Featured Interview: Renee Rouleau, Renee Rouleau Skin Care

Recently we met Renee Rouleau via our recent Start Up Princess teleseminar, she was the first caller and won a year subscription to Domino magazine. Renee has a fabulous Plano, Texas based Day Spa that also features her own skin care line. She is an excellent example of a Start Up Princess! It was a pleasure to interview Renee.

Enjoy her profile and her interview:

What inspired you? My grandmother was my initial inspiration. In a day when women-owned businesses were few and far between, I saw her in the driver’s seat of her life, living her passion, which was to help improve people’s appearance, and self esteem. She was also a great business owner, treating her employees with respect. I come from a family of entrepreneurs, so the risk-taking and hard work is in my blood.

You took out a few small business loans to fund your start up, why did you choose to get a loan rather than work with an investor?
I’ve always wanted to be in the driver’s seat of my life and my career and I don’t like to rely on any person. I like doing things my way, so it was more comfortable for me to get my own money from a bank loan.

How did you get your product line into the hands of celebrities? Has that exposure helped your business?
Some celebrities have come to our skin care salon to have facials, so they get hooked on the products after the facial. I have a publicist and some celebrities have requested to try my products. Some people worship celebrities, so when a celeb uses my products, it’s like an endorsement and people respond favorably to that.

What kind of marketing strategies have been helpful to you in finding new clients?
Word of mouth is our #1 source of new business, but you have to create incentives to get your clients to tell their friends. At our skin care salon, we have a program called “Facial with a Friend” where we offer a small discount off the facials when they schedule a visit together. It’s incredibly popular. Our regular clients bring their friends for a day of friendship and pampering. My publicist gets my products into the magazines such as Lucky, Allure and Health, so that gives great exposure and awareness of our products available on our shop on-line website, so that always brings in a lot of new clients from everywhere.

You recently won the 2006 “Top Employer” Day Spa Magazine award, what in your opinion makes a great Day Spa employer?
I learned long ago that to be a great employer, you must have the mindset that you work for your employees. They don’t work for me, I work for them. So that puts things in great perspective.

As for my estheticians, it’s my job to ensure that they receive continuing education so they stay excited and fresh. It’s my job to bring them clients via my marketing efforts. It’s my job to treat them fairly, yet set boundaries. It’s my job to see that their needs are met, both financially and emotionally within their chosen career.

I love creating a work environment that’s exciting, healthy and supportive, where all of my staff always say they look forward to coming to work every day. That’s huge. I hire well. It’s an art that I feel like I’ve perfected.

I’m sure that you’ve enjoyed seeing skin transformations take place regularly, helping women to feel as beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside. What is that like for you?
I’ve certainly learned that beauty is more than skin deep. A women’s face and their skin is the first thing they see when they look in the mirror. And if you don’t like what you see…it hurts. My business is two-fold. Not only can we drastically improve skin conditions, but we’re in a business where we promote women caring for themselves. As women, we’re so busy caring for everyone else that we fall last on the list. So when a woman comes in for a facial or cares for her skin at home with a good skin care routine, it’s a way for her to care for herself and say “I’m important, too.” And in a facial, for the esthetician to take care of her for 90 minutes, she glows from the inside and out. It’s a beautiful business for me to be in and I love it.

With all of the skin care lines out there, what sets your products apart? We consider 9 skin types…As an esthetician for 20 years, I know that there is so much going on with the skin than only dry, normal and oily which is how all of the skin care lines classify everyone. What about if you are dry, normal and oily? Or what if you still are breaking out in your 40’s, yet you have wrinkles, too? Most people have “one of everything” going on with their skin, so I created a line of over 60 products and created nine different skin types so you’re sure to find the perfect fit for your skins unique needs.

Staying out of the department stores…Because I decline to wholesale my products at the department stores, I don’t have to compete with any of those lines where so much of the money is focused on displays and packaging. I put the money into what’s inside of the bottle, which is where the focus should be. Quality ingredients, simple packaging.

Quality ingredients…We DO NOT USE the following ingredients. Mineral Oil, Petroleum, Isopropyl Mysristate, Isopropyl Palmitate, crude Lanolins, SD Alcohol 40, Sodium or Ammonium Laureth Sulfate in our gel cleansers, synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes, and No animal testing. It’s a clean line without all of the junk that offers no beneficial skin benefit. We use the best of nature and the best of science, and the products work.

Skin, not sales…Because I’m an esthetician, I truly know skin. I understand why it does what it does and I know how to help it. Because I come from that standpoint, skin always comes first before business. When I educate people about skin, I’m not just giving a sales pitch to sell my products, but rather my real desire to help people understand their skin and how to get it the best it can be. That’s why I created National Skin Care Awareness Month. It’s focused on educating others.

Where do you want to be in 5 years?
It’s exciting to think about where I’ll be in five years because I am continually improving and re-inventing myself and my company. I’m coming out with a soy-based candle line next month, so that’s exciting. I am looking into more television opportunities outside of the Dallas area…I’m at a point now where I’m thinking bigger. A lot of opportunities have come my way through the years, and I’m open to saying “yes” now, where for a long time things that were out of my comfort zone, I would turn down. I wanted to stick with my own way, in my small little world. But a lot of doors are opening for me and I’m excited to take the ride.
Favorite Magic Wand Tip for other Start Up Princesses? Books, books and books. I’m not college educated and I had no formal business training. I’ve always just run my business on my instincts. But business books are an excellent tool for helping you to think outside of the box. I read constantly.