#awinewith Rachel Ranger
MEET Rachel Ranger, Founder of Rachel Ranger
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:05):
So good. Rachel, welcome to Smart tv. I am so excited to chat and share your story. Let's start out by telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Rachel Ranger (00:16):
Thank you for having me.
Rachel Ranger (00:17):
So my name's Rachel. I'm a mom and a wife and a, I would say reclaimed obsessed beauty industry leader. I've been in this industry for 23 years, ventured a little bit, but stuck to my roots. And yeah, it's been a journey. I currently run my own solo salon, an e-commerce skincare line, and I also coach solo salon owners to build their own profitable beauty businesses. So,
Danielle Lewis (00:49):
Oh my God, that's a lot.
Rachel Ranger (00:51):
Yeah, that is
Danielle Lewis (00:52):
A lot. How do you juggle having essentially three businesses and a family and a life? This
Rachel Ranger (01:01):
Has been a huge pivotal moment for me because I'm a new mom. I have a three-year-old, so I thought I set the business up really good before I went on maternity leave and then went on maternity leave and went through a really rough, I suppose, postpartum that I wasn't expecting, which kind of threw that course offline. So from that I really learned that you have to be pivotal all the time and things don't always go to plan and systemize, systemize, systemize. So I think the big thing, especially coming into even this year and having a little bit more of a stable ground is actually really working on those systems to support me and that systems at home systems as a wife and a housemaker for mom life as well as business, I think is super important. So that's been my sole focus, I think, to have all of those run alongside each other.
Danielle Lewis (01:57):
I love that it's like when people talk about meal prepping to help your future self, it's like what are the things that you can bring to your life and your business that are going to make your future self have things a little bit easier? And so that's why I find oftentimes as business owners, we're kind of creatives, we're visionaries, we're a little chaotic. So sometimes systems and processes, people feel like they're super boring and it's a real struggle for people to actually sit down and create them and outsource them and delegate them, but they're just so transformational in business
Rachel Ranger (02:37):
And I think we get so caught most of the time we're such creatives and that creative drive is so strong and then it's stepping from the feminine to the masculine of going, okay, I've got to sit down and get these systems done. I think also too, we get scared stepping into that masculine state because everything comes transparent and sometimes we're trying to bog that down. And so I think, I know even in my coaching, that's the one thing I really teach these solo owners is that we need to step in away from that feminine into that masculine and really go through the systems, get transparent because that is what's going to drive that business and keep you grounded as well to know the decisions you make when you are in those creative times that you're making 'em for the right reasons. So totally agree.
Danielle Lewis (03:23):
Yeah, I love it. And it's interesting, I love that you mentioned sometimes we're kind of trying to turn a blind eye to how chaotic our business or life is, but you can't fix things if you don't actually take a good hard look at them, even though it's a bit gross sometimes.
Rachel Ranger (03:42):
And I think you can't shy away from actually doing the work
Danielle Lewis (03:47):
Because
Rachel Ranger (03:47):
It's to sit up here and look glorious. And I think that's where the whole Instagram thing kind of throws business owners. It's so easy to start a business now. It looks glorified, but it's hard work and you've actually got to do the, you've got to get in there and do the work. And it's the common theme I see when I'm coaching is that no one knows their numbers or wants to know their numbers too scared because they don't know that side of things. They know how to do their business, their treatment, their service, whatever. So it is interesting, and we've all had to go through those stages and learn for ourselves that that's actually where the important things happen and the growth happens. So definitely,
Danielle Lewis (04:28):
Yeah. Oh my God, absolutely. And I think it's like it's never too late. I kind of feel like sometimes we think as well, if I haven't been tracking my metrics or I don't have systems, it's too late for me. I don't want anyone to know. But it's kind of like when you draw that line in the sand and go, you know what? I'm just going to sit down and I'm going to figure out where we're at. It's actually super empowering because it means you can start to make those decisions from a more informed place.
Rachel Ranger (04:59):
And always throwing, I always say to my clients, you're throwing spaghetti at the wall. If you don't know your numbers, you are sleeping. It's going to stick, right? You actually don't know. And if you're, you're not looking at these metrics, these metrics are telling you, and this is how you get fast growth. And so every time you sit down and go through people's numbers, they're like, oh my God, that was really scary, but now look at my growth and how quick it happens. And it's not about getting rich quick. It's more so just seeing those metrics and being able to act on them faster when something's not working, change it and if it is working, accelerate it. So yeah, it's an interesting pivot in business, that's for sure.
Danielle Lewis (05:36):
Yeah, and it's so funny too because I think it helps take the emotion out of things. I always laugh, I'll be having a bad day in business and I'll be whinging to my husband like, oh my God, nothing. Our doing's working. And he's like, well, okay, so how did you go last month? What are we at for the year? And I'll say it, and he's like, oh, so it's not bad at all.
Rachel Ranger (05:57):
I always say, your husband isn't your business coach, because I feel like women do come with a very emotional approach, and I always say when emotions high intelligence is low. And so to have that rant and then step back out of it and look at it from a subjective point of view, and it is so hard. It is so easy to get wrapped up in everything else consumed around us to compare and all those things again is hard.
Danielle Lewis (06:20):
Oh, totally. And even you'll just see someone will make an off the cuff comment to you like a family member or someone on social media, and it's so easy to just get to derail your whole day or your whole business idea or product launch or whatever it might be. But it's like that's kind of where I think that the systems and the data and the numbers set you free because you can go, cool, I can put all that aside because I might've got that nasty comment on Instagram, but I'm actually still making sales and people actually love what I do and I am solving a real problem.
Rachel Ranger (06:56):
Yeah, totally agree. I think that's probably one of the big things I've learned in business is not listening to that outside noise because it does derail you and exactly like you said, if you know those things, it's empowering you to keep forward and those comments and seeing someone that might be progressing faster, that started at the same time as you, it doesn't become a valuable lesson to you because you're like, well, it's not in my path, so it doesn't matter. What's my goal? Where am I getting to? Well, if that's not part of it, then it doesn't matter. And then when things pop up and you're like, should jump on this next trend, it's like, no, that's pushing me further away from the goal, keep going forward. So yeah, it's definitely the systems and the metrics are huge, huge, huge. That is
Danielle Lewis (07:40):
So good. I love it. Now tell me about the e-commerce business because I didn't know that you had that. What is that all about? What is it?
Rachel Ranger (07:48):
Six years ago I started e-commerce skincare line that was purely to add or diversify my income streams through the salon because obviously being a solo owner, it's the max capacity of clientele. So it was to be able to add on sales but also pick a gap in the market of seeing a lot of brands jumping online that weren't sold by beauty professionals. So I created that and sold that, and then I actually closed it September last year. It just got too much. It's a full-time business in itself as well as running the salon on and then having my toddler and I stepped away and I really missed it. I actually really missed the e-com side of business, but I've come back on a different scale and we are doing it in a pre-order monthly order, open shut close, and looking at possibly doing a wholesale to beauty salons only so that it's salon only just to get back that professionalism and that prescription style skincare offering. So we've just started two months ago, so back running that in. So it's been great.
Danielle Lewis (08:57):
That is so smart. I just love the innovative thinking of, okay, that wasn't working for me on a day-to-day level, but I love the model. The product's obviously amazing. How can you change the business to suit you? And so doing that monthly pre-order model, so smart. And then when you think about from a beauty point of view, people pretty much do order their stuff monthly. So if they're used to your rhythm and they love your product, why wouldn't they jump on board?
Rachel Ranger (09:28):
I think the other thing is I think we get caught up in not creating that urgency anymore. It's a good thing. I see with e-commerce. It's like I used to work for GHD hair straighteners. We would start with four launches a year of the special colors, and then it became was like every second month and then no one was waiting and the sales decreased. So I always go back to that kind of model and I thought my runoff referrals of friends, and if people are willing to want it, they'll wait. And also it helps with cashflow because I'm not thousands of dollars on shelf and I'm able to process and go through and make changes quicker and it's picked straight back up, which was super exciting. And then being able to look at a model of maybe not going e-com where I'm selling it outside my clientele and I help beauty salons look at skincare that is prescription only and keep more in-house, I think is really powerful because we've lost that as well, especially in our industry being unregulated. So yeah, bringing that back. Yeah, so that's where we're kind of looking at that for 2025.
Danielle Lewis (10:41):
That's so cool. I love it. It's so smart. So then obviously you have the beauty therapy salon owner, 20 plus years experience background, but then how did you go to formulating a beauty product?
Rachel Ranger (10:58):
I think I've done sales for products and then I'm, I say to my husband all the time, you want to find something? I'm great at sourcing so I can source to the cows come home. And so don't get me wrong, we went through quite a few suppliers and manufacturers and I really sat down with the team and chemists and just went through what I want to be able to deliver and make sure that I didn't put something out there that I'm not happy to put my name to. So going through that process was hard because you're trialing an error all the time with different packagings and formulations and shelf life and all of that, but it was such a great process as well to be at the back end from being someone who used to sell and educate on these products I can now actually create and formulate and then take it through the whole process to sell it, to get it to consumers. So it's been fun.
Danielle Lewis (11:51):
That's so cool and super interesting. I love how as a business owner, all of those skills that we have in terms of sourcing, research, sales, you've obviously talked to every customer that's come in your door to understand where gaps are. We are such all rounders sometimes, and I think that's what makes it amazing and makes it work is we can take all of those skills and then find the right people and create something awesome and innovative. I think it's unreal.
Rachel Ranger (12:23):
I think sometimes I do feel it's a little bit of a curse purely. Oh,
Danielle Lewis (12:27):
Definitely.
Rachel Ranger (12:28):
Because I've even, I've toyed with going into the coaching side of things for so many years because I feel like I have so many skills, skill sets through all of my career change pathways, but still in that industry is that it's also been hard to hone in on what I can offer because there are so much. There is so much I can help people. So it's great to be an, I feel like you can help people setting up of so many things, but then it's also your mind is so creative. It's like, oh, what about this? What about this? What about that? And it's like, yeah, honing that into one thing is hard sometimes.
Danielle Lewis (13:05):
It's so hard. And it's funny, your comment earlier, it's having a business, running a business is hard. I mean, I've got new ideas for businesses that I desperately want to start, and I'm like, no. I'm like, don't do it. Don't do it to yourself. Like what if I just did this? And I'm like, you know how much of a double full-time job one business is if you add another one in, that's just impossible. But never say never.
Rachel Ranger (13:34):
I know. Trust me, the amount of people, friends, family, clients that say to me, oh, what are you doing now? What are you doing now? And I just actually take it really personal and think, am I flaky? Am I someone who doesn't finish something? But I was like, no, I'm actually a multi-passionate person. I need to have different things on the go because otherwise it doesn't fill my cup and I'm actually better working that way as well. So yeah, it's been a very interesting, I'd say the last 12 months to really understand that it's okay. It's okay to pivot, to change to, at the end of the day, it's your life and what you live and what you need from those businesses.
Danielle Lewis (14:10):
Yeah, it's so true. And I just love that sentiment because at the end of the day, whatever you choose, it's going to be hard and you're going to make sacrifices and you're going to think about it 24 hours a day. So you may as well do something that you love. And if that changes over time,
Rachel Ranger (14:26):
Who cares? They say choose your heart. That's what you've got to focus on. Right?
Danielle Lewis (14:31):
Yeah. Oh my God, I love it so much. So what do you think the biggest challenge has been for you over the last 20 odd years of running multiple businesses?
Rachel Ranger (14:43):
I actually think it's probably the confidence piece
(14:49):
In all business because think once again, honing skills, all those kind of things. I think it's the confidence to just be yourself, in all fairness, in every role I've ever done. Because I think you try to be someone you're not, then you doesn't feel aligned, and then you are kind of up against all this resistance. And then the minute you drop that and just go, I'm going to be me, it just flows. And every business decision I've made that has come from a place of what I think other people expect from me, it's never gone well. So I really feel the biggest challenge is having the confidence to back myself to go, I know what I'm good at, I know what I can do and who cares what other people think. So that's probably for me, in all honesty, the biggest challenge that I've had.
Danielle Lewis (15:36):
I really love that sentiment. I was listening to a Boss Babe podcast episode earlier this week, and it was really interesting. They were talking about, so oftentimes social media, we compare ourselves to everybody else, and a lot of the content that's out there nowadays is quite cookie cutter. And one of the things that they said was really around your personal brand. And when there's a founder, a lead brand and showing up is yourself and having that confidence and it's like that's where the cut through happens. That's a way you can just be yourself and back yourself. That is where the cut through that is where it starts to look different. You start to attract the right people. So figuring out how to get founders or business owners to find that confidence to just show up as their messy selves, I kind of think is the key for businesses cutting through.
Rachel Ranger (16:33):
I can't agree more. And the only reason, the thing that really jumps out to me is I have just done this myself in the 360 in the last three years since becoming a mom, because becoming a mom has never, my husband said, you're such a confident person then becoming a mom. You've never seen so unconfident before and you doubt yourself as a mom all the time, right? You're doubting yourself all the time. So I thought my brand's always been my name. It's been who I am. I stand behind that. And then I had this time when the skincare, I was like, I don't want to be attached to it. I don't want to own it. I don't want my name. I want to change it. And I changed it. It was the worst thing I could have done. I thought by stepping back and by not being me and having something to kind of filter me to the world is what was going to work.
(17:17):
And now we've literally just gone through a rebrand and come back to my name, house, everything under that. And that really showed that I know what I love seeing with people. I don't like seeing business names. I like seeing who they are and what they do and what they're about. And that was another thing of that mask of confidence. It's like motherhood kick my ass. And now I'm like, no, I need to get my power back. And that is that confidence in I'm happy to show up to the world of who I am and what I'm about. So exactly that story you've just told is what I hope to empower other solar owners to do for themselves because we often hide behind these masks that we just don't need to. No one wants to see that.
Danielle Lewis (18:00):
No. Well, and it's so interesting because even so the young kids these days, the Gen Zs, it's how they shop. They want to know the story behind the brand. They want the behind the scenes. They want to see the messy middle, the building. That is where those consumers are putting their money. And you think about even us, so I'm not going to categorize you, I'll put myself in the millennial bucket, but it's like when you hear a story, that's what compels you to look further into a brand, not your right, not a logo, not a brand name, not a random word that you don't identify with, but when you see another person, another human showing up and telling their story, it is the thing that makes them so unique and stand out and gives you that kind of level of curiosity to find out more about what they do
Rachel Ranger (18:55):
Exactly. And that relatability of they're a human. I think that's the other thing is gone are the days where even big brands are now starting to personalize themselves and attach themselves to something, whether that's an ambassador or something, to tell a story. So you can see that storytelling piece is huge. I think 20, 25, you'll see a massive shift, I think with brands with that storytelling piece. It's what everyone wants to see. You see the extension of carousels even on Instagram going from so many slides between slides, because I want that story,
Danielle Lewis (19:29):
And even the text, everyone's writing over the top of their pictures now to tell that story,
Rachel Ranger (19:35):
Which is, and I know it even captures me to be able to sit there and watch because we we're all so fast. We are not consuming information like we used to. It's so fast paced and so snippets and small, and so yeah, it's definitely, I really strongly believe about that confidence piece in yourself in order to show up to world the way you'd want to and showing your business and your brand that same way. There's no point in trying to be someone else.
Danielle Lewis (20:04):
Yeah, people can see through it, right?
Rachel Ranger (20:09):
Because it doesn't feel right, it doesn't sit right with you, and you put content out there, or you try and do something that's not aligned with who your brand is. You feel it.
Danielle Lewis (20:21):
Totally. And it's hard enough to show up online if you don't believe in the thing you've created for yourself. Was there anything that helped you get that confidence back? So when you were going through that process and you were feeling a little bit like, I want to hide behind the mask, and then you went, ah, no, I don't think so. Was there anything that helped you break through?
Rachel Ranger (20:46):
I think one content copy, trying to be someone I wasn't behind the mask that wasn't aligning, and I was finding it really hard to write copy or build my website in this other brand. So that was probably first thing. I think this other thing is coming back into salon and actually speaking to clients, seeing all clients, consumers, getting feedback from them, stepping back into my zone of genius and actually getting the comments and the feedback that I used to get to go, okay, you've got this. This is the path that you're meant to be on. I think that's probably the biggest thing, and it's the biggest thing in business is that once again, going back to the metrics and the feedback, you get that and you're on the right path, like your messaging and so on, so forth. So I think it was a collection of multiple things that have kind of come together to make you realize that's where you need to be.
Danielle Lewis (21:40):
Yeah. No, I just love it. It's just really lovely. I think if anyone's listening who is struggling to show up, that might be a bit of an indicator that we're not quite being ourselves. And that's where the magic happens.
Rachel Ranger (21:56):
Definitely. And honestly, I can't stress enough how much it flows the minute you step into that and the minute that you are not meant to be in. And that's, I suppose, beauty in that feminine energy is that you actually know when it's flowing. So I really believe that you do know intuitively if it's the right thing, and if you follow that, it might take a little while, but then all of a sudden the floodgates open and you get that growth and that exposure and awareness that you've never had before. And then that's what keeps you going, I suppose, to keep that confidence alive and know that you are okay being you. You're enough. I
Danielle Lewis (22:36):
Love it. I love it so much. You are amazing. Now, I always love to wrap up these podcasts with one last piece of advice. So reflecting on your time in business, multiple businesses, what would be one piece of advice that you would give to another woman on her business journey?
Rachel Ranger (22:55):
What do I tell my girls? I would probably say one thing I say a lot is own your pace. Own your space. So cool about staying focused and staying in your own lane. And once again, going back to that confidence piece, being able to know your metrics, building businesses and brands that align with you, because at the end of the day, ultimately you want to be building a sustainable, fulfilling business that fills that passion cup. So I really feel and do it in your own time because we get caught up watching other people and that comparison. Yeah, so I always say to the girls, own your pace, own your space. I think that's really important. It's one thing that always sticks with me when I start to go off the rails a little bit and start thinking about business ideas at 3:00 AM in the morning is just coming back to those words. So that's probably what I would say.
Danielle Lewis (23:50):
Oh, absolutely Incredible. Rachel, thank you so much for being here and sharing your story and your wisdom. It was amazing.
Rachel Ranger (23:57):
Thank you so much.
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