“Working quietly [Sans World] Because it had many suppliers and customers. [saying] … “I wish I had bought from you,” she said.
Sans Drinks has been her core business for the better part of three years, but Falcone has never strayed from the customer base she cultivated in her first business venture. She never intended to sell it. The business was very profitable, she said, earning more than $20 million each year. “I was killing it,” she said.
BWX Group owns brands such as Sukin, Mineral Fusion and Andalou Naturals, as well as e-commerce platforms Flora & Fauna and Nourished Life.
BWX, under the direction of then-CEO John Humble and Chief Financial Officer Aaron Finlay, approached her with an offer she couldn’t refuse. This skin care her maker, which also makes Sukin, has promised to help her realize her dream of expanding her affordable and proprietary organic line of skin and hair care.
Falcone agreed and sold it for $20 million. But less than 12 months later, the parent company was in trouble. His $800 million takeover offer by Bain Capital-backed Humble and Finlay fell through. After the pair resigned, things began to deteriorate, leading to the installation of a new management team who felt they weren’t bound by the promises their predecessors had made to Falcone, she said. People glanced at me, ‘We’re busy making Sukin. Why make your skincare products?’
She was under contract to remain with Nourished Life for two years after the sale. During that time, she has watched the business she had built for six years slowly collapse under the control of a mega-corporation that didn’t understand or care about the nuances of the business she founded. Due to the no-business clause, she can no longer create rivals.
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“The two years leading up to the end of my contract were the most painful and depressing period of my life. It was soul-destroying…it really broke my heart,” she said. Can you imagine looking at all the 5-star reviews you’ve amassed since 2010 and seeing them all become 1-star reviews after the sale?”
Around that time, she developed a habit of showering with a bottle of vodka to soothe her woes, hitting the rock bottom of her life and fueling her passion for non-alcoholic spaces.
“The closest thing to the health and beauty space was the idea of Sans Drinks, which we truly believe is an extension of Nourished Life in terms of removing toxins from our products.”
Sans Drinks is a success (expected to exceed $10 million this fiscal year). However, as her Nourished Life customers continued to grow unsatisfied, she approached her BWX’s new management team six times in two years to assist with operations and customer service. I just offered to work two days a week for free.
BWX never took her up on the offer. “My goal wasn’t to go back and do some marketing and put her face back on. It was to work in a warehouse,” Falcone said. “They didn’t give me back. It’s not free, it doesn’t cost a lot of money. Any angle you look at it. [with]”
Falcone’s Sans Drinks has a store in Warringah Mall.
“name is name”
Falcone still receives messages from Nourished Life customers complaining about the services they receive under BWX’s control. About this time last year, Falcone posed a question to her Facebook followers at Sans Drinks. What if she added a curated beauty section to her Sans Drinks, or would she have to set up another platform?
“They wanted a completely independent website,” she said. “‘I need to do Nourished Life 2.0’. That’s what I’m doing.
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Under BWX, the very thing that made Nourished Life different: the cosmetics Falcone developed with a team of doctors, scientists and researchers that had to undergo before being sold on the site. A rigorous vetting process has deteriorated. Mecca, Sephora, and even her Falcone, who doesn’t see Adore Beauty as a direct competitor, want to build Sans World into a stronger and better version of her first venture.
“Being the most rigorous health and beauty store, I am going back to my roots. There will be a lot of brand overlap on both websites and I will be in direct competition with Nourished Life. ”
This time, Falcone has the advantage of 12 years of business experience. Sans Drinks gave her a stronger cash flow. She’s already looking into brick-and-mortar sales (Sans Drinks has a store in her Warringah Mall), and she plans to put more effort into marketing and cross-promotion with Sans Drinks.
Entrepreneurs don’t worry about convincing customers to switch.
“A name is a name,” she said. “We truly believe that Irene Falcone and Sans’ brand is much stronger than her Nourished Life was in the last few years and certainly is stronger today.
“Without soul, face and connection, there is nothing.”
Sands World will feature many of the same brands sold in Nourished Life, including Biologi, Black Chicken Remedies, Luck Beautyfoods, Vanessa Megan Skincare, Beauty Chef Carla Oates, and Miranda Kerr’s organic line KORA Organics. . Falcone wants to launch a new e-commerce platform a week before his Mother’s Day on May 14th.
She also hasn’t given up on her original dream of creating an extensive line of affordable, organic skin and hair care products. positioned as a direct competitor of
“I can see there’s a big gap in the market for affordable skincare lines like Sukin.[er] version,” said Falcone.
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