Podcast Summary
From farm to successful business, Carissa defied odds with passion and purpose: Growing up on a farm, Carissa developed a creative spirit and tenacity, which led her to disrupt the cosmetics industry with Thrive Cosmetics, a vegan DTC brand. Technology helped her compete and focus on purpose, donating to charities daily.
Starting a business and making a difference can be achieved by anyone, no matter their background, with the help of technology and a strong sense of purpose. Carissa Bodnar, the founder and CEO of Thrive Cosmetics, grew up on a farm and developed a creative and entrepreneurial spirit at a young age. She challenged the status quo and pursued her passion for the beauty industry, even without cable or internet. Her consistency and tenacity led her to create Thrive Cosmetics, a vegan direct-to-consumer cosmetics brand that has disrupted the industry. By donating to charities every day and focusing on purpose, Thrive Cosmetics has grown to support over 500 charities. Technology, such as Shopify, has enabled Carissa to compete with industry giants and build a successful business from home. The story of Carissa and Thrive Cosmetics is a testament to the power of entrepreneurship, consistency, and purpose.
Turning adversity into opportunity: Embrace challenges to build resilience and learn valuable skills. Keep pursuing ideas despite rejection or setbacks.
Overcoming challenges can help build resilience and strength. The speaker shared stories from her childhood, including creating businesses like selling toilet seat covers and making Monopoly boards, which showcased her entrepreneurial spirit and hustle. These experiences not only provided opportunities for creativity but also taught her valuable lessons in sales and marketing. Despite facing rejection or challenges, she continued to pursue her ideas and learn from each experience. This mindset of turning adversity into opportunity is a powerful one that can serve anyone well in their personal and professional lives.
From Monopoly to Business Success: High School Fundraiser Sparks Entrepreneurial Passion: Determination, hard work, and a strong support system can lead to great opportunities and successes in life.
Passion and determination, even at a young age, can lead to incredible experiences and opportunities. The speaker shared how creating a Monopoly board for a fundraiser in high school not only helped her become engaged in her education but also solidified her interest in business and entrepreneurship. Her experiences in Future Business Leaders of America and DECA were pivotal in changing her life. Additionally, she was inspired by her grandmothers, particularly her grandmother Ruth, who immigrated to America and worked tirelessly despite facing numerous challenges. This tenacious spirit instilled in her the belief that there were no excuses for not hustling and achieving her goals. The speaker's passion for beauty was evident from a young age, and she took various paths to ultimately succeed in the industry. Her story serves as a reminder that determination, hard work, and a strong support system can lead to great things.
Finding confidence and success through personal passions: Embracing passions, even during self-doubt, can lead to confidence, creativity, and success. Mentors, especially those outside of family, can also be transformative.
Discovering and embracing personal passions, even during periods of insecurity or self-doubt, can lead to confidence, creativity, and success. The speaker's experiences with makeup and chemistry illustrate this idea. She found that when she felt confident and empowered through her love of beauty, she was able to tap into her creativity and pursue her passions. Additionally, had her chemistry education been focused on cosmetics, she believes she would have excelled. The impact of mentors, especially those outside of family, can also be transformative. The speaker's experience with Carol Hamilton at L'Oreal is a prime example. Hamilton, an executive at L'Oreal, made a significant impact on the speaker's life and career, inspiring her to continue growing and pushing boundaries in the beauty industry.
Meeting a mentor and overcoming tragedies: Surround yourself with supportive people and give back to make a difference. Tragedies can serve as turning points to reevaluate priorities and find new purpose.
Success in business and life is not just about individual achievements, but also about the impact we have on others and the role models who pave the way for us. The speaker shared her experience of meeting a mentor, Carol Hamilton, who inspired her to believe in her potential and change the industry. Tragedies, such as the loss of a friend, can also serve as turning points, leading us to reevaluate our priorities and find new purpose. The speaker's experience underscores the importance of surrounding ourselves with supportive people and giving back to our communities. Entrepreneurship and personal growth are lifelong journeys filled with challenges, but with the right mindset and role models, we can make a difference and leave a lasting impact.
Starting a business with a purpose: A business with a purpose can grow significantly and make an impact. Utilize platforms like Shopify to focus on growth and reach a global audience.
Creating a business with a purpose can lead to significant growth and impact. The founder of Thrive Cosmetics started with the goal of donating makeup and skincare to those in need and has since expanded to support various causes and communities. Starting with one charity in Washington state, the business has grown to reach all 50 states and even the world. This success can be attributed to the community and customers who shared a vision beyond what the founder could have imagined. Additionally, utilizing a user-friendly platform like Shopify can help entrepreneurs focus on growing their business without worrying about the technical aspects of setting up an online store. By starting a business with a purpose and leveraging the right tools, one can turn their dream into a thriving enterprise.
Managing wealth with ease and effectiveness: Linking and viewing multiple investment accounts on a platform like Yahoo Finance offers valuable tools, data, and research to inform investment decisions. Prioritizing clean and sustainable practices in investments can also provide superior product performance and peace of mind for consumers.
Having all your investment accounts in one place can make managing your wealth easier and more effective. The use of a platform like Yahoo Finance, which allows secure linking and unified viewing of multiple accounts, can provide access to valuable tools, data, and research to help inform investment decisions. Additionally, companies prioritizing clean and sustainable practices, such as Thrive Cosmetics, are increasingly important to consumers and can offer superior product performance. By staying informed and innovative, these companies can differentiate themselves in the market and provide peace of mind for consumers.
Focusing on unique value proposition drives success: Staying true to ethos and values, even with limited resources, leads to innovative, high-quality vegan and cruelty-free beauty products.
Creating high-quality, innovative vegan and cruelty-free beauty products, despite the constraints and challenges, has been the key differentiator for the success of the business. The speaker emphasized the importance of focusing on what sets the business apart and the role scarcity plays in driving creativity and innovation. She shared her personal experiences of starting and growing the business with limited resources and the importance of having a strong ethos and commitment to the cause. The speaker also highlighted the importance of being authentic and leading with values, even if not all consumers are aware of them. Overall, the conversation underscored the importance of staying true to one's vision, values, and mission, even in the face of challenges and scarcity.
Building a business while working full-time: Transparency with employers, focusing on the job, using income for expenses, and relying on word-of-mouth and media coverage can help entrepreneurs start and grow a business while working full-time
Starting a business while working full-time can provide financial stability, mentorship opportunities, and a sense of peace of mind during the early stages of entrepreneurship. The speaker, who built Thrive Cosmetics as a side hustle, emphasized the importance of transparency with employers, focusing on the job at hand, and using the income to cover expenses while growing the business. During the first few years, sales were a challenge, and the speaker relied on word-of-mouth and media coverage to gain customers. Despite the difficulties, having a full-time job allowed her to weather the financial storm and learn valuable skills that contributed to the eventual success of Thrive Cosmetics.
Leveraging Community and User-Friendly Tools for Growth: Thrive Causemetics grew by focusing on community and using user-friendly tools like Shopify to build relationships and gain insights into consumer behavior. The founder's background and self-taught skills in HTML helped effectively use Shopify to update product detail pages, allowing the brand to focus on product development and customer acquisition.
Building a strong community of customers and utilizing user-friendly tools like Shopify have been key factors in the growth and success of Thrive Causemetics. The founder shared her experience of securing a significant sales boost through an appearance on The Today Show, but acknowledged the challenge of maintaining that momentum. By focusing on building relationships with customers one-by-one and utilizing tools like Lucky Orange to gain insights into consumer behavior, Thrive Causemetics was able to expand and reach new customers. The founder's background as a product developer and cosmetic chemistry expert allowed her to teach herself HTML and effectively use Shopify to update product detail pages. Shopify's agility and constant innovation have been crucial for entrepreneurs like Thrive Causemetics, allowing them to focus on product development and customer acquisition rather than getting bogged down in the technical aspects of building and maintaining a website. With Shopify's continued growth and innovation, it remains a valuable partner for businesses looking to succeed in the direct-to-consumer space.
Thrive Causemetics: Beyond Beauty: Thrive Causemetics' success is driven by exceptional product performance and community engagement in philanthropy, allowing it to donate to over 500 charities and distinguish itself as a brand 'bigger than beauty'.
Thrive Causemetics' success is rooted in both exceptional product performance and a strong community engagement focused on philanthropy. The CEO's obsession with analytics and sales data demonstrates the importance of product success in attracting customers. However, the community's involvement in nominating charities and ultimately deciding which organizations to support has built a powerful brand narrative that goes beyond beauty. This grassroots approach to philanthropy has allowed Thrive Causemetics to donate to over 500 charities and reach smaller, volunteer-run organizations that might not have otherwise received support. The symbiotic relationship between product performance and community engagement has been instrumental in Thrive Causemetics' growth and sets it apart as a brand that is "bigger than beauty."
Finding the right hires and connecting with customers: Streamline hiring with a powerful platform and prioritize character, attitude, and reliability for strong hires. Connect with customers on a personal level to build brand loyalty and inspire product development.
Effective hiring and strong customer connections are crucial for business success. The entrepreneur in the discussion emphasized the importance of finding candidates with the right character, attitude, and reliability, which can be time-consuming. However, by using a powerful hiring platform like Indeed, businesses can streamline their hiring process and attract high-quality candidates. Moreover, the entrepreneur shared how connecting with customers on a personal level can lead to brand loyalty and even product inspiration. The entrepreneur's cosmetics brand, Thrive Cosmetics, is a great example of this, as they name their products after inspiring customers and involve them in the product development process. By prioritizing hiring and customer connections, businesses can not only improve their operations but also build a community of passionate supporters.
Empowering Entrepreneurs with Shopify: Shopify provides access to customer data and website development tools, inspiring women entrepreneurs and enabling growth. Community engagement and seeking help are essential for success.
Shopify has empowered entrepreneurs, particularly women, to create and grow their businesses by providing direct access to customer data and enabling quick website development. The speaker, a successful female entrepreneur, emphasizes the importance of community engagement and the inspiration drawn from previous generations of women entrepreneurs. She encourages aspiring entrepreneurs, regardless of their backgrounds, to ask for help and believe in themselves to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals. The speaker's story highlights the power of determination, graciousness, and the opportunities available through platforms like Shopify.
Consistency and kindness matter in relationships: Show up, ask for help, express gratitude, understand finances, and focus on individual lives changed
Consistency and kindness are key to making an impact in both personal and professional relationships. Keep showing up, asking for help, and expressing gratitude to others, even when you make mistakes. Profitability is essential for entrepreneurial freedom, so it's crucial to understand your business's financials, including the profit and loss statement. Learning the basics of finance and putting in the work can lead to better decision-making and long-term success. Additionally, focusing on the individual lives changed through your efforts is a powerful reminder of the importance of making a difference, one life at a time.
Neglecting finance can lead to exploitation: Learn financial literacy, know your numbers, and avoid potential exploitation. Profit in life goes beyond just financial gains, it's about finding joy, connection, and inner peace.
Understanding financial numbers is crucial for business success and personal growth. Carissa Alves, the founder of Thrive Causemetics, shared her experience of neglecting finance aspects early on, which led to being taken advantage of. She emphasized the importance of learning financial literacy and knowing your numbers to make informed decisions and avoid potential exploitation. Carissa also highlighted that profiting in life goes beyond just financial gains; it's about finding joy, connection, and inner peace, even during challenges and conflicts. To learn more about Carissa and Thrive Causemetics, visit thrivecosmetics.com and artthrivecosmetics.com. Remember, focusing on scarcity and having the right tools can help you overcome challenges and build a successful business.
Carissa Bodnar's Valued Community and Customer Collaboration: Carissa Bodnar's success stems from deeply valuing her community and regularly seeking customer feedback, resulting in a loyal customer base and unique product offerings.
Carissa Bodnar, the founder of Primal Life Organics, values her community deeply and prioritizes collaboration with her customers. She is known for her engagement and seeks their feedback regularly, even naming some of her products after them. This level of connection sets her apart and contributes to the success of her business. If you enjoyed this episode of Young and Profiting podcast featuring Carissa Bodnar, please share it with your network. Writing a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts is another way to support the show, which has over 450 reviews due to its dedicated listeners. Don't forget to follow your host, Hala, on Instagram (@yapwithhala) or LinkedIn (Halataha) for more insights. Lastly, a big shout-out to the Yap team for their hard work behind the scenes.
