FROM the surface wanting in, Georgiana Grudinschi has a charmed life – along with her envy-inducing Chelsea residence, good-looking boyfriend and her personal massively profitable haircare firm.
But the 28-year-old entrepreneur’s childhood was a world away from her completely curated Insta feed.
5Georgiana based keratin haircare firm in August 2019Credit: Supplied
5Georgiana and her sister Sabina pictured in the refugee campCredit: Supplied
In 1997, she and her mother and father fled their native Romania in the wake of the revolution to overthrow communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and lived in a refugee camp for 3 years.
Speaking completely to Fabulous for our #BOSSINGIT sequence, Georgiana – who moved to the UK three years in the past – defined how this expertise impressed her to begin her personal magnificence enterprise OWOW, which turned over a staggering £1.4m in lower than two years.
She mentioned: “It was my dad’s dream to flee Romania.
“He wished to create a higher life for us. I was solely 4, and leaving our pals and family was the toughest half. My mother and father mentioned me and my sister Sabina cried for the primary couple of weeks as we have been lacking residence.
“But one good factor is that it uncovered me to a lot of totally different cultures. The refugee camp in Finland is how I realized English – it was all the opposite children might converse.
“We tried our greatest to stay a regular life in there. We didn’t have the liberty to journey however I began faculty at six, which helped set up a every day routine.”
In 2000, the household left the refugee camp, and Georgiana says that is when she began day-dreaming of at some point being her personal boss.
“I knew that in order to realize that freedom of how I work and who I work with, I wanted to turn into an entrepreneur,” she mentioned.
At 18, Georgiana began her undergraduate diploma in International Business Administration Management earlier than happening to finish her Masters.
After that, she started working as an accounts supervisor for an internet affiliate marketing firm – and it was round this time that she found keratin remedies.
The remedies – that are beloved by everybody from Meghan Markle to Love Island’s Jess Gale – clean frizzy locks by injecting the porous sections with keratin, which is a necessary hair protein.
“I was hooked,” Georgiana mentioned. “I began having it completed each three months however it value a fortune.
“Each therapy was round £345 so I was spending £1,380 a yr. I thought there needed to be a cheaper choice.”
In an try to avoid wasting pennies, Georgiana began Googling at-home keratin remedies – however couldn’t discover another.
“This was a large shock to me as a result of the sweetness business is so saturated and you may mainly discover something that crosses your thoughts!” she mentioned.
5Georgiana grew to become hooked on keratin remedies when she was working full-timeCredit: Supplied
“I thought, ‘If I’m on the lookout for this type of at-home various then I’m positive there are various different girls who would like to do it themselves too.’
“And clearly I wished to make the pricing accessible so everybody might afford it.”
Despite having complete religion in her concept, Georgiana had no expertise in the sweetness business.
She mentioned: “Google was my finest good friend originally.
“I began looking for potential producers and calling them and explaining my idea.
“Most of them have been very confused as a result of though that they had expertise formulating keratin remedies, they have been used to doing it for salons.
5The merchandise are available for purchase from Beauty Bay for simply £39
OWOW At-Home Smoothing Treatment, £39 from Beauty Bay – purchase now
“I spoke to 80 producers till I discovered the one in Brazil that we began working with.”
In order to present the enterprise a correct go, Georgiana took a gamble and give up her job in early 2019 to give attention to OWOW full-time.
Investing £8,500 of the cash she’d saved over two years working full-time, she ordered her first 1,000 merchandise.
Georgiana mentioned: “Usually keratin remedies in a salon are creamy and are utilized with a brush.
“We wished to have it in a liquid format so we might put it in a spray bottle so it may very well be simply utilized to the hair with none tools.”
OWOW’s keratin spray works equally to a salon therapy however is formaldehyde- and sulphate-free and outcomes last as long as three months.
How YOU can Boss It like Georgiana and launch your individual enterprise:
The influencer advertising and marketing business isn’t what it was once and it’s not that efficient in driving gross sales. Instead, use it to create model consciousness. It’s very oversaturated too so it’s a must to be inventive with how they present merchandise in order that they stand out
When you’re in the early phases and don’t have a lot of cash to begin out, search for freelancers who might work with you on an hourly price. We used UpWork originally a lot.
Outsource as a lot as you’ll be able to afford. I made the error of considering I needed to do every thing myself.
A good way to get your product on the map is to get it in entrance of the media. So originally, I was always reaching out to journalists after which working with a PR skilled after we might afford it
During the three-month interval the place Georgiana was testing her product on totally different hair varieties, she was additionally busy kickstarting a social media marketing campaign to create a buzz round her model.
She defined: “I spent £2,000 on a pre-launch advertising and marketing marketing campaign the place we used focused social media advertisements to ask folks to hitch our ready checklist.
“We had roughly 10,000 folks signed up on the checklist earlier than we even launched which was unimaginable.
“We additionally provided a scheme the place folks might accumulate factors in the event that they invited pals to hitch the ready checklist as properly. And in the event that they collected a specific amount of factors, they may win a free product.”
Alongside this, Georgiana additionally turned to her boyfriend of 5 years Tomi – who’s a branding skilled – for assist creating OWOW’s packaging and distinctive brand.
Eight months after quitting her job, Georgiana – who can be based mostly in Finland part-time – formally launched the model in August 2019 along with her £40 keratin spray.
Even as a little lady, I was a large dreamer. I knew I wished to turn into an entrepreneur in order that I might have freedom and full management of my very own life.Georgiana Grudinschi
But simply as OWOW was beginning to get on its toes, the pandemic hit. Predictably, the sweetness business was hit arduous, with Boots’ general gross sales dropping by a staggering two-thirds between March and April 2020. Meanwhile, there was a 33 per cent improve in folks beginning new magnificence and healthcare companies in the UK after being made redundant.
“It was a nightmare,” Georgiana mentioned. “We had a large quantity of inventory ready to be shipped to our warehouse and all of the flights received cancelled.
“They have been caught on the airport ready for a flight for 3 weeks. It was very nerve-wracking and it was actually vital for me to be the one speaking with our clients.”
However, lockdown turned out to be a blessing in disguise for OWOW – as magnificence followers who have been used to having their keratin remedies in salons appeared for at-home options.
In the primary 5 months of 2020, the enterprise turned over £50,000 – however in November, OWOW made £30,000 in a single day by their Black Friday sale.
Now the corporate has turned over £1.4m – which Georgiana places right down to re-investing in promoting and dealing with e-tailers similar to Beauty Bay.
Each month, she spends roughly £42,000 a month on paid social media advertisements to get the phrase out, and he or she has constructed up an advisory board of consultants to assist her turn into the world’s main at-home salon magnificence model.
“At the second, I have 4 folks on the board,” she mentioned. “This consists of a Chief Financial Officer, a strategic accomplice and a businessman who may be very skilled in the funding aspect who helps to fundraise.
5Georgiana and her boyfriend of 5 years Tomi
“The refugee camp taught me very younger that if I need to stay a good life, I have to push arduous.
“Even as a little lady, I was a large dreamer. I knew I wished to turn into an entrepreneur in order that I might have freedom and full management of my very own life.”
For extra inspiring actual life tales, Jemma Solomon revealed her sister sister Stacey caught the labelling bug from her – she arrange her firm with £300 & now Lord Sugar has invested.
And Tropic Skincare’s Susie Ma arrange her £51m enterprise when she was 15 – Lord Sugar fired her on The Apprentice however STILL invested £200k.
Plus Rayner Davies was a single teenage mum on advantages – now her cleansing enterprise turns over £4m a yr.
Founder Susia Ma on success, inspirations and achievements with enterprise Tropic Skincare
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/15978010/bossing-it-owow-refugee-camp-haircare-company/
