Thread by @Principles00

**How a 22-Year Old from New Zealand Sick of Dropshipping Built a 100% Bootstrapped 8 Figure Beauty Brand After Failing Multiple Times**

Here's the story behind how Jordan Smyth was able to create a successful DTC brand in <3 years

+ some lessons you can apply to your business

Smyth got his start online with a t-shirt business.

He designed and ordered hundreds of t-shirts and prepared for a huge launch.

After selling to family and friends, he was unable to sell more due to a lack of marketing skills.

This was the first failure.

Next up was an Amazon FBA business.

But before he could even grow his business, Smyth hit a major roadblock.

Amazon asked for proof of official company documents.

Smyth could not provide them.

He was only 16.

With the Amazon FBA business shut down, he moved into dropshipping.

He would find winning product after product to sell via Facebook ads and a Shopify store.

And this is where Smyth finally saw success online.

A lot of it.

In just 14 months, he was able to hit $8mm in sales.

This is where Smyth built up the skills that he would later apply to his current business:

1. Understanding the types of products that people want and buy
2. Effective marketing w/Facebook ads
3. Managing a team

Now it was time to take these skills and build something bigger.

As Smyth grew tired of the dropshipping model and the headaches it brings, he looked for opportunities to transition into something more long-term.

Having struggled with rosacea all his life, Smyth set his sights on the skincare industry and created a mask with a local chemist.

Smyth launched his mask as Seed & Sour in Australia, where it bombed miserably.

The brand did not gain any traction despite heavy marketing.

That's when Smyth decided to begin selling in the US.

But in a saturated, competitive market like skincare, success did not come easily.

Struggling massively, Smyth tested different angles until something finally worked:

First, the brand name was changed to Gleamin.

Next, Smyth focused on evening skin tone and reducing dark spots and hyperpigmentation.

And that's when things really took off.

Since launching in late 2018, Gleamin has now gained over 200,000 customers with thousands of monthly subscribers and sales in more than 50 countries.

Now let's discuss what we can learn from Gleamin that you can apply to your own business.

Here's what we can learn from Gleamin:

First, you must find product market fit.

Without it, it is impossible to succeed.

This means you must offer a product that meets already existing market demand.

Gleamin struggled to find product market fit until it did the following:

To find product market fit, Gleamin rapidly test various angles and audiences until it found one that worked:

Solving hyperpigmentation, a skincare issue that doesn't get much attention, for an audience that doesn't receive much attention from the skincare industry.

The second lesson from Gleamin we can learn is that powerful marketing is all about:

1) showing something new
2) with an innovative angle
3) that solves a problem

Gleamin's ads execute this strategy flawlessly: simple, eye-catching UGC ads that sell a problem-solving product

The third lesson is to sell something, just look at what's working right now.

Smyth himself has said that he relies heavily on the Facebook ads library.

You can see exactly what's working.

So let's take a look at Gleamin's own ads and see what we can find.

The first thing that jumps out when viewing Gleamin's ads is the heavy prevalence of UGC.

Gleamin relies almost exclusively on videos that mash up UGC from a variety of influencers.

And this is the key to Gleamin's rapid success.

By creating engaging UGC ads that stop people from scrolling past on the FB or IG feed, Gleamin is able to gain cheap clicks that convert to sales easily.

So if your business isn't using UGC like this, it may be an important strategy for you to test in order to grow.

Finally, taking a step back, one last lesson I will leave here is that it is important to compete in the largest, most competitive markets to ensure success.

Take a look at some of my earlier thoughts on this:

https://twitter.com/Principles00/status/1430576532309921800?s=20

So those are some tactics and strategies that should help your business.

The last idea I'll leave you with is this:

If you're dropshipping or running a business for the short-term, you should be looking to build something for the long-term:

https://twitter.com/Principles00/status/1423359350605811713?s=20