From Esthetician to Entrepreneur: Brea Gratia's Journey to Success

In this episode of Messages of Positivity, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brea Gratia from Gratia Botanica, a boutique for the "apothecurious". Brea shared her journey from growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to moving to Texas and eventually starting her own skincare business in Asheville, North Carolina.

Brea's background in esthetics and makeup artistry led her to open a store where she sells her skincare products and unique apothecary items like bamboo Q-tips and holistic bandages. She emphasizes the importance of using natural ingredients in skincare products to avoid harmful chemicals in mass-produced items.

During the interview, Brea discussed her challenges as a female business owner in the 70s and 80s, including encountering misogynistic attitudes when seeking a loan for her modeling school. Despite these challenges, she persevered and transitioned from being an esthetician to focusing on formulating skincare products.

Brea highlighted the benefits of using high-quality skincare products and shared success stories of clients who experienced positive results from her products. She also discussed her approach to business success, emphasizing the importance of commitment, honesty, and staying true to one's path despite distractions.

Through her involvement in Business Networking International (BNI), Brea has expanded her business by securing new accounts and building relationships with other business owners. She also touched on the importance of discipline and dedication to achieving one's goals.

Overall, Brea's story is one of resilience, passion, and dedication to providing quality skincare products while staying true to her values and vision for her business. Listeners are encouraged to prioritize commitment, honesty, and staying focused on their goals to succeed.

Transcript

0:01

Welcome to the messages of positivity podcast, where we share great stories of overcoming challenges and messages you can use to live a positive life. Now, Good day, folks. This is Norm Morris with Messages Positivity, and today I have the wonderful Bria Gratia from Gratia Botanica. What would you call this? It's not really a makeup shop. It's a skincare ... How Well, I could go a little deep. I originally was going to have a lab. And when I found this particular space, it was too large. Okay. So I thought, well, okay, I guess I could have a store in the front and have my lab in the back. So I'm calling it a boutique for the apothecurious. Okay. So, what I started getting into as far as other retail items other than my products, I thought, well, I will sell apothecary type items, things that will make people feel good, like nice soaps and various feminine care items and holistic bandages and things of that sort, to kind of take it a step above. CVS or Walgreens. Something that's a little unique and different, like I've got bamboo Q-tips and bamboo And that definitely fits the kind of motif of the Asheville area here. So you got a little bit into the store here, so kind of tell us a little bit more about yourself. Give us a little background in regards to I know, well, exactly. I do. But as soon as I realized I had an opportunity to move, I moved to Texas and wow, what an eye-opening thing for a girl from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was 26 years old and this was in the 70s and Houston was hopping and bopping. It was so exciting there and my eyes were just bugged out all the time because just you could do anything you wanted to do there and be successful at it, it seemed to me. And I ended up Moving back to Tulsa shortly after that, a couple years later, because a friend called me from Tulsa and invited me to go into business with her as a modeling school. She wanted me to buy into and manage it. And I said, well, I'd want to be a partner. I don't want to just be a manager. So I went to modeling school and then went back to Tulsa and we opened up a modeling school. And that lasted for about three years. And then we closed that down and I went to work in a hair salon as a makeup artist. But in the meantime, backing up a little bit, we got busted by the state board of cosmetology, because in our modeling school, we were doing facials, I mean makeup, and touching people's faces, and then we charge them for it. That made us Yeah, we didn't know. We didn't know. You know, like Mary Kay does makeup, but they don't touch people's faces, so to speak. And so they and they don't charge for even if they touch their faces if they don't charge for it They're not a professional. Okay, but we were charging for it. So We decided to get whatever license we could get really quickly and that was a demonstrators license And then I kept thinking well, maybe I should get a larger license something that would give me more advantage over someone that has the demonstrator's license. What he mentioned was we could get a demonstrator's license or a facial specialist license, which is now called esthetician license. But so I went around to the beauty schools in Tulsa. This is crazy. And I think I got in the phone book, this was back then. And I was in the Yellow Pages and I started in the A's under beauty school and no one, I think I called on them personally, I would walk in and no one had a program for facial specialists until I got to the R's. And Roberts Beauty Training Center, I hope I don't get them in trouble. Of course, this was back Exactly. I know, right? So I went into Robert's Beauty Training School and I said, I'm really frustrated. I've been to all these places and no one offers a program for estheticians or facial specialists then. And he said, well, I'll tell you what, let's talk for a little bit. So we talked and he said, well, look, you know more about skincare or about makeup than we do. And we know more about skincare than you do. So I'll tell you what, here's the cosmetology book. And I'm going to register you as a student and I'm going to sign you up for the state board in June and you're on your own. So I studied the, I think there were, I think I counted, there were 46 pages in the cosmetology book related to skin care. Crazy. Nothing. Nothing. And I went to state board and passed. And the most interesting thing I laugh about is that the question that I missed later became my expertise. Okay. But the question was, that was the only question I missed. It said, name a disease of the sebaceous gland. And of course, I still don't think of acne as a disease, but I thought that was a Yeah, right. It's just a condition and it's not a disease, but I guess it's a dis-ease. I Okay. Well, and actually you kind of answered my second question was about how you became an esthetician. How'd you get started with that and the motivation? Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. Oh, I do want to tell you, when I went to work in that hair salon, I had my license and I didn't have any equipment or anything. So this is an interesting thing. So I was looking at, I had my license, I was doing makeup at this hair salon. This is after I closed the modeling school and I saw an ad in the trade journal and I it said how to give a European facial, send $1. So I sent the $1 in and I got this little 12-page booklet and it was talking about disencrustation and exfoliation and high frequency and things that I knew nothing about because those things weren't mentioned in those 46 pages of the cosmetology book. But it fascinated me and I thought, I want to start giving European facials. So I ordered the equipment and I called the company to place the order and I said, is there a manual that comes with these machines? And they said, no, you should have learned how to use the machines in beauty school. And I said, oh, well, they didn't have machines in beauty school where I went. And he said, well, I'll get you a textbook. He sent me a textbook. Now the cosmetology book was about 300 pages, but it was probably about 8 by 7. The textbook that he sent me for the professional esthetician and makeup artist was about 8 by 12. Okay, so a little larger. large book, 300 pages, all about skin care. I highlighted the whole darn book. It was like a can of worms that had been opened up and they were crawling at me so fast and I was just highlighting as fast as I could. In fact, I wrote down cheat sheets for oily skin, dry skin, because I didn't know how to recognize rosacea from someone's whose skin was just red from a sunburn, for example, because I had never seen that. So I would have to kind of guess, well, is this this kind of skin or is it dry skin? But it looks oily, but it looks flaky. And I had to start figuring out what kind of facials to give them. And I pull out my cheat sheets after they got on the table. In fact, I borrowed a table from the owner of a hair salon. His father was a retired gynecologist and I was I had a gynecological exam table that I was giving facials on. That's crazy. I know. I had a couple guys in there, they didn't know what they were laying on. It Excellent. So, you mentioned that you were doing this like in the 70s. Yes. So, I don't think many people were very thrilled with having women-owned businesses. It's kind of male-dominated. The business world tends to be male-dominated, especially during that time. I think it still is, but I think there's a lot more open possibilities I'll tell you a story that blows my mind still to this day, and you had sent me these questions ahead of time, and I thought, well, I didn't really have any challenges, but then I started thinking just a few minutes ago before you got here, and when I had the modeling school, I put up all the money for the modeling school. I sold my house in Houston and moved back to Tulsa, and we decided that we needed $5,000 to do some advertising. Now, this is like 77. That's a lot of money back then. Well, yeah, but it wasn't, it wasn't like going to break the bank or anything. Then there was a, we were in an office building and there was a bank on the first floor. So my partner and I went downstairs to the bank and we walked in and we said, we'd like to borrow $5,000. And the guy leaned back in his chair, put his foot up on the desk and he said, if I loaned two good lookers like you any amount of money, I'd be the laughingstock of this bank. And we went, whoa. And it took me about three days, and I thought, man, that was... What was feminist or what? No, not feminist. Misogynistic. Yeah, yeah. And I called an attorney and she said, can you get that in writing? And it's like, well, no, I don't think the guy's going to write that down in writing. There's Chauvinistic. Well, no, it was another one. But anyway, it's like, we didn't get the money. And then someone suggested that I try to do an SBA loan. So I filled out all the SBA small business, small business administration loan. So I, they said that you can't go for $5,000. They said, you need to go for 15,000. I didn't need 15,000. So I filled out a week's worth of paperwork. It was huge, filled it out, took it back into the bank, talked to a different guy. And he said, who filled this out for you? I said, I did. He just looked at me like, really? He couldn't believe I filled it out. I guess they thought women Yeah. He said, you did a really great job on this. So those were the kinds of challenges I think that I faced. Other than that, That's interesting because a lot of people talk about how they just have struggled quite a bit, especially with women trying to start their own business back in the 70s and 80s and stuff like that because, like you said, it's really kind of male-dominated and really you've got men laughing at you doing stuff like that. Not only that, but just owning your business in general can be a challenge. What other challenges have you had to overcome in regards to that? having your own business versus working with a major company like you mentioned, Mary Kay. So obviously, Mary Kay's got certain guidelines, you have to follow certain rules, Right. Well, I guess every time I've ever started a business, I have a vision in my head of how it's going to look and feel. So I create my own guidelines, I think. I try to picture customers coming in and how I would interact with them and what would happen if this situation occurred or that situation occurred and try to picture the whole thing, the whole operation, not just, oh, I'm going to open up a business. I've got a vision and I see the whole thing. And it turns out like this place we're in right now, this almost looks exactly like I envisioned it before I even built the walls or anything. It's just the way it feels and looks and smells in And kind of off the side note, I know I didn't ask you this, but people know I'm also, I own my own company. Well, not my own company, but I have my own business and stuff. How disciplined do I think you should be very disciplined. Now, when I opened up a store, I have to be here. I have hours. I've always said to my employees when I have my spa in Houston, I'm not open if you're not here. So they thought if they didn't have appointments, they didn't have to come to work. And I said, that's not true. I'm here every day, and I've got a sign outside, hypothetically, that says open for business. And if you're not here, then no one can walk in and get a facial. So you have to be here, because we might get that last minute call. And I struggled with one employee for so many years about that, because she said, I don't have any appointments. I can be home doing laundry. You can call me if I It'd be kind of hard to make a phone call and then try having Yeah. I mean, I really insisted that they had to be there. So that's the discipline. You've got to be there. If you've got a business, you have to be there. So even when I didn't have appointments, I had a business and I went to work. Now, after I moved here, of course, there I had a spa and I had employees working for me and everything. And I had to be the representative. I had to be the one who showed them how you have these disciplines. So I had to be my word. I had to be there every day. But when I moved here, and I'm just a solo practitioner, If I had to go get a massage someplace or go to the dentist or whatever, I'd just mark myself off and anyone looking online would just think, oh, she's booked that day. But now that I've got a store, I can't do that. I have hours and I have to be here and I'm here no matter what. I mean, I might sit here and no one walks in at all, but I'm here every day and I meet Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I make products back in the black. So yeah, I'm doing that and making phone calls and stuff like that. But if I need to do something personal, it's usually before hours. And that's why my hours are Well, this is a good point. We're going to take a break. Uh, we're going to go to commercial and we'll be back right back with Bria Gratia with Gratia Botanica. Thank you. Hey, Norman here. As you may know, I and my partner agency, Cornerstone Senior Services, help people live a more positive life after age 65 by helping them choose the right Medicare solutions for them. I can help guide you or your loved ones through the Medicare maze to ensure they are covered. Visit NormanMorrisInsurance.com or call 828-400-1829. All right. Thank you. We are back with Brea Gratia with Gratia Botanica. A lot of people consider it a female market. I've always heard the saying, men have skin too. What are the challenges you have to convince men that, hey, they need to be treated, they need to get products for themselves as

Brea Gratia, Ph.D.: : 15:33

Yeah. Well, especially when I was doing facials, of course, I'm not doing them anymore, but What I would do with a man was I ask them, what's your routine? Do you clean your face in the shower? I kind of try to figure out. what it is they do, because I try to incorporate skincare into their routine, not have them change their routine to get into skincare. So I try to keep it simple for a man, and I keep it simple for anyone. If someone wants to get more involved in doing masks and putting serums on and oils and then the moisturizer, I'll go there because that's what I do. But I also compare it down to just two or three items for a man. Put this on right before you get in the shower or take this into the shower and use this in the shower. When you get out of the shower, put this on. Bam, you're done. So I keep it simple for a guy. And what happens if he starts seeing changes in his skin from those two simple things, a lot of times he'll want to add another item to his skincare routine. But it's Well, that's good for not just for men, but just for people in general as well. So owning this kind of business and being a business owner, you have a lot of challenges, but in particular with this, with skincare products and stuff in this kind of business, what Okay. Is it hard? I mean, especially with COVID coming around, there was a shortage of things. Yes. So Well, it did back then. I couldn't get packaging. Okay. And so I resorted to, I had to order 500 bottles from China. Okay. And it took a month to get them, but I needed them. Right. I needed them desperately. In fact, Maybe I had those, I think it was going to take a month because it was on the slow boat from China, but I think I paid for air freight to get them here because none of my suppliers had any packaging. They were going through the same problems that we were. And then the second time I had to order, or I looked at ordering again, from that same company, the price of shipping had tripled. It was crazy how much the shipping went up. So yeah, COVID really changed that and ingredients too, but I wasn't making that many products back then. I was just kind of touching on the edge of making products. Okay. And then you mentioned that, okay, so I'm going to kind of skip one of our questions. And so I hope that's all right with you. Yeah. So you, you mentioned like C, you know, your store is a little different than like CVS or like one of these like pharmaceutical stores, something like that. So what makes your products more in demand or better versus just going to, Walgreens or going to Walmart, because you sell different soaps, for example, or different deodorants. Well, I can go buy my Old Spice at Walmart for a pretty cheap price and stuff like that. So, what makes Well, for the same reason that people are concerned about the food that they eat, they're concerned about the products they put on their skin. Because the food that you eat nourishes your body, and the products that you put on your skin nourishes your skin, and everything is absorbed. So whatever you put on your skin gets inside your body, especially like essential oils. And so people are not wanting to apply chemicals So are those, and let me interrupt that if you don't mind. So are you saying like a lot of stuff like the general stuff like that that's Yeah. All of the stuff, most of the things, and it's cheap. Chemicals are way cheaper than organically produced. Okay. ingredients, the things that they have to go through to make sure that they maintain their quality and their integrity. The chemicals that are in the store-bought products are so cheap, that's why you can buy a cream for $9.99, whereas you might buy a cream from me for $39.99 or $49.99. It depends on the ingredients that I use. Some things are much more expensive for me to purchase. Of course, I have to put my markups on them and everything of that nature, but it's real different. Also, the ingredients that I use, I think I've touched on this in the past with the business group, but there's a thing called tip-ins and fairy dust. So for example, the store-bought products that you can get might have hyaluronic acid listed as, we've got hyaluronic acid in this ingredient, and it's like plastered all over the front of the bottle or jar. But it's just a tip-in, meaning that they just kind of sprinkled some in and said, oh, we've got hyaluronic acid in this. Whereas I, when I put hyaluronic acid in my products, for example, My ingredient supplier gives me a range that you can put from 0.5% up to, I don't know what hyaluronic acid is, but let's say up to 8%. I might put 9%. If I know that that ingredient is not going to do damage at a higher level, then I will make it stronger because I want people to get the benefit of the hyaluronic acid rather than just reading it on the label. So that's the difference too. Tip-ins and fairy dust are what you're going to find in your big commercials products and they use chemicals that are You talk about the benefits, so go back a little bit. So even though yours may be a little bit more, can it be complicated? Because I want to make sure I ask this correctly. So if they keep using these cheap products, couldn't they actually spend more later on for skincare because they're damaging their skins using these products? Whereas with yours, they may pay a little bit more up front, but You totally followed that, yes. And the other thing is they keep jumping from one product to another because they're having skin problems, but they're not getting results with their skincare. Just for example, I had a lady come in the other day, she had eczema all across the front of her face. She's got it on her elbows and knees. And that's a dietary issue, which I've studied about that. But I gave her one product to use, just one product. What was it, two days or a day and a half later, she said, my skin has never felt this good. So in just a day and a half, that one product made a huge difference in the way her skin felt. She came in and bought a line of products now to use and she said, she's loving it. She said, my skin is looking so good. The big bags under her eyes have gone because her skin was so inflamed. from the eczema that she had these big watering bags under her eyes. So now that she's got that calmed down, the bags are dissipating, and then she's Okay, and she's probably having to buy less products. Yeah. Because with the cheap products, you buy one, you've got to buy something to counteract that, and then it has a counter The chemicals were irritating her eczema. They weren't doing anything for it. So, she wasn't getting the results that she needed. And a lot of times people just give up. They go from this to that to something else. And then their friends using this that, oh, my friends recommended this product. Well, their friends don't know anything about skincare and what's good for them may not be good for me or for you. So, you've got to know what you're putting on your skin. You've got to know why it's formulated. And that's the other thing about what I do. I formulate the products. I think in my career as an esthetician, I gave probably about 85,000 facials. I mean, I originally told you guys in our business group that I thought it was about 45 or something like that. But I started thinking about all the little things, the little 30-minute facials that I did for just acne. You know, people would come in for just extraction only because they'd have to come in so often. I created this, just an extraction treatment so that they can come in every week to get their acne under control. So, forgot You're fine. You're just talking about how, because we're talking about the damage that these other products with chemicals would cause and it would be more expensive in the long run versus paying more money up front to have something to treat the condition around it. All right. So you talked about being an esthetician. You said you kind of stepped back from that. I know you've kept your license for it, but now you've really focused more on making the products rather than Well, I thought that this would be, again, And given my age, being 76, I thought... You can't see, Bria, but she doesn't look 76. I can tell Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I've got the energy too of a 50-something year old, I think. But no, I love doing facials. I miss it. I miss so much. And when I hear Kathleena get compliments, it's like this little ping in my heart says, oh, I love getting those compliments. Because I always say it was like doing facials was like being in show business. the show you go out and you do your your performance and then you get the applause afterwards because people sit up and say wow that's the best facial i ever had and you know you makes you feel good inside and then the next hour and a half you get to do the next one and you get the applause again so i miss all of that and i miss helping people i loved having people come to say, you made a difference in my life, you made a difference in my skin. I just got an email the other day from a lady that I used to give facials to in Houston. She said, you were so smart. Back in 1983, I think she said, I told her something about her. about her back being so tight, and she found out that she had been abused. But I just said, something has happened to you in your life to make your body so stiff like this, because I had never in my life felt anyone who had shoulders and a neck like she had. And she found out later that all that was a response to being abused as a child. So, I mean, it's just, it's a joyful thing. So transitioning into doing, making products was not hard because I formulated a skincare life for my previous husband in 1989. And so I knew how to make the products and I was making them in the back room when I was doing facials. I just thought, you know what, I think it might be easier on me as I'm getting older to stop doing the physical work and just have a little lab someplace and make products for other people in private label. And so again, like I said, I didn't intend on having a store. I was just looking for a little place to have a lab, but I ended up having a store. So I'm here and I'm loving it and I get to meet people again and I get to help people instead of making my products for other people. which I'm doing. I have about six or seven private label accounts and I'm getting ready to open up about three more. Just call loads of people on Monday and they're all very interested in very unusual business, a fitness studio and a garden center. She wants things for gardeners, like hand butter and some bug bite soother. sunscreen and things like that. And for the fitness center, we're going to have muscle rub and things like that. So I'm excited. It's fun. I get to help people in a different way. I'll just private label and then they'll be selling the products and So basically you're, you sell them to a person for a for one price and then basically they're going to basically upgrade and they'll sell Right. I sell it to them wholesale with their name on it. And then they'll mark it up at typically like a typical markup and sell it under their name. And so it's their brand. So people don't know that they can come here and get it. They'll be buying it from them under their name. So they'll always go back to them to Well, this podcast might cut out some of the middleman then if too many, Well, you don't know. You don't know. You just don't know where the things come Exactly. And yeah, so, but I know they're backing on, I know that's a trusted source as well. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So you mentioned a business group you work with. I'm assuming that's one way you've been successful with the business here. Do you want to talk a little about that? And then also what other things have you done to be successful? Because obviously you had your business where you did the face of the where you're the esthetician and you sold that business and now you're here and you're, it sounds like, you know, you haven't had this very long, but you've started with accounts already. So you've been successful, obviously. So what have you done to be successful? Well, I'm in a little center area here where there's three restaurants. So that helps there's a barber across the parking lot And sometimes when the wives are waiting for their husbands to get their hair cut they'll notice and come over here So i'm kind of i'm not in a real high traffic area. I think I would do like five times or 10 times better than I'm doing as far as walking traffic if I was in a place where, like downtown, where people are milling around all the time, and they're going down there for the purpose of shopping and walking around looking for interesting stores. So I'm not that busy, but again, that was not my focus. So for example, Monday I went out and called on four different accounts, and one of them wasn't there, but I know they have a need for something, the lady that worked there said, oh, we've been having a hard time getting wild oat and honey cleanser in. And so I know I can make that for them. So I'll be making that for them, hopefully. I'm going to talk to the owners on Friday. And then, you know, make the other three calls and they're all interested. So those will be my three new accounts that I'll be getting probably. They sounded like, So you're making calls and you said you belong to a Yeah, Business Networking International. Yeah. So, I ask people in there, I sometimes get all flabbergasted when I start trying to talk about myself because this is, I can talk about my skincare practice when I was doing facials, I talked about that for 40-something years. So now this is a whole new conversation I'm having to have right now. So I'm having to re-gear my brain and my thinking about how to speak. But I am looking, I go in and I tell the BNI members that I'm looking for referrals, people that have fitness studios and chiropractic offices, anyone who sells healthcare products or skincare products or might be interested in doing that, you know, lash salons, hair salons, yoga studios, I can make products for them to support their clients, like when they get stretched, their muscles get too stretched or something, I can make muscle rubs and things like that. So I go in and I ask the BNI members to refer people like that to me. So that's, it's a really neat group where the referrals just happen. And then of course the members also buy from me as well. So that's a good thing. And of course then I've had members buy stuff from me and then someone's visiting and sees all the products in there. It's like, well, what are these? And tell me about these. And then they come and buy from me. So it's just a And it does work. I can say, so with Leslie, that's my wife for listeners. She goes to Kathleena who does, who bought your business and does the facials. And so of course, Kathleena, uses your products. And so, Leslie has been very impressed with those products. And so, it kind of spreads out. Now, if I can convince her to get her shops down there in Florida to Leslie Peebles Yeah, there you go. That's it. That's the way it works. I have a spa in New York, upstate New York, that uses my products. So, yeah, I'm open for that. She can definitely refer me to All right. So, people, instead of selling Mary Kay, and that's 10 years, they might be selling Brea Britannica and stuff. Yes, exactly. Excellent. Okay. And so, the one question I always ask my guests to say, what advice would you give to young people nowadays in regards to just be successful, not just with their own business, but with just life in Well, I think you have to be a committed person. So, anything that you decide you want to do, you need to be committed to that. And you need to be your word. I think you always need to be your word. If you say you're going to do something or be somewhere, you need to I think so. I always taught my daughters that. In fact, I learned something one day. I thought, oh, I told my daughters I'd take them to the park on Sunday, but I'd rather go do so and so. And something popped into my head one day and I thought, wait a minute. It's not that they're just, I mean, I was brushing them off because they were little kids. What did that matter, right? But it does matter. So I learned I had to be my word to my children, even. So when I said to my girls, we're going to the park, and then something else came up that I would rather do, I'd say, I'm sorry, I'm taking my girls to the park. So you got to be your word. You got to be honest. You've got to be committed to what you're doing. And what I've considered being successful for me, too, is that I read a book one time, and they described you're on your path, and you've got your goal at the very end of that path. And you can see that goal down there, but that whole path is just lined with trees. And behind each one of those trees is some monster trying to pull you off your path, offering you a better thing over here. Let me include this into your business here. When you know that it's not right for your business, you need to say, no, it's not right for my business. And you stay true to your path. That's what I've always done. I've had people say, oh, you ought to carry this product. It'll be really good in your skincare place. And it's like, no, that's not what I want to do right now. This is where I'm headed with what I'm doing. So I've stayed true to my path and not let others pull me off Well, that's definitely a good piece. It almost reminds me of Andy Griffith. When you talk about raising kids, a lot of times people want to get that dangly thing, shiny, dangly new toy, but it can distract them from what's really important. So, excellent, excellent thing. All right. Well, Maria, thank you so much for taking time today to talk. I That's really great. Well, you're very positive and really, like I said, it's a message of positivity. So, I appreciate that. As always in my messages, thank you for listening and make it