From a Life-Altering Accident to a Global Skincare Empire with Nicolas Travis

0:02John Lee Dumas:Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today we'll be breaking down from a life-altering accident to a global skincare empire. To drop these value bombs, I brought Nicolas Travis into EO Fire Studios. Nicolas is the founder of Allies of Skin, a globally recognized brand known for its high-performance clinical formulas. After surviving a traumatic accident and multiple surgeries. He was inspired to create results-driven skincare that supports healing and confidence. Launched in 2016 and now available in 36 countries, Allies of Skin empowers people to feel fearless in their own skin.

0:41John Lee Dumas:And we talk about trauma to transformation, healing into a science-first brand, building for a decade, not a moment, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Nicholas and our sponsors. If you're an entrepreneur, you probably know the feeling. Non-stop meetings, constant conversations, and too much information to keep track of. That's why I've been using Plod, an AI-powered wearable that helps capture meetings, discussions, and key details throughout the day so nothing important slips through the cracks. Plod, the world's number one AI note-taking brand. Check out plod.ai.eof and use code EOF for 10 % off.

1:17John Lee Dumas:If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support. Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 15-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com. Highlevelfire.com. Nicholas, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? Hi, I'm Nicholas Travis, founder of Allies Skin. And for me personally, I've learned that it's less about the profitability or how much revenue you bring in, but rather through my healing journey, I've learned that in order for me to be successful, I know that I just have to be the most radiant expression of love in this world.

2:16And that means that everything that I do from the products I create to the people that I hire around me to the way I show up to my customers has to be led by love. Because once you make love the bottom line and once you start seeing your job as a ministry, the numbers will fall into place. the revenue target to fall into place, the smashing your goals will fall into place. So it really, for me, starts with love.

2:45John Lee Dumas:Well, Nicholas, I talk to a lot of people and Fire Nation, radiance is definitely a word I would utilize to explain exactly how Nicholas comes across energy wise. And I know that you can listen and hear that as well. So that's why the power of podcasting is really coming through here. As we talk about a life altering accident to a global skincare empire. And I want to talk about that trauma to transformation because you survived a life altering accident and experienced facial necrosis. How did that reshape not only your relationship with skin, but your entire philosophy around building a business?

3:24You know, it really started when I was 19, where I had a really severe accident where I basically smashed my face and I needed to have reconstructive surgery. And I picked what I thought was a good surgeon, but he ended up butchering my face. So I had multiple infections. I had necrosis where the infection was eating the flesh of my skin or my face. And so I had holes in my face. It was after six botched surgeries and a failed suicide attempt that I sort of really needed to see a therapist. And my therapist said, okay, let's assume you have to be here. Let's make a list of all the things you want to accomplish by the time you're 30.

4:01What does that list look like? And it was then that I realized, you know, if I was hating myself every day, crawling out on my skin every day, then maybe other people would. If I could somehow channel that pain and it just so happened that my background is in biomedical and pharmaceutical science. So I create every single thing from scratch. And it was during the times of infections and necrosis that I discovered regenerative active ingredients like epidermal growth factors and copper tripeptide that we now bottle in our best-selling serums. And that's kind of how everything started. But, you know, my relationship with my skin, because I also grew up with, you know, in poverty and with a really abusive father.

4:46And when you start, when you're abused from a really young age, you start to think that there's something wrong with you, which is why you're not loved. so with all my experiences I developed body dysmorphia and I realized up until a few years ago that so much of what I was doing was actually self-harm masquerading as self-care I'll give you an example so it's like I would look in the mirror because of my body dysmorphia and I'd be like I don't like how my skin looks or I don't like how my pores look and then I will go try to do everything under the sun like lasers, chemical peels and then I would just really disrupt the barrier, I would disrupt the barrier.

5:25And then I would be like, well, there you go. You have a problem. So you have a problem now you have to fix, even though there was no problem to begin with. And so that was really kind of a relation, a toxic relationship I had to go, you know, heal from. Um, but now that I'm on the, you know, the end of it, I see myself a little bit differently and my entire philosophy around really building a business is that I really just have to serve. And it's about not just serving the investors, which we have, but also really figuring out if I, because I came from nothing, I just assume that nobody has the budget to spend$1 ,000 on a full routine.

6:12So how do I create the most efficacious product? Even if all you could afford from my brand, Alyssa Skin, it's just one product. And that's the way that we build it. And the business has to serve. And that's the philosophy. I'm so honored to be able to just serve.

6:34John Lee Dumas:And that's so powerful. And that kind of makes me want to shift into talking about healing into a science first brand because your personal healing journey, Nicholas, I mean, it evolved into this science first skincare brand. So I want to know what you understand about product market fits that others who let's just say we're chasing trends completely missed. It goes back to what I discovered during the times of facial infections and necrosis. And I found products or active ingredients like epidermal growth factors that people or dermatologists were using in office, in hospitals to help with wound healing.

7:15And I just thought, you know, back in the day when I was 19, so that's probably like 19 years ago, that wasn't something that people were really talking about. It's either you know or you don't. and so when I found a way to kind of like bottle that up into a serum it took me kind of five years because we create everything from scratch and took me five years to kind of create a formula that I could be really proud of that was like stable and because with allies the skin we pack as much as possible we make everything super concentrated which is why you you you see the results that you see and so it was never about following trends it was never about like hey hey, this is really popping up on SEO right now.

7:58Let's create a range around it. It was more of what I kind of felt as a consumer was like missing in the market and what I felt as somebody who truly suffered from problematic skin and I had a lot of scars that I needed to heal what products that I wanted to use for myself and wanted to use over and over again. And so I just doubled down on that And it was actually really challenging in the beginning because I remember in 2016, when I started, I would go into buyer meetings and they would be, oh, you're from Singapore. I didn't know you had beauty brands. I don't know of your airline or your airport or, you know, that airline or your airline.

8:40And, you know, that casino that shaped like a surfboard, that famous one. And then like nobody will want to stalk us. And when they were like, what is your rollout plan like? like what is your new innovation strategy and as i was talking about like like back in the day peptides weren't as big as they were then and then you know i was talking about the microbiome of the skin i was talking about wound healing and copper tripeptide and growth factors they were like huh and then and so they didn't really get us because i think back in the day it was just like vitamin c it's really hot um and all of that and so nobody got us but i just doubled down on that and we launched our growth factor serum in 2023 and we were kind of like one of the first and it's been our number one bestseller for a reason we sold out 11 times and the last time we sold out we had like you know over like you know 10 ,000 wait lists so I think that was the moment where I thought okay you know what like even if people don't get it at this stage it's okay so as long as i you know truly truly believe that it's the best product that i've i've created and if we look at the way people are starting to biohack right now i'm sure you've heard of it oh yeah um people are injecting you know jhkcu which is again copper tripeptide right so we launched our copper tripeptide here in 2024 and it is our second bestseller so it's it's and people are like oh my god how did you know about this and i'm like i've been doing this since I was like 19 though, you know, like I was biohacking before people were talking about biohacking because I had so much to heal.

10:20Um, so yeah, I think it paid off.

10:23John Lee Dumas:I think it paid off too. And fire nation, you can see it in the product itself. I mean, I was, you know, lucky enough to get a lot of this product shipped to me before this interview. So I could test it out. And I was actually talking with both Nicholas and Fallon before the interview of like, this is great stuff. I mean, like right now I have it on my nightstand and literally for the past five nights, my wife's just been like, can you pass that over? And I'm like, um, no, like this is mine. Get your own. Like, let's go here. I need this to last for me. So fire nation, like when you find something special and you find the meaning behind it, things get powerful.

10:56John Lee Dumas:So we're going to be talking about building for a decade, not a moment, what it actually means to be an ally and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. If you've ever tried to secure a traditional bank loan for your business, then you know the process is slow, complicated, and it rarely moves at the speed you need. And between increasingly strict lending requirements and a growing number of obstacles, you're often stuck waiting right when you need capital now. That's why I want to tell you about Revenued. Revenued is built for small business owners who need fast, flexible access to working capital without relying on your personal credit score.

11:29John Lee Dumas:Instead, they look at your actual business revenue. with the Revenued Flex line. You can access funds in as little as one business day. And as you pay it back, your available capital replenishes so it's there when you need it. Now, this isn't your traditional bank loan. It's designed to flex with your business. And that's exactly why over 10 ,000 business owners are using Revenued to keep things moving. There's a reason Revenued is rated excellent on Trustpilot with a thousand five-star reviews. Give your business the flexibility to handle whatever comes next. Apply now at revenued.com slash fire.

11:59John Lee Dumas:That's revenued with a D dot com slash fire. Apply today and be ready for whatever comes next. One thing I've realized over the years interviewing more than 5 ,000 entrepreneurs is this. Some of the best ideas disappear fast. A conversation ends, a meeting wraps up, you're walking between appointments, and suddenly the key insight is gone. That's why I've been using Plod. Plod creates AI-powered wearable devices that help capture, organize, and retrieve important of conversations and ideas in real life, not just virtual meetings. I've especially liked how frictionless it feels. Instead of constantly typing notes or pulling out my phone, I can stay fully present in the conversation while Plot handles the capture side in the background.

12:40John Lee Dumas:Their Note Pro is great for discussions, meeting interviews, and deeper work sessions. While the Notes Pin S is perfect if you want hands-free capture throughout the day, honestly, it's one of those tools that quietly removes mental overload and helps you focus on what actually matters, the conversation itself. Check out plaud.ai.iof. That's P-L-A-U-D.ai.iof and use code EOF for 10 % off. Fire Nation, if you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. That is why High Level is Entrepreneur on Fire's featured partner. High Level gives you a website builder and hosting, funnels and landing pages, email marketing, appointment scheduling, payment processing, course and membership hosting, and so much more.

13:23John Lee Dumas:everything you need to succeed all under one roof no duct tape no juggling five platforms just one clean system for your business and their award-winning 24-7 support has your back when you need it most when you sign up at high level fire.com you also get my exclusive bonus stack a 30-day free trial a private 15-minute call with me jld access to my weekly live office hours a digital copy of my book the common path to uncommon success my 50 days to something execution roadmap and more. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Nicholas, we're back. And I want to talk about building for a decade, not just a moment, because as you approach 10 years of allies of skin, congratulations, by the way, what early decisions ensured the brands would outlast the hype cycles and actually scale globally instead of just becoming one of those short lived trends?

14:18For me, I was never, thankfully, I was never about chasing what the hottest thing was. Because, you know, creating my, having my own skincare line was, oh, I believe is my divine assignment. And it's deeper than just, you know, wanting to make a quick buck for me. And again, there's nothing wrong with that. But this is truly, I see my skincare line as a way in which I contribute to the healing of the world. So this means that everything that I do and everything that I create from the formulations, the way we deal with, we talk to customers from sort of the brand partnerships we have, have to be really intentional and get us closer to helping people.

15:07people. And so if we think about, you know, the like skin longevity, for example, or like the biohacking, you know, trend that's really, really happening right now, we were always, I was always told that I was always ahead of the time. And it's not because, you know, I was just trying to do, you know, things that were like very, very interesting. But I know there are certain active ingredients that just work better on certain modalities. So there are certain ingredients that you want to use when you have hyperpigmentation there's certain actives that you want to use when you have like rosacea there's certain active ingredients that you want to use when you want to use wound healing and i just thought why not just really focus on that and really double down on that and you know cut out all the noise um and cut out all you know that whole idea of creating something and then it it being really really hot for two years and then after that it fades like so for me i really double down on creating the best formulations ever so sometimes my r &d process takes about three to five years and i think that that has paid off um my decision to just really go in on making sure that the product is right and i can tell you as a brand if you followed the brand for like 10 years we've had our of failed we had failed packaging we had terrible packaging in the beginning, we had a lot of inconsistencies when it comes to the brand.

16:36But all of that doesn't matter because when you have the right group, people come back for more because they're like, actually, I don't care what you, how you bottle it. Like it works. So I'm going to want to continue to apply that on my skin. And I'm really grateful that that was that decision that truly, truly helped the brand because whatever that can go wrong externally or superficially with the brand, as long as the product gives people the results they're looking for, they will always want to buy that.

17:03John Lee Dumas:Now, I want to talk about what it means to be an ally, because when I first heard the name, I'm like, oh, he crushed it when it comes to branding. I mean, that is a fantastic name because the word ally, I mean, is powerful. But what does it truly mean to build a company around that word? And how does that philosophy show up in your leadership style and in your partnerships? That word came to me when I was brushing my teeth, honestly, and I've always found the word to be, as you said, really, really powerful because I don't think anybody can go through life without having people who have their backs and it truly takes a village to succeed and so I always say that I aspire to hold a space for the brilliance of others and because of my personal story and my personal journey and how I you know came to work to the stage today I want to show that it can be done I want to show that you could come from nothing have the odds stack against you, but still build something really incredible.

18:03And you could be really proud of yourself. And I think hope is a really powerful thing, especially as we live in a world where it is really, really lonely. And to be able to feel like you're part of something bigger than you and to feel like you're not alone. Because when you have acne, for example, when you have scars, you often feel like, you know, if you compare yourself with the people you see on social media or Instagram or TikTok, you kind of feel less than. And so for me, it's really about just creating this safe space for people. And that's the way that I lead. And I am a big energetic person.

18:45So it's about having, you know, when I hire, the first of all, one of the first things I like to ask is like, what is your non-negotiables? And then I also like to ask, what is your love language? And then we go from there. Because that's the way that I feel like it's my job as a leader to bring the best and the most to get the most out of everybody that works for me. And to also create a space where everybody feels like they can thrive and everybody feels like they're coming home. And, you know, our partnership, we have an incredible partnership with a brilliant, brilliant organization called Face Forward.

19:22And they do life-changing work. So it's a nonprofit that's based out of LA and they help support and rehabilitate survivors of domestic violence. And it's usually women. It's usually women who, for example, when they try to leave their partners, get splashed with acid or whose ex-husbands set them on fire. And so they lose their face. They have third degree burns all over their body. And they go to the safe house and this incredible organization, Face Forward, pairs them with Beverly Hills plastic surgeons that do real reconstructive work. And then we come in and we take care of the positive care.

20:09So we use our growth factors formulations. We use our copula tributary formulations to really help them recover their skin. and so this is something that's really near and dear to my heart because again it's always been about the skin for me and one of the one of the things that have shaped the person I am today was happened to me when I was nine I grew up with a really abusive father and we had to ask for permission before we could do anything and when I was nine I forgot to ask his permission to eat and I was eating toast and he threw a fit and he spread butter over my hands and put it over an open flame.

20:50So I was burned for eating. And I remember not knowing anything, but I remember I was kind of mixing like, like lotions and cause you know, to kind of heal, heal my burn, uh, burn wounds. And I, cause I still had to go to school. And I think it's a full circle moment for me that I now get to help people who have been burned and destroyed, um, externally.

21:12John Lee Dumas:Wow. What a powerful story. And let's take it home with telling Fire Nation about the power of patience versus acceleration, because again, you've been building for a decade. So how do you know, Nicholas, when to stay patient and just let compounding do its work? And when it's time to aggressively accelerate growth? You know, that's a really great question because I actually don't think I'm a patient person. And I think that's one of my life lessons. I'm at a stage right now where because of the spiritual work that I've done, you know, my biggest thing is like, Jesus, take the wheel. And I just know that every day I try to know the joy of full surrender.

21:56And for me, it's about working backwards. So if let's say I have a target of$100 million and 25 % EBIT, then my job becomes to figure out, okay, what are the new product developments that I need to launch that's going to get me closer to that 100 million number or exceed the 100 million number? What are the relationships that I need to have with, you know, say Hollywood or celebrity makeup artists and facialists that will help me get the buzz and the, you know, industry kind of cheddar that will help me sell more products like what are the relationships i need to have with my retailers about their marketing plans that will help me get more eyeballs so this is where i this is where when it especially when it comes to the work that we do because you know i always look at sort of like marketing or brand building as sort of like building a pyramid so for us it's like the the base of the pyramid as a clinical skincare brand it's all about credibility so it's about your clinical trials, it's about working with, you know, dermatologists to really explain what are growth factors, what are copper tripeptides, what are peptides.

23:08And then the mid of the pyramid is where you get the celebrity makeup artists and the celebrity estheticians, the ones with the connections to the celebrities. And then on the top of the pyramid, you get like that, the celebrities that will bring in a lot of eyeballs. But if you don't build that foundation of credibility, then you're going to, if you just spend all your money and effort on trying to secure a big name celebrity, it's just going to bounce. They're not going to be sticky because they're going to get a lot of eyeballs. They're going to look and be like, yeah, I'm not sure if this is going to work for me.

23:40And then you're just going to get a high bounce rate. So for me, that's the way that we've kind of built it. And I have to be patient when it comes to planting seeds. And I think it's so important as an entrepreneur to really, really plant seeds. it's like putting yourself in the right place, talking to the right people, kind of like, you know, what we call manifestation, right? It's about like, if there's a celebrity I want, if there's somebody I want to know, I just tell the universe, hey, deliver me to this person. And then I see what comes back to me because it's like, maybe I find a friend who knows a friend, who knows a friend.

24:13And then I find myself at a dinner next to it. And it's been happening. I mean, my dreams are starting to chase me. So it's been wonderful, but I'm always aggressive when it comes or accelerating growth because I think I played small for a really, really long time. And throughout my, through my healing journey, I've discovered that, you know, the biggest message was to remember my divinity. And if we're all created to be like God, then why are we playing small?

24:40John Lee Dumas:Nicholas, I'd like to end there, but I just want a couple more things from you because man, that was powerful. What I want is of everything we've talked about today, what would be the one short and concise message you would want to give to Fire Nation? Let's go for one sentence. And then what is your call to action for our listeners today that want to connect with you, that want to connect with your company? So I would say the one thing that I've truly learned is just to really know the power of your scars. I've had to shrink because of what I went through. I find myself sometimes in these, you know, meeting heroes in the business space that I really look up to admire, you know, CEO of billion dollar businesses.

25:24And then I just, back in the day, I would shrink because I'm like, oh my God, I'm not good enough. But then I realized as I heal that there's so much power in your scars and my scars have gotten me to this space where I can be next to these CEOs. And when you realize the power of your scars and the power of your stories and just know that you do have something to offer, otherwise you won't be given this opportunity. And when you can tap into that, it becomes really, really powerful. That's when you turn adversity into your own personal power. And to reach out to me, I can be found on Instagram.

26:00It's nicholas.allies. And you can also find us on Instagram at allies of skin. So you can find me there.

26:08John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with NT and JLD today. So keep up the heat. and for links to everything that we've talked about, visit eofire.com, type Nicholas in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. Nicholas, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you so much, John. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Nicholas for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, are you an entrepreneur on fire who's looking to share your amazing message with the world?

26:44John Lee Dumas:If yes, we are now accepting applications for EO Fire. So to learn more about becoming a guest, visit EOFire.com slash guest and I'll catch you there or on the flip side. If you're an entrepreneur, you probably know the feeling. Non-stop meetings, constant conversations and too much information to keep track of. That's why I've been using Plod, an AI powered wearable that helps capture meetings, discussions and key details throughout the day. So nothing important slips through the cracks. Plod, the world's number one AI note-taking brand. Check out Plod.ai slash EOF and use code EOF for 10 % off.