Jason Harris
Amelia Goff‘s fascination with skincare ingredients and skin started during her first job at a pharmacy. From an early age, she loved the feel of skincare products, their packaging, and their key ingredients. Having experienced bad skin as a teenager and acne as an adult, Amelia knows firsthand how skin conditions can impact mental and emotional health. This led her to study the skin industry for over 12 years, working as a skin therapist and skin trainer within the beauty industry. She gained knowledge of the skin’s functions, different skin conditions, and how they come to be, as well as ingredients and how they benefit the skin.
Working with clients, Amelia realized they were often confused about where to start when purchasing skincare. Skincare routines were often unsustainable, complicated, and unaffordable. As a result, she was inspired to create a simple, affordable, and sustainable skincare range that could adapt to all skin needs. Her goal was to create a result-driven skincare range that nourished and strengthened the skin’s barrier while using only the highest quality, naturally sourced ingredients that were trialed and tested on real skins with real concerns, providing real and true skin results. Amelia’s products are free of hidden synthetic and toxic ingredients, ensuring they are safe for long-term use.
Starting Fresh Face Skin was not easy. It was a real journey with many hurdles, tears, and stress but much growth. It is what makes the success so ultra-rewarding. Amelia wanted her products to be Australian-made and owned, supporting Australian small businesses and female-run and owned businesses where possible. Female entrepreneurship is crucial to her, and she finds it inspiring to see more women claim their power and climb the professional ladder.
Amelia spent years researching and meeting with experts within the skincare field to bring her dream to life. Fresh Face Skin launched in 2017 with just three essential products. Now, six years later, with constant work, research, and development, they have a product range of twelve and plans for more.
Building a successful empire takes passion, dedication, and hard work. Amelia’s passion for skincare and desire to create a sustainable, affordable, and effective skincare range led her to start Fresh Face Skin. Her dedication to using only the highest quality, naturally sourced ingredients and supporting Australian small businesses and female-run and owned businesses has contributed to her company’s success. Fresh Face Skin’s journey to success has been challenging, but with persistence, research, and development, they have grown their product range and continue to plan for the future.
StarCentral Magazine recently caught up with Amelia to discuss her journey in the industry, and here’s what went down:
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your business?
You’ve got to spend money, to make money! This term is often used in the business world and it’s a term that I have always followed and couldn’t agree with more.
I’m aware that the skincare industry is a saturated one, so understanding that you must spend money and find professionals that you connect with, to help continuously drive your business, is what will help keep it growing and getting into the hands of new customers.
Passion and purpose are what keep me creative and driven within my business, always searching for new ways to further develop and expand my products and to further gain trust from new and existing customers.
Passion is what drives you to succeed and keep going! It’s what picks you up in the low times and what pushes you to keep excelling even in the high times.
Passion is what also keeps me engaged and up to date with what consumers are wanting within a skincare range and what competitors are doing, so we can continue to evolve and maintain a successful business.
What social media platforms do you usually use to increase your brand’s awareness?
We have always used Facebook and Instagram – for both a profile following and for ads. These 2 classic media platforms have helped us create brand awareness and sales, but most importantly, a brand presence, where we have continued to build on our customer’s trust through skin education and creating a personal point of difference as to who we are as a brand and skincare range and how we can help you on your skin journey.
We are now also on Tiktok, as keeping up with trends is so important when you have an online business.
What form of marketing has worked well for your business throughout the years?
Online ads via Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Pinterest, have been our number 1 form of marketing, especially as the Fresh Face Skin skincare range is an online business, this easily leads potential customers to our website.
As I love to write and educate people on all things skin, frequent marketing emails to our subscribers, as well as skin blogs posted on various websites, continue to help build on our brand awareness and website SEO and therefore, help to lead more people to our website.
What is the toughest decision you had to make in the last few months?
There are constant challenges and difficult decisions you are faced with when running a business and a big one for me has been people and the decisions around staff and leading a team.
Letting a staff member go and the emotion that can come with that is never easy.
There will be some people that are just not the right fit for your business. Their values may clash with yours and your business, their behaviour and attitude may affect your team culture, and their work ethic may not be to the standard you require… Whatever it is, the decision to let someone go is always a difficult one, but one you must grow to appreciate and understand, as it will ultimately determine the level of your business’ success.
On the other hand, I have had to learn to step back physically and emotionally when it comes to allowing my team to autonomously make decisions and even mistakes. I am a big believer in the power of growth and the mindset behind this, and it is important to allow your team to evolve and grow within the business, just as you have. Mistakes are opportunities to grow and learn, and by creating a team of leaders that show initiative and make independent decisions, is what allows me to have a personal life and maintain balance when it comes to being a business owner.
I think as entrepreneurs, we are so used to wearing so many hats when it comes to the many different roles we play within our own businesses while also being so used to making quick decisions or troubleshooting; after all, we build our businesses. This is what makes it so hard to step back and allow your team to do this… But by doing this, we can create a business that becomes more self-sufficient and successful even when you’re not there, which in my opinion, is a truly successful business.
What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from (or something you’d do differently?
Money is pressure and can make or break any business, especially a new baby business. When starting a new business, realistically, it is important to understand that making money and a profit, won’t be a factor for the first few years. When you have personal financial commitments, such as a mortgage, this can put external pressure on the business and its importance to succeed, which can lead to emotional decision-making that gets in the way of the business’s long-term growth and success. My best advice, if you are starting a business on a budget, is to ensure you have a constant source of income coming in, which may mean you work for someone else while getting your business off the ground to ensure you can pay your bills without putting stress on your business’ success or rushing this growth process prematurely. No business succeeds overnight. It takes time, passion, growth, commitment, and money to create a successful business. Having a secondary source of income initially will help take the pressure off your personal life while allowing you to put money into the business, where needed, to get it going.
You will know when the time is right to go all in and trust your gut instincts.
What new business would you like to start?
I’ve always felt it is important to commit to one thing at a time, or at least one thing, until you have the time and success to add to that one thing.
I am a very busy person that is constantly buzzing with new ideas and ways to layer on the Fresh Face Skin brand that I have built.
As my passion is skin and educating people on their skin and how they can improve its health – I’d love to start a podcast, that reflects this.
Knowledge is power in any situation, so it would be nice to have the opportunity to pass this on; offering listeners the knowledge needed to feel empowered and confident on their own skin journey when it comes to treating and improving their own individual skin needs and concerns and helping those around them.
If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what would you do differently?
For me, starting Fresh Face Skin came from the heart and was created due to my passion and willingness to change the skincare industry; to empower people to wear the skin they’re in, with confidence! As my business has grown, so has my team and as a result, this at times, has put stress on me, as leading people is a whole different thing and a skill many spend years studying to excel in. If I could go back to the beginning, I would spend time researching a business mentor sooner. One that I connected with and that shared the same values as me, so I could begin my journey of leading people while learning from their knowledge and experience.
I have been seeing my mentor for over a year now and it has given me the skills needed, to take control of my business and ensure that my team feels supported, heard, and motivated within their roles and has allowed me to build professional relationships, with boundaries while giving others the chance to step up and feel empowered as a result.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to start a business?
1. You never start a business for money or more ‘you time’, you start a business because you have a PASSION and PURPOSE.
You need something to drive you, a constant force that gets you out of bed each day and that keeps you working into the night. A drive that gets you through the highs and the lows, that keeps out the noise, and that gives you the self-confidence you need to take the leap and continue taking the leap. Money doesn’t always come with owning a business and ‘more you time’ takes a long time to get to.
These can be goals within your business but should never be the main reason WHY you have started the business.
Your WHY is your purpose… It’s what will make you stand out from the rest and what will lead you to true success, not only professionally, but personally.
2. No one will ever be YOU. You are your own power! Your thoughts, actions, the impressions you leave on people, the way you make them feel… No one can ever mimic that and that in itself is a superpower.
Remember just how much trust and worth you need to have in yourself and your ability when it comes to starting a business. Stay in your lane and focus on your WHY and what YOU bring to your business because that’s what people will notice and that’s what will pull you away from the rest.
3. Starting and running a successful business can be hard. Surround yourself with supportive people that cheer you on and don’t pull you down. For me, that is my husband and business partner – Daniel, who has been my rock and constant support from day one. Having an ear to listen and help guide me with my decision-making, is why Fresh Face Skin is the successful business it is today.
Jason Harris
rhoda
