“Feel the fear and do it anyway”: How two mums turned their idea into a million-dollar business
Marissa McLoughlin and Annette Short are the mums behind Ugly Swan, an innovative hairbrush range that has taken the struggle out of our kids’ morning hair consultations. Joining Cec Busby, editor of Flying Solo, the pair shared how, in just a few short years, they turned their self-funded great idea into a million-dollar business.
Like many successful entrepreneurs, Marissa and Annette identified an opportunity. They were tired of the daily screaming matches in their households caused by the struggle of brushing their daughters’ hair. So, they’d bought and tested every hairbrush on the market, finding that each one fell short of its promise of a pain-free experience.
Perfecting the product
From the initial idea to getting the perfect product out on the market, the pair shared that the process realistically took six months to a year.
“Friends and family were our first try-outs who all loved it, and they all wanted the brush,” says Marissa. “We thought, right, we’re onto something great.”
The brush’s design solves a very relatable problem, and there is an undeniable authenticity to the product range. The pair behind Ugly Swan believe customers have become savvier with how and why they shop online.
“People now look for real reviews, not sponsored ads,” Marissa says. “They look at your Google, Facebook, and website reviews”.
Annette and Marissa bootstrapped their entire operation from the get-go. As their business grew, coping with each massive influx of orders on a logistics level became their biggest focus.
“It’s a bit of juggling and just trying to learn your own business,” Annette says. “Stock and cash flow in a business are the hardest predictions to determine how much stock you need and in what timeframe”.
Listen to Ugly Swan’s Marissa McLoughlin and Annette Short on Flying Solo:
Recognising their strengths and weaknesses
Starting in 2017 with no business experience, Marissa and Annette combined their decades of sales expertise to develop a plan of attack. In some sense, the pair attribute the initial momentum of their business to naivety.
“I remember when the day our website launched, I was the one that had done that with no experience whatsoever because we’d invested all our money into the product,” recalls Marissa. “But the great thing about that was that I had some fantastic learnings about what I didn’t know”.
The pair are grateful for the gaps in their experience and knowledge in the early days of Ugly Swan and urge aspiring entrepreneurs not to let what they don’t know, stop their ambition.
“Feel the fear and do it anyway,” says Marissa.
In Ugly Swan’s first year, in-person shows and word-of-mouth drove the majority of traffic to their website.
“Annette and I had no social media skills, no website skills,” Marissa says. “Our skills were in a face-to-face selling and training people on how to sell”.
“It wasn’t until probably a year after that, that we started realising what social media could do,” Marissa continues. “I was lucky that I had a friend with a company online, and I saw her growth in six months and went, wow, that’s incredible”.
When the pair acknowledged the efficiency and power of social media compared to more traditional face-to-face methods, they promptly adapted their business strategies. Using their savvy sales brains, they jumped on opportunities to work with local influencers to promote their product range. For example, upon learning of his impressive radio career, Marissa approached a fellow dad at school and shared the story of Ugly Swan. She gave him a set of brushes to trial on his daughters, and he promoted the ‘game-changing’ product across his social media.
“We saw the influx of orders, and the followers grew,” recalls Marissa. “It was just about building those foundations and using opportunities that Annette and I had from shows”.
Looking forward
“When we first started, we looked at it for children,” says Marissa. “But there are people going through menopause with hair loss. There are so many adults with sensitive scalps, so it goes to such a diverse range of people”.
On the business side of things, the revenue growth and expansion over the past few years have allowed Marissa and Annette to outsource and delegate much more, freeing up time and energy to create new products.
Now, reaping the benefits of their hard work, these entrepreneurs enjoy the flexibility of owning their own business.
“Even though we excelled in our roles working for the other company, I wanted to get that balance back,” Marissa says. “What does having people taking over those roles do? It gives me that family balance that I need in my life; that’s important”.
Though small business owners are often the first to burn out, the pair attribute their momentum and drive to the support they provide each other.
“I love working with my bestie,” Annette gushes. “It definitely makes working a lot more fun, and we are so fortunate that we work great together and that we get the opportunity to do that”.
“We have a great relationship that we could discuss anything,” Marissa confirms. “I don’t have that dread or burnout about going to work because Annette and I bounce quite well off each other so that we get creative.”
Marissa and Annette shared more about their entrepreneurial journey in this Flying Solo ep– listen now.
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