I’ve been writing these Women in Business posts for a while now and I thought’ how awesome would it be if other women in business could share advice too?’. So, I reached out to some of my friends, some of the women I look up to and support. I’m so excited to share with you Anna’s advice today!
Anna is the co-founder of UpCircle Beauty, a natural, sustainable and vegan skin-care brand that’s showing the industry how skincare doesn’t have to come at a high price, neither for us or our planet.
Anna’s advice to all women in business out there is ‘no one knows your business as you do’.
“I am the co-founder of UpCircle Beauty. At UpCircle we make sustainable skincare products from ingredients which would otherwise be discarded. I’ve learnt a lot in the four years since starting the brand, and one of the biggest, ironically, was to not feel obliged to take onboard everyone’s advice. No one knows your business, your personality or your life like you do, so trust your instinct. There’s no harm in listening, but you don’t have to take everyone’s advice and run with it!
Of course, it is important to ask questions, to seek help and to always listen, as it’s valuable to hear alternative viewpoints. But there’s a real risk that if you then try to implement everything that you hear, you can end up being pulled in a million different directions at once. Often this can lead to your vision being watered down. I often say that I would rather have a bold and memorable brand that is loved but also at times disliked, than a middle-of-the-road brand that is liked, but that no one feels passionate about.
Our brand concept is ahead of trends for the beauty industry. Our business is centered on innovation, our tagline is “Pioneering skincare. Regenerative by design.” We are a disruptor brand – trying to tackle issues of waste in the beauty industry is no easy task! In the past we were convinced by investors that the industry wasn’t ready for our waste-fighting mission, so our branding was led by product performance rather than our unique “trash to treasure” story. After two years we underwent a dramatic rebrand where we reversed this decision. We put the circular economy ethos front and centre, going against advice, and UpCircle has catapulted forwards as a result.
This was a prime example that in this instance we knew best. It was the start of our brand journey, so we felt pressured to take on as many opinions as possible, but ultimately we were right and should’ve stuck to our guns. No one knows your business as you do... So never be afraid to thank someone for their insight, but then ultimately ignore it.”
Thanks Anna! x