Name of business: JuveRest LLC
Address: P.O. Box 82008, Las Vegas, NV 89180
Email: [email protected]
Website: JuveRest.com
Hours of operation: Orders can be placed 24/7 at JuveRest.com
Owned by: Dr. Goesel Anson and Cynthia Callendar
In business since: Research and development began in 2008. The product launched nationally Aug. 15 on QVC.
Describe your business.
JuveRest: The Sleep Wrinkle Pillow is a new multipatented beauty product engineered to help prevent and reduce sleep wrinkles caused by recurring facial compression during sleep.
Who are your customers?
Anyone who wants to preserve a youthful appearance, prevent future wrinkles and reduce facial wrinkles that already are there.
What makes your business unique?
JuveRest looks and works unlike any other pillow. And it was designed with a purpose — to allow people to sleep comfortably without compressing their faces, a known cause of facial wrinkles.
How did you come up with the idea?
As a plastic surgeon specializing in facial aesthetics, I see wrinkles every day in my practice. There are two main types of facial wrinkles: expression wrinkles and sleep wrinkles. I found that most people don’t realize some of the wrinkles on their face are sleep wrinkles.
Having found no suitable sleep wrinkle remedy for my patients, I set out to design one. The only way to avoid them is to stop sleeping on your face. However, sleep patterns are habitual, and many find it difficult to stay off their face.
That’s where JuveRest comes in. It minimizes sleep wrinkles by comfortably reducing facial contact with the pillow during sleep.
How does the pillow work exactly?
JuveRest’s three-panel structure provides back and side sleeping surfaces which minimize contact between your face and the pillow. The central panel includes variable contours to support the head and neck in a neutral, relaxed position. The two symmetrical side panels are raised, slope upward and include a stair-stepped recess to reduce facial contact while you rest on either side. The sculpted shoulder arch cradles the shoulder while ensuring proper alignment of the head, neck and back.
JuveRest has more than a dozen features that work to prevent your face from compression on any surface.
How did you get your product on QVC, and what has been the response so far?
When we had all the details of the pillow designed and manufactured, we approached the QVC buyers. That was about a year before we actually appeared on air. We were thrilled when they immediately agreed to go forward with JuveRest.
From there, the process was quite rigorous and very detailed, a progression of steps to ensure the product met the highest standards of quality and value.
The response to our initial airing last month was great, so QVC immediately reordered and invited us back for two more shows this month.
What is your business philosophy?
Work hard to provide for consumers’ well-being through education and by providing a technically innovative product that supplies an easy, effective and performance-driven “anti-aging” solution.
We do not cut corners. Every aspect of our product is well-considered. We hope our customers appreciate this, and in turn, JuveRest will be a success.
What is the best part about doing business in Las Vegas?
Aside from the tax benefits of doing business in Nevada, Las Vegas has become a large metropolitan area and offers many resources for running and supporting a startup business.
What is the hardest part about doing business in Las Vegas?
We are geographically remote from where we manufacture JuveRest, in Elkhart, Ind., and from the QVC studios in West Chester, Pa. Luckily, as a major leisure travel destination, Las Vegas has great flight accessibility.
What obstacles has your business overcome?
We haven’t met any obstacle we couldn’t surmount, but there certainly have been times when it felt like we were stuck. We just kept pushing forward.
One example: We spent more than a year trying to get the pillow out of its mold with our first manufacturer, without tearing it in the process. We tried dozens of polyurethane formulations and mold alterations, but nothing worked. They told us it couldn’t be done, and we needed to change the shape of the pillow.
We didn’t listen. Instead, we started from scratch with a second manufacturer.
In the meantime, all our other work had to move forward. So we were developing a business around a product that our manufacturer said they couldn’t make.
After another year of trial and error, lo and behold, our manufacturer finally got it right! It was only then that we could move to launch.
How can Nevada improve its business climate?
We should start with the basics: our schools. We are strong advocates for education as the foundation for improving quality of life.
By improving the performance of our public schools, we will enhance opportunities to attract new business and enterprise to the state. Quality of life is paramount to getting people and business to move here.
What have you learned from the recession?
We learned that in tough financial times, people are much more discerning about how their dollars are spent. If you provide a superior product or service that provides value by helping people feel good about themselves and their health, small luxuries can be worthwhile investments.
Also, doing whatever it takes to maintain quality and service standards through the hard times can keep your business intact until financial times improve, which they always have historically.