Eric Bandholz Founder of Beardbrand
Bio

I am a bearded husband, entrepreneur, world traveler, ancap, and designer. Founder of Beardbrand, an online business for the bearded lifestyle. Expert in branding, bootstrapping, and online commerce.


Recent Answers


I am the founder of a cosmetic company that bootstrapped from nothing to a 7 figure business.

It sounds like you are really at the beginning stages of business and there are a lot of opportunities for you. You've got a lot of work ahead of you and you need to build some infrastructure.

Your brand is going to be one of the most important things to establish and you won't be able to sell to distributors, salons, or consumers without a clear message of what your company is about.

When it comes to distribution of your product, you can either work with a distributor, sell directly to resellers, or sell directly to consumers. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. You'll have the most margin with direct to consumers - but you need skills on ecommerce.

When you sell through a distributor you lose tons of control, but you can expand your reach quicker. You also have the slimmest margins; but you don't need to invest as much into sales.

Selling direct to salons is a time consuming process; but you have more control of how your product is displayed, and the perception the consumer has of your products. So much of cosmetics is where your product is currently sold. If it's sold in mass market retail, no salon will want to carry it.

But the direct answer of your question is you simply need to sell your product to anyone who's willing to buy it. Pick up the phone, hustle, and win over those customers.


We sell both through the retail chain and direct on our website. The only way to encourage customers to buy from you rather than your stockists is to provide more value than your retailers.

The advantage you have as a manufacturer is your intense knowledge for your products. Educate your customers on exactly why your products are the perfect fit and show them how the product would function in their lives.

Make the process easy, delivery quick, customer service awesome, and build a unique connection with your customer by telling your story.

The one thing you WILL NOT want to do is under cut your stockists on price. Stick to your MSRP and encourage your stockists to abide by that as well. Take price out of equation and rather than thinking of "how can I cut price to move more products," think "how can I add more value to this product to move more products."

Hope this helps!


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