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A piece of Cake – Metro US

A piece of Cake

Heather Reier believes you should indulge your beautiful side like you would savour a decadent piece of cake.

Seven years ago, the 34-year-old president and founder of Cake Beauty Inc. took her love for beauty products and built a successful brand noted today for its high quality and fresh style.

Reier previously managed a hair salon and later worked at the head office of Roots Canada, all the while nurturing her own entrepreneurial spirit. She started Cake Beauty once she realized she could offer something new to the beauty product market by combining the effectiveness of farmer’s-market-style beauty products with high-quality ingredients and a fun, sassy attitude.

Reier knew from an early age she was destined to be an entrepreneur.

“I’ve always been driven, even as a teenager. I knew I had it in me before I took the plunge with Cake Beauty,” the Kitchener-Waterloo native said.

She started out by turning her kitchen into a mad scientist’s lab full of beakers, bottles and blenders, teaching herself how to create emulsions and mix creams from scratch. The business grew quickly, doubling every year for the first few years and forcing Reier to learn a crucial lesson: Delegate.

“To be able to step back and let go of certain details — that was a challenge. I’m very hands-on, I want to be close to every detail,” Reier said.

Like many successful entrepreneurs, passion has always been Reier’s driving force.

“I’ve always had a lot of passion for what I’ve done. If you have the passion, the money will follow, I really believe that,” Reier said.

The ability to pick herself up and keep going after the failures and setbacks any small business is bound to encounter is another of Reier’s strongest qualities, proving to her that perseverance is something any entrepreneur should embrace.

“I really believe the difference between people who are successful and those who aren’t is resilience.

“If you don’t have resilience, you’re never going to make it,” Reier said.

While today’s market is a challenging environment to start a business in, Reier says the time is always right to plan a blueprint for your future.

“It’s a great time to get a business plan and ideas together. Do your research and get the wheels moving now. However much time and money you think it’s going to take, double it,” she said.