5. Banish Skincare Founder Daisy Jing: From YouTube to Successful Female Entrepreneur

The Her.CEO Entrepreneur Podcast: Learn to Grow Your Business & Make Money

Daisy Jing, Founder Banish Skincare

Daisy Jing is the Founder of Banish. She launched her skincare company from her own kitchen and used her platform as an influencer to start making sales, which was not even her goal at first. Once she realized how interested her YouTube followers were in her new products and skincare routine, she got more serious about manufacturing and selling, and created her company Banish. Her YouTube channel now has over 70 million views, and she has a thriving company Banish that has been around for over 6 years. Daisy Jing founded Banish to solve her own skin problems, and ended up sharing her solution with many others in the company she created. In this episode Daisy shares valuable business and manufacturing tips, as well as her own business, marketing and life mindset tips that can inspire you to take action on your own ideas. Watch Daisy and Stacy talk about Daisy's business story and tips: (this is a full video episode, intro video, Zoom conversation video, so let me know in the comments or via email if I should keep doing full video formats or if audio-only is OK as well) [embed] https://youtu.be/TtHSAD8c_hA [/embed] Daisy Jing 0:00 I think the reason why actually most businesses don't remain in business is because they solve something that nobody needs solving. Stacy Caprio 0:08 Hi, and welcome to the Hurst SEO podcast with Stacy Caprio. The best advice comes not from your critics, but from those who are already where you want to be.

Daisy Jing

Stacy Caprio 0:21 Listen along with Stacy each week to learn from those who have already built their dreams so you can learn how to build your own. In this episode, we talk to Daisy founder of banish. Daisy was actually the number one person I wanted to have on my podcast when I was conceptualizing starting it. So I was so happy when she jumped at the chance to come on. I had seen her products online and heard her on several business podcasts. And her story is so inspiring to me. Daisy is one of those people who just gets how to start and run a business, she's able to break down complex steps into simple ones. And listening to her talk about her own business is so inspiring. Because it makes you feel like you could also easily break down the steps and start your own. She's also one of the nicest people I've ever met. So I wasn't surprised to learn that she's also from Minnesota, which is where I grew up, and where the nicest people I've ever met live. like to hand in the previous episode, Daisy started her multimillion dollar company to solve her own problem. And then once realizing how her solution could help others, she turned it into an incredibly successful business that has been thriving in its own unique niche for years. If you're looking to start or grow any type of business, you'll love this episode. Daisy has also developed her own products in house and has gone through many testing iteration. And she talks about that, including her product development tips, her sales tips, and how she views business and life and mindset in general. So it's a great episode for anyone interested in starting a business or improving their life mindset. So let's dive right in and hear what Daisy has to say. Hi, Daisy, thank you so much for coming on. I'm so excited to talk to you. And I was hoping we could start with you just going kind of through your background and why you started banished in the first place. Daisy Jing 2:27 Yeah, thank you so much, Stacy for having me on. So my background, I have had acne for forever started at a really young age when I was nine years old. And it just got progressively worse. And it got so bad that, you know, my skin would just start to bleed because the pimples would pop everywhere. And I just go to school and my face was all bloody. And it really affected my self esteem, self confidence, I joke that like people knew me more by the name, pizza face. And by my actual name being the determined person I've always been I wanted to find a solution for my skin. And I tried everything out there, a lot of acne sufferers did and nothing would seem to work in fact, it would actually dry out my skin and make it even worse. And then there was always the promise that it would get better but it just never got better. And I was just trying so many different things. And we went to so many different doctors and everything. And yeah, I just fell in this despair because i've you know had acne for 10 plus years and nothing seemed to work and I kept spending money and I kept like bleaching my skin I kept doing everything to get rid of it. So I documented my struggle on my YouTube channel, which is still there today. It's tasers 89 if you look at some of the older videos, so you can see they asked me through my YouTube channel, I was able to kind of get out of my depression because it gave me a safe space to talk about my journey of hacking and I developed a small but loyal following of people who like to see you know, the real story of someone with acne, I review products etc etc. And then started using more natural ingredients and I became a very, very big stickler for research on different ingredients. So I would go through the skincare labels and just you know pour over medical journals and just like ingredients and stuff like that and really do a lot of research in skincare products and I realized that I was allergic and I would break out towards many of the most popular skincare ingredients. So I eliminated that for my skin I would you know use my own skincare or you know, go to Whole Foods or an herbal food store and just make my own skincare. My skin actually for the first time started to get better, not worse. I was like huh, I'm onto something here. And then I did micro needling which back in 2011 2012 like nobody knew what it was it was super not popular. I was recommended it by a dermatologist, plastic surgeon friend who told me about it. And then I applied vitamin C on top of it and then people need to change I started noticing my skin and they actually asked for my acne scars, like, they're like what happened to your acne scars will happen to her acne like it's all gone. And I didn't really realize it was that like canoodling with the vitamin C. But it actually worked really well for my skin. And then people wanted to try whatever it is I was using. And so that's how banished started. So it was basically me trying to solve my own problem. And other people noticed and they wanted to buy whatever it is I was using. And that's how it started back in 2013. Stacy Caprio 5:35 I love that how organic it was and how you are literally trying to solve your own issue. I think one of the things that drew me to you and your company was actually how vulnerable you were, I'm thinking starting that company, and even in something I think most people are scared to even just talk about. But so many people need your product and have really benefited from it. I was just wondering if you think there's a difference between trying to help people and then selling your product and how you go about both of those things. Daisy Jing 6:10 I don't think they're mutually exclusive. I think for any business to be successful, you have to solve a problem that people have. I think the reason why actually most businesses don't remain in business is because they solve something that nobody needs solving, right? So your focus should always be to help people to solve your customers pain point. And then the money will flow after. So I think it's really important that you're always focusing on helping people first and foremost. Because if you're not helping people, then no one's gonna buy what it is you're offering.

Idea to Product

Stacy Caprio 6:44 Yeah, I agree. And you had just talked about how you had pored over medical journals, and we're looking for all the ingredients. So I was wondering, how did you start formulating the products and kind of move from just finding the best ingredients to combine them to getting them professionally made and how that progressed, Daisy Jing 7:07 I would buy actually the raw component of the ingredient, you can buy them from different manufacturers of skincare labs and stuff like that, then you can also go to specialty health food stores and get just the ingredient yourself. I did that and I would put it you know, just it was by myself like I was just putting it in glycerin or water bass and then putting it on my skin but I actually saw really great results. And then the next step is to find a, you know, chemist or a formulator or contract manufacturer, and you can tell them like what you want in your products. And then they can make it for you. But because I kind of did that trial and error thing myself without you know, even thinking it was going to be a business. I think that was really important because I didn't let my perfectionism get the worst to me. It was just like, Oh, I want to solve something for myself. And then just taking it a step further and scaling that.

How to Manufacture Your Own Product

Stacy Caprio 7:58 Awesome. Yeah, I love that products you sent I have them kind of on display here. Oh, great. Actually, yeah, they look I love like your packaging, and they're so easy to hold the the way that the consistency and everything. It just seems like you did really put a lot of thought and effort into that thinking kind of top. has it taken a lot of iterations to get to where they are today or was it pretty quick to get to the Oh, Daisy Jing 8:24 yeah, so I think you know the answer to that it took a long time. I can't even tell you stories. We were dropping the jars for outside on the sidewalk to see like which jars which shatter because there are certain like jar manufacturers they they don't use virgin glass, they use recycled glass and that is more prone to shattering or like why no wire jar shattering you know, like when they're when they're being filled and stuff. I mean, there's all these tiny little details you have to think of right? Even like the font and making sure that the the screen printing on the jar, like doesn't smear or fade or whatnot. You know what machines to fill the products with? Yeah, there was just a lot of different iterations. So it's definitely not an overnight success took I would say, you know, a few years to get to where we are now. Stacy Caprio 9:19 Wow. I love that. And your website is so focused on junkie and full of products, which I think is really great. So it doesn't give people who are searching parallel paralysis. Yeah. When they're trying to purchase something. I was wondering, have you ever tried offering bigger product sizes? Have people ever been interested in that? Or is there a reason you just have smaller sizes across the board? Daisy Jing 9:47 The first part, we don't offer too many products because for me personally, the 10 step you know skincare routine doesn't work for me makes me break out because my skin super sensitive. I just go for the basics. What works What doesn't nothing extra? So we have very limited selection, because we've done a lot of research and testing of, you know, the best products. And then the second part to your question. I'm sorry, what was the second part? Stacy Caprio 10:15 Oh, I think I was just curious if there's tested reason why you offer the smaller sizes, smaller sizes, about doing like a bulk, or like a larger size of someone is on like a long term plan or so yeah. Daisy Jing 10:27 So the reason why we have smaller sizes is that our products are freshly made in small batches. So they actually would, it lasts longer than maybe six months, depending how you store them. So even if we gave you a bigger size, it probably wouldn't be possible to use it up in that time period over six months. And personally, for me, per banish just a little product goes a long way, you'll read our new ingredient list, we don't use too many fillers or extra ingredients, we just have kind of the pure ingredients in there. So you don't need too much product. You know, a lot of skincare companies and brands, they'll add a lot of filler like just things I take up the volume of the product, but doesn't really do much. And I just felt like it was unnecessary. I mean, why pay more for postage? And, you know, for the jar sizes and all that? A little goes a long way?

Perfectionism & Business Mindset

Stacy Caprio 11:16 Yeah, yeah, with but because you use the fresh ingredients. So the expiration dates and everything. So something I thought was really interesting in your story is how you balance the need for perfectionism versus accepting yourself as it in both skin and business. And I was wondering if you could go into more detail there. Daisy Jing 11:36 Yeah, that's a really great question, Stacy. Yeah, that's a really deep question. But I feel like I could go for a while on that one. Yeah, no, that's really like I actually was like, Huh, that's a really great question. So perfectionism is, it gets you to a certain point, but it won't get you out of that box. I think. When you're younger, you're getting A's in school, and you have that 4.0 and you have those great test scores. And, you know, you have all those boxes checked, like that works really well for you in school, and maybe for college. But in the real world, especially when you're starting a business, you can't be a perfectionist, you're gonna go out of business, because business is so messy, chaotic, and it's every day is like this hustle, right? for survival and for growing. And so you have to learn to let things go and not be a perfectionist, and really kind of focus on what matters. Especially when you're starting out from a young, especially when you're just starting out your business. Since we've been around for over seven years, we can be a perfectionist, right? And like really focus in and really hone down but in the beginning, you just have to like do it and realize that Yeah, you might fail. Yeah, this might not work out. Yeah, you might lose like $50,000, or, you know, $100,000 on something, but you just have to go for it and take that risk. perfectionism has helped me so much, but it also has hindered me, the reason why I was so obsessed with my skin was because I was a perfectionist. And I think that if I wasn't a perfectionist, I wouldn't have spent so many years trying to fix my skin. So many products and so much money spent on my skin, but there is a silver lining because that perfectionism in me, got me to find a better solution, the best solution which is banish. But you cannot be a perfectionist if you want to succeed in life and be happy because there's always more more more that you can do. And I think now having the business for seven years and now having my skin clear up, I have noticed that if you're always trying trying to aim for that picture where the life or that perfect life or you know, checking all the boxes and whatever it is that you're doing. It's it's not a very fulfilling life. So I always lean into authenticity, rather than perfectionism. If you're always trying to think of Am I checking all these boxes? And by being perfect all the time? That is not the way to live your life or you know, run your business. Stacy Caprio 14:08 I agree so much. Thank you. Yeah, that's it's such a hard line. I think so many business owners are perfectionist and it's helped us start businesses and everything, but at some point, it's actually better to let go of all the details and just iterate more quickly and everything but I think there is a fine line. I was wondering, do you think as social media has grown in popularity, have you found customers been more obsessed with perfection? And filters on Instagram? And do you think that has affected your business at all?

Perfectionism and Influencer Marketing

Daisy Jing 14:44 So I think what's really cool is banish we've taken the opposite approach. In social media, we actually showcase all of our warriors and customers with their acne. We never Photoshop any of the pictures or blur the skin out. We really showcase The acne, acne scars pours on people's skin. And I think that has actually helped us because people relate to us. And they appreciate that, hey, we're not promoting the standard of perfection. And we're not saying that banish is going to obliterate you know your scars and give you flawless perfect skin because no one skincare product or line can do that. But what's most important is to accept all that part of you accept and accept yourself the way you are. And then let's use good skincare products and good skincare ingredients. remind myself, okay, Daisy, are you trying to do this so that we can post it? Or are you doing this because you genuinely love this, and this is who you are. So please try to not get into that rabbit hole of portraying this perfect image on social media because none of us, none of us have that perfect image, Stacy Caprio 15:52 No matter what it seems like on the feed. Yeah, I think that's so true. None of us are perfect. And when you show that in your marketing, I think people are able to kind of see themselves in it and see that maybe it could actually help them too. So your company is really based on you kind of started from your own youtube viral video. And then you've really used a lot of micro influencers and influencers in your marketing. And I was wondering if you have any fun stories about any influencer campaigns, and any tips for people looking to start an influencer campaign?

YouTube Influencer Marketing

Daisy Jing 16:30 Any fun stories? Well, I feel like the influencers we've worked with, we've always had a long term relationship with them, which has helped, for example, Kelly Kushner, my face, sorry, we worked with her since 2016. And she was a college student, her account was pretty small. But now she's blown into this huge skin positivity influencer. And it's been so great to see the growth of our ambassadors and to keep that long term relationship with them. And we're all about authenticity and working with people on a long term basis. We're not just like, hey, we'll work with you, you know, and here you go. And then post about us, okay, but you know, we, we really want to empower not only our customers, but our influencers and our employees and our brand ambassadors, so we're all about trying to get them to be their best self as well. And in terms of tips on working with influencers, you have to realize that influencers are people at the end of the day, and I think it it's a very, very hard job, and career because I you know, I have a YouTube channel, I would say I was an influencer. And I just know how much work it takes at the end of the day, and how stressful the job is. It's truly a 24, seven, all encompassing kind of career. And so just treating influencers with that respect, and knowing how hard they work, to post content for you, I think is really important. Yeah, because it is a very, very hard, hard job. And yet, always trying to figure out how we can help our influencers to and building that long term relationship with them. And I also think the most important thing is finding influencers that fit with your values and your mission and vision. So if you're not gonna find the right kind of influencer, it doesn't matter how big they're following. It's just not gonna work out. We've had great success with influencers have 1000 followers, right? And so for us, it's not about the number of followers but it's really about do they align with our mission and values? First and foremost,

Customer Service Tips

Stacy Caprio 18:33 I think that's a great way to look at it is more of a relationship and not just a hey, here's our product, and now post a photo, because then it shows their audience that they're really serious about your product, too. And I think it gives you more credibility, but also helps them and it's kind of a win win. How do you view customer service? And is it something that you think has really helped your business long term? Daisy Jing 18:57 Yeah, customer service is so important. I mean, they are the last touch point, before someone decides to purchase the product. I think Customer service is not going away. But you have to think about how your customers are changing. We used to have, for example, live chat. And then we actually got rid of it. And we just focus on our Instagram DM, Facebook chat and stuff. We noticed that our customers, they don't like to email, email. It's just a little bit old school. So like the DMS, you know, it's all go down. So just, yeah, just focusing on where your customer is, and making it as easy as possible for them to get their question resolved. And so we've noticed that the speed of response is even more important than the quality of the response. People just want their question. responded, ASAP. We live in an instantaneous society. So we're constantly having to evolve how we communicate with our customers. Stacy Caprio 19:53 Oh, that's interesting. So do you have a team 24 seven, answering DMS, or is That? Yep. Daisy Jing 20:02 Yeah, yeah, we have, we have a team, and they're really great. A lot of them have been with us for many years, it's really important that you're focusing a lot on giving customers information, especially like micro needling was pretty new, a lot of people didn't know about it. And because our products are so different, just giving our customers the information that they need, so they can make the best choice for their skin. Stacy Caprio 20:24 And is your team. Are they on during work hours nine to five? Or is it around the clock answering? Daisy Jing 20:32 We used to have it around the clock, and then we kind of adjusted the schedule, but it's pretty much we actually measure the metrics of the response time. So that's always measured. Stacy Caprio 20:43 Awesome. Yeah, I think the customer service is important. I never thought whenever I have a question about a brand, I usually email but I think the DM it's so convenient. And when you get a quick response, it's really gratifying. That makes a lot of sense. So I was curious, are you intentional about growth right now? And what are you doing to propel that forward? Or are you just maintaining at this point?

Authenticity in Business

Daisy Jing 21:07 It goes along with the line of authenticity, or am I doing this to check boxes, there was a period where I was doing it to check box, oh, hey, we need to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow great. And I think growth is important, but you need to grow the right way. And you need to be intentional about it. And it needs to make sense for you. So for me, it's not about having the biggest billion dollar company, if it's not authentic to who I am, and who and who vanishes, right, I would much rather have it small, where we are today, if we can be authentic, and control the future than just having it be a huge brand, but almost like a sellout and just being like every other brand out there. To me, it's so important that we stick to our values and mission. And I always say like, if we have to be like everyone else, then I don't want to do it anymore. And so it's really important that we're growing in the right ways. And I think if you always stick to that authenticity, you will grow, and you will grow in the right ways. But yeah, we're not growing just to grow. And I know a lot of companies, they just try to force it. And they'll make I think that really harms your business, and you're gonna make a lot of bad business decisions, because you're forcing something when it's not completely ready yet. Mm hmm. Stacy Caprio 22:25 What would you say your strategy was during your high growth periods. And were there any really good successes or failures that stand out to you Daisy Jing 22:37 a strategy for the high growth period, it was kind of during that peak season of influencer marketing that really helped. But now influencer marketing is a whole another ballgame. And I think a lot of people are kind of tired of it. You always kind of have to pivot and kind of think about new strategies and new ways to kind of pivot it, we still do influencer marketing, but it's not like the way we used to do it before.

Following Your Intuition in Business

Stacy Caprio 23:02 Yeah, that makes sense. I was listening to a few other of your podcasts and a few times you mentioned how you stuck to your intuition, and did something against conventional wisdom. And it really helped. And it made me curious, what would was an example of one of those times. And I also want to say, I resonate with that. And I think it's a really cool thing that you do have a strong enough faith in yourself to follow your intuition and how it's really helped your company so far. Daisy Jing 23:36 Thank you. Well, I'm not perfect in that there are other things I went follow my intuition for that I probably have not. But I do think it's important to not be to really think and not be a sheep almost, and do what everyone else is doing. But one example I would say is like selling on Amazon, so we actually only sell on our website. And many people are very surprised how large of a company we are just selling on our website, because they're like, how do you do that? And everyone told me, like, you need to get an Amazon, you just want Amazon you can make like, you know, five times more revenue and blah, blah, blah. But to me, again, like I'm not after the revenue, I'm after, you know, creating a legacy and helping her customers feel most confident in their skin. So I felt like selling on Amazon wasn't going to serve that purpose. But we could focus more of the time on our website and building our brand. So, you know, I don't know what would have happened if we decided to launch Amazon. I don't know, you know, if if things would have been different or not. But you know, that's just an example of, I wanted to stick to what our purpose is, which is to make all of our customers feel confident in their skin. That's first and foremost. So something like selling on Amazon wasn't really going to help us at that point. I'm not saying it won't in the future. Maybe that is the direction we go. But at that point it wasn't, it didn't feel like the right thing to do. Stacy Caprio 25:04 Yeah, that's a great little story they're selling on Amazon, they actually take like a 15%, commission cut. And then another big thing is, your branding wouldn't be as strong and customers can't really contact you. So it wouldn't have the personal touch, right? Or like the strong branding that you guys have. So I almost think maybe that was a good decision, although it might be a good lead channel to kind of get new leads into the funnel, at some point, if you're looking for some sort of growth, but it's kind of the catch 22 there. So I think doing what you did, and you drove so much traffic via the influencer marketing. So it's probably a smart move to kind of focus on your website anyway. One thing I was wondering, when you see other people doing YouTube and Instagram marketing, do you see any mistakes that people make doing? So Daisy Jing 25:58 it's all about the authenticity, like I'm telling you, like people think, Oh, you know, influencer marketing works. Okay, we have a million dollar budget, let's send these products to these influencers, you know, and let's take them out to Tahiti and all that stuff. But if it's not coming from a genuine, authentic relationship, people can see right through that, I mean, just because, you know, you give, I don't know, like, you pay Kylie Jenner million dollars for a post. I don't know if that works or not, like, we haven't done it that's not in our budget. You know, people think, okay, it's gonna like blow up and blah, blah, blah. And it might, but it might not either. So. Yeah, I think influencer marketing is, is very different than it was five years ago. And it all has to be very authentic. You can't just get people to post about you, there really has to be a story, a relationship consistency, you know, even the influencers, like how they talk about your product, like Do they have that light in their eyes, when they talk about your product, it really makes a difference. So yeah, it's all about that authenticity.

Banish Loyalty Program

Stacy Caprio 27:02 I think a lot of the times when I've heard about people doing influencer marketing, it is like money for product, they don't focus on the relationship or actually making sure the person likes their product that probably makes all the difference in whether their recommendation really resonates. Uh huh. Do you see a lot of returning versus new customers? And do you focus more on one or the other? Daisy Jing 27:24 Right we have a lot of our sales are from returning customers, we do have a very special loyalty program. So we call our you know, our customer soldiers, right? Because having acne is a struggle. And it's a hard it's a hard thing to go live your life when you have acne every day. And then we we call our our loyalty program or banished stars program. And we have different tiers of our loyalty program from general to Captain to soldier. So we do focus a lot on loyalty, but it happens pretty naturally, like people like the product they like to experience and then they'll repurchase again, we've done a couple like freebies with the loyalty. But if people like your product, they're going to come back. So there hasn't been too much of a push on that. Stacy Caprio 28:11 Awesome, that's interesting. You have the loyalty tiers and everything we can close out with if you want to go over explain your products and why they're so good and maybe how they work scientifically, in case anyone's interested in giving them a try.

Banish Products

Daisy Jing 28:28 Our products are hand batched in Pasadena, California. So we have a team that goes in there, you know, early in the morning, they actually make the products fill the products and ship out your orders. Our business model is a little bit different in that we don't do a run of 100,000 units and fill the products the bunch of preservatives and chemicals to maintain the shelf life of the products. And this is why we don't sell in retail stores. We don't sell to Sephora, target whatever because our products are so fresh. So when you order them they will you know be shipped out the next day or the day of and then you'll get them you know a couple days later. And because our ingredients are fresh and we only use like the pure ingredients, there's really not too much negative reaction to the skin so the ingredients really can do what they're best known to do, which is his work. So the problem I had with skincare before was they just put so much into skincare, stuff that you don't need fragrance, artificial colors, the filler part and that made me break out. So because we don't have any of that that's kind of what makes Spanish different arguments are incredibly fresh. I have a video of for example, our banish oil. When you get it it's clear but if you leave it out for a few months it'll turn orange and most vitamin C serums. When you purchase them they're already orange because they already color them because they don't want you to know how long it's been sitting out there for. I could go through every single product and Bori that But that's really what makes Spanish different. And we don't use fragrance. We don't use artificial colors. We don't use synthetic dyes or mineral oils, or petroleum, sulfates or any of that stuff. And that's fine and a lot of skincare products. So you can go on our website, look at the ingredient, let's do research and see if it's something that'll work for you. Stacy Caprio 30:22 Yeah, I was reading your ingredients. And I love that they were so simple, basically a ingredient to hold it together. And then it was really active ingredients with none of the preservatives, which is so rare these days with skincare and banish it's for people. It's a general skincare as well as Yeah, on the screen, too, right? Daisy Jing 30:41 Yes, yep. So people are like, Is it only for people with acne? Well, you're getting acne because your skin isn't reacting well to something whether it's internally or externally. If you have healthy skin, and you treat it with good products, you're not going to get acne. Because I like to treat like the root cause of what's causing instead of like drying out your pimples, right. So it's a skincare product for people of all ages, all skin types. We have a older customer base, too, who loves to use our banisher for collagen production and their skin, but it is a general skincare brand, but it really helps with the acne scarring. Stacy Caprio Exactly. And I noticed the marketing materials are focused on the acne and the acne scarring currently, but it seems like it would it is skincare for all ages and all types of skin. Is that something you ever think you'll expand your marketing on? Or do you like just having the niche that you're currently in,

Banish Product Benefits

Daisy Jing 31:38 I like having the niche most of our products, for example, the Banish kit focuses on collagen production, which is how your scars will lift up and become flatter over time. collagen production is something that we will all need after 20 years old. So I think acne scars, it is nice, but I think it's something that a lot of people have a struggle with. And it's not really some thing that anyone has, or any brand has really focused on. I feel like when I had acne scars, it was more traumatic than the actual acne because it was like, Oh, no, this is forever. And then you look at the alternatives. And it was, you know, like thousands upon thousands of dollars. Oh, yeah, I'm happy with sticking with the acne scar niche, because it is something a lot of people struggle with. And mentally it really affects people more than I think a lot of other skin conditions. Stacy Caprio 32:34 Yeah, that's a great point. Awesome. Thank you so much. This was so educational. I'm sure the listeners are gonna love this and just learning how to grow their e commerce store. You could close out with how can people find you on social and just connect with you if they want to talk further? Yeah, so Daisy Jing 32:52 Our websites: Banish.com and our Instagram handle is at @banishacnescars and at @banish. And then my personal one is at @Daiserz89 Instagram and YouTube Stacy Caprio 33:03 Awesome. And that's your YouTube and your Instagram. Yep. All right, thank you so much. And yeah, see? Thank you. Yeah, Daisy was able to solve her own problem to create her successful business, just like to him. And their examples make it clear how when there is a true customer demand for something, you can turn it into a very successful business. And often that will start with you having a problem solving it, and then turning that into a business.

Solve a Problem That Actually Needs Solving

Stacy Caprio 33:40 I love Daisy's quote at the start of the episode when she said, I think the reason most businesses don't remain in business is they solve something that doesn't need solving. That's the one great part about launching on Kickstarter, like two handed in the previous episode, because it allows you to truly validate that people are willing to pay for your product before you spend money developing and launching it. And there are other ways to validate this as well. But when you have money backing people's support, you can truly see if it's something they're interested in. And it's another benefit of starting a business that fills your own personal need, because you already know that you would personally pay for it. And so you have the validation that at least one person aka you would be willing to pay for your product. The worst thing would be to pay for develop and launch something and then realize that no one actually wanted to buy it. Daisy was able to develop her very first product iterations on her own. without hiring a maker shop or a prototype developer. She was very resourceful and simply bought the raw components of her ingredients from skincare labs and specialty health food stores. And then she used them to make her first product batches to ship out to her first customers and YouTube followers. A key takeaway here is you don't always need a budget, or to launch a fundraising or Kickstarter campaign to get started, you can be thrifty and work with what you have to make your first prototypes, which is inspiring to be aware of a common theme. Among the two product based entrepreneurs we've had on so far, Daisy and to him is they both have a ton of trial and error. To talk about when they were developing their first products. Daisy talks about having to drop different jar materials on the ground to see which would shatter and which wouldn't, and about how she even had to test tons of fonts, and even different screen printing types on product jars. As well as testing, what machines would work best to fill the products with so much goes into creating a product that we as consumers don't usually think about as we all get access to the final product that has taken dozens or more iterations to get where it is before it lands in our hands. But we just assume it was always that way and that the person was just able to create it perfectly before it reached us. I love Daisy's approach to marketing and messaging for her skincare brand, where they don't use filters or try to blur anything, or make everything look perfect. Instead, they strive to show people with real imperfect skin, who are using banish to take care of and improve their skin. And this allows viewers to really trust her brand. And to relate to the products and models. I'm often skeptical when I see airbrushed skincare products faces, or even the skincare brand models using people who already have perfect skin. When it is so apparent that the model already had perfect skin before he or she started using the skincare brand. It doesn't engender a feeling of trust or making me want to buy these types of products. And Daisy's brand takes the opposite approach to show real people using their products in getting improvements without trying to promote an image of airbrushed perfection, or models who never needed any skincare to get their perfect skin, which is the exact opposite of the marketing approach that 99% of skincare and brands out there use, who usually seemed to be trying to promote an image of perfection associated with their products. I love Daisy's mindset. And I tried to draw her into a philosophical discussion about perfectionism, life and business. And she played along and made a great point that perfectionism gets you to a certain point, it helps you get A's in school, good test scores, and even do well in college. But if you stay there, you get trapped in a box. Once you get out to the real world, especially when you're branching out and starting a business. Because business is messy. And if you try to make everything perfect, you'll end up going out of business. She talks about you have to learn to accept things as they are and work with where you are in business. Business is messy, and it's chaotic. And every day there are new challenges, you're striving for growth, and you have to learn to let things go. I think her message is so spot on. That it's easy. And it's even helpful to be a perfectionist. When you are playing inside someone else's carefully laid out rulebook, such as inside of a school environment where everybody in all the teachers, they already know the answers and everything is laid out just so. So in that type of environment, you can have the perfect answers and get 100 on all your tests and be a good little perfectionist, and have that be a positive quality in that specific environment. However, when you get out into the real world, no one has all the answers like teachers did in school, there are no clearly laid out rules and boundaries. You're the one who has to set the boundaries and the goals. And when you're interacting in business, you'll encounter a lot of nose, a lot of failures, and a lot of the unknown. And if you're trying to make everything perfect, and if you're striving to only get yeses and never ask questions that you don't know the answer to or to never venture into unknown territory, such as creating your friends. Product prototype. If it's something you've never done before, then you'll be stuck. Because you'll be waiting for somebody else to set the rules to tell you what to do to give you your homework book and direct you and give you the perfect lines to color inside. I think that's why it is so hard for some people to go out on their own and start a business because they are used to having someone else hold their hand and help them do their work in a perfect simulation. Whereas when you're building a business, you're the one creating the coloring book, not the one coloring inside of the lines. So it can get messy. And Daisy's mindset is spot on where you really do have to be okay with where you are. And with everything not being perfect. When you own a business, Daisy launched banish as an influencer from her own YouTube channel. And the company was built partnering with influencers. I love her perspective on having a long term relationship with influencers, and how she tries to find smaller influencers who fit her exact brand values, her niche, and then to support them, and watch them grow with time. She's had some influencers start out really small, she saw something in them, gives them the banished products and supports them. And then has grown with them, which allows her brand to grow along with the influencer, which ends up being a better value for her brand and also a great opportunity for the influencers that she's able to partner with. So it's really creating a win win relationship with influencers. That is the best way to help your business grow over time. She talks about how important the authenticity is in the influencer marketing. And if the influencer recommendation is not coming from a genuine, authentic relationship, that how people can see right through that. Stacy 42:03 And how it's important for her to make sure that you can see the light in the influencers eyes when they talk about your product. I think this is so important and so true. Especially today with so many influencers who overdo brand promotion because they're trying to make a living. And I find my eyes glazing over on an Instagram feed when I see promoted products, because I know they're promoted. And I really don't trust that they're actually good. The only time this is different is when the person talks about how they were using the brand before they became a sponsor, or when they seem genuinely excited and in love with the brand they're talking about. And I've actually purchased some types of products from people who are genuinely excited about them, who seem to genuinely love the product. But I try to avoid products that are purely ads and that the people don't connect with. So I see exactly why it's important to find the authentic influencers when you're doing the influencer marketing. Daisy talks about how as a business owner, it is really important to think and not be a sheep and do what everyone else is doing. Something I really resonate with. In my own experience. One particular moment that really resonated with this is when I followed my gut, when every other person in my life was telling me not to was when I left my stable nine to five job to go out on my own and live with my grandma to start my own company, which was four years ago, I was breaking every societal norm doing this. And even my dad was telling me not to until I was making more on the side. When I left my corporate job, I was only making one k a month on the side from some t shirt sales, and some from the first website I had invested in. So I had to make my own decision. That was very strongly against the advice of every single person I talked to about it. But it ended up being the best thing I've ever done. I do have to say my mom and grandma were the main two people supporting my decision. And my grandma has always encouraged her kids and her grandkids aka me and the others to do what they love in life. She loves music, and grew up singing in a band and traveling on the road. And she was always wanting to follow her own heart and encourage others to do so as well. However, I do have to put the caveat here that I do not recommend anyone leave a job or start something when they don't yet have enough to live on. At the end of the day, you have to make your own decisions in every area of life. But you also have to be willing to understand and face the consequences of your decisions, no matter what they are. In business, I've also found that China follow the crowd in any type of growth technique, or production technique usually doesn't work as well, because by the time that the crowd is already talking about something, it's already there, the market is usually oversaturated. I can illustrate this with the example of by the time everyone else is talking about how great a print on demand t shirt company is, and how great the product is. And then everyone starts selling the same t shirt from the same print on demand company with slightly different designs. At the same price point. It just floods the market. And it's not successful for the majority of people at that point, because it's overcrowded. Same thing with trying to jump on the Facebook ad train, when everyone and even your non ad or tech savvy friends are talking about Facebook ads. That's the point where the market is likely oversaturated, the competition is too high, the cost is too high. I found personally that the key is to hop on the new ad platforms and even the new print on demand platforms or products. Just as an example before every single person that you know is doing that, because once every single person is doing something, it's usually not as effective, especially in terms of a competitive market, or business growth landscape. Stacy 46:47 So being the first one to hop on certain platforms, and products and techniques, etc, is usually the best way to approach that type of thing. For many reasons, I agree with Daisy that it is so important to be able to think for yourself as a business owner, and be able to listen to and follow your own intuition. Because you know, your customer base and product better than anyone, meaning you can make better decisions than an outsider can. And obviously, you can rely on statistics data as well as following your gut and analyzing the decision before you make it. But at the end of the day, you have to be able to make your own decisions. And that is what is really going to help you be able to take your business to the next level. So thank you, Daisy, I learned so much. And I hope everyone else was able to take away a few special nuggets from this interview as well. After invited Daisy on this podcast, she was so thoughtful. And she actually sent me a box of her products to try. And it was so kind. And actually perfect timing. Even though I wasn't expecting to receive anything at all, all I wanted was to really talk to her and get insight into how she built her business. And her mindset. Because I've been so inspired. I've seen her on other podcasts and learning about how she had built her business from the ground up. So the last year, I worked a corporate nine to five job, my skin actually got really bad in terms of acne, worse than it's ever been before with like large cystic bumps that I think were probably caused by stress from two personal things I was going through at the time, as well as kind of feeling stuck in my nine to five in the sense that I really wanted to be doing my own thing at this point, not from stress from the job or anything just from wanting to be able to have the freedom and be running my own business at that point, even though I wasn't quite there with my side income. So it was a little bit frustrating. And to have to be sitting in the office all day knowing that I wanted to be doing something else, as well as the personal things. So I think my emotions are kind of triggering those skin changes. And like Daisy has talked about your skin changes are usually trying to tell you something. So if your skin changes and you get more acne or something else, it's probably because you're not eating right, you're not putting the right products on your face, or you have emotional things that are triggering your skin and your hormones. So I had that really bad acne for probably a few months or even a year likely due to the hormone at that time I entered the showing in my skin and the effects of that actually stayed for years after the acne on my skin cleared up. As Daisy mentioned, the after effects of acne can often be worse reminders than the acne itself. sense they tend to last for longer if you don't do Anything to help them improve. Before the year my acne got really bad. The extent of my skincare routine was moisturizer and the occasional SPF. However, since then, like Daisy, I've researched and tried a ton of skincare products to try to even out my skin and help it get back to normal. This past year, I found a few products that have really helped my skin improve to where I feel it's almost back to normal, with copper peptides being one of my favorite new finds. One unfortunate thing from all of this is I realized how important it is to take care of your skin, even when it looks great already, because skincare makes a huge difference even on technically perfect skin because everyone ages and is affected by their environment. Anyway, I read all skincare and incidentally food ingredient lists methodically. And my opinion is that most skincare products are overpriced and don't have effective ingredients. Even some that actively damage your outer skin barrier. Even though they have temporary positive, superficial effects such as hyaluronic acid, which makes your skin appear smooth and moisturize. But it isn't actually good for your skin because it breaks down your outer barrier. Of course, I read all the ingredient labels on the products Daisy scent. And her products have such natural pure ingredients that are packed to the brim with effective ingredients that actually work. I want to preface this by saying this is not a paid ad. It's not a sponsored ad, Daisy isn't even expecting this, I just really enjoyed her products and I saw huge improvements in my skin. So I just wanted to go over kind of what I saw and what I look for in skincare because I think it's important for everyone to take care of their skin and their bodies. And this is just my experience with this particular situation. And with Daisy's products. Daisy's products are different in that they're made to work because she wanted to make them work for her own skin when she was having bad acne scarring issues. They're not made like a normal skincare product, which is one that is just made to look nice. So people will buy it in fancy packages. So a marketing team can justify high prices. And where they just try to put filler ingredients preservatives so the last longer and make products that it doesn't really matter if they make a difference because people will buy them anyway because they're not sure if they're making a difference or not. Especially if your skin is already normal, you don't really know if a product is working or not. Because you think oh well my skin looks the same. Or maybe it looks slightly better right after I put this on. So this must be working. Stacy 52:49 It's really easy to sell skincare products that aren't effective because it's it's not an easy thing for an individual person to determine if a skincare product is specifically working or not. So daisies products are made to work because she needed gentle products that would also drastically improve her sensitive skin some textural and color issues at the time. So she made sure to really research and make sure the products that she was using were actually effective and that actually had a difference in improving skin. This is why it is so important to do your own research, reading scientific journals, and studies and finding what products and active skincare ingredients actually work with skin to improve it visibly and get results. Because companies with huge marketing budgets aren't going to be doing the research to find those pure ingredients that actually work. They're going to be packaging nice products, putting preservatives so they can stay on shelves longer. And making sure that right when you put the product on there's a small superficial result and then putting the fillers in the things that don't really make a difference so they can sell these products at a higher price point. Anyway, the weeks leading up to the interview with Daisy I had been having some redness and texture issues. And right when I tried her vitamin C serum and cream, I saw my skin really brighten and the texture was smoothed out instantly. And especially as I slept overnight, her products are gentler on my skin than others I've used so it doesn't cause the redness and irritation that some effective products can also cause and I found her products to be really effective and actually helping my skin look really glowy and smooth out the imperfections. Her products are gentle they're on my skin so they don't really irritate it and I really saw great effects from using it. I've never used vitamin C based products before. And using her products made me realize how the content untreated and fresh vitamin C really does help the skin look glowy and super healthy. 55:08 Her products were really good and effective top notch skincare that I really saw give great results, especially for some of the redness and texture issues I was having. So I am planning to keep incorporating some of her products, as well as some type of vitamin C into my skincare routine. Even as my skin is getting a lot healthier and has been really glowing recently, due to some of the other products I've been using and Daisy's vitamin C based products. I'm actually really happy with where my skin is right now. And I think I can help it keep getting better and just feel healthy and glowing. I really don't take any amount of healthy skin for granted now. And really do my best to try to take care of it when I do have it. I guess that's the benefit of losing something, you tend to value it more when you have it back in any capacity, and are also then better equipped to take care of it for the future. Like Daisy says it's not worth obsessing over perfection in your skin appearance or business. And instead, it's best to appreciate where you are currently. And the things that you do have. I agree that you won't find happiness in superficial things. And even with the people who only want to be around you for superficial reasons. It's almost better to be imperfect so you can find situations and people who will want to be with you and support you. No matter what you look like, or how perfect or imperfect you are. That's my philosophical TED talk for the day. Thanks for coming, everyone. I hope you enjoyed learning about business mindset, and even some skincare advice mixed in with this episode with the founder of banish Daisy. Thank you again, Daisy for coming on. I learned so much and appreciate the way you look at business and life. Also, listeners, let me know in the comments or email [e-mail] and tell me if you prefer all video episodes, or episodes with video intros. Or if you're listening to the whole thing on a podcast app and don't care about the video. I'm deciding what to do for future episodes and I'll keep your comments in mind when I record episodes in the future. Thank you for listening to this episode of The her SEO podcast. I hope you took something away that you can implement in your own life or business. If you want to make me smile today, you can leave a five star review on the podcast player you're listening to. Thanks again for listening and feel free to shoot me an email with any questions or comments at [e-mail] that's [e-mail]. Thanks again.

Contact Daisy Jing

Website: Banish.com Instagram: Banish company handle is at @banishacnescars and at @banish. Her personal one is at @Daiserz89 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/daiserz89