SDH149: How to Show Up, Get the Work Done and Get Yourself from Point A to Point B with Co-founders of Oars + Alps

Are you seeing a void in the market place that is opposite of yours? Do you feel you have the knowledge, passion, and drive to fix it yourself? Mia Saini-Duchnowski, and Laura Cox, Co-founders of Oars + Alps, did extensive market research, and based off what they found,  most women are the gatekeepers to men's skin care products. According to the data Mia and Laura collected, this can start as early as puberty for most men, when their mother's buy them their first skin products; and follows them to adulthood with their spouses or significant others. Mia and Laura can personally attest to this latter notion, because the urge to start Oars + Alps began when their husbands would use their skin care products. (Yup! We've been in the same boat ;) They then found themselves replenishing their own products faster, and women's skin care products can cost around 5x more than men's, said Mia. But also because men's and women's skin are different and their products serve different purposes. So the two created a product for the active man that craves simplicity, authenticity, quality,  and ease in their products. Named after their husband's love for rowing and snowboarding, they wanted their brand to represent that ath-leisure lifestyle, that allows their product and message to travel with their target consumer. The brand includes three products that all have natural ingredients, are TSA friendly, and are available for subscription service. This allows customers to choose the frequency of their deliveries, and not have to think about re-ordering. Come join us as we hear Mia tell us more about the extensive branding and story behind Oars + Alps! In this episode you will... Know how to make your product follow your customer's lifestyle Learn to gain the courage to jump into a career path that you feel you can enhance Understand how to create an e-commerce brand that appeals to consumer senses Figure out how to develop focus groups for your product Understand your consumer's psychographics Know how to do your research and understand your place in your market as a entrepreneur INSIGHTS "These guys are going places and their doing amazing things...take us with you on your journey. We'll focus on the skin part of it but we're coming with you." -Mia Saini-Duchnowski "We didn't just want to create a skin care line. We...[wanted] to create a community, a sense of feeling and being...that it was a movement." -Mia Saini-Duchnowski "The guy that wants to use Oars + Alps is doing it because he craves that authenticity from a brand...the brand is bigger than that person." -Mia Saini-Duchnowski "You're convincing a lot of big people...to take a bet on you. You're going to be their smallest and lowest priority. And you need to convince them that you're their number one priority...on the same minute of the same day for things to go right." -Mia Saini-Duchnowskia "No one is going to help you get from point A to point B; you gotta do it yourself." -Mia Saini-Duchnowski RESOURCES Oars + Alps Website Oars + Alps Facebook Oars + Alps Instagram Oars + Alps Twitter Mia Saini Twitter Mia Saini LinkedIn Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Winter Stroll by Elin Hilderbrand Getting Unstuck by Dr. Joy Browne