A $600 Million CEO Shares #1 Tip for Creating Massive Growth

Is she amazing?

Thank you.

That was fantastic. I just loved it. I mean, you truly are an inspiration. Because what I love about you, Jan, is that you really are in this for the love of what you do. You truly are. And obviously that exudes throughout the company. And I'm sure they feed off of your energy and excitement and also your loyalty to your customer. I mean, that's a tough one because I think a lot of companies, they see other financial opportunities and they don't want to turn them down. So actually, by you staying focused on the Nail Professional, you knew who your customer was, you actually gained so much more loyalty and you saw the potential in the long term there, which was so smart.

Well, and to your point, it is interesting. We sit in high level meetings where, all right, on a picnic. We're having a picnic. Now we're in the park. No, there are tremendous temptations that people will come in with, I've got an idea, we should do this. And I think if you, you know who you are and you're die hard about it and you reinforce it at every turn, like for us, that's really key. At town hall meetings, at gatherings, at distributor meetings, you know, if you repeat it and it's in your soul and you lead it and live it yourself as the leader, then you inspire it in others and it keeps you on track. So if somebody says, I've got a good idea, we should do, you know, a departure into a new channel, I'm asking, and my team is asking, okay, how does that benefit the nail professional? How does that help advance our state of the industry? And if we can't answer the question, then we know that, okay, it's a good idea, but it's not for us.

Right. And that's actually, we're going to be talking later today about building your strategic vision. And I think it is so important to know that in every fiber of your being and everybody around you needs to know that too. Right. So that you do stay on course. So that actually leads me to, I think, a really great question that many people would like the answers to. You are a powerful leader. What do you do? I think a lot of business owners struggle with how do we get our teams motivated? How do we find the right people and then how do we keep them motivated and inspired like you do?

Well, finding the right people. For me, it's finding people with a passion for the brand, with, you know, with love for the brand. They understand the point of difference. And then I think you have to empower them to really own Whatever it is you're doing. So if my philosophy is, if I have a great idea, I have this, I wake up with a great idea. If I go to the people I trust and who are empowered to carry the torch for the company, I know if I take my idea to them, they're going to take it to the next level. So my idea might be a 5, they'll make it a 10. And so I can't see my ideas. The only answer, it's the seed that. That then must blossom. And it's gotta be the team that takes the seed that owns it, that sees the creativity. Once they own it, then we can do anything. So I think I go in, I paint a picture. Sometimes they look at me like I'm crazy. Probably half the time they're like, oh, my God, here, Jan's got this crazy idea. And then. And we start there, I think it's good to go all the way. Blue sky. And then I find in the room, you have a mix of people. You have the expressors, the analytics, the drivers. You've got. And then you've got the biting foxes. They're like, that isn't going to work. You can't do that. And I've learned that they're the ones that I listen to the most, even though I know I've got no on my jacket somewhere. I hate that word, no. But if somebody says no or they're biting at me, I want to know, okay, why? What are you thinking? Because I'm solutions oriented, so. Okay, well, that's a good point. Okay. You brought up a really good hurdle. And I find if you listen to those little biting foxes, they make your idea better.

Right?

They really do.

Because that is the hurdle that could come up in other people's minds. So then you can go, okay, if that's a possibility.

And.

And I know you don't take no for an answer. I know that about you. So then you find a way around that.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You don't like this way, then how can we make it happen? And if I figure if they can see the vision, can you see the sky? Can we see where we're going? For if they believe in the vision and they can see the light, then we'll figure out how to get there.

Right?

But. So that's really my job, is to sell the moon. Like, where's the moon? What does it look like? You know? And they can figure out how to get there, but if I can get them to believe that the moon is there and it can be Ours. That's really my job.

That's beautiful. So we just need to sell the moon. And so, which leads me to My next question is about sales, because that's obviously what's going to drive the revenue of the company. And, you know, at the entrepreneur's heart, they're like an artist, right? You're a creative, many of them. And some of them are natural at sales, but many are not. And, you know, you going after the fashion industry and Oscar de la Renta and getting these key influencers, how did you make that shift? And what would you say to the people out there that aren't necessarily the extroverts, but it's so important that they're going, that they are out there selling?

Yeah, it's such an important question. And I have a life lesson that I can share on that one near and dear to my heart. So I am very shy. I'm a really shy person. Like, deep down, I'm super shy. And when we started our business, first of all, I believed in my father's vision. I believed in the product. And I had to put myself out there and step over the line of comfort to learn confidence in public, to learn how to persuade, to learn how to look someone in the eye. Most of the people when we joined the industry were my dad's age, all the distributors who are way older than us. And so I had to get their attention. I had to get their respect. I needed to make sense to them. So we went in and had to learn all these life skills. And I remember this one circumstance where I. I was teaching a class for like 200 nail professionals kind of way back in the day, and, you know, passionate, showing them about the products, teaching the science. And at the end of the class, and I knew I nailed it. Boom, done. I made connection. I could feel the energy in the room. And at the end, I walked off the stage and I had a little group of nail pros that came up to me and they said, you know, Jan, we love you. We would follow you anywhere. We love what you're wearing, love your nails, we love your philosophy. And I don't know what led me to this question, but I said, so glad you love me. Do you use C and D? And they're like, oh, no, we don't use your product. And I'm like, why? And they said, because nobody asked us. And that, honestly, to your question, was my biggest lesson in sales, because I thought it was enough to motivate, excite, show them something shiny and exciting new. And now I Know that you have to put. You have to. In every presentation. I try to end it with a philosophy called Act Now. What is the action when you leave this room? It's not just that I've motivated you, but what is the action I need you to take? Please go to the booth, please buy a kit, sign up for the class and go home and charge what you're worth. Act now. And it doesn't matter any circumstance. At a trade show, at a class, if a nail pro comes up and goes, jan, I love you. I'm like, do you use C and D? No. Okay, come with me and I'll make sure. And I. In our biggest trade shows, I'm on the show floor taking pictures with people, talking to people, showing the mix ratio, getting them to show me what problem they're having. And I model that for my, my education ambassadors. That you're having a problem, we're going to solve it, but I'm going to walk away knowing that, that you're going to buy my product. Because if not, I'm fired. Like, I have no purpose being there if I didn't, if I didn't make a sale.

Right. Did you all hear that? You got to be asking for the sale. That is every time.

Do you use my product? Yes, Jan, I use the whole system. And I'm like, okay, good answer.

Yeah, that is fantastic. Well, we just have a few minutes left and I'd like to give you all a chance to ask Jan a couple of questions. We just have a few minutes because she's got to be on her way, but why don't we take somebody here at the mic and then somebody over here.

Jan, that was awesome. Thank you so much. I really appreciate all your wisdom. I could feel your life lessons in there. And so thank you for coming and sharing that with us. My question is this. It is so scary to niche down that small. And even looking at your numbers of people, that would be your audience today, that would just be so scary. Were there moments when you questioned yourself on that or what gave you such validity that you knew that was the right thing to do? Or did you ever, you know, wonder, am I doing the right thing with that? Because that is, to me, of everything you said, that is the scariest piece. Because it's such a small market, literally compared to what most people might have?

Yeah, well, I'll put nails into perspective. The nail industry is a nine billion dollar industry. Is that a shocker? That's a shocker, right? So it's a major, major industry. It's super easy entry. But to sustain that SSS philosophy, sustainable salon success. We have the same mantra for ourselves, I think for us because we were so laser focused on innovation, education, all our core pillars, that as we were realizing success, we utilized that success to plow it right back into the business to continue the growth. And it probably wasn't until we had our outside board of directors that we even realized how big the company was getting, how important our business was. I think we were so in it to win it that we couldn't even see it objectively. So I think for any of you who are in that sort of mid stage of your business and you're an entrepreneur and you've got, you wear a lot of hats for us having that outside board of directors, they taught us everything we needed to know to become a big, big company, a big global company. But no, I don't think we were ever nervous because we knew what the potential was and we felt empowered again. It kind of sounds so simple. If your dad says you can do it, you can do it. So I'm like, okay, I have a job to do. Thank you.

And it's also, it's not, it's because these customers can be, it's not like they're one time customers. They'll buy over and over and over again. And so having the loyalty right then there that they're there, it's key. Yes, Julianne.

Hi Jan, my name is Julianne and I do personal brand and image development. And I have a branding question for you. How important do you think your service culture and empowerment culture is in your brand as a whole?

I would say that our service and our professional. Was that the second word you used?

Empowerment? Empowerment to the women, to the nail professionals, it's everything.

It's everything in who we are. Because especially if you realize that out of all of our competitors, we are the only ones who have stayed true to the nail professional. Every single other company has migrated into mass channels and it's blurred the lines, it's left the nail professional disillusioned. Who can I trust? For us, because we're so high technology and science based, everything is worked out into systems for the nail professional. So if they cherry pick the system and they go rogue, then things can go wrong. And so our real goal is to empower them with the knowledge of how the system works and how if they use the system, they can charge what they're worth and they can guarantee their services. They can guarantee their services. So empowerment, it's cultivating intelligent service providers Based on fact and science. And you can never go wrong if you base your information on fact and science. Never. And that will be the path. I mean, we don't need to take any other channel to continue to grow our business. You know, I figure there might be nail pros that use. We have a nail polish called Vinylux, doesn't require a base coat, but it does require a top coat that everyone loves the top coat and they're using it over every other nail polish. But if they use it over vinyl luxe color, it actually lasts longer. It serves their needs better. So if I can convey that information and empower them with that intelligence, then they're choosing my systems because they know the difference. If I just say, you have to use it this way, they'll say, yeah, whatever. But if they know why and the fact that we're science based, we know why. So it's everything.

And so I have a follow up question. In order for us to support your company, is there a search engine or database? Where did you like that? I asked that question.

Thank you.

Because I need those chrome nails.

Yes, you do. You do, yes. So it's cnd.com and there's a salon locator that you can put your zip code in. We also, I just want to mention there is a digital nail art competition that we're the primary sponsors for called Nails Next Top Nail Artist. And one of the top contenders has a salon in Chula Vista and she's doing, she's lighting the world on fire with Chrome nails. So I'll leave the information with Allison. And they, they're doing phenomenal things, but you'll find great CND products. Thank you. Thank you for asking. Yay.

We'll have, you know, we, we have all these entrepreneurs that we work with and that we mentor business owners. So we'll have all our ladies with chrome nails now. Yes, that's going to be a requirement. So. Well, this was just so wonderful. Thank you. And I want to say truly, what she says, she lives and breathes. When Jan was back here, she was talking, we've got the whole stylist team back here. And she was, I could hear her, you know, out my ear while I was talking to someone going on and on about, do you know about shellac? You should be using shellac.

Buy it now.

Yeah, it's true. Like, you know, and you just, you are, you're still, after all these years, so passionate about it and excited and it just, I think that energy just carries forward.

Thank you.

Anyway, thank you for being here and sharing your knowledge, your wisdom, your inspiration. Thank you.

It was an honor. My honor. Thank you.