Founder story | Lessons from my zinc oxide skincare startup

When I first began Bedrock, I decided to personally message all of my 832 LinkedIn contacts and let them know about my new baby, Bedrock.

I am not kidding.

I spent 30 days (four entire weeks) messaging my colleagues from years past, asking for their snail-mail address and catching up. I wrote, designed, printed, hand-addressed and mailed this card to hundreds of my contacts that were willing to part with their personal address for this mystery “birth” announcement. 

I wrote this birth announcement just like it was my third child (my friends were SO faked out), and once they opened it, it was not a real baby, it was a glass jar with creamy botanicals and zinc oxide. 

Hundreds of dollars and a month later, I cashed in on five sales. 

FIVE WHOLE SALES.

Fast forward to last night. A salesman from Full Circle Farms knocked on our door during dinner time. I politely said no but told him my sister was a happy customer. I went back to dish-washing, mulling over how brave you must be for door-to-door sales and thinking maybe that’s what growing Bedrock would take.

I thought, maybe I’ll make a postcard instead. No knocking, just a postcard taped to a thousand doors. I’m not interrupting dinner, I’m just sharing my skin-fix, right?

So I wrote it up.

The front side says: YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT YOUR NEIGHBOR JUST DID. 

[how could you not flip that over!!]

The back says: She got a raging armpit rash and then did something about it.

Then I talk about all the annoying skin irritations that Bedrock can soothe: dry acne prone skin, t zone redness, shaving rash, hair bumps on face or flaky eczema. Our skin barrier cream face is perfect for a red complexion.

What do you think? Do you know what your neighbors are up to? Do you think the postcard will work? Is this a waste of time?

My grassroots girl needs to know! Drop us a line at hello@bedrockskin.com.

P.S. - what’s the craziest thing you’ve done for a sale?