I originally posted this on Reddit, and it got a lot of positive feedback. I had a lot of people message me separately saying how much this post helped them take the next step in fulfilling their dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.
Although it doesn’t necessary deal with men’s grooming, the deeper message is of grit, inspiration, and reaching goals. So, I thought I’d share it. Who knows, maybe it will help you too.
This is a long one, sorry:
I have been a longtime “lurker” on this sub. And although I haven’t commented…ever, I know I can equate it to one thing, fear and rejection.
I was afraid that what I would say would be incorrect. I had doubt and lacked self-confidence in myself. Plus, if I can’t “walk the walk” or “talk the talk”, how can I hypocritically tell anyone else to do it?
Two years ago, to the month, I had an idea for a business and a first product. I wanted to start a men’s grooming company, but I didn’t want my first product to be a traditional beard oil, like everyone else seemed to be doing.
Instead, I wanted my first men’s product to be a women’s product.
I chose a women’s product that I was passionate about and one that I use every day, CC Cream. You see, I have struggled with moderate to severe acne throughout my teenage and young adult years. At one point, it got so bad in college that a dermatologist recommended Accutane, a volatile oral acne medication.
My complexion has since improved, due to a proper cleansing, exfoliating and moisturizing routine, but years of cystic acne has left me with an embarrassing, uneven, red, blotchy skin tone.
CC Cream is simply a tinted moisturizer with SPF that evens skin tone and lightly camouflages imperfections. Needless to say, it has greatly improved my self-confidence. The only problem? It is only marketed toward females, and I believe men should have access to the same confidence boosting products without feeling embarrassed about using things only made for women.
So, I decided to start a business, and I began to learn.
I learned about FDA requirements, formulas, ingredients, and how to find manufacturers.
I learned how to have products shipped, and I learned how to negotiate.
I learned how to start a blog on WordPress, Strictly Manology (you don’t need to visit if you don’t want), where I have made it my relentless goal to provide the best articles on men’s grooming possible.
I learned Adobe Illustrator, and designed the package, logo, and all marketing materials myself.
I learned how to take product photos using a homemade light box and cheap desk lamps from WalMart.
I even learned basic HTML to write my product description on Amazon.
At times, it seemed like I was moving at a snail’s pace. I had to read one more book, listen to one more podcast, or take one more class on Udemy.
In all honesty, there were periods where I was afraid to keep pushing forward. If I quit at any one point, my product couldn’t be rejected by anyone, preserving my fragile ego.
But, I didn’t quit.
I kept pushing, proceeding forward, even when I got scared that everything I was doing was going to fail. Well, I just made my first sale, receiving $11!
Although $11 is menial monetarily, and although I’m not an entrepreneurial “guru”, making 10’s of thousands per month, this $11 on this first sale means so much to me, and I am so thankful. It symbolizes 2 years of relentless hard work. It contradicts my self-doubt, and it reaffirms my goal to foster confidence in men by challenging the dogmatic views of traditional grooming products.
Although fear and rejection have been a part of me and this business since day one, and although I have been moving slowly at times, I have been moving. And I believe moving is what counts in the long journey of entrepreneurism.
For those in a similar situation, I can tell you that the fear will never go away, and it’s okay to move slowly, as long as you keep moving. Look fear straight in the face, put your head down and grind through it.
At times, entrepreneurship is a long, lonely, hard process, with a lot of bumps along the way.
Acknowledge your fear, read your goals daily, push through adversity and believe in yourself.
I truly believe anyone can meet their goals, as long as they have the grit to keep going when self-doubt creeps in.
Thank you to everyone on this sub for your wealth of information. Sorry for not commenting in the past. I hope this post makes up for it and gives anyone hesitantly thinking about starting a business extra reinforcement for making the plunge.
You can do it, and don’t let anything or anyone stop you.
Thanks for reading!
-Chris