The Accidental Entrepreneur – How ScrubzBody Grew From My Kitchen Table

Roberta Perry is a skin care maker in the United States who founded ScrubzBody, a brand of skin care products including sugar scrubs, sold online and in her own store. She calls herself an accidental entrepreneur: the business began at her kitchen table in June 2006, when she made a sugar scrub for her own skin. Today ScrubzBody has about 2,000 customers.

Roberta Perry makes her own sugar scrubs and other skin care products – she began after her skin suffered and she couldn’t find affordable options. In her store she also runs Make Your Own Scrubz Parties, from Girl Scout and birthday parties to ladies’ group luncheons, which turned the shop into a destination as well as a retail store.

Roberta Perry finds customers mainly through her weekly email newsletter, which she has sent since the beginning and calls her number one marketing tool; it reaches about 6,900 active subscribers. Free publicity adds reach: ScrubzBody has been featured in over 100 pieces online and on the final episode of Bravo’s Sell It Like Serhant.

I call myself an accidental entrepreneur because this business found me. My own skin was suffering, and when I went looking for effective skincare – a body scrub in particular – that wouldn't break my budget, I was unhappy with what I was finding, so I made my own. My late sister, Michelle, had retail experience and lots of "let's do this" energy, so I started packing up jars of the sugar scrub I had created, and we started to sell.

I found a business group, Indie Business Network, that was pivotal to learning how to market and build a sustainable business around my life and lifestyle.

At the beginning of my business, I did many demonstrations at craft shows, holiday boutiques, and local stores and salons. I always collected emails from customers and potential customers at every event – the number one thing that business group had taught me. This way, I was building my list one customer at a time, with people who really wanted to be on it.

I tried different advertisements and different placements in local flyers and coupon books. I tried working with a broker in the natural product space. It did not work out well, and it turned me off from the process altogether – the return was never worth it.

Since the beginning of my business, I have sent out weekly emails, and that has been my number one marketing tool. I use social media because I feel a presence there is important, but email is my way of speaking directly with my customers. I also have a store, so the one-on-one relationships are key and the best way we create lifetime customers.

We were lucky enough to be the final episode on a Bravo show called Sell It Like Serhant – that was a tremendous boost for our business. I have also appeared on many podcasts and been published in over 100 pieces online. I love free publicity, and I believe it adds substance to our business.

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I offered wholesale for years, having our product in 22 Whole Foods stores (before Amazon bought them) and quite a few other stores. For a while, I thought wholesale was the way to grow. But the more I met with customers one-on-one, the more I knew that retail was our future, so I pivoted from what didn't work and concentrated on what did.

Our turning point was when we opened our store and then added Make Your Own Scrubz Parties. We became a destination as well as a retail store for our skincare and other unique products.

Our main customer base is women 40 to 65, and that's who we market to most, but we also have a younger group because of the Girl Scout and birthday parties we host, and an older group thanks to our ladies' group luncheons.

I hope for organic growth, and basically a "rinse and repeat" of our business practices and how we treat our customers. As so many businesses get larger, we believe in staying smaller and more personal, so we can offer the best products and give the best service.

Dry? Sensitive? Stressed? Your Skin Has Needs. We've Got You Covered from Head to Toe.

Who: Roberta Perry (ScrubzBody Skin Care Products)
What: Skin care products, including sugar scrubs
Where: United States
Started: June 2006
Audience: About 6,900 active email subscribers; in-store foot traffic isn’t tracked
Customers: 2,000 customers, online and in-store
Ships: United States and Canada
Income: Yes, main income
Status: Active and growing
Channels: Your own newsletter, communities & forums, word of mouth & offline, collabs & shoutouts, social media