whilst word of mouth is great there's no predictability to it and even though we had scaled quite well, I'm not a small thinker. I'm a visionary. I want global domination. I want our product in 30 countries. And I want to be one of the best in the industry. And so I knew that if I wanted to do that, I had to learn to master digital strategies and paid advertising.

Because if I didn't, I would never get there yeah great and that's another thing I mean a lot of entrepreneurs they see something and they just go I'm not good at it yeah and then it's like and I always say it's like you can't say you're like just not good at it and just say I'm not going to do it right it's kind of like saying hey I need to go to the gym but I don't like the gym this is like you know eventually it's going to catch up with you where you know if you don't have a driving license and you need to drive to the gym, but I don't like the gym. Because it's like, you know, eventually it's going to catch up with you where, you know, if you don't have a driving license and you need to drive to work, you're going to have to figure out how to learn to drive, right?

Like, and in business, not knowing marketing and just saying, I don't know marketing and I'm just going to always hire it. It's like, you need to know enough to be dangerous, you know? Like, that's what I always say. Maybe you're not going to be the CMO setting up the ads and, you know, that's not your area of genius, but you need to know, how do I hire the right people? HowMO setting up the ads and, you know, that's not your area of genius. But you need to know how do I hire the right people? How do I make sure the strategy, you know, and even when you look at Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, they're all great creative marketers in some capacity. Right. And they have influence in how the brand is positioned and marketed. So, yeah, that's, I mean, one thing I love because, you know, you're an expert in the industry, but then you're now building the skills and actually in the ad manager when you need to

be and figuring this out. And, you know, I get on with you and you're on a Zoom call with your team and then you're like a month later, I just took it back over, right? You're not afraid to just dive in and get it done. And that's what it takes in entrepreneurship is like, sometimes, you know, you want to delegate, you want to build the systems and empower the team. But then when it's not going where it needs to go, you have to dive in and get it done. Yep. So let's talk about failures. We've talked a lot about, you know, different marketing strategies, awards, wins, hyper growth. But I always love on this show to talk also about, you know, no path to success is easy. And there's a lot of missteps along the way and failures. So I would love to success is easy and there's a lot of missteps along the way and failures so I would love to and I know

you're you've got a lot of inventory right now so let's maybe start there um so the failures or the biggest learning lesson for me probably for 23 was I I blindly and it's a good and bad trait really because I'm a huge risk taker, but I, I geared up for a TV presentation that never happened. And so I ended up buying 1.3 million worth of inventory. And this is just finished like raw materials. This is not finished good. So it's raw materials and it's like five or ten million of inventory correct correct and so I um it was a huge learning curve for me it had me

scrambling trying to work out how I was going to pay for this and as hard as it was at the same time I would probably never do it again. But it also taught me how resourceful I am and how my risk tolerance is way more than I thought it was. And my ability to think strategically and creatively. And I think that's the ultimate secret for an entrepreneur. It's never a lack of resources. It's a lack of creativity in how you can actually do it. They're not resourceful enough. So, yeah, my first business actually was at 12 and I propositioned my geography and history teacher to iron their clothes because I could not afford ballet lessons and my parents were both priests and they had no money.

So it's always about creativity with anything that you want to do. So, yeah, that was a huge learning lesson. We've still got quite a bit of stock. But again, like we're strategizing how we can now move that, propositioning it for like Mother's Day with other additional products and things. So, yeah, very big learning curve. There's a couple of things that are funny and not so funny. But, you know, last year for me, we had nearly a whole month of revenue

froze by the bank or the merchant and the bank. So it's kind of similar to you in a different way, right? Like, hey, we got all this money coming in this month. Oh, no, we don't. And yeah, that causes many months of disruption and kind of wiped our year out in many ways. And we had lots of progression in other ways. But, you know, after that, you just you kind of get elevated to a new level because it's kind of like some, you know, my HR director or CEO walking.

You've got a big problem. And then they tell it me. And it's like so small now because when you have these, you know, we also had an IRS audit in the same year. And we had one of our managers of a company steal money from me. So I had a few things compound. And then it's like and it's, you know, going through these situations are tough, but like you said, you come out on top if you keep going, right? Like, cause you realize how creative you are, but also you get like one level of like a thicker skin I feel on you. Right. So, you know, the next 10 years now, you know, if something, if you, if you have 50 grand

or a hundred grand of inventory delayed or whatever, it's like, well, I remember this time that I had $5 million of extra inventory. So this is nothing compared to that, you know? So I do love that. And I think one of the funny thing is a lot of marketers, one of the most successful strategies that a lot of e-commerce brands run is overstock. We had a whole truck of delivers, you know,

items we never ordered and it was ordered by accident. And most of the time they're lying, but at least you can do that for real now yes definitely definitely so the product in question actually is ironically in the finals for cosmetic innovation so i don't have any doubt we're actually going to sell out of it yeah yeah well and kevin talked about yesterday kevin harrington from shark tank that one of his first partnerships that messed up, the person ordered like half a million dollars of stock that wasn't an item that even sold. So at least you got an item, your top seller or one of, right? That's a great thing. So any other words of wisdom as we come to the end of today, entrepreneurs, e-commerce brand owners

that want to build it like you and become one of the top brands in a whole industry right of a whole continent what would you say to them um first you have to believe in yourself because if nobody else does if you don't believe in yourself no one else will but you truly have to know a little bit about copywriting a little bit about marketing even if you don't personally do it, you need to understand enough to know whether you're hiring a dud or not. But I also believe, like this is just my view, that marketing is salesmanship in print. Sure, 100%. And so to me, I think if you don't like selling, then why would you go into business? Like to me me it's putting people out of pain so I think for me

if they were questioning personally you are the only coach honestly that has ever given us the support that we needed from a marketing perspective and whilst mindset's crucial sometimes you need the strategies and tactics and to me that's the thing that just pushes you that little bit more on course to going in the right direction yeah it's definitely you know i've learned over the years both right like you can't have one without the other but you and you do need both and we see a lot of people with great tactics but they just they don't have the right mindset so they'll never win right yeah and then you see the other side of the spectrum where they have like the exact right mindset but they have no team

no systems they don't know how to implement and they can't write funnels, copies of ads and they don't win either. So definitely the powerful combination. And just to follow up from that question, last question, you know, you get to work pretty closely with me, one-on-one with me and the team. What are some of the biggest things you've learned working with us over the couple of years? I think for me, honestly, the biggest take home I've had was on Facebook ads because we had previously not done them and we'd grown our brand through word of mouth.

There was that fear factor. And even though I thought I'd overcome all of my mental mindset objections, actually coming and realizing, crap, you're really not doing this well, Jason. Like I would put up an ad and then if it wasn't making money within three days, I'd pull it down. And so having now that knowledge of what to expect when you're putting up ads and how much you need to be spending, like our current ads are doing 11 times return on ads, but I'm pretty stoked with that. And we just keep getting better and better at doing what we're doing so when i first started i wasn't getting that yeah but as i've practiced and refined it's just got even more

great and and last question then so uh to wrap up today um if people want to find the fairy godmother of skin i know they go to australia but where else can they go online? Probably the best one is Instagram so Rococo Botanicals is our company name and it's R-O-C-C-O-C-O. Great I appreciate you coming on and traveling all this way and I hope you had an amazing weekend and it's been amazing to watch your growth and hopefully everyone got some value from all your lessons too. Wonderful thanks so much. Until next time guys keep living the red life.