Happy Christmas in July!
THE 5TH x Beauty's Got Soul x WeTeachMe collab to end all collabs
Halfway through the year already! And what better way to heat things up this winter than with our biggest competition yet?
Meet the collab to end all collabs. Win up to $1500 worth of fantastic prizes!
- A pair of handcrafted watches by THE 5TH
- $500 worth of personal care products by Beauty’s Got Soul
- Two (2) limited edition bottles of Belvedere Vodka (not available in stores)
- $500 in gift cards by WeTeachMe to take in a learning experience* for you and a friend
*Book any class or workshop listed on weteachme.com at any major city in Australia.
If this isn’t the best part of the season, we don’t know what is.
Feeling lucky yet? Join our competition, answer a few questions, and get a chance to win $1500 in prizes! Click here to sign up!
Want to learn more about this creative collaboration? We sat with Leonie Henzell, founder of one of our brand partners Beauty’s Got Soul, and loved getting to know all about what inspires this serial social entrepreneur. Prepare to be amazed!
What was the inspiration behind Beauty’s Got Soul?
The inspiration really came from allowing myself to take a break. After selling my business, I was not only thinking about what to do next; but more importantly what legacy was I going to leave in my life.
Travelling in Toronto, Canada, it was unseasonably cold for spring, and there was snow on the street. I was so upset by the number of homeless people sleeping on the street. Laying on the pavements in the snow; seemingly everywhere. Such a terribly disturbing visual reminder of how numb humans have become to others in need. That’s where it started. Let’s help get the homeless off the street and, at the very least; let’s help them get a safe night sleep.
How is Beauty’s Got Soul different from other beauty brands?
Does the world need another candle, bath and body product business? No, not really.
Does the world need more businesses to exist for a purpose with a social conscience?
I think so. This business is the vehicle for awareness and change. It is also committed to providing direct financial assistance to charity.
Why a “for profit for purpose” business?
A ‘for profit for purpose’ model is transparent and accountable. The business must be sustainable and be here for the future. It needs to be profitable and governed well to survive. It needs to be profitable to be able to help others. This is a long play.
Businesses giving to charity often promise donations as a percentage of profits. I feel that this method is neither transparent nor accountable. At Beauty’s Got Soul, we give a percentage of sales not profits. This is paid quarterly when we pay our BAS. We remit this percentage of sales donation directly to sleepbus. The more we sell, the more we give to sleepbus. We are directly supporting the charitable organisation; sleepbus with funds to help them provide safe sleeps for the homeless.
What made you choose homelessness as the primary cause to support?
I live a life with zero discomfort in comparison to the challenges faced by a homeless person every day and night. My home is warm, my bed is comfortable and I get to sleep without fear of having my worldly possessions stolen or being the subject of violence.
I am not trying to cure homelessness. It is a complex issue. I just want to help provide the basic necessity of a safe sleep for the 6,000 Australians sleeping rough every night. Each sleepbus sleeps 22 people. Each bus costs $100K to build. Australia needs 272 buses to provide safe sleeps for all Australians sleeping rough. If 9 businesses turning over $5M donated 5% of sales =$250k. That would be $2,250,000. Sounds easy. The more businesses, less turnover required. Completely doable. Why has no-one else thought of this?
Having founded a sustainable business, how do you strike a balance between making a profit and being socially responsible?
Aside from the sleepbus support, we are producing candles, bath and body products that are vegan, not tested on animals, cruelty free and our packaging is recyclable. The formulations are amazing and they need to be if we want people to come back and purchase from us again. Being socially responsible comes first. I believe that this is the baseline in the beauty industry now if you want to stand out and succeed.
Bockers & Pony was wildly successful. What top 3 lessons or insights from your years there came in especially handy at Beauty’s Got Soul?
#1 Establish a ‘fast and easy’ system. The best technology and automation that you can afford so you can concentrate on sales and marketing. I am trying to spend 70% of my time facing customers, audiences and engaging in marketing activities. I have learnt that the best results occur when you are truly concentrating on your business.
#2 Be nice to people. Always. Be grateful for the relationships and friendships that come out of doing business. I always try to give generously and expect nothing in return. You never know when and how this will come back. Sometimes it comes back in the most surprising and thoughtful ways. This goes for team members, suppliers, customers, friends and those in need.
#3 Explore, play and test your business strategy. I am bringing this mindset to beauty’s got soul – I am concentrating on strategies that will build a community and drive revenue first and then we will be able to add and expand on other longer play strategies as we progress.
What was it like making the switch from leading an established company like Bockers & Pony to being a startup founder all over again at Beauty’s Got Soul?
I do miss running my old business. I miss being ‘in the zone’ with my team and that sense of team pride of our accomplishments. Being grateful every day for their dedication and efforts.
There is a definite combination of emotions. There is a sense of loss, but also a countering, empowering feeling that I have my family, my health, a good attitude, resilience, focus and a strong belief that I can do it again.
I am starting again. Except this time, I have a much better idea of what I am doing!
There is also a sense of ‘expectant pride’ for me with beauty’s got soul. What if we can really start to make a change. What if we can help raise awareness for sleepbus and provide safe sleeps for the homeless in Australia? What if there were enough buses to provide safe sleeps for the 6000 homeless people sleeping rough in Australia? It wouldn’t take much for other businesses to join in and solve this problem. This is my new passion project!
Tell us about Soul Baby Gifts.
Soulbabygifts.com.au is set to re-define baby gifting in Australia. You can build your own baby gift with your choice of packaging, your choice of monogramming font and your choice of items that go into the gift. Personalisation and customisation are global trends and we want to capture and ignite this in the online baby gifting industry. Good-bye tired old baby hampers with questionable products that no-one loves.
We have also catered for busy people. Our curated baby gifts are gorgeous and ready to go. I have sourced baby products that are on the fringe. They are not super well known, but they meet stringent standards in terms of quality, crafts-person-ship, passionate storyline and are visually beautiful. You can also just buy these items for yourself. Everything online is sold individually. I can’t wait to see what our customers curate!
Creativity seems to be a common theme in your enterprises, so you’re obviously the “crafty” type. Have you always been a creative person?
I have always loved to bake cakes, beautifully gift wrap presents, draw, paint and colour-in. I can visualise what I want things to look like and can work toward a visual. I love to create products and love to design everything from brands to websites to product packaging and visual communication. I am minimalistic in nature and find a lot of pleasure from clean lines and simple design.
Jessica Wall was commissioned by Beauty’s Got Soul for a design project. How did you come across her work? What was it like working with her, from the drawing board to the final design execution?
One of my side hopes with beauty’s got soul, is that I can expose ‘rising star’ artists, pay them appropriately for their art and engage in a professional commissioning process.
I was basically searching for an artist on instagram. Searching with the term #melbourneartist. I found Jessica Wall’s and loved her work. I sent her a direct message, we had multiple calls and eventually we met in person.
It was a fine balance between allowing the artist to showcase her style and also getting a product that would be commercially attractive. I explained that I was seeking full rights for the art produced. I engaged an intellectual property lawyer to assist with the assignment of copyright. Whilst I was upfront and clear about the expectations, I also let Jessica seek her own advice and ensure that she was happy with the deal before proceeding. I was specific about the colour and style I was expecting. There were 2 iterations until we reached consensus on the final work. Jess was great to work with. I am looking forward to seeing her grow in her professional career.
What would you advise to aspiring women entrepreneurs looking to turn their passion into a business?
Just Do it. Do it as a side hustle first. Keep your job while you are setting up and for as long as you can manage. Work at night and on the weekends on your side hustle. Be prepared to inject the time and effort. Alot of hard work is required to get traction. Don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s not all that glamorous in the early years. Be prepared for that. It’s a long game. The people we admire as entrepreneurs have generally been at it a long time.
Flip side. I also think that a significant life event or major change can spark entrepreneurship. Have your baby and work on your side hustle on parental leave. Move to another country or interstate. My most intense periods of life change have bought about the best sessions of entrepreneurships and passion turned into commerce. In my case, e-commerce. Bockers & Pony was born from a move interstate with a 3 month old baby and Soul Baby Gifts and beauty’s got soul were born out of selling my business and a distinct need to re-create myself.
Finally, if you had an entire day to yourself and can learn absolutely anything in the world, what would you choose?
Each year, for the last 23 years, I have been holidaying with friends at Easter time in Texas, Australia. The country property is owned by friends and our four families have established a tradition of holidaying together at this time every year. I have played a few roles. Easter basket crafter-noon co-ordinator, easter egg hunt clue creator and my other job. COCKTAILS.
Now, unfortunately I am not very good at making cocktails. I have never really taken the time to ‘work shop’ cocktail creation. Over the years I have ruined French champagne by adding Italian almond liqueur. Attempted to make gastronomic spherical mojito balls and one year I thought crème de menthe really should be popular again.. I was wrong. It’s long overdue, but I would spend time learning how to make cocktails. Drinkable cocktails.