Notes from Chris

Episode 1471

In the summer of 2015, friends Christian Thrapp and Ryan Baylis were out mountain biking. They were also bouncing around business ideas. Ryan pointed out the lack of good options for car air fresheners that aren’t tacky and full of chemicals. Fake Plastic Trees was a great song by Radiohead, but the world didn’t need any more of the actual fake plastic trees.

Besides, how hard could it really be to make natural air fresheners? Christian admits now that if they’d foreseen the challenges they’d soon face, they wouldn’t have gone any further. He’s also grateful for their ignorance.

Not every business requires you to spend money upfront, but in this case, they each put in about $2,500 to buy wood, oil, metal clips, and some online ads. Christian admits that when they spent $1,000 on an order of metal clips from overseas, he was worried they’d never see that money again. But it worked out and they launched GentScents, a brand of natural car air fresheners for men.

In October 2016, the pair gained some traction with a Kickstarter campaign. Here’s a trick that might help someone with crowdfunding: don’t be afraid to make a pledge to your own project. Toward the end of the campaign, they realized they weren't going to hit their $7,500 goal and would therefore lose out on the other money they’d raised. To make sure that didn’t happen, they ended up backing the last part themselves.

GentScents rebranded as Drift to capture more of the market and sell other products beyond air fresheners. For instance, they now sell room sprays and offer a scent of the month club starting at $8/month.

Thanks in large part to paid social media, they’re now hitting sales in the mid seven figures and growing. Interestingly, search engine optimization hasn’t been a big driver for them because people don’t Google for air fresheners. It’s more of an impulse buy. Christian says they plan to keep building Drift until they take over the air care business.

Despite the challenges, they’ve come out smelling like a rose. Or winter pine or sugared citrus, in their case.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Freshen up your life by picking up your own air freshener at Christian and Ryan's website, Drift.co.

SEE ALSO:

• Three Friends Step Up And Pull In Restroom Revenue: When three co-workers notice their colleagues using paper towels to open restroom doors, they invent a simple solution that’s a step above the rest.
• Brooklyn App Developer Spins All-Natural Cotton Candy: A mobile app developer gets nostalgic and creates an all-natural cotton candy catering biz.
• Natural Deodorant That Actually Works Brings In $5,500/Month: A former venture capitalist starts a scent-sational side hustle selling her own natural, floral-based deodorant.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work! Yours in the revolution,

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