Bushbalm Normalizes Bikini-line Skincare

In 2016 David Gaylord was a Shopify employee looking for a side hustle. Then he came up with a funky idea: skincare lotions for hair removal along bikini lines. The business name was funkier: Bushbalm.

Fast forward to 2023, and Bushbalm is booming, selling lotions and trimmers directly to thousands of consumers and wholesale to Ulta Beauty and 3,000 waxing salons. It spends a whopping $200,000 per month on Facebook ads.

In our recent conversation, I asked Gaylord about sales channels, marketing, and, yes, the name. The entire audio of our discussion is embedded below. The transcript is edited for clarity and length.

Eric Bandholz: Tell us what you do.

David Gaylord: I’m the co-founder and CEO of Bushbalm. We focus on bikini line skincare — below-the-belt products for ingrown hairs for razor burn. We also have a trimmer for down there. Our primary business is skincare, whether oils, exfoliants, or serums. We have a hydrogel mask called The Vajacial, which is quite popular.

We launched in 2016. Before, I worked in my family business in Canada selling hardwood flooring. When I was in university, my dad wanted to try ecommerce. I thought it was ridiculous. But I did what he said and looked at platforms such as BigCommerce and Magento. We chose Shopify because it was Canadian.

Four years later, I graduated from university and got a job at Shopify. From there, my partners and I started Bushbalm as a funky idea. It took us four years to gain traction. We didn’t quit our jobs until 2021. We were entirely bootstrapped and remain that way today.

During the four years, we spent very little on marketing. We did an Etsy show, which was good for talking to folks and learning what they wanted to say about us. When we spoke about “pubic oil,” they said, “That’s disgusting.” We tried “bush oil,” and they didn’t like that either. We got more into skincare and asked questions like, “Do you get waxed? You probably have irritation.” And they’d say, “Yeah, totally.” So that’s where we focused the business. In 2020 and 2021, we pushed hard on Facebook ads. In the last two years, we’ve leaned away from that. But we still spend at least $200,000 on Facebook monthly.

Bandholz: Do you get much friction with the name of Bushbalm?

Gaylord: We interviewed someone for a job here who said, ” I think you guys should change the name. And we were like, “You’re not hired.” A lot of folks we talk to appreciate that we’re blunt. The brand is kind of in your face with our TikTok channel. Sometimes, one in a hundred people will say, “That’s gross.” The other 99% say, “Why is it gross? Everybody has these concerns.” So, I think the name’s pretty powerful long-term.

Bandholz: You’re exploring brick and mortar, setting up your own salons.

Gaylord: We’re about 50% direct-to-consumer, and then 25% is wholesale from selling to about 3,000 waxing salons. We’re also in Ulta Beauty, the giant retailer, and Amazon.

We’re looking to double down in our own physical-store waxing salons. We’re not here to build 100 salons and be a huge chain. In a studio, we’ll learn more about the products and how people use them. We’ve been more eager on the content side. We don’t do much on YouTube. We do a lot of TikTok and Instagram, but having an in-store space is something we’re trying to figure out.

We have an excellent path to long-term wholesale growth. Ulta Beauty was the first domino to fall. They’re awesome. What’s good about Ulta is the shave section we’re in, which is basically the same style as CVS, Walgreens, Target, and Walmart. Five years ago, the taboo was so strong that no one would be around us because of the name. Now everyone’s like, yeah, that’s cool, you guys are funky. I think Manscaped, for male hygiene, paved the way for the taboo to go away.

Bandholz: Walk us through your content production.

Gaylord: We have a few folks on our team who connect with waxing salons and film content, or we’ll pay the salons for a photo and video shoot. Usually, 80% of the stuff doesn’t work, but 20% is excellent. We’re looking to scale. The need for content nowadays is insane. It’s the hardest part of Facebook ads.

We hired a part-time in-house aesthetician, a skincare pro. That has been a tremendous addition. She helps us with content. Otherwise, a lot of it’s sourced from content producers. The best thing we’ve done is ask photographers to subsidize photo shoots. They get photos, and we get photos. Everything works out. Obtaining videos that way is hard, but it works for photography.

We’ll buy content from folks. Communication style, personality, and entertainment are so important. It’s more intriguing to follow along a person’s journey instead of, for instance, the art of doing a leg wax. That type of video might be interesting, but building a character or persona to grow a brand does better.

The iOS and Facebook privacy changes were an easy hurdle for us. We’ve got 3,000 wholesale accounts, with one salesperson and one account manager. So it’s a super-efficient lead and very automated. Folks are eager to find something that works. There are no distributors for it either. So it’s very niche. The U.S. has 10 times more waxing and nail salons than Starbucks stores. I think it’s 330,000 salons, which is mind-blowing.

Direct-to-consumer was about 95% of the business three years ago; now it’s 50%. So we’re growing way more on this professional channel. And Ulta is doing well.

Bandholz: Do you worry about advertising attribution and tracking?

Gaylord: On the wholesale side, it’s hard because when we advertise on Facebook for our Ulta business, we don’t get sales data for a week — every Monday at 8:00 a.m. So we could run Facebook ads on a new launch at Ulta without knowing if they’re working.

Bandholz: Where can people support you?

Gaylord: Our website is Bushbalm.com. We’re on Amazon and Ulta. I’m on LinkedIn.

Argentina Suppliers Fuel Palermo House

Merchants often default to China for outsourced manufacturing. Yet competitive suppliers exist worldwide. For Palermo House, a direct-to-consumer provider of luxury furniture, Argentina is a natural source.

Marco Ferro is the company’s California-based founder with Argentina roots. He was born there, as were his parents, co-owners of the business.

In our recent conversation, I asked Ferro about importing goods from South America, shipping to customers, bootstrapping challenges, and more. The entire audio of our conversation is embedded below. The transcript is edited for clarity and length.

Eric Bandholz: Give our listeners a quick rundown of what you do.

Marco Ferro: I am the founder and CEO of Palermo House. We are a direct-to-consumer home goods furniture brand launched in 2020. We’re known for our Dune Lounger, a mix of a beanbag and a vintage chair. It comes in vegan leather, velvet, and some outdoor options. It’s stylish and comfortable, and people love it. Architectural Digest featured us. That’s been our hero product, although we have a vision to expand into other products.

My dad, my co-founder, designed the chair a few years ago. He comes from a family of architects. He created the lounger chair with a mid-century modern look. It fits well with that vibe and is minimalistic, functional, and comfortable. It’s not super rigid and yet stays in one shape. It molds to your body and changes when you sit on it.

Bandholz: Your suppliers are in Argentina versus China, like everyone else. What are the logistics hurdles in dealing with South America?

Ferro: I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and so were my parents. My dad has many connections to Argentina and feels comfortable working there. It’s not the easiest country to transact with, with challenges around payments and political instability. But the situation is generally favorable. The exchange rates have been reasonable, so we’ve stayed for two-plus years.

As we scaled, we didn’t want to go to China or other countries that may require huge purchase orders. We wanted to scale comfortably. The good thing is that we have a lean and agile supply chain. We can acquire the lounger covers almost just in time, avoiding excess inventory. The filling that takes up more space is made here in California. The covers are made in Argentina, and we recently brought on a supplier in Columbia. But that’s not to say we haven’t ruled out going to China, India, or some other place where we can potentially find more cost efficiencies.

We ship customer orders unassembled in two boxes because large dimensions incur ridiculous oversized fees.

Bandholz: How do you acquire customers?

Ferro: We invest in paid marketing. Our primary channel is Meta — Facebook and Instagram. We also use paid search on Google. Our average order value is over $1,000. That gives us more room to cover acquisition costs.

We do organic Instagram, email, and SMS. We believe our products drive strong word-of-mouth referrals. We don’t have much data to validate that, but furniture, especially a product like ours, stands out in a home. When inviting friends over, it’s pretty visible, a mini showroom for future customers.

Bandholz: You’ve gone beyond the chair, offering home accessories, rugs, and throws.

Ferro: It’s been hard to sell anything that’s not the lounger. We haven’t found the right supplier for those products from a quality and price point. The rugs, for example, are 100% wool and hand-woven, made by artisans in the north of Argentina. I have a rug in my home. It’s thick and beautiful. But making these takes a long time, which is not great for business. They require some investment upfront as well.

Bandholz: Your product photography is fantastic.

Ferro: We shoot most photos ourselves. My dad plays a significant role as an architect. He has an eye for houses, and we will do some location scouting ourselves. It’s a collaborative effort, and we’ll choose the house. It’s mainly been here in Southern California. We use Peerspace — Airbnb is mainly for staying the night. We only need a couple of hours during the day. Peerspace is tailored for that use case for a premium price.

You have to get a lot done in the shoots in a limited time. We have big products. So it’s renting a U-Haul, going to the location, and moving big products around. At least they’re super light. We use male and female models as well as kids and pets. We try to show our products are for the whole family.

Bandholz: You’re bootstrapped?

Ferro: Yes. My dad, mom, and I are the owners. We haven’t raised any outside funding, so entirely bootstrapped. We’ve tripled annual revenue every year since our 2020 launch. That’s created funding challenges. We are starting to talk to potential investors. We like the idea of a partner in the space that can add value, capital, and talent.

In the meantime, we’ll continue running the business as bootstrapped. We’re working on our gross margin and specifically on our product cost. But we never compromise quality and feeling.

Bandholz: Where can people buy your stuff or reach out?

Ferro: Check out our website — Palermo.house. I’m on LinkedIn.

Beard-care Founder on Juggling Brands

In 2014 Eric Steckling launched Brio, a Michigan-based direct-to-consumer seller of beard trimmers. In 2022 the company acquired Ollie, a subscription-based provider of teeth whiteners.

The brands are seemingly complementary. Both sell grooming products. But merging them was challenging. Having been combined post-acquisition, they now function separately.

In our recent conversation, Steckling addressed launching Brio, acquiring Ollie, and lessons learned along the way. The entire audio of our discussion is embedded below. The transcript is edited for clarity and length.

Eric Bandholz: Tell us what you do.

Eric Steckling:  I run two direct-to-consumer businesses. Our core brand is called Brio. We make grooming tools for men, namely a beard trimmer. Ollie is an oral care company that started as a subscription-based teeth whitening strip. We acquired that brand in 2022 and then rolled all of our toothbrush stuff into it. Since then, we’ve developed our own toothpaste and related products.

Initially after the acquisition we ran both brands from Brio’s site. But we realized it made sense to separate them, with the oral-care content on one site and the trimming and grooming items on another.

Ollie was on its own when we bought it. I made some missteps in integrating it with our business. We switched subscription platforms twice and lost many subscribers. We merged it with Brio, but now it’s on its own.

On the Brio side, we can acquire customers profitably from the first sale, but beard trimmers last for years. We have to acquire new customers constantly.

Ollie is the opposite. Getting folks to buy an electric toothbrush is tough. But they come back and purchase brush heads for years.

Bandholz: You’re in a competitive space. How do you stand out?

Steckling: My perspective has changed after 10 years. We can stand out because the big brands have made terrible products in the last 15 years, not necessarily on the high-end, but the $30 versions. The $20 to $50 trimmers from major brands are not very good. That leaves the door open for us. Plus, our customer service is superior. If a customer has a problem with his trimmer, I will help immediately. He would never get that with a major company.

I did a deep dive into Andis, a legacy U.S. trimmer brand. It’s a fascinating story. The company started in Racine, Wisconsin, about 100 years ago as an electric motor supplier. They were good at making motors. But they eventually shifted into a big-box retail business, making $20 items.

It’s an example of big companies leaving gaps in the market that ecommerce brands like us can fill.

Bandholz: You sell on your own sites and on Amazon.

Steckling: All of our Amazon sales are from our own marketing, more or less. In 2014 our revenue was 100% on Amazon. It’s shifted over the years. It’s now mostly on our websites.

We’re not getting any free sales on Amazon. Everyone that buys there looks for us. Our listings are not showing up when folks search for beard products. Still, if we’re not there, we’ll lose the sale for branded searches.

So we’re leaving money on the table if we’re not on Amazon. But it’s a huge pain. There’s a ton I hate about Amazon. We’ve had so much trouble. They lose inventory, deactivate listings, hackers take over our listings, change the photos. You name it, and it’s gone wrong. String and tape hold the system together. It was built 20 years ago and has so many unfixable legacy problems. Although this year, Amazon has been much better.

Bandholz: You have a good system for finding influencers.

Steckling: It helps to have relationship managers coordinating affiliates, influencers, and content.

The most important thing when finding the right influencers is the niche. What is their expertise relative to your products? That, to me, has been the most significant differentiator for conversions. We almost ignore the number of followers because expertise and persuasiveness are much more critical. We’ve had videos with millions of views that didn’t sell anything and others with thousands of views that sold a lot.

With Brio, the best influencers focus on men’s grooming. We’ve tried fitness, automotive, and other male audiences. They don’t work as well. For Ollie we’ve had dentists address niche topics and include our product. The video might get just a few thousand views, but conversion is massive.

Bandholz: Where can people buy your trimmers and teeth whiteners?

Steckling: For the trimmers, go to Brio4life.com. To buy our whiteners and Sonic toothbrushes,  OllieSmile.com is the place. Find me on LinkedIn.

Swing Dancing Business Booms

Ryan Hunter Masters is a Colorado-based musician who loves to dance. In 2015 he launched Show Her Off to teach swing dancing online. The business sells video courses — streaming and DVD — to booming success.

I first interviewed Hunter Masters for the podcast in 2019. In this second conversation, we addressed the origins of Show Her Off, customer acquisition channels, and his internal litmus test for starting any new company.

The entire audio of our conversation is embedded below. The transcript is edited for length and clarity.

Eric Bandholz: Give us a recap of what you do.

Ryan Hunter Masters: I have a company called Show Her Off. I sell video courses that teach couples how to dance. I won’t turn you into a professional dancer or get you on Dancing with the Stars, but I will teach you in less than 60 minutes how to dance with your partner and have her smiling and laughing. More importantly, couples feel closer and more connected compared to spending time looking at screens or watching Netflix and not engaging.

I teach entry-level social swing dancing. Many couples use it for their first dance. We have hip-hop, pop, classic rock, and country. You can dance to any music genre with this style, which is why it’s so popular and accessible.

Many couples who’ve never danced will start with this program. Some catch the dance fever, the dance bug, and they’re like, oh, wow, this is a lot of fun. Some take it to a local studio and learn professional dancing one-on-one with an instructor. The goal of what I teach is to have fun and give couples the confidence to step out on the dance floor and look good.

I do things that excite me. I love to learn and try new adventures. That’s how I got into this business. I ran a marketing firm managing Facebook and Google ads campaigns. I moved to Colorado, learned swing dance, and thought, “Gosh, this is so fun.” I already had the infrastructure to make videos because I had a fitness YouTube channel called Sparta Strength. I realized I could make videos teaching folks to dance. No business intention. It was purely organic and fun.

Someone told me I should throw the YouTube videos onto Instagram. Those posts got a lot of response and engagement. I made more and then decided to do a full-on shoot. I hired a videographer and a photographer, gathered friends, and found a romantic background for a cinematic shoot in the mountains of Colorado. That content did well. Show Her Off is a romance brand. I look for romantic cinematic landscapes in the background to add that extra emotion.

The business wasn’t making any money for a couple of years. But it was fun. Folks liked it, and I was having a good time. My marketing agency paid the bills. We eventually turned a corner. The business started to blow up. On the side, I’ve been exploring making music and singing.

Bandholz: You seem to follow your passion.

Hunter Masters: My litmus test is, “Would I do this for free because it’s so fun?” Sometimes, you don’t know until you start doing it.

That’s something that traps many entrepreneurs who are starting. They don’t know how an idea will make money. There are so many options, but an alternative way to think about it is there’s something you can do or are willing to do for free because it’s fun. Can you build an engaged audience of 10,000 to 20,000? Somewhere in there, as long as you’re paying attention and listening, there will be an opportunity to make money. You have followers who like you and your products or services. You can solve a problem for them and provide value.

Bandholz: How is the online course set up?

Hunter Masters: We have an online date night program. It began as an in-person romance tour where my friends and I would go around the country to wedding venues. We’d sell tickets, couples would come, and we’d teach three dance moves they could mix and match. I would have a photographer on-site with a lovely backdrop for the couples to get their own selfie photo, and we’d pose them in a dance photo so they had something to remember by, and then we’d have open dancing for the rest of the night.

We always sold those events out. A couple from California traveled to an event outside of Dallas. Our tickets were $35, so they spent 10 times that to get there. Another couple drove eight hours. I realized if folks are investing this kind of time to attend, maybe I could turn it into something else. That’s when I decided to offer digital instruction.

Bandholz: What are your busiest times of the year?

Hunter Masters: The week before Valentine’s and the week before Christmas we have a 400% increase in business. It’s a huge surge in customer support, ad management, and paid traffic. During those periods, I’m up at 7:00 a.m. and go to bed at midnight; for the most part, I’m on the computer all day. I call it my day trading hours.

For the busy weeks, I use a bid cap strategy for Facebook ads. It’s very technical, but it’s basically manual bidding inside Facebook. I bid way more than I would pay, and that pushes out other advertisers. I know from tracking my historical data this is the time I can do that.

It’s still a gamble. I stand all day and refresh analytics, monitor Facebook ads, check Stripe, and ensure everything’s trending up. If an ad starts to drop, I’ll immediately pull it down. Experienced advertisers advise bidding one and a half times your cost per acquisition. If your CPA is $100, bid $150. I might do three, four, five times my CPA. I’ll start with $500 to get it rolling.

Bandholz: Where can listeners buy your program?

Hunter Masters: Go to ShowHerOff.com. We are on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Check out my music at Hunter Masters on Spotify.