Yasmin Border launched her own indie bath and body brand, The Soak Life, four years ago.
The beauty entrepreneur started her career working on the counter at Estée Lauder at the age of 18 and has spent that last 12 years working in digital marketing within the beauty industry working for brands such as Nude by Nature and Nutrimetics.
Yasmin is now a cosmetic formulator and multiple business owner.
Yasmin shared her top 5 tips you need to create an indie brand exclusively with esprit below.
1. Have a vision and brand statement – this will help you narrow down what sets your brand and product stand out from what is already on the market.
2. Have an innovative or unique product – even if it’s just an ingredient or smell. The Soak Life’s Salty Coconut Bath Soaks were different to the bath soaks already on the market as their scents were tropical-inspired. Most others on the market used traditional scents such as rose or lavender.
3. Professional branding – you want your brand to look professional and for consumers to trust your products.
4. Price your products correctly – even if you aren’t planning to wholesale in the beginning, make sure you have enough room in your pricing to wholesale in the future and still have a healthy profit margin.
5. Start with a MVP (minimum viable product) that you can test your market with – there is no point going out and creating 10 different SKUs if they won’t sell in your chosen market. Start small with one product and see how it sells and the feedback that you get. I started off with one bath soak in three scents as my first product and expanded the line from there, once I knew that consumers loved my product.
Check out the fulll interview with Yasmin Border in the latest issue of esprit magazine.