The Life And Achievements Of Business Entrepreneur Napoleon Perdis

Family and Socio-Cultural Background

Discuss about the Business Entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur is an individual who sets up his own business by taking financial risks with a hope of profit (Poschke 2013). The aim of this essay is to focus on the life and achievements of the business entrepreneur Napoleon Perdis. The essay discusses the history, development and growth of Napoleon to assess the factors that made his life successful. His family and socio-cultural background plays a critical role in his successful tenure of entrepreneurship which forms another component of this essay. The type of businesses developed by Napoleon and the competitive advantages that adds to the entrepreneurial success is discussed. Various recommendations that may be considered are provided for the entrepreneur.

Napoleon Perdis, a 46-year Australian makeup artist and businessman from Sydney is one of the most influencing entrepreneurs (Napoleonperdis.com 2016). He was born in 1970 in Sydney and his parents were Greek immigrants settling in the western suburbs. In the beginning of his career, he used to work as a barrister’s assistant. In the year 1992, he worked as a make-up artist on weekends (Adoranti 2015). With the support of his younger brother Emanuel Perdis and wife Soula-Marie, Napoleon founded his cosmetic company. He started his business by launching a small makeup studio in 1992 in Leichhardt, a suburb in Sydney (Adoranti 2015). In the year 1993, Napoleon inaugurated The Napoleon Perdis Makeup Academy to provide makeup education for the people who want to pursue makeup as a profession (Napoleonperdis.com 2016). The education and training was provided by professional trainers. Further, in 1995 he created his own line of cosmetic products such as foundations, lipsticks, eye shadows and various other products selling through his own store in the Paddington suburb (Galbraith 2015). There were 65 stores operating through New Zealand and Australia by the year 2011 (Roberts 2015).

Starting from a small studio in Leichhardt suburb, his business grew up to running 4500 brand stores (Melbournecentral.com.au 2016). Gradually, he expanded his business in the United States. Not only overseas expansion, his line of products is also sold by Ulta beauty product stores. Perdis has grown up to be the cosmetic king of Australia with $82 million turnover in the year 2012 (Sexton 2013). Perdis has been consistently passionate about his work and never let negativity influence his vision. His hard work and efforts along with the support of his family has helped him grow and develop the business (Candy 2013).

Type of Businesses Developed by Napoleon Perdis

According to Sexton (2013), Napoleon Perdis was not like most of the 13 year-old kids in Paramatta. As he was born in a Greek-immigrant family, the ‘woggy’ upbringing made it a little difficult for him to grow up in the Anglo-western suburb. As a child, he loved doing his mother’s makeup. His mother has been a great source of encouragement and passion as he used to watch and mesmerise her while she put make-up. He was a keen observer while his mother put palette of creams and powders for embellishing her face. Perdis narrated one of the incidents in which he saw electric blue mascara in a magazine and he tried copying that on his mother. It did not come out well, but his mother was very proud of him as her son did the make-up. He also narrated a few incidents of his parents being disciplined which he hated as a kid, but eventually he values the same as it has shaped him as an individual. Perdis’ parents gave him a start-up loan of $30,000 which he considers as his single foundation and without which he would never get here (Sexton 2013).

In an interview, conducted by the Success Business Magazine, while Perdis was on his trip to Townsville terry White Chemists, Napoleon stated that his Greek family wanted him to explore the corporate world (Candy 2013). His parents have been a great support and with their blessings, Napoleon has gotten through the tough times. He further stated that the changing fashion trends in Australian women inspired him to catch up with the latest trends. He stated that his mother and father are very hard-working but they ensured to spend a lot of time together as a family. He has seen a great balance in the family which inspires him to bring the same balance in his life. Emanuel Perdis is an intellectual and Napoleon considers him as a great resource and asset in his life (Candy 2013). Not only his early life, the current life with his wife and daughters keeps his firmly planted to the ground. The daughters help him launch his business venture and play a critical part in keeping the firm in a proper direction (Heraldsun.com.au 2015). Thus, his family and socio-cultural background have helped him develop as an entrepreneur.

Napoleon Perdis is involved in three kinds of businesses. Firstly, he is a make-up artist and has opened his first studio in 1992 (Adoranti 2015). Secondly, he has his own line of products such as foundations, lipsticks, eye shadows, nail polish and various other products since 1995 (Galbraith 2015). Thirdly, he has an academy for educating people who wish to pursue their career as a make-up artist since 1993 (Napoleonperdis.com 2016). Napoleon Perdis entered the US market with a flagship store on Hollywood Boulevards. They also became an official partner of Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 2007 (PwC 2012). In the year 2008, Napoleon launched his second brand NP Set through development on concept stores in both Australia and US (PwC 2012). In the year 2009, they launched 350 Ulta stores throughout the US (PwC 2012). In 2011, they announced a three year sponsorship of the Australian Ballet (PwC 2012). The poor performing concept stores were shut by the entrepreneur because he believe in focusing and investing in time and resources (Roberts 2015). The entrepreneur has a tendency to move on rather than keeping stuck. These strategic changes and store concepts gives the entrepreneur a competitive edge over other brands. Napoleon focused on operational efficiency so that his venture is stable in all kind of economic climates. He has provided diversity in his offerings and created a new market rather than cannibalizing the existing one. They made smart partnership choices that would deliver long term value. The ongoing revenue streams have been consistently established. The entrepreneur believes in creating loyal customers and enhancing their experience. This is a unique strategy that keeps the company ahead of its competitors (PwC 2012).

Competitive Advantages of the Entrepreneur

Napoleon Perdis can consider the business diversification strategy by creating a farm that would produce entirely organic skincare products for the face and the body. Going by the latest trends and lifestyle, the customers are switching to environmental friendly and organic products that have no chemicals in it as it damages skin. Being in the cosmetic industry, it is critical for the entrepreneur to understand the importance of skin care. The entrepreneur can create a new agricultural domain with its own cosmetic and laboratory. The farming can be looked after by the agricultural engineer and cosmetologists. A new set of ‘green-beauty’ products can be created as natural and organic products (Huffingtonpost.in 2014). The herbal formulations shall be made without synthetics, artificial, petroleum-based preservatives or talc. The word cosmetic is now shifting to ‘skin-health’. Napoleon can take the opportunity for not only creating the external beauty, but taking efforts to make people’s skin naturally healthy. Napoleon believes in creating loyal customers by sustaining high quality. Sustainable marketing techniques must be adopted by the entrepreneur so that the beauty industry saturates the use of synthetics that harms the skin (PwC 2012).

Additionally, Perdis can also consider opening a skin care consultancy service in which the professionals shall advice the customers to get the best skin. Perdis can hire aestheticians who would work with the customers to achieve optimal skin. Services shall be offered that would guide the customers on obtaining proper skin care. He must obtain license for analyzing and providing treatment to the customers in the medical ways (Kikuchi et al. 2016).

Conclusively, to become a successful entrepreneur, an individual requires hard work and persistence. Positive attitude, perseverance and passion are a few common traits found in the successful entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs must not take leaps, and make strategic decisions that would take baby steps. Successful entrepreneurs always believe in spending a few years in the industry under a good mentor who provides a good launching pad. They take in the wealth of knowledge that is provided by other successful entrepreneurs. It is interpreted that Napoleon Perdis did not become successful in a day. It took his adequate time to reach a position where he is today. His value for family and passion for work gives a complete balance to his success. His business patterns are profitable and expansion in the international market gives the entrepreneur a global recognition. Napoleon focused on operational efficiency so that they are stable in all kinds of economic climates. The entrepreneur believes in creating loyal customers and enhancing their experience.

References

Adoranti, K., 2015. Makeup maestro’s Napoleon Perdis’ top tips. [online] Dailytelegraph.com.au. Available at: <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/the-hills/napoleon-perdis-reveals-his-dos-and-donts-for-applying-makeup/news-story/6ca0266e16f1d1bf989e78a8e55e8ebb> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Candy, M., 2013. Napoleon Perdis - Success Business Magazine. [online] Success Business Magazine. Available at: <https://successbusinessmag.com.au/napoleon-perdis/> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Galbraith, J., 2015. Napoleon Perdis brings his magic to Penrith. [online] Dailytelegraph.com.au. Available at: <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/news/napoleon-perdis-makeup-tips-shared-when-beauty-guru-visits-westfield-penrith/news-story/c2e959ccb389b98493a426c593c8f296> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Heraldsun.com.au, 2015. All in the Napoleon family. [online] Heraldsun.com.au. Available at: <https://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/the-amazing-women-behind-makeup-king-napoleon-perdis-success/news-story/c2c375b80fc8c27a8585ae72c25769c0> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Huffingtonpost.in, 2014. From Farm-to-Face, Green Cosmetics and Skincare: An Interview With Brenda Brock. [online] Huffington Post India. Available at: <https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/from-farm-to-face-green-cosmetics-and-skincare_b_6249898> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Kikuchi, K., Masuda, Y., Yamashita, T., Sato, K., Katagiri, C., Hirao, T., Mizokami, Y. and Yaguchi, H., 2016. A new quantitative evaluation method for age-related changes of individual pigmented spots in facial skin. Skin Research and Technology, 22(3), pp.318-324.

Melbournecentral.com.au, 2016. Melbourne Central - Napoleon Perdis. [online] Melbournecentral.com.au. Available at: <https://www.melbournecentral.com.au/stores-services/napoleon-perdis> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Napoleonperdis.com, 2016. About Napoleon. [online] Napoleonperdis.com. Available at: <https://napoleonperdis.com/about-napoleon> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Napoleonperdis.com, 2016. About the Makeup Academy. [online] Napoleonperdis.com. Available at: <https://napoleonperdis.com/aus/makeup_academy> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Poschke, M., 2013. Who becomes an entrepreneur? Labor market prospects and occupational choice.Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 37(3), pp.693-710.

PwC, 2012. How are you seizing today’s opportunities to create tomorrow’s value?. Private Business Barometer Winter 2012. [online] Australia: PwC, p.23. Available at: <https://www.pwc.com.au/private-clients/assets/business-barometer/private-business-barometer-may12.pdf> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Roberts, A., 2015. Napoleon Perdis forced to close down his business in US. [online] Mail Online. Available at: <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3103543/Makeiup-mogul-Napoleon-Perdis-forced-close-business-wasting-millions-dollars-complex-market.html> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].

Sexton, J., 2013. Cosmetic king Napoleon Perdis had humble beginnings growing up in Parramatta. [online] DailyTelegraph. Available at: <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/cosmetic-king-napoleon-perdis-had-humble-beginnings-growing-up-in-parramatta/story-fni0cx12-1226718539618> [Accessed 7 Sep. 2016].