What really happens when your business grows faster than you ever expected?

This week on Business Class, Vicky sits down with Colette Laxton, co-founder of The INKEY List, for a brutally honest conversation about entrepreneurship, scaling a global business, leadership, burnout and what success actually looks like once you've achieved the things you thought you wanted.

Colette started The INKEY List in 2018 with her husband and co-founder Mark after identifying a gap in the beauty industry: making skincare ingredients, education and information simple and accessible.

Within months, the brand was being stocked by major retailers and expanding internationally.

But behind the huge growth was a very different reality.

Colette talks about having to raise investment to fund stock, dealing with 90-day retailer payment terms, rapidly building international infrastructure and the terrifying reality of having a successful-looking business while worrying about whether you can actually pay the wages.

She also shares the story of The INKEY List's £200,000 Sephora investment landing in stores just days before COVID shut them globally, and how the company went from thinking it might not survive to tripling in size during lockdown.

The conversation covers:

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

00:00 Intro
02:26 Meet Colette Laxton
03:12 How Colette got into beauty
05:00 The idea behind The INKEY List
07:10 From idea to global skincare brand
07:39 Launching with 19 pieces of press coverage
09:15 Expanding internationally
10:37 Learning to become a founder
12:07 The hidden problems behind rapid growth
12:50 The danger of saying yes to everything
14:47 Learning to delegate and let go

LEADERSHIP & TEAM

16:08 Colette's approach to routines and self-care
20:30 The loneliest decision: COVID
21:15 The £200k Sephora investment
22:42 When the stores closed globally
25:03 How The INKEY List survived COVID
27:12 Building and leading a 100+ person team
30:04 The biggest leadership mistakes
32:54 Balancing empathy with leadership
34:50 Difficult conversations with employees
35:52 Building company culture
36:28 What employees actually value
38:20 Managing different generations and locations
41:08 Not being liked by everyone
42:38 Being a woman in business
43:50 Feeling underestimated

BURNOUT, MINDSET & SUCCESS

44:53 Business coaching and reflection
46:23 Vicky's own mindset lessons
49:13 Colette's experience of burnout
51:26 The moment she realised she had to stop
53:06 What does success actually mean?
54:16 Redefining success as sustainable growth

If you're interested in business growth, entrepreneurship, leadership, team management, scaling a company, founder mindset, burnout, women in business or building a global brand, this episode is packed with honest lessons from someone who has lived through all of it.

SPONSORED BY OMNISEND

This episode of Business Class is kindly sponsored by Omnisend, an email marketing platform used by Vicky in her own business.

If you've outgrown your current email marketing platform but migration feels like a huge headache, Omnisend handles the migration for you.

Use code VICKY for 30% off your first three months.

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Produced by TAEPodcast - www.taepodcast.co.uk