Sustainable Growth Secrets: How One Company Dominates Their Market and Delivers 50% YOY Results
- Harvest Growth
- 5 days ago
- 22 min read
In today's episode of The Harvest Growth Podcast, we're excited to welcome Salome Sallehy, Founder of Sugar Sugar Wax. She has revolutionized the beauty industry with her innovative hair removal product, creating an entirely new category. Her journey from identifying a pain point to building a thriving brand that grows 25-50% year-over-year is educational and inspiring. She shares powerful insights on creating a new category, the importance of education-focused content, and how Public Relations (PR) accelerated growth. Also, she reveals how she turned the COVID shutdown into an opportunity by launching an online summit that added thousands of qualified leads to her email list almost overnight.
Join us as we explore Salome's strategies for sustainable growth, building customer loyalty, and creating content that resonates deeply with your audience. Don't miss this episode packed with actionable advice for entrepreneurs!
In today’s episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we’ll cover:
How to create and dominate a new product category
Why educational content is key to overcoming customer learning curves
How to leverage PR for explosive early growth
Turning challenges into opportunities for audience building
Building customer loyalty that leads to repeat purchases
And so much more!
You can listen to the full interview on your desktop or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Or, click to watch the full video interview here!
Sugar Sugar Wax offers an all-natural, painless hair removal solution that's gentle enough for sensitive skin and environmentally sustainable. Visit www.sugarsugarwax.com now to learn more about this revolutionary alternative to traditional waxing and use promo code HarvestGrowth20 for a 20% discount.
To be a guest on our next podcast, contact us today!
Do you have a brand that you’d like to launch or grow? Do you want help from a partner that has successfully launched hundreds of brands that now total over $2 billion in revenue? Set up a free consultation with us today!
Prefer reading instead of listening? Read the full transcript here!
Jon LaClare [00:00:00]:
How can you rapidly add thousands of qualified leads to your email list almost overnight? And once you do, how can you keep growing your business by 25 to 50% year after year? Today's guest did exactly that. After launching a breakthrough beauty product, she created an entirely new category and built a thriving brand. In this interview, she pulls back the curtain and shares powerful, proven strategies that can help you accelerate your business growth.
Announcer [00:00:28]:
Are you looking for new ways to make your sales grow? You've tried other podcasts, but they don't seem to know. Harvest the growth potential of your product or service as we share stories and strategies that'll make your competitors nervous. Now, here's the host of the Harvest growth podcast, Jon LaClare.
Jon LaClare [00:00:49]:
Welcome back to the show today. I'm really excited to be speaking with Salome Salehi, and she is the founder and also is known as the Fairy Fuzz Mother. You'll understand that as we get story about her product, what it is, how she developed it. She's got some really interesting stories to share with us today. First of all, welcome to the show today.
Salome Sallehy [00:01:08]:
Thanks so much for having me, John. I'm so excited to be having this conversation.
Jon LaClare [00:01:13]:
So let's likewise, let's jump in and talk about sugar. Sugar, which is the name of your company and what the product is and how you came up with the idea.
Salome Sallehy [00:01:22]:
Yeah, for sure. So being a girl with sensitive skin and of Middle Eastern origin, I definitely struggled with hair removal throughout my whole life. And if I don't know how much hair removal you do, John, but I will say, if you talk to any woman about her hair removal experience, it always sucks. Like, no one is like, oh, my God, that was such a great experience. I loved getting the wax or shaving or there's always like so many pain points that come with every method of hair removal. Whether it's like laser being super expensive and not working 100% or, you know, you get injuries from waxing, you get ingrowns and like a million other things from shaving. So for me, I was like, there has to be a better way. And the way I came up with sugar is it's actually one of the oldest methods of hair removal. And I was in Europe, I went to the salon, experienced it, and I was like, oh, my God, where has this been my whole life? And why doesn't anybody know about it? But the more research I did, the more I realized that it's just kind of coming into the professional markets. And the professional formulas required like 40 hours of training for estheticians. So I really wanted to make something easy and I don't have an esthetician background, but I wanted something that like, you know, thinking back to like my 10, 11 year old self who was self conscious about the hair on my legs and swim, something that my 10 year old self can use and you know, I could be safe knowing that, you know, it's like easy and safe and she's not going to nick herself and be bleeding all over the place and it's not going to be painful. That was the main thing. So what I did was I took what was existing and I started working on reformulating it for at home use. And that was a really fun journey. We partnered with a lab and after about nine months and various iterations, we came up with a process that makes it. And for those of you listening, you might not see it, but this is what it is. It's in a little jar. And what's really cool about sugaring is that it's applied by hand. So you don't need strips, you don't need spatulas, you, it's all natural, it's biodegradable. And if you heard from the clink of me putting this down, our jar is actually glass, which is infinitely recyclable. So yeah, that's kind of where we landed and went to market about. We've been in market about five and a half years now. Oh my God, has it been five and a half years? Yes, yes.
Jon LaClare [00:04:24]:
So talk to me about the difference a little bit more in detail about between sugaring and traditional waxing that I'm sure a lot of our audience is.
Salome Sallehy [00:04:32]:
Familiar with for sure. And you know, when you look at sugar wax and conventional wax, they look very similar, but literally everything about it is different. And what makes sugaring really like special is that sugar, our sugar wax, actually doesn't bind to skin cells, not living skin cells, it only binds to dead skin and hair, which are very similar in molecular structure. So that means that you're not ripping off a layer of skin when you use any conventional wax. You're actually removing a whole layer of skin, which is why an esthetician can't go over the same area more than once, because then you start compro the skin's barrier function. So not only are you not removing living skin, but it's also like way less painful. Like if waxing is like an 7 or 8 on the pain scale, sugaring might be a 1 or a 2, if that at all. And that also means that like people who have sensitive skin, like I Did or have other, like, skin barrier issues, can actually very safely use this. And I'll give you an example. Like pcos. Women that have pcos, which is polycystic ovarian syndrome, they often develop hirsutism, which is accelerated hair growth in places you don't typically see hair on women. And with that imbalance in hormone, you also have acne, which usually accompanies it like 8 out of 10 times. So the acne is causing your skin, like the face area, to be really, really sensitive. And you can't wax it, you can't put hot things on it, you can't shave it because the skin is also surface is uneven. But you can absolutely sugar it. And I didn't really like, I didn't experience. Have experience with PCOS until I started hearing the stories of our customers. But like sugaring, it's so gentle on the skin that people with certain skin conditions. Another thing I didn't know is that some people have allergies to nickel, so they can't shave, they can't use razors, and they have really sensitive skin. So all of these things that make pain, like, make hair removal more painful than it already is, like eczema, psoriasis. You, we don't. We. You. They can sugar. So we've created a solution for those people who can't or it would be very difficult to use conventional methods of hair removal. And also, like, I love that we've just created a product that is like, painless, has results that last way longer, almost twice as long as waxing. And there's a reason for that. But you're removing the hair from the follicle. It's like a great experience. Your skin feels amazing. One of the most common comments that we hear is, I can't stop touching my skin because you've removed all the dead skin and now you're like baby soft and there's no ingrown, and there's none of this other stuff that comes with like everything else. So it's different in those ways.
Jon LaClare [00:08:07]:
It's an amazing solution. And you mentioned how in the beginning it was new, even for professional locations and estheticians, et cetera, to use. They have to get special training for it. And so when you first launched this, it was even newer for. In the consumer market. Right. For people to buy this for themselves and to do it at home, which means that there's no blueprint. Right. So I talk a lot about on this show and with our clients, a phrase that I learned from an old boss of mine. Many, many years ago of Borrow with Pride. Right. So learn from competitors in the space what they're doing. Right. Not to copy. Right. But see what's working. And see, okay, so these marketing channels are obviously working. They're spending a lot of money there. This is the type of content that works. How can I use that as a starting point to get sort of a baseline and then make it way better? Right. So we've talked a lot about that on this show and it is a good approach. It really helps in the early days of a new launch. But when you've got a brand new product like yours that is really unique in the space, people aren't searching for it, but you also don't have a blueprint or examples to look at. So help us understand, Wendy, what was the first success that you had as you brought this to market? Really? The, the first kind of turning point that turned this into a success.
Salome Sallehy [00:09:20]:
Yeah, so let's talk about that because I, I, I know that Borrow with Pride is definitely a philosophy that helps a lot of us get started. Right. Especially when you're in unchartered territory. It gives, it's almost like a, like a lifeline. Right. Like this is how it was done. But the other side of it is that when there isn't a blueprint, you have an opportunity to create a new category. And this is a little bit more of, you know, I learned this when I was in the tech space where you can, when you can create a new category, you can really dominate that category. And that was always the outlook for me from the beginning, is recognizing that our product is in a category of its own. And, you know, that definitely poses some setbacks. Not having a blueprint is just the beginning of it, but it also poses this opportunity where we can now really define the space that we're in. And it did mean that like a lot of our launch strategy was focused on education and content around awareness and educating the consumer about all these things. Because, like, even still, we still run ad campaigns and you know, we'll get like little comments that like, ooh, that looks painful where it's not, because that's what people are associating with it with. But I think there's tremendous opportunity to create a new category. Like when the iPhone came out, I know we were talking about Steve Jobs a little bit earlier, but that was a new category and Apple was really able to like dominate that. And so while there, it's scarier, it does create a greater opportunity. And I think like any, like now five years in market. I don't think there's anyone who has heard of sugaring and hasn't heard of sugar.
Jon LaClare [00:11:31]:
Sugar.
Salome Sallehy [00:11:33]:
And just. Just to kind of answer, go back to your question, the last piece of your question about how we were able to succeed. What was one of the first big successes? You know, as when you. When you are creating a new category, you're throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. So we did a ton of testing, and I was really surprised that one of, like, the oldest methodologies in marketing really struck a chord for us. Like, it gave us our first hockey stick inflection, and that was pr, getting editors to talk about it. And, you know, it really tied into that original intention of educating the customer, and it really worked for us through editorial.
Jon LaClare [00:12:24]:
And I think PR can be a great strategy for new companies as well, especially like yours, where you're creating a new category. You know, you need to educate a new audience and find them. And it can be free or relatively right. Eventually, as we grow, we need to bring in a PR agency, and there's a cost behind it, et cetera. But in the early days, it. It takes time, right? It's reaching out and. And learning how to contact in the right way, but reaching out to potential writers or show producers, etc. And we've had many clients, you know, as you mentioned, have that hockey stick early on, because it doesn't have to take a lot of dollars. You know, take some. You got to prepare maybe a sizzle video or things like that potentially. But it's. It's not like buying media, which can really scale up the business as well. But in the early days, you may not have the funding to do it. You talked about education. I want to dive deep on that a little bit because I know one of the early things you did was you created an online summit, I believe it was called the Natural Beauty Summit. And it's, you know, that brought in people to learn about you, created you as the expert in this field. Can you explain a little bit more about what that summit was and how it helped to further grow your business?
Salome Sallehy [00:13:32]:
Yeah, it was definitely one of those lemonade moments, I think, early on, because, you know, we had been formulating and building our facility because we actually manufacture the product because it's the formula. And the treatment of the formula is so unique. We spent, like, over a year, like, just in development of product and our facility. So when we did our first, like, our soft launch, which was, you know, to our family and friends, it was four days before the COVID shutdown. So here we have this brand new facility we've just opened, and like, not even a week later, we have to close everything. So that kind of put me in this position of like, oh my God, what am I going to do? Meanwhile, at that point, we were taking pre orders because we didn't have all of our componentry. Of course, Covid hit China first. Our glass factory closed down, right? Like, like maybe days before our. Our container was to get shipped out. So I'm in a pickle, right? Like, I've invested all this time, all this money. We've just made a announcement. People are, you know, doing pre orders, expecting to get the product, like, relatively soon, and we can't ship. And then the other thing that was also happening in parallel is I'm also an environmental activist. And as I was developing this product, one of the things that, like, you know, before I knew about sugaring, I would go to like a waxing salon and there was so much waste, right? Tons and tons of waste especially. I won't name names, but there are now salons that apply a wax, which is literally plastic, that cools and shrinks on your skin and hopefully like grabs enough of the hair and then it gets pulled off and then it goes in the garbage. So it's like a plastic bag, every strip. And I was really disgusted by all of that. So I. One of the reasons why, you know, like our powder here, if you can see it's in paper, it's in a paper tube. We use minimal amount of plastics and we're really conscious about that. And even in like, formulations, it was, you know, about like. Well, we have a very long blacklist. I'm sure if any of your audience is familiar with the beauty or personal care space, they know that, like most of everything that's on store shelves is quite toxic and like, not good for human health. So I wanted to create something that, like, wasn't bad for you, wasn't bad for the earth, and it gave you great results. And I learned a ton along the way with all the chemists and the formulators that we were working with. And we ended up landing with a contract manufacturer in France for two of our other products. The cleansing water and the serum. They're literally like farm to lab. They're. They've been doing it like all the. So all of that is to say that I was also in a place where I realized that most people don't realize that some of the things that they're using, how bad it is for them. So here I am. I'm at home. Our facility is closed. We just did a soft launch. I'm new to an industry for the first time in a long time. I've worked with a lot of industries, but first time really in beauty. And I. How am I going to use this time? Right? And what I realized is that I've accumulated all of this expertise on formulations, ingredients, packaging, all of that. And I also have not really establish myself in the space. So I decided to create an online summit. That's when we were all online trying to, like, figure out, like, you know, how to be healthy, how to avoid Covid, how to. How to. And I created this natural beauty summit, and I invited other experts that could, you know, shed more light on some of these topics, like, you know, wellness ingredients. Pharmacists, researchers, formulators, chemists, all doctors. And that's what I kind of created the summit around. And though I was obviously talking about sugar. Sugar. Sugar. Sugar is the sponsor of Natural Beauty Summit. And, you know, we made offers at the beginning and at the end of those interviews, but ultimately it was the core of. It was our core. One of our core values that would resonate with our ideal customers. Core values, because if someone is going to, you know, stop shaving and start sugaring, there's a learning curve. And for them to do that, they have to care about something. And that's when I was able to, you know, create this content and really create that value, which not only positioned me as also an expert in the space and align me with all these really amazing people, but it really, like, connected those dots of like, okay, here's sugar. Sugar with these, like, environmental wellness values here. And here's a summit. And if you're watching the summit, you care about those values, so it becomes like a natural connection. Does that sort of answer the question?
Jon LaClare [00:19:29]:
Yeah, absolutely. And I, you know, I want to tie that back to education and the value of. Of educating our audience about not only our product, but the category. So it really propels you to become the expert in this field. So they look at you not just as a seller of products, but really someone who's trying to help them. And I think it's a great learning for our audience to think about whatever industry they might be in, how can they do something similar may or may not be a summit? Right. But how can you put yourself forward as the expert in the field? And frankly, it's one of the reasons I love doing this podcast and interviewing a little bit longer format because it allows you is the product market marketer to share the full story behind this and really become, you know, to share not only with our audience, but with yours as well, how you are the expert in this field. And, and again, more than just a sound bite of 30 seconds. Right. It's, it's a longer bit to, okay, people that listen to this, they know you know your stuff now. Right. And I think it's such an important part of marketing to get some form of long form content out there, whether it's being on podcasts like you're doing or running a summit. It might be, you know, blogs. It could be anything, depending on what your interest levels are and what your affinity is towards. So you can share your expertise with others in an educational format. I want to turn that into content a little bit because, you know, since that date, that was fairly early on in your, in your operation. Right. It was, you were a relatively new company at the time. And since then you've grown, I believe, 25 to 50% every year since then, which is phenomenal. You started the hockey stick and really kept it going. And I believe one of the ways you've done that, as we talked before, is through content. And I'd love for you to talk about, you know what, I guess what form of content marketing now works best for your business to continue your growth.
Salome Sallehy [00:21:15]:
Yeah. So just to give your audience a little bit of context, like, I have been a marketer for more than 20 years. I studied marketing. I've held every position from like coordinator to VP in marketing roles across various verticals. And I even taught marketing in college. So I was a college instructor for a while. That was so much fun. But one of the core things, I think that has always been a common thread, no matter who I was working with or what the industry was, content is. So it's, it's almost like the blood of like the marketing because it's what tells the story, it's what resonates with your audience. It's what's gonna make it make you sticky in someone's mind. Right. It's what's also, in this case of Sugar Sugar. It's also what has really garnered a lot of loyalty because, you know, like you said, we're creating all this content. Yes, we want to have like time and attention from our audience, but like, also to convert them. But when you connect in an authentic way with your audience, when the values of your product are authentically aligned with the content that you're sharing, it not only makes them trust you, but it really allows your audience to lean on you for the expertise. So they, they just, they know that like when we're telling them something, it's true because of, you know, some of the longer format content. We've shown that like, you know, we understand the science of the products like at a much deeper level than any other brand has ever communicated with them before. Right. So content is so important and I think like it's all, it's how you're constantly sharing your brand story, but that brand story is also evolving. So it's also allowed us to let our audience know that like, hey, now we're here, now we're doing this and it keeps them connected to you. And we literally have customers that I like, I'm not sure if I'm jumping into subscriptions now, but basically because of the content we've created, then they'll jump into, they'll become subscribers and we have customers that are on their 30th something order. And I don't think a lot of beauty brands or personal care brands can say that like, yeah, like I've sold more than 30 units to one customer. You know what I mean? So content is like really how you're building that relationship with your customer and.
Jon LaClare [00:24:17]:
Your audience and that kind of ties into the long term or lifetime value of your customer as well. If you can think of that first transaction not as, you know, what's your price point on your main product?
Salome Sallehy [00:24:30]:
The jar itself is $36. And then our biggest bundle, which is four products in a kit is $129.
Jon LaClare [00:24:39]:
Perfect. Thank you. So just from a mathematics standpoint, if you've got a new customer, the least amount, maybe or at least of your main product they could represent is $36, right. So if it costs you $40 to get a $36 customer in marketing, media, etc, then that's not a business you could continue very long, right. If that's your ultimate revenue or lifetime value of that customer. But when you've got somebody that I'm sure it's not the average at 30 months, but you know, call it 10 even, right? If you have 10 month average or 10 units or, or subscribe subscriptions that are sent out, that $36 becomes $360 right? Now all of a sudden you've got an amazing return on your investment long term. So it's about finding strategies or ways to make, as you said, your product sticky. Right. And content is one of the best ways to do it. What forms of content like influencers or content creators or you know, where does that come in? That is work best for your business?
Salome Sallehy [00:25:37]:
Okay, so influencers and content creators I think have been not my favorite, I'm going to be honest. It's like really the best kind of content. The content that has garnered the most like attention and results has been educational content. So some of the things that we do once in a while is we'll do like these mini master classes for people who are, you know, and they're totally free. In fact, anything that we do, whether it's like a mini master class or a summit, everything is free. And you know, what we're doing is we're capturing those emails so that we can start, you know, we can get them into the funnel basically. But like many master classes has been incredibly effective. We probably don't do them often enough doing. Now that social media is changing a little bit and we're there, they want to see more long term format content. We've got a lot of that in the works. But for us, because our product is like, even the application of the sugar is so different. It's a lot of visual content. So videos. We've been asking customers, like real customers, we're like, oh, this customer's had like five orders. Maybe we can ask them to like send in a video. Um, like that has worked really well. What I will say, I know that when people think content, a lot of business people get overwhelmed by social media and they're like, oh my God, it's so much work, it's so much content and I hate doing it right. And I found that like, like creating content banks, like we'll do like one, maybe two shoots in a year and we'll get like a lot of video content, we'll get a few models, we'll have all the product like then that we have this, this is like our look and feel for the year, right? But working with influencers, especially when you have a product that there is a learning curve, it is a new category there, it is nuanced because like you don't apply it. Like if you see wax, you're going to want to bring out your strips and spatula. Like all of our customers watch the one or two minute video tutorials that we have on YouTube on our how to sugar page on the website. So they do they, there is a learning curve that they have to get over, right? And when you have influencers that are getting like, you know, products sent to them constantly, they're not really most of the time taking the time to like there have been a few and They've done it and it's been great. But as a brand, when as a new brand in a new category, for me, I'm, I don't want to say a perfectionist, but I think everything that I do, I want to do it with excellence. And I, I, the fact that I can't control how, what, how they're using the product or what they're saying about it or like whether they've taken the time, it hasn't worked out great. There have been some content creators, like we've sent them product, they've sent us little clips of their shoot and I was like, please don't post. That's a disaster. You know what I mean? It's also not aligned with the values of our brand. So that consistency in your content and your messaging is really important. Like having a clear content strategy and reviewing it like every three months, a mini review, but really reinventing it every year is super important.
Jon LaClare [00:29:40]:
I think I love that well described. So I want to ask you, we've got just a couple more questions. One is, are there any resources that you recommend that have been helpful to you that could be helpful to our audience as well?
Salome Sallehy [00:29:53]:
Yeah, I think that, you know, I'm a lifelong learner and I'm just very curious and I love learning and I love learning from people who have done things with excellence. One of the podcasts that I was really helpful to me in the early days was how I built this with Guy Raz and because it's inspiring. You see the beginning of the story, you hear about the end of it and it's all these wonderful happy endings and it's very encouraging because, you know, being an entrepreneur can feel lonely at times and sometimes you're in the dark when you're creating a new category. So that's been one of the favorites. I love Tim Ferriss podcast. Like he, even before I started the business. Like I love the way he thinks about, you know, systems and efficiency. Love that. And then I also really love learning through other people's stories. And I've always really loved autobiographies. Walter Isaacson I think has really created a, like he's just got a different style with autobiographies and it's so balanced and it's so truthful and it's like ugly and beautiful and all the things. And he's an incredible researcher. So I like those non glamorous real stories of people and just understanding how leaders really think and you know, what are like all of us. All of our gifts come from having Overcome some obstacle in our past. Right. Or like, you know, like Covid hit. I had to shut my facility down when I was just getting started. But then I created this other thing which not only served the community, but it also helped me build an audience of 5,000 plus. So yeah, like looking at inspiring leaders and learning about their stories and how that alchemy happens where you turn lemon into lemons into lemonade or sugar wax in my case.
Jon LaClare [00:32:07]:
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think these books can be very entertaining but really enlightening to see the journeys they've taken. And not that we're going to same thing as we talked about before with borrow, with pride. Not that we're going to follow the same journey in any way, but you can get little nuggets. Like I love the way that they had this style of innovation or the way that they manage employees, the way they work through or overcome trials, etc, and it can be, I think, very effective at building ourselves up by learning from others in pieces. Right. We're not going to follow everyone exactly, but we can certainly learn pieces from others. Was there any question I didn't ask you, you think could be helpful for our audience?
Salome Sallehy [00:32:41]:
Oh my gosh. Well, you can learn more about sugar sugar@garsugarwax.com obviously. And you know, I think that one of the things that I always like to share with other entrepreneurs, and I think it's a little bit of a different paradigm, is entrepreneurship isn't for everyone. I know we're in a time that really encourages everyone to become an entrepreneur, but it's not for everyone. And I think it's great to like be real with yourself about like, you know, like, is this, is this thing that I want to do out of passion? Is this a side hustle? Is this a passion project? Or am I going to go all in and am I ready to wear all of those different hats and deal with all of the uncertainty? And you know, I think this is the one thing that I see especially with female entrepreneurs because we have this like creative nature. We all want to like start a business, but just I think it's important to have a good real self talk. And that's, that's the one last thing I would like to leave your audience with is it is a hard journey and it's not for everyone. And don't feel bad about it if it's not for you because you know, when you're not the leader, you can always support other leaders. And I think that's just as important.
Jon LaClare [00:34:15]:
Well, said Salome. I really appreciate your time today and I do want to encourage our audience. Please go check out sugarsugarwax.com as always, if you're driving, it's in the show notes. You can get it at harvestgrowthpodcast.com and also for our audience. Did you know you can meet with a member of my team absolutely free for a 30 minute strategy consultation? We've launched and grown hundreds of products since 2007 and learned some of our strategies while growing OxiClean back in the Billy Mays days. We're here to help, so please go to harvestgrowth.com and set up a call if you'd like to discuss further.
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