The Hair -Restoration- Business

Helena Gibson - Unveil Restorative Hair Care

On keeping it moving: "What am I gonna do? I've had 19 years of this business, and now all of a sudden the government can shut it. I've gotta come up with something else."

Helena Gibson has built a successful business with her hair salons in the San Diego, California area.  But a funny thing happened in 2020, and she had to temporarily close her doors.  As we all know, the pandemic came around and the government forced many businesses to not be in business with little to no warning.  We've all heard the word pivot more than we'd like, but this story goes well beyond that.

Sometimes we are forced to make a decision that will change the course of our business.  Do you cry and wait, or do you find and appreciate the opportunity in order to utilize it and grow?  The strength of entrepreneurs is amazing in trying times, and the results are impressive.

Listen as Helena explains her story and how she created a new business, designed to help those experiencing hair loss.  She went through the trials of finding the right chemistry, the right packaging and the right marketing to take her phenomenal products to the world.  It almost makes you appreciate the struggle.

Enjoy!

Visit Helena at: https://unveilhaircare.com

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Researched and created US hair product line.
05:43 Expanding online sales to reach nationwide market.
08:15 Leveraged knowledge of hair products for formulation.
11:54 Hair loss impacts cancer patients' identity and confidence.
14:24 Rising demand for gluten-free, cruelty-free products.
17:54 Consumer perception studies show hair growth results.
21:28 Managing stress, importance of self-care, business success.
23:53 Sent gift baskets, held weekly staff meetings.
28:48 Managing separate ecommerce and brick-and-mortar teams.
29:48 Support for hair loss, career growth, digital marketing.
35:57 Selling products in stores and directly to customers.
38:20 Challenges with website management and team coordination.
41:11 Beneficial business practices and ego management.
43:22 Glass bottles weighed differently, prompting packaging adjustments.
46:09 Thicker, manageable hair, no need for wig.
52:13 Transition from store ownership to philanthropy and coaching.
Podcast Transcription:
James [00:00:00]:

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphal successes of business owners across the land. We are locally underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie. If you're listening or watching this on the web, you could do us a huge favor and share it with your entrepreneurial friends. Audio episodes can be found in the podcast link found at draw in customers.com. Today, we're welcoming slash preparing to learn from Helena Gibson from unveil restorative hair care. And, Helena, how is it going today?

Helena Gibson - Unveil Restorative Hair [00:00:32]:

It is going awesome. It's Beautiful weather. It's nice, like, overcast day in sunny California.

James [00:00:40]:

Oh, nice. Well, any day in California is probably better than a day in Wisconsin, and so you win. Okay. You definitely win. So tell us, what is Unveil?

Helena Gibson - Unveil Restorative Hair [00:00:51]:

So Unveil is a restorative hair care line that helps to thicken the hair. So a lot of our clients, I have brick and mortar stores that I've had for the last 21 years in San Diego And in Fresno, California, which is central California. And I noticed a lot of the people were coming in and buying, Rogaine based products. There are certain ones, Viviscal, RevitaGen, and there were things that they didn't like about it because they had synthetic ingredients or they had shellfish in them. And so I started thinking about that when COVID happened and it shut my business down. I was like, okay. What am I gonna do? I've had 19 years of this business,