3 ‘priceless’ lessons I learned from Verizon Small Business Digital Ready
Cherlyn Carby, founder of Skylar J’s LushUs Kids natural hair care products for kids, shares how the online courses and live coaching helped transform her business.
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Cherlyn Carby learned to embrace being the face of her brand with help from Verizon Small Business Digital Ready.
When Cherlyn Carby was looking for a gentle, all-natural shampoo to treat her 1-year-old daughter’s scalp psoriasis — and couldn’t find such a product on the market — her mom instincts kicked in: If Carby couldn’t find the shampoo, she would make it herself.
That was the beginning of LushUs Kids, the plant-derived hair care company for kids that Carby founded in 2021 in Richmond, Virginia. As a solopreneur, Carby handles all aspects of the business, from creating the product formulas to handling shipping, orders, sales and operations, as well as social media and the company’s website. For an entrepreneur working on her own, connecting with Verizon Small Business Digital Ready was a vital step in building confidence and learning new marketing and business skills.
“When I started, I was timid,” Carby says. "I did not have a mentor [or] anybody to guide me.” The search for resources to grow her small business led to Verizon Small Business Digital Ready. “When I found it, it was a goldmine,” she says.
A vital nugget of advice from Digital Ready, Carby says, was gleaned during a 1:1 competitive analysis live event. “The instructor told me to go into the salons and get feedback,” Carby says. She dropped off LushUs Kids products at a handful of beauty parlors across the country, where stylists gave feedback on the scents, textures and even packaging. “I think that getting the unbiased feedback from beauticians … gives me a good edge,” she says.
Another 1:1 session, this time focused on the LushUs Kids website, led to a complete redesign. “I thought my website was amazing, and they came back with feedback, and they helped me restructure my website in that session,” Carby explains. “They made it easy to read, the flow was better, the checkout faster. It's so priceless.” The result? Online sales increased by 26%, Carby says.
And although Carby describes herself as having lifelong stage fright, she says the social media courses helped her overcome it and become the face of her brand. She now posts frequent tutorials and other videos of herself, and engages directly with her followers. She credits the new strategies from Digital Ready with helping her increase her social media following by 6,000 followers. “I think that customers truly believe in the brand story,” Carby explains. “They truly believe in the person behind the brand.
