Pop Quiz, Monday with Karissa Mather, Co-founder and Director of Optima Nutricosmetics
The Pop Quiz, Monday, is a fun little exam that we love to give to savvy business owners. The examination is not a surprise, after all, since the interviewee already knew about the questions in advance. However, we can always pretend and have fun with the scenario of a young entrepreneur sitting in class nervously biting on their pencil. They are ready to take a pop quiz on a chapter that they were supposed to read the night before. Instead, they played Metroid all night on their SNES (Oops, this was me in high school). The real purpose of the pop quiz is that this is a fun way to introduce business tips from real-world experiences that you can not learn in a classroom. We want to thank our entrepreneur for being a good sport and volunteering their time to answer a few questions to help our community grow from their knowledge.
I want to introduce you to our guest today, who will be taking our Pop Quiz Monday.
1. Can you please tell everyone your name?
Karissa Mather
2. Tell us about your business and what you do?
I am the co-founder and director of Optima Nutricosmetics, a new innovative, gold standard in the gut health, ingestible beauty space. Optima is a pure, potent, scientifically proven range of nutrient-dense food products intended to nourish your gut and feed your skin. Two years in the making, we have just launched our Optima Nutricosmetics, Ultimate 1.0 — Complete Skin Food Elixir. We’ve been receiving rave reviews; we are really helping people — it’s so rewarding.
3. Why did you want to become an entrepreneur?
I’ve always wanted to “do my own thing.” I’ve been talking about it most of my life to anyone who would listen. I lived and worked in London and New York in various roles for Estée Lauder Companies. Even though Estée Lauder is a large global company, with over 50,000 employees, I always felt part of their family — maybe that is because when I was there, I would work with and see the Lauders on a daily basis. I read Estée’s book, Estée: A Success Story a decade ago, and it inspired me. One woman started this global conglomerate with a massive dream and sheer determination and look where it is today.
On my return to Australia, I decided to work with Aussie entrepreneurs. I’ve been lucky enough to work with the best — people like Janine Allis, Natalie Bloom, Shane Hills, James Wright — all very successful individuals. I learnt a lot from all of them and am grateful for the experience.
Three years ago, I met Cate Lilja, my now business partner, and recognised Cate was my missing link. Cate and I have very complementary skill sets. We very quickly became friends and started researching and conceptualising, and two years ago started testing and brand development.
The startup world is challenging yet wholly exhilarating! I’m pretty much outside my comfort zone daily, so meditation, exercise, and energy healing have become a daily must for me.
4. What are the challenging aspects of running a business?
There is the practical side of things, necessities such as cash flow management and daily decision-making requirements — some small decisions and other significant decisions that can steer the direction of your brand and business.
It’s sometimes tempting to take opportunities to alleviate immediate pressures. However, it’s crucial to keep your eyes on the long term goals.
Staying focused yet realistic, optimistic yet strategic is a daily challenge — especially within this start-up phase.
Then there is the emotional, more personal side of things — the self-doubt and second-guessing yourself after making a significant decision. It’s crucial to work on your mental health, and as I mentioned above, I do this via mediation, manifesting, and keeping fit. I find regular exercise helps clear my mind.
5. What do you love most about your job?
The emails, text messages, and reviews from people on our Ultimate — Complete Skin Food ElixirÔ. For some, the results of our product have been life-changing. It’s so rewarding to be genuinely helping people, some suffering lifelong ailments with gut and skin health issues. Cate and I started Optima as we wanted to empower people to look and feel their best. We are doing precisely this.
6. How do you have fun at work (team building, etc.)?
Cate and I live in two different states, so we only actually see each other every few months. I love our time together. We always get lots of work done, but we always make time for some fun, too. We laugh a lot when we’re together. We both love eating nutritious and healthy food, and Cate is an excellent cook.
Cate and her partner are vegetarians, so I always love learning new and very yummy dishes. I then come home and try my hand at recreating them. We also still enjoy a glass or two of red wine. It’s all about balance.
Most of the others that work with us are friends. Experts in their industries and friends. We’ve had an incredible team around us during this process. We’re lucky enough to have a strong network, and we’re grateful we’ve had access to them throughout this time.
Cate and I have 40 years’ experience between us and a powerhouse network to go with it. We’re fortunate but also believe in treating everyone with respect, always showing our gratitude along the way.
7. What’s one piece of advice you give to a new business owner?
Resilience! You take a lot of knocks when you put yourself and your business out there. Resilience and creative problem solving are essential. Everything is “figureoutable” (as Marie Forleo would say).
Thank you for taking our pop quiz today. You get an A+ for effort. You can learn more about our interviewee and their business by visiting them on the web: https://www.optimanutricosmetics.com.au/
Originally published at https://www.inboxdude.com on November 14, 2019.
