Lets Talk Business – THE ZEN SAGE

Tell me about your business and what inspired you to start?

THE ZEN SAGE is a monthly subscription service catering to those in need of a ‘self-care’ pick me up. Each month we curate and send out a range of beauty & skincare products & tools to our customers packaged in our signature pink boxes. We offer two main subscriptions at different price levels as well as the option to purchase one off past boxes.

I originally come from a fashion background but have always been into self-care & trying out new products. I was online shopping for christmas presents at the time, I was praising myself for my ability to buy & choose good gifts for friends and family. That’s when the idea first popped up and from there it became clear that this was a new found purpose.

What makes your business different ?

I like to think of THE ZEN SAGE as fun and simple experience. I am really heavily focused on customer service and interaction. We currently have a good relationship with our subscribers and plan to keep building on this. We are inspired and enjoy using Korean beauty/skincare products in our boxes providing our customers with easy access to trending products. We try to work with a combination of large & smaller businesses this enables us to offer a unique range of products.

Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years?

The plan is to grow our subscriber base and seek larger investment to scale the business. Ideally I would like THE ZEN SAGE to be at a similar level as some of our larger competitors such as ‘Glossy Box’ but not to become as corporate as ‘Birch Box’

What would you say makes your business successful ?

We are currently only in our third month so it is very very early days however I would say that so far, our style of marketing via social media specifically on Instagram seems to be working quite well. We spent a month or so before launching building our page and trying to attract potential subscribers.

Do you ever experience obstacles or challenges, how do you overcome them?

I am what I would call a ‘panic researcher’ if I don’t understand something I will try my best grasp enough of a concept to enable me to make my decisions. There are always going to be challenges but it’s how you approach them that will make the difference.

What does success mean to you ?

One of my favourite things to be is to be comfortable, whether that is in reference to my clothes, my home, my finances or peace of mind. Success to me means ultimate comfortability.

Is there anything you would have done differently or anything you believe you would have benefited from in the process of implementing your business?

I think I would have benefited from finding a mentor in this industry to advise me as it is all completely new to me! I am currently still mentor-less!

What do you believe is the most important tool to equip an inspiring business owner with?

I would say the ability to solve problems and being organised will definitely help along the way. Also being able to pick yourself up when things don’t go the way you imagined. Another thing is at the beginning it’s easy to take things quite personally which is perfectly normal, but I found that when I stopped taking things to heart I was able to act more rationally with making decisions.

Can you describe your customers?

Our customers are so supportive and lovely most of them are skincare & beauty addicts! We also have some customers with their own YouTube channels that give honest reviews of our boxes each month which is great because we get to see their organic reactions to our boxes as well as comments from their viewers.