24 year old Michelle Hu is the founder of Etoile Collective, a beauty start up that she launched at just 21 years old and has turned into a $1.7m per year business with fans that include Jesinta Franklin, makeup artist Michael Brown, Keira Maguire and a multitude of influencers.
Tell us about Etoile Collective.
Etoile Collective is my solution to make feel-good moments even better. We’re here so that beauty enthusiasts never feel overwhelmed in their beauty space. So that your environment, whether that be a beauty nook, a dedicated glam room or your on-the-go touch-up bag, looks as good as the process makes us feel. Our edit of products includes beauty organisers, travel bags, furniture and lighting tools. Y’know, the ‘one-stop shop’ destination (as they like to call it) for all things beauty and organisation.
What inspired you to start Etoile Collective?
My own getting ready routine was something no-one would be proud of. It was chaotic and unglamorous. And I realised my friends’ were too. My ‘lightbulb’ moment, if you will, was when I was getting ready for work one morning. Picture this: I’m using the mirror panels from my chest of drawers, which is on the other side of the room and away from the window so I wasn’t getting any sunlight, products were sprawled across my floor and every now and then I’d get up to go to the bathroom because that’s where half my makeup lived. It didn’t make sense to me that we get ready to feel and look good, and everything about beauty felt so darn good – who doesn’t love a trip to Mecca! But that in-between process, of storing your makeup and putting it on, was so disconnected from everything else. So I built Etoile as the conduit between these two spectrums.
Tell us about your career and background.
After studying a Bachelor of Commerce with majors in Economics and Finance, I kickstarted my career as a Mergers & Acquisitions analyst at Citi. I had Etoile running in the background (with my beautiful Mum as the heartbeat of the business), and although I wasn’t able to spend much time growing it, the business found its own feet and got itself to a point where I was able to make the switch. Honestly, it caught me by surprise! I never thought I would be able to turn this into my full-time thing. Yet here we are! And I freaking love my job.
Describe a typical workday for you (if there is such a thing).
I’m still trying to join the 5 AM club. But for now, I’m up at around 7:30 and head straight to the office. I like to clean out my inbox the night before so that I’m not flooded in the morning. There are a few consistent things that I do every morning: read our latest reviews, skim our customer service inbox, upload content on social media. The remainder of the day has me scattered across a number of different workflows – be it content creation, content ideation, inventory analysis or optimizing business processes and systems. I’m still working on being able to carve out solid hours in my day for deep work. Most of the time, my workday ends at about 7-8 pm. I’m still living at home so fortunately, dinner is not something I need to worry about ha!
Has COVID-19 affected your business? How are you navigating that?
COVID-19 affected our supply chain the most. We faced longer lead times, unexpected delays and increased local port congestion. At the beginning of the year, we had also planned a number of events and activations which are still all currently on hold. We were also affected by border closures as I had intended to open a second warehouse in Sydney however fortunately, we found a workaround for this. I haven’t spent much time dwelling or worrying about how COVID has / will affect us. My mentality when it comes to this is – get creative, if it’s restricted you in one area of the business, focus on another. Keep moving.
What advice do you have for those wanting to start a business?
1) If you don’t know where to start or if you feel alone in the process, get on #businesstiktok! There is so much great content on that platform and a guaranteed way to get motivated and just start ticking items off your checklist! 2) Especially after COVID-19, there are so many businesses in every single niche. Consumer attention is harder to get than ever! Make sure you have some strong USPs 3) Don’t lose yourself in the process of growing a business.
What’s next for you, and Etoile Collective?
Well! We just opened our second warehouse in Sydney which is 7x our Melbourne one so I am really looking forward to filling that up and being able to offer a stronger service across the east coast.
