How to Pivot When Your Biz Plateaus: Deco Beauty Founder Julianna Dahbura

0:00Hey, business besties. Welcome back to the Female Founder World Podcast. I'm Jasmine, the host of the show and the creator of the Female Founder World universe. I've got Jules from Deco Beauty on with me today. Hi, Jules. Hi, Jasmine. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for inviting me. One of my pet peeves is like everyone being like, I'm so excited to be here. But now that I'm here, I'm so excited to be here. Because it's like, of course you're excited to be here. You are now entering Female Founder World with your host, Jasmine Garnsworthy. So today I'm actually going to focus mostly on the future of the business because you and I our friends and I feel like we talk about business all the time and like when we're hanging out we are not talking about the story and what you've done and blah blah blah we're talking about what you're doing right now and like what you're thinking like what you're working through and changing for 2024 and I just think we are a community-led business resource and to be truly community-led like these are the conversations that we need to be having where are you going and what are you focusing on but we need to give people a bit of context Deco Beauty what do you guys do and if you're on we actually have video on youtube and the apple podcast app so people should yeah you can see the product beautiful beautiful beautiful but you didn't start with these nail stickers you started with i started with nail polish yes um so yeah i launched the brand in 2016 in nail polish i had high hopes to be a d2c nail polish brand i was super excited by glossier and all the subscription boxes i know i know and um you know excited that you could build a brand on Instagram.

1:31Yes. So I, uh, that's what I was doing. That was my focus was, uh, you know, wheeling and dealing with Ipsy, FabFitFun and things were going well. But along the way, I was finding that nail polish is pretty tough to sell online. Cause if you think about where you buy your nail polish, it's probably like an impulse buy when you're in a drug store, uh, target, you're not even planning on buying nail polish and it ends up in your cart. So, um, so yeah, In going into 2020, I had been looking for another product that was going to be kind of like my secret sauce and just trying to figure out what I was doing with my business.

2:07And I just happened to be working. Yeah, trying to figure it out. And I happened to be working on nail art stickers when March 2020 happened. And by the time I launched them in October, there was a new wave of DIY nail girly that existed. and it just completely resonated with this new customer, this new audience. And shortly afterwards, a couple of months later, I realized this is my business now. And yeah, it's crazy to look at the percentage of nail polish sales to sticker sales have just like gone flipped. And now, you know, we barely sell or really promote nail polish at all. We're working on a new strategy potentially for that.

2:51But I'm all in on the nail art stickers now. And you've done a lot of collaborations that kind of like helped you get some growth in the early days. What were some of those collabs for people to understand? Yeah. So I always knew that this was a really interesting and special product that did have a lot of marketing value for other brands. And, you know, my very first collaboration was with Beach Riot, the bikini brand, which was so awesome. It just came together in like literally two days. Incredible. It's literally like merch, like it's wearable merch, but like cute. exactly and that's exactly how I bag I mean your tote bags are really cute we've also done nail stickers with you but yes yes um but it's just it's just different it's sort of like a different take on yeah uh it's taking like the tote bag or like the the die cut sticker sheet that you put on your Nalgene or your Stanley now yeah a little further and um and yeah it's really fun and trendy obviously and and that's um and that's also how I design the stickers is with nail art first and like I'm never just going to have a whole sheet of like logos.

3:50Although I did love what Chanel did with their nail art stickers with the Chanel logos. I would wear Chanel. Of course we all would. Yeah, we all would. But yeah, so the collaborations have been great. Again, Beach Wyatt was the first one. And then from there, you know, I kind of built out a whole strategy where I was very careful with who I worked with. I always wanted to work with brands that were that added brand equity and value to not only my brand, but also the category. And I focused on fashion, accessory brands. So we worked with Lili Sadugi, Otherland Candles. And I'm going to miss brands as I talk through this because there's actually been so many, but just like some quick highlights in the past three years.

4:35Hello Kitty, Pura Vida, Christie's, Auction House. We have an ongoing collab with Lisa Says Gah. So cool. Local Eclectic, Fresh Sands. And again, I know I'm missing a ton right now. Tower 28. Oh my God. Love Tower 28. That was an amazing one. We love Amy. We love, love Amy. I met Amy in a bathroom at Glossy and that's how our relationship started. So go to the events, go in person, meet the people IRL. Like you have to hang out in the bathroom, Hang out in the women's bathrooms at business conferences. You never know. Everyone uses the bathroom at some point. So yeah, the marketing opportunity for that has been incredible.

5:20And we also have some really incredible collabs coming up this spring that I will not mention. But again, it just keeps building and building. And it's awesome. And retail milestones. Any stockists? Anything there that you're doing? Yeah, retail. We've been working with Urban Outfitters since the stickers launched. Yeah. also just launched with Anthropologie, Free People. And we have two more big box retailers that we're launching with this spring. Very exciting. And are there any revenue milestones that you can share? Yeah. I don't want to put you on the spot. I know them, but maybe like, yeah, I'm kind of like, I'm more private with it.

5:59I mean, I'll, I'll share because I also think that, you know, in the first couple of years of my business, it really was a roller coaster because of the revenue from subscription boxes. So I will say I hit seven figures in 20 at the end of 2018. Yeah. And since launching the stickers, revenue has tripled in that first year. And and yeah, I'm amazing. Racking and rolling. And yeah, really excited to keep expanding everything. And my business is about it's a third D to C, a third through independent boutiques, via FAIR. I'm so sorry, though. I have no tips for FAIR. I think that's a big opportunity if you have the right product.

6:44I have no idea how, just gotten lucky. It's just working. It's just working. And then the other third is through traditional retailers like the Urban Outfitters, JCPenney, I also didn't mention. Again, there's a lot going on. I actually wrote out a list of all of these things and I'm not holding it. I'm not going to bring it on. No, it's fine. We already went through it. And I'll remember as they go. So many amazing things that you have done. And we love all of that. And like, I love hearing people who are like, yeah, it took me like four years to like figure out what the thing was. And you know, because it does, it does take time.

7:15It doesn't happen overnight. It's not like every business owner kind of wakes up and has this fully formed idea of what they're doing. Like you make it up as you go. And as you're learning and getting real time insights, like you can't just do this sitting in your room on your computer by yourself like it has to be out in the world getting feedback I think 100 okay so like you're making I feel like you're making quite a few changes you're moving away from the clubs so so yeah so I I had a lot of learnings and I'm yeah I know you want to keep this episode snappy so I will get into it yeah so I uh we didn't even talk about press um I've had a much press?

7:53I had a lot of really amazing organic press. And I heard about this thing called affiliate marketing with the pay to play commission. You know, if you see an article where it's like be my owner commission, if you click that kind of stuff. Yeah. So I decided, okay, we've got pretty good results doing press organically. Let's try working with a publicist and see if, you know, if that moves the needle. And it, it was interesting. We learned that It was about the same, I would say, results in terms of like the press numbers. As you're doing it yourself. Yes. But what I learned working with the publicist is that I need to get my shit together in terms of like organizing my launch schedule.

8:38Yeah. And also in terms of the collaborations, you know, we don't own these collaborations. These are like kind of more custom products for these brands as if they were making any custom sticker sheet and they have control. So they don't live on our website. And that wasn't really relevant for the publicist then to bring to editors because they couldn't benefit from a link. There was no link to make, you know, a commission off of. So, yeah, I went back to the drawing board and I'm like, OK, clearly this is a huge part of the marketing strategy and the brand. And how do we tie this together with, you know, and actually, you know, make it work for us?

9:17Yeah. And I tested asking a potential collab partner like, hey, what if we sell a modest amount of the collab on our website? What do you think? And immediately it was like, this is going to be way too complicated. The marketing team has nothing to do with like the sales and the IP and blah, blah, blah. So, you know, I went back again, back to the drawing board and I'm like, OK, too complicated. And then I remembered Barbie and I remembered, you know, licensing. Yeah. Being huge in last year, 2023. Because Mattel now has like they've got this new CEO and Mattel are the people who make Barbie and they've basically pivoted strategies from being a toy brand to being a licensing brand.

9:59So now people are buying the IP to make a movie. Yeah. And it's a lot more expensive than pre Barbie because, you know, Barbie's hot. Everything Mattel is hot right now. But there's still a ton of different licensing opportunities out there. And, you know, one of the other, there's a lot of different, I'm going to draw together a lot of different points here. So you kind of understand like the overall strategy with licensing and marketing here, because it all, I have, if you're listening, I've got my fingers in the air, but it all kind of fits together like a Lincoln log, I guess. It all has to come together.

10:31So, so yeah, between licensing and then figuring out this marketing piece with brand collaborations And also, you know, the more wholesale channels you get into, the more competition you're creating for those same retail channels. So, for example, if CVS and Walmart and Target are all listing your product online, technically they're all competing with each other. That's not so good. And also, like, you know, if you want to support those different channels, how do you how do you choose? Yeah. Um, so, so what I've been coming up with is a way to create exclusivity and every retail assortment so that that doesn't happen.

11:10So for example, I'm currently talking with a big clothing chain right now to turn, uh, their fall collection motifs into nail art stickers that will be exclusive to them. On top of that, I'm also looking at their, their licensing partners that they, uh, you They've already got the licenses for this character IP. And IP, by the way, stands for intellectual property. And, you know, I'm looking, okay, how do I get that character license as well and then turn this into a licensing exclusivity opportunity so that that retailer is going to be interested to buy this sheet just from me? I will sell it just to them, but I'll be able to negotiate better terms.

11:53So what do you mean? I'm confused. What do you mean by the character licensing? What does that mean? So, okay, throw out like a character that you know. Spongebob. Let's just say like Spongebob. Okay. Let's say. I was thinking of like the at symbol or. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Or like an emoji. Think like movie. Okay. Cartoon. Got it. Got it. Got it. Classic. Okay. Again, I'm trying to be vague so that I don't accidentally say something that is not allowed. But yeah, like that. That's what I mean by character license. So so say you walk in. Yes, like Barbie. Let's use Barbie as an example. So let's say that she had like where the Barbie nail art.

12:36Why did that happen? Because OPI did a Barbie collection. OPI, why didn't you do stickers? Call me. But yeah, so let's use Barbie as the example. So let's just and I'm going to throw out a random retailer. Let's say it's Forever 21. Yeah, let's say Forever 21 licensed Barbie and they created a whole line of pajamas. Yeah. So then I'm going to go in and say, hey, Forever 21, I can get the Barbie license to make nail art stickers. And I'm going to have you buy, you know, can you commit to 50 ,000 nail art stickers that goes with this collection? I'm only going to sell it to you. That's it. And that's so interesting.

13:10I love hearing like in real time as you're like figuring all of this out. It's so cool. Yeah. And also the other opportunity here with licensing is my subscription box relationships. Are you still doing subscription box? Yeah. Oh, yeah. we do a ton of e-commerce uh we're trying to convince one of the boxes to do some nail art stickers again because there's some issues are they doing nail polish oh yeah they do not doing stickers yeah so there's the the category equity there's a mismatch where people don't think of nail art stickers until they meet a deco nail art sheet as like a high-end interesting product so that's where it's like well what if they were um snoopy stickers yeah what if you know hello kitty stickers, then you're going to be more interested and more invested in this particular product in this brand.

13:59So again, like this is where the bigger strategy comes in. And also, again, you can imagine how this just naturally plays into the marketing. Oh, interesting. And yeah, again, with the exclusivity, because that's the biggest thing when I talk to founders. And also when I'm looking for advice, it's like, hey, I got into anthropology. I got into JCPenney. what do I do to support this relationship and it's like you know it's not simple that's that's the there is no easy answer and that's where you really have to think outside of the box and just keep thinking how do I get people to come into the store and buy from them yeah but then you also don't want to take away from your own marketing where you're making the most money most margin on your own uh website sales so it's it's really challenging is licensing really expensive like how How do you?

14:49It can be. Yeah. But there's also. How do you even do that? Yeah. I mean, so I'm at the, I'm at ground zero with all this. You're like Googling, like, how do I buy the license for? Yeah. I mean, you can't really Google it. That's the hard part. I've tried. Trust me. Anything that you can Google, I've tried. But there are agents that handle. So it's an agent, there's a middleman. On both sides. So you can find agencies that represent the licenses. and you can find agents that represent the licensees. And you can also go direct. I just signed a license for a food brand that will launch later this summer.

15:34And that was direct with the agents that handled the brand. I don't have anyone representing me. So yeah, there's a whole ecosystem of licensing that I had no idea about until Barbie. Very cool. Oh my God, Barbie just changing the world. Literally Barbie changing the world. Okay, what else are you thinking about this year? You've changed the name. You were Deco. Miami, yeah. And then I moved to New York and it really was a point of confusion for people who are like, but you're in New York. And I'm like, well, people do travel. But also, yes, I did want to break away from the beach vibes, the Miami vibe.

16:12I felt like I also wanted more freedom with the branding in terms of like being a little more, I hate the word generic, but I just wanted more freedom to just do whatever made sense. Yeah. So yeah, Deco Beauty. And actually, that's a funny story. I had asked for the username from an Instagram contact and they just like changed the name, which is amazing. But also no warning, I did not have the trademark or anything. And I remember this and you were like, I've got a new handle. Yeah, like, please, Jesus. Yeah, that was like a very chaotic 5 p.m. on a Thursday last January. But yeah, it all worked out.

16:50You literally like opened your app, right? And you had a new Instagram handle. So you think about all of the places where that is showing up that then hasn't been changed. And like, yeah, the communication with your guys. Yeah, it was again, it was like a like, oh, shit, like heart drop out of my chest moment. But in a good way. Yeah, in a good way. You figure it out. I figured it out. And yeah, there's still a few like I haven't let go of my email yet. That's the last thing. But, but yeah, it's just been like a piecemeal process just to, to, to change over and it's fine. People understand. Part of growing up, I think it's like, you know, getting the Deco Miami to Deco Beauty, getting that handle, like building out your product assortment is like part of like changing that branding and that name.

17:32Yeah. It's interesting chatting to you at this point in the journey. Yeah. Okay. So what else are you doing differently this year? Like, what are you focusing on? Yeah. So one thing that I am. OK, well, there's a lot of things, but one big thing. Yeah. One thing that I am really invested in is creating a product for drugstores and off price retailers. Yeah. You know, I know off price retailers and drugstore was not like the sexy thing. But, you know, there's because everyone's like, I want to go to Sephora. Well, everyone wants to be luxury. And guess what? Luxury is really freaking hard to sell.

18:06You know, when you when you're selling something that's comparable to the cost of a latte, it gets a lot easier. And yeah. So so again, going back to what I was saying in the beginning of this conversation about knowing where people purchased impulse or had their impulse buy moments like in a drugstore environment. Maybe you're walking down the aisle and TJ Maxx and you see something fun and you just throw it in your cart. Maybe your kid throws it in the cart, whatever. I think there's a huge opportunity there. but I need to be at a slightly lower price point so that it really becomes that impulse by again, talking about how I'm competing with, um, or my biggest challenge is creating that, adding value and the equity.

18:50Uh, and I know I keep saying the word equity. So just to explain it, I mean, adding prestige, adding coolness, adding value to, to, again, not just the brand, but also this category because my biggest competitor right now are the dollar Amazon stickers that have no brand, no nothing, no packaging even. But, you know, that's what people compare my product to. And to kind of get into my next point of what my focus is this year, moving forward, as in like tomorrow, I'm having a meeting with my girls, seeing Instagram and social media as actually part of our product. Yeah. You know, I think a lot of people, you know, we, when we think of, you know, why do you want to start a business?

19:38You, you love the idea of having a brand and, and, you know, everything that comes with that. But then we really get bogged down in the product, which is great, but we forget about brand. And that is what like in this case, like I don't sell stickers. I sell DIY nail art that's easy and cute. And that's brand. You know, if you want a star nail art sticker, go on Amazon and buy it for 50 cents, whatever. But if you want everything, the community, the fun, the pink, the inspo, everything that comes. The collabs. The collabs. Yeah. The equity, the coolness, whatever. That's where you buy Deco. And that's where like, you know, when I'm analyzing our Instagram presence, Don't even talk about TikTok.

20:21We haven't even gotten started on that. It's like, you know, this is part of the product. It's literally like you get a sticker sheet and then I want you to go to the Deco Instagram and start looking at how to style it, how to use it and become obsessed with seeing what's launching. Oh, my God, I didn't even know I could do that with my heart. Like, oh, my God, look at those little skunk stickers that we have, by the way, they're really cute. But, you know, you don't even realize what the possibilities are until you start engaging with the brand. And that's that's it's maybe it sounds so basic and obvious when I say it, but we forget about that.

20:58Totally. I also think we can get really caught up in like wanting to go viral and like selling like moving product off our shelf or virtual shelves. And that you forget about how social can also be like it's the new website, like it's your new landing page. It's like communicating so much more. And it's such a fine line between like what do people want to see and click on versus like what is going to build that long-term equity. I know. Don't you love that word? It is such a good word. It's all encompassing. Okay. The last thing I want to ask you is for a resource recommendation. We ask everyone on the show what's something good they should go and check out apart from Female Founder World, obviously.

21:37You know what I'm going to say, don't you? No. Oh, my God. I feel like I should be a stuck first. Oh, I do know what you're going to say. I bought the book. Click up. Oh, no. Oh, another thing. Oh my God. Can I give two resources? You told me to buy the workbook. Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook. Yeah. So that's a great one. But I did buy. Well, you're halfway there. But yeah, Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook is great. It just like gets you thinking about things and you don't have to literally go fill out the entire book. Just like start asking yourself these questions. Yeah. But then also how I stay organized is an app called ClickUp.

22:11Yep. and I like live my whole life on it. And it's basically like if I'm a Virgo and I love lists, I love there's nothing. Virgo rising. There you go. That's what we're connecting on. Yeah, so you get it. The list thing, the organization thing. But yeah, that's how I stay organized and like manage all my projects. And sometimes I'll slip some personal stuff in there. Like go grocery shopping. Yeah. Yeah, ClickUp is awesome. Yeah. Okay, amazing recommendation. Can we do a group coaching call with you? Of course. Okay, I'll put, we'll figure out a time, not live on a podcast. And I'll put a link in the show notes.

22:43So if you're listening to all of this and you want to ask questions directly to Jules, we'll have a call that will be free and that all of the Female Founder World community can come and join. Jules, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. Quick shout out to all of our Business Besties subscribers. If you are loving this show and you are building a consumer, CPG or e-commerce business, or you're about to build one, this membership will give you access to the people, experiences and the tools that you really need to build your dream business. Head to femalefounderworld.com forward slash subscriber for more.