Sue Ismiel - Entrepreneur

I met Sue Ismiel, through the CEO Institute. Sue related her story of following her intuition completely when she commenced her new business. Sue had isolated a specific problem that many people experience at varying life stages, that is of excess body hair growth.

I was determined to create a product that removed unwanted hair, but I didn't have a science bone in my body. I didn't have any business skills. I had no experience whatsoever and I didn't have any financial backup. I found myself to be a proud owner of a real business and the only option for me was to quickly learn how to take care of it.

The determination to find this remedy was overwhelming. I had purchased every product that was out there and it failed. It was about trial and error for a long, long time and quite often I thought ‘what am I doing’ but then the following morning I always came up with another idea. Finally I came up with the green glue that was like magic and... everybody wanted it. I had to use my creative mind to become a manufacturer and to become a marketer. I had never sold anything in my life.

Sue made a courageous decision - to sell her product direct to the public at Flemington Markets in Sydney. She demonstrated its effectiveness and was mobbed by customers.

I saw what a small demonstration did at Flemington Market  When I made the decision to advertise the product I applied the same strategy that I used at the market - television and it was extremely successful. Our telephone lines were jammed; people from all over Australia wanted to buy it. I thought, "why not try other world markets?" People have the same problems wherever we go - solve the unwanted hair problem of the world! I headed to America and again using demonstration embarked on the half hour infomercial that took America by storm! By the end of 1999, we were in the top 50 infomercials in America; then we climbed up to number 10 and in early 2000, our infomercial was rated number 1 America wide.

Sue admits to keenly following her intuition:

I’ve used my intuition a great deal now obviously all it is a bit of common sense and a little bit of research and that extraordinary feeling - gut feeling that you have that you shouldn't really ignore.