Groundbreaking Geelong skincare business on track to make $1 million a year

A year ago, Kayla Houlihan decided to gamble her $40k house deposit by using it to start a business. Now she’s raking in a fortune.

With a $40,000 deposit in the bank after years of saving, Kayla Houlihan and her boyfriend were just about to start looking for a house when inspiration struck.

The 28-year-old had suffered from sensitive skin all her life, but had managed to tame flare ups with a few key natural ingredients.

At the time, the Geelong woman owned a skin clinic with her sister, and after realising more than half of their clients also had similar skin complaints, Ms Houlihan had a light bulb moment.

She decided to use the deposit — with her partner’s blessing — to launch her own skincare line specifically for people with sensitive skin.

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It was a “very risky” move. But just over a year after launching Tribe Skincare, it’s clear the gamble has well and truly paid off.

Ms Houlihan recently shared her business’s stunning success on popular Facebook page Like Minded B*tches Drinking Wine, a group for Aussie female entrepreneurs.

She shared a screenshot of her impressive, $91,226 earnings from the previous month — and received an outpouring of support from others in the group.

Kayla Houlihan's skincare company Tribe is raking in an incredible profit. Picture: Facebook

The screenshot was accompanied by a strong message — that women should own their successes.

“$91k times 12 months is over $1m a year … and we are still working out of my spare bedroom,” Ms Houlihan’s caption began.

“A perfect example of doing things your own way. Everyone keeps asking when I am going to get a shop or a warehouse, but I really enjoy the 20-second walk to the office and being with my dog all day. There are no rules! You just do you and want makes you feel content.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with talking about your own success in a positive way. You are allowed to be extremely proud of yourself. Women are conditioned to talk about their ‘failures’ and things that didn’t go to plan, while men are conditioned to talk about the things they did well … I choose to talk about my wins rather than setbacks.”

Her post attracted so many comments on of the page’s admins had to turn off comments to “give some airtime” to other posts, with hundreds of women describing her post as “inspirational”.

Tribe Skincare owner Kayla Houlihan says the business is on track to turn over a million dollars in a year. Picture: Alan Barber

Ms Houlihan told news.com.au the reason why her products had struck a chord with customers was because she had launched the business after spotting a gap in the market, and became the first Aussie brand to focus exclusively on products for sensitive skin.

She said another reason for the brand’s popularity was the use of high quality, effective, natural ingredients such as rosehip, aloe vera and zinc.

But she said she hadn’t expected it to grow so rapidly.

“It has definitely taken me by surprise — I expected the growth to be a lot slower,” she said.

She revealed one of the keys to her success was working with “major Australian beauty influencers” such as Brittney Lee Saunders.

After teaming up with Ms Saunders, her social media following “doubled overnight” — saving her six months of painstaking work to build up brand awareness.

Another was her decision to give up the salon and commit to Tribe Skincare full-time after juggling both for eight months.

“I more than tripled our (sales) figures in four months by focusing purely on the business,” she said.

“A lot of women have a business as a side hustle but when you do take that leap and go full-time it can lead to success.”

Ms Houlihan now employs one full-time staff member and two part timers to help with packing — and the business is still completely run out of her own home, in the garage and two spare bedrooms.

But she has overcome challenges along the way, including a trademark issue which forced her to completely rebrand and remove products from the market for six weeks.

“It was a huge challenge, but we came back a lot stronger and it definitely seems like it was one of the best things to happen to the business in the end,” Ms Houlihan said, explaining the business’s new branding was far more colourful and eye-catching, and attractive to customers.

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