Mary Harcourt 0:04
Welcome to Ready Set glow, a podcast where I interview the person behind the brand. We're gonna talk about what it took to get started, the lessons learned along the way, and the advice they have for you on your own journey. I'm your host, Mary Harcourt, founder and CEO of Cosmo glow. Today I have Hayley and Zach from Bella Lash. Bella Lash has continued to bring innovation to the lash industry. And today's episode is no different. And what exactly is innovation? I think I explained it best like innovation is making something better. It helps our industry grow. It makes something more valuable to our customers, or to our customers customers. And I'll add to that innovation make something make more sense than how it was done before. Bella Lash has over 20 patents filed. They have active distribution in 60 countries. Let's go back to the beginning. Where did this all start for them? 12 years ago, Zach and Haley were in college, putting themselves through school, Haley decided to pick up a pair of tweezers and earn extra money doing lashes, and the rest is history. They're naturally curious minds join forces, and thought of ways to improve the current lash products on the market. These two entrepreneurs work together to improve products and a brand was born. Little did they know become the household name that it is today. From one vendor to another and so honored to have Haley and Zach with us from Bella Lash guys. Welcome to the show.

Bella Lash 1:30
Thanks for having us. Thank you.

Mary Harcourt 1:32
Well, first off, congratulations for being in 60 countries. That is such an accomplishment for our brand. I know you have a whole long story of how you guys started. And we'll dive into that throughout the episode. But congratulations. It's a huge achievement.

Bella Lash 1:46
Thanks so much. Sounds great when you say it like that.

Mary Harcourt 1:49
Personal cheerleader. I'm over here like you guys are awesome. Yeah, thank you.

Bella Lash 1:54
Yes, I'm in the middle of and you're like, do we like what are we even doing?

Mary Harcourt 2:00
Well, I mean, there's like 212 countries, right? So you still have growing room.

Bella Lash 2:03
Yeah, we're still room to grow.

Mary Harcourt 2:05
Still room to grow. When I had my salon in LA in her mo speech, we heard your products and I thought they were always just so good. The quality was great, the packaging is adorable. I love the rose gold. And it was really good for my clients as well, because the price point was perfect. And it wasn't so expensive that they were hesitant on buying it. But it was also really a good margin for us and stylists to earn extra income through retail. So I knew you guys from years ago, but it's so cool to have you here today kind of face to face virtually on a podcast to talk about, like the start of Bella Lash. Yeah,

Bella Lash 2:37
absolutely. It's, it's fun to talk to you too. Like I I know your company. I know your products, and like I'm hearing nothing but great stuff about where you guys are going. So I'm stoked for you, too.

Mary Harcourt 2:47
Thank you. Yeah, we're excited. It's every day is a new adventure. But yeah, it's super fun, who even knew two years ago that this would be the career that I am now shifted to and that we have this amazing product. And it's changing how people do lashes and giving everyone prettier lashes because they have better lighting to work with. But it's been so rewarding and so cool to watch it grow. And on this entrepreneur journey, it's been so great to connect with other people, because I feel like not everyone talks about the back end story of what it really took, or the painful lessons. Or, you know, the mistakes that were made, like everyone tries to put on this pretty little Instagram image of like, hear me see me, I'm a beauty boss, and I make no mistakes. And that's not the case. And it's nice to normalize the fact that the entrepreneur journey is just that, like it's a journey full of lots of ups and downs. And then talk about like, what they were, how we accomplish them, how we grew from them, how gave us grit, and now we're so confident and prideful on having to go through those mistakes. But I always love connecting with other brands based on just what what it was like what it took.

Bella Lash3:56
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I think we kind of had one of those moments this morning, where it's like, oh, shit, we finally did something.

Bella Lash4:03
Yeah, we but it's lonely, too. It's lonely, is lonely. So it is good to talk to other brands and other owners. That helps a lot. Make it less lonely.

Mary Harcourt 4:11
You guys, we talked about being in 60 countries. That's great. You have tons of products you patented 20 of them which is sounds so expensive, but also a great achievement as well. Did you ever think in the early days when you were lashing through college that Bella Lash would be what it is today? No,

Bella Lash 4:28
no way. Um, we would like every month when we look at our sales reports we would just be like I cannot believe it. I can't believe

Bella Lash 4:36
it. We and we started with like we I don't know if it was you or I the Senate. But I distinctly remember it being said like, Wouldn't it be great if we could just make an extra 800 bucks a month?

Mary Harcourt 4:47
Yes, no funny. I think if I could sell four lights a week, four lights a week I would have made it I didn't dream big enough on that one. Yeah,

Bella Lash 4:57
there was there was one day because during college Like I was detailing airplanes and boats, I had my own little detailing business. And there was one day I was detailing a boat and I was making like, he was making like 300 bucks detailing the boat, which was great. And then I was like watching the like, every time I got an order, I would get an email, and I would be looking at it. And like, I was like, Holy crap, we've done like, $450 a day online. Like, this is insane. Like, I've never seen this, like we made over $700 Today, like, never heard of anything like that. Like that was nuts. And I remember calling Haley, I was so stoked. It was like,

Bella Lash 5:33
yeah, he's like, I just made more money, then I was detailing the boat this so

Mary Harcourt 5:39
I move it isn't that so exciting? Like, it's a really cool feeling. When things start to work. We're like, Oh, my God, oh, my God. Oh, my God, this is so cool. It's working. It's happening. You know,

Bella Lash 5:50
it's, it's euphoric. It's amazing. Getting to that point is, is the hard part. Like, getting to that point is, it's really hard to describe because it's one part like, Am I crazy? Like, is this gonna work there, you're, you're afraid your confidence isn't there. It's like, you you have this vision, you have a dream that you think it could work, but you really have no clue if it's gonna work. And it's just, that's the hard part. That's the part that's like, that, I think, takes more perseverance than what I think most people imagine.

Mary Harcourt 6:23
I agree, I think that's kind of what defines entrepreneurship is a, nobody has a clue how to do it. We're all like trying to navigate through this journey. And the other part is, for some reason, we just want to do it. And we will. And it is a little bit of half crazy and a little bit of half being bold and just taking a risk. And I think it's sometimes lonely. The lonely thing is not a whole lot of people talk about it, but it is scary. And it is a lonely journey, because you don't know the next move. If you don't have the answers, the answers don't

Bella Lash 6:55
exist. That's why everybody's come to you for that answer.

Mary Harcourt 6:59
Exactly. And there's pressure on you because people are wanting the next answer. And what's the next move and half the time you're like, No. Figure that out for myself, you know, go to be brain and we're gonna get to it and all of a sudden you're there and look back and go holy, I somehow somehow I you know, we did it, we're here. And then the dream just continues and you move those milestones and you move those celebration points, and they just get bigger. It's a cool feeling. But it's definitely I think starting a business is terrifying.

Bella Lash 7:31
Yeah. It's a definitely a different breed. Entrepreneurs are very different than a lot of other people. Like it's just not necessarily the better. It's just it's just very different. Very risk adverse. I think, like, a lot of people look at our business ventures is what we do is like being really risky. And to me, I don't see the risk. I'm like, Yeah, but we'll get it to work. Like, they're like, Well, what if it doesn't like do this or that I'm like, then we'll figure it out. Like I don't know, like, well, we're going for it full send.

Mary Harcourt 7:59
But yeah, of course, I mean, we'll figure it out is pretty much how 95% of the people keep going.

Bella Lash 8:05
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Mary Harcourt 8:07
So what was the first product that you guys launched as Bella Lash,

Bella Lash 8:11
our first product was our Bella Lash Tile. And how we created it was Zach was in engineering school, and I was in nursing school at BYU. And I did lashes to get through nursing school, and he had an engineering project he had to do. So he's like, Well, can I help you create while you do lashes to make it easier for you and faster for this project? And so he like ended up putting the lashes like on a spoon, a curved spoon that curvo and he's like, are these easier to grab? Like, if I carve them out? It spreads out the tips like are these easier to grab? And I was like, yeah, like that's way easier. And so we made the curve tile. And that was like our first pan. And that was our first product. And that was like the beginning of Bella Lash. Yeah,

Mary Harcourt 8:55
I mean, I love that. And it is so true. I know the first time I saw your lash tiles, I was like, Huh, well, that just makes more sense. And and they did. That's great. And then so lash tiles, did you move into lashes next? or tweezers? Like what was the next one? Yeah, I

Bella Lash 9:11
mean, after we made the tile, we created like a full line to sell all the products. We

Bella Lash 9:16
were just we weren't really like creating the line at the beginning. Like it was a lot of the stuff we're buying was just overseas, and then we'd stick a sticker on top and like, like, we would sell that. And at that time, that was the standard that was like what everybody else was doing. So like we were, we look back today. And this is this is another thing like about entrepreneurs is like I look back at some of the first products we sold and I'm like, holy crap, who would buy that? Yeah, I wouldn't have bought that. Yeah. And but at the time it was that was fine. It was good. People liked it. And then from there, we kind of just started pushing the boundaries and using the engineering and the relationship between a lash artist and engineer to say, Okay, here's what we have, but how can we make it better? And then we started going To our suppliers and saying, I need to change this, this, this and this. And I want you to make it this way. And here's the designs for this product. Like can you do the tooling on this, and the molds and stuff. And so that's kind of what made Bella Lash Bella Lash at that time it was, it was a lot of like pushing the boundaries and being the first to do a lot of different things with products. Like I think we were one of if not the very first to even have a lash cleanser. That's how far back we go.

Mary Harcourt 10:27
Impress it. I mean, I love that you guys are truly innovators. And that you are finding solutions, versus it is still standard practice in the beauty industry to buy something overseas, slap a sticker on it and say you have a brand. And not necessarily anything wrong with that. But I do love you guys dive deep into creating your own products that are truly yours. And also very helpful. That make lash artists job easier.

Bella Lash 10:52
Yeah, that's what people notice when they do you spell wash, like wow, this does, it feels different. It is different. It's not whatever. It's not what everyone's doing. We don't take, we don't buy stuff overseas anymore and stick a sticker on it. Like we truly innovate every single aspect of the product. And so you can feel the difference. And that's a big thing with Bella. Last year

Bella Lash 11:11
we're with We're selling a really cool new product to a big national chain of of lash salons. And we were at their headquarters last week. And they we have one of our products is just it's just like a lash cleansing wipe. And but it's on like this like little round foam thing and they want it but they don't want to pay us for it because it's too expensive. And they tried to replicate it. They try to replicate it. She's like, she's like, we're just gonna order these. I was like, No, you're not. And she's like, why not as like, because they'll suck and they're like, no, they're fine. I'm like, No, they're not like, there's some solvent. I don't know what your ingredient deck is. But like, there's some solvent in your solution that is eating away the foam. The foam is expanding. Whoa, like, like, look at this tear your foam apart, see how like swollen it was and how easy tears apart now look at mine. And they did that in they're like crap. And I'm like, we do this for like a 4% royalty. And I'm like, I don't really get out of bed for 4%.

Bella Lash12:11
Just we do we do it a little different. And I think that's like why I love that. What we always say is here's like, Don't look around, look up. Like, it's huge for us to not look around at what competition is doing. And I actually just don't even feel threatened about all the competition that's out there. Because it's impossible to copy Bella Lash, you can't I love that. Yeah,

Mary Harcourt 12:32
I can't copy it. So it's fine. Like I support you go ahead start like lash company, like, it's great, because I'm very confident in where our company is right now. And I it's very hard to copy because of all the engineering that's gone into each product. So you have you see other people competing, and I love the quote of look up, don't look around. Because if you're trying to just be the person next to you, they're gonna always be ahead of you. You got to do what's true and genuine to you, what's your feeling for your brand and what your values are. And then you become somebody genuine to other people, they want to be a part of that brand. And the only way to do that is truly like, look up, figure out what's good for you, and not copy other people.

Bella Lash 13:15
Look at what look at what you did, like your light is so unique and so different than anything else that's out there. And you didn't get to that. I mean, sure, I'm sure that you looked at some of your competition stuff as you're designing yours. But like, at the same time you asked yourself, like, what can I do that's better? And how do I truly make this mine. And you've done that and people are rewarding you for that they like that.

Mary Harcourt 13:37
That's where the little bit of crazy in your entrepreneurship comes from because I call it like cannonball into a world of unknown had I known what it really truly takes, I think I would have been too scared to start. I just had no clue what it took and was like, I'm gonna figure this out. If I can do it, I can do it. And if I can do it, so can everyone else. And that's what I love being a voice for an industry is we all have these beautiful ideas in our head. And if we can get them out and act on them and get them into customer hands. Imagine how much better our beauty industry could be. It'd be so innovative to have all these different supplies and lash products working for us. Instead of just doing what everyone else is doing.

Bella Lash 14:16
Yes, yes. Even I don't like you asked like how we feel about like competition and stuff like my my feeling is like I love competition. That's that's truly here to compete. Like we can push each other and we can like make the industry better. The competition that I don't like is the one that brings nothing to the table. The ones that just come in and just say like, here's the same crap product that everybody else is buying from China, but now look at my sticker. And there's nothing unique or better about that product that brings any value to the industry. That's where I kind of start to get some heartburn because it's like, we have a full engineering team we have full like, shop like we're sitting here spending a ton of money trying to like make these products better. Don't just like, you know, if you're going to come to the table come to the table, let's play, you know?

Mary Harcourt 15:05
Absolutely. I fully agree. I think it's, it's interesting to to watch how it happens sometimes. And sometimes they steal your exact story and your exact words off the website. And they're exactly I even see people knock off the similar packaging where it's like, Come on, guys, like be a little original. We had a,

Bella Lash 15:23
we had a company copy and paste our mission statement once Yes. Or no. It was just like, okay, um, so you'll get that a lot when you're innovating. But yeah,

Mary Harcourt 15:38
I think it's part of the game half of its comical half of its like a little splinter in your nail, or it's like, Come on, we have it. We had somebody copy our website to the point that it even got down to made in the USA, but their products weren't made in the USA. And then it was just like laughing where you you clearly had someone make a website and go use our website as a template to their website, and the web guy copied everything. And then you had to go through and edit the things that weren't true for you. It's just sometimes it's funny. Yeah, it's annoying. It's just part of the game, you know, products when other people are trying to copy it.

UBella Lash 16:11
Yeah, the things you do as an entrepreneur, like you do get really creative. And sometimes, like, that shouldn't be done. But a lot of people crossed that line of like, Yeah, I'm just gonna copy what they did. Yeah,

Mary Harcourt 16:22
no originality in it. For sure. So talking about liquids, where you have this product, and then someone else tried to copy it. But it wasn't nearly the same quality. When you guys first got started, you had taken some type of liquid, like a chemist, and he had originally said, like, oh my god, what are you using that for? That can't be around someone's eye area, which then led you guys down this rabbit hole of like, okay, we want to make really high quality products that are safe. Yeah, um, how did that whole process go?

Bella Lash 16:53
So we say it was a coating, like I seal it. And okay, we the sealer. And we said the sealer that we had been using, and we had just been putting a sticker on it from China. We sent it to this was early, early, when we first started, we sent it to a formulator here in the United States. And he like, broke it down in all the ingredients. And he's like, are you putting this on someone's eye? And we're like, Yeah, and he's like, stop using that. You can't do that.

Bella Lash 17:15
He's even said he's like, Where the hell did you even buy this? Yeah, ingredients are illegal. That's Oh.

Bella Lash 17:26
So super early on, we're like, Okay, we've got to start formulating everything here in the United States, where we know where all the ingredients are, and that they're safe for the eye. This is like where my nursing background kind of comes in, where I just make sure everything is safe for someone's eye, so

Bella Lash 17:44
and that, like the adhesives are a big one right now. And I think that if you were to actually lab test all the adhesives on the market, I think that probably 75% of what would be tagged with illegal ingredients, or the carbon black that gets put into solution. Everyone says it's the carbon blacks carbon tax on carbon black. We don't need carbon black in the adhesives, but we'd like them to be black. And so the Carbon Black doesn't want to go into solution with the adhesive. So what what they do is they take the carbon black, and they add a solvent to it. And the easiest and best way to do it with is called Tallinn and and then they put that mixture into into the solution. And it'll it'll go and just find out what it won't precipitate. But that tall, you mean and a lot of the other harsh solvents that you have to use to get it into solution, that those a lot of those were banned, and they're not healthy. They're they they don't belong anywhere near your face, like. So a lot of like a lot of the people that are just buying off of Alibaba or whatever, like they're getting that ingredient, but the manufacturers have learned that customs won't let it through with that ingredient. So they just simply delete it off the inky and send it anyways.

Mary Harcourt 18:54
I mean, I feel like there needs to be so much more coverage on the truth of this. And that's why lash allergies are so real lash industry. I mean, we've all experienced a client that was perfectly fine for years, and then all of a sudden boom. And it's so sad. I mean, I would it happened to our salon, we ended up switching adhesives, which helped the product or help the clients but it was kind of like I feel awful as a business owner knowing that that person most likely can't wear lashes the rest of their life. And it wasn't like we have malicious intention. I wasn't using anything. I thought it was using the best of the best I always buy from great products and it wasn't yours. But you know, you never really know. And these people are getting things from different countries slapping a sticker on it. And at the end of the day, like it's your client that's suffering

Bella Lash 19:39
in a smart way. If you're buying bigger companies, you're not going to run into these issues. I think where you do run into the issue is yeah, when these companies that do slap the stickers on and you can tell immediately when you get the product if it is custom made like and if it is from you know the bigger companies there none of them are doing this. So I think like obviously,

Bella Lash 19:59
we would have Fallout one There's repercussions. But if I'm like, if I'm just somebody that's just selling them on Etsy, or if I'm somebody that's just starting a brand, and I don't know any better or whatever, like, there's really nothing to lose for those people.

Mary Harcourt 20:11
Yeah, it's always interesting to I found this in the last world, that you can almost sniff out the people that just want to make money, where they're like, hey, if I buy and sell these lashes, I can make money doing this, and someone will buy them, and you'll make a little bit of profit. But then there's also companies like yours, and others that like they want to change the industry and make quality products and have them be the standard for how we do practices. And I always gravitated towards those because their, their values are correct. Like they want to do good. They're really adding the research and they're doing the background search to see what where they're being sourced from, where they're coming from. And then you have the other ones where it's like, Hey, I bought this for this price level sticker, I'm selling it to you, because I want to make money from you. And I always found that there's a choice you have of like, you can sniff out do you want to be with a real company and a real brand? Or do you just want to buy these randoms?

Bella Lash 21:04
Yeah,

Bella Lash 21:05
it's definitely an interesting industry that we're in, like, I don't know of any others that are, like, so easy to get into and yet so complex with a number of SKUs and the products, and like there's such a range of quality.

Mary Harcourt 21:20
Agreed. I mean, it is crazy. There is so many different skews and different sizes and different thing but in a weird way. It's also very unregulated.

Bella Lash 21:29
Yeah, right. Yeah. The, the, the laws have completely skipped eyelashes. I mean, essentially, like, we technically fall under aesthetics and Cosmetology, but it's not required to be taught in school, but it is required to be licensed. And it's like, yeah, we're we're kind of just like, lost in between that. Totally.

Mary Harcourt 21:48
Exactly. Do you ever think that he would know so much about eyelash extensions when you were like a little boy growing up?

Bella Lash 21:54
No, you talk about like, how scary it was and how different you'd never thought that you'd be doing this. Like, I'm supposed to be an engineer I'm supposed to be working on like, manly stuff like, like, from from college or working for like Lockheed Martin and Boeing and Ford and Cummins diesel's and like, I'm just selling eyelashes. Okay, but

Mary Harcourt 22:14
on the flip side, isn't it every guy's dream to work around around all women around women all the time. It's kind of like your got your engineer buddies are all around us all day.

Bella Lash 22:25
I do enjoy working with my wife and being my engineers do have a lot of fun. We have a lot of randomness in our day. And yeah, so I I'm, I always did want to have my own business. So for that, I'm super grateful. I just didn't know it was gonna be eyelashes.

Mary Harcourt 22:43
Yeah, totally valid lashes got started, you're putting yourself into school decided to pick up parents pleasers? Did you kind of fall into it as a business or where you're like, Okay, we're gonna do this and develop all of our own products and all of our own, or have our own product line? Or is it just kind of like, well, there's nothing out on the market like it, let's try and make it and then all sudden, it's like, well, we have to sell this to others and share it with other people. And now we have a company in a brand.

Bella Lash 23:11
I when we first started the lash, it was definitely with the intention of creating a brand. We we saw a ton of holes, like immediately. So I learned how to do a 12 year old 12 years ago. And back then there wasn't any regulation. They not a lot of people knew about them. And so they were just a brand new thing in the beauty industry. And I was obsessed immediately when I got them done. I was like, I've never seen Yeah, a bigger transition in my look so fast ever. It was especially being

Mary Harcourt 23:44
blonde, I sometimes you're like your lashes naturally are so light that point extensions on them. You've never seen yourself the way you do with extensions. And it's addicting. It's like, wow, I don't ever want to not have these.

Bella Lash 23:57
Yeah, so I got them done and, and loved them. And so I learned how to do them. And my training was a really bad experience. I mean, I learned how to do it, but I just like felt way uncomfortable doing it every time I was like, sweating freaking out. And I was like, I can go poke someone with a needle and I feel fine. But like, give a medicine at the hospital. It's fine. But like I'm freaking out picking up a pair of tweezers and doing someone's eyelashes like I felt like there was a ton of holes in my education. So that was like a huge, huge thing that we saw that there was a hole in the industry. And so we created the first ever like manual book that's like how to do eyelash extensions. And then with the products that created the Lash Tile and then we just were like there's got to be more in this industry. So we just saw a ton of holes. And we're like, we've got to we got to get into this and start something there was

Bella Lash 24:51
like if we could make 100 bucks a month helpless cancer College was the original mentality and then by the time we graduated, we were making More than like, what, what we would have made as like a nurse and engineer? Yeah. Professionals in our in our industries. It was like, Well, I guess we're doing this now. Yeah, I mean, that's amazing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was. I remember, we used grasshopper for the phones. And so when you call Bella lashes number it was it's the same number it is now. It would,

Bella Lash 25:23
I made the voice recording and it was like, for customer service press one, or shipping press two or whatever. And I'm sorry, ma'am. I

Bella Lash 25:36
meant that I wasn't gonna be running out of the lecture hall and running into the halls of the university being like, Bella Lash. This is Zack, how can I help you? It was like, it was hilarious. It was hilarious.

Bella Lash 25:48
Yeah, fake it to make it. Yeah.

Mary Harcourt 25:51
Hey, you have to start somewhere you do. You're never gonna go anywhere.

Bella Lash 25:55
I really do have to. And yeah, Fortune favors the bold, the people that are willing to try it and to make it happen and but there are some funny, funny, funny experiences. We learn quickly. We learned quickly that I'm not the one for customer service.

Mary Harcourt 26:09
Oh, I can't touch customer service. I've amazing customer service team. And I'm so thankful and grateful. It's not for me. Oh, yeah.

Bella Lash 26:17
You take it too personal. Yeah. Owner, you gotta let someone else handle that.

Bella Lash 26:21
Yep. I didn't, we never did end up doing it. But we we always talked about keeping like a Hall of Fame, customer service experiences because there are some real winners. It was like, we had one woman who was like she was she said, Hey, I got my package. It looks great. This was like right after like a big holiday weekend. It might have even been like Black Friday, but it's like, you, she's like, I got them. But I'm missing like half the order. And we're like, Oh, can we get your order number and like it was one of those crazy like weekends were like we had been there all weekend long packing and shipping orders. And when you print the label, it says it's shipped. Long story short, her package was like sitting right there by us unopened on ship was like totally lying or face off. And we're just like, he, I don't know how to approach this one. Yeah,

Mary Harcourt 27:07
that's when you just get customer service teams. Here you go. This right here for you.

Bella Lash 27:13
Yeah. Oh, man. Any other party business that you just like? Don't? Don't enjoy for me. Yeah, um,

Mary Harcourt 27:21
I really, truly enjoy social media. But I have a girl that runs all of that. I cannot stand customer service like that, that these people like, I feel like my employees must have come down from heaven above because they are so sweet and genuine and always nice. And I'm the first person to be like, if you like, my Americans, does it go? Wow. Yeah, definitely finance stuff like every I book. bookkeepers, tax people, like they handle all of that. I don't understand any of that. They that was one of those things, that very quickly, as you start to scale is like, yeah, so I'm gonna get someone that understands all of this. And they can do

Bella Lash 28:05
totally a typical entrepreneurial thing. Like most entrepreneurs hate bookkeeping, they hate financials, like, and I'm the same way like, yeah, see what you raise. It's, it's just the way our brains are wired. Like, I think for Haley, I, you've always said this, but like, the part you hate the most is like, I hate see how much money we make. And I hate seeing how much money we spend. Yeah, because our business is so inefficient, no matter how hard you try.

Mary Harcourt 28:31
It is and like, you're always growing, you're always yelling, and you're always thinking of the next thing, and it gets more expensive every time. It's like, what is this gonna stop and it's not you just have to get used to more numbers,

Bella Lash 28:44
there is a sweet spot and size where it's like, you're making great money, but it's not costing you a fortune to make that money. And it's life is so much more simple. But you're too stupid to realize that at that time, you're like, I want more. And

Mary Harcourt 28:57
right well, you guys I mean, 12 years into a company is great, especially in the lash world. I didn't even know lashes were around 12 years ago, I got into about six. What are some of the challenges you faced when scaling your company?

Bella Lash 29:09
I think a big thing was like handing things off. Um, because kind of want to keep control of everything. I think that was one of the hardest thing for me is handing off the social media handing off all the shipping like I used to pack all the orders and like I actually really enjoyed that. I don't know why

Bella Lash 29:27
people shipping it a little differently. You're like you're doing it wrong. It's like, actually doesn't matter. Yeah, like it's the same.

Bella Lash 29:34
I think just going from doing it all to like passing it to other people. I It's scary. That was the hardest thing for me.

Mary Harcourt 29:41
I totally agree. It is scary. But it was also rewarding. Sometimes they do a much better job than you. It's like you go girl. Cool. I am so glad I don't do that anymore. Even like things I enjoy. It's like yeah, that was me. It's better. I focus on product development and moving our company into like being an intern. then sitting there doing that all day because I it was not for me, even if it was something I enjoy,

Bella Lash 30:05
oh, it's like necessary, you have to do it because you have to work on the business, not in the business. So it's something that you have to get over. But I think that was one of the hardest things would be did scale to let go. But like you have to let go, that is a very important thing to do. So you can work on it not in it. I think

Mary Harcourt 30:24
to being an entrepreneur, we usually have a creative brain. And we're constantly just kind of thinking and seeing what else is on the horizon and working through problems and finding solutions. And when you're so tied up in day to day, you lose that mind space, all of a sudden your creativity is gone. And you realize where it's like, wow, I am doing something that someone else can easily do all day long. And I can get back to growing the company and thinking about what the next move is instead of sitting here and doing something that someone is more equipped to handle.

Bella Lash 30:56
Yeah. Did you ever read the book The E Myth? Yes. Love that book. Yeah, that was one of the most instrumental books in building our business. For me, the E Myth revisited is amazing. If you haven't read it, and

Mary Harcourt 31:09
I second that fully. It's just a different way to think about things. I actually read that when I had my salon, and shortly after it was when we started adding in employees, because you can do it all but you're limited. Or you can start delegating it to other people that are gonna enjoy way more than you. And all of a sudden, now multiple people are helping you achieve the same goal. Yep. As you guys are a married couple. How does that work with business of like living together working together growing a business together having a whole life?

Bella Lash 31:41
Oh, man, it's been hard. i It's definitely gotten so much better. I wouldn't recommend it straight up. Really?

Mary Harcourt 31:47
I mean, just people it seems like a dream come true to other people. They're like, yeah, now.

Bella Lash 31:52
Yeah, it's but so there is like a huge aspects to that I would never recommend it. But like, I feel like our marriages is forged in the crucible of fire. Right out of the gate, like we got married super young. He was 18. I was 21. And finally gave you started this business and like, so it's always been a part of our relationship. However, like, you have to draw lines, like you have to draw lines, we do not. And lately with this new product that we've been working on, we've actually both been like so ridiculously excited about work that we like we enjoy talking about right now. But there's typically a very, very, very firm line that says like, we do not talk about work after five o'clock, like, periods.

Bella Lash 32:35
Interesting. Yeah, we tried to just make it about our kids and our family after five. So

Mary Harcourt 32:41
I love that that's a great little tidbit. I should probably try that. I feel like my mind's are run over. You're gonna hear how my day is whether you want to or not, and then we're gonna talk about it. So I feel better. But thank you now I do. Yeah, yeah.

Bella Lash 32:56
No, yeah, we'll have stuff we want to talk about all the time. And it's like, Oh, I gotta hold that tell us if

Bella Lash 33:00
the other person is like, not in the mood, like we're kind of out of, we're just like, let's talk about this tomorrow, like, during work hours. But it does work. Both both of us are very diligent about that, like, No, we're not talking about this right now. Like, we'll correct each other and, and so I'll call like, if he's not working in the office that day, I'll call her and talk to her about it on my way to work or whatever. But

Mary Harcourt 33:27
well, it's probably something that you're like, hey, I don't recommend but also, I would never want to change it.

Bella Lash 33:31
Right? Yeah, it's true. I don't, it would fell alash would not be what it is today. Without our comma. We always say that all the time. Like, we are. Together, the team is very unique. And it has made Bella Lash out of this for sure. Like, I can, I know the lash artist wants like, I can do lashes. I'll have

Bella Lash 33:50
I'll have like my, my team of engineers will listen to like our in house lash artists. And they're like, What? Like, they know they know technically everything about eyelashes. But you know, some will be like this is you know, these lashes aren't soft enough. Like that was something that we went through a lot like, wow, when we were building our machine, and I had to break it down for my be like, Okay, what a soft thing to you. Well, when I touched him, it does this and like, Okay, what is and you can drill in like five and six questions deeper. And you'd be like, okay, the lash is like the stiffness of the lash, the flexibility, whatever. Like, I mean, that's a really simple case. But like, then you convert that and EJ terms that you could do something about it, right. But yeah,

Mary Harcourt 34:34
I mean, it's such a cool story that you guys linked up, you're together as partners, but then also as business partners, and it is so nice to have a lash artist to have the lash side of things and an entre engineer be able to kind of come through on hand having this idea, do you think it's possible and then you go into the backside of it like yeah, let's hammer down exactly what you want. And then also you have a product it's like your invoice for all the lash artists in the industry.

Bella Lash 34:59
Yeah, it's It's kind of cool. Yep. It's yeah. It's kind of fun sometimes like, we'll have like surreal like meetings with like huge, like private equity companies and stuff. And like we look around the room and it's like, it is this it is this is this relationship it is this the way that we work together that has gotten us to where we are at.

Mary Harcourt 35:18
It's absolutely, and it's a great place to be. I mean, yeah, you're doing great as a company, I can't wait to see where you're gonna go in the future. So what is next on the horizon for Bella Lash?

Bella Lash 35:28
Well, we've been trying for 10 years to make it faster. I mean,

Bella Lash 35:32
we've known for a long time, the weakest part of our industry is the time

Bella Lash 35:36
Yes, a lot of woman like all of my friends are like, I just don't have time. So 100% I, we have done like everything. We've created jigs to do the lashes up to make it faster. And it just we've tried 500 mils for like,

Bella Lash 35:49
a quarter million dollars on trying to do a new adhesive. Yeah.

Bella Lash 35:54
Yeah, yeah, that we actually patent that technology. But we still like we don't have it perfect. And it's just like, we've done everything under the sun to try and make it faster. And we have created like a new invention now that we are so excited about and the lash machine was a big part of how we made it. But we use like our our knowledge and everything that we've learned, and we've created lashes that you can apply yourself, and they last up to 10 days, and we're really excited about them. They're our first consumer product. And I think what this does for the industry is we learned a statistic that only 90 10% of women have tried eyelash extensions, and which blows my

Mary Harcourt 36:38
mind. I mean, maybe it's because we're in the industry and we hear about it all day long. And obviously our books are full so we feel like everyone does lashes but I feel like everyone gets lashes

Bella Lash 36:47
it's not true. So we want to get like that 90% of women that are getting eyelashes into the eyelash industry. And we also see a ton of clients with allergies and sensitivities or they just can't they don't have their attention. And so this is like our way to have a product fast that consumer can have and it like checks all the boxes for all the problems we're seeing

Mary Harcourt 37:10
when you say at home lashes is it like a strip lash like what kind of lashes are you talking about?

Bella Lash 37:16
Totally different it's it's it's its own new category when we say at home like this product is for like first and foremost is for the lash artists like they about half of lash artists don't have time to go get their own lashes done. And so and so all of their all of their customers, all their clients are looking at them like what's what's the deal, right? Do you not like what you're doing?

Mary Harcourt 37:40
Yeah, true. Every time you say you're a lash artist and do lashes literally someone looks straight at your lashes. Yeah, yep. And

Bella Lash 37:47
so as far as like what it is, is it's its own thing. Yeah. Never been seen or done before Haley just did this morning. We did a video where we timed her and she did lashes on one eye in 16 seconds.

Mary Harcourt 38:02
Whoa. And then how long do they last

Bella Lash 38:05
10 days. So we're seeing the median to be 10 days, some some are only go seven, some can go up to 14.

Bella Lash 38:11
Just about how you care for him. Yeah, so there is actually like no maintenance. It's really just like, how bad you abuse your face. Do you got kids that are whacking you all day? Or if you are like in the ocean all day or whatever, like, you know that's gonna change these but seven, seven days is like seven days is very short. But 10 days is genuinely what we're seeing no problem average.

Mary Harcourt 38:34
Yeah, I'm super fascinated and intrigued. So how does this work? It's a product for consumers? Is it somebody that comes into the lash? you currently get lashes? And would stop getting lashes? Or is it somebody that's never had lashes before? That says let me try this or a little bit of both?

Bella Lash 38:52
Yeah, I would say it's for both. I mean, if you have lashes now and you want to take a break, and you want to have these just to like have them for occasional events, this is for you. If I there's a lot of people I would get that just got them for events. So like this is for them. And I think a lot of people are intimidated to do them themselves. So I think lash artists come in, and they can show them how to do them. And you can buy them from your lash artist. And that is where a true opportunity for lash artist there.

Bella Lash 39:22
And I mean, that's huge. Yeah,

Mary Harcourt 39:25
I feel like I wish that was around when I did lashes. Because it is true. Like as much as you wish that your clients are gonna come to you every two weeks for the next five years. The reality of it is they usually get them for birthdays or events or weddings or a photoshoot. And sometimes they just randomly decide I'm kind of over this. I'm tired of the time that it takes and I'm tired of spending the money. I'm going to take a break from lashes and you never see him again. And a lot of those people used to ask like, hey, if I were to stop doing lashes, what's a good alternative? And I'm like, There's not that strip lashes which I don't I recommend or lash extensions like there really was never a hybrid good answer for that until it sounds like what you guys are developing, which was freaking awesome. And something that I'd be interested to use myself because it is hard to get your lashes done on a regular basis. And sometimes things come up and you miss and you wish you just had something you could grab and apply and still look great without having to go into the salon all the time. Like I love my lashes. I'm never going to not wear lashes, but there's things that come up where it's like hey, I have to reschedule my fill and now I don't have lashes for a week and a half and I'm going to look like a bald wrap.

Bella Lash 40:36
I think this is like one more arrow in your quiver. This is one more tool to use. And I think that like a lot of makeup artists are going to love it. But it's it is one more tool in the lash artist quiver it's one more thing for them to do. There's a lot of people developing allergies that are you know, they become lifelong and that's that sucks for them because they love lashes they want to keep getting them but it's no longer an option for them. This is there for them this is this will fill in a lot of holes in the industry. Yeah,

Mary Harcourt 41:08
it's really well and it sounds awesome. I can't wait to try them. It sounds good. So this is something that your lash artist has as a stock to me tell to their clients. Yeah, yeah, we're

Bella Lash 41:18
gonna have affiliates so lash artists will make as affiliates and pay commission to which

Bella Lash 41:24
we're working on on the business system behind this and so the lash artists can have a small stock and they can do the first set of lashes for someone and then using a unique code they can buy from us and we will pay the lash artists that commission for every time that that person buys it and then the the driver for them to use to buy using that code is that they will get a discount on the product so that way so once they once they start with that lash artist, they're they're probably gonna stick with them and that lash artist will continue to earn money from that.

Mary Harcourt 41:58
So yeah, this is a huge way for a lash artist to make extra income because you're gonna get them hooked and there can only get them from you guys or their lash artists and once an artist recommends that lash they're gonna stick with it. I mean you don't I wouldn't think that you have your lash artist recommend it and then you go get strip lashes like what a downgrade I you want to stick with them. And I think it's so cool. Especially you know, you have these clients that come in and they'll tell you like, Hey, I'm having a wedding this weekend. I don't get lashes regularly. I wish I could I just have four kids at home and work a full time job and work till seven with an hour commute lashes, I just I can't make it happen. That's a perfect intro to be like I got your girl like we're gonna do your lashes today. So you have this beautiful event. But then I can also suggest these other lashes that lasts up to 10 days are really easy to apply. Even like make a short little video, here's a here's me on our Instagram page, applying these lashes and now you have an option for when she goes home and gets back to her real life that she can still have lashes anytime she wants. And then she's gonna come back in and of course repeat buy them from you so that stylist did one set of lashes but who knows what the long lifelong return of that retail product will be and

Bella Lash 43:06
this the set of lashes is like we're talking minutes like it's it is remarkably fast. If it sounds too good to be true what we've got here but it's here and it's this isn't like a concept this is like they're literally sitting in our warehouse right now being prepped for lunch like everything is here. It's go go go for the marketing team for the developers for the you know, for the website

Bella Lash 43:29
assets like we're in tears all the time about it. We're like emotional, like if you

Bella Lash 43:33
would have told us that you could have professional looking lashes that you could do in just a couple of minutes. There's no way they can't be done like professional lashes look too good. There's nothing else like it but like this is legit. It's everything that we're telling you it is and then some like there is no lash loss. So as you as you go through your you know your cycle of lashes at after a week, your lashes will look the exact same that they did on the first day like the day you take them off, they will be just as full as the day that you put them on. And you can tell interesting that's

Mary Harcourt 44:09
so true. That's that's a huge selling point.

Bella Lash 44:12
Huge. Yeah. And speaking of like, selling them as a retail product, like if you are a lash artist, and you haven't gotten into selling relative retail products. I remember that being like the most exciting thing in the world because I just made money without using my two hands. Exactly. As a lash artist. You only make money when you use your two hands like when you I remember what I've read something like Oh my gosh, I just made an extra $10 And I didn't have to use my hands that whole time and bend over and kick my neck like there's nothing better than selling a retail product. It is like such joy as a lash artist. I remember just being so excited.

Mary Harcourt 44:47
Well I totally agree. I went to a conference one time and they're like hey, one of the ways you can earn income is selling retail and I lecture them and look No no it won't work like you don't understand not a hair salon. Will people spend hours shopping around I'm a One person studio like people come in, they get their office and then they pay late, they leave late. They don't shop for retail. They're like, No, no, no, you should definitely like, think about what products you can retail. And so I kind of was like, Alright, I'm just gonna prove you wrong, and buy a couple brow products and buy some after wash cleanser. And this, that and the other. And all of a sudden, the first time I had retail, I didn't have a lot. But the first month I sold $1,000 in retail, I'm like, Okay, I guess I was wrong. Let me take back old my words, and then teach me Your ways of how how to do retail. And it was so like, exciting because exactly that like, we only know trading time for money, I'm in an appointment for an hour, I make this amount of money for being that appointment. But when you come out of the appointment, and then take home $100 in retail, you just made money without really having to do much for it. And it's so intoxicating. Yeah. And then we're getting to the point where we are selling enough retail to pay for our rent. And it was like Holy God to think I used to. I used to not sell retail. And I used to think it wouldn't work. Like I was wrong. Yeah.

Bella Lash 46:01
And the cool thing here is we're trying to work out a business model that is extremely favorable for the lash artist. So whether you like physically have it to retail in your store, or you like your everyone knows you as the lash professional, everyone knows that you like eat, sleep and breathe lashes. So like if you want to post about it, and show and share your code like on social media, you can start making like money without even like having to physically see or meet with people. Like you can just like get lashes or if you have allergies, or, you know if lash extensions are for you. Here's what I recommend. And and they click on that link and they go and they buy it and then you take home. Like we'll we'll just literally transfer you money.

Mary Harcourt 46:45
I love that. And I wish this was around when I did lashes, I think this product is going to take off like crazy. It's such a hole in the market. You nailed it because clients love lashes, but they can't always keep up with them. And there really isn't anything else. And the fact that they do know like and trust you as a lash artist, they ask you for recommendations like hey, I'm going away for this six weeks trip. I don't want to try a random person in a new city because I don't want to risk having terrible lashes. But also what can I do? And it's always like, I don't know, like, what do you want me to say I can't go on vacation with you. But this is a perfect thing to say. We're gonna fill your lashes. Today, I'm gonna send you home with a couple pair of ease taken with you on your trip. And you'll have lashes the entire six weeks and like what a great thing for the client. But also what a great way for the stylists to make extra income. Yeah, I'm super excited about it.

Bella Lash 47:36
We're jazzed it's been a roller coaster. This has been this is hands down been the hardest product that we've created. This has been the chronic, that has made us feel more crazy than ever. This we turned our backs on a $4 million investment in our in our machine which works which produces lashes and we said like the story behind this product is one night we hated our sitting in our hot tub. And we're like, we're talking about the machine and lashes and we're breaking our rules. Haley said like what if it could be done like this? Like what if the machine could produce this? And I said, Holy crap that could work. So I went in, I went into the office to our shop machine shop at like one in the morning. Or I went in at like midnight it came out like two or three in the morning came home and and they was fast asleep. So that morning, I had a dummy head like a mannequin with lashes on her. It whatever. And then and I had these little prototypes that I've made. And we had this like eureka moment like I remember like we were jumping up and down in the kitchen like holy crap, this is feasible. It turns out that didn't work though that well. I mean, that was it was remarkably uncomfortable. It didn't last it was like I feel really sorry for the first people that we tested this stuff on. They'll do I don't think ever in our wildest dreams, the product could have actually gotten as good as it is like our benchmark was three days and we're at 10 and we'll continue to improve that but like launching with 10 days is insane.

Mary Harcourt 49:13
I mean I think it's awesome. I'm so excited for you guys and it's gonna do amazing things. You touched on comfortable Are they comfortable?

Bella Lash 49:20
Yes, I'm wearing them right now. And they are something like we'll have like pro tips. It'll be something we'll teach on the lash artists but like if you do apply them to close the inside or if you try to press your limits they're not as comfortable but I wear them day in day out when they're comfortable.

Mary Harcourt 49:37
I love them. I mean true to them as lashes I would have never thought that you had anything but hand applied eyelash extensions on right now like they look great.

Bella Lash 49:46
Yeah, they look they are professional so

Bella Lash 49:49
they're in like as a nod to the professional like industry that that we are like they are named very simply the we're launching with three sets we have classic volume and mega and for exactly what they what they say they are. Yeah. So yeah, it's exciting. It's exciting. How

Mary Harcourt 50:05
long have you been working on this product?

Bella Lash 50:08
That's the thing is we've like there's the there's the saying, like, break stuff and move fast. And yeah, we have done just that. Yeah, we this concept started in April of 2021. And the fact that we're like launching now is Yeah,

Mary Harcourt 50:25
under a year. That's impressive.

Bella Lash 50:26
Yeah, it was. I mean, we have been told it can't be done. Like, yeah, from literally every single person. And it's like, there has been like, a lot of learning experiences we've, we've learned, like, yeah, you're right, that part of it sucks. I gotta fix that, like, comfort has been like, has been an incredible challenge. Retention has been the other insane challenge. Both of those have been completely overcome. But yeah, it's this has not been easy. This has taken every single ounce of, of knowledge that we have, collectively as a company.

Mary Harcourt 51:01
But exactly that it's almost a nod to who you are as a company to have the courage you guys, this is what you do, you find solutions, you innovate products, you bring them to market, and then you make everyone's lives better. But you, you have to go through all your years of developing products to get to this one and make it move so fast. To say like, No, this idea, it's gold, I'm gonna make it work, work on it, and then get it to a point that within less than a year you're launching is super exciting. And a nod to who you guys are as people, individuals, and then also as professionals.

Bella Lash 51:33
Once again, it sounds great when you say it like that, like we still don't feel like we still don't feel super confident in our processes of how we do stuff. Because at the time, like you don't really know that it can be done. I remember, there was a moment when we were prepping to launch the US made lashes with our machine. And we had we had in parallel Ben continuing down this path of these new types of lashes. And it was very much a concept that wasn't working. It was like, Wouldn't it be great if this could work. But in reality, these things are they suck, like this sucked. They weren't ready, they were absolutely not ready. And Haley made a call. She's like exactly this, we have to divert all of our resources to this.

Mary Harcourt 52:18
And I feel it's such a true entrepreneurial thing, though, to be working on something else, and then pivot. Yeah. And that pivot is where you're at now that you couldn't have gotten this product without going down the whole path, because

Bella Lash 52:31
that was a $4 million pivot. That was like a years of my life. That was that was years of like the engineers team, all the engineers lives like it was like, we put our souls into being able to, like, produce these things here. And the call was made and rightfully so like, lashes are lashes, the lashes we were making are the same as the lashes that you can already buy. But what if you could make something that nobody else could, that's where it's like, we've gone dark, we've gone quiet on what we're doing. Because it's like, we don't want to talk about what we're doing anymore until we can just show you what we did. We want to be past tense, it's done. It's here. That was a really tough decision though, the day that that was like a we're not, we're done. Like we're put that machine on a shelf will break glass in case of emergency like if China goes to war, like we can fire it up, and we can start producing our own lashes. But like, this is where we have to focus walk away from $4 million worth of investment, and focus on this.

Mary Harcourt 53:32
Are you using that machine to make these new types of lashes? Or is it a whole separate thing,

Bella Lash 53:38
we are not the technology from the machine. And this is where it's like this was also like a really tough moment because that is like, okay, we can dealt with, we can develop the machine, or we can develop the products. Okay, we're gonna develop the product, right, now we've got the product here, the machine can produce the product, but the machine could never meet up meet the demands of those products. So we can either continue, we can push back the watch of this by at least one year, and add every year of development, we spend about a million dollars a year on our r&d team. And it was gonna take the full focus. So we have the product, and we have the technology to do it. We can we can push back at least one year to be able to meet the demands and the quantities that we need. Or we can outsource this with our partners overseas. But doing that means that we have to like we didn't patent the machine on purpose the machine would never it was never intended to be patented. So under like, there's like you have to have passwords and card readers and everything to get into the areas there's like levels within our machine shop where you have to go to get access to the machine. The technology is so private proprietary that in order to patent it, we had to show the world our blueprints of how we make these and right hands are enforceable in China. So there's the only people that are into this time. So we said Now we're not going to do that. It's all about intellectual property. and trade secrets. So we had to take our trade secrets. And we had to we had spend millions on and that was the future of our company. And we had to hand that off on a silver platter as clearly as possible. Because we can't meet with our vendors in person. We had to do all of this on Zoom calls. This is crazy.

Mary Harcourt 55:19
I feel like my heart is like, Oh my God. Yeah. I like like that. That is such a crazy journey. And story. I mean, good news is something they're really immediately here.

Bella Lash 55:35
So we can say it's like, we haven't launched it, but they are literally here and everything's done. But it was I remember, like, there was several meetings with the owner of these factories that we the, the we use overseas to purchase her lashes, and I'm like, Dude, if you screw this on, if you screw me on this, like I will, I will kill you. This is everything to us like and they they committed to build out like private facilities just for us in the factories, they're building a new facility, a new factory, and they are building out, the majority of that factory will be under locking key with with carburetors and everything, just for this production line, we have to have a cleaner production facility than what is currently being used. We have to because like our adhesive comes on the lashes. And so the adhesive cannot be contaminated whatsoever. So like the processes, the QC, everything it all had to be done between the hours of 10pm and 2am. Night after night after night. It was intense. That is so intense. Yeah.

Mary Harcourt 56:37
Oh my god. Yeah, somebody is gonna see these things come out and be like, Oh, it was so easy for them. They just got lucky.

Bella Lash 56:47
That's the thing too, is like the concept of what we've done some some aihole is going to take it and send it to their to China and be like, copy this. And they're going to get close. But we have we'll have seven patents on this. And then the adhesives and like there are we strategically kept some very, very, very proprietary stuff that is produced here has to be shipped there. And then they introduced

Bella Lash 57:12
that. And so he said that comes pre applied on them is made here and there.

Bella Lash 57:17
Yeah. So we withheld some stuff that like never in a million years. Well, it, they are remarkably good at copying. But it will be a very, very, very, very long time to get it as good as what we've got it because they they will try to copy it, but they don't understand. They don't understand what it took to create it. And so they won't understand how to fix it. Yeah. So and then you also got the patents that we're going to be pretty, pretty harsh with.

Mary Harcourt 57:42
I mean, I love it. I love that you guys came out with this, I love that you protected it, I believe in fully protecting everything. And it's I go back to like, it's still a tribute to who you are as a brand. Because now you have all of this knowledge of how to do it, how to do it efficiently, how to lock everyone else out of trying to copy and do it. And then you're gonna have this beautiful, amazing product that's yours. It's I feel like it'd be such a huge hit. It'll be worth it for you guys. Everything that you went through led you to this point and the products and it's gonna be such a game changer for you for customers for lash artists. Like I'm so excited. I it's such a hole in the market and I wish they were around when I had it because it's so true like you love lashes, but it's just not always a reality to go and get them. And I think it's like not an alternative to getting lashes. It's an alternative to not having lashes you either have no lashes are unique. Now I have this, these lashes that you guys created that last 10 days. What an awesome thing for somebody that does have lash allergies, but then go on vacation and have lashes the entire time on our vacation

Bella Lash 58:45
or the lash artist that is too busy, like doing lashes that to get our own matches, just you know, that's us. That's

Mary Harcourt 58:52
the thing too. It's so for lash artists, we'll take every last client and put them in. And all of a sudden, we don't have time to go out and get our own lashes done. And when you're out marketing saying I do lashes, they look at your lashes The first thing

Bella Lash 59:06
you just say yeah, these are these are the professional lashes.

Bella Lash 59:10
I remember going to trade shows and not having them on and everyone just be like, Why don't you have lashes on? It's like I don't think you understand what it takes to come to a trade show. Like I haven't slept in weeks. I did not have time to get my lashes done for this trade show. Yeah. So I'm excited it is for that 90% that we're just not hitting in the eyelash industry and I'm I think this is going to hit that.

Mary Harcourt 59:33
I think it'll be a massive help. And it's so interesting like, lashes have been around long enough now that are a staple in the industry. And I think we're just cracking lashes as an industry. I think we have even gotten to the best part of what's about to come where it's so standard. You have all these different options. You're going to have more styling options. It's a great revenue stream for your your lash artists and the people in salons and now it's such a great option. Trying to to be able to look good and look like you got your lashes done without having to spend the time or commitment. It's like a win win for everybody.

Bella Lash 1:00:07
Yeah, for sure. We're super excited about we're excited to see like speaking of like, you know, hiring people that are better than you like I feel like our work is at least mine my work on the products kind of coming to a close this is where Haley gets to take it with the marketing team. And we let to let we let we get to let these incredibly talented people take it and run with it and do way more with it than what we could ever do on our own. All right, wrapping

Mary Harcourt 1:00:35
up today's episode, go check out Bella Lash, Bella Lash comm they're also on Instagram at Bella Lash. I hope you're as excited as I am try these lashes. I think it's awesome. I love lashes. I love innovation. I think it's great that there's a new product that is answering the call for a lot of different things. People not everyone can swing lashes. There's so many people that are too scared to try them. And it allows them to to have them and see what it's like. It allows people to take lashes with them on vacation or take breaks. I think it's a great opportunity for the salon owner for the individual solo lash artists to have an extra income I think is great all the way around. I can't wait to try them. And I hope you got something from today's episode. You know, it really is true. Look at Bella Lash. They're in 60 countries, they have 20 patents under their belt. They've been around for 12 years. But it started with picking up a pair of tweezers and having a single idea of one product that led to one sale that led to way more products way more sales. That really does start with that 90% of the people never start and starting the majority of the battle. So if you're thinking about something in your head, this is your time. This is your moment. Go start that idea and who knows where it's going to be check in with me in a couple years and see how they give grown. I can't wait to hear about it. You can always find me at Mary Harcourt calm and on Instagram at Mary Harcourt underscore

Transcribed by https://otter.ai