Happy Friday, folks!
We’re ending this week with a bit of Breaking into Business inspiration, courtesy of Curls CEO and Founder, Mahisha Dellinger.
In case you’re not familiar with Curls, it is one of the nations’s pioneering Curly Hair Products suppliers, populating shelves at Target, Walmart, Sally Beauty, Rite Aid, CVS, and more. Curls distinguishes itself from its competitors because of its clean and organic ingredients for a range of ages and hair types–it doesn’t contain fillers, artificial oils, silicons, or plastics!
Mahisha started the beauty behemoth in 2002, taking Curls from an idea to a booming business with millions of dollars in yearly revenue.
The Sacramento, California native received a business degree with a concentration in Marketing from California State University. At the time, she had no inklings of becoming an entrepreneur. She said, “Initially I was in corporate America, and I worked at Intel out of college. It wasn’t very long in my career before I reached the highest level I could reach. I had gone through a lot, from being right sized, down sized, and ostracized because I was a young black woman in a white male dominated industry.”
She continues, “As I shifted through, I encountered this manager who had it out for me–he was hell bent on getting rid of me! I was a single mother. I had bills. I had life. It was a blow to me. For a 6 month period, [this manager] had my destiny in the palm of his hands. He could throw me out at any given moment. [Thankfully, he was relocated to Malaysia], and I was able to leave that area, get a promotion, and continue on my journey. [Still, the situation] shook me to my core. [I promised to myself that] I would never again be in a position [where] someone could own my destiny and change my financial security based on [their] racially charged motivation. [So I asked myself]: What am I passionate about?”
She says, “[I was a] newly natural woman. When I launched [Curls] in 2002, there weren’t many options for my texture. Back then, there was grease, Jheri Curl products… I wanted something that would enhance my texture but not weigh it down. I landed in the beauty industry [because] I thought there was a need that was unmet. I decided to Launch a business at the height of the newly natural market. I hired a cosmetic chemist who began formulating testing, and we launched in April 2002. It was one of those stories of: I want this product, I don’t see it in the market, and I’m going to create it.”
Dellinger continues, “80% of business fail within the first five years, so the odds can be stacked against you if you don’t do the work. You have to be sure #1 that there is a viable market. I did my research, looked into that space. Saw that there were women going natural with the products. First thing’s first, do your due diligence. Make sure there’s a market. Sometimes people think that if there’s no competition, it’s a great opportunity. If you don’t see competition there might be a reason why.”
Curls was profitable almost immediately, netting almost $100,000 in sales in its first year through e-commerce. How did she do it? Dellinger offers, “It was really about doing due diligence. Another thing that helped me was getting counseling, assistance, and mentoring from someone who had been there before. Sometimes we have a hard time reaching out for help and that’s something that we have to get over, especially as entrepreneurs. I went to Score which is an amazing resource where you’re connected to mentors in the industry. I took advantage of the courses that helped me with my business, but I also found a mentor in my industry. That helped me avoid pitfalls, to make sure I was pricing my items correctly.” Though Curls was profitable, she advises beginning entrepreneurs to, “Keep your day job. You want to have money from your day job to sustain you. Reinvest every dollar you get so that you can scale. Things can go awry. It’s up in the air. Always keep your day job until you can no longer do both.”
The key pivotal moment in Curls history was the moment that Target called. Then buyer Linda Sullivan realized her ethnic product sales were stagnant and that she needed to refresh the category. She called on 4 brands to test the market, and assured them that if they did well, they would continue to live on and grow with the Target brand and business. Curls was a hit! Dellinger offers, “That call and that opportunity from Target opened the door. And everyone else started calling after that. Sally Beauty, CVS, Rite Aid. All these people we wanted before started calling. So Target really shifted things for business.”
Owning a business as a woman of color doesn’t come without its pitfalls, however. Dellinger admits “There’s a challenge with getting the respect coming in the door. We still can be faced with the same stigma [and prejudice]. It never goes away for us.” Still, she says, “The battle is there, but the perks are higher. Unlimited income? I’ll take that. The best thing about entrepreneurship is the ability to work eighty hours a week, but having those eighty hours go into building a legacy for my four children.”
In terms of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, Dellingers says, “Make sure you know your market inside and out and know your competition. Be an expert in your field. Know your competition, know their strengths and weaknesses, and know your industry like the back of your hand.” She also says, “Find a mentor. I highly recommend Score. They tell you how to create a business plan, how to create a marketing plan. They help you find a mentor, but they have amazing free courses that you can use to help your career. It’s an amazing resource.”
In terms of business advice, she says, “You have to evolve or you will dissolve. It’s such a highly competitive, over saturated market. About a year ago, sales declined. They were flat. I’m like ok, that’s not good. We need growth. I had to bring something new and fresh to the table. I went to create a new collection that hadn’t been done before. We’re used to seeing a lot of coconut oil and shea butter. I said I wanted something new and fresh. So I conceived the blueberry collection. Blueberries are not just super foods for your body, but they help repair damage to hair–and the smell is intoxicating! I took that one ingredient and created a line. Sales shot through the roof, increasing by 55%. That was a scary time. But if you’re not selling, you can get kicked off the shelf. It can cost you your shirt.”
For people of color, she had very targeted advice, “We sometimes struggle with living above our means and living outside our resources that we have. When I was working at Intel, I had a convertible BMW and I was renting a house. There is no reason I should have had a convertible BMW as a home renter! The philosophy of how we spend our money is super important. Once you start making money, it’s about making sure that you save and reinvest. The book that shifted my mentality was Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It shifted my view on how I spend my money and enabled me to run this business in a much more stream lined approach.”
Now you’ll find Mahisha running her business, spending family time, or tending to her new non profit called Curls Girls Rule the World. Mahisha grew up in poverty, surrounded by gang violence. She knew that she didn’t want that life for herself. She says, “Giving back is near and dear to my heart. Not everyone has the opportunity to leave the ghetto. Mentoring and giving back is part of my life’s work.”
Indeed! Read more about Mahisha and her journey in her book Against All Odds: From the Projects to the Penthouse, and also be sure to pick up a few of her favorite books! She recommends Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, The Virgin Way by Richard Branson, and The Revenue Growth Habit by Alex Goldfayn.
Those are already on my summer reading list, and I’m signing up for Score!
Get your Curls products at Curls.biz. That does it!
Thoughts on this Breaking into Business interview?