Professional Beauty chats to Hazel Maurer from Aspire Anti Ageing about the path she has taken to get to where she is today.
Why did you choose the beauty industry?
I’ve been on the fringe of the beauty industry for 9 years, starting off with the Formostar Infrared Body Wrap system which I initially purchased for my own use. I have a snapped ligament in my knee and a bit of a back problem, so I had pain and inflammation. I was also putting on weight so it helped with all three problems and I figured there must be more people like me out there. Quite a few beauty based businesses bought it and they were always asking me what else I was bringing in that they might be interested in. I started selling cold lasers which had healing benefits and complemented the Formostar. As I researched them more, I discovered that they were used in Europe for Dermatology and Aesthetics – I really didn’t truly contemplate going down the beauty track until I went to the Hong Kong Beauty Expo and had a treatment which combined cold laser with Hyaluron products. My results were amazing and so I took on the programme.
What have you achieved since then and what would you like to achieve in the future?
I came from a business and marketing background so I believe in advertising and promotion but it’s always hard to educate the market on a new concept. There’s a lot of skepticism out there about all the promises of anti-ageing from products and machines. I’ve persevered though with the Hyaluron programme because it is anti-ageing that has a cumulative effect and it’s something which I passionately believe in. My own results speak for themselves. I presented at the recent Professional Beauty Innovative Forum and we have recently produced Makeover Videos so that people can see how it works. We will keep on knocking on beauty clinic doors until they realise that there is a definite gap in the marketplace for such a treatment. I would like to think that the market will embrace the programme and it will be an important part of the clinic Menu. In the meantime we are also exploring affordable LED rejuvenation and analysis products that will show the customer that results really are being achieved for them.
The most important thing for me from a business perspective is not to make promises that I can’t keep, whether it is about what a product does or what I can deliver and when. I believe in relationship building, not about making a quick sale and moving on. In the future, I would like to have Aspire Anti Ageing Products to be synonymous with providing innovative, quality products that the person on the street and the clinic owner know and love.
What would you say to someone considering the same path as you?
I’ve made plenty of mistakes over the last nine years. Probably the biggest was not concentrating on my core business. I have an entrepreneurial streak so when I see something I think is clever, I do my due diligence in terms of quality, approvals and pricing and then jump in. The problem with that is that without researching properly you don’t know whether there is really a market for it and the cost of bringing a new product to market is a lot more expensive than people think. I’ve had a few products that have come and gone, a costly exercise. My advice to anyone looking at importing and distributing is to have money in the bank and factor in all the extra costs that occur such as air freight, insurances, marketing and ongoing support. The other thing is that Australia is a very big country and to cover it in terms of sales is near impossible unless you are prepared to go on the road daily knocking on doors or you pay someone to do it for you and of course there’s a cost associated with doing that.
What have been some highlights of your career so far?
I love what I do. There’s a great satisfaction knowing that the products you sell give people benefits that make a difference to how they see themselves and quite often improve their quality of life. When someone emails or calls with feel good stories it validates the hard slog.
What inspires you?
I’m not sure that I have any one person that is an inspiration for me. My existing customers are great people and they provide a sense of family that is important in running a business. I am inspired by people that find the determination and energy to make a difference to themselves and to others and my belief in what I sell continues to drive me.
For more information visit http://www.aspireantiageing.com.au/