Is it daunting launching a new business at 63?
In an interview I’m not normally stuck for words but this week I was and although I spluttered out an appropriate answer in the end, I’m still thinking about it.
Last month after what felt like an eternity, I launched a beauty product called BALM 6 it had been rattling around in my head for some time after a bathroom cupboard cleaning session. I’d shocked myself over the amount of products Mark and I had accrued. My goodness, there seemed to be a different lotion and potion for every area of our body and hair, how could we possibly need so many pots and bottles and were they making a difference or just perpetuating the UK’s 40-billion-pound cosmetic industry largely built on fear and fix. Prior to this bathroom moment a few years previously I’d taken part in Channel 4’s Celebrity SAS, it was the experience of a lifetime but extremely arduous. For days I’d been in ditches, woken at 3AM to do press up’s, abseiled, tipped backwards out of a hovering helicopter into the cold Scottish sea, dressed and undresses on a freezing beach and performed all ablutions on mass – Sitting next to Boxer Tony Bellow while on the loo has to be a high point! – During all of this rufty tufty, Miss Vanity here had not been anywhere near a mirror, So, when I left it was with trepidation, I took a peek. What was I expecting to see looking back at me in the mirror? Some distorted version of myself bereft of serums, creams and makeup? Probably yes, but in truth my skin was glowing, and I can honestly say I (and please excuse me) I looked great, like I’d had the best sleep in the world after a week at Champneys. So was Dermatologist Dr Natalia Spierings right when she proclaimed to the media all the expensive creams we splash our cash on are a wase of time, our skin is largely a healthy organ that simply needs cleaning with an oil-based balm, moisturising and protecting with a sunscreen – I’d say she is! So I set about creating my version of the answer. BALM 6 is so named because it performs 6 different tasks.
It’s a brilliant cleanser, face mask, hair mask, nourishes your cuticles, lashes/brows and keeps your lips from cracking. Launched last month this pot of handmade magic made in Kent is flying out, we can’t make enough and with Body 3 now onboard for body, hands and face my clients are totally covered.
Why have 9 pots when you can have just 2 in your cupboard that do 9 things?
So, what was the question which flummoxed me when being interviewed by a magazine about this venture?
Is it daunting launching a new business at 63? Well my business partner (a tiny bit over 50) and I thought about many things before we hit the go button, but never age and I suggest neither do you. It really is just a number, and numbers are what you make of them!