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A day job as a freelance manicurist to support her singing aspirations and to pay the rent opened the door to a booming
business career for Deborah Lippmann. Deborah began her career by giving manicures to actresses during auditions.
Soon Deborah became a full time manicurist as she received an increasing number of calls for appointments from actresses
and models who wanted manicures before their photo shoots or performances. Her expertise and creativity as a manicurist
made her a hit with celebrities. Deborah took her success there one step further when she created her own nail polish and
nail treatment product line, Lippmann Collection. Her celebrity client list includes Sarah Jessica Parker, Mariah Carey and
Gwyneth Paltrow. Deborah has also collaborated with singers Mary J. Blige and Cher to create new shades of nail polish unique
to each singer’s personality and added these shades to the Lippmann Collection"s best-selling line of celebrity shades.
Deborah is not alone in managing her product line. Lippmann Enterprises, LLC ("Lippmann"), the parent company of the Lippmann
Collection, is a family owned business. Deborah partnered with her brother, Mark Lippmann and her husband, Jude Severin to
form Lippmann and the trio experienced successes and challenges as the company grew. Prior to the formation of Lippmann in
1999, Mark owned and operated a digital graphic design company and Jude worked in sales for Equinox International. Together,
the trio managed this seedling business out of Deborah and Jude’s apartment, which left the living room packed with office
supplies, leaving little room for them to live in.
In the first six (6) months of the company’s operations, Lippmann received more customer orders than anticipated.
This unexpected event was Lippmann’s first success and its first challenge. The company lacked sufficient inventory
and capital at hand to meet the expected volume of orders. So Deborah approached Renaissance Economic Development
Corporation for financial assistance. Although the owners had no credit and their finances were limited, Renaissance
was confident in Deborah’s quality work within the celebrity circle, Mark’s management experience in his own business
and Jude’s sales experience at Equinox International. With the first loan from Renaissance’s Small Business Loan Fund,
Lippmann strengthened its working capital position and was set to meet its first customer orders. From this experience,
Deborah and Jude learned the importance of a backup plan for the unexpected, strong financial management is always necessary
and that there is a lot involved in providing quality customer service.
Financing itself was not the sole solution to equip Deborah and Jude to manage their new business. Jude’s participation
in Renaissance’s Small Business Training course for first-time small business owners equipped him and Deborah with the
skills to manage business finances, identify marketing strategies that would benefit the business, analyze their business
performance and define market competition. Together, the husband and wife duo have made wise decisions financially and
strategically, which has helped their small business to stay strong. Renaissance has worked closely with Deborah Lippmann
to transform her freelance manicurist job into a world renowned business that has won the praises of even the toughest
celebrity critics.
Even with a loan, finances remain precious and scarce for a startup company, especially one that is facing growth.
In an effort to maximize the company’s limited financial resources, Mark and Jude constantly sought ways to minimize
expenses, hence earning the nicknames, "Cheap " and "Cheaper, " respectively, from Deborah. In one such effort, Lippmann
decided to order a larger bulk quantity of custom-designed boxes to package each nail polish bottle instead of a smaller
quantity because of the reduced cost per box in the larger order. Within a short time frame, Deborah and Jude began to
reconsider their decision as they received feedback from clients suggesting design improvements for these packaging boxes.
However, with limited cash, Lippmann could not afford to allow the unused boxes to go to waste and worked patiently as the
company used the remaining boxes in the months that followed. Deborah and Jude learned to limit initial investments into
new supplies and inventory that have not yet been proven successful. This way, if the new supplies or inventory proves to
be less successful than expected, the loss would be minimized.
Since inception, the company has grown steadily and became successful in its own right. In 2002, Lippmann expanded its
product line with a second loan from Renaissance. Then in 2003, Lippmann needed an office space as the company continued
to grow. Renaissance extended a third loan to Lippmann to finance their move from Deborah and Jude’s home to an office
space in lower Manhattan to meet growing sales and restructure company operations. Throughout the company’s successes,
Lippmann has contributed to the EAP program with Jude appearing as a guest speaker at an EAP class to share his experience
as a small business owner and with the donation of a sample of Lippmann Collection’s products for Renaissance to showcase
the success of one of our EAP students at an outreach event. Deborah also shares her experience and insights to potential
entrepreneurs and freelancers within her business’ industry as a speaker at workshops and seminars.
Today, Lippmann Enterprises has hired two new employees to assist Jude in managing the company’s daily operations.
Meanwhile, Deborah continues to leverage her reputation and experience as a manicurist within the celebrity world to
further grow her business. Mark continues to update and maintain the company’s website with information about new products
and to handle online orders. Furthermore, Deborah and Jude continue to tap into their creative entrepreneurial spirit as
they expand Lippmann’s business opportunities with the creation of new products, such as Rich Girl, Lippmann’s famous hand
and cuticle cream, Bootylicious, lavender booties to smooth the feet and Footloose, a plushy soft slipper with a loofah
insole that is scheduled to be launched this summer.
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