From Youth Training to Opening Up
A Natural Perfumery
Jessica Kiely
E-commerce
E-commerce
Australia
Self-Funded
From Youth Training to Opening Up A Natural Perfumery
Jessica Kiley
E-commerce
E-commerce
Self-Funded
Australia
Hi Jessica, tell us about who you are and how you started your business?
I have been an entrepreneur/ business starter from a young age. I started my first business when I was 19 years old which was a tutoring business.
I loved that business but I also juggled university alongside growing and running a small business. Since then I have started and run a youth training company that delivers programs all over Australia and some international locations. I also worked with organisations as a Master Facilitator, Training Development Professional and Speaker.
You can see a lot in my LinkedIn bio too of course. With Sensoriam, it started 6 years ago but as a green beauty subscription box business called Wanderess Beauty. About 10 years ago my marriage fell apart and I went through a very tough personal time. I had two small children who were 4 years old and 9 months old.
As I rebuilt my life, I started to do a lot of personal introspection and development work with books, therapists and programs. On that journey I met a wonderful girl who made organic body scrubs, and at the time I thought organic was only for food to eat not products. She said to me “have you seen what is your beauty products?” Of course, my answer was “no” but I went home and looked and researched and was shocked.
Ever since then I have gone more and more natural with my lifestyle, and wanted to help others to do the same. Sensoriam is the evolution of that journey as I found a deep love for scent and natural perfumery. It is a fascinating area and so many wonderful new natural perfume brands are coming out that are stunning, smell incredible and just as luxe if not more luxe than mainstream. And of course, they are 100% natural.
I want to help more people discover these wonderful products and bottles of nature, and showcase the wonderful alchemy that this perfumers are doing now. I was also inspired one day when I was at Singapore airport and as I walked through all of the shops, in the perfume area there was nothing for me, nothing natural. And in that moment I decided I needed to do something about that.
Sensoriam launched in February 2022. Both Emma, my business partner and I have put in our own savings to start the business.
What Do You Sell?
A discerning curation of the worlds best natural perfumes
What Is Your Website?
How did you come up with the idea for your business?
At the time I didn’t have any previous experience in beauty.
I have learnt it all from scratch. I love to read, research and find the educational programs to do to learn more. Recently I just completed one on Sensory Intelligence. But I bring with me all of my experience from my life before – business experience, networks, communication skills, organisational skills, operational skills.
No failed businesses. I am not sure what a “failed business” is as I don’t believe anything is a failure if you learn something. Have I been bankrupt? No. Have I closed a business down because I didn’t want to do it anymore and had other ideas to pursue, yes. It is all part of the journey!
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Were there any driving forces behind your motivation to start your business?
For any of my businesses that I have started, it has always been about seeing a need or a problem and wanting to create a solution for that. With my own health journey and going low-tox, I saw, with Sensoriam, that I wanted a place where I could explore all natural perfumes that were gorgeous on all levels.
I could also see how natural perfume is about health of self and of planet, which is so important right now. And now, I have fallen in love with scent and perfumery – I study it, do extra courses and soon I will start my own journey to become a natural perfumer. As someone who has always had their own business, or freelanced and been a contractor, flexibility is very important to me as well.
Talk us through the process of building your product/service?
This is a very big and broad question! How long is a piece of string??!! It is like that in business, start up and entrepreneurship. With Emma my business partner in Sensoriam we explored the idea with strategy days, brainstorming and research.
We combined our own knowledge and experience as well in to the mix. And just like perfumery, there is an alchemy that happens too, a magic. Then you come up with a vision and work out the steps to get there, one by one you do them! And keep doing them. Emma is a brand strategist, so she created the brand for Sensoriam. And I then found the brands we wanted to work with and got them onboard with the vision.
We then had to create website, socials, order fulfilment processes and all of the other elements involved. There are always challenges. One of trickiest has been about how to sell perfume, online where you can’t smell it! We have had to come up with many different ways to help our customers.
One thing I created is the online perfume consult. So one on one with me people book in a time and online I help them on their natural perfume journey. They tell me what perfumes are their favourite, usually commercial fragrances and then I do a scent matching activity to then find 5 – 8 perfumes to suggest to them. I take them through all of the scent notes, and how they may be similar to ones they know and love.
Then they can choose which ones they want 2ml samplers of in their very own personalised mini kit that they purchase and we send to them. From there they sample, discovery and explore to then find their favourite. Just like that we have to get creative each time!
Recently we have had a Pop Up Boutique in Paddington, Sydney. This retail experience has been fascinating, fun and a great chance for customers to play, feel and smell the perfumes. Again, finding ways to help customers to find their perfume here in store has been interesting and we have had to get creative and innovate on the spot.
Discuss your marketing strategy..
Our first customers were through organic traffic as we moved from an old site I already had to the new site. All of the channels have been useful for us, and we learn more each day. We have had to be selective and focus on Instagram to begin with. It is an omni channel approach to help customers to find us. It has also been about working on the experience on the website to assist with conversion and user experience. All of these are an ongoing learning experiment, like life.
Revenue & Financials
We are Self funded.
Working with an accountant and good ole Google Sheets has been essential.
Working with an accountant and good ole Google Sheets has been essential.
Is this a side-hustle or full-time business?
Full-Time
Talk to us about any challenges you faced along the process?
Every day there are challenges, lessons, pivotal moments and mistakes. That is all part of the journey. It is How you respond to them that makes all the difference. If you expect it to be smooth sailing it won’t last.
Sensoriam is only 2 years old, We are still in startup mode. What keeps me motivated? The vision I can see for Sensoriam and the difference it can make, is what keeps me going. And our wonderful customers keep me going. Every order fills me with a lot of joy. Plus the wonderful brands that we work with and the incredible perfume they create and make, I love working with them and helping more people discover their brands.
Favourite books, resources, tools?
The Case Against Fragrance by Kate Grenville
The Way of the Spiritual Entrepreneur by Pauline Nguyen
Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Essence & Alchemy by Mandy Aftel
We use Google Sheets, Doc, Slides etc
We use Xero
We use Shopify
We use Square POS
How many hours do you work per week on your business?
50-60 hours.
What is the biggest challenge you are facing at the moment in your business?
Time & energy management with the juggle
Any advice for entrepreneurs who want to start a business?
Be prepared for a marathon, not a sprint.
Are you hiring at the moment?
No
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