Building a light therapy business to help people with skin problems – Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam

INTERVIEW VIDEO (Length – 49:40)

PODCAST AUDIO

Sponsors & Partners

Udemy Horizontal Logo New customer offer! Top courses from $12.99 when you first visit Udemy

Intro

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam shares how he manifested greatness and launched a light therapy business to help people overcome their skincare and healthcare issues in a healthy way.

People & Resources Mentioned in the Episode

Book: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

What You’ll Learn

Interview with Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam

00:00Introduction
00:51About the business
02:48Developing the product
09:41The manufacturing process
12:17Funding and Finances
18:00Launching the business
22:02Targeting the customers
27:29Influencer marketing
31:07Tiktok marketing
35:45The team
36:49Warehousing and fulfillment strategy
39:57Mistakes made, lessons learned
41:22Rapid fire round

Rapid Fire

In this segment, the guest will answer a few questions quickly in one or two sentences.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam

  1. One book recommendation that you would make to entrepreneurs or business professionals (Response: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future)
  2. An innovative product or idea and the current eCommerce, retail, or tech landscape that you feel excited about (Response: Dermabeam)
  3. A business or productivity tool or software that you would recommend (Response: Canva, Final Cut Pro, Hotjar)
  4. A startup or a business that you think is currently doing great things (Response: Dream Pops)
  5. Best business advice you ever received (Response: Write down what you want to manifest and speak publicly)

Interview Transcript

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Hey there entrepreneurs My name is Eric Sheridan. Welcome to Dropbox. This is the show where I interview successful ecommerce entrepreneurs, business executives and thought leaders and ask them questions about their business story and also dive deeper into some of the strategies and tactics that they have used to start and grow their businesses. And today, I’m really excited to welcome to Kashi and Nagi. To the show, because she is the founder of Derma beam Derma beam is a light therapy products company. And we’re going to learn more about what that means. And today I’m going to ask Takashi, a few questions about his entrepreneurial journey, and some of the strategies and tactics that he has used to start and grow his business. So thank you so much for joining me today. I’m Trep talks Togashi.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Hey, thanks, Sushant. How are you guys really excited to be here? Yeah, the derma beam is a company that’s just a little over a year old. But we’re growing rapidly. And we just crossed the $100,000. Mark, for 2022. So six months. And yeah, and we expect to grow a lot more heading into the holiday season in q4. So Black Friday and Christmas, we excel expect to ramp up sales. And we are we we want to be the biggest light therapy company in the world. Light Therapy really changed my own life. I used to suffer from crazy skin conditions, from severe acne to severe eczema all over my body. And I was really depressed for a long period of my life, because I was very insecure with my skin. And then I discovered for light therapy, for face and for the body. And ever since I started doing that, I’ve been able to heal my skin and maintain healthier skin. And that really inspired me to create this company and help people with skin conditions. But also, it red light can help with so many aspects of health, including boosting the immune system, helping with hair growth, helping reduce pain and inflammation in the bones and the muscles. And so every every body part can benefit from extra cellular energy. And, and my goal is to develop the best light therapy products in a world. So everyone can benefit for their for their health.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Definitely, definitely. And I was just saying, you know, it’s my first impression was that mean, you look relatively young. And so you created this product, or you decided to sell this product, because you seemed like you were going to some health issues with yourself and this product help you? I guess my question would be who recommended that you use this product? Like Was there some sort of scientific research that you know, if you use this use, I believe you said red light therapy, it’s going to be good for the skin and hair and so forth.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Yeah, when on my healing journey, I researched so many potential solutions for skin. And I, I read many, many research studies, watched many videos by naturopathic medical doctors, and alternative solutions to just using drugs as the solution I didn’t I didn’t think drugs were the solution, I thought there has to be something different. And and now I have a more holistic view of health. And so I changed my diet. Obviously, my diet is you know, food is medicine. And food can be poisoned. So I was actually eating foods and drinking, you know, certain drinks like tea that was actually causing a lot of inflammation inside my body. And throughout my research I stumbled across red light therapy and how the light the certain wavelengths and light can photo activate the mitochondria in our cells to produce more energy in the form of ATP, adenosine triphosphate. So when skin cells have more energy, it heals much quicker and repairs all the damage that’s done to the cell and helps regenerate new skin cells. So when I found I found that out. I was like, Okay, I have to try this. And so I bought a device used it. And I was like, Wow. I mean, he helped heal my skin much quicker. And you can see the before and afters on my website Derma B mass.com. And that helped me really inspire me to create this company. Because I know millions of people out there are also suffering from skin conditions. And it’s not just me. So I thought that if they only knew about, you know, red light therapy, then they can hopefully heal their bodies as well. So the biggest issue, the big issue is there’s a lack of education and awareness about this technology, like therapy has been around for decades, but it’s just not that well known yet. It’s probably more popular in Asia, but not so much here. They just have a small portion of the population know about red light therapy, and infrared light therapy, you’re starting to see infrared saunas become more popular, and you are starting to see some red light therapy and blue light therapy it within dermatology. But it’s still not mainstream yet. And I think I think everyone can benefit by having a red light device in their home, just just like those like like an iPhone, just have, you should have one in your home to treat whatever condition it can. It can really help relieve the pain or relieve any skin condition by just providing your cells with extra cellular energy.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

And when you say red light, are you really referring to infrared light or is it like some other frequency.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

So red light has a wavelength in the 600 nanometer range, an infrared light is technically invisible, and has a wavelength of in the 800 nanometer range. And I’ll show you this is the supreme 2400 device.

Okay? That’s red light.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Okay, that’s infrared light. See, it’s invisible, but it’s actually turned on. And then third option is both. So I use an infrared light. And I stand in front of this for 10 minutes every morning and every night. And at night, and you just feel so good. You really you can really tell that it’s doing wonders for your skin because your skin starts glowing. It looks better, even after three four days. And you just have more energy because again, it’s literally energizing your cells with extra ATP adenosine triphosphate. So

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

an infrared I’m assuming infrared has energy right like it’s it’s actually warm or even hot. You would

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

like this device can get warm. Because it’s so powerful but it’s not going to burn you it’s technically a non thermal device and then so but

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

like when you’re when the light is on your skin, are you feeling heat or not?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

You feel the slight warmth, it feels good. It’s not hot enough to burn your or anything but you feel the warmth.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Okay. And then the other form factor which is behind you is the face. Face. What do you call it face mask or?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Yeah, so this is the derma beam Pro. Okay, turn it on. It might be out of batteries. Let me try this one. This is the regular Derma beam. Okay. So it is on as you can see. Yep. This one has three colors.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Okay. What if What if doing the same action what the bigger one is doing?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Correct? Yeah, this is targeted for the face that the Pro has seven different colors. And in LEDs. Here’s the box for it.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

So when you when you started the thing like when you found out about the therapy, what the form factor of the product the same or how did you or something, the form factor your creation, or are you simply a reseller of this product. Can you share a little bit about you know, So how did you come to create this product? Right?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

So I searched for manufacturers of existing led therapy devices in China. And then when I found several ones, I didn’t identify one manufacturer that could design it to where to the form that I like it, and, and customize it a little bit. So after finding the perfect manufacturer for that, then I was able to kind of design it and bring about the derma beam products for the states. And I have, I’m always thinking about how to how I can improve the design and make it even better. And so I view these as you know, version one of dermal beam, and just, I’m excited for version two, version three, and all the way up to version 10. You know, I have so many ideas on how I can make truly the best best product in the world.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

So your value add really is the design because the light itself is you’re saying it’s available many places, but you what you’ve done in your product is really added the web, the design aspect of it and that value add and now you’re selling it, have you also paid into the designs? Or like what kind of how do you how are you making sure that nobody can simply come and you know, create a different kind of, you know, helmet mask this design and just start selling?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Yeah, we’re in the process of getting the patents for the designs, and and the trademarks. And we have ideas on how to even make it even more proprietary, going forward. And yeah, I’m always looking for engineers, and product designers and product managers to join the team. So that I can, so we can manifest the vision I have for the future of Derma beam.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Okay, and when you started was it your the solo founder? Do you have any co founders? How did you fund the company? How do you fund the business? In the beginning? Can you share a little bit about the the financial aspect of really creating the business?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Sure. So I identified the product. And I’ve worked with my family out in, in Asia, to source the products, and they help with the sourcing, and I do marketing and the selling and advertising in the States. And so we have a really good team going. And

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

when you say Asia desert like China or Japan? Yeah, both. Okay. And, and so, your family or your your thing your family invested in the business also?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

What was their time? Yes, financially, it was, it was all me. But they they, you know, put in so much time and trying to help build this as well. So, yeah, yeah. So

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

I mean, can you share, like, how did you like, was that your own personal training? And the reason I’m asking you is, you know, a lot of the entrepreneurs or any one who’s getting started, like, that’s a big sticking point, right? You know, how does one come up with investment to start a business, especially a product based business? Can you share your your story and what you have learned that process?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Sure. So I used to work in finance, in and in private equity. So it was a pretty high paying job, and I was able to save, and it also invest in, in certain it had, you know, certain investments that did well, and so I had enough savings to really pour everything into this business. And yeah, I just found this to have more meaning and purpose in my life. And so I’m happy, you know, pouring all my savings into this because it just brings me more fulfillment and happiness. Yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

So So you were an investment banker, you had some savings. You started this business. At what point? Did you Was there some sort of an idea validation process where you said, you know, where you created a prototype and you sold it before just to make sure before you leave your job, that Do you have a business that’s going to sustain you rather than, you know, an idea that, of course you found useful but may or may not have a market potential? Was there some sort of idea validation process before you went 100% into this? Or how did you transition from your job to like going, I’m assuming you’re full time working on your business.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Right. So I’m full time during well being, but actually, I didn’t have a job. So in 2019, I was I actually went to I had to take a medical break, because my skin was just so bad. And you can see the four pictures on on my website, and it just, I was covered from head to toe, and just very severe rashes. And just my skin was inflamed, itchy, and I could, I was bedridden for a period of time, I could not move and so I went through some like dark times trying to, you know, find answers trying to find solutions for my health for my skin. And in 2019 Yeah, I was, I was depressed, and I was suicidal. I my lowest point in my life was calling the hotline because I just, I just didn’t know what else to do. But something deep with me just told me to keep going and to end 2020 The quarantine hit so I was I was yeah, I wasn’t working. I was just really just depressed and just kind of trying to figure out what to do in life, because I didn’t really have purpose. And then, and 2021 I saw a hypnotist just across the street. I had watched that Rob Dyrdek, who’s a very famous skateboarder he is he went and saw a hypnotist and he said he was hypnotized for success. And I was inspired by that because I really didn’t have anything to lose at that point. And then after seeing the hypnotist i i felt renewed refreshed. And I could feel that my traumas had been lifted and like untangled in my subconscious so then I started to manifest Derma beam after seeing the hypnotist So yeah, that’s it’s been a journey trying to try to build this thing. But I, I finally found what I was meant to do in life. And I have so much purpose now.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

So okay, and you so you invested your money you created this business, how did you can you share a little bit of how do you how did you actually go about the process of launching the business while your business completely online that you have retail stores also shop shops around? And what was it like initially, when you launched the business? How did you get your first customers?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Yeah, so we launched and it was September of last year after working on it for five months, and initially we didn’t have like, we might have sold only four masks in the first month. We didn’t really have a marketing plan just some people have like, you know, great marketing and build a lot of hype. We like we didn’t do any of that. We just kind of turned on the the sales side of the website. And it Yeah, it primarily our primary sales are on on the website, but now we’re selling on Amazon and that’s taking off. We’re also selling in dermatology offices and spas across the country. And the early days, I went door to door in Beverly Hills with just bag bags of Derma beams. I felt like like a like a boy scout just kind of biking around trying to sell cookies, but it was really just masks and I went to pretty much all the dermatology spots in Beverly Hills. You know, pitching and that was the early days and now I have very famous dermatologist like Dr. Emmer. And Dr. Nazarian, selling or offering my products on their stores. So yeah, door to door work. So you just got up their household and at the beginning, and and now we’re trying to manifest big retail stores like Target, Walmart, Sephora, and Ulta. I think those are the big ones. And, and also have a presence in the UK and internationally. So we’ve been shipping some samples to big retailers out there to potentially get out on shelves.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

And but obviously, you also have a website is more or most of your fields coming through like your online journals are you selling on? Amazon also or other marketplaces?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Yes, on Amazon, and on eBay, but most most of the sales are on the website. But Amazon is growing rapidly, as well. So

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

okay. And so when when you got your product, so as you said, so your your manufacturing or your manufacturer in China and Japan and and they work with your design and create these products? Have you ever had any bad experience with working with like manufacturers in China or Japan? Sometimes what happens is, you know, you’ve ordered something, and the specifications are not right, or something like that. Have you? Are you satisfied with your manufacturer? Yeah,

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

yeah. For the most part, my family’s very good at sourcing and having a dialogue with the manufacturer directly. So so far, no major issues that we’ve run into, and? And Bear hopefully that continues going forward. Yeah, that thankfully, yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Can you share a little bit about your marketing? Like, who’s your target market? And because of course, this is this is a very targeted product. And I’m sure anyone who’s suffering from skin conditions, and this is kind of like a pain point, right? When you are going through the the, you know, your health skin related issue. It was a pain point. And I’m sure you are willing to try anything anyone suggested and said, you know, this really work? And you share who how you are targeting your customers who they are, and how are you really reaching them?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Sure. So my main core customer is women, around 30 to 65 years old, and age range, and they’re college educated. And that’s my main demographic for my masks. And then for my panels. Hardcore like biohackers. And athletes like to use my panels. One famous user is Apollo No, eight time Olympic medalist. And he loves using this device right here after his workouts. And we target them through different advertising channels on Facebook, Google, on YouTube, and on Pinterest.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

So what are the what are the different use cases we use? The most is used primarily by vivid versus this one will use more by like athletes and so forth. What are the different? Why Why? Why do women use the mask more as opposed to the

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

right? Women care a lot more about skin than men. And they care about wrinkles and acne and hyperpigmentation. So the mask is perfect for that. It’s very easy to use, very comfortable, portable, lightweight, it’s cordless. And so they like using this device. This device is more powerful and has the infrared light technology that has deeper wavelengths to target muscles, bones, ligaments, so athletes who are you know, in pain from working out can use this to really speed up their recovery. And then biohackers who are like super into health, which I guess I am as well, because I went through my health struggles. I’m now hyper focused on maintaining clear skin and trying to be as healthy as I can. So biohackers also like to use this device.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Okay. And so you were saying I got you up you were saying you’re using a lot of social channels and things like that. Is it mostly organic mostly paid what which channels were the best in terms of bringing new customers and how do you? How do you do you have? Do you have repeat purchases? Do you have customers who are buying one and then buying more?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Right, so, for the most part, we don’t have repeat customers yet. But the reviews that are coming in are very good for our products. And so I can see them buying it for their friends, or moms or sisters, you know, for their families over the holiday season. And that’s, that’s a big push that we’ll probably do for marketing. And yeah, our Facebook ads are doing well, Google Ads also doing well, we continually improve the ad set. So now we have a 3d render of a mass that’s rotating, and turning. And then we have these infographics that kind of pop up giving the description of the different lights, and of the product design so that those ads are doing really well. And then we also work with skincare influencers, like Sandra banks, banks and, and Rob store, who is also a skincare investor, so they’ve made videos for us. And those have done really well. And we also want to work with more and more health, health related influencers, to help push the product. And then I’ve shipped a bunch of care packages to editors of beauty and skincare magazines. And they’ve started to post about dental beam, clean beauty magazine, we were featured in their very first issue, and they’re based out of Australia. So we want to be in more and more skincare and beauty magazines going for us. So we’ll continue to try you know, trying to land those and, you know, shipping care packages to the editors and, and just praying that the like the product and then write about us.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

So I want to ask you more about the influencer marketing part of it. So when you’re sending care packages, are you just saying, you know, this is a cool product? You know, this is a use case that solves the problem, it would be great for you to review it or like what what is the Ask you’re making them? How to really incentivize or really motivate them to actually do some sort of a review or make make a post or something like that, can you share a little bit about that?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Right. The influencers are, you know, have no obligation to post about us. And I would say you know, 60 mil, probably so 70 to 80% Don’t, when we send them care packages, and that’s just part of the game, you know, they get so many free things that they can’t post about every single one so but the I 20% who do really love the product, and and I’ve gone to become friends with them, and they they shall love back by posting, whether it’s on on their Instagram story or on in their actual feed. So you Yeah, it’s just you just have to allocate a portion of the inventory for influencer marketing, and then also also have to be realistic with yourself and know that, you know, not all of them will post about it. But if they like it, they’ll, you know, continue using it and they’ll they’ll talk about it, like Derma bean is a very unique product, and has a unique look that if you like it and use it, then people start to talk and so word of mouth is is has driven a lot of sales for us as well.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

And how do you choose the right influencer? Like how do you make sure that your select Intel influencers? Like is there a criteria you’re using? So that you’re making sure that you know when the audience that they have will you know, vibe with this product or you know, their audiences not fake audience, you know, or something like that. How do you mean, are there things that you do to make sure that your success rate has improved and the fact that you have this kind of good Perfect.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Right. So we’ve also had to learn the hard way. You know, we’ve paid some influencers, and the ROI hasn’t just been there. Because they’re not in the skincare specific space. So we’ve had to learn the hard way. Even though you have, you know, millions of followers, if your audience doesn’t really care about skincare, then it doesn’t translate sales. So now we’re focused on obviously skincare and beauty influencers and and trying to Yeah, trying to get them to, hopefully like the product and then they’ll, they’ll post about it. So. Yeah, it’s definitely I’m still learning how to navigate this space because yeah, the ROI can very, very, be very different amongst certain influencers.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Okay. Have you tried the Tick Tock at all?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Yeah, we’re on Tik Tok. And we, we’ve been posting and we have about 5000 followers on Tiktok. And majority of that came from two videos. One, it was a video that was filmed at EDC in it didn’t make any sense, but it was a raver. We zoomed in on the mask. But initially, when we were zooming out one of the girls had you know, she was she’s wearing raver gear. So it’s like her booties out pretty much. And so we had over 700,000 people, like watch the video. And they posted in the algorithm, all things to a little booty, etc. That helped us and then another video got we got like 300,000 view videos for views from me giving a derma beam to Diplo, who’s a famous DJ at Coachella. And that the audience seemed to like that one. So you gave him

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

a gift on the stage. How did you How do you make that happen?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Yeah, yeah, I gave him while he was doing his set. It was a smallish venue. So it was a you could just kind of go up to him. And it was in the box, and not as a mess. So I just kind of gave him the box. And he looked at the mat, the box and he was confused, like what it was. And so his confusion actually helped the algorithm, because people were commenting that, you know, he didn’t say thanks, he like he just you can’t he just put it under on their own under the table. And people are like, Oh, he’s not he’s not grateful. He gets all the spray things and, and I was just like, he doesn’t even know what it is. So it’s fine. It’s just Yeah, but people commenting actually helped the algorithm because there was more engagement. And, and that kind of boosted the views on Tik Tok.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

So it seems like I mean, you have looking at your tick tock right now on the other side. And it seems like you definitely learn the lesson and I see you know, some some beautiful ladies promoting wearing the mask, but it seems like it didn’t have the same effect that you receive from an accidental thing. Any any level there? Like? I mean, I’m sure you’ve thought about it quite a bit.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Yeah. I’m still learning I’m by no means a tick tock expert. So I’m still learning I, from what I know, I just kind of keep posting and you kind of Yeah, it’s kind of random, but you never know what’s going to pop off on tick tock so I just keep posting fun things and try to put as much effort as I can. Even though the least amount of effort that I put into one video got the most number of views so it Yeah, it’s pretty random but I’ll just continue posting and then see what pops off.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

So I guess my question would be it’s really interesting. I mean, your your page your Tiktok page is definitely nice. Are you creating these videos yourself? How are you finding or are you hiring people to wear this as an advertisement? Because I’m sure there’s like, some issues with anyone who’s modeling for this product like, are they like signing a disclaimer or something like they don’t want to profit share it or something like that? Or, like, how are you making this happen?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

So yeah, when I go to parties, I have a bunch of masks that I kind of just hand out to people. And if we’re all dancing, then people love dancing with it. And I just kind of get the videos. And then I post it. And yeah, people love wearing the masks and having fun with it dancing with it. And so yeah, that’s, that’s been my strategy so far. Just go to parties and get some content.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Okay, cool. Very interesting. What have your one of your team you look like right now? Are you the only person? Or do you have other people working with you to promote this?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

I have several contractors, helping with the advertising. And one with the renders like this one on the box. I have a box design guy who helps me. And then I have several. I’ve had graphic designers, I have one that’s helping me with the Amazon graphics right now. And but in terms of full time, it’s, it’d be just just me. And yeah, and so we’re still lean and mean, and we’re trying to, you know, grow to be the largest slider be company, but still just a small team.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

So you share that you are shipping in the US and UK. Can you share a little bit about your warehousing and fulfillment strategy? How are you managing the cost of shipping with this product? And how do you warehouse it? And then how do you fulfill those orders?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Sure. So I, I searched for a three PL that’s near La, just because I’m based here. And I think I interviewed 10 or 15, and went to their location, talk to the team, see if I liked them. And I was able to find one be a low cost option. Because I was small, it didn’t make sense for me to pay a lot for a bigger service provider. So I found a low cost provider, that’s been great. And we continue to grow in. And they do international shipping. So we’ve been able to ship to Australia and Canada in the UK for the most of our problems, and how hopefully, eventually we’ll have a retail presence in those countries. And probably

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

you, you outsource that to a three PL so you don’t have to worry about working with carriers or anything like that. You’re basically the three CPL gives you the best rate, whether it’s domestically or internationally. Correct? Yeah. Okay. Can you share a little bit about are you adding new products to your product line? Anything? are you what are you working most? At right now? Is it marketing the product development? Sales, that customer service, what are you spending your most of your time? And right now? Yes, so we’re

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

in terms of the light therapy devices we have. We have you know, what I believe to be the best products and and, and then we’re developing even a better version of the mask as we speak. So hopefully that will come out. Within two to three years, we’ll have a better version of the mass. And we’re also coming out with CRMs so Vitamin C serum and collagen serums that can you put on your face and then you can put the mask over it to help absorb all the good ingredients inside. So we’re coming out with that. And yeah, we just want to constantly be innovating and really trying to build the the best and thorough products in the world.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Can you share a little bit about You know, every entrepreneur goes to, you know, make mistakes, have failures, you know, lessons learned. Can you share a little bit about or, you know, one or two big mistakes or failures that you have faced so far since starting your business? Or really just, you know, setbacks or challenges? And how have you dealt with them? What have you learned? What can other entrepreneurs learn from your experiences?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Sure. So, the big mistakes, or we kind of talked about this is working with non relevant influencers who have big followings. But if their audience is not focused on buying skincare products, then the it’s just a waste of money. And so I’ve wasted almost $30,000 trying to work with big influencers, and they’re not, the sales just aren’t translating, even though they have a large audience. So though, you know that that was a painful lesson, but I’ve learned and now we work strictly with beauty and skincare influencers, who have much higher ROIs. And, yeah, that’s probably the biggest like financial mistake I’ve made.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Okay. Now, we’re going to move on to our rapid fire round. And in this segment, I’m going to ask you a few quick questions. And you have to try to add to the question and one word or one sentence or, or so. So the first question is one book that you would recommend to entrepreneurs or business professionals in 2022. And why

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

probably Elon Musk’s biography. The author’s Ashley Vance, I believe, and just Elon is my hero, when it comes to building a business successful business and just his work ethic is insane. He’ll be up six 7am. And it’s just, you just you just know he’s working, or you’re just thinking about, you know, how to develop a better product. And so whenever I’m tired, or, you know, working late in the night, or early mornings, you just kind of think about, you just know he’s working. And so it just motivates me to continue building and you can’t yet you got to keep hustling and keep not give up and just keep grinding

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

in order to grow product or idea in the current ecommerce retail or tech landscape that you feel excited about.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Innovative Products, I’m so focused on Derma beam that I haven’t really, I don’t really pay attention to other products.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

I mean, you must use some some product. I mean, you’re sitting on a chair. I mean, what, what kind of thing you use most frequently and find most useful.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Huh, let’s see. Let’s see. Let’s see. I

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

mean, it could be anything.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

I have no, yeah. My mind is blanking on this question.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

I mean, I feel hurt. I mean, you’re wearing a head. Oh, yeah. Yeah, head in the background.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

I do love my cowboy hats and my furry hats. I have a whole collection on that. So yeah, I guess I guess hat collecting my hat collection,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

a business or productivity tool or software that you would recommend or a productivity tip.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

I use Canva a lot for my Instagram post and designing. I use Final Cut Pro a lot for my videos, and hot jar for my heat maps. All those are great and very useful

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

tools. Cool. Startup or business in E commerce retail or tech that you think is going to be doing great things. Another startup

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

another startup Ah. I know the I’ve met the founder of dream pops. vegan ice cream. And David he’s crushing it. He’s Yeah, it’s time you can see. You can find dream pops all over the stores. I’ve also met Maya, one of the founders of Koya. Drinks. And I love those movies. I drink that though, those smoothies often so. Yeah, those entrepreneurs are just crushing it.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Cool, cool. Last question, best business advice you ever received, or you would give to other entrepreneurs

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

the advice that I can give is just, you just really have to write down what you want to manifest and speak publicly. I, in my Instagram description, my The first sentence is manifesting the light therapy empire. And people know that I’m trying to build something big. And I talked about manifestation a lot, like I visualize the future of what this can be. And I want to be the, the apple of like therapy products, I want to be the unquestionably the biggest company in this space and developing the most used and most user friendly product in the world. And, and so I speak about that a lot. I write that down a lot, I read it everywhere. Talk about it, dream about it, visualize it, and the universe is listening it I’ve grown so much in one year. I by manifesting, and I will continue to do it. And I don’t see enough people do it. I really don’t. If you want something, you really have to write it down, talk about it and just be obsessed with achieving that goal.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Talk about it when you talk about it, like talk about just people in general or post about it. Yeah, just turn the word over, basically,

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

yeah, talk to people. Make content, make videos, social media posts, whatever it is that you like, your sole focus should be whatever goal that you want to achieve. And then you really have to be obsessed. Conor McGregor talks about this, Elijah’s got to be obsessed with, you know, finding success and then for him, you know, as being the best fighter in the world. So there was a moment in time where He’s unstoppable. And he, I, yeah, he just, I would put him in that category. The name comes at Jake Paul comes to mind. He also is a big Jake and Logan. They’re big into manifestation. Writing down their goals. And yeah, they inspire me to write down my goals and then try to achieve something. Something huge in the world. I mean, just you have one life, you know, why not make it the biggest, just have the biggest legacy that you can. And that’s what I’m trying to achieve.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

That’s awesome. Thank you so much. Those are all the questions that I have on the on Trep talks. Togashi. Really pleasure to have you. Thank you so much for joining me today sharing your story. Anyone who wants to buy your products, what is the best way they can do that?

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

I know my website is mov mass.com. We’re also on Amazon, you could just type in Durham or Bing will pop up. And pretty soon you’ll see it in your local dermatologists office and we’ll and and then some years down the road. Or sooner than that. We’ll be in Target, Walmart, Sephora, Ulta. You name it will be in there. Again, I’m manifesting those retail locations.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks  

Awesome. Thank you so much. Togashi thank you for your time today. I really enjoyed speaking with you. And thank you for joining me today.

Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam  

Hey, thank you guys. Appreciate it. Zsuzsa thank you for the opportunity and it really enjoyed the conversation. And yeah, go check out Derma beam

Also, get inspired to Create a Profitable Online Business with Maddie Miles – Creating an herbal nutraceuticals brand for women’s health


One Reply to “Building a light therapy business to help people with skin problems – Takashi Yanagi of Dermabeam”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *