Well, at least I know someone is reading my articles. A couple of friends who read part 1 of my feature Hidden Voices have been pestering me about when part 2 would be out. People just love a good story, don’t they? One person said that before the article they had never even heard of Madagascar. I’m in the business of promoting African fashion but it’s nice to know one is contributing so richly to adult education!

Ok, last time I introduced you to Isabelle Gellé of les Parfums d’Isabelle. I talked about how Isabelle began concocting perfumes at the age of 10 using gardenia flowers and other tropical plants. But what really spurred Isabelle to greater heights was the memory of her mum’s vintage perfumes. According to Isabelle, these smells were so imprinted in her olfactory memory that they later became her inspiration to create her natural line of vintage perfumes.

I found it all interesting but didn’t quite understand how she was able to take that running leap from passion to a successful online business that caught the attention of even Microsoft. I asked her the same question that you’re probably asking: “How did you do it?’’. Here’s what Isabelle told me:

FIRST, TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF

I was born in France but my bloodline is in Madagascar on my father’s side and Poland on my mother’s side so I can say I am a natural perfume cocktail (smile).

I spent my childhood on a tropical island in the South Pacific and my youth in West Africa. From there on, I travelled all over the world and my life has always revolved around ‘discovering new cultures and living with Nature’. Materialism has never been at the top of my agenda. I hold a diploma in aromatherapy and Indian head massage and I am currently studying naturopathy to ensure that my knowledge and services are more formal.

HOW ON EARTH DID YOU GET INTO PERFUMES?

Being blessed with a golden childhood in a tropical paradise, I was concocting perfumed potions from all the beautiful flowers and botanicals freely available in the places I lived in. At the age of 10, I used to pick up gardenia flowers from the trees and macerate them in coconut oil just like the Tahitian women! I used to add the blends to my homemade candles and looking back, I can say I was a pioneer in the use of perfumes in household and personal care products (smile).

I never thought I would end up making a business of it though… My professional life started as a buyer and seller of spices and aromas in Africa and then I worked in the sales and marketing in the luxury hospitality industry. The travelling all over the world helped me develop a strong sense of smell and my nose is imprinted with a huge number of olfactory memories. This ‘olfactory capital’ helped me decide to convert my passion into a business in 2007 as friends and family were praising my handmade creations. Also, I wanted to combine Nature and Luxury as I believe both are related (Luxury comes from the Latin ‘Lux’ which means ‘Light). But mostly, this decision was driven by necessity. I had met my English partner John and I moved to the Yorkshire region where I could not find a job. However, the beautiful and green countryside here is most inspiring so it was natural to use it as a base for my ecological business.

YOU MAKE PERFUMES FROM NATURAL INGREDIENTS, DON’T YOU?  WHY THIS FOCUS?

Well. Having been impregnated by Nature itself from an early age, my philosophy has always been to live as close as possible to Mother Earth. Creating perfumes is an art and not a science as many people would think… I find natural ingredients beautiful to work with as they reflect so much the original plant or flower and often put you in a hypnotic or relaxing state, helping you to open your creativity channels. They are also more difficult to work with because they require a good knowledge of how they blend with each other. Natural perfumery is the state-of-the-art in perfume-making… I am an artist first and foremost: I paint notes!

The other reason was that when I started my company, consumer demand for green, ethical, ecological products was growing. I identified a niche market which none of the big perfume houses was tackling. In France, they call it ‘CONFIDENTIAL or COUTURE PERFUMERY’. I was David against Goliath and it would have been stupid to try to compete with the big ones whose marketing budgets are unlimited. My mission is ‘to help people rediscover the Essence of Nature’ and because I have always embraced natural things, it never occurred to me to use other than natural ingredients.

TALK TO US A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PERFUME YOU
OFFER. WHAT ARE YOUR BEST SELLERS?

My own personal creations are sold under the ‘ready-to-wear collection’. Currently, this Couture collection offers 8 perfumes including Eau de Cologne, Eau de Toilette and Eau de parfum. I love creating unusual and unique blends and this is what clients look for. My perfumery is neither blunt nor discreet although it is an intimate experience which commercial perfumery does not offer. I wanted to differentiate from British perfumery because the discerning consumer wants an experiential journey when wearing a perfume. My perfumes are about making you travel to remote places. To this effect, no wonder that my best sellers are Eau de Kerala, based on a classic Eau de Cologne recipe but with an Indian touch of spices and aromas; Escapade a Oman, an oriental and very seductive unisex Eau de toilette based on oriental ingredients and 1950, a classic Chypre with Japanese osmanthus giving it a fruity and exotic note. My first perfume, Coeur de lys is a cocktail of exotic flowers such as Madagascar ylang ylang and African grapefruit and it always sells well.

SUCCESS DOES NOT COME OVERNIGHT, NOR WAS ROME BUILT IN A DAY. TALK
TO US ABOUT SOME OF THE CHALLENGES AND OBSTACLES THAT YOU’VE FACED AND
STILL FACE AS YOU TRY TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS.

There are of course many challenges and obstacles not only in the short term but also in the long term.

The major challenge and obstacle is cash flow. I would love to expand more into the corporate world to offer company’s fragrances and products for marketing purposes and to develop my new Academy of Aromas and Scents, but I am limited as to what I can invest to develop this service. Banks are not really helpful nor are government bodies supposedly established to help small businesses so I feel frustrated because the demand is out there but the expansion can only happen with more financing. It’s a catch 22 situation indeed!

The other challenge is working on my own and in the North of England. In the UK, there is definitely a frontier between the South and the North and my location prevents me from tackling a huge number of opportunities in places such as London. I am trying to remedy this issue by negotiating office sharing in London. This is most important now as I am getting more and more enquiries for export in countries such as North America, Turkey and Malaysia and London is the place to be. Working on your own can be difficult at times as not only do I create and produce the stock but I need to keep up with the accounts and the marketing activities as well. I work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day and still it is not enough!

But in fact, I see all these challenges as positive. I have now proven that there is a market for my type of products, so the next step is to handle the expansion in a way that client services and satisfaction do not suffer. I will need to find partners at some point. The thing is to find the right partners and I would rather take my time and make sure that the people who join have the same vision. Sometimes it is better to go slowly but surely, rather than trying to go too fast and be overwhelmed.

WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE GOALS FOR YOUR COMPANY AND WHAT SORT OF
PERFUME PROJECTS ARE YOU CURRENLTY WORKING ON?

The short term goal is to finalize the office in London in order to develop the new education and training arm I have created. It is called ‘Academy of Aromas and Scents (UK)’ and it aims at offering accredited courses not only in natural perfumery but other fields involving aromas and scents. In more scientific terms, it is called ‘aromachology’ which is the psychology of aromas on the human behavior. The Academy will gather together a group of expert tutors in various fields including oenology, scent therapy, uses of spices and botanicals etc. Of course, we will start with delivering workshops and courses in natural perfumery both onsite and online. The demand is huge and I feel that in order for natural perfumery to grow and survive, we need to train the future generations of natural perfumers and transmit the traditional methods of perfume-making. Most of the people showing an interest are hobbyists but many want to make it a business. We are looking at partnering with some universities and colleges to deliver these courses which will be accredited by a renowned UK guild.

I am also continuing with the development of the historic perfume collection. The first perfume ‘Germinal’ has been recently launched on the website and is already in demand. The purchase on the website will be for a limited period as the collection consisting of 12 fragrances based on the post-French revolution era between 1795 and 1801 when Napoleon became Emperor, will then be promoted through bookshops and heritage boutiques. This is a period I have always been passionate about and I am on a crusader when it comes to offering REAL historical perfumes based on ingredients which were actually used in those days and not synthetic ones which did not exist then!! For example, Germinal which represents spring, uses many ingredients found in the French vineyards. The idea of this project is to link events in France with events or characters from England… The 12 perfumes will be presented in separate booklet style of offering, with historical facts and stories/tales linked to the chosen historic theme. For example, ‘Germinal’ is linked to the fall of the Sans-Culottes on April 1, 1795 (12 Germinal year III in the Revolution calendar).

My medium-term goal is to continue expanding in some of the export markets of interest.

NOW THE QUESTION THAT EVERYONE IS DYING TO ASK: WHAT WAS IT ABOUT YOU THAT CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF MICROSFOT, AND HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

The reason Microsoft gave me when they decided to single me out for most of their press releases and marketing reports, was that contrary to most of their website owners, I was producing and selling products rather than services. They also told me that I had made excellent use of their website management tools and that perfume-making was a very original and unique business idea. Plus, I was one of the first to incorporate the PayPal payment system for their websites in the UK. They wanted to attract more SME’s and small manufacturers so they decided to use my business a bit like their ‘ambassador’ for this aspect of their service.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MISTAKES THAT YOU’VE MADE IN THE COURSE OF
GETTING TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW THAT YOU WOULD ADVISE OTHER WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS TO AVOID?

I made mistakes but I always take them as a lesson to be learnt. The first obvious one is to have waited so long to go ahead with my passion!! It is incredible how the human mind is able to create obstacles when there are none… First lesson learnt: if you have a passion and a project, don’t wait around until you have run out of excuses. Just do it however crazy it may seem!!

The other mistake to avoid at any cost is to want to offer a full range of products straightaway. I found that it was better to start with a small range and gradually add more products. First, it allows you to reduce your expenses and overheads dramatically but above all, it gives you space to establish yourself and your credibility in your market and to put yourself in a position where you don’t offer a product or service based on what you think the demand is, but rather based on the actual demand. It is simple: if a huge number of clients are asking for a specific product, then you can create it to fulfill the demand. I think it is very risky to create the product first and then expect to strike it lucky to sell it.

I was lucky enough (yes I call it luck!) to have experienced failure in a business venture in Africa so I learned to be more cautious. I watch my cash flow carefully. If I can’t afford what I need for the business, I wait and work to build up the necessary funds. With the current recession, business is more about staying around than about profit. Customers have become more demanding and really are Kings (and Queens). One mistake to avoid is to drop your level of customer service and enter panic mode because sales are slowing down. Thanks to my past experience, I have learnt that your best clients are the existing ones and I am treating them like diamonds! They are the ones helping me to get new clients and I don’t need to spend a fortune on marketing to attract new clients.

WHAT WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT OR ADVICE DO YOU HAVE TO OFFER ANY WOMAN
TRYING TO START A BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH, AS YOU HAVE DONE?

I would give these words of advice: know your business in and out, be confident and go for it!! I started my business by investing 10% of earnings from translation work and my initial investment was £800 worth of raw materials!! Aspiring entrepreneurs think they need to borrow or to invest tens of thousands of pounds to start a business. Well it is just not true!! What makes you successful is not how much assets and money you put in the first place, it is rather how much time you are willing to devote to making it work! It is also important to define what success means to you… It does not necessarily means financial success particularly in the current downturn where the classic models have been upset and been proven wrong!

One thing I have learnt is that you will not get any help from banks or investors unless you have already started (except in the case of an innovative technology breakthrough!). Bankers and investors want to see the proof of the pudding. They do not like assumptions. They like facts! So unless you have some rich parents or friends who can help you with a loan to start with, you are pretty much alone at first. This should not prevent you from trying!

HOW CAN WE CONTACT YOU TO PURCHASE SOME OF YOUR PERFUMES?

My perfumes can be purchased via my website:

http://lesparfumsisabelle.co.uk or you can contact me in the UK on:

+44(0)1482 631 975

THANK YOU SO MUCH ISABELLE FOR SHARING YOUR STORY WITH US.

The pleasure is all mine. I hope my story helps someone.

Well, faithful readers what else can I say; is this inspiring or what? At this point I shall put down my pen and go and rest my pretty little head as just doing this interview has given me so much food for thought. I have really run out of excuses on why I can’t leap for my own dreams. And you…?

Thoughts, comments, feedback? Contact me at edith.divapreneurmag at gmail.com or post your comments here.