Jasmine Ryans - Soul(tre)
Jasmine Ryans presenting at a networking event of theClubhou.se.
“theClubhou.se Helped Me Realize My Business Was No Longer a Hobby”
Before theClubhou.se, Jasmine Ryans was a young mom mixing up natural beauty products out of her home, selling them to anyone and everyone.
She was running a business—but without a clear idea of who her ideal client was, how to really launch a product line, or even how to market herself.
She might still be there, had a friend not introduced her to theClubhou.se’s Startup Life business accelerator program.
Now, she’s the owner of Soul(tre) Natural Products, with a team, national clients and a five-year plan to open a manufacturing facility and distribution center and custom-design products for spa and salon owners, barbers, boutique owners and others in the beauty and wellness industry.
Ryans was an administrative assistant working on dual degrees in business administration and as a pharmacy technician, when she first decided to use her pharmacy skills to develop natural hair products for her young daughter. “Products targeted to our type of hair are filled with toxins and could cause issues for kids long-term,” she says. “That just bothered me. As a first-time mom, I was really conscious about what I was putting on her.”
She started sharing her products with friends and others interested in safe and toxin-free beauty products. But her startup was still at the starting line. Later, she recalls, “People said, ‘Why didn’t you ask for help?’ But I didn’t know what help I needed, and I didn’t know what to ask for.”
A friend and theClubhou.se member Shagraila Hammond had just landed one of 10 spots in theClubhou.se’s Startup Life, a year-long program that provided disadvantaged entrepreneurs in the CSRA with living expenses such as housing and meals, a 20-week curriculum, mentoring and resource connections, and office space and amenities—all so entrepreneurs could focus 100% on their new businesses. When a spot opened up, Hammond let Ryans know; Ryans applied—and got in.
That year was the breathing space Ryans needed to figure out Soul(tre)’s direction, how to actually launch a product line, and to redirect her ideal customer from the consumer to beauty and wellness business owners. It led her to mentors and other entrepreneurs she would never have met on her own; she even found her PR manager at a theClubhou.se event.
Perhaps most importantly, it also taught her to be intentional about growing her business; for example, Ryans added Soul(tre)’s brand in social media groups specific to spa and salon owners and then tagged those owners in videos of her developing her products. It was a strategy she may not have ever considered, or been confident enough to pursue, without theClubhou.se—but it has netted her several national clients.
“I’m not a very extroverted person,” she says, “but that doesn’t work in business. theClubhou.se was the place that helped me realize that my business was no longer a hobby and I had to operate it as such. If you are really intentional about doing what they provide in the program, they can help you have a clear understanding of how to grow and expand your business.”
