Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in beauty and cosmetics but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Anastasia Bezrukova, founder, and CEO of Minori, located in San Francisco, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Minori is a minimalist, clean cosmetics brand based in San Francisco. We specialize in making easy-to-use makeup meant for everyday wear that looks beautiful on all skin tones. Our customers like to take care of their skin and wear makeup that makes them glow and look natural. They are also conscious consumers interested in making small changes in their everyday lives which allows them to do better for the environment. Supporting small, independently owned brands and buying products more mindfully is a big part of their conscious lifestyle.

Tell us about yourself

Minori is the result of my personal and professional life colliding. I grew up as a first-generation immigrant in Canada who felt like success = owning a lot of clothes and material goods like all of my peers. I worked super hard as a teenager and young adult to spend most of my money chasing unrealistic lifestyle standards. Eventually, I decided to find a different approach to life and focus more on my internal well-being than on accumulating things.

I embraced the minimalist philosophy and trained with Marie Kondo to become a certified KonMari consultant. In my professional life, I was working in the beauty industry, first as a buyer for Canadian retailers Well.ca and Sears, where I scouted, launched, and helped grow many indies, mass, and prestige beauty and personal care brands. After that, I landed my dream job at IPSY, where I headed personalization for 3 Million monthly subscribers. I tested over 3000 beauty products and studied customer preference data to understand what customers love in regards to shades, formulas, branding, and price points. I also became an expert in skin tone color matching.

My time in the beauty industry convinced me that there is a need for a brand that strongly re-focused on essentials and prioritizes making products that are perfectly suited for women's everyday life. Instead of making a makeup product in 12 shades, I wanted to figure out how to make it in the four best, most user-friendly, most universally flattering shades. I wanted to create a brand that only makes the best essentials and does not chase ephemeral trends.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment is making a damn good product! We got into our dream clean beauty retailer, The Detox Market, from the get-go, and our cream blushed quickly because of their best-selling blush. Making good products, receiving amazing feedback from customers and makeup artists, and getting into a first major retailer is the foundation for everything else I will need to do as a business owner.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Figure out what to prioritize your efforts on when you are a solo founder is my biggest struggle. At any given moment, my to-do list has a dozen ''urgent'' items, but many of them won't actually move the needle in the grand scheme of things. The hardest thing is to step away from chasing the tiny wins that make you feel productive and instead prioritize doing the things that will make a real difference in your growth. For me, at the moment, it's focusing on fundraising and e-commerce optimization.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Speak to your future customers from day 1. Don't wait until you perfect your ideas before running them by strangers.
  2. Establish a healthy routine that will strengthen your mental health. Being a founder inevitably brings out a lot of insecurities, imposter syndrome, fear of failure (the list goes on!). Working out and meditating every day will help manage these inevitable struggles.
  3. Be the face of your company! People love to support other people, not 'brands' or 'companies.' Give your business the personal touch by showing up on your social media channels and building direct relationships with your customers and fans.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

We're running a product development survey if you want to help us develop the best next two shades of blush! https://ky8lyxotxh4.typeform.com/to/Zkydekjg Use discount code TESTER20 for a 20% off as a thank you for helping us!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.minoribeauty.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/minoribeauty/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasiabezrukova/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.