Liz Warom is Managing Director, co-owner and co-founder of Temple Spa. With almost 40 years’ experience in the cosmetic industry, she has previously worked alongside Anita Roddick (The Body Shop) and Sir Richard Branson (Virgin) before establishing her own brand launched in 2000. Liz is married to Mark and together they run their global business from their South Coast headquarters.
In all honesty, if I was starting out in the industry again today, I don’t think I’d do anything differently. I started in sales, then had an opportunity to work across all disciplines – marketing, design, product development, manufacturing, operations and finance, so I developed broad skills at a fairly young age. Those skills have stood me in good stead for the rest of my career.
I would go back and change attitude to education though. I earned a scholarship to a private girls’ grammar school but made such a fuss to my parents about losing my friends, having to be picked up at 7.30am and wearing an ugly uniform that they gave in and didn’t make me go. My stubbornness hasn’t always worked for me!
I wish I'd known that you need to feel comfortable with yourself and not try to become someone else
I wish I'd known that you need to feel comfortable with yourself and not try to become someone else. When I was younger, I often watched other people, especially when they had opposite skills to me. Rather than celebrating my own strengths and building on those, I’d constantly compare myself and fall short.
Giving up a corporate role with title, status, salary and security in exchange for starting Temple Spa was without doubt my toughest challenge. The concept that something can’t be done is usually the very essence of what drives me, but it still took every ounce of belief and determination I could muster, plus hard work and perseverance. What did it teach me? That single-mindedness is essential. While you have to be aware of obstacles and challenges, you turn the volume down on those and turn up the volume on resourcefulness and what you DO have.
My business motto is “you build the people and the people will build the business
My biggest mistake was being too focused on ‘lack’ in the early years; comparing our growth with competitors who had significantly more investment or tenure. But my motto is “you build the people and the people will build the business” – it has worked for us. Nineteen years on, we’re privately owned, trading all over the world and recognised as a serious brand in a pretty crowded marketplace.
There’s only one you and only one life.
If I could go back now and advise a younger me, I’d say stay true to yourself. It always works out in the end. There’s only one you and only one life; the joy is in the journey, not the destination, so live that life to the full.
