623: $500K in Debt, 5 Maxed Credit Cards — How Jordan Harper Built an 8-Figure Brand in Year One

25:24Now, my philosophy on products, we didn't launch new products until a year and a half after launch. So there was no new launches until we launched January 2020. And there was no new product launches until June 2021. Yeah. And that's really interesting. I find that fascinating. that you've created your own brand with your own products, but then over time you're using, you're stocking other products to help with the full routine. Most people, most businesses would just create their own line because that would be more profitable for them to do it themselves. Why talk me through that? Okay. So the reason I did that is because I'm, my background as being a nurse practitioner working in medical office, that's what we do.

26:12We have several product lines that to me, that was just like, oh yeah, that's what we do. I've had so many people ask that, that I didn't think anything of it. I was like, oh, well, that's what we do. We just carry several, several product lines. And then we like, um, you know, we like a cleanser from this line, um, you know, this from this line X, Y, Z. And so that's just what I knew to do. And as time has gone on, I'm like, oh yeah, I can see, I didn't have any other like experience to do anything different. But here's the thing. And we will, at some point, we will have an eye cream. We will have a cleanser.

26:46But ultimately, I'm a clinician first. And so I want to make sure that our products are solving a real problem. And so if I feel like it's not going to outperform what's already on the market, I'm not going to launch it. And so I don't want to just bring a product, just to have a bare face product for that. And so until that happens, we're going to keep the products that we have. And so that's why the line has grown very slowly, but also with so much intention. And yeah, it is interesting because a lot of people are like, so I don't get it. Like, why do you carry? But that's all I know from working in an office.

27:23Obviously, now I know more than that and like seeing different sides of that. But it's a way that also like we've been able to support the brand. I didn't have this great idea for a cleanser at first, so I'm not going to just bring one in there. I want our products like I have to our products have to meet a standard we we call them like best in class but for me that just means like they need to outperform what's on the market I also need to feel confident that they're best in class and if I don't then we won't launch them yeah I really respect that and it and it speaks volumes of the success that you've had and the trust that you've built in your community and you know why you have that 90 return customer rate I would say too, like the products that we have not, we should almost like behind the scenes do a case study on everything we haven't launched.

28:12I think that that's something that I probably could talk even more about to our community, because I think that's also such a testament to the brand of what we filter through. So then what we do launch is like truly like best in class and what we don't launch, you never see. And it doesn't have to, I want to eliminate that like mental load for women. and so filtering through all that for them so that they know, okay, this is the one vitamin C I can get. This is the one sunscreen or whatever product it is. So that way they don't have to filter through. I don't wanna do that. I wanna trust experts.

28:46So we wanna be that expert for in the skincare space. And it's like, what we don't launch is probably just, if not more important as what we do because it's like, we filtered through all that information for you so that you can feel and rest assured and like confident in what you do get from us. Yeah. So talk me through that. Like talk, cause you've had such a, like a generational run these past five, six years, like what hasn't worked? Oh my gosh. So many things. We had an eye cream that I pulled, uh, we had eye patches. It, uh, we've had eye patches that were got fully produced. It was a hit of like a hundred grand that, but, but it goes back to, that was tough.

29:26That was a tough pill to swallow because they produced all of these eye patches. They're medical grade silicone and they're in, I don't know how into skincare you are, but they are, they're very thin. I wanted them to be very comfortable that you could wear to like smooth out the fine lines. They're reusable. So it's, it's something that like the quality really mattered, but I wanted them to be this exact millimeter. I'm talking like 0.38 or something. And they came out and they were 0.5. I could just tell they weren't comfortable. They felt bulky, but they had already been produced. And, and the manufacturer was like, that was the variance.

30:00And I'm like, the variance? Like, what do you mean? Like, you know, that was and we we came to an agreement that we ended up splitting it. So I think it was a 50 50 split. Oh, and they made 10s that were chipping. And it was like this whole thing where, I mean, I was so unprepared for that. And I didn't read the contract well enough. I didn't read that there was a variance. And so that was a huge miss on my part. I mean, ultimately, these mistakes I end up paying for. But I was not about to launch that to our customer because I felt like the damage to the brand was not worth it. And so I'll take the hit because ultimately, it would have been a bigger hit and it wouldn't have represented the brand in a way that I felt it should be represented.

30:45It would have been a brand damaging launch just to clean out inventory. So do you have to destroy the product? How much that cost? Oh, you know what? I think it was like maybe$7 ,500 to destroy it, but the product itself I'd already paid for. So that was like$100. I think it was$7 ,500 that we ended up splitting, but the tens were like$50 ,000 destroyed. Yeah, wow. But you know what? It's a sickening feeling kind of because you're like, oh, I hate that, but I definitely learned my lesson. That's how you learn the best lessons in business, right? Exactly. So what other lessons have you learned that you could share with us?

31:22You know, this is one that I've learned recently this past year. So when I first started, again, we've always been profitable. I mean, you know, we've paid back our credit cards, always reinvested into the business. And when I was hiring at first, you know, I'm hiring people who are scrappy, who are like doing everything, doing it all. And I think the biggest lesson I've learned in the past, looking back, I should have done this two and a half years ago, bringing on top tier talent. And I didn't see, I was like, oh man, this is too expensive. I can't do this. And I've still never given away equity in the company.

32:00Like I still own 100 % of the business. But something that I would say, I was doing so much. And I think, you know, I was basically like the CEO, COO, CMO. And like, while the business has continued to grow, I think it could have even grown more. And like, we've had some of those like experience things I'm talking about with manufacturing costs, efficiencies. That's not my expertise. I know how to serve people. I know how to solve problems in the skincare space. I should have really taken, and we had the money to do that. I just didn't like understand and see the value. too. And so I think that was probably the looking back.

32:42We could have had better systems being built. We have that now. We have a C-suite now. And I've seen what they've done for the brand. And it is like we're getting we're getting so hyper personalized. We're you know, our efficiencies are just the amount of operational structure that we're getting. I'm like, oh, my gosh. I mean, And otherwise, like we're just ultimately like I'm paying for that to have those like efficiencies not to happen. And like the savings of that is worth every single penny. And that's something that I didn't like understand well enough to bring on sooner. That's a bit of a rite of passage.

33:18Have you got it wrong with any of these execs or leaders or every single one you got right? No, I've gotten it wrong. Okay. That's where too. I do feel like I have a very good judge of character. And so I feel like I feel like from as far as that goes, it's been I rarely get like the wool cover of my eyes or whatever that phrase is. I do feel like I have a good judge of character, but I think some people think that they have expertise in things that they don't have expertise in. And so but yeah, I would say. You know, that's when you got to like learn fire fast, really. and keep track because too what's been hard is like when there's so much going on sometimes it's hard to keep track of everything and because you're like oh i'm i'm dealing with this over here you've got it over here but then they don't have it you're a mom of four too i want to i want to explore that a little bit uh because i'm curious especially in those early days which is is also a rite of passage you order the stock you you know you you hand pack it yourself you write you write notes to every single customer at first at first it's a novelty at first it's like so fun it's so exciting and you get people to help you and your friends your family involved but then it becomes a burden over time but you know and I've been through that experience with with my brand that I launched um but then over time you've got to move to fulfillment all these different things but you had a family as well like kids babysitters all these different things and you're posting on social like how did you do that like were you do you have a did you have a rule back then that you're still posting once every day like talk me through that how you were able to manage your time because a lot of moms you know it's it's tough like it's a big juggle right like so talk me through how you're able to do that so before i launched bareface i was working in office treating patients.

35:18And that, when you're working in an office, your day is pretty much accounted for. I was seeing patients eight to five. And you don't really think about time management. So I would do that eight to five. And then at night, I would post on social once my, I only had, I was pregnant, but I only had one other like child at this time. So I was pregnant with my second. And so I would post every night. So I would put her down and then social really is like a full-time job. And so I would do that. And then once I started barefaced, I didn't really know how to manage my time. So I was just working constantly.

35:50And my husband at this time was in a residency. So he was working like 90 hours a week. He was pretty much gone. And so I was, I felt like it was just me. And then when she would go to sleep and when she would take naps, I would be working. But, but what happened was, is that I just was like, Like my mind was just like so the mental load of all that. I was just like not showing up at my best and as a mom, as a wife or as a business owner. So that's when I got really into time blocking. And it probably was like probably four to five months after I launched a business because I was just like, oh, my gosh.

36:24And I would just time switch or I would task switch all the time. So I was like jumping all these different tasks. And I don't know if you've ever how deep you've gone into like time blocking or task switching. But like when you task switch, you lose like 30 minutes every single time because like the brain needs to like it's like, oh, and you get in a flow of doing a project. But it's like if you task switch so quickly, then like then you're not really ever getting anything done. And that's when you start to feel like really burnout when you feel like you're trying to multitask all the time. So I got really into time blocking and I can't remember if it was from Atomic Habits.

36:59I can't remember. I've read a couple of books on it. And so that was something that was like changed the game for me. So then when I'm like with my children, I can be present because I know I've allotted the time to do what I need to do at another time instead of being like, OK, I got to answer this email or I got to do this. And like that to me, like who cares how successful you are if you can't be present? I think the biggest win or the biggest like testament to being successful is being able to be present where you are, because it is it is the only thing that we have. and I mean, outside of being healthy, right?

37:32Like having your health. And so if I can't be present where I am and like that, if you can't like, if you have to live in this like mind game, I just like couldn't live like that. So one, I started delegating and I learned really quickly, I wrote out a list of what are the things that only I can do for my family, for my business and what are the things that I can delegate? And so, you know, at home, maybe that's like meals. I'm not, I don't cook anymore. I've just dealt, that is off my plate. Don't even think about it because it's like planned out. And I think as much as you can afford to delegate, and I remember being pregnant with my first child and a patient told me this in office.

38:08She was like, as much as you can afford to delegate, that's what you should do. Because like that will free up other time. And I can, you should also know your hourly rate. There's a really good book. It's called The Almanac of Naval Ravikant. I might be saying it. Oh, yeah. Very good book. Have you read it? It's on my bookshelf. I've never read it. Yeah, Naval. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's prolific. He's a prolific. Yeah. Yeah, I read it probably like four times now. It's so good. And that and essentialism, everything that you're saying like yes to takes away from or, you know, everything that you say yes to is also a no to something else.

38:45So like getting that ownership of your time. But that in the almanac of Naval Ravikinat, I don't know if I'm saying that right, but he has his hourly rate. and he was like, you have to know your hourly rate. And so many times we're prioritizing a task that is well below our hourly rate. Now, some tasks or some things don't have a price tag, right, like quality time with your family, but like your laundry does, you're doing your dishes do. And depending on like what, you know, some people I know cleaning brings them joy at like resetting and all that stuff. So like knowing the things that like only you can do, outsourcing the rest and learning how to delegate, people all the time are like, how do you, how do you do all this?

39:24Like you got four kids and I don't actually feel overwhelmed. I feel like I got a lot going on, but I also feel like I've got it. I've got it organized in a way that it's like, I know I'm there for what I need to be there for, whether that's at home or whether that's at work. So how do you, how do you work out what your hourly rate is and how did you work it out at the time when your business is growing so fast? Well, it's evolved, you know, like it's, it's grown. Um, I would say I figured out my hourly rate once I started bare face with knowing how much we brought in every day. And then obviously deducting like what I know that we make from that.

39:54And so I broke down my hourly rate from that. Got you. Okay. Yep. And then, and so I, but before as a nurse practitioner, I would know my hourly rate because I had a salary and then I would make commission off, you know, everything else I did. So I've always, I've known my hourly rate for, you know, for as long as I can remember. Yeah. Okay. And then you just started outsourcing and then you've used that same approach in business when it comes to tasks within the business. And that is something that has become really powerful and that you live by. Time blocking just for people that are not familiar with that practice and process.

40:30What exactly is time blocking? Is it you just block it out in your calendar? Is it you set a timer? It's actually pretty basic. And I feel like most things are like we overcomplicate so many things and giving yourself a lot in your time. So for example, I have meeting days and I have maker days. So today is a meeting day and we're talking. Tomorrow is a maker day. I don't plan any meetings. I, maybe I'm doing strategic planning for the business, but I'm just like heads down. I'm doing vision. I'm doing content creation. So there's different times for different things. And one, I live by just like every morning I get out my planner.

41:09I use a full, a planner called full focus and I do like a brain dump. I'm like, everything's out. And then a lot of times what we have in our mind, it's like, oh, it feels like a lot. And then you get it on paper and you're like, OK, I can I can manage this. Some of this stuff is like doesn't even really need to be done or I can like put this off. But it feels like a lot until you get it on paper. Then what I do is but but my weeks now I've been time blocking for so long. They don't change that much. Like sure, in the summer or when I travel, you know, like you're not perfect. But I do reevaluate every month.

41:41I do reevaluate because inevitably, like I start strong in the month and then things kind of get out of control a little bit as, as it happens. So I do these reflections and this is actually in my planner too, where it's like, what are my wins? What, what could have been better? What went wrong? What went well? And what can I do next week, next month to improve on that? I used to, I'm a very like, I'm all gas, no breaks, you know, I'm like going nonstop. And so So having moments where I reflect has also been like slow down. What are they? What's that phrase? It's like slow down to speed up or something like that.

42:17Yep. Yep. Slow down to speed up. Yep. So I feel like having that has also been really impactful because I never really saw the importance of that. I was like, oh, like I can't take 30 minutes to have like a reflection time. I got to get stuff done. But actually doing that has allowed me to see like something I was doing all the time that I didn't even know is that when I would get, when I would go into a parking spot, I would just get on my phone. And what I would do is, but how many times do I do that? I like pull in from the jammer and each time I was probably doing that for 10 minutes, but over a day, that probably adds up to an hour, an hour of me just like on my phone.

42:53Sometimes I'm answering an email sometimes, but it's not intentional time. So to me, that's wasted time. And so like that, that's an hour of time. I bet so many people, if we just put down our phones or had intentional time with the phone. Like this is the time I'm going to, you know, only answer emails. But inevitably we get on our phones or we start doing something and a million things start going on. And then you feel all over the place and you've never fully accomplished one thing. And so this time blocking goes back to like, I put my phone and do not disturb. I use this. Let me show you. I use this little guy, this little cube.

43:27And I, um, I put it on. I don't like answer anything. I'll put my slacks on, you know, so my notifications are going off and whatever time I need, that's the time I have to get it done. And I think that's also something, too. We think that these things are going to take us so long. It's like, no, I have to get this done and I have one hour. And really, you should like cut that in half and you'd be surprised how much you can get done in a shorter period of time. I think a lot of a lot of what we think about of time is is like a limiting belief. And we can really get done a lot more than we than we think as long as we like put our phones down and get focused yeah I agree I see time as well when I need to get something done it's like toothpaste you know like when you when you're squeezing toothpaste and you get to the very last bit like everyone always squeezes every last inch right like you just and you're going to roll it up and you just really squeeze it out because you want to get every last inch so when you think about time if you think about like the toothpaste where it doesn't have much left if you squeezed every last inch, you can do more than you, like more than you most, most, most people think that I agree with you wholeheartedly with that.

44:33So much of like what we think we can and can't do is just like all in our heads. It's like, well, then I think we get to, when people get stuck on like, oh, I can't do that. It's like, well, just try it, just do it. And then actually you'll be surprised that you can. Yeah, I agree. So where does this mindset come from around kind of, I guess, really pushing yourself to the absolute limit and really I guess optimizing maximizing your time and also you don't you don't strike me as somebody that has been fearful or afraid which are common or or has much anxiety when it came to launch the business like that's something that really plagues a lot of people it's a really scary daunting thing and even throughout the growth journey like can you talk me through that I'm okay being like cringe to people and I think a lot of things that hold people back is what someone else might think of them I don't I want people to think highly of me of course like I don't want people to be like a terrible person but I also like I I answer to myself I answer to God you know like I have my own moral compass that I answer to I want to provide for my family and so and truly like and I said this earlier but like bare face has really never been about me.

45:52Yes, I'm a part of the brand. I've been a huge aspect of like selling for the brand. And, but it's really always been about serving, giving back to, um, to our community. And then, then tenfold, our community has given back to us with like how they've referred. And so, uh, I think it doesn't come from a place of like ego. It comes from a place of like, I know how to serve people and I know how to solve problems and I know how to be a solution to a problem. And so I don't fear, you know, I don't know. I don't feel like afraid of, I don't know. Yeah. I don't, I don't feel anxiety. I feel very focused on like problems.

46:24There's really no problems. There's like puzzle pieces that you put together. And also it's fun. I really enjoy what I do every day. I think it's really fun. And I like the challenge of figuring something out. And so it's really, I don't know where the mindset comes from, but I do feel like I like gamify every day and that's fun for me yeah thank you for sharing look we have to work towards wrapping up I can't believe it we'll be speaking for almost an hour now it's kind of crazy we've covered a lot of ground this has been incredible couple things that I noticed you have a AI quiz an AI skin quiz coupled with human skin care specialists to provide a personalized white glove of service on your website.

47:12Talk me through that, like around conversion rates should founders look at using these quiz type funnels. Are they effective? So we've had several variations of the quiz and every single one I've created. So the very first one we did was just on type form, I think. And I mean, it was, I wrote it out on paper and I just did all the logic and, and built it out on a type, I believe it was type form. So easy. You know, I think type forms like$300 a year or something. Then from there, as we grew, we built a more like professional quiz. And then since in the past two years, we've switched over to AI.

47:47We just actually launched an AI skin analysis, which is an upgrade of our quiz. And so you go in, take a picture. It takes a picture of your skin because so many people don't understand their skin type. They think they have one bump. They think they have cystic acne. And then they spiral down using like these extreme acne products. And then they've got a host of other skin issues. So the quiz we have found, yes. Should you have a quiz? Yes. One, you should have a funnel, a lead magnet that you can get emails. We've gotten like, I don't know, we have hundreds of thousands of emails. And a lot of it comes from offering something for free.

48:20And if we were like, I have several, several friends who have like service-based, you know, programs like an online fitness or fitness apps and stuff. And they give weeks for free. I want to think of something like that because you get people in and then they get an experience. experience that they're like, oh yeah, okay, this is for me or this isn't for me. Having that lead magnet is huge. People who do this quiz, if they take the picture, the conversion is like so much higher. If they don't take the picture and they just get the recommendations, even there's a quiz associated with it, the conversion is higher than the site overall, but it's not as high as if they take a picture.

48:58And I think that just shows me too, like people want to see themselves. They want to be given by seeing a picture of themselves and seeing what their skin concerns may be or skin issues may be. They're more inclined to purchase. So I think any type of lead magnet where you're giving to your customer, we're also telling them about their skin. It's not just to sell product. It's like helping them learn about their skin. And your skin is an organ. Somewhere along the lines, you know, the Sephoras of the world came along and everyone is just selling a skincare brand. But like it does require oversight.

49:30And that's why we're seeing so many skin issues these days is because people are just like using TikTok to diagnose themselves. And then, you know, next thing they know, they've got tons of other issues. But yes, 100 % love it. And we also have skincare specialists. And that really all comes from me. I want to get as close to an in-office experience that you can get from the comfort of your own home. And so we have a team of skincare specialists that are available on DM, text, email. and they all have a skincare experience. And a lot of times we'll be chatting about it in Slack if they have a question.

50:05And we have utilized AI to accelerate that and to scale that, but we will never lose that level of personalization. I feel like that's a huge part of why people connect with the brand. And it is a higher cost, but I think it pays for itself. Yeah, I do see some businesses do these quizzes and yeah, I've always been curious if it if how effective it is thank you for sharing so look we have to work towards wrapping up um you said something that i found interesting uh something else you said that it's it feels like everyone has a skincare brand nowadays before you know and sephora and it does feel like there are a lot of skin care brands out there it does feel like if you're looking to enter this space it is a highly competitive space what advice and final words of wisdom would you share with our community on building a successful skincare brand e-commerce brand and was there anything i missed so i think this is where it really boils down to knowing like knowing your why knowing the problem that you solve because and and i do think it's so important to show up on social media and you have to like Like, yes, there's a million skincare brands, but there's only one you and a brand needs a soul.

51:27And so if you and I know a lot of people don't want to show up on social, but I feel like that's like mandatory now. If you don't want to show up on social and you don't want to like it's just a free way to show up. Yeah. I mean, maybe it's like maybe it's your dignity you're putting out there, you know, in that standpoint. But like it's a way that you can get people to connect to your brand and like in a way that traditional marketing could never. And so I would say like from from even there. Yes, there's saturated industries and skincare. I don't I didn't know enough to know the level of saturation.

51:58But really, when I think what we do, we're more professional level brand. No, no professional brand that you would see in medical offices is doing what we do. Yes, we're like we're not like a Sephora brand. We're more of like in we are a niche in the space. And so when I think about what we're up against, we're really up against about 20 brands. because we're professional. We're focusing on like this personalized, customized service where it's like more handholding, more white glove. So I think you can find your niche within that, but you can only really consistently show up as who you are. And I think that's where it's like, you are the special sauce to your brand.

52:36How can you make what you offer unique? I mean, think about these brands that are transforming like the mattress industry. A lot of these like boring industries are getting revamped by people just putting a little bit of like soul into it. Yeah. I think that's just what it takes. It takes a little bit of creativity. Yeah. And a lot of hard work. Yeah. Look, I'm so impressed by what you've built, the speed in which you've built this incredible company. Congratulations on all your success. And look, I look forward to continue to watch the journey. This was a fantastic conversation. Thank you so much, Jordan.

53:08Thanks, Nathan. This was awesome. Appreciate it. Hey, FounderFam. Thank you so much for tuning in today. And if you enjoyed this episode, please take the time to leave us a review and let us know what you think. This podcast is 100 % free. We work so hard to go out and find the most successful founders and entrepreneurs all around the globe. So your feedback helps us grow, improve, and even bring on more incredible guests and insights. So if you have a second, please take a moment and leave us a review. It really means a lot to me and the founder team. and make so much of a difference. Thank you again for listening and I'll catch you on the next episode.