EXACT process to launch a skincare business - step by step, just COPY THIS

Links to everything mentioned in the video within the text below, otherwise go to http://www.revega.co.uk and search the small business hub linked in the main menu.

I’m Jenna and I’ve been running (and even sold) small businesses for over 20 years.  I’m now in the cosmetics space and in this video I’m going to give you the EXACT steps to launching your own skincare, bath and body or cosmetics brand.  Just copy the steps!  I’ll be pointing you at everything you need throughout where you may find some handy discount codes too.  No excuses to get started after this.

Another highly requested video.  I’m trying to somewhat collate the information across my channel into easy to digest step by step videos.

One thing I will say before we get into this is that you MUST (and this is non negotiable) have one skill to run a business, and that is the ability to think and act for yourself.  It sounds obvious, but if you are someone who seeks answers from someone else before every step and refuses to research for themself and can’t problem solve, I’m sorry, but brutal truth, you won’t make it.  Business is hard, it requires a lot from you and the cosmetics niche is riddled with regulations which are difficult to navigate without a ‘can-do’ attitude.  There are options for you though and I’ll cover those in another video.

If you’ve not been put off by that little dose of reality, then hi, this video is for you.  We’re focusing on starting a small skincare brand where you make and sell the products from home.  Let’s get started.

For the purposed of this video I’m going to assume that you have a space to work in, equipment to make products and the required trade approved scales.  If not, then the small business hub linked below is your friend and has links for these things and I have videos on my channel addressing trade approved scales and why we need them.

This video is designed so that you can follow these steps in order.  If you want to read this instead with all necessary links, you can find a link to the free blog post linked below.

Step 1 - Determine your target customer niche and what they want

There really isn’t any point in starting anything until you know who you will be selling to and what they want to buy.  Otherwise you’re just throwing random products out there in the the hope someone will like them. 

Do your research.  Look at current trends, look at what is selling.  Look at what customers are saying about these products by looking at reviews and comments on social media.  What are they asking for? What changes could you make you create a unique product that fits these customer needs?

Once you decide on the products from this research (and remember to stay unique as copying will result in an unsustainable and ill thought of brand), you can look at who is buying these products, what age group, what gender, what other accounts do they follow on social media, what do they do in their spare time, where are they buying products?  What kind of disposable income do they have?  Will you be aiming at the more luxury end? Or more high street? Kids or adults?

Create an avatar from this information. This person will be a certain gender, age, have certain interests and income level.  It is this person that all your marketing is now targeted at.  When you create your products you are creating for them.

Step 2 - Business Plan

What are your business values, what is your mission, why are you starting your business, what are you selling, who to, how will you market and sell your products, what are your expectations for the year?  You need to think about this and have a clear roadmap for yourself so you aren’t just ‘winging it’.  I have a very under-loved business plan template available in the hub, which I suggest getting if you don’t know how to write a business plan. 

Essentially it’s your roadmap to success, helps to keep you on track and can evolve with you as you change things and see new opportunities.

Within this plan you should decide whether to be a sole trader or limited company.  I’d always recommend starting as a sole trader to keep things simple whilst you get used to running a business.  An accountant can help advise you, or check the .gov website for more information.

Step 3 - Start formulating your products and choose containers

You’ll need some products to sell, so let’s get on that.  I’d choose 1-3 product types to start with but no more.  Anymore and it’s hard to keep focus and it becomes expensive.  You want each one to be something you love and are proud to sell, so spend the time perfecting your formulas.

Once you create a formula you love you’ll need to choose suitable containers for it, or packaging.  Will you use plastic or glass jars and bottles, or do you wrap solid products in paper or shrink film?  For ingredient and packaging suppliers, see my small business hub.

Step 4 - Stability Test your products

You need to make sure that you products are stable and work as expected.  I know you’ll be eager to get to market, but please don’t rush this part.  I take at least a year to formulate and test my products in real time before I launch them.  That way I know exactly how they behave.  To do this, I have 3 products in their finished packaging.  One will sit on a shelf in my work room unopened for 12 months.  Another will be in the bathroom and I will use it until it’s finished.  The 3rd will be freeze thaw tested.  This is where you put a product in the freezer for 24 hours, then remove and thaw at room temperature for 24 hours and repeat a further 2 times.  Note down any changes to texture, smell and colour each time.  If no significant change, then you can claim a shelf life of 6 months.  Doing this twice does NOT give you a 12 month shelf life. 

If you want accelerate this testing, then you can send to a lab to have it done for you, where they have the ability to do testing to give a longer shelf life in much less time.  See ISCA cosmetic testing in my small business hub linked below.

Step 5 - Branding and Trademarking

Before we get any of the legal admin done, we’ll need a name and some branding for your business. 

Choosing a name is very difficult, and you need to be careful that no-one else is using is. 

I’d suggest checking your chosen name on the .gov trademarks website, you’ll find the link in my business hub linked below in the Insurance and Legal section.  Just do a trademark search and search for exact and also similar.  Make sure it’s not taken.  You also want to do a thorough Google search and check all social media and website domains. 

If you find a name that isn’t taken by anyone else, then you will want to get all the social media for it and purchase the domain name.  Read the next step before buying the domain as I want to simplify the process for you.

You’ll also want a brand logo.  You could design this yourself or find a designer.  There are many independent designers online or you could use a website like Fiverr, but check their rankings before ordering.

Once you have your name and logo, I would highly suggest paying to trademark it.  For that go back to the .gov trademarks site and register.  ONLY DO IT HERE.  There is no other official trademarking place. 

Trademarking is fairly expensive, but not unaffordable.  You pay an initial fee and then extra per category that you choose. 

Your trademark will then go on a register for some months and in that time, anyone can contest it.  If someone does and you have to pull the application, you will not get a refund, so this is why it is so important to ensue its available before applying. 

If no-one contests it in the timeframe, you’ll be granted the mark and sent a certificate.  This gets renewed every 10 years.

Step 6 - Set up a website

This may seem premature, but I personally like to have all the logistics set up in advance so I’m not rushing at the end.  Also, you want to secure your domain as above and the easiest way to do this is via the website platform.  You can pick whichever you like, but I would always recommend Shopify, because of the ease of use and versatility.  It has so many apps and other platforms that is is compatible with, it just makes things much easier. 

You can then purchase your domain here, which keeps everything together in one place.  Nice and easy.

You can get the bare bones of it set up now, like your design and terms and conditions etc and we can add photos and products later. Video of how to set up is available here.

 

Step 7 - Get a CPSR - Cosmetic Product Safety Report

You can see my ‘UK Cosmetic Laws Explained’ video for more on what the legal requirements are.  I’ll cover them briefly here as part of the steps.

Your products need to be safety assessed in order to be sold.  This involves sending your formula (written, not a physical product) to a safety assessor who will write a legal document assessing the safety of you product when used as intended. 

This is another part of the process that costs money, and why it’s important to limit range to keep costs down in the beginning. 

Depending when you’re watching this I may have a CPSR section in the business hub linked below, or I may be waiting to add it.  Regardless, I recommend MAF cosmetic for custom formulations and Soak Rochford if you want to use bases.

Once you receive back your CPSR - this can take a little time depending on the type of product, so be prepared to wait a little - you need to save it with your PIF.

Step 8 - Design your labels

With your CPSR back, you have all the information you need to create your labels.

Labels need to be legally compliant and include certain information including calculating any allergens.  Sometimes your safety assessor will put them in the CPSR for you, but if not, you’ll need to calculate these yourself using the information in the Allergen doc which will downloadable from your fragrance or essential oil supplier. 

For how to write a cosmetic label, see my label video or you can purchase the service in my small business hub and I’ll do them for you. I also have an allergen calculator.

Step 9 - Write you PIF

For every product that you make, you need to write a Product information File.  This is everything about your product.  This also needs to include a GMP - Good Manufacturing practice statement which basically states all of your processes for working safely and hygienically and how you store and work with your ingredients etc.  You can see how to do these yourself in my PIF and GMP videos, or you can visit the Small business hub for a template to fill out yourself or purchase one of the services and I’ll do it for you.  You see how useful the business hub is?  Go check it out, there are links to all the professionals and resources you’ll need and lots of discount codes to make use of. 

I created it to make life so much easier for those starting out, so go use it.

 

Step 10 - Get your pricing right

Before ordering ingredients for your first batches you need to ensure that you actually have a business.  If you aren’t making profit, then there is no point.

Create a spreadsheet and put in all your costs and look at your target market to determine your price point.  Some products will have a natural ceiling whereby no matter what end of the spectrum you are, they can’t really be tolerated at a higher price, but other products won’t. 

Advice given to me, and having experienced running a business on a super low margin, I’d highly agree with, is to never go below a 40% margin unless in exceptional or wholesale circumstances. This gives you a healthy margin, a bit of a buffer to ingredient price increases and will be sustainable.  Lower and you don’t have much wiggle room for increased business expenses and things can do south fast - ask me how I know?  If you want the proper tea on my business journey it’s all in my small business workshop available in the hub.

Also available in the business hub are pricing and product launch calculators which will help you price up your products for profit and plan your lunch costs.  There are videos on these linked from the product pages, so you can see what they are about before buying.

My advice when starting is to work out your pricing based on a certain quantity of ingredients.  Buying in 100g or 500g amounts is not cost effective.  So buy what you need for your first launch numbers.  EG: you want to launch 10 of each of 4 different body butters.  So you need enough ingredients to make 40 body butters and their containers and labels.  Price based on the cost per gram when buying in the quantities needed for that, or if you forecast selling more then maybe consider purchasing twice the amount so that you can be restoring whilst the first lot sells. 

How you do this depends on your faith in your marketing and how you intend to sell your products.  Constant stock, or monthly drops, or adhoc on Tik Tok for example.

Later down the line, when you are in a position to purchase higher quantities you’ll find your margins increase as your cost per gram goes down.  Bulk buying is always more cost effective, but when starting out you need to consider expiry of ingredients.

Step 11 - Forecast sales

So many people avoid this, but it’s so helpful for planning.

It’s very difficult when you just start as you have no historical data, but you can make a best guess based on expectations from market research and how you plan you market your products.

Once you know how many of something you expect to sell and at what price, it helps you plan for ordering supplies and making sure you have what you need when you need it so that you don’t miss out on sales. 

I have a cashflow forecast template available in the business hub - yes I mentioned the hub again, seriously, it’s useful, go look!  And that will help you not only forecast your sales, but upcoming expenditure and show when you can afford to invest in your business, or when you should cut back.

Once you have a year or more of actual figures then you’ll be able to map the coming years fairly accurately (world events allowing!).

Step 12 - Order ingredients and set up record keeping

A little before you plan to sell you’ll need to be getting your stock made.  Order as I mentioned, just enough to make your first batch or double so you can restock in advance. It’ll take a little time to get a rhythm with this and find out the right amount based on sell through rate, but right now we just need to get launched, so get those ingredients, containers and labels ordered. 

You need to keep track of all of this though, so when it arrives firstly make sure it has a batch number clearly written on each ingredient, and as good practice I recommend writing the date you received it on there too to keep track of how long you have things as not everything will come with an expiry on.

You can then either create yourself a spreadsheet to input date received, batch number and cost of the ingredient to keep track of that inventory value and traceability, or you can make life easier for yourself and get some software like Inventora or crafty base, both linked in the business hubs software section.  These are fantastic for keeping track of everything as you can create manufacturing runs in the software that reduce your ingredient inventory and value automatically and increase you finished stock levels.  You can connect to Shopify too which makes life so easy, especially when it’s time to do accounts, you can views inventory values in one click! 

Whichever you choose keeping track of ingredient batch numbers and shelf life is essential.

Step 13 - Complete first batch and batch record sheet

When you make any batch of product you need to record it on a batch record sheet.  This can form part of your PIF.  

I do these before I make anything, as I find it easier.  I get out all the ingredients that I’ll be using and I complete the batch record with the ingredient, date made, batch number of each ingredient and the batch number the I assign to the final product.  The batch number for your finished product can be whatever combination of letter and/or numbers that you like.  Every time you make a new batch of products you do this, but the batch number you assign will change each batch.

Step 14 - Make you products

Ensure you are following you GMP and working in a clean area, storing your ingredients correctly, cleaning and sanitising equipment and surfaces properly and then you can make you products. 

If you need to recalculate batch size, I have a video on that and a handy batch calculator available you know where!

Step 15 - Package your products

You now have a big bowl of body butter (or whatever) sat on your countertop.  In the UK we need to use Trade approved scales and ensure the weight is no less than advertised on the label.  So, by all means fill your containers as you normally would, but make sure you weigh each one and top them off to the correctly advertised weight for selling.

You’ll then need to label them.  You may have designed and had them professionally printed, in which case, just stick them on, but don’t forget to add the batch number either with an addition sticker or printed on the label.

If you are printing them yourself, then there is plenty of design software such as Canva or photoshop to help with that and then label paper is widely available.  I like using Avery for labels and use a laser printer on water proof paper to ensure it lasts.

Printing yourself can be very cost effective.

You may want to print paper bands for soaps or bath bombs and you may want to shrink wrap or paper wrap certain products.  So long as they have been stability tested in that packaging and are labeled correctly you are good to go.

One suggestion though, any liquids or wet products, I’d suggest shrink bands or electric tape around the lids to prevent leakage when shipping.

 

Step 16 - Photography

Now we need to take some great photos of your work.  Sad as it is to say, most of your customers won’t read a word of your website, they will buy based on imagery, so make it the absolute best it can be. Take multiple angles, in used, clearly illustrate the size. Make sure the images convey your brand identity and make your products look irresistible.  If you are skilled at photography then by all means try this yourself, otherwise I’d suggest that hiring a photographer will be money well spent.  I won’t be recommending any though, as photographers have styles and we don’t all want the same thing.  Find someone who resinates with you and your brand style.  A google search, looking on Fiverr, or similar will help you find someone.

Step 17 - Report your products on the UK Cosmetic Portal 

The bit everyone dreads, but it’s actually not that bad.  The hardest part is preparing your ingredient percentages or ranges to upload. This is the final hurdle before being able to legally sell.  I have a whole video in my product launch series going step by step through portal submissions, so check that out.  I also chat about it in my ‘UK Cosmetic Laws explained’ video.

If you really don’t want to do it yourself I offer this as a service in you guessed it, the business hub.

Step 18 - Put products onto your website

You’re now legally ready to sell, so we need to get you up and running.  Luckily you did most of the work earlier on so now when you excitement of launching is at an all time high, you’ve only got to do a few things. 

You need a nice product description including benefits of your product (without making claims unless you’ve had claims testing done) and the ingredients list, weight of the product etc. 

Add your beautifully taken photos and there’s your first listing.

There will also be some website loose ends to tie up, such as hooking up payment gateways and ensuring all imagery and pages work etc. 

I offer website audits over on the hub, so if you want a blunt, honest and actionable audit of your website before launch then just order that and send me your web address and I’ll help you get it ready and give you steps to take to optimise it for traffic and conversion.

Step  19 - Purchase packaging and promotional materials

If you are distance selling you will need things to package your products in.  I suggest doing various combinations of products and seeing what size boxes you’d need to comfortably fit these things with padding.  I of course have recommended a packaging supplier in the business hub.  Get enough ordered that they will last you, along with padding.

You don’t need branded boxes and tissue paper when starting out, some customers even deem these things wasteful, so wait until you have justification for these things and maybe just stick with brand colours. 

Business cards are nice, but can be printed yourself to save cash, or do thank you cards instead, but make sure they have a purpose otherwise it’s just money going in the bin.  You could pivot and include the same info on the inside lid of the box instead using a stamp or handheld printer (see my labelling video for my review of Prink Peak printer). 

Use this packaging order to calculate the cost of packaging each order, we’ll factor this into your shipping costs.  It’s one of those things that many businesses overlook and lose a lot of money on.

 

Step 20 - Figure out shipping costs

To do this first you need to weigh each product and weigh your boxes and a rough amount of packaging.  You could also do some mock up orders.  Then go to your selected carrier website and get different quotes for different order weights and package sizes. 

Onto each one of these add your cost for 1 x box/bag or envelope and padding.

Then in your website host, for this video I’ll assume Shopify and find shipping.  Set up your zones.  If you are in the UK and just starting, this will be UK only because of regulations, more on that later. 

You can then create shipping rules, so a certain amount would be triggered when the customers order comes to a certain monetary value or a certain weight, whichever you prefer.  You can have multiple options such as first class, second class, free shipping over £50, etc. 

Once you are happy save these and then test it out by adding some items to cart and checking the postage options are correct for the order.  If not, go back and adjust until they are.  It can take some playing with, but you do not want to lose money on shipping else your entire margin will disappear.

Step 21 - Marketing

It’s now time to sell! The key here will be your unique selling point.  You need to stand out and give your target audience a reason to buy from you.  You need to make your offer so compelling that they feel like they are missing out if they don’t purchase. 

How do you do this? Luckily for you it’s much cheaper and easier to reach people now that it ever was.  When I started my first business there was no social media as it is today and I relied on a niche internet forum, word of mouth and local magazine advertising. 

Now you have all social media platforms and the ability to reach thousands of people in your target audience for free! 

Yes, you could run ads, but I firmly believe there is really no need to spend that money if you leverage what’s available properly.

If you want to delve more into marketing practices then surprise surprise I have a marketing ebook in my business hub, but as well as the staple information in that, just picking 1-2 social platforms and concentrating all your efforts on them, creating valuable content and being consistent and keeping branding you should be able to reach the right people, keep them engaged and that in turn lead to sales. 

In terms of launching, many people say to tease your products and post well in advance to create hype and warm up your audience for the drop and to a certain extent, yes this can work as it’s said that it takes around 7 instances of someone seeing your product to be ready to purchase.  However, on the flip side, I know many people including myself who just drop stuff when it’s ready without the big build up and it still does well. 

So here is my take on it.

When you are a new company that no-one has heard of yet, yes the build up is a good idea, as no-one trusts you as a brand yet, they don’t know who you are or what you products are like, there is no social proof in the form of reviews (you could sell some products to friends and family initially and ask for honest reviews to get started). So, I would start posting when you start making your products, each post revealing a little more about your company and what sets your products apart, your brand values and who your products are for.  This will begin to build your audience. 

Launch your product and have realistic expectations, you may not sell much to begin with, but don’t be despondent, we all start here unless we are extremely lucky to go randomly viral on a social platform, but that isn’t normal. 

Once you are a bit more established then just randomly launching things the day you first show them works a treat, why? Because people impulsively want to purchase things then and there.  People have little patience nowadays, they get bored.  By the time they’ve seen something multiple times, the excitement of it being new has gone and they are onto the next thing.

You just missed your selling window! 

Drop a new product, create a fuss that day and create scarcity with only having a limited number available. 

This has worked for me, but you find your own strategies.

So, how do you actually launch something?  Well you’ve done all the work behind the scenes to get everything ready, so launching really just involved telling your audience your product is available, making it enticing, having a clear call to action - sending them to your website to purchase.  Sometimes it helps to give an incentive like free gift with first 5 orders, or first day discount, but I try not to discount too often as it loses meaning. 

That’s it.  After that just keep promoting your products via social media, email and in person at markets and events and you’ll gradually grow.  I’ll cover places to sell in another video.

Step 23 - Setting up extras for success

Collect emails

Add a reviews app to your website for social proof.

Set up a Google account so people can leave google reviews.

Consider 3rd party market places for a boost - these should be viewed as secondary income sources no-matter how much money they generate because you are beholden to the market place rules and fees and can be suspended any time.  The customers are of the platform, not your business.  Think about it, when someone buys a handmade item on Etsy, they usually say ‘oh I got this on Etsy, rather than the business name, that’s not idea for a growing business.  Therefore, I see these as additional revenue streams and any marketing I do I send to my website and not these platforms.

Connect apps to enhance the conversion on your website and customer experience, you can browse the shopify app store for ones that fit your product and brand.

Connect accounting software, you’ll thank me later.  Links in the business hub.

 

Step 24 - Accounting Software

The bit no-one wants to think about, but trust me when I say you’ll hate it even more if you don’t get the right software.

I recommend Xero or Quickbooks and then use Link my Books app to connect it to your shopify store.  This means it auto accounts for all your sales, refunds and taxes and then all you need to do is reconcile.  It’s an absolute dream, especially since some of the 3rd party platforms can be very complicated to do accounting for. Links in the Hub.

Whether you are a sole trader or limited company, you will need to keep accounts, so software makes it far less of a headache.

... and there you go, you’re running your business.  Just keep on top of your expenses, prices, margins and marketing.

Everything you need to help you is available in my small business hub, and on my YouTube channel, so make use of the resources I’ve made for you.

Good luck with your business! To find out more about some of these steps in depth watch my product launch series here.  If you want to chat with me one-2-one then join the membership on a tier that suits you and I can answer your questions.