KAYLA HOULIHAN - TRIBE SKINCARE

ON WHY SHE’S CHOSEN TO BUILD A BRAND, NOT JUST A BUSINESS

This chat is with Kayla Houlihan - she's the founder of direct-to-consumer beauty brand Tribe Skincare. 

Back in 2018, Kayla was working as a skin therapist in her family’s clinic, and recognised a gap in the market for a skincare brand specifically formulated to address sensitive skin concerns. It was this realisation that led to the birth of Tribe Skincare. 

In 2018, with just $20k and an Instagram following of 1000 people, Kayla launched her brand with 4 trial products. Only a few months in, she was turning over $90k a month, and quit her job at the salon to focus on the biz full-time. Now, she has developed over 15 products, has a community of hundreds of thousands of women across her social platforms, and has grown Tribe into a multi-million dollar business.

You’ll learn: 

  • Why Kayla spent her initial $20k solely on product development and stock

  • How she launched with 4 trial products and an Instagram audience of 1k followers

  • How she expanded her range to over 15 products in just a few short years 

  • How she tackled a recent project to bring down her COGS

  • How she used Facebook Group marketing to rapidly grow her social media following to ~60k Instagram followers and 140k TikTok followers, as well as which of these platforms converts to sales

  • Why she’s decided not to pursue international expansion right now, despite there being a huge demand from customers

  • Why she’s now investing in her brand, to get her messaging, communication and visual identity right 

We hope you enjoyed this conversation – for more podcast action follow us on Instagram @lady.brains, or sign up to our monthly newsletter at www.ladybrains.com 

This episode was produced in partnership with Tribe Skincare.

THE BITS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

“I still Google absolutely everything in business. I think 95% of founders, maybe even more…we don’t know what we’re doing.”
— On learning as you go.
“I thought the whole business was about having products. I didn’t really think about what the products looked like, what our visual identity was, and what the brand actually stood for.”
— On investing all of her initial cash into her product, and nothing in brand.
“Instead of thinking ‘I want to get into this particular retailer, I hope it happens’, I talk about it like it’s already happened. I tell myself ‘When I’m in this retailer, this is how it’s going to be’. Talking about my goals that way is going to manifest them into reality.”
— On the power of manifestation and believing in her ability to achieve great things.
“I’m keeping my focus really narrow. There are all these shiny things, like international expansion. Everyone is telling me to ‘do it! The demand is there!’. But what about the demand from customers that are already here in Australia? It’s not like every single person in Australia and New Zealand have used Tribe Skincare…yet.”
— On the importance of maintaining focus and not getting distracted by new potential opportunities.
“Our visual brand is strong, it’s so recognisable. I always think about how customers need to see a product or a brand 7 times before they remember it. I feel like with Tribe Skincare, people only need to see it 1 or 2 times.”
— On the importance of creating a memorable, unique brand.

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