Founder's Story - Imperfections Inspired Success and a Global Skincare Brand | Ep. 4 with Daisy Jing Founder of Banish

Episode Date: April 5, 2020

Daisy Jing, 30 under 30 winner and Tedx speaker, suffered from acne and acne scars that held her back from feeling comfortable in her skin. She set out to help educate others on Youtube, built a following of over 200k followers and 80 million views.  Please visit Pix11 or Fox5 San Diego for more details. Our Sponsors:* Check out PrizePicks and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: www.prizepicks.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to Inspired by Her, the podcast that will give you the inspiration, motivation and tips for success from some of the top executives, CEOs and influencers from around the globe. With your host, serial entrepreneur and named one of the most influential Filipina in the world, Kate Hancock. This is Kate and I have here Daisy Jing. Hello, hi Kate hi Kate sorry I'm just pulling up the questions okay no worries so excited to be here and I like your podcast and your questions are so um so insightful I'm excited to answer them yes so um I know you're, oh my God, thank you for doing this. I know you're nine months pregnant. And yeah, 40, over 40 weeks. So anytime now. That's crazy. So, um, are you super excited? I know you're super excited.

I'm very antsy and anxious with, uh, you know, what's going on in the hospital system and hearing all the news. Yeah, very antsy. And in general, I'm a very impatient person. And I'm not used to waiting for people. I think any CEO that runs a company are impatient by nature. Yeah, I'm impatient and I want to control this, but I can't. And so it's really testing me right now. It drives you nuts. I know I've known you for three years now.

I met you in YC Escape in Utah, right? Yes. Yes. And so tell me more about yourself and your company. I know you built this amazing company, Banish Skin Care, which you gave me some, a few items in your baby shower. And I tried your vitamin C cream. It's amazing. So tell me about you and your company. Yeah, thanks, Kate. So I started Banish in 2013. So we've been around for seven, over seven to eight years. I've had acne all my life. So starting from the third grade, I've had acne. My skin is my biggest physical insecurity. So I have every skin problem known to man, but acne was really bad.

I tried everything for acne when I was a teenager, my parents and I, we probably spent at least, you know, $20,000 just going to different doctors and medical people and dermatologists. My acne wouldn't clear up. And I was really depressed because it was just such bad cystic acne that when I would wash my face, my face would start bleeding. And then I'd go to school with band-aids on my face from the pimples popping and it really affected my self-esteem and so I became very depressed from the acne and then when I was in college I was just so fed up with how bad my skin was so I decided to make a YouTube channel so it's Daisers89 D-A-I-S-E-R-Z-8-9. And I still make videos to this day, but that was over 10 years ago, just reviewing skincare products. And I noticed that a lot of the ingredients in skincare really

make my skin break out and I'm very sensitive and I'm allergic to a lot of traditional ingredients in skincare. So I actually, yeah, benzoyl peroxide. I mean, yeah, it's too yeah benzoyl peroxide I mean yeah it's too like benzoyl peroxide it's too harsh and when you're pregnant you're not supposed to use it which you know indicates how harsh it is to your body that it can affect your baby you know like when you're putting that on every night you know when you have acne so just little things like that I didn't know so I started going to natural food stores and using their skincare and actually helped my skin a lot. And then, um, and then on my YouTube channel just kept revealing. And then I came across microneedling and then using that with vitamin C, um, serum that I made and people on my YouTube channel noticed immediately,

like my scars, my acne scars went away and people around me noticed it went away and they were asking me what I was using. And that's just kind of how Banish started. So it was a very random thing that happened. I wasn't anticipating it, but I had a problem, which was my skin and nothing would work for it. And then I wanted to help other people with their problems. So that's how Banish started. That was our first kit, the banished kit. And yeah, eight years later, we're still going on strong. Yes. Yes. So you sounded like so easy, right? Yeah. I know there's a lot of, we, we get to talk a lot about that but tell me about your youtube follower how many followers do you have now so overall I have I think over 200,000 followers and over

the 80 million views I can't remember um yeah so like back in 2015 ish it really gained a lot of traction yeah wow and what is your secret to that do you think this is storytelling what did you do um I think a huge part of it was timing I was you know I started really early and I was one of the first people and I had acne so I think a lot of people related to my story, I wasn't like this perfect girl with perfect skin. So people could really trust me. Um, my most viral videos were always about talking about growth skin topics like blackheads and pimples and acne scars. Those videos have like 10 million views on them. Um, so I was kind of one of the first to do content on gross skin topics that people really wanted to know. Wow. So how did you figure that out that that's what you have

to do? Did you just, did you want like research or? No, in fact, back then in YouTube, it was really different. Um, it was just random, you know, I just made content and the, how to get rid of blackheads video went viral. Um, you know, got, I think it has over 10 million views. I don't know. People just were interested in it. So yeah. But I think nowadays YouTube is so much more difficult. It's a lot harder to get views. You know, the algorithms changes. So you really have to keep up with it. So I haven't kept up with it as well as I would like to, because it's just a lot more time. Now you need to have a production team, you know, you have someone filming it, editing it, you know, post production, all of that. Before I could just do it on my webcam

and edit an iMovie and get away with it. but now it's like a full production you want to be successful okay all right so I know I mean I went with you in the Inc 5000 and you were in the top 500 you were a one what was your ranking right now 150 something yeah. And you were in a cop, you were part of 20, was it 30 under 30, 20? Yeah. Yes. 30 under 30. Yeah. Yes. 30 under 30. You've accomplished a lot for such a young age and that's very inspiring. Oh, thank you, Kate. Yeah. So let's get back to your childhood right so where did you grow up? So I was born in China and I say I was born in one of the most polluted cities in the world and then I came to Minnesota when I was three years old so I grew up in the Midwest. So what is that like from China growing up in the Midwest? Yeah, I really do believe my

immigrant story has really shaped me as an entrepreneur. And I definitely wouldn't be who I am today without that. So seeing my dad come to this country with $400 in his pocket, seeing my parents, you know, build something from scratch. You know, my mom worked at McDonald's because she didn't really speak English. You know, initially we were on food stamps because we didn't have any money. But seeing them build themselves up really affected me and made me realize, hey, like, if you have a good work ethic and discipline, like you can do anything. And, and also growing up in Minnesota was difficult in that there were no other Asians around. So I immediately felt very, very different. And, you know, my family was very poor. So I didn't go to like birthday parties or like, you know, gymnastics classes or any of that. I was

just kind of like home by myself all the time. But I think that really taught me how to be resourceful. You know, it kind of made me very, very independent from a young age because I didn't really have like, I wasn't a social butterfly. I wasn't popular. I was just kind of like the weird Asian girl. So I just kind of did my own thing. So I think it has made me very independent and it has also made me realize what it feels like when you're not included or accepted in a larger community because I was so different from everybody. I was made fun of, you know, there was a little bit of racism. I just kind of stuck to myself and with Banish, I always want everyone to feel included, whether they have bad skin or not. So definitely my childhood, I would say was probably more difficult than most, but it really has shaped me who I am. And I, I really credit my work ethic to my childhood because, you know, when you're coming to this country with absolutely nothing, you're

very creative on how you make it work. And so when you're starting a business, you have to be very, very creative, right? On how to start it. So yeah, that has also helped me. And just being very independent from a young age, I think I'm very independent just by starting a company, you know, myself and growing it. I'm comfortable doing that. Okay. All right.

So I met your parents and your mom yes so do you think it your mom helped you shape a lot she's she's kind of remind me of you yeah I think she like planet like she's she really like I can tell she's a leader she's a leader in the house she's very bossy just like me so I have I mean my mother wasn't like that but I definitely grew up in a tiger mom where you have to do what they told you to do like yeah they get mad if you don't do it in seconds my mother is like has the inside gratification issue. Like, yeah, she wants me to do, she wants to do it now.

Like, yeah, that's me too. Is that the same? That's my personality. And yeah, I think my mom is like that too. Yeah. And as much as we hated it, but we do the same thing, right? Yeah. Like I want this baby to come out now and still waiting.

Okay. So you built this multi-million dollar business and I know you bootstrap it from nothing. So tell me, how did you build it? Like, I know you built your community. How did you, what was the first product? How did you do it? First product was the banish kit. Um, so that was that I was just literally mixing stuff in my kitchen um and shipping it out um so that was you know that was okay but when it became like more than a few orders a day that became hard to scale um so in the, I did go through a lot of, you know, things that people don't see, I lost a shipment, like $30,000 worth of inventory in customs. I mean, I just lost it because I didn't know what I was doing. You know, I took out some credit cards, I rented out my room on Airbnb,

I'd sleep on the couch, so I can make some money. I was making some YouTube videos. Um, so I was really hustling and being super, super creative on how to fund myself. But initially I did everything. So I didn't have any employees, which was good. So my overhead was really low. Um, but because I sold product, it was easy to kind of reinvest that money back into buying inventory and stuff. And I also have my YouTube channel. So I was also doing sponsorships and brand deals and getting revenue from Google AdSense. So tell me, how did you lost that $30,000 worth of product? Was it disappeared from custom? Was it a shipping issue? Yeah, I don't remember exactly, but it got stuck because I didn't provide the right paperwork. And I mean, when you're starting, you don't know exactly, but it got stuck because I didn't provide the right paperwork. And I mean, when you're starting, you don't know.

You're just like, okay, and you just sign whatever. Like, you don't know what you're doing, right? And then it just all of a sudden just like disappeared. There was no way I could get it because I didn't know. Like, I didn't have a shipping agent to help me or whatever. So yeah, that was pretty devastating. I actually thought it wasn't going to work out. Like, actually, I was just telling myself, like, there's one part of me that was like, yeah, Daisy,

like this is so stupid. Did you ever think like this could be successful? Did you ever think he could actually do this? Like there's that really negative side of me, but then there's another side of me. And I really, really, truly credit my audience on YouTube that really needed the product because they believed in me and they valued my story and they believed in my product. And I was like, even though I lost all this money and all this product, I need to do it for them. So I truly believe if I didn't have my YouTube channel, I would have given up because that was very devastating when you have no money and you're just losing everything. And you're, I don't know. I'm just like this, you know, 20, I don't know, 23, 24 year old girl thinking I can

create this business. And I was like, what am year old girl thinking I can create this business and I was like what am I doing yeah so that was very hard I know how that likes it actually happens to me one of my bulk order so I drop it off in the back of the post office in San Clemente and I think the guy who works there he threw all two of my back oh my gosh so I think I lost about the same amount wow right and I thought it was so hurtful right yeah it's it's like it's just like so I know how that feels it's it's it's crazy I think I cried at that day especially when you're just starting out you know and you're like that's all I have and you lose it all all. That was really hard. I mean, if that happened now, it would just be like, okay, whatever, like a loss in your balance sheet. But yeah, this was just like, oh my God,

do I really think I can do it? Like I was kind of doubting myself. Now you mentioned about Airbnb. What did you do? Did you you rent your did you rent your place to Airbnb yeah I rented my room yeah so I rented my room for $80 a night I'd sleep on the couch um so I don't know it was kind of fun because I like had to like make the bed and like clean up and like I would give them toiletries and stuff and it was kind of fun and um I didn't mind and you know being living in Pasadena it was a good location so um I don't know it was it was a great experience I mean what year was that you started Airbnb 2014 2013 yeah so yeah it was probably one of the earlier Airbnb years um but it was I mean I really liked doing it if if I had more time, I would, you know, do what you're doing,

like get a bunch of places and rent them out in Airbnb. Yeah. And you mentioned you, you were using Groupon too for food. Yeah. So I, um, I would buy, you know, it was like 20, uh, $20 worth of food for $10 at like Cheesecake Factory, right. Or Bucca. So I'd buy all that food, get it takeout. And then I would just like ration it throughout the week. Just finding ways to be creative to save money, you know? Like I would never just like order food now, like I do now. So it was just me like hustling. And it was just like, how can I survive on, you know, X amount of dollars per day without having income because I was putting all of the income from the business back into it right to

purchase whatever um so yeah I was really hustling in the beginning so do you remember how much money did you spend in the beginning what was your what do you mean when you started building your skincare how much did you invest oh well at least that 30 grand ish more probably more but I think the positive thing was I didn't have to pay for advertising which is probably the most expensive cost in skincare because I had the YouTube channel so that saved me if I hadn't had that I would have yeah I hadn't had that, I would have, yeah, I don't know where I would have to like get money from somewhere. Okay. So what was one of your deepest motivation in life?

Um, my deepest motivation, I like to have impact and make a difference. I feel like I was given this opportunity. I was given my stories, I was given my struggles. And a lot of people need to hear what I have learned. So that is really important. It's just like making the people who never felt like they were good enough, making them feel like they still belong in society. And again, that's where I go back to my childhood where it was like, I never felt like I fit in. I was always the odd one out. Like I didn't have any friends because I was the only Asian. So I always want people to feel like they can fit into something. So that's my deepest motivation. Okay. So do you have, can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? I would say my dad, even though he, he's very like risk averse, he has probably the hardest work ethic I've ever seen in somebody. He's very responsible and he's very

disciplined and he's just so hardworking. So I remember like as a young kid, I remember crying because I got a B on a math test and I told my dad it was because I wasn't smart enough and I didn't understand calculus and blah, blah, blah, blah. And then he was just like yelling at, like, no, it's because you didn't do enough practice problems, and I just remembered, like, I just studied my ass off, and I got an A, and all that stuff, and that really made me realize that, like, those are limitations we tell ourselves, like, I'm not good at math as an excuse, right, to say you're, you can't do something, so I think from that, I've always learned, like, you have to put the work in, and you can never use, like, I'm not whatever enough as an excuse. Okay, okay, so have you ever failed at something, and how did you overcome it?

Yeah, I failed at a lot of stuff. I would say my first job out of college, I, I don't want to say I failed at it, but it just wasn't the right fit. Um, so I did consulting right after college. It was a very shiny job, um, paid well, I got to travel the world and stuff, but yeah, it was just not the right fit because I'm not a corporate person. And I was really wondering like, what is wrong with me? Because I worked so hard to get that job. I was one of the only few people in my school to land that job. And then when I was there, I was like, is this it?

So I felt like kind of a failure in that, even though it wasn't like a flat out failure. But sometimes I say like failure, it means that something is not right, the right fit for you. Okay. Well, running banished, what is the hardest decision that you have to make? Always firing people. It gets easier. I don't know if it gets easier in the beginning it's really hard um then it kind of gets easier but yeah that was very very difficult especially when you have people with you from the beginning and you've built that loyalty and you know you give them chances you talk over and over you do the performance improvement you really want them to succeed and it's just not working out and it's like it's like everybody knows but you really need to pull the plug but they've been

with you from the beginning and it's yeah that's really really really difficult um so even to this day it's stuff I have to do but yeah it's not I mean it's the worst part of my job yeah I think it's really hard especially like you said they were there in the beginning and as you grow then you want them to be you want them to think differently again because you're now a different company yeah right I think that's the hardest one yeah yeah and it's you know I've had to learn how to separate business and personal like you know personal and family you know you obviously you're not going to just like fire them right but when you're a business it's different like if you're not performing if you're not doing your job then yeah it's you want to you always want to have the best people and the best team, right?

And so not everyone is going to belong there at all times. Yeah. And it's, God, it's such a nonstop job managing people. Oh, yeah. Right? Yeah. How many team do you have now in the u.s and then remote uh 15 15 okay i know you're obsessed with soul cycle are you so you can't wait to do that again well

well with the quarantine you can't do any of that okay but uh fitness classes. Yeah. Okay. So think back to the time that you felt transformed and how did you change and why? I think after giving my TED talk, it's called a tragedy called perfection. It was like my manifesto. And then after memorizing it and, you know, memorizing it over 200 times and just, you know, speaking it, it was like, wow, this is my truth. And I think beforehand I was caught up in like competition, a little bit more comparison, a little bit more like, you know, what is everyone else doing? Am I like the best? And then I just was like, I don't care anymore. Like I am here to live my truth.

And that's not defined by any rankings, any numbers, any whatever, because I think before it's like, oh, you want to be the Inc 500, right? Oh, like how much revenue or profit does your company do? Oh, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like what car do you drive? And I realized that wasn't making me fulfilled. And I realized that none of that matters if I'm not speaking my truth. So after doing the TED talk, I realized like what's that matters if I'm not speaking my truth. So after doing the

TED talk, I realized like what's important to me and important to us as a company. And then surprisingly, I don't know, just the business kind of just grew after knowing that, you know, like, because before I was so preoccupied with what everyone else is doing now, I don't really care. And now we're so much more clear on our mission and values that you know decision making is so easy um once you know what you're doing this all for oh that's amazing I I saw your TED TED TED talk though it was really great I was really moved by it so that oh thank you Kate when I was practicing for my tech for for that women of the tech, I actually watched you. I want you to know that.

Thank you. So what do you see as your place or purpose in life? And how did you come up to that conclusion? My purpose in life is to empower people to be the best possible version of themselves. So with Banish, it's giving people the freedom to be able to walk outside and not have to hide from other people. Because when I had acne, I thought, you know, I can't do anything because everyone's staring at my acne. I can't be who I am, blah, blah, blah. But I realized I was holding myself back. So I want people to be the best version of themselves without holding themselves back and being the most authentic version of themselves. So that's

the purpose in my life. And that's the purpose of my life through Banish. Even though we sell skincare, it's so much more than that. It's about making people feel like they can go into the world and be confident the way they are. Wow. That's so beautiful. So I have a follow-up question. So how do you want to be remembered? I want to be remembered by inspiring and empowering others, that I made them feel like they could do something, even if they felt like they couldn't. And what would be your advice to a female that's just starting up a business? Put one foot in front of the other. I think that's super important. Don't look at, you know, what the competition is doing. Don't do, don't look at what everyone else is doing. Focus,

have maniacal focus on your goals. Break it down and just put one foot in front of the other. If you think about running a marathon, you don't think about the 26 miles. You think about one foot in front of the other every single, you know, second, every single day. And then before you know it, you know, you're going to have made so much progress. But I think a lot of times we get distracted and we compare ourselves and we never think we're good enough. Or I remember just reading like tech crunch and seeing, Oh, this company raised $10 million.

Daisy, how are you going to compete with that? Blah, blah, blah. It was just so negative, you know? So, um, just block out everything and focus on what you need to get done. Yeah, absolutely. It's so much better when you just know what you wanted. If you wanted less in life, it's actually so much better. I feel like you're so much happier. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Well, that was great. And thank you so much for being so open and giving us the best, the best advice to everyone who's listening today. Thank you, Kate. You're a great interviewer. These are great questions.

Do you know that I have a stomachache before I sit down in here because I was rushing? No. I was very nervous, actually. Well, thank you so much. This is like one of the best podcasts I've done because the questions are so good. Yeah. Well, thank you. And I can't wait to say to see your baby all right yes well where can they find you what's um yeah so the website is banished.com and then our instagram handles are at banished

and at banished acne scars my personal handle and youtube channel is at d a i s e r z eight nine days are 99 all right thank you so much and have a great day thank you bye bye we hope you enjoyed the show don't forget to rate review and subscribe and visit our social channels to follow us so you don't miss out on the next episode