More and more I find myself getting lost in the business plans of other businesses with which I have the opportunity to interact. Instead of these thoughts being lost in my head, I thought it would be a cool series to do here on the blog–a business analysis of those business models/plans that I admire, in hopes that others can glean helpful bits of information to apply to your business.

The Business

The first business I would like to dive into is Created Colorful. CC is a virtual color analysis service. For those looking to bring out their natural beauty, they can get a color consultation that tells them which color palette brings out the natural tones of their skin, hair, and eyes the best! Throughout the experience it is made very clear that it’s not about making the client more beautiful; instead, it’s about enhancing the client’s natural beauty.

The Service

Once the service is purchased (a one-time fee), the client drapes different colors of cloth over his/her shoulders and sends in pictures to one of the consultants. After the initial photos, a second round is required to narrow down the best color palette. Approximately 30 days later, the client receives their ideal color palette in an email, as well as a ton of tips on how to go about styling items around that color palette. This includes tips about hair color if you plan on dying it, nail polish, accessories, and makeup. These are extremely individually tailored emails that mention specific features about each client. This gains trust and proves that, yes, my consultant did, in fact, look at specifically my photos to determine which color palette fits me best.

Not only that, there are recommendations and direct links to items to purchase that fulfill the recommendations through an Amazon storefront segmented by color palette and Pinterest board inspiration organized by color palette. If you’d like a full run-down of the service, you can read more about my wonderful client experience here.

The Challenge

As a service-based provider, one of the biggest hurdles is acquiring new clients and retaining those clients, especially if the service is a “one and done” type of service. Obviously a color consultation would be considered a one and done because our natural skin, eye, and (most of the time) hair color does not change…so simple logic would lead one to believe that there is no way to turn those one-time customers into repeat customers, right?

WRONG! In the case of Created Colorful, Lindsey, the owner, has found a way to turn a one and done client into a lifelong client through a series of blog posts and emails that continue to SERVE her clients. Here’s how:

The Solution

1. The Amazon storefront. Like I mentioned earlier, the Amazon storefront allows clients to ease of access to the items that are already in the color palette. While the set-up of the storefronts with different items of clothing in specific colors is a time commitment in the start-up phase, this is otherwise a form of passive income. She has the option to update these as she sees fit based off of season or new releases, but really…she is capitalizing on the passivity that an Amazon storefront offers while serving her clients well in what feels like a personalized way! This Amazon storefront is just the starting point for her incredible recurring revenue though!
2. Seasonal blog posts. This I LOVE. Each season she pops into my inbox to give me a capsule wardrobe each time the weather changes! She is not only supporting me through this transition of understanding which colors look best on me, she is now supporting me through each season when I may hit a stumbling block. Now, I am no longer a one-time client; I could potentially be a four-time-per-year client for the foreseeable future! The key feature here is that she is solving a problem for me: She is doing my shopping for me. She is allowing me to see the possibilities that maybe I wouldn’t have seen on my own.
3. Specialty blog posts. Why stop at seasonal capsule wardrobes? She doesn’t! She has speciality blog posts about other aspects of fashion and style, including nail polish, accessories, bathing suits, eyewear…pretty much anything you can think of. And…you guessed it…they’re categorized by color palette so I can go directly to “Soft Autumn” (yes, that’s actually my color palette) and find exactly what I need! In fact, I just did this for my summer bathing suit selection as soon as she sent out the bathing suit blog post email.
4. Pinterest inspiration boards. Each of her blog posts has an accompanying graphic. She cross-posts those graphics onto a Pinterest board that is organized by color palette. She is then able to link these graphics with the affiliate codes that correspond with the articles of clothing they contain. This is genius because it not only (again) makes the buying experience very easy and fluid for her current clients, but she ALSO can appeal to NEW clients who stumble upon her Pinterest page.

The Break-Down (Not the Mental Kind)

Let’s take a step back and look at Lindsey’s ideal client. Most likely female, probably either a high-achieving professional who wants to look her best on a daily basis, but may not have time to shop and curate the perfectly coordinated look or the mom who is wanting to “treat” herself by making herself feel human again after going through a major identity shift and almost certainly doesn’t have time to shop and curate the perfectly coordinated look.

Thus, enters the “done-for-you” model that Lindsey has created. While it’s simple, it works because she is solving a very major need for her ideal clients.

The Conclusion

Lindsey of Created Colorful is a genius. That is my conclusion.

The Real Conclusion

But in all seriousness.

A “color consultation” sounds like a simple thing. It’s service-based and very easily a one-and-done type of service. But Lindsey has taken it so many steps further based off of her ideal clients NEEDS. She has done a magnificent job of pinpointing the pain points that we feel and fixing them with ease.

The ability to take this one-and-done type of service and create a recurring and, ultimately, passive stream of income is incredibly savvy and I am so in awe of her thorough follow-through for her clients.