She turned a mail order beauty company into one of the biggest beauty success stories in the world – and Liz Earle says that anyone can follow in her footsteps, no matter how old they are.
Liz, 54, from the West Country, has grown her cosmetics company from four products into a multi-million pound brand sold in nearly 100 countries with her iconic Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser selling one every 16 seconds.
As well as being co-founder of her eponymous skincare brand, Liz is editor-in-chief of Liz Earle Wellbeing magazine and the author of 35 books. She tells FEMAIL about her newest business launch and reveals why age is no barrier to success.
Liz Earle MBE, 54, from the West Country, built a giant beauty company from just four products and now turns over millions. She has also launched Liz Earle Wellbeing magazines and books and has shared her tips for success in later later
Showing entrepreneurial spirit from an early age, Liz, who was working in journalist and broadcast before founding her brand, has put her name to several successful brands.
In 1995, Liz, who lives with her husband and five children on their pasture-fed organic farm in the West Country, co-founded the Liz Earle Beauty Co. with her friend, which she sold to Walgreens Boots Alliance.
She finally left the beauty company in May 2017 to focus on her newest business ventures, including Liz Earle Wellbeing, a high-quality quarterly magazine focused on food and living well, and Liz Earle Fair and Fine, an award-winning range of ethically sourced, Fairtrade gold and silver botanical jewellery.
Her latest book, The Good Gut Guide was published by Orion Spring in May 2017 and went straight in as the No1 Bestseller on Amazon for Popular Medicine.
Liz was working in journalist and broadcast before founding her brand and has also penned over 30 health and beauty books
Speaking about what it takes to find success in the modern day, she said: ‘Today, everything moves so much faster and you need to be very quick-witted to make sure you reach across all social media platforms’
Speaking to FEMAIL about her latest venture, Liz Earle Wellbeing, she said: ”I wanted to go back to my first-love, which is research and writing about health and wellbeing. I spotted a gap in the market for a magazine that focuses on seasonal wellbeing with advice for eating well and living well.’
Liz says that technology has changed so much in the two decades since launching her previous business when mail order was based around opening envelopes filled with order forms and cheques so she had to learn the ropes quickly.
‘Today, everything moves so much faster and you need to be very quick-witted to make sure you reach across all social media platforms – as well as having a team dedicated to responding to customers who aren’t inclined to wait for a written letter in the post!’
Her latest book, left, The Good Gut Guide was published by Orion Spring in May 2017 and went straight in as the No1 Bestseller on Amazon for Popular Medicine, while her iconic Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser selling one every 16 seconds, right
She does, however, believe that having the wisdom of thirty years in the business has helped her get ahead later on in life, adding: ‘Only years of experience can bring in depth knowledge – and this is so important when faced with food fads, nutritional science and exploring real ways to encourage better wellbeing. Youthful trends can be interesting – but you just can’t beat a well-balanced voice of reason built on decades of knowledge and experience.’
Liz, who mostly works with women who are 50 plus, believes that it’s this depth of knowledge that helps older women succeed, explaining: ‘I truly value older women who have the steadying calm of experience that you need for a successful start-up.
‘I also love working with women as they’re often such brilliant multi-taskers. Juggling strategic business thinking with home-life and child-care often makes women mentally more agile and better able to switch tasks swiftly.’
Despite selling millions and millions of the skincare brand she built from scratch in her bathroom, Liz maintains that walking into her local WHSmith branch and seeing her face on the front of the newsstand was a real ‘pinch-me moment’.
She does, however, admit that building her beauty empire hasn’t always been smooth sailing, admitting: ‘Building a successful brand is not easy – otherwise everyone would do it.
‘How we respond to the low moments is as important, if not more so, than how we respond during the good times.’
Liz Earle is working with Barclays Business as an Entrepreneurial Business Advisor, helping to ensure they are meeting the needs of older business owners. For more information, visit barclays.co.uk