MEET RONA

Rona was a pharmacy student with a passion for mixing up cosmetic products for herself. But when her school friends started asking for organic sunscreens of their own — and especially when friends of friends showed interest — she began to think this could be something more.

She loved the process of creating and selling her own products, so she decided to launch Bees & Trees Bio Cosmetics.

She initially sold only face-to-face in her home countries of Albania and Kosovo, but she wanted to take her business international.

After getting her products certified, she dove into the work of growing her brand. But even after reading a few books and doing some research, she struggled to market and grow her business.

“Pretty much, I was wasting money on marketing and doing all the wrong stuff.”

Initially, Rona was hesitant to try Start & Scale, but the reassurance that she could get her money back if she didn’t see results convinced her to give it a go.

Rona loved the step-by-step nature of the course and the way it shone a light on what she was doing wrong, then led her back to the right path.

“When I started it, it was all a game-changer! The course taught me the right way, step-by-step, from the start, on how to do it and how to start selling online outside my state.”

Start & Scale taught her how to define her brand’s identity and distill it into a personality that she uses in everything from product descriptions to social media posts. It also taught her how to market to an international audience that she couldn’t meet with in person.

Two months after starting the course, Rona launched her international online shop and has since sold her products in Canada, Switzerland, America, Ireland and Germany. She is also in the midst of the prelaunch process for an up and coming brand new product.

“I’ve sold in California, in Canada, Germany, Sweden. A lot of states that I never thought that I could sell my product.”