SDH 149: How to Show Up, Do the Work and Get Yourself from Point A to Point B with Co-founders of Oars + Alps

Are you seeing a void in the market place? 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,  saw a void and had the passion to fix it. They did extensive market research and  found most women are the gatekeepers to men's skin care products. They discovered this pattern starts 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 relate to their research, because the urge to start Oars + Alps began when their husbands would use their skin care products. (Yup! We've been on the same boat..!) They found themselves replenishing their own products faster, and women's skin care products can cost around 5x more than men's, said Mia. Men and women's skin are different and their products serve different purposes, therefore using women's skin products was benefiting no one.

With their research and own experiences,  they created a product for the active man that craves simplicity, authenticity, quality, and ease. 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.

Did we mention the brand has three products that all have natural ingredients, are TSA friendly, and are available for subscription service allowing customers to choose the frequency of their deliveries, without the burden of re-ordering.

Come join us as we hear more of Mia and Laura's story, including the extensive branding and story behind Oars + Alps!

In this episode you will...

  • Know how to align your product to your customers' lifestyles

  • Learn how 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

  • Comprehend your consumer's psychographics

  • Discover how to do your research and understand your place in your market as a entrepreneur

INSIGHTS

"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
 

MotivationAmanda Boleyn