Lianne Miller

Lianne became interested in the potential link between chemical based cosmetics and degenerative diseases when her son was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at the age of two. She began looking for all-natural alternatives and learnt over 18 years about natural and organic approaches to what her family ate and used on their bodies. When Lianne’s daughter Danielle turned 10, she started becoming more conscious of her skin, hair and general appearance. It was while Lianne was conducting research into natural products for teens that she went to a well known pharmacy and asked the assistant for natural teen products - only to learn that they didn’t exist.

That’s when Lianne decided to start a natural teen skincare category: she wanted to be able to go out and buy straight off the shelf products from a company that shared her values. From her own experiences with her daughter she knew that she wanted something that was tailored to her skin at a price they could both afford.

So in 2006 she started young & pure, the first natural skincare range for teenagers. Lianne started running her business from home – with the lounge as her office and her hall as her distribution centre. Less than two years later, the young & pure brand launched nationwide and quickly secured distribution in leading department stores across Europe.

Lianne used her experiences of working in global business to build and develop the young & pure brand. She hosted workshops, in stores, schools and hospital wards across the country, coaching and advising mums and daughters on body image, building their confidence and empowering them with young & pure’s healthy lifestyle messages. As well as her workshops, Lianne holds talks in women’s organisations in the UK and USA on holistic lifestyle and encouraging business development.

Recent news from Lianne

In April 2009 Lianne was forced into the difficult position of winding up her company, young and pure. Whilst waiting for a further tranche of investment which didn’t materialise, one of the company’s creditors presented the courts with a wind up petition. This resulted in the compulsory liquidation of young and pure.

Although a difficult situation for anybody in business, Lianne has not let this recent knock back affect her confidence to succeed. Here Lianne shares with us what she has learnt from this experience and how she is determined to get back on her feet.

’When things go wrong in your business, you need a very strong sense of self to come out the other end. Failure I believe, is not wanting to get up again, rather than falling down in the first place. Gather the people around you that know who you are, believe in you and call on God for strength-it WILL come!’

Top tips for entrepreneurs facing a similar challenge:-

• Take Responsibility! Sometimes things happen in business that is out of your control. For most entrepreneurs this is hard to handle, because we take full responsibility for what happens in our business. Forgive yourself, learn from it, dust yourself off and get up and do it better and bigger!

• Keep believing in who you are! Others will doubt you, but go back to your values and mission for why you started the business in the first place-those still stand true.

• Perseverance to succeed will kick in again! But give yourself some healing time, take the time you need to talk to others who can support you, don’t underestimate the time that’s needed to get back on your feet.

For more information on insolvency and bankruptcy please visit the Business Link website.