From just about the first day of Nubian Skin’s launch, Hassan has used Google Workspace to manage meetings with retailers and manufacturers, stay in touch with stylists and the press, and keep track of everything from retail invoices to photoshoot images.

“There are so many pitfalls and so many things that are hard about business,” Hassan says. “It’s really amazing to have something like Google Workspace that is easy and intuitive and gives you confidence rather than robbing you of it.”

“People called asking, ‘Can we have the contact for the press department?'” says Hassan. “But at the time, it was just me.” To easily handle media requests, she set up a [email protected] email address through the Google Workspace Admin console.

“Having that nubianskin.com address gave the business an air of professionalism, which we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” Hassan says. “Usually you would need a whole IT department to set up new emails and passwords. Google Workspace’s Admin Console removes a lot of the noise and hassle in that process.”

Meeting on the fly with retailers and manufacturers

As Hassan and Nubian Skin won positive press and sales picked up, Hassan needed to coordinate design and merchandising meetings, keep track of invoices, and manage her showroom—and do it all while traveling around the world to touch base with team members in London and Luxembourg. Calendar helped her manage her busy schedule.

“One of the most useful aspects of Google Calendar is the ability to share calendars,” says Hassan. “We have a showroom calendar and a stockers calendar that track when a certain order needs to go out, or when we’re going to be receiving a delivery from a manufacturer. That helps the team stay on the same page.”

Hassan can start meetings from anywhere—even using her smartphone—with Google Meet and Google Calendar. The meeting and calendar apps became crucial business tools once Hassan began adding employees in 2015—she now has three people working for her in London and a team member based in Luxembourg. She and her teammates can conduct face-to-face video Meet, or simply dial in if they’re walking or driving.

Photoshoot images at their fingertips

Because Hassan and her employees may often be running to meetings outside of their office, they need important business documents at their fingertips anywhere they happen to be. As Hassan gathered more images of Nubian Skin products and model photoshoots, she realized she could save them in Drive and access them in the Drive mobile app. That way, she can find and send images to fashion journalists or retailers at a moment’s notice.

With Sheets, Hassan and her team stay current with retail orders. She created a spreadsheet with addresses, orders, and invoices for every retailer ordering Nubian Skin products. “Everyone on my team has access to the spreadsheet so we can fill in what we need at any given point,” says Hassan. “This way, nothing slips through the cracks.”

In demand, influential, and still growing

Five years after launching Nubian Skin, Hassan is a recognized entrepreneur who’s influenced other retailers to create more inclusive designs. In 2017, she was awarded an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for her services to fashion in the United Kingdom. Even with that experience under her belt, she’s still learning about growing a business, and looks at Google Workspace as a partner.

“Even if you’re small, you want people to see you as a professional business,” Hassan says. “If you’re still growing, you need the building blocks to get you where you want to be. I’ve learned so much about business through Google Workspace—I can’t imagine working without it.”

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