Jo Malone CBE is the Founder of British perfume brands Jo Malone London and Jo Loves. Jo is a humble, inspiring woman- a fantastic role model to all females. She is respectful, dignified and pragmatic as a business leader, wife and mother, someone I was delighted to introduce to my daughter as a role model.
Jo had to grow up very quickly during her childhood, helping her mother earn money by selling face creams at the age of 11. When her mother suffered a stroke, Jo was her primary carer and left school at age 14 to help her family pay the bills by doing several jobs at the same time.
Her business career began to thrive in 1989 when she began making bath oils and face creams labelled as the ‘Face Clinic’ brand which she created on her kitchen table with her husband in their little flat. After five years of increasing sales, they bought a shop in Belgravia London and launched it as the ‘Jo Malone’ brand.
Estee Lauder bought the brand in 1999 when Jo was 38 yrs old (for an undisclosed sum), the same year she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Jo then created Jo Loves after five years of being at home.
Jo and I sat down to speak at a ‘Women in Retail’ dinner. She explained to me that during the five years of being at home, she became most upset and lonely as she didn’t know what to do with her life. Being dyslexic, Jo found it difficult to write her CV to apply for a job. She realised that she didn’t have any qualifications, as she left school before taking GCSE examinations. She felt very embarrassed that she didn’t have work experience with any employer to list on her CV.
Although her company was a household name in the UK, she had lost her confidence and experienced Impostor-syndrome when she was invited to be a guest speaker at events.
Everyone assumes you’ve got fairy dust if you have a global success under your belt – you haven’t. At the end of the day, we all have 2 per cent inspiration, 98 per cent perspiration. I built my first business with naivety, which made the second the toughest. Everyone was judging me against the first one, especially since it had been successful.
Here is Jo Malone’s business advice:
1. Never be concerned with what others think. If you’re worried about the naysayers and focus on their comments on social media, that’s who you become. Be true to yourself and ensure that you are doing work with integrity.
2. We should all learn more about ourselves and reflect upon our learning every year. When you stop doing things that you are good at, your success wanes.
3. Be brave and embrace the fact that creativity changes as we change as a person – so a business you create in your 40s will be different to that which you created in your 20s.
4. Any life threatening situation makes you a better person. You realise what is important to you and that time is so precious. Some call it ruthless, but it’s okay to cut a conversation short with people who are wasting your time and to walk away from an event when you have no value to gain by hanging around to network.
5. Don’t make a life-changing decision on a bad day. Pause and give yourself time to think it over when you feel happy and calm.
6. There is something in everybody’s life that is theirs to claim. We all have to find out what that one thing is, that we are here to do.
7. Spend time with animals and nature to clear your head and nurture creativity.
8. Learn new things everyday by reading and speaking to people you have reached out to for advice.
9. Visit an art gallery when you feel down. Be present and immerse yourself in the paintings, to walk out feeling uplifted and creative again.
10. Celebrate that one box you have ticked in your day. We all forget to appreciate the little things.
11. You need passion, tenacity, drive and hunger to be a success in whatever you are striving for.
12. You will always be a fulfilled person if you own everything you do and stay true to your core values.
