A lot of people comment about how lonely becoming self-employed can be. Leaving behind regular structure and income is one thing, but also a lack of community of support can be significant too. In this episode, I speak with two founders who know the importance of community as they’ve built their whole business around it. 

Diana Stenbolt and Gemma Estrela are the co-founders of the skincare and wellness discovery platform SKINDAYS. Having met at Farfetch, Diana and Gemma shared a frustration with existing skincare retail experiences. Determined to change this, they founded SKINDAYS to offer expert advice, bespoke recommendations and impartial vetting for their community of beauty customers. 

Diana and Gemma share their thoughts on the importance of community, both for brands seeking to build loyal customer bases and for founders when they need support during the often lonely journey of founding a business. 
Skindays’ advice: 

• Building a community around your business gives a sense of belonging
• Usually there is a community that exists between brand founders and customers; it should be one of shared beliefs and will offer mutual support
• It is vital to engage with your customers, to listen to their feedback and their expectations; this is a crucial community to build.  Listen so that you can tailor new ideas to their aspirations
• Surveys, round table events, membership clubs and education around your product are all useful ways both to build this community and to promote your brand
• When you are starting up, an entrepreneurship community of similar founders can be a great support, and will cover many different aspects of business
• There is also your existing community of friends, family, perhaps mentors - be open with this group, share your anxieties and pay attention to the feedback
• Take one step at a time
• Take the leap, listen to the feedback and build

If you’d like to contact SKINDAYS, you can reach them at [email protected] or [email protected]

Head over to Speakpipe to leave your voice note for future guests too.
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Edited by Milun Haggipavlou. Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.  Email us at [email protected] or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason. 
Let us know how your start up journey is going or if you have any questions you would like us to discuss in future episodes. 
FF&M recommends: 

• LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
• Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
• Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.
• For contracts check out Law Depot.

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.

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