Long before Paula Begoun founded the successful skincare brand Paula’s Choice and became a best-selling author of twenty skincare books, she was fired from her job. In 1975 Paula, was working at a cosmetics counter and spent her free time learning about skincare ingredients.
Her employer didn’t like that Paula spent her time informing customers about the products, the ingredients, and their real effect on the skin instead of just selling them. A defining moment for her because through this she found her true passion: helping those struggling with persistent skin conditions find the best products for their skin and educate about skincare myths.
Paula herself struggled with acne and eczema. Her first skincare book “Blue Eyeshadow Should Be Illegal” scored her an invitation to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and from then on she was known as “The Cosmetics Cop”.
In 1995, ten years after her appearance on Oprah, she founded Paula’s Choice Skincare, one of the very first brands to sell products online. Until now, she continues researching to create quality products, even though she stepped down as CEO in 2016.
So let’s see what lessons business woman Paula Begoun can teach us:
1. Find your area of expertise
The first thing that we can learn from Paula is that you need to find something you’re interested in. It’s great to become an expert in a certain field. Building your own company and having long-term success with it means that you need to be truly passionate about what you do. Figure out what interests you enough so that you can imagine doing it for the rest of your life.
2. Stay true to yourself
Authenticity is becoming increasingly important in today’s business world. Consumers question the values of a company and hold them accountable for what they do. If you want to have lasting success, you need to stay true to yourself. Don’t mold yourself into something you aren’t, especially if you plan to found your own company one day. You are the role model on which your company’s values will be built.
3. You are never too old to found a company
Paula Begoun was 42 years old when she launched her own skincare brand. It took her years of preparation to come to this point. With people who are young and incredibly successful being praised in magazines such as Forbes, don’t forget that while there is no too young for a good idea, there is also no too old. Your ideas and what you make out of them matters most. In the end, age is just a number.
If you want to know more about Paula’s Choice, follow them on Instagram or LinkedIn. What are your thoughts on Paula’s story? Let me know down below and make sure to check out our other posts.
Be right back,
Ally
