International Skincare Business Started on a Whim

We’re highlighting small businesses from around the country as nominated by you, our readers. If your favorite small business is using Twitter to communicate with customers, let us know about it @fbsmallbiz with the hashtag #mysbc, and it may be featured as an upcoming Small Business Spotlight.

Small Business Spotlight: Nutra-Lift Skincare 

Who: Robert Trovato, 60, @nutraliftskinca

Where: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

When: 1996

How:  Trovato had a friend who worked for United Airlines, and was constantly complaining about her dry skin from international flights. She asked him to whip up a product for her to try, as he had a background in health care and chemistry.

“I did this as a personal favor to her, and when I had more time to research I looked up all natural ingredients and made her three samples,” he said. “Three weeks later she said, ‘you are stupid if you don’t sell this stuff.’”

From there, he began taking orders from friends and family, and soon placed ads in mail order magazines. Soon after, he began to sell on U.S. shopping channels, and also began exporting overseas, which is where his business truly took off.

Today, Trovato said Nutra-Lift is the second-best selling line of products sold by doctors and pharmacists in the Middle East.

Quote from the owner: “It’s like one of these fairytale stories,” he said. “In America you can make it happen if you know what you’re doing.”