This Mompreneur Duo Takes on the Skincare Industry

Jennifer Kolbuc
The Mompreneur
Published in
8 min readMar 27, 2019

This female entrepreneur is one part of a mompreneur duo. Jennifer Geneve and her mom are the rockstar team behind LaVigne Natural Skincare. And while working with family in a small business can have it’s challenging moments, it’s helped to bring out her risk-taking side, all while enjoying even more quality family time together.

Q: How did you start on the path to become a mompreneur?

I didn’t know I was going to be a mompreneur. I started my career as a property conveyancer, but I knew I wanted to do something with writing so I enrolled in Douglas College’s two-year Print Futures Professional Writing Program. I learned pretty quickly that I was interested in business communications. I had the opportunity afterwards to move to Australia with my (now) husband. I wasn’t looking to live the backpacker lifestyle. I found a PR writing role with a firm that specialized in business newsletter production.

While we were living overseas, my mom started her own skin care company, LaVigne Natural Skincare. We moved back to Canada in 2007, and I decided to broach the subject that I may be able to help out with sales and marketing. I came onboard and started handling everything from editing website copy and creating product literature, to selling products, doing demos, and even shipping.

We began with a handful of retailer relationships which our team has now grown to over 800 wholesale accounts across Canada and the US.

Q: When did kids come into the picture and how did you adjust?

From the time we met, we both said we didn’t want children (our friends are still laughing about that), but a couple years after getting married we began to wonder. We live in the best neighbourhood for raising a family, and I think being surrounded by friendly neighbours and their amazing kids made us reflect.

In the beginning I had unrealistic expectations about how much I could handle when our first child was born. I went back to work after a few weeks with a bassinet beside my desk. One morning when I was trying to get out the door after numerous diaper changes and feedings, I called my husband pretty upset. It was a wakeup call about how I would need to adjust both my schedule and my workload — and maybe my expectations of myself!

Soon after, we hired more sales staff, and I was then able to spend more time working from home. When our daughter was 6 months old I had another mom watch her for 4 hours a day, 2 to 3 days a week so I could go into the office. Then when she turned one, we started her at a reputable and qualified home daycare 2 to 3 days a week.

When we had our second child, I took more of a traditional year-long maternity leave. I still consulted on a lot of things, but I didn’t go into the office very often. During the same time period, my brother had a terrible motorcycle accident and I spent a lot of that first year helping to care for him.

Jennifer and her beautiful family.

Q: What role did your husband play along the way?

He’s a super hands-on dad. He’s a contractor, and they traditionally start early in the morning to pick up supplies, connect with trades, and get to their job sites. When we had our first daughter, he moved his start time later in the morning to look after her so I could have time to get ready. He did that again when my son was born. I really value having that time for myself in the morning, and he chose to sacrifice the start of his day so that we could both get the best out of our day ahead. I’m very thankful for the great father and partner he is.

Q: What are some of the challenges of being an entrepreneur?

There are so many facets to what I do. I make a list at the start of each week and it’s long and varied. I’m part of three businesses! It’s sometimes challenging to know what the right things are to spend my time on. Some people have their life and schedule completely planned out. That’s not me. On the other hand, things in our businesses change all the time, and I’m someone who can handle that spontaneity. I once had a friend tell me that she would take the number of things I do in a day and spread them over a week.

Turning off work is also a challenge. Since it’s a family business, our family get-togethers often end up with me and my mom chatting about work. It’s difficult not to use that “free time” to strategize together, but then we end up boring everyone else at the dinner table.

Since I also do the administration at my husband’s renovation company and cabinet business one day a week, I also can’t resist talking “shop” with him at home!

Q: What are some of the pros and cons with running a small business with your family?

It can be hard to separate the messenger from the message. When is it your nagging wife or daughter asking you to do something versus your business partner?

On the positive side with my mom, we do a good job of balancing each other out. She is a more dynamic risk taker, very forward-thinking, and I am more cautious and analytical. I think because of this our partnership works well together. She has helped me to challenge myself to not stress over all the small details and that sometimes it’s okay to jump in even when we don’t have all the data I would like to have.

Q: How do your kids feel about having entrepreneurs for parents?

I recently asked my 8-year-old daughter what she wants to be when she grows up and she said she wants to have her own cookie business or an art school! Our five-year-old talks about working with daddy all the time. We definitely want our kids involved in the business and we try to be real with them and talk to them about our work schedules and how we make it work for our family. They understand that a few times per year, I’m at tradeshows in or outside Vancouver. I’m very real with them, explaining who I will be meeting with, what I’m doing, and send them photos and videos of my show booths. They have each come to Toronto with me when they were babies for our annual CHFA trade show trip.

We both try to save the weekends for our family but there are always exceptions. Sometimes, our Inlet Cabinet Company clients need to meet Dave for consultations on a Saturday, and we’ll get right back to family time at the bike park after. We make it work. The kids have also come into the office with me when they are sick. They understand the possibility of having their own business and that there are more options than just 9 to 5 jobs.

Q: What’s one of the biggest advantages of running your own family business?

You have the ability to make your own plans and make your own life. We work really hard at different points in the year so that we can take longer stretches off to visit family in Australia.

You have more decision-making power in your hands, but that also means there is more pressure to make the right ones. You control the profit margins, but need to allow for things that are out of your control, such as raw materials cost increases, or currency exchange.

Q: How do you try and find balance in your life?

I do wish I was a bit more organized in a Marie Kondo kind of way. I am learning to give myself more credit for my successes. I listen to a lot of podcasts including: Pursuit with Purpose with Melyssa Griffin, The Science of Happiness and The Goal Digger Podcast.

You are ultimately a product of your environment, so I try to fill mine up with positive information from my social media feed to writing down all the things I am grateful for. It’s too easy to focus on what you’re missing. One of the podcasts I listened to lately reminded me that a big part of staying positive and moving forward is to count my wins. That’s so important!

Q: What have you learned along the way?

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it! Before you dive into a new product, make sure you have the market research to back you up. People can be very particular about skin care products in general, and our traditional LaVigne audience is majority focused on natural health. Given some of our most loyal customers have been using our products for 10+ years, they have valuable feedback to share.

From an inventory perspective, one thing we are still working out is how to know when to discontinue a product. Some products sell at vastly higher volume than others — but those products we are selling less of, are still highly important to the people ordering them. I have received quite a few emails over the years with pretty amazing testimonials and the specific message, “please don’t ever stop making this product.” We don’t want to let down our customers.

Q: What support groups or mentors have helped you along the way?

My support network is what has kept me sane! I have worked with the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, both as a mentee, and now as a mentor. I’m also part of a Beauty Founders group on Facebook. I have a few very intelligent good mom friends who have been my biggest supporters and allies. I never thought the women I met as new moms would become such valued personal connections.

It’s so important to know you’re not alone in your struggles. Even my mom friends who work at large corporations have the same problems we do, just on a bigger scale.

Q: What would you say to a mom starting out?

Start small and do it on the side of your full-time job if you can. Find out if there is a market for what you want to do and talk to people who are doing the same things. Keep costs low for as long as you can. Be strategic and don’t overextend yourself financially in the beginning, but don’t be afraid to start!

Call to Action!

Are you a mom with an inspiring story to share? Send me an email to connect: mompreneurstories@gmail.com

This is part of a series of everyday mom inspired stories who made radical changes in their work life to pursue their passion, all with kids in tow. If you enjoyed reading it, please leave a comment or a clap! See the full series at: medium.com/the-mompreneur

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Jennifer Kolbuc
The Mompreneur

Social media coach for growing businesses. 10+ years experience helping brands grow. You'll find me hiking and drinking tea in Vancouver, Canada.