We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carly Asare a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Carly , thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.
I think for me which I also recommend for others is to just take a break in order to avoid the burnout phase of entrepreneurship. At the end of 2023 I hit a major burnout wall and how I noticed was I started to have a creative block. This block started well before Black Friday 2023, but I knew that I couldn’t take a break then, my business relies on me solely! For me though mid-September 2023 I already knew that I was taking a break in December 2023. During the year of 2023 though my business skyrocketed!!!! I processed and shipped thousands of orders alone, I made thousands of bottles of products alone, sent all my marketing emails myself all of the normal entrepreneurship things! At first, I felt guilty, I talked about ne taking much needed time off with my therapist and she agreed that I need time off as well! So I knew that I needed time off and away from business and I was okay with that after much thought. I knew if I wanted to come back stronger and harder in 2024, I needed time for myself. I highly suggest to other business owners to take the time they need!
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Many customers who are just meeting and hear the business name may see the banner or my t-shirt first thinking that I am Lillian! Lillie Bell Thomas, my late Nana passed in December of 2020, she is one of the people who taught me to pride myself on hair care. The way she viewed it was that our hair is our crown, this is one of the first things that people see when they see you, along with your face. Lillian’s Lush Organics was a business idea before I even knew it! In 2020, I had done a big chop due to my hair falling out during the height of the pandemic. I remember sitting in the chair at the hairdresser I was seeing at the time and told her to just cut it all off! Prior to my big chop though, I had never dealt with my natural curl pattern EVER! I can recall the next day after my big chop me just taking the steps to figure it out because I had no other choice but a hat or a wig in the middle of July! A couple of weeks after my big hair cut, I can remember seeing huge flakes on my scalp, I had never been actually diagnosed, so it was me just trying to cover up the flakes. I finally went to get diagnosed because the conditions that I didn’t know I had at the time was getting worse and worse. I finally was diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis, which is a common skin condition that mainly affects your scalp. It causes scaly patches, inflamed skin, and stubborn dandruff.
After being diagnosed, I was given three different prescriptions at the time. All of these prescriptions worked for a short period of time, and I was right back at the dermatologist. These visits after diagnosis were now about every three months, the prescriptions weren’t expensive, but they also were not cheap for someone who was still in college. After a couple more visits I then started to do some natural remedy research because again this was becoming very costly. I came across a couple of different oils, herbs and essential oils and made my first batch of product for myself in my parent’s kitchen on the stove in my childhood home! I used the formula that I created for a while but still was having flare-ups more frequently than I would have liked to, I then went back to the drawing board to find more oils, herbs, and essential oils; this is when the current formula for my bestseller The Healthy Hair Growth Serum was born! With this product, I was using it but not as frequently as I should have but I saw major hair growth and a change in my scalp health.
Fast forward to 2022, I can remember the weekend of my birthday, my older sister Barb had asked me for a bottle to try; I gave her some of the product in a bottle from an entirely different hair brand because that’s all I had (she still has the bottle to this day). After she tried the product she said to me, “You need to sell this to people; it’s hair crack…” In my head, I was like “Who would buy this?” That same weekend, which was a holiday weekend, I remember just taking the leap by the time Labor Day came, I had purchased 30 bottles from Amazon, made a logo, and posted the product along with some before and after pictures on my social media platforms. The name of the business came from my late Nana, who I miss immensely. That same weekend, all 30 bottles were sold! I then went back to buy more bottles because of the demand. I literally took my last $50-$100 from another business I had owned previously and flipped it into the revenue that I have made today, which is over $40,000 for the year of 2023!
I AM A PRODUCT OF MY PRODUCTS! For me, I want my customers to know that I am in this with them as well! I have had times where I had thin or missing edges. I have also had times in my hair care journey where my hair growth was stagnant. For me, it’s not just about selling a product to people; I like to provide resources, etc. Most people do not understand that there is so much that can be going on within the body that can cause hair loss, and this is where the science and healthcare worker in me steps in. I like to also teach my customers to advocate for themselves when they are speaking with healthcare professionals about hair loss they may be experiencing. On social media, I also show up and show my customers the real! For example, I speak highly of the fact that your blood works/labs quantities can play a role in hair loss; if I am getting blood work due to a change I may be feeling in my body, I come back with the results to share with my community. I also think that me doing heavy reading and research often has helped with building a community who do not just buy from me but also trusts my judgment when it comes to certain things.
For 2024 we have some exciting products to roll out! For this year we have things like a hair grease, liquid shampoo, liquid conditioner and more that will be coming out! We suggest that everyone reading join our email list to not be left out of new product launches!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Perserverance 2. Having An Understanding For Science
3. Creativity
The biggest thing from me to another entrepreneur on this journey you must have perseverance! There are going to be days you just don’t feel like it at all; work still needs to be done! When you are a business owner no matter the field your customers are relying on you, I’m not saying work until you’re sick etc. but, on those days, you don’t feel like it there is a customer that is relying on you for a service, product; whatever that may be. I think for me the way that I look at it is giving up is not an option, there is no plan B for me this is it. On my days that I don’t feel like it more times than none I have a customer who is counting on me for their haircare and that usually brightens my day! The next thing for those who are into skincare, hair care or want to make handmade products you must have a science understanding. Handmade products involve you having at least a basic understanding, this is not a field of selling that you can have little to no knowledge. In the beauty field people are counting on you to have an understanding of your products. Lastly, entrepreneurship involves A LOT of creativity and thinking outside of the box! When it comes to marketing and even branding it’s all about creativity, there are so many customers out there that will buy your product or service off just how creative you are!
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I think for me this is a time to stop and regroup. This is also a time to sit with the overwhelming feeling and figure out why it is overwhelming at the moment. Some days I will work and think until I can’t work or think anymore, for me THAT IS OVERWHELMING! I have now come to the conclusion with my therapist that I must set a time to stop working and stick to those boundaries. Since I will overwork and overthink myself into being overwhelmed this is the best thing that I can do. Lately this new method has been working! I also think that having a to-do for the day, week and month are also helpful! I think when I see too many task that must be checked off that sends me into an overwhelming state in which then I do not want to do any more, I have also noticed that when I get too overwhelmed, I tend to get fatigued. If and when this happens allow myself the nap and then I restart whatever it was when I wake up.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lillianslushorganics.com
- Instagram: @LilliansLushOrganics (Business) / @ICarlyyyyJ (Personal)
- Facebook: Lillian’s Lush Organics
Image Credits
Abri Celebrity Photography For Professional Photos
