Skin Actives has been around for a long time. And like anything that’s been around for a long time, you can start to forget that there was in fact, a time before it was around at all. 

That’s right, everything comes from somewhere and even though we live in a time where there are plenty of people of adult working age who don’t remember a world without social media, high-speed internet, or cell phones doubling as personal computers within arms reach at all times, it doesn’t mean that such a world didn’t exist.

And for some of us, that world might feel quite recent! Like a dream evaporating in the light of morning, or the sudden memory of a friend you haven’t spoken with in years.

So just because something isn’t around today, that doesn’t mean that it won’t be around tomorrow.

What’s the integral difference between what gets out into the world and what doesn’t? Hard work, for one. Perseverance, for another.

People who spend their time writing about what it takes to start a business or develop a new product will rarely mention a little bit (or, actually…a lot) of luck. But you need that too.

The work of the new year has officially begun in earnest, but at Skin Actives we’re taking a second to look back and to remember how it all started, where it all began.

Small Business Starts with an Idea

Skin Actives started like so many small businesses do: as a conversation among members of a family. Our Founder, Dr. Hannah Sivak had an idea: she believed that access to skincare could be democratized through the market. 

Skincare didn’t have to fall into one of two categories. One one hand, there were the luxury boutique brands. These brands had huge mark-ups selling products only incrementally more beneficial than their competitors.

On the other hand, there were the store brands. These brands are produced to be very inexpensive but do only minimal, if any work.

In both cases the profit margin was the most important thing. Dr. Sivak, a biochemist working as a consultant in the skincare industry, saw it differently. The cost of active ingredients was such that with the right knowledge, a customer could have the maximum benefit to address their concerns without having to take out a second mortgage on their home. To Dr. Sivak, what mattered then, and what matters now, is that the product works. And, it should be available to all. 

She enlisted the help of her two children, and over the course of the last 17 years, with a lot of hard work, long nights, big wins and humbling losses, Skin Actives has made her revolutionary vision a reality.

Skin Actives: A Family Owned Small Business

Skin Actives started a “nights and weekends” business between Dr. Sivak and her children.

Later, they were able to quit their day jobs to focus entirely on the company. Shortly after doing that, business was going so well that they needed to start hiring staff to make sure that the orders got out in a timely fashion. 

CEO Jonatan Funtowicz looked around in his personal group of friends and recognized three people that were under-employed. He hired them to help make the Skin Actives Way a reality. 15 years later those 3 first employees still work for the company.

With a decade and a half of experience, Skin Actives is a force for good in the lives of dozens of employees. Offering competitive wages, vacation and sick leave and opportunities to develop new skills. We’ve watched as our employees have graduated from college, masters degree programs, gotten married and had children. All while empowering regular people to make the best choices for the health of their skin and encouraging them to see themselves as beautiful no matter what. 

Starting a small business has the power to not only change your life, but the lives of those around you. Skin Actives has taken Dr. Sivak’s vision, conceived in a conversation around a dinner table in a house much like yours and made it a reality that reaches much further than anyone could have imagined at the time.

Embracing the Power of Small Business

Have you ever thought about starting your own business?

Have you ever had a great idea for a product, or a brand that you just know people would love, if only they could get their hands on it?

Ever thought about opening a storefront on Etsy or a stall at your local Farmers Market?

In the midst of a massive global realignment with how people see themselves in relation to work, now might be the time for you to actualize your dreams. People are working from home more, people are buying online in record numbers. And most importantly, people are unshackling themselves from their conceptions of what they thought they had to do and striking out on their own. If there is one thing we have learned in the last two years it’s that we can’t take the passing of time for granted! We have a limited amount of time to do the things with our lives that we dream of, there is no time to “wait for next year.”

You don’t have to break the bank investing in a huge run of skincare products and everything that comes with that (packaging, boxes, logo design, building a shipping department, just to name a few). At Skin Actives we offer the actives you need in quantities that are right for you to formulate your own small batch, boutique, handcrafted products and get them into the hands of people who need them. 

Skin Actives wants to help make your dreams a reality. Sign up for our Small Business Newsletter and learn about the opportunities that Skin Actives can help you with in starting your own online skincare business. 

That’s right, Skin Actives has lived, first hand, the life-changing power of owning a small business and we want to share it with you. Sign up now to see our options for launching your own skincare line, we’re certain that you find something right for you. Following that, you’ll receive monthly emails with tips, tricks, insights and inspirations to keep your small business blooming.

This newsletter is 100% free and we won’t sell your name to anyone. This shared aspiration is entirely between us. So sign up here and get started on your small business ownership journey.