Hi! I’m Doone, your hype girl and BFF in business. This is your weekly source of inspiration & information on all things in the e-commerce and CPG space, read by like-minded Entrepreneurs - that happen to be women - like you. If you find value in this content please like & share above, or forward it to someone in your network. I love it when you do that! If someone forwarded you this email you can subscribe here:

Bulletin 📌

The countdown is on... And it's packed with a little bit of MAGIC ✨

Happy Mondayyy! As you might have heard, we've got something exciting that's been in the works for a while now and the time is fast approaching for us to release it!!! And I’m just so excited because it’s relevant to every single person who is a fan of FSC. Whether you own a business, working in the 9-5 or just started a side hustle! It's for you ❤️

Head over to our waitlist and pop your name there - you’ll be the first to know about it when we make the announcement soon. I would love for you to be part of the next phase of Female Startup Club 💖

But first... This newsletter is brought to you by Upscribe 💅

If you’re an eComm biz owner, you’ve probably thought about whether your product suits being subscription-based. There's a good reason it's alllll the hype at the mo. We've linked up with Upscribe, the pro's when it comes to building, growing, and scaling your Shopify subscription biz. Brands like Athletic Greens and True Botanicals have already jumped on the bandwagon and have fab things to say. To get started they're giving you $300 off when you sign up with us 💰 when you book in a demo and tell them we sent you

Industry News You Should Prob Read 🗞

Pitch deck examples that raised millions in cash $$$. Is Bed, Bath & Beyond dead? Hero Cosmetics gets acquired for $630 million. Kim Kardashian adds private equity to her resume. And a true crime podcast. A new law introduced to post salary ranges on job listings. Pucker up, Riri's dropping a $500 lipstick.

Small Biz Spotlight ⭐️

Straight from Hype Club.

We've got an amazing community of founders in Hype Club and when we catch up weekly it blows my mind to see the cool stuff they're working on and how they're going about launching their business to the world. Last week, Catarina Oliveira launched her new beauty biz; Herbar. And ohhhhhhh mama it's good! She shared with me the 4 things she was focused on in the lead up to launch, and why that's played a part in its success...

DEFINE YOUR USP: Make sure you have something new to say. The beauty industry is saturated and producing new goods isn’t sustainable, so we don’t pretend that it is. Since we're in the business of beauty, we have a responsibility to cut through the crowded ocean with novelty. With Herbar we focused on something we wholeheartedly believe in and are genuinely obsessed with – adaptogenic beauty. Western culture is now getting hold of and understanding what these ingredients are all about through lattes and bliss balls. But adaptogenic beauty isn’t considered a category yet. Making sure we are saying something new and unique was always of incredible importance to us.

ADD TRUE VALUE IN SERVICE MEDIA: We never wanted to be another brand on your bathroom shelf, another post on your feed or another email in your inbox. We want to add value to you, to your life, to your routine. The world is full of noise and the beauty industry even more so. We are trying to nudge someone's world a little bit forwards everyday. We focus on service media rather than social media – educational, thoughtful and genuine content, always.

VISUALS ARE KEY: Both Rui and I are very visual people. When we set out to create Herbar, we focused hard on the idea of visual reprogramming, re-vizualizing what clean, natural beauty can look like. Exploring new ingredients, reframing connotations, changing perceptions, incentivizing conversation and inspiring through thoughtful adaptogenic content. Since the beginning, we have been working and collaborating with people from completely different industries – CGI, illustration, music, nail art, poetry and more – to grow Herbar, expand and shift perspectives. The same way musicians remix, artists collage and athletes cross-train, we want to let completely contrasting worlds inspire the work we are doing.

COMMUNITY AND INTERCONNECTIVENESS: We learned this from our fellow fungi. The fungi kingdom is composed by a mycelium network that connects individual plants together to transfer water, nitrogen, carbon and other minerals. We are not only a mushroom-powered brand but also mushroom-inspired. We are slowly and mindfully creating our Herbar ecosystem, full of like minded people, beauty connoisseurs, artists, enthusiasts and cheerleaders. One cannot do it alone and in order to bring adaptogenic mushroom beauty to the world we need to rally up the troops.

*The doors to Hype Club are open, now’s the time to join our community of uplifting entrepreneurs building the future CPG companies! It doesn't need to be lonely.

Let's Talk CBD in business.... ❤️

In my ongoing mini-series within the FSC podcast, you’ll hear directly from me, your Host & Hype Girl about all the goings-on with the Female Startup Club. This week I'll be diving into the lessons shared by female pioneers in the somewhat controversial, exciting, and ever-evolving CBD industry. Take note! 🌿

1. NEVER back down from a no 🙅‍♀️

Daye founder Valentina Milanova reminds us that basically everything she’s done since founding her biz has seemed impossible when she first started thinking about it. But therein lies the magic. Take the impossible, believe it in 110%, and never ever back down when you’re faced with a massive mountain of no’s to climb.

2. Seriously educate 📚

As a founder, you need to take that education piece seriously. Take the time to choose great quality, transparent products that have lab-tested ingredients, and make sure your consumer knows what they’re taking and why they’re taking it. With real results, effective products, and most vitally, the education piece Yugenials founder Nia Davies believes we can change the narrative around CBD-use in the future.

3. Meaningful connections = meaningful results 💖

When it comes to influencer marketing, many brands will blindly send a product out in the hope for a shout-out, or pre-determine a strict price-plan for the influencer to adhere to. Instead, try to opt for a more relationship-centered approach. The founders of Equilibria, Coco Meers and Marcy Capron-Vermillon, are friends with their influencers. The results of this kind of approach has led to an increase of real and authentic product reviews, wild-fire word-of-mouth and exploded their referral programme to the next level.

4. Consumer is king 👑

Listening to your consumer is an absolutely vital early step in developing your brand feel. Kerrigan Behrens, founder of Sagely Naturals can guarantee there will always be something that surprises you and changes the trajectory of your business for the better.

5. Build trust through packaging ✨

Kiva Confections founder Kristi Palmer found a similar thing to be true in creating a brand aesthetic for her brand well over 10 years ago now. Being meticulous and having a methodology about everything from the quality of what you’re offering to the placement of the information of the package all comes together to create a thoughtful, professional brand that consumers trust.

6. Believe in your vision 💭

Laurel Angelica Myers, founder of Prima, was able to share some advice around funding within the notoriously tricky CBD space. What people are really investing in at the end of the day, is a person, and the idea. Show off what you can bring to the table, and make them excited about joining your business.

7. Hurdles serve a purpose ✋

Now finally, I wouldn’t dream of chatting about CBD without mentioning the industry's very own Kush Queen, Olivia Alexander. She has shown us like no other that a bad situation can turn out to be a stepping stone for greatness, and that all the challenges that inherently come with entrepreneurship do serve a purpose.

What to Read, What to Listen to 🤔

📚 How To Own The Room by Viv Groskop: a powerful book about what happens when women find their voice and speak up.

🎧 Girlboss Radio hosted by Puno: delight your minds and ears with stories that redefine success, from doctors to small business owners.

Job Alert Time! 💼

Check out these cool women-owned DTC job listings on our radar:

BRISBANE 🌺

• Hey Influencers tech platform is looking for a Junior to Mid Level Influencer Marketing Manager. Apply here

REMOTE 🪐

• Curie is hiring a full-time remote Supply Chain Operations Manager. Apply here

UNITED STATES 💙

• Studs wants Students Ambassadors at different campuses around the USA. Apply here

• French Farmacie is on the hunt for a Social Media Marketing Intern. Apply here

• Black Girl Sunscreen is hiring for different roles! Drop them an email with your resume to [email protected]

1800-HypeGirl Hotline... ☎️

I wanted to quickly remind you about our HypeGirl Hotline, powered by Norby. Every Monday we're sending out a cute text just to kick your week off with some joy and smiles. Because we all need more of that.

If you're an entrepreneur, small biz owner, influencer, curious human... You should check them out. Norby is the link-in-bio tool that we've been using to connect with our community (you!), launch our Hype-Girl-Hotline📞, and keep track of all of our own data (the magic sauce of 2022).

Oh, AND you can grab a free month's trial using the code FSC at checkout! Tell 'em we sent you 💗

BTW... Are we friends on Tiktok? Come say hi @dooneroisin! ✨