How I Tapped On An Emerging Hair Care Market And Built A $90K/Month Business
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
Hello! I am Becky Bavli, the founder and CEO of T is for Tame. I started the company about 5 years ago when my twins were born with hair and I couldn’t find clean products to tame it. Every morning they would wake up with their hair either standing up, in knots, or all over the place. When my husband started licking his hands to tame it, I knew there had to be a better way!
Our main target is moms with kids, 0-5 before the first haircut. She is searching for safe products that she can use on her baby to help tame their hair. We launched with a Taming Cream and have launched several other taming products since. We started on Amazon and recently pushed into Target and Walmart, growing our revenue by over 85+% each year.
Word of mouth is so powerful for moms that we believe having people experience the brand is the best way to get them to talk about and stay with it.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
I am an ex-ad executive that spent most of my days developing advertising for my clients. I had always dreamed of pouring my heart into something that I believed in. I worked on hair care brands and baby brands in the past, so when the idea of "T is for Tame" came to me, I wasn't completely surprised.
Taking the plunge from an idea to selling our product to over 100,000+ families worldwide has been a dream come true! I still get excited when my team shares an IG post that another family has found us and loves our products.
It can be lonely building a business, but knowing that you have a greater connection or purpose for why you do what you do makes it all worth it.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
I started with the problem that I knew I wanted to solve, which was to create a hair product for babies, that was safe, not sticky, stiff, or oily, AND worked. I experimented with different fruit juices, oils, and other ingredients and after several formulas, landed on coconut oil as a main ingredient.
The next step was finding a chemist to help develop and test my idea. This was no easy fete as my background is in marketing and I had no idea where to begin. I stalked chemist websites and LinkedIn and reached out to someone that had worked in the baby industry in the past. I wanted to make sure I owned the formula, so finding someone that I could work with was important to me.
After the chemist developed the formula, the next step was having moms try it. We mainly used Facebook mom groups and my local community to have moms try it and fill out anonymous surveys.
I knew even if I was in love with the idea, I had to have other moms buy into it for me to believe it would be successful.
Describe the process of launching the business.
I decided to do one thing well in the beginning and expand after I had truly nailed it. I wouldn’t say my work is done on Amazon, but it’s the area I feel the most comfortable in because I studied it extensively.
For about 6 months before I launched, I listened to Amazon expert podcasts while my twins slept in the car. I was once pulled over by a police officer because I was circling the neighborhood too often. He let me pass after hearing the podcast blaring and seeing the twins snoring.
When you launch a product-based business, inventory is one of the biggest difficulties. You want to grow as fast as you can, but running out of inventory is a killer for a business. During the pandemic, we ran our several times and if I had been in any other channel besides Amazon, it would have killed the business.
It was hard enough knowing I wasn’t able to make sales, but if I also ruined retail or customer relationships by not delivering, I think my business wouldn’t have succeeded.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
Amazon remains out #1 sales channel, While I love what Amazon has done for our cash flow, it hasn’t provided a way to connect with our customers and have a deep understanding of who she is and why she buys from us. I see that Amazon is working on providing that for brand owners, so I am hopeful it will get there.
Our second largest channel is wholesale partnerships and big box retail. We sell our products in a specialty, Walmart, Target, and natural grocery. We opted to invest in having the brand show up where she currently shops. We work with our retail partners to participate in promotions to elevate the brand and use ads to drive geo-targeted traffic to stores.
Our social media journey started very slowly and we didn’t see the power of it until much later. We are now getting our product into the hands of as many micro-influencers that would like to try it. Word of mouth is so powerful for moms that we believe having people experience the brand is the best way to get them to talk about and stay with it.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
We sell about 80% of our products on Amazon, 10% in retail and the rest is our e-commerce/wholesale business. I think having a deeper relationship with our customers is important and tools that help us do that is what we are employing.
For example, we decided micro-influencers should be a part of our strategy. We reach out to a very specific niche on Instagram and Tiktok and gift products in exchange for content. Then we funnel them into an affiliate program.
From there, we work with the influencers that produce the best content and create ads and TikTok from it. As more and more moms move over to that platform, we will need to have a strategy to tap into them. We are looking into hiring a TikTok-specific agency as this platform requires a lot of content and a thorough understanding of what will work not only for our target but for the platform.
We also just launched a hair gel that is the #1 New Product in our category on Amazon and will launch 3 more products this year. Launching on Amazon in 2018 vs. 2023 is completely different. The algorithm has changed which makes it more difficult to rank for keywords unless the Amazon customer clicks on your brand.
And just spending money on ads isn’t a way to have more eyeballs on you. We think it’s about driving your current base to discover your new products, buy them, and tell others about them. It’s what works for us.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I went to a tradeshow very early on. I thought buyers were coming running to me and I would be able to pitch my product. WRONG. I quickly learned that walking the floor, making appointments, and in general being visible are what make the sale in the end. The best part about the tradeshow for me was meeting a group of like-minded entrepreneurs with that I bounce ideas.
My advice: find your people and create your group so you can help build each other up! My group is below!
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
- Shopify: website
- Gorgias: customer service
- Paypal
- Shipstation: shipping
- Klaviyo: email
- Yotpo: reviews
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
I taught myself how to launch a product on Amazon by listening to an Amazon podcast: the Amazing Seller podcast. I drove my twins in the car while they napped and soaked in everything that I could learn.
As I got further into T is for Tame, I read the Exitprenuer, which changed the way I looked at my business. I thought of my business as something I was doing for my family to replace my income, versus a viable long-term business that carved out a category for families needing clean hair products.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
Tap into everyone you know and ask for help. Explain your idea or your business and see if they can help or if they know someone who can. I spent WAY too much time, in the beginning, worrying that someone might take the idea.
The reality is creating a business from scratch takes so much time and effort, that even if someone thought your idea was great (and wanted to steal it) the hurdle to creating a business stops 99% of people. And now you just need to beat the 1% to market, which you will need help with.
Find a way to give back either with your business or something you do as an entrepreneur. It can be lonely building a business, but knowing that you have a greater connection or purpose for why you do what you do makes it all worth it.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We are always looking to hire interns with a social media background. It could end up being paid or school credit, depending on your situation.
Where can we go to learn more?
- Feel free to email us: info@tisfortame.com
- Our website if you are interested in our products or more info
- Or find us on all socials @tisfortame
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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