Hello, nice to meet you!
My name is Yoshina, and I’m 24 yrs old. I’d like to tell you my story of how I came up with my business idea that fits the CENTS model and my thought process towards entrepreneurship through the years, if you don’t mind. (Tips at the end)
When I was around 13 years old, I started having some skin issues such as acne and other skin disorders, which led me to see a dermatologist for the first time. In the reception room, there was a large pamphlet display full of pamphlets ranging from skincare product information, aesthetic procedures, to skin cancer prevention. Out of curiosity, I decided to read them. I was so starstruck to learn that sunscreen, a topical product, helped to prevent skin cancer (which can be deadly btw) and slowed down signs of aging. I become obsessed with learning about anything related to skincare to improve my skin, and because I found it brought me happiness. I had my fair share of getting caught up by deceptive marketing and misinformation, which led me to spend too much on products that did nothing for my skin or worse, almost destroyed my skin.
Thankfully, I came across a cosmetics brand that had comprehensive skincare educational content that was science based, which I soaked in like a sponge. Anyways, I followed the science-based advice and my skin got better. No surprise. Teenage me was ecstatic, though . I learned a valuable lesson that the truth in skincare and skin health will be found in science.
Seeing my skin improve and my self-esteem soar caused me to want to help other people with their skin needs and concerns in a very impactful way. When I entered college, my thought was to create an innovative science-based skincare brand that was more affordable than the brand mentioned. My plan was to major in biomedical sciences for my bachelors then complete a masters degree in cosmetic science, so I could formulate the products myself. In the meantime, I would learn how to start a business by reading a bunch of articles on Inc., Forbes, and Entrepreneur.com and by watching celebrity entrepreneurs on YouTube. Cringy, right!? I was doing okay in my science classes, until I enrolled in intro to chemistry. I just about died in that class!!
Realizing that I wasn’t naturally good at science and panicking over my lack of business knowledge, I changed my major to business administration and discovered that I didn’t like the curriculum at all. It was too theoretical for my liking, and I wanted more hands-on learning. I read a bunch of articles saying entrepreneurs should double down on what their good, which the only thing I thought I was decent at doing was communication, so I switched my major again to “hands-on” communication and media. By this time, I had a lot of doubts about starting a skincare brand. “Will people need this brand?” Probably not. There are already hundreds of thousands of products on the market, and there are already good science-based brands out there. “Will this be impactful?” Unless if I distributed my product through cosmetic retailers, I won’t have drastic global impact staying DTC. I also noticed in social media skincare communities that many people were complaining over excessive product launches.
The doubts stayed with me; and in between my sophomore and junior year, I was starting to be spiritually lost and not certain on what I should truly do with my life. I took a year off from my college and moved to a small town in another state to attend a Bible college with my childhood friend. While there, I secured a job working as a cosmetics sales associate with a prestige brand in a small department store. I learned a lot about creating a good client/customer experience, selling, and behind the scenes stuff on the brands side, which unfortunately didn’t have the client/customer best interest at times. It definitely bothered me. One thing I loved doing was teaching clients about skincare and creating skincare routines for them much more than selling products. I researched online if there was a professional career for this and discovered the esthetician profession.
After I finished the semester at the Bible college, I came back to Florida and got a job as a cosmetics sales associate at a few fragrance counters in a higher end department store, as I waited to be enrolled to esthetician school. The job was DREADFUL! It was a cutthroat environment. One time, I remembered my coworker screaming at me, “That’s my sale!” then running to beat me to assist with customers I was already approaching. The customers heard her too! A lot of my coworkers were living miserable sidewalk or slowlane lives. I knew I had to get out of retail for good.
When I started esthetician school, I really adored figuring out which products to use and which procedures to do during a facial for clients. A favorite of mine was using extractors to pop pimples. What? You think it’s gross? No, you’re wrong. It’s cool. Anyways, I was especially ecstatic seeing clients’ skin improve over the course of a few months. It led me to want to open my own spa business. Throughout the education and training, I noticed I was getting taught some deceptive “facts” and discovered a few red flags about the profession and the overall spa industry. For example, my instructor said people need facials once a month to have or keep good skin. The reality is there is no scientific evidence to prove a person has better skin having facials done than a person that doesn’t. The purpose of this statement is for estheticians and spas to make more money. I didn’t blame my instructor at all. She genuinely believed everything she taught.
After I passed the program and received my esthetician license, I changed my major again to nursing. The reason was so I could open a medspa as a nurse practitioner. Estheticians can only prevent skin damage, which is limiting. Medical professionals, on the other hand, can do more invasive procedures to reverse skin damage. I wanted to do as much as I can to improve people’s skin. After looking into the profession more and seeing how medspas normally do marketing, I changed my mind to become a dermatologist and have my own clinic, so I could have complete control over deciding the best treatment for patients and to be more aligned with scientific evidence. I switched my major back to communication and media to get to med school faster.
By this time, C0VlD-19 was rapidly spreading around the world, and my mental health was starting to decline. My GPA wasn’t competitive enough to get into many med schools, and the possibility of getting tuition scholarships was low for me. On top of it, dermatology is one of the most competitive specialties in medicine in the U.S. The people who normally become dermatologists tend to be high performers in premed and med school, so they were the crème of the crop in their classes. My resume didn’t have any clinical experience either, which med school admissions committees required. During this time, I met a primary care physician who warned me about the dark side of medicine. He stated hospital administrations and health insurance companies have been stripping physicians of their autonomy to decide treatment for their patients. Basically, they turned medicine into one-size-fits-all. My heart dropped when I heard this. I wanted to do what was best for patients and have complete control over their treatment. The possibility that I wouldn’t get into med school, the possibility of getting into med school and getting into over $70K in debt, the possibility of graduating and possibly of not getting accepted into dermatology, and the possibility of getting into dermatology yet dealing with losing medical autonomy was causing my stress and anxiety to go through the roof. I convinced myself to stick with it, since the world always needed more dermatologists.
That fall, I was required to complete a course called tech entrepreneurship. I enjoyed the class a lot, which during that year, I wasn’t enjoying much of anything courtesy of my deteriorating mental health. My professor assigned us to think of a business idea and analyze it in relation to market needs, our skill sets to execute the idea, and our passion to sustain us through executing it. With quarantine, skincare on social media blew up with many new content creators and viewers being interested in caring for their skin. I noticed a pattern of these statements being echoed: “I’m trying to put together a skincare routine for myself, but I see so much conflicting info from dermatologists, estheticians, cosmetic chemists, and skincare influencers. Why is this so hard?”, “I’m tired of getting deceived by content creators and marketing claims, I just want better skin without spending so much money. I hate it!”, “There’s so many skincare products on the market, I wish I know which one was right for me.” The solution I thought was to create a skincare routine customization app and have it also be an educational platform. I wrote about it in my assignment. I wrote that it perfectly fits market needs, and I had passion for it. For skill sets, I wrote my skills weren’t good enough. I also wrote that I would need to find a cofounder knowledgeable about software development/AI. I submitted it to her. When she sent me back my grade, she sent me a message with it telling me she thought it was a brilliant idea. She also told me my skill sets were good enough and encouraged me pursue this. I bawled my eyes out.
I had to do this. As a dermatologist, my income would be tied to the time I’d be working on patients, unless I hired other derms to work for me. The problem with owning a medical practice is scaling it and finding qualified professionals to work in additional clinics. It would be extremely hard to scale it and have drastic global impact. With the skincare app, well, you know.
My direction changed. No, I didn’t change my major again, thank goodness! I was looking for information on the internet and was overwhelmed. So many “entrepreneurs”/ “business gurus” were giving advice. It took me years to become a “good detective” in the skincare industry; I was starting to wonder if I needed years to become one in the entrepreneurship world.
On YouTube, I was recommended some of James Jani’s videos, and I watched them out of curiosity, which led me to MJ’s books. I was wondering if my business idea fit the CENTS model and how wealthy people view and use money, so I got the books. I was pleasantly surprised the app idea already fit the CENTS model, and I was blessed with so much more than what I expected to get from the books, like being aware of my beliefs and biases (I need to work on this) that would destroy my business. The books are the real deal. If you happen to read my post MJ, thank you so much for being one of the very few entrepreneurs that actually explains the truth in entrepreneurship! James, thank you for the work you do, too!
Tips to Finding Your CENTS Business Model:
I don’t know much about business, but if you have any questions about skincare, ingredients, marketing claims, anything related to the skincare industry. Please let me know.
Thank you for your attention and for reading my post!
My name is Yoshina, and I’m 24 yrs old. I’d like to tell you my story of how I came up with my business idea that fits the CENTS model and my thought process towards entrepreneurship through the years, if you don’t mind. (Tips at the end)
When I was around 13 years old, I started having some skin issues such as acne and other skin disorders, which led me to see a dermatologist for the first time. In the reception room, there was a large pamphlet display full of pamphlets ranging from skincare product information, aesthetic procedures, to skin cancer prevention. Out of curiosity, I decided to read them. I was so starstruck to learn that sunscreen, a topical product, helped to prevent skin cancer (which can be deadly btw) and slowed down signs of aging. I become obsessed with learning about anything related to skincare to improve my skin, and because I found it brought me happiness. I had my fair share of getting caught up by deceptive marketing and misinformation, which led me to spend too much on products that did nothing for my skin or worse, almost destroyed my skin.
Thankfully, I came across a cosmetics brand that had comprehensive skincare educational content that was science based, which I soaked in like a sponge. Anyways, I followed the science-based advice and my skin got better. No surprise. Teenage me was ecstatic, though . I learned a valuable lesson that the truth in skincare and skin health will be found in science.
Seeing my skin improve and my self-esteem soar caused me to want to help other people with their skin needs and concerns in a very impactful way. When I entered college, my thought was to create an innovative science-based skincare brand that was more affordable than the brand mentioned. My plan was to major in biomedical sciences for my bachelors then complete a masters degree in cosmetic science, so I could formulate the products myself. In the meantime, I would learn how to start a business by reading a bunch of articles on Inc., Forbes, and Entrepreneur.com and by watching celebrity entrepreneurs on YouTube. Cringy, right!? I was doing okay in my science classes, until I enrolled in intro to chemistry. I just about died in that class!!
Realizing that I wasn’t naturally good at science and panicking over my lack of business knowledge, I changed my major to business administration and discovered that I didn’t like the curriculum at all. It was too theoretical for my liking, and I wanted more hands-on learning. I read a bunch of articles saying entrepreneurs should double down on what their good, which the only thing I thought I was decent at doing was communication, so I switched my major again to “hands-on” communication and media. By this time, I had a lot of doubts about starting a skincare brand. “Will people need this brand?” Probably not. There are already hundreds of thousands of products on the market, and there are already good science-based brands out there. “Will this be impactful?” Unless if I distributed my product through cosmetic retailers, I won’t have drastic global impact staying DTC. I also noticed in social media skincare communities that many people were complaining over excessive product launches.
The doubts stayed with me; and in between my sophomore and junior year, I was starting to be spiritually lost and not certain on what I should truly do with my life. I took a year off from my college and moved to a small town in another state to attend a Bible college with my childhood friend. While there, I secured a job working as a cosmetics sales associate with a prestige brand in a small department store. I learned a lot about creating a good client/customer experience, selling, and behind the scenes stuff on the brands side, which unfortunately didn’t have the client/customer best interest at times. It definitely bothered me. One thing I loved doing was teaching clients about skincare and creating skincare routines for them much more than selling products. I researched online if there was a professional career for this and discovered the esthetician profession.
After I finished the semester at the Bible college, I came back to Florida and got a job as a cosmetics sales associate at a few fragrance counters in a higher end department store, as I waited to be enrolled to esthetician school. The job was DREADFUL! It was a cutthroat environment. One time, I remembered my coworker screaming at me, “That’s my sale!” then running to beat me to assist with customers I was already approaching. The customers heard her too! A lot of my coworkers were living miserable sidewalk or slowlane lives. I knew I had to get out of retail for good.
When I started esthetician school, I really adored figuring out which products to use and which procedures to do during a facial for clients. A favorite of mine was using extractors to pop pimples. What? You think it’s gross? No, you’re wrong. It’s cool. Anyways, I was especially ecstatic seeing clients’ skin improve over the course of a few months. It led me to want to open my own spa business. Throughout the education and training, I noticed I was getting taught some deceptive “facts” and discovered a few red flags about the profession and the overall spa industry. For example, my instructor said people need facials once a month to have or keep good skin. The reality is there is no scientific evidence to prove a person has better skin having facials done than a person that doesn’t. The purpose of this statement is for estheticians and spas to make more money. I didn’t blame my instructor at all. She genuinely believed everything she taught.
After I passed the program and received my esthetician license, I changed my major again to nursing. The reason was so I could open a medspa as a nurse practitioner. Estheticians can only prevent skin damage, which is limiting. Medical professionals, on the other hand, can do more invasive procedures to reverse skin damage. I wanted to do as much as I can to improve people’s skin. After looking into the profession more and seeing how medspas normally do marketing, I changed my mind to become a dermatologist and have my own clinic, so I could have complete control over deciding the best treatment for patients and to be more aligned with scientific evidence. I switched my major back to communication and media to get to med school faster.
By this time, C0VlD-19 was rapidly spreading around the world, and my mental health was starting to decline. My GPA wasn’t competitive enough to get into many med schools, and the possibility of getting tuition scholarships was low for me. On top of it, dermatology is one of the most competitive specialties in medicine in the U.S. The people who normally become dermatologists tend to be high performers in premed and med school, so they were the crème of the crop in their classes. My resume didn’t have any clinical experience either, which med school admissions committees required. During this time, I met a primary care physician who warned me about the dark side of medicine. He stated hospital administrations and health insurance companies have been stripping physicians of their autonomy to decide treatment for their patients. Basically, they turned medicine into one-size-fits-all. My heart dropped when I heard this. I wanted to do what was best for patients and have complete control over their treatment. The possibility that I wouldn’t get into med school, the possibility of getting into med school and getting into over $70K in debt, the possibility of graduating and possibly of not getting accepted into dermatology, and the possibility of getting into dermatology yet dealing with losing medical autonomy was causing my stress and anxiety to go through the roof. I convinced myself to stick with it, since the world always needed more dermatologists.
That fall, I was required to complete a course called tech entrepreneurship. I enjoyed the class a lot, which during that year, I wasn’t enjoying much of anything courtesy of my deteriorating mental health. My professor assigned us to think of a business idea and analyze it in relation to market needs, our skill sets to execute the idea, and our passion to sustain us through executing it. With quarantine, skincare on social media blew up with many new content creators and viewers being interested in caring for their skin. I noticed a pattern of these statements being echoed: “I’m trying to put together a skincare routine for myself, but I see so much conflicting info from dermatologists, estheticians, cosmetic chemists, and skincare influencers. Why is this so hard?”, “I’m tired of getting deceived by content creators and marketing claims, I just want better skin without spending so much money. I hate it!”, “There’s so many skincare products on the market, I wish I know which one was right for me.” The solution I thought was to create a skincare routine customization app and have it also be an educational platform. I wrote about it in my assignment. I wrote that it perfectly fits market needs, and I had passion for it. For skill sets, I wrote my skills weren’t good enough. I also wrote that I would need to find a cofounder knowledgeable about software development/AI. I submitted it to her. When she sent me back my grade, she sent me a message with it telling me she thought it was a brilliant idea. She also told me my skill sets were good enough and encouraged me pursue this. I bawled my eyes out.
I had to do this. As a dermatologist, my income would be tied to the time I’d be working on patients, unless I hired other derms to work for me. The problem with owning a medical practice is scaling it and finding qualified professionals to work in additional clinics. It would be extremely hard to scale it and have drastic global impact. With the skincare app, well, you know.
My direction changed. No, I didn’t change my major again, thank goodness! I was looking for information on the internet and was overwhelmed. So many “entrepreneurs”/ “business gurus” were giving advice. It took me years to become a “good detective” in the skincare industry; I was starting to wonder if I needed years to become one in the entrepreneurship world.
On YouTube, I was recommended some of James Jani’s videos, and I watched them out of curiosity, which led me to MJ’s books. I was wondering if my business idea fit the CENTS model and how wealthy people view and use money, so I got the books. I was pleasantly surprised the app idea already fit the CENTS model, and I was blessed with so much more than what I expected to get from the books, like being aware of my beliefs and biases (I need to work on this) that would destroy my business. The books are the real deal. If you happen to read my post MJ, thank you so much for being one of the very few entrepreneurs that actually explains the truth in entrepreneurship! James, thank you for the work you do, too!
Tips to Finding Your CENTS Business Model:
- Obviously, read the CENTS sections of the books. Really analyze and be honest with yourself and your business idea. People treat you horribly by lying to you, don’t treat yourself horribly by lying to yourself.
- Always keep your eyes and ears wide open to how consumers interact with whatever industry you potentially decide to start a business in, look for growing industries not dying ones, and how the producers in the industry interacts with the consumers.
- Stay curious. Curiosity will lead to solution discoveries for consumers.
- “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” – Steve Jobs. This is the realization I had with my life experiences and how it helped me come up with my CENTS model. When I went through these experiences - collecting the dots and looking at the dots - I thought they were useless and a waste of time, until I connected all of them together. Everything in your life happens for a reason.
I don’t know much about business, but if you have any questions about skincare, ingredients, marketing claims, anything related to the skincare industry. Please let me know.
Thank you for your attention and for reading my post!
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today