Kayshaun Brooks
Today my interviewee is Kayshaun Brooks from California. A founder and CEO of a luxury skincare brand “Renew You Body Butters”.
Learn how she turned her bad experience with eczema into a business and has built a luxury skincare brand that helps people not only with eczema but with other skin problems.
INTRODUCTION
PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF AND THE BUSINESS YOU STARTED?
Hi, my name is Kayshaun Brooks and I am the founder of “Renew You Body Butters” that specializes in organic skincare products for people with eczema, dry skin, and psoriasis.
I am a nurse by profession who had been working in the medical field for over 20 years and I have always had a passion for helping others.
I have my Bachelor’s in Management and I am Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt certified. I currently work part-time as a Contracts Manager for a non-profit organization and building my skincare brand business.
Due to certain health issues, I have been into the homeopathic lifestyle for many years. I learned to turn a negative experience into a positive one and that has led me to start my business.
THE JOURNEY SO FAR
PLEASE DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF LAUNCHING YOUR BUSINESS.
I started my business out of necessity. Both of my sons and I have had dry skin issues. One of my sons was born with eczema and it was very severe. I watched my baby boy tear his skin to pieces for years. I felt hopeless trying everything the doctors told me. I gave him all the steroids, medications and creams prescribed. I bought all the top of the line lotions and creams on the market. However, my son was still suffering and I knew I just needed to find something to help him.
That is when I started trying different kinds of butter, salts, and oils while watching how he responded to them. Then I started blending them and saw how the skin began to “renew”/repair itself and that is how a new journey began. This process went on for several years until I saw the best results for him, others and myself. As the years went by as I am making the products for myself and close family, friends, and co-workers I was constantly being encouraged to start a business. After a while, I was like why not and that is when Renew You Body Butters became official.
In the beginning, I tried to keep the cost as low as possible by learning and doing everything by myself. When I decided to have more of an online higher quality handmade product, I had to invest and re-brand my business. Cost is always going to be there but I try to keep it as low as possible by networking and collaborating.
WHAT DOES YOUR TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE AND HOW DO YOU STAY PRODUCTIVE?
My typical day involves family duties, reading, working with my coach, meditating, listening to music, engaging on social media and analyzing how I can improve in any aspect. As well, I constantly look and plan new vendor events, interviews, collaborations and marketing strategies that can help me grow my business and that are within my budget.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT AND YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE SINCE YOU STARTED YOUR BUSINESS?
Biggest Achievement:
My biggest achievement is co-designing and launching my website this year.
Biggest Challenge:
My biggest challenge is facing slow revenue seasons. It happens sometimes and I had to learn to stay patient and consistent during these times.
WHAT STRATEGY DID YOU USE TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS? AND HOW?
I used organic and paid strategies to grow my business. I started just by word of mouth and doing vendor events. After some life-changing events, I started using social media such as FB, IG, and Pinterest. Etsy was my online selling platform since it was free to use. I joined many FB groups and did a lot of networking and collaborating to get graphics and digital work done in order to use them on all these different platforms.
Now that I have launched my website and re-branded my business, I am now paying for more advertisements. Social media, swag bag events, product testing, doing online giveaways, product teasers with orders and free samples to take at vendor events have helped me to take my business to another level.
WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS?
I am proud to say that the startup phase is far behind me and I will continue to work on further growth of my business to be able to generate consistent income. One of my next steps is to do wholesale and private label my products.
Related: On Threading My Way To Success
RECOMMENDATIONS & FINAL THOUGHTS
PLEASE RECOMMEND ANY RESOURCES AND TOOLS THAT YOU USE TO RUN YOUR BUSINESS.
Tools I use and recommend for my business are the Wix, Etsy, FB, IG, Pinterest, and Royaltie.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE BUSINESS BOOKS, PODCASTS OR BLOGS?
Some of my favourite books are The Heart of a Leader, How Money Works, The Psychology of Winning, How to Communicate with Confidence and Put Your Dream to the Test.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER WOMEN WHO WANT TO START THEIR OWN BUSINESS?
Think about your goals and desires that you want to achieve in this life and start doing something to move closer towards them. Stop waiting and procrastinating.
If you are struggling with business challenges or feeling stuck hire a coach to help you expand your mindset on where you want your business to go and teach you the steps to get there.
Violeta Semenova
Founder
theBizLadies
Welcome to the Biz Ladies interview series!
If you’re new to these series, I interview women entrepreneurs on how they started their business, what was the idea behind it, how they got where they are, the struggles, the reality and more.
By sharing their stories, we want to inspire other women to get started.
If you are interested to share your own story on the Biz Ladies LET ME KNOW!