Episode 58: Fun, Bold, Vegan and Cruelty-Free: How I Scream Nails Successfully Moved from a Service Business to Build An Online Product-Based Business
Listen to today’s interview as Fiona talks to Celia Cecchi, founder and director of I Scream Nails - an Australian made vegan, cruelty free, high quality nail polish about how her interest in nail art led to starting a successful product-based business that expanded quickly to the US.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Catching Up
Coming up with I Scream Nails
Growing the business
The testing process
Obstacles in manufacturing locally
On having the final say
Celia's upbringing
On starting as a pop up
Managing people
Owning the business with your partner
On doubting self in managing the business
Social media coverage for the brand
Connecting with the audience through social media
Process of onboarding
Mantras during hard times
Changing anything for the business
Tech tool recommendations
Most proud moment in running the business
Connecting with Celia
Conclusion
Connecting with I Scream Nails
US Store: www.iscreamnails.com
Au Store: www.iscreamnails.com.au
Email: info@iscreamnails.com.au
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iscreamnails/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iscreamnails
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iscreamnails
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7cjpyNjPsla_DtKcRSW80w
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/iscreamnails/
Tumblr: https://iscreamnails.tumblr.com/
Episode transcript:
Hello and welcome to Episode 58 of My Daily Business Podcast. Oh, my goodness, if you are listening to this in real time, then Happy Christmas Eve. Whether you celebrate Christmas, whether you don't, whether you celebrate Christmas, whether you've just celebrated Hanukkah, happy Hanukkah, whether you celebrate nothing, whether you celebrate everything, if you're just like "We are getting to the end of 2020 and I'm going to celebrate that.", well, you are all welcome and I am super excited today because not only is it Christmas Eve when you're listening to this, but I have just wrapped up an interview that I'm presenting to you today, and it is with such an incredible, inspiring, down-to-earth, just awesome, awesome woman who I was lucky enough to meet seven years ago.
Now, if this is the first time that you're listening to the My Daily Business Coach podcast, welcome, welcome, welcome. You have chosen a good one. They're all good, but you've chosen a good one to listen to today, because the woman I'm interviewing is super inspiring and just fantastic. But if it is your first time listening, make sure you hit subscribe, because I not only conduct interviews with small business owners, I also do longer coaching episodes. That's what I am, a business coach where I dive into an element of business in detail. And I also do a quick tip episode every single week. That is five minutes or so. And it's something that you can action immediately in your business. So, yes, welcome!
And if you've been listening for a long time, then thank you for sticking around. And I can't wait to hear what you think of this. I know a lot of you have sent me a DM on Instagram. Thank you. I'm always loving to hear what you've learnt, what you find inspiring. And I know that today's episode will do both of those things.
Today's interview is with the incredible small business owner, Celia Cecchi of I Scream Nails. Now, I Scream Nails is a business that was started by Celia back in 2012. And today, her partner, her husband Ben, also works in the business. But back in 2012, Celia was working in administration roles and sort of executive assistant roles. And she moved into this because she was just really interested in doing nails and in nail art. And that was kind of popping up a bit, especially where I was at the time. I was in the UK in 2012, and there was just really cool, kind of edgy nail places coming out. And I think Celia was so inspired by that that she just couldn't see that, though, in Melbourne where she was. So she started it herself. And she then went on to not only create nail salons, but two amazing events for some huge names as you know, she gets into in this podcast interview.
But eventually she turned it into a product business. And that's what it mainly is today. It's I Scream Nails, which sells the most incredible cruelty free vegan nail polishes, as well as nail reps, nail art tools and nail accessories. Now, one thing that I Scream Nails is known for is its super cool bottles that look like an upside down ice cream as in ice cream nails. And what I love particularly about these bottles is that I remember way back in 2014 having a conversation with Celia. We went out, got pizza, and she was like, yeah, I've got this idea. And I kind of want to do these ice creams. And I was like, Really? This is crazy. And it's going to be so different. And it is it's different. But what I really love is that she took that concept and was like, nobody's done that before and turned it into a product that people are loving, not just here in Australia where the brand was born, but also into the US, which is a massive market for I Scream Nails.
I think she was mentioning about half of the sales are now in the US. So that is huge for an Australian brand, particularly for, you know, little old Melbourne. So I'm just really inspired by everything that Celia has been able to build with her business, the fact that her partner works in it. And if you've ever seen I Scream Nails, you will know that they're packaging their branding. Every single thing is very considered. And it is also cohesive to just make you feel good when you use it and see it. It's just bright, bold. It's fun. It's colourful. Her husband, Ben, is the creative director and his graphics and his way of designing is just awesome and out there. And yeah, it just makes you smile. And if you haven't checked them out, definitely go and follow them on Instagram. It's @iscreamnails.
And of course, we'll link to that in the show notes. But in today's interview, we talk about how she went from having an interest in nail art to actually creating a business and a product-based business. We also talk about the idea of expanding quickly. At one stage, I Scream Nails had salons in both Sydney and Melbourne. They were doing a huge amount of events. You had a lot of staff working for her and she was working on this product business. And what I love about Celia was that she realised, you know, I don't want all of that necessarily. I want to focus on doing one thing and doing it really well. And that is exactly what she's doing now with I Scream Nails.
What I love most about Celia is she's just so down to earth. She says it like it is, and she's been able to figure things out. I love her attitude. Her attitude was not just, oh, I've got an idea for a product. It was an idea and it's kind of out there, but we're going to make it happen and we're just going to find places and she was really keen to make sure that she got the nail polish made locally in Australia, and that's exactly what she's done. She was also keen to make sure that it was vegan and cruelty free. And again, she's able to do those things and create a really great quality product. So whether you like me and you really like having your nails done and getting really fun, bold colours, or you're just really interested in hearing how somebody built a successful product based business, then you're just going to love the chat with Celia Cecchi today. It is just really inspiring, insightful. And like I said in the start, she is just so down to earth.
I actually met Celia at an event. She had a nail pop up. It was about 2013. I just come home from living in London and I was just like, this woman is cool. I just love her vibe. I love her style. I love how just real and normal and awesome she is. And I know that you'll get all of that from today's chat. So don't be shy if after listening to this you're like, oh my God, I need to reach out to Celia, then hit her up on Instagram again. It's just @iscreamnails on Instagram. So, yeah, I hope you love today's chat. Here it is. My interview with Celia Cecchi of I Scream Nails.
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Welcome, Celia, to the podcast. I'm super excited to be talking to you today. I'm excited to talk to you, too. I know I am. I am just I'm pumped because I really I was just saying to you before we started recording, I'm super inspired by your story. And I just think it's so fascinating to me when people have an idea and then they follow it through and it does really well. And I just think, yeah, how to get going, because I know that you'll inspire so many people that are listening to this. Thanks for having me. So I welcome. How are you feeling. So we recording this at the end of 2020 and it's been a crazy idea. And as someone who runs a small business you will know that. So how, how are you feeling about the last 12 months?
Well, yeah, like as you said, end of the year we kind of just did Black Friday and that kind of went crazy. So yeah, now I'm looking forward to it. Right, too. Like for us, we didn't really slow down at all over the covered period. Like I was saying to you before, things kind of ramped up for us. So it's been pretty intense. So now we're just kind of looking forward to a break.
Yeah, I feel like that for a lot of small business owners. I mean, obviously, on one hand, it's amazing because you're like, well done. We got through this. We survived, we did well. But it's also like, oh, my gosh, I really need a break as well. Yeah. Really challenging year for so many people. So you said well done fiercly. I'm getting through that. Thank you. Run a business called I Scream Nails, and I am really fascinated to hear how this is growing. And people would have heard me in the intro just now talk about how incredible I think you are and how we met and everything like that. How do you describe the business and can you talk about how you came up with the name or how you came up with the concept of these super bottles?
It didn't start at all as a product business. It started as a pop up. I was working in corporate know. I'd been working pretty much since I was 18 full time. And I was in my thirties at the time. And I had a hobby which was doing my nails and loved it. And then I got really started taking off kind of all over the world. And so I guess I saw an opportunity there and I just went for it, which was so out of character for me because I had a secure, full time job all my life. So, yeah. So just kind of started practising, really honing in on my skills. And I wasn't wasn't ever that great at it kind of just started practising and trying to get good at it and then decided to do a pop up shop, put a call out for other people that might be doing it themselves. Seriously, I put an ad in Gumtree, I think. Oh, yeah, because social media, as in Instagram, wasn't that big at the time that we launched it. So yes, I was in Zimpher. I had a lot of followers or anything. So yeah, just kind of did that and then found a bunch of girls that love doing a lot too. We practised on each other and then launched a pop up shop that was in NZ in Melbourne. And yeah, we kind of just got traction from that as in four events. So just doing pop up for events and it got covered by broadsheet I think at the time, time out, Melbourne, things like that. And then yeah, it just kind of took off from there and went crazy, so crazy.
And actually that's how we met because you were doing an event that I was invited to and I just remember being like, who is this woman? She is awesome. And I was done and I'd just come back from living in London. And you were talking about your business. I just thought, oh, this is fantastic. And then we kept in touch, I guess from there. We did. Yeah, but you definitely did do a good job because I remember exactly. I got red nails with white dots and I put them on Instagram with that like bad kind of like Kodak full time around, like twenty, thirty good times, good times, good times. But yeah I'm like I said before, I'm really excited about talking to you today because I remember when we went out for dinner, we just had Pizza and Collingwood one night and you talked about that you were doing the nail up, but you wanted to grow the business. And part of that was to come up with these nail polish. And you were like, they're going to look like an ice cream, ice cream. And it was just so cool and fresh now. And that was probably six, seven years ago. Yeah, long time ago. Yeah. So can you really like how you went from having this smaill pop up and advertising on Gumtree and having some people come and do people's nails at pop ups and events to having a full blown product business? Like how did that happen?
Yeah, it's pretty intense. Well, the pop up did really well and the events did really well also. And then from there, we opened our own salon, we opened a salon in Collingwood, and then a year later in in Sydney. So I kind of I guess it was kind of like the next step. Like we were going through so much nail polish, I thought surely. Is another way to do this, and I kind of thought about the ice cream bottle and yeah, we kind of we just took a risk on that and we only did a few just a few shots.
I think our first thought was like six shades.
Ben, who's my partner, and the other owner of I Scream Nails, he know he's an artist and he had never had any experience in designing, packaging or whatever, but he just gave it a go and just designed packaging. And it kind of just grew from there. Like along the way, we had people kind of come in and out of our business that pointed us in a direction. I might have been like a contact for somebody that produces packaging or something like that. So people put us in touch with other people on the way. But yeah, we kind of just it feels like in those early days, we just kind of fumbled our way through it. For me, it was like just a necessity to get a nail polish done. And it was obvious. It was just like the next step for me.
I mean, I guess we already had the salons and we were doing events and then we added the product. So, yeah, it was kind of like the next step in.
Did you have any kind of like manufacturing experience or did you idea. No. No. So how did you test, like, nail polish and big someone? Obviously, you're really into it and you're working with it. Yeah, I've always done my nails. That's been my thing. Like, I don't really wear much makeup. I don't do my hair particularly, and it nails on my thing like everything else is OK. And so I can tell you, like this nail polish is sometimes more expensive and I put them on and a crap. And so how did you go through your testing process?
Because our nail polish is amazing.
Yeah. Yes. Well it's produced in Australia. It's manufactured in Australia.
So that was really important to us. And there aren't that many people that manufacture here. So the company that we connected with, we connected with another company first and it just didn't feel right then.
Minimum's were too high and you couldn't choose your own colours and things like that. And like, you know, when you think it's not going to work for us or whatever. And then we go on to another manufacturer that we really connected with that had lower minimums that we like. You can do any colour, you can colour match from a piece of clothing if you want, like he can do whatever you want. So when we get the nail polish, we started to test that. We started to test it in the salons. We had so many people working with us. So it wasn't hard for us to test if it was good quality, if it didn't check, if it didn't stain denials and things like that. So that part of it was easy.
Was there any kind of major obstacle? I mean, it's amazing that you get it made locally. I think that's fantastic. I do hear from some of my product clients that they're like, oh, yeah, got the sample from China and then got finance and delivered and they don't match the sample. Yeah, don't get me wrong, the Polish is made here, but the bottom line. Yeah. Did you have any kind of obstacles or anything that if someone's listening to this and they lack a manufacturing and product, whether it's local or offshore, was there anything that you like, “Oh, man, I wish I'd done that differently.”
I guess just not rushing things ever as much as you want to rush things or you want to believe that something is going to be all right and something is niggling at you in the back of your mind now, you might be like, oh, that brush, does that look right or what? And you just kind of push it to the back of your mind, really going to be so thorough and take samples and test everything.
You just got to test everything in every way you can as far as actual product goes. Yeah, that's the advice I would give.
And when you were coming up with those first six colours, were you the final sign off? Were you like, “These are the colours.”
Yeah. So we did some research in our salons where we had a lot of a bunch of colours and we asked all our customers, which are your favourite colours? And that that's pretty much what we did. We loved the top six colours that everybody chose and we went with those. But the process has changed so much since then. But initially it was the most popular colours because you knew so and I guess you had a market.
Well, yeah. And obviously we will knew it and we wouldn't have had the confidence to just pick any colours. So I wanted to make sure myself and then wanted to make sure that that what colours that people liked. Yeah. Yeah.
And that they'd sell you wouldn't be left with all this stuff. Yeah exactly. So like I just find it and even the way you're talking about it now, like I know there's been so much hard work behind the scenes, but you also seem very relaxed talking about it like, well, I kind of feel like that's like in the past, you know, when you work so hard on something and it's it's hard and challenging.
But then when you can look back on it and that's like that's like six years ago, maybe that's not even me today. And the things I'm worried about then like you wouldn't worry about now I guess.
And so what was your upbringing like when you said before you'd had a while when you were 18, you started working and you just worked in a corporate job with your parents, small business owners, or were they like, oh, yeah, you know, you should go and do your own thing. You're super creative. And like, how did your upbringing influence what you do?
So my parents, they bought a shop when I was five.
They bought a sandwich board and we moved into the sandwich board. And then when I moved out, that was still working in the sandwich, but I still had the sandwich bar. So my parents have only been retired like five years or something. And I'm in my 40s. So, yeah. So they were super hard working people. I had four kids. It was it was busy for them.
They were. It was stressful. They had to shop during the recession. In the eighties. In the late eighties. So yeah, it was like hot for them. It was never easy. They were yeah.
Like I said, they worked super hard and we all got jobs as soon as we could, 14 and nine months. And I was working. It takes a half.
I was at Kohl's at forty. Yes, yeah.
Yeah exactly. I remember really clearly as well as like as soon as you could, you went for an interview and you got a job and like you worked six shifts a week, like after school. So I was never great at school, but I guess it was probably because I was busy doing all the things like working my part time job and helping my parents in the shop and stuff like that. School holidays was, yeah, you would help in the shop every day, actually, in the mornings we'd get up early and we all had our jobs to do and at night we all had our jobs to do. So yeah. So I grew up with my parents being small business owners.
Yeah. And do you think I mean hats off to them having four kids. My family, we had four kids as well and I sometimes ahead and my mother ever do anything I know and make dinner every night and she is just and so hats off to your parents. They obviously raised a good good for children, including yourself. But you think that that kind of work ethic has helped you in the business now that sort of like get it?
Of course. Yeah. One hundred percent. Yeah. And then always and all the jobs that I had leading up to my screen nails and now a receptionist jobs and a receptionist jobs and then jobs. But I know I always went above and beyond what I was expected to do. Yeah. I always worked hard. That's just how we were brought up.
Yep. And so one of the places that like I mentioned before, we actually met when you were working hard at an event that I attended. And how important, like you mentioned, the pop up and you mentioned how the pop up originally got some media attention in places like Broadsheet, which for anyone listening from outside of Australia, is a very popular Australian online publication. But how important do you think those sort of pop up of. Were for the nail business because you have the sell on.
No, I think I think we had the pop ups for about a year and then we started with the selling.
But we always did events because eventually we made our money at that time. I always wondered why people weren't doing them. I mean, I guess I know now why they weren't because because it's really hard work and a lot of managing people and schedules and things like that. Yeah, it was it was the reason, I guess, why we then became a popular salon. I mean, the first pop ups we did led to a job at Myer Melbourne in the Myer windows.
So yeah. So it was the job there for I think we were in the windows for two weeks and that was a massive job and we'd never done anything like that. So that was a paid job. Say before that our events would just come to this birthday party and it's X amount of hit. Whereas when we did Myer, it took it to a different level because I was like, OK, I'll just need to figure out how much we're going to charge them an hour per nail artist. And so then we started making money that way. And then the exposure of the Myer windows was huge.
Yeah. Just to yeah. Led to gross massive.
Will you the person dealing with clients like Myer like. Yes. And how do you go with that. I guess coming from like the pay better known how to deal with people and that's.
Yeah, yeah. I found it quite natural. I found it natural. You know, people are just people and people are just and a lot of things are done via email anyway really. I mean, you have to have a chat with somebody and then. Yeah. So I mean I guess I always kept it professional and yeah, I was confident in our pricing and what we were going to be doing. So yeah, I would deal with them in a lot of the times and early days I would work the events as well. Mm hmm. Yeah. But then I stopped doing that as, as it grew because we'd have multiple events on at different places and they got pretty wild.
How is that like managing people because and managing people to be the kind of first part of your brand?
Yeah, that was really hard. I think that's probably been the biggest challenge of all the different aspects of the business. The people managing was hot because I've never managed anybody before. I was just used to not managing people. So I found that really challenging because everybody's so different. And also my way is quite, you know, I guess one time. Yeah. So I kind of had to change that a bit over time.
Yeah. Because it's your own business as well. And I feel like sometimes I can come across quite directly for what I was. And I think it's sometimes though it's just like I just want to get this done so we just get it done without like a lot of fluff, without the emotion.
But it's just not like that or something like that. Unfortunately, when you're dealing with a lot of people and younger people and but, you know, like, it taught me a lot about managing people and also myself and things like that. But obviously, it was also really amazing as well. Like, I got to meet some really cool people that worked for us and really talented artists and. Yeah, amazing. Yeah. So that was good, too.
And one of the people that works with you and not necessarily for you. Your partner, Ben. What has that been like. And was he like you mentioned before, that when you came up with the ice cream bottle idea, like he was the artist and he was doing stuff, and how did he come into the business?
So obviously it was my idea to start it, to start the business. And then Ben was he did illustration and he's always been an artist, but he was actually a house painting at the time when well, actually, when I met him and then he was a house painter just working for a mate and not that happy with his job and stuff and wanting to get out here. I mean, like, he's amazing. He's like he's illustrated for the Rolling Stone. Like he's he's such a cool artist is amazing. So I like when I started it, he he was there from day one, obviously supporting me, encouraging me. But also like he designed the logo. He did all the pop up flyers for all our pop up shops. And so really like he was there from day one as well. It was my idea. But yeah, he did all the graphics immediately. So and then he joined full time after about a year, a year that I was doing it full time because I mean, obviously I had a full time job when I started. It and then I went to part time and then I quit, so that took a bit of time and then and then he came on board full time after about a year. And that was that was kind of weird at the start.
A lot of people it's so funny, overcovered everybody home with their partners and that. And I was like, oh, we went through that 10 years ago.
Let's go and look at what has that will be like in terms of I guess if someone's listening to this and I think as well, 2020 has made a lot of people evaluate where they work. And some people I know definitely like, you know what? We're going to try and work harder to bring my partner into the business. What advice would you have for somebody who has a business and they bring the party to it or perhaps is thinking of starting a business with a partner?
Yeah, I think the first thing is like have a clear idea what they're going to be doing and what their role is. That's number one.
And also actually number one as well, one point five, you better get along with each other. You're going to have a really good foundation. Ben and I were just on the same wavelength. There's nothing that we're totally you know, we have totally complete different opinions about. I'm not saying we're the same person or whatever, but, yeah, we've always had a lot in common. And I guess we had a good foundation. We always got along really well. Yeah. So that was already there. That being said, like, of course, there's been challenges along the way. We sit next to each other all day, every day and have don't know how many years now or something. Yeah. It's not as challenging as it was in the beginning because we've adjusted to working together.
And so you and Ben, like if people follow you on Instagram, like I love when I've seen you guys, you always like bright and bold and colourful and like really cool t shirts and just awesome. Oh my God. That's so funny because I always think I'm dead. Although I remember like I was I remember when I saw you once. Australia was Wellington, straight, straight. And I was like, oh, there she is. I can see from behind it is like but I love her. Just awesome that you are. And Ben seems like that as well. And that's a huge part of your business. Like it's bold. It's fun. It's colourful. It's quirky. It's interesting. Yeah. Without ever any moments when you kind of doubted yourself or your brand because you seem very similar to the brand, you know, like you find interesting. And so, like, sometimes people can get a bit like self doubting themselves or even saying, like, how my I to the brand. And how did you go through those kind of moments?
Yeah, of course. Like everybody doubted myself over the years and everyone's got their own insecurities. And the way the business might come across isn't always how you feel.
I guess I've never really doubted the brand, though. I always think, well, Ben did all the graphics and he's done all that from day one. And I think he's amazing at that. So I've never doubted that. I've always thought, oh, my God, it's so cool. And also, I know it's really good quality. Yeah. So I've never doubted the brand, I guess. But with any business like this competition out there, there's there's heaps of nail polish brands. So I guess it's always good to come back and think, you know, why are we special? What are we going to do that's different? Or, you know, and because we have a Touba, we support each other through those through those times where the doubt might only last five minutes. Sometimes different things trigger you to make you feel. Bad about yourself for, you know, is what I'm doing working? Is it worth it, especially at the times where the business hasn't been financially amazing and you work so hard and you think, what's it all for? Yeah. And then you get yourself a bit, but you just regroup and you just stick to your plan or you make a new plan and you stick to your strategy and you just keep working at it.
That's what we've always done. And it's we're still here building and not just here.
You're doing really well. So, you know, Pat, on the back for yourself. Thank you. Yeah. And I think sometimes, like with those moments of death, it's interesting because as a business coach, I see so many people and outwardly from people like, oh, my God, their business is killing it. And and it's really interesting because I get to see the inside and every single person goes through that, like, no matter how I do on the outside.
Yeah. And you also know that about all the brands to you. So you always think you always know that it's not the full story or you're not going to put all over social media that you have stressed out to the max or whatever.
Yeah, totally. Yeah. And speaking of social media, so I know a while ago I remember like ages ago, it seemed like BuzzFeed covered I Scream Nails. And it was really at the time was huge. Yes. When we had our salon. And so that was like and it was when BuzzFeed was nowhere near kind of as well known as it is today. And it was still like it was like, oh my God, it's on BuzzFeed. Wow. And people went crazy. Yes. And it was international buzz. So, yeah, it was the. And so how did that impact you? And I know that you do sell out of the US as like mean you deliver a ship out of the US as well. How important do you think media and social media coverage has been for your brand?
Well, amazing, like something like that, BuzzFeed, I remember when it happened and it was early on Instagram and Farman when it happened, like we just got thousands and thousands of followers back when that used to happen now is amazing, especially like I guess it probably kickstarted, you know, the international following, which at all leads eight years later. It makes a difference because somebody could have started following us before we even had polic from their social media. Like Instagram has been huge for us. Yeah, it's been the main reason we've been able to now have an international business. I guess it's amazing. Amazing. And even though now it's changed, you still get files from Instagram's huge and obviously you then implement other things like to build on that. We don't just put all our eggs in one basket and just focus on Instagram. We also like have a big mailing list and we are really consistent there. And yeah, so but I guess it's all started from social media, especially our brand. Definitely, yeah.
And do you think and you guys do a great job on social media as well, like you're always putting up just interesting stuff or your leading people back to a place you own, like your shop, your online store or other stuff like that, like you said. Do you have any tips for somebody listening who's like I mean, obviously the days of Instagram when somebody talks about you and suddenly you're inundated the next day with diminishing in some respect, unless it's like the Kardashians or something. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any tips for people who are like, OK, how can I grow this engagement or how can I just even connect with my audience through a platform like social media?
Yeah, like, I guess, and we've experienced high engagement and low engagement, but I guess we just keep going and we never just stop posting for two weeks because we aren't in lives or interaction. I guess it's not just about that sometimes. Like, you know how it is, like you'll be going through Instagram and you'll say something and you won't like it or interact, but then you get on and it. I find that when we look at all this data from our website like this, so many people still coming from Instagram and things like that. So yeah, I would just say just be consistent and just keep going. Just keep telling your story and posting what you're trying to sell or whatever it is that you do. I guess that's that's what I've done. That's what I find works.
Yep. And I think it's so important that you brought up the data because I think that can be something that people just don't look at.
Yeah. And I'm talking about my website as well. So, yeah, not like the Instagram data that can sometimes telling you that your engagement has dropped or whatever the actual conversions on your site.
And I think that's so important because people don't and it's so simple to find even if you just have Google Analytics like to find out the source traffic and then find social. And often people will be like, oh, you know, you should be on when I started my business, a lot of people think you should be more on Facebook. And I was looking at data and I was like, you have a Facebook convit. They don't do anything. And this is just for me. Other people have varied and years ago as well. Now I'm getting more traction. But even just like Pinterest, I was like, oh my God, Pinterest is incredible for my business. I need to be. Yeah, that more. So I think it's so important that you bring up data because, you know, people can have tens of thousands of followers and then they're actually getting zero sales from that channel.
So, yes, that's so true. And you see people with hundreds of thousands of followers just go out of business. Yeah, yeah, completely. I mean, it's obviously nice to have that engagement and growth, but you've got to have all the things you've got to have those other things. And that's why Ben and I have always really focussed on our mailing list and things like that, because we know those people want to buy our product or see what we're doing or in those email addresses like you own them.
I mean, to an extent. But you unsubscribe. I mean, I always say to people like, you just don't know. Social media could be switched off tomorrow. And if you feel, oh, my God, I not only just built on that, then what have you got? Yes, exactly. So it's so important now you touched on before like staff as well. They're huge asset for business and people. But when you had staff and you've gone through obviously been going for ages, what have been kind of ways that you worked to find the right people to work in your business, like obviously coming from corporate, did you have any kind of like induction process or onboarding?
Yeah, we did. We did have an induction process early on. But I think the thing that I did early on was really hard to find nail arts , because not a lot of people were doing it.
So if you had an interest in nail arts, I would have just hired you was the worst back then. And then we used to train people as best we could.
So obviously we don't have that type of staff now anymore. So that's not a problem. And the people that work in our business now, besides being I like professionals, like somebody that helps us with our product development. I'm not talking about colours of polishes. I'm talking about we want to develop something new or whatever, or our bookkeeper or our website person. We also have somebody that one of the girls that used to work for us to create content for us. Sometimes that's pretty much it. So the people that work with us are people that have pretty much been with us for years and they're professionals in their industry. That's probably what if now we had to hire people, I'd probably make sure I was really careful with who I hired and yeah. Yeah, that's probably the main thing.
It's a we were talking before we hit record about. Yeah, people can just be such a lock when they're fantastic, fantastic. And then when they're not as well as I've gone through that in my own business as well.
So obviously we talked about Covid and 2020 and but prior to that you've had years and years in this business and there has been peaks and troughs and times when it's good and times when it's bad. Do you have any kind of mantras or quotes or things that you'll go to for stress relief or getting through the challenging times?
I was actually trying to think of that and I don't really like I, I guess like I try to be without sounding like I'm so positive because I'm not. But I just try to look at the positive side of things and be realistic when I when your head gets away from you about business or whatever. But yeah, I get stress relief like I do spin. Oh yeah. Yeah. So that's really cool. And that's really how. Me, I also spend a lot of time with friends that I've grown up with, like we don't necessarily talk about business or anything and we'll just hang out and chat or. Yeah. So that's probably on my weekends. Like, I just I guess I just do things that make me happy, you know, whether that be popping over to a friend's place for a cup of tea or hanging out with somebody else or on an R rating or doing being class. I guess I try to do those things that make me happy in my everyday life so that when the stressful times do come, then they're not so stressful.
Yeah, because you've already got these kind of, like, methods in place to stay or feeling like I'm well rested instead of like doing one thousand things on the weekend like I've always done. And I guess, you know, that's kind of what I took out of it as well. Like, I did learn to slow down a bit and to not take on so much because none of us had a choice for ages. But yeah. So I think that, like, just being generally happy, happier can help with stress everyday, stress total. And don't get me wrong, if I get really tired and grumpy during the day, I'll go out to the warehouse and have a ten minute nap. I'm not even joking. And I set my alarm and I'm like, right, feel better.
Yes, yes. I hear I have. My husband a few years ago bought me like a hammock and it's out the front of our house. And for years I was using it really well and then I just sort of stopped using it. And lately I guess six months I've gone out for ten minutes and I'm like, this is incredible. Like this. Yeah. Oh, good. Just being in the hammock for a few minutes. Super help you. So if you were starting again, obviously you started a long time ago, what's one thing you would do differently if you could? Or perhaps there's nothing you do differently?
No, I mean, I would I would maybe just be more thoughtful about what we're doing, like have more of a plan instead of, like, taking on five thousand things. And all of a sudden your business is this huge kind of monster. And we ended up getting rid of our salons and getting rid of our events and just focussing on the product. Obviously, we needs all those things to get to to being able to sell online. But yeah, maybe just take, you know, have more of a plan or take our time and making decisions, whether that being who we're hiring or opening another salon in Sydney when we're still kind of getting Melbourne. Right.
So you're not rushing things, I guess I feel like we may have got a bit caught up in the in that early excitement and growth of the business that we kind of grew very quickly and then didn't last. It was just became too stressful.
So I think just in general that, like, slowdown can be such a good tool in life as well.
Yeah, yeah. And and also there's a lot to be said for doing one thing really well, instead of doing five million things, just try to do that one thing really well. Yes.
And staying intentionally small, I think it's really, you know, not necessarily intentionally small as such, but like you said, just focusing on on one thing I remember someone at the start of my business was like, you should just train. Like you just train like ten people to do what you do and empire. And I don't want to. And it's not that easy. So it was that easy. Yes. Because then you've got to manage your whole life becomes about people instead of what you actually. Yes. And I mean, yes. I mean all the time. Oh my gosh. So you like admin and you mentioned that you guys focus on the shop. What tech tools or platforms or apps are the things that you just could not live without when it comes? And I think I'm sorry, you know, I'm not sure, you know, what we use, what we use.
So every time we do a launch, like we might have, like a product launch, not every time we do a lot of collaboration's stuff. So I literally use Excel. Oh, yes, yes. To do like timelines and things like that. I've also got a word calendar, which I've talked up myself with that with a table. It's January, February, March. So we use that, we use stuff like that, which we use every day. We've got a a massive whiteboard. We write down all the things we've got to do and what's coming up. And then I both pretty visual. So they're the main tools that we use to organise ourselves. And like with our website, we communicate by Trello. So that's amazing. That's pretty much it. We keep it pretty simple.
Yeah, but you would you would be surprised. Like, I think that I don't think that's dagget. Well, I actually think having a calendar, even just that simple thing, like I've gone into huge companies to do consulting and I'm like, OK, so let's have a look at calendar. And they'll be like, we don't have a calendar, we don't have a plan as such. It could be like it could be things that have changed. But just that at a glance like calendar like a. Just putting 12 boxes on a page, if it's in wood or if it's just from pen and paper or doing a whiteboard, like, I just think that is just such a good kind of bird's eye view to coming up.
I mean, we launched so much product during the year and everything is planned out, like really planned out to the date. And everything has to come together.
Like if you've run out of bottles, will you hold them? And I hope you ordered your packaging and you know, I like so you have to have all those things written down to tell you, remind you, you know, now's the time to do this. So you've got to shoot this now colour and you've got to get it touched up, but you've got to do this. And that is so many things to do. And with that of plan is that we have plus all the ATMs that we do. So that goes into the calendar as well. And Ben and I will have a chat in the morning, most days to say, what are we doing today? And that's it, really?
Yeah, but I think like especially your background as well, coming from as well, you would have been imagining quite an organised person with that stuff.
I think so, yeah. I think that is where that comes from. I'm definitely organised. I do think that things because right now we're already working on all the stuff January, you know, we're getting that done so we can have a break because otherwise what used to be worse when we come back from holidays and go, oh, shit, we don't have a product to launch, we need to drive sales.
Yes. No, I think I'm all about having a plan, even just a rough plan just to something. And so what is I guess you have, baby, the business coming up to a decade, but what are you most proud of from running an I Scream Nails?
Well, I mean, it's taken me so long to actually think about what I'm proud of because I was always like, I'm not doing good enough in the last few years, like Ben and I have gotten better at, like, saying we've done well, we've done well, you know, like we've had a couple of times where we thought we weren't going to make it, wish that we weren't going to make it. But we did. And we did a really great collaboration a couple of years ago with Trixie Matalan and think she was on Drag Race. Oh, yeah. And yeah. So that was like a really big thing for us, an international somebody that was internationally known that really helped us grow our business in the US, setting up that US pack that we've got there, the warehouse. That's also something we're really proud of and you know, setting up a whole website for the US and working logistics out and everything, that's something we're really proud of. And actually, it's worth it having it. You know, that was the other thing, like building the sales, building everything there, but also not forgetting that our roots are here in Australia. And this is trying to kind of focus on both. But yeah. So we're really proud of that. Definitely proud of the growth there and the amazing people we've been able to work with over the last two years.
I think there's so many things for you to be proud of. I think you're probably quite harsh on yourself as a small business. Is that when they lack. Well, it kind of drives me and motivates me to do more. Yes. Yes. And so what's next for you and where can people connect with you if they're listening to this? Oh, my God, I need to get in touch with her, email me and say that I'm very approachable. Yes, you are. You're very happy and approachable.
I mean, you could be anybody can Instagram me through @iscreamnails. I've run the Instagram. Yeah. Ran me through the email me celia@iscreamnails.com I mean next year is going to be insane. We've got like lots of new products launching and we're in the planning phase now actually like halfway through the planning phase we've already done up to like April. I probably could have done more but that's enough for now. We need a break. Yeah, just continue to grow slowly but steadily.
Yeah, fantastic. We'll we'll make sure we link to all of that in the show notes and the website is iscreamnails.com or iscreamnails.com.au. Well it's such a delight to talk to you. And thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I listen to you often. I feel like underplay what you've been able to do and it's incredible.
Thanks for joining a second.
You're welcome. We'll take care. Thanks. Bye. Thanks. Bye.
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How good is Celia Cecchi and her story and the whole ice cream nails brand, I just think it's super cool and I love that she had this idea and she just went for it. And I love that she talked, you know, about her work ethic and about growing up and all the sorts of influences that she's had. I love that she's working with her partner, Ben, and that his graphics are all part of it. And I really liked in particular when she said I never doubted the brand. I might have doubted myself, but I never doubted the brand. And I think that sort of passion, that confidence is so inspiring and it makes you want to support brands like that. So I'd love to know what stood out for you.
So please feel free to get in touch with me at @mydailybusinesscoach on Instagram. Or you can email us hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com.
But yeah, two big things stood out for me from that chat. Firstly, that she just went for it. She just kept sort of going. I had an idea, I figured it out and she didn't let the kind of Oh, I've never done this before Afia kind of get in the way. She was like, yep, we're going to figure it out. We're going to figure out how to do this. And I also like that she talked about already having the audience before she brought the product in. She already had the sell on. She was doing events. She'd built up a bit of an audience. She'd built up a name. People trusted her. And then that wasn't only great for, you know, she's going to market straight to sell to, but she was able to test things and she was able to ask for their feedback and validate ideas before going into production. So I think that is awesome.
The other thing that I really loved is when I asked about what you might do differently and Celia talked about not going, I need to do all the things straight away that she would have taken more time to do certain things in the business. And I think today, when everything just moved so fast, I mean, you can have an idea. You can well, when everything opens up again, you can go to a trade show or you can just find somebody online to produce it for you. And you can get things, you know, from idea to a finished product so quickly that sometimes people can race ahead and think more and more, more, more, more and more and bigger equals better. And it's not always the case.
And I think what Celia was talking about was that if she had her time again, perhaps she wouldn't have rushed forward with certain things. She would have taken the time and not felt like she had to do it all at once. And I think that's really admirable to be able to talk about those things, because I don't think we see that enough. We don't see people saying slow it down enough in life or in business.
And right now, particularly with businesses, you just feel like sometimes this is more, more and more mentality. Get bigger, get bigger, expand, expand, expand. And sometimes that just doesn't suit particular businesses or it doesn't suit where the owners want to take that business.
So I loved that she talked about just slowing it down and, you know, focusing on what they want to do and what they want out of the business and then really narrowing down and making that happen. And so I absolutely loved chatting to Celia. I think she's super fab. I can't wait to catch up with her in real life.
If you want to check out Celia and her brand, visit I Scream Nails. You can do that by going to iscreamnails.com.au today or if you're in the US, iscreamnails.com. You can also check them out on Instagram. It's just at @iscreamnails. And one thing that Celia didn't mention is that these are completely cruelty free and vegan. I have to attest that I have used the nail polishes and they're awesome. So if you're listening to this in real time, which is Christmas Eve, definitely go and check them out. It might be a New Year's present for yourself. It could be just a gift idea that you want to say thank you for helping me survive. 2020 to somebody that you love, go and check them out. Such a cool brand, such a great team to support. And I hope that you enjoyed that. That was my last interview with the small business owner for 2020.
Of course, you can find all the show notes for this and all the links to Celia's brand over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/58 as this is episode 58. But yes, that was the last interview for 2020. Thank you so much for listening, for subscribing to this podcast. Of course we will be back next week. I'm not taking a break over Christmas. Technically, I am taking a break. But you know that is the podcast. We'll just keep rolling.
So thank you again for listening, for being part of my first year of podcasting. I've absolutely loved it. I love hearing from everybody out there. So don't be a stranger. If you are listening to this in real time, I hope that you have an incredible Christmas with your family if you celebrate Christmas or just an incredible friendmass or anything else that you're celebrating this time of year. But yes, I will see you next week for a tip episode and the last coaching episode of the year. So make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on those.
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
