w/ Dermazen's Austin Beals
Hear how Austin Beals hacked his way out of a chronic skin condition to create Dermazen, a skincare brand that’s bringing in $5 million a year. No investors, no BS— just one man’s obsessive quest to relieve his own seborrheic dermatitis symptoms that turned into a product line changing lives. Austin talks about bootstrapping with a small SBA loan, leveraging niche Reddit communities, and the guerilla marketing tactics that propelled his brand into the big leagues. This is the blueprint for turning your personal problems into a game-changing business.
Kurt Elster
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Austin Beals
I'm doing great, Kurt. It's great to be on.
Kurt Elster
I am I'm thrilled to have you here. Um, but let's start with Uh your background, you had a struggle with a skin condition. What was it?
Austin Beals
It's called seburaic dermatitis. And it's uh it's it's a mouthful. A lot of people, even people on our team can't necessarily pronounce it. But uh it's Essentially an advanced form of dandruff, which can also come onto the face, the ears, and throughout the body
Kurt Elster
It just agitate the pain for us. How it sounds awful. Just make me share with us the horror of dealing with this.
Austin Beals
Absolutely. So it's uh at its most severe, it can show up with redness on the skin, especially around the nose, the eyebrows, the beard, if you have a beard, uh the definitely the scalp. And it can even cause scaling or crusting. And so that's where it's like almost like dandruff uh piling up on your scalp. And it can create these kind of scales that are hard to get rid of. And the challenging part is it's so confusing. I think that's what's so frustrating about this condition is there's so little information out there, especially helpful information. And dermatologists will tell you it's something you've got to live with for the rest of your life. There's no cure. You're gonna have to use these antifungals and steroids, which might or might help. And so it's very disempowering. It's very uh confusing and frustrating. And so there's a lot of people in this community with sebrache dermatitis who are doing what I used to do, scouring the internet for information and tips from people struggling. Because there's just uh not a lot of information. And so people are are really hopeless out there, but we're here to help bring hope.
Kurt Elster
And so the you you struggled with subaraic dermatitis. Now you lead a brand that helps people with subaraic dermatitis. What does dermazens sell now?
Austin Beals
Yeah, so we sell skincare products, holistic skincare products, specifically made for people with sebarag dermatitis, dandruff. fungal acne and other conditions that are caused by malasseia fungus. That's kind of at the root of all these conditions. A lot of people think dandruff is a dry scalp, but it's actually caused by a yeast or a fungus that feeds on the oil coming from your skin. And so we make products specifically for people with these conditions because most products contain oils that are going to feed the fungus and make your condition worse over time.
Kurt Elster
It's a i a yeast, a yeast infection on your skin, a lot more common than people realize, I imagine.
Austin Beals
Absolutely. Yeah, it's you know, your skin's microbiome is similar to your internal microbiome. I mean it's a diverse community of bacteria. and yeast and some of it is beneficial and some of it is parasitic or it's harmful. And so everybody has malasseia yeast on their skin. But some people their sebum and we could get into the you know the nerdy details of the the science but some people sebum produces more fatty acids that the fungus can feed on. And so this fungus thrives on their skin. But other people, they can lather oils on their skin all day, but the malasseia yeast just doesn't stick around.
Kurt Elster
The well lucky them.
Austin Beals
Yeah, exactly.
Kurt Elster
And obviously, clearly like the the direction this is headed is you were struggling, you had this this painter problem in your life and you saw it went to seek a solution. But I want to know before even then, were there early experiences in your life, maybe you know, a parent who who ran their own business, something that that influenced you to have an entrepreneurial spirit? Like were you aware that this was a path for you prior to starting Dermazen?
Austin Beals
Absolutely. Yeah, you said it exactly. I mean, my parents, they owned a hardwood flooring business. My dad, he learned the trade of doing hardwoods when he was a teenager and so for most of my life they owned their own business and it's hard work. He was working long, you know, ten to fifteen hour days a lot of the time. But I did See my parents have that freedom to take trips when they wanted to. And uh my mom was able to stay home with us. And um so you know, I saw that it could be done. And also I saw that it could be done without college degrees. Either one of my parents graduated college, but here they were. working for themselves, having some of that time freedom. And so I always knew that it was a possibility without fouling following a traditional academic path.
Kurt Elster
I like that. See I do. Because I think a lot of people The issue with starting your own business, with being an entrepreneur for the first time, is like you're you're looking for someone to give you permission to say it's okay. Whereas you having grown up with parents, who ran a business, who owned a business, that immediately that goes away. Because it to you starting a business just is like, well, that's a natural thing. That's just an option for people. And so I think my takeaway here is you there's no one who's going to give you permission to do it. You could just decide to do it one day is what it takes. And obviously it's you know it's harder than that, but yeah.
Austin Beals
And and if you're listening to this and you're looking for that permission slip, Kurt and I are giving that to you right now.
Kurt Elster
Yes, thank you. That's that's what I was looking for. So what uh what inspired the idea for Dermazen? Is there like a specific moment where that made you decide to pursue it?
Austin Beals
Yeah, so it started out with me inventing our first product or an early version of it And I was I basically I was very desperate for a solution, so I dove deep into the research and found a few hidden truths about the fungus that not a lot of people understood. And again, happy to dive deep into the science if we want to go down that route. But essentially I I created this serum that cleared up my skin and I needed to know if it worked for other people. Because there's a lot of remedies out there that might work for a few people, but not for most of them. And so I started giving away samples to people on the internet. Mostly in like from. Reddit. There's a subreddit for people with this condition. So I created a Google form and asked for people to give me their address and their contact info if they wanted a free sample. And so I started sending those out. And the feedback was all the same. Everybody said, this works better for me than anything else, better than what my dermatologist gave me. When can I get some more? And so gradually there was this realization that, oh, this is something that could really help a lot of people. And this needs to come into existence. And help change the world in some small way.
Kurt Elster
And so when you made it for yourself, was the initial thought, Hey, I uh I gotta find a better solution here and I bet I could do it with some research? Or just researching it, you realized, hey, maybe there's a different solution here. It wasn't until you created it and it worked for yourself that you thought, I could share this. I could Yeah.
Austin Beals
Exactly. Yeah. It started out with it came after 10 years of trial and error, of of trying different remedies. Yeah, so I struggled with, you know, for 10 years. trying everything. I'd see a remedy on the internet, I'd try it out, it didn't work. I would try a product online, didn't work. Um I mean there was so much I I was doing diets and um you know soaking my head in apple cider vinegar and sea salt and you know I even there's a study that shows that raw honey is remarkably effective topically for this condition, but you have to leave it on for at least two hours every other day for three weeks. And ain't nobody got time for that.
Kurt Elster
So it's going to make quite the mess.
Austin Beals
What's that? I said that'll it'll make quite the mess. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I I put it on and I wrapped my head in the cloth and I slept with it overnight and I woke up with ants in my bed.
Kurt Elster
Oh
Austin Beals
It took me weeks to get rid of them. So needless to say, I had been experimenting for years. And so eventually I created this concoction for my own skin, just praying that it would help. And it helped very quickly. And then from that point, yeah, I started offering to other people. I put the ingredients out there for free, but nobody was really doing it. And so I was like, okay, fine, I'll make it for them and send them samples. And um That's when I knew this how to exist as a product.
Kurt Elster
The also you the initial like you were you were involved in a subreddit?
Austin Beals
Yeah, there's a subreddit for this condition called just Sebderm is the nickname for this condition for people who don't want to say or spell sebarraic dermatitis.
Kurt Elster
And being involved there, you shared your findings and even were like here, this is here this is exactly what you need as the solution, and people weren't doing it.
Austin Beals
Exactly.
Kurt Elster
Okay.
Austin Beals
Yeah, and I think some of that is because, you know, the formula I created involved about ten to eleven ingredients. And so people didn't want to purchase all of those. and make it themselves. And so it's like, hey, I will do it for you. I just want to know if this is something that can help other people in our community.
Kurt Elster
Alright, so I have no experience with chemistry, product creation, formulations. Did you, did you have Any kind of background that would would help you with this or are you you learning as you went?
Austin Beals
Yeah, learning as I went. I definitely was a uh Longtime biohacker and uh you know from the early days of uh Dave Asprey back in maybe 2012. And uh so I've been uh making concoctions and things for a while just for my own health, but uh was pretty new to the whole cosmetic. formulation and so learned very quickly how to combine products and what are safe usage percentages for different ingredients. So a lot of on-the-job learning.
Kurt Elster
And then does that okay, if it were me, I'm very risk averse. And so a a product business that is treating a condition I see it's dermatologist approved. So tell me about like if I were a lay person, I would be cautious I would be unusually cautious and careful about how I went about, you know, marketing, positioning, and testing this product. That's the thing Really like the fact that you A managed to find uh a treatment here is phenomenal, but then I'm just impressed that you you ran with it. You went forward with it. Tell me about that that development process.
Austin Beals
Absolutely. Yeah. So one thing I do want to be very clear on is our products definitely don't treat anything, treat or or cure, because that would definitely cross the line into a um a prescription product, a medical product. And so we exist solely in the cosmetic space. And so legally we only w can help with the symptoms. We help soothe and calm the symptoms.
Kurt Elster
So you can treat the symptoms.
Austin Beals
Exactly. Can't say treat. Exactly.
Kurt Elster
Can't say we do to the symptoms?
Austin Beals
We we soothe them, we calm them. Yeah, exactly. We we do things that uh aren't medical, uh things that are are more cosmetic, but they'll I can speak from experience. I mean it it it feels like a a treatment for me, but uh a lot of our customers definitely experience Complete relief or uh very significant relief as well. But yeah, so to go back to your question on that whole process of kind of crossing that line and stepping into the territory of of helping people without having that medical background. That's where we we do focus on just the piece of their skin rather than curing or treating a specific condition.
Kurt Elster
And I can, you know, reading the ingredients in this, uh with a couple exceptions, I know what all of this is, right? It's like purified water, sea salt, colloidal silver. Xylitol. Alright, I've heard of it. I don't know what it is.
Austin Beals
Yeah, xylitol, that's a unique one where uh it's usually used as a sweetener in low sugar Foods. So a lot of people on the keto diet are familiar with xylitol, but it turns out to be extremely effective at disrupting the biofilm that protects the melacesia fungus, which most treatments or products don't do.
Kurt Elster
We've got vitamin B3, hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, grapefruit, grapefruit seed extract, tea tree essential oil, which I love, uh rosemary essential oil.
Austin Beals
Yeah, so going back to your question of just the being risk-averse, I think some of that was mitigated by the fact that these were holistic, safe, non-toxic ingredients. And I was making sure to use them in very gentle uh you know, commonly recommended usage percentages. So it wasn't doing anything outside the box. And these were all ingredients that someone could buy. at a health food store or on Amazon and combine together themselves.
Kurt Elster
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Austin Beals
Yeah. So essentially just reaching out to a few dermatologists in our network and saying you know, in the network of our our my co-founders and me and saying, hey, uh we've got this product. Um we specifically two out of four co-founders have Seborach dermatitis. So one of my co-founders, the first one I reached out to, he actually ended up having sebarac dermatitis as well. And I didn't know that. And uh so we reached out to them and said, hey, we've got sebarac dermatitis. This is something that is Extremely effective for us. It's helping other people. Would you be willing to give it a try? Look at the formulation. We'll send you samples and give that to some of your patients who are willing to try it out. and and see see the results, see what they come back with. And so we did that with a few different doctors. And they they all said the same thing, you know, they gave it to their patients. A lot of them still prescribe their usual antifungals, like ketoconazole is a popular one. But they also would give them the sample of dermazing alongside. And so they would put on the dermisen first and let that work overnight. And then they could Combine it with the prescription topical that the dermatologist was giving. And all of those patients came back with better results than the patients who weren't using the samples. And so at that point, that's when they say like, yeah, absolutely. I mean, based on the ingredients, these are safe. I recommend these types of ingredients. I've seen the difference it makes in my own patients. And so I'd love to recommend this product.
Kurt Elster
So really it was reaching out and finding someone willing to take a chance on it, um but willing to be I mean you're willing to put yourself out there, like hey, you know, this is this is what we've done and we'd just like you to try it and tell us if it works.
Austin Beals
Yeah, exactly. And just uh wanting that honest feedback and of course sitting back and crossing our fingers that it works just as well for the patients as it's been working for us and early testers. And fortunately they they all came back with positive responses.
Kurt Elster
So then, all right, we've got we have a solid product that we're we're confident in. We know it works from personal experience, but now we've got third parties telling us, yes, this works like you think it does. Excellent. It it we gotta launch this brand and this product, and that requires money. And you didn't take outside investment, you bootstrap this. Tell me about that.
Austin Beals
Yeah, so we we sought out a small SBA loan of $20,000, which at this point, you know, we've we've paid back. But that was essentially it. We used that 20K loan to fund the initial inventory of, you know, manufacturing the product ourselves and putting together the website. And a lot of it was sweat equity because I reached out to essentially I assembled a team, reached out to some some friends of mine that I had worked with at a e-commerce company called Organifi. And that's where we met. And uh a great company. And so I knew that these were people that I liked, people with complimentary skill sets. I like to call us the the the super friends because we've all got different superpowers that we combine to to help uh you know save the world in in in our small way. But yeah, essentially just with a lot of sweat equity using our skills, we launched the business on Shopify in July of 2021.
Kurt Elster
The ooh turbulent time I mean good strong times to start a business, 2021, but then you know also uh it had its own complexities. What does that launch look like? Right? Like getting creating the website, putting it out there, getting the product. These are all difficult things. Now you have to tell people about it. You gotta get people to care.
Austin Beals
Yeah, so one of the first things we did is lay the groundwork for building that longer-term relationship with the customer by educating them. So we created this really in-depth sebaraic relief guide, which people still write to us and say it th this is our lead magnet, essentially, but it's a it's a very in-depth lead magnet that we're very proud of. People will write to us and we'll say, hey, listen, you're, you know, your products have helped me, but your free guide was a light at the end of the tunnel for me because it finally gave me hope to understand this condition. So we definitely invest a lot into education. And we also partnered with a website called Assisia, which they recommend products that are safe for people with malaseia-prone skin. And so people with fungal acne or dandruff or severic dermatitis, this was a website that was already fairly popular in the community. And so we reached out to them and asked them to put us on their website with a featured spot for a few hundred dollars a month. So it was a partnership. And so we were able to get some organic traffic from them. And then Google Shopping was another big leper we pulled in the beginning.
Kurt Elster
So we've got like a an industry group you're able to partner with. And uh you nailed it with Google Shopping, it sounds like. Was there a pivotal moment early on where you thought, all right, this is gonna work?
Austin Beals
I would say it it definitely was this this gradual realization that you know as the reviews started to come in and the before and after photos. It was very clear that this is something that could help a lot of people and that people would, especially when we started to see those repeat purchases. It's like, okay, not only will people try it out for the first time, but they're coming back for that. repeat revenue. That definitely was a you know an eye-opening experience. I mean, I could tell you about a a lot of testimonials that have come in that definitely felt like big milestones for us, big successes for us as it as far as impact is concerned. But um yeah, there I would say there's just been like a few stages where we kind of Stepped up to that next place of revenue as a business.
Kurt Elster
I think so far this journey, you know, although you you had to struggle with subariac dermatitis for ten years, which it's quite unpleasant. Uh alright. Ignoring that, this has all been roses. This is far too easy. Too many successes. Do we have any any stories of of failures or setbacks?
Austin Beals
I've been asked this question before, and well, I don't know if I wish I had a more dramatic answer, but uh we've had we've had small bumps along the way. I would say like a a launch not not going very well or you know maybe running out of an ingredient and needing to go out of stock for a bit. Um or seasons of plateauing sales and trying to figure out how do we go to that next level and Um but uh so far we haven't had any major or exciting setbacks, but you know I mean I could talk about the plateaus and how we overcame some of those.
Kurt Elster
Sure. So I mean a plateau, not necessarily a bad thing, but I think what comes next as well is it is it going to decline. You know, and also, hey, we're gonna sell this business, or even just mentally, suddenly makes it less valuable if you can't show that consistent year-over-year growth. Um both quite the trap to get into. It can't go forever. But what what uh well tell me about it.
Austin Beals
Yeah, absolutely. So there definitely were phases where we hit uh we were kind of stalling. And I think one early on was realizing we simply weren't sending enough email. And some of that was just not systematizing it, not prioritizing it, not having enough writers on staff. I was doing all the copywriting myself. And so I was the bottleneck early on. And so bringing on more. you know, another copywriter to help us send emails more frequently. That definitely helped us break through some of that plateau. But definitely the the biggest one was starting to optimize our meta. And meta is really what has taken us to the next level of you know where we are today, scaling quickly and profitably. Are we talking about Facebook Instagram ads here? Facebook and Instagram ads. Yeah, absolutely. And uh there was a a specific change that uh that happened with Basically one of my partners. He joined uh the I think I believe it's so Charlie is there's a Charlie, I don't know his last name, but he he runs Disruptor School. And um he's got a Facebook MBA program. And so my partner, he joined that mastermind group and started learning that system. And we started to diversify our creatives and we started to scale a lot faster on Meta, but we had one specific post, which we turned into an ad. That allowed us to 2x our sales in a month. After that, we've been diversifying our creative a lot more.
Kurt Elster
Your most successful ad was a Facebook post that you promoted?
Austin Beals
Yeah, exactly. So this was a cool story. So this was a we were starting to get into TikTok and I saw several viral TikToks of people just pointing to text on a screen. And I thought to myself, well, I could do that. And uh, so I just filmed myself, basically pointing to some imaginary text on the screen, and then I slapped the text on there. And posted it on TikTok. And it was uh I s I believe it might still be our our most successful TikTok to date. And uh uh which is not much. We're we're still figuring out the organic social game. And so, but still I I think it had maybe about 6,000 views on that one. And um And we thought, you know what, let's just let's just boost it. Let's turn that into an ad. And something about it, just the the I believe the message on there really resonated with people. The text on screen it said dandruff is, I believe, dandruff is actually a Condition called sebarac dermatitis. And if you look it up on the Mayo Clinic, it'll tell you that dandruff is a mild form of sebarac dermatitis. And so we linked dandruff to A lesser known condition. And then we let people know that both conditions are caused by a melasthesia fungus that feeds on oils. And so coconut oil and castor or jojoba oil. These actually can feed the fungus and make it worse. So it's you know, we're doing a lot in there and it was a lot of text, but we were kind of breaking some typical perceptions around scalp care. A lot of people will throw coconut oil on their scalp and think that that'll help. But if you have true fungal dandruff, then it's just gonna eat that coconut oil right up. Exactly. It's like pouring fuel on the fire, we like to say. And so there was something about this educational native feeling post that worked really well as an ad. And so we were able to scale that. And uh we quickly iterated on it. We asked our friends and family to basically re do the same thing, record themselves pointing to invisible text. And uh so we made various versions of that and split tested them and though some of them did better than others and the ones that did well we let those continue to run. And so those have those are still running.
Kurt Elster
So this wasn't even a video ad? This was a a photo a st a static photo?
Austin Beals
It was actually no, so it was video, but it was just not saying anything, just awkwardly you know, staring into the camera and smiling and pointing to text. And then you know, we we put the text on screen during the editing. And uh yeah, very very simple concept, but it's uh it's worked very well for us.
Kurt Elster
It's always funny to like the stuff that you're like, yeah, my standout success is absolutely not the one you would guess.
Austin Beals
Yeah, exactly. That's why you just gotta yeah, the you gotta test. You gotta try a lot of different things. Throw a lot of spaghetti. And see which noodles stick.
Kurt Elster
And so of the the marketing channels that have been effective for you, it sounds like Google Shopping, Meta, Facebook, Instagram ads, email marketing. And how much how what's your email cadence? How often do we send in emails?
Austin Beals
Yeah, so right now it's about one to two times per week. Okay. One of those will be more of what we call the mindful minute. And so we focus on a different form of personal care, of self-care. It could be talking about color therapy or spending time in nature, something to help people improve their lives. And that one is purely educational. And we'll usually break that up. into you know what this concept is, why it's beneficial, and how to get started. And so we'll send one like that and then we'll send another one that is uh usually more product focused where we're talking about the benefits of certain products or ingredients we love and then sometimes a promotion in there as well
Kurt Elster
How do you uh do you reuse emails? Like at what at some point you go look, I'm out of ideas.
Austin Beals
Yeah, good question. We we've rarely reused emails. I mean maybe occasionally, like a um, we'll send a broadcast. We use a tool called Vocal Video to collect video testimonials from customers. And so we'll send a broadcast invitation to customers to essentially record their story and let us know how Dermazent has made a difference in their life. And so yeah, every now and then we'll essentially resend that same email. But other than that, we've Got a very creative team. I'm very grateful for that. And so we do a lot of brainstorming together. We usually about every other week we'll have an email brainstorming meeting where we'll brainstorm for the next few weeks. And uh, you know, so combining human creativity with Chat GPT and I would say maybe swipe filing some of the best emails that we get to our inbox. You know, we'll see a good email and then we'll share it with each other. And say, let's iterate on this. Let's do our own version. We're able to keep the creative flow going.
Kurt Elster
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Austin Beals
Yeah, it's it's mostly we lean more into into what's working and uh you know we turn off what's not. So we we have tested with TikTok. Um, we haven't so far been able to crack the code on making that profitable for us. And we aim to keep our marketing efficiency at about 50% of our revenue. And so for us it's just making sure that we aren't spending over 50% of our revenue on advertising. And so usually what we'll do is if it does get a little bit above that, is we will kind of scale back the budgets a little bit. And usually meta the algorithm on if Facebook and Instagram will get a little bit more efficient. They'll learn to do more with less and then during that time we will start iterating on more creatives so that we can get a new winning creative ad set into the mix.
Kurt Elster
And did you look at what's your North Star? Are we looking at ROAS, MERS? How do we how do we treat that?
Austin Beals
Yeah, so it's largely We look at how all of our ads play together in the ad set. And so it is overall, we're look at we do look at that marketing efficiency. So we look at kind of how everything plays together. So we combine the revenue from Facebook and Amazon and we look at our our total marketing spent. And so we're mostly looking for how everything is playing together across channels. Because when we have a breakout Facebook ad, Even though it doesn't show the Amazon revenue, we always see a pretty decent lift on Amazon as well. So people are seeing the ad and then they're going and looking us up on Amazon. And so mostly we pay attention to that total marketing efficiency. But as far as the individual ad sets, that's where we do look at CPM to make sure that Facebook wants to show that ad to a lot of people and then CPA as well.
Kurt Elster
Okay. Smart. I did not I'd not heard anyone phrase CPM that way. Like CPM as a measure of how badly Facebook wants to show this to people. I think that's clever. You've had this site up for about three years now. Has it always been on Shopify?
Austin Beals
Yeah, always Shopify.
Kurt Elster
Any uh any favorite Shopify apps?
Austin Beals
Yeah, we we do try to keep it pretty pretty lean to keep the site moving quickly.
Kurt Elster
Well it does work. I mean the site is fast. Um skid care industry is pretty competitive, right? Do you Do you think about it? Do you worry about it? Just put your blinders on? How do we think about competition in skincare?
Austin Beals
Yeah, so because we are so niche and our products are truly unique in the formulation and the market that we serve, we do pretty much keep those blinders on and and focus on our community and how we can help them. And so that's that's mostly a doubling down on on serving our community because a lot of them don't uh can't use a lot of the products that are out there from other brands again because of those oils. And so we focus on helping our community and figuring out What are the other products they want and how can we make those without the unsafe oils?
Kurt Elster
Smart. Yeah, because the oils just uh exacerbate this issue, right?
Austin Beals
Yeah, exactly. Oils, waxes, and butters.
Kurt Elster
So it's a it's like, all right, you need a a shampoo that doesn't necessarily have oils that a a standard shampoo may have. Is that exactly.
Austin Beals
Yep. So we've actually heard from several customers who They were using our serum and they were getting some results, but not a ton. And then we asked them what other products are they using? And it turns out they're using uh a shampoo with a bunch of oils in it, or they're using a soap bar. full of oils uh on their face and they're still flaring up. And so then we'll say, hey, take a break from those other products. You can use ours. Here are some alternatives that you can use. uh that have on that have some safe oils um or he you could just use maybe uh apple cider vinegar as a wash and When they take a break from those other products, they're like, wow, okay, finally my skin is clear. And so that's where we are doing our best to create more of those safe products. like a uh an SPF, a sunscreen. That's something that a lot of people ask for us because currently there isn't a safe one on the market. Um the same with a lock gel for people with textured hair, that's something that we're looking at as well, because we've definitely become very popular in the textured hair community over the last few months and that's been a really cool experience to get involved there as well.
Kurt Elster
That is cool. The Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. You essentially this one product, which you know it solves this this problem for folks, then just lends itself to a a potentially large line of complementary products for one segment of the population that's like Look, if I if I don't use the right products, my skin gets flaky and do you think nobody wants it?
Austin Beals
Totally. Yeah, and and so that's kind of our focus is to always stay true, always stay loyal to our main niche, which is people with sebreac dermatitis, and then outside of that would be people with just normal dandruff, which is actually a lot of people. And then beyond that, it's people with just kind of moody skin in general. And then if you wanted to go even wider, it's just people who like good, clean, holistic products that are safe for anyone.
Kurt Elster
So uh uh switching gears to a a personal matter. You Do you pract I suspect you practice mindfulness? I do.
Austin Beals
Yeah.
Kurt Elster
What uh how do you manage work-life balance when you're running uh a very successful business?
Austin Beals
I believe it comes down to prioritizing your self-care. It's not about having time, it's about making time. And that could be very challenging when there's a lot of demands coming at you. And I think ultimately it comes down to knowing that I can show up better as a business owner, as a partner. Both in my business and in my marriage, show up better as a husband when I first fill that cup, when I first tend to the garden of my soul or my mind. And practically speaking, what that looks like is for me, fitting in those 15-minute meditation breaks, usually that can make a big difference for me. And so I aim for one to two. 15 minute meditation breaks, ideally with some red light therapy at the uh at the start or the end of my day. And then usually on my good days, I would say probably three days a week, I'm able to get in about a 15-minute workout after we put our daughter down for a nap. And and even that, you know, I I'm very passionate about the work that I do. It's it's hard for me to break away and do those 15 minutes when I really want to work and keep helping people and keep supporting my team. But I just know that that 15 minutes of work probably won't make that much of a difference in the long run. But the 15 minutes I spend nourishing my body with an a workout and taking care of my mind with the endorphins and everything that comes from that, I know that it's gonna pay dividends over time.
Kurt Elster
The the metaphor for self-care I've always loved. My favorite is is put your put your oxygen mask on first before helping others. And that that's essentially what you you described is you're like, yeah, you could put in a few extra minutes, you know, replying to that email, but you'll probably get more in the long run if you spend that time investing it in your own sanity and you know whatever form that takes.
Austin Beals
Yeah, for sure. And and I like thinking about the uh the call quadrant of urgent versus important. And so there are some things that are, they're not urgent, but they are important. And so those are things like Maybe reading something, you know, educating, uh, exercising, meditating, all these things. They're important, but they're also, there isn't this urgency behind them, so it's easy to push them off. And I like to call those the big rocks. And I don't know if you've ever seen like the the rock metaphor with the people filling the jar. Yeah, exactly. It's like, you know, if you put the small rocks first and and then the medium pebbles and then the uh Then the big rocks, it doesn't fit. But if you put the big rocks in first, and then the medium ones, and then little pebbles, maybe some sand, it all somehow fits in the jar. And that's how I treat these things that are important but not urgent is ideally prioritizing them earlier in the day before all the demands creep in and the momentum starts to build.
Kurt Elster
Oh, that is good.
Austin Beals
And then play. I would say play is important. Prioritizing that I'm actually going to improv later tonight. in uh Austin, Texas. My wife and I, we both love improv. So we we take uh a class on different nights. We take turns with our daughter and So definitely think it's it's important to find the things that you love and make time for them. The oh yeah, absolutely.
Kurt Elster
Yeah, you said you're going to improv. I said you're gonna go see an improv show. No, you're taking an improv class. Much more much scarier.
Austin Beals
Yeah, yeah, and more fun. For sure.
Kurt Elster
Okay. All right. Final question. What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?
Austin Beals
Pick a team that you want to go far with. Pick the right partners. Ideally, those with complementary skills as you, where you can make up for each other's weaknesses and combine your strengths. And people that you enjoy spending time with. People whose character you respect. Because it's a lot easier to go far and go big if you have partners beside you that. can become your friends if you want to. I mean all my partners who we consider each other close friends at this point. And I think that's made a big difference for us.
Kurt Elster
What's the most rewarding part about running Dermazen?
Austin Beals
Oh my gosh. Thank you for asking this. It has absolutely been the transformations that we've seen from people. I mean I I could go through a a long list, but um you know, one that stands out is someone, uh a customer named Brett, he found me on Instagram, my personal account. And he just he DM'd me and he said, I have to thank you personally because dermisin changed my life. It you know it after clearing up my skin I felt more confident in life. I was showing up to work more. I was starting to excel. I got promotions. We were able to buy our first home. And my life has changed since using Derma's Then. And we've heard that from so many customers. There was a a woman, Amber, who she had very severe separate dermatitis on her face. And she's actually one of the before and after photos on our website. And she talks about not feeling uh even confident enough to look her husband in the eye on her worst days, where her skin was so inflamed, she felt shame about that. And Within I think it was three days, her skin was completely cleared. And after several weeks of using it, her skin is glowing. And you can see in in the one of the other after photos she sent us, it's You can just see this bright smile on her face. A woman used our baby product. We've got a baby product called Cradle Calm. because cradle cap is a condition that affects 70% of infants and it's the exact same condition as separate dermatitis in adults. And so we made a baby product which is a lot more gentle. And there was a baby who had it technically it doesn't even look like uh cradle cap, it's these uh bumps that were all over his skin. And um it's in the reviews on our cradle con product and you could see just covered in in these red bumps, completely irritated. I mean his entire scalp and face. And They saw three dermatologists over eight months tried dozens of products, nothing worked, but then they finally tried cradle calm. And again, within days, his skin was calmer than it had been and now it's completely clear. And she said that even it was affecting his development because he wasn't able to do tummy time because he was so uncomfortable. And and so just to see that, you know, his just his happy glowing face on the other side is So inspiring. So we love testimonials. You know, some people start their day with caffeine. I start my day with testimonials and reviews and a little bit of caffeine.
Kurt Elster
Yeah, we we touched on self-care and mental health, but sometimes like reading the unsolicited positive things from strangers about how you help them, that's enough that that really can fix a bad mood
Austin Beals
Absolutely. Yeah. If if I ever need a boost of motivation, which fortunately is rare, but when I do need that, I just go read through reviews and it uh it reminds me of why we're doing this.
Kurt Elster
So the uh Dermazend, the site is dermazend. co. co.
Austin Beals
And but we we do also own the dot com, which redirects. So okay.
Kurt Elster
Dermazend. com. There we go. Uh Austin, where can we go to learn more about you?
Austin Beals
Yeah, um I mean um I would say Dermazent's much more exciting than me at this point. Uh if if someone wants to, I am on Instagram. Just at Austin the Beals. It's mostly just pictures of my family, but maybe someday I'll I'll post some more interesting e-commerce content. But uh other than that, Dermazen Co. is our Instagram and TikTok.
Kurt Elster
All right. I'll link to all that stuff in the show notes. Austin Beals, DermaZen. Thank you so much.
Austin Beals
Thanks, Kurt. Have a great day.
Kurt Elster
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