Jake Tran on how partnering for help with development and marketing can make your product a hit — without all the work:
Jake:
So, we just launched this. It’s called Evil Goods, and it’s an all natural moisturizer made of beef tallow and a few other natural ingredients like Manuka honey, olive oil, and a extract from the Pot Marigold flower.
So, all natural moisturizer that’s whipped up into consistency that is as satisfying to use as, like, toxic mainstream skincare products.
So, as you can see, it’s branded underneath, like, the Evil Food Supply channel.
To make this, I started making it on my own but I decided to partner with one of my really good friends, Rob Oliver, who’s a really big expert in building brands, especially on Amazon.
And that has been a super-big game-changer partnering with him. Although I was able to create like a really good product on my own, we were able to use his expertise and his operations team to run the actual business.
So, we have a CEO in place now, so I don’t really do much. And they’re doing a way better job than I could have ever done if I were to try to do this on my own.
Charlie:
You are not afraid to partner up with people, share equity, stuff like that. So, why?
Jake:
Going back to when I was doing everything on my own, I was, like, very stingy. But once I got over that hurdle, I saw just how much more I could accomplish if I just hired and outsourced, along with partnering.
I’d rather have, like, a smaller piece of a bigger pie than me trying to spread myself so thin.
And like these days I literally just can’t do more stuff. Like, all my hours are taken up by, like, the various projects. So, if I were to try to, like, manage all the channels, and run this as a CEO, it would be not a good outcome.
Charlie:
Would you be willing to share some numbers about your new product?
Jake:
It’s only been, I want to say, like, two— three weeks of launching. We’ve sold over a thousand units already. So, it’s growing super fast, and people are loving it, and I’m very proud of it.
Charlie:
So, that’s a really smart way to, like, monetize a faceless channel. Right? Like, you’re building a product behind that channel.
Jake:
Yeah, and there are so many ways to monetize. And, it really just depends on what fits your channel the best.
So, for example with the main channel, Jake Tran, I don’t have any physical products just cuz I haven’t really found anything that really matches the brand of that channel.
But, for the Evil Food Supply channel I thought this was so, so, perfect. The benefit of this is it’s already running on its own, even without the YouTube channel. So, that’s really powerful.
— end of vid clip: @ minute 13:29
Another creator I’d like to see controlling his own platform more securely — far too heavy of a reliance on Patreon, YouTube “Membership,” and Amazon. Zero self-owned destination for his fans and supporters at the time of this posting.
Still, his decision to partner for help developing and marketing his skin care product is a solid one to learn from.
Btw, beauty — the business category Jake’s skin care product falls under — is where most of the top 100 brand-owning creators are (by far), accounting for a full 40 percent. Compare that with fashion (23%), software apps (9%), food & drink (8%) according to the most recent NeoReach numbers.
— Tang
Charlie Chang’s owned platforms include: CharlieChang.com and Paired.so.
Jake Tran’s owned platform is: Evil Goods.
