Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Martinez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Andrea. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I love sharing my story with people because it is a raw picture of what my life was like in May of 2019. It was the beginning of summer, the boredom kicked in, on top of the sulking over a past relationship, and still struggling with the year-long aftermath of my dad’s passing. I was so broke; all I could do that day was YouTube’ how to’ videos. I never really stumbled upon the idea of making my own makeup, it just generated on my YouTube feed, and that was when I saw a girl make lip gloss. I personally didn’t like the ingredients she used, but I dared myself to make my own lip gloss with ingredients I love and become my own personal lip gloss supplier. I wanted to challenge myself because I was bored, curious, and too broke to afford my monthly Fenty lip gloss. Once I had my hands on some cash, I went straight to this cosmetic vendor that I did research over and purchased the tiniest bit of gel base. Once I received my order, I ran to my room and mixed together a couple of organic oils that I had on hand and swear by and eyeballed the gel and that was when I created my first lip gloss. I remember I was so fascinated with the consistency, and how it wore on my lips throughout the day, but it was lacking a scent. So, I literally grabbed an essential oil that my mom had in the house and threw a few drops in, and my first ever gloss was eucalyptus flavored. I put what little I had left of my batch into tubes that I received in a gift set and gave one to my good friend that is extremely picky. I wanted to know from the direct source if my gloss was a joke turned into a reality or a joke that needed to be put down. When my friend started telling me about the consistency, the longevity, and how hydrating it was…I knew I was able to say my joke was a successful attempt. Later that day, I posted about a makeshift eyelash serum on Instagram and another person had asked where I purchased it from, and when I told her I made an oil blend, she was in awe. She said she would be willing to purchase it from me if I made more, and that was when I connected that idea to the lip gloss I made. The inner entrepreneur and professional talker in me felt rediscovered. I made it official and started Daily Dose under $30 which is insane, considering its net-worth has increased into over a three-thousand dollars within the span of five months. For six months after my idea and first gloss in May, I researched about the jojoba and castor oil I wanted to use, investigated flavor oils, pigments, packaging, and pretty much anything that would entail a functioning business.
I kept promoting the fact that I had my own lip gloss business and November of 2019 rolled around where I was extremely broke. I needed to make some quick cash. The need for gas money pushed me to set aside my fears of no one buying from me, and I just made my lip glosses since I had everything I needed. When I started my soft launch, I was driving around the entire Houston area to hand-deliver lip glosses to my clients and spent hours just packaging, receiving orders and promoting. Six days after my soft launch, my aunt invited me to this holiday pop-up at a church in Sugarland and that was the day I raised my price to $12. People saw value in my product that I didn’t see at that time, and at the end of that day, in total, I sold over 130 lip glosses within six days! I still can’t believe that many lip glosses were sold in such a short amount of time and I had to plan to order another set and increase to 300 tubes because of the high volume I experienced in within a week. After my soft launch, my brand had been spoken about through social media, friends, family, peers which helped me receive invitations to pop-ups, workout classes, grand openings, and galas which helped me a lot with building a brand for myself. It is so weird and surreal when random people tell me that they are happy to know me, and to have met me, or when I “become famous” that they can talk about how I used to lug all my equipment around Houston to sell my glosses. It’s so baffling, and I am eternally grateful for my city, and my family, without the people here, I wouldn’t be here today to tell my story. I thank my dad for hearing all the times I would ask for signs to stay on this earth, and I thank God that I waited long enough to see the signs. Houston will always be home, and with the endless love I continue to receive, it reassures me that I’m headed in the right direction.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t been the smoothest, but I feel like I’m the queen of understanding life will never work according to your plan. If anything, from the “being your own boss” standpoint, pricing your worth is still the hardest choice, you make. I still question myself time to time if whether or not my price showcases my work. In terms of the creations I make for my glosses, I struggle with knowing which flavor will be a better seller than others. The money I put back into my business is key, so my heart hurts when I don’t sell as much of one flavor, which is okay; I think it’s part of the growing process.
Daily Dose Cosmetic – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Daily Dose is a cosmetic company that specializes in lip gloss, for now! My brand is known for its simplicity and its hybrid consistency. I market my lip glosses as a lip gloss hybrid because they can function as chapstick and lip gloss. You receive the moisturizing effect like chapstick, and you can achieve the aesthetic of a gloss by applying another layer while still receiving the moisture of a gloss. It’s a win-win. What sets Daily Dose apart from other companies is my products versatility, consistency, and its ability to layer well with other lip products! What I am most proud of are my clients who continuously support and understand my vision of bringing beauty back to the roots. You are the root of your own beauty, and if you don’t love what you see, no product can make you feel otherwise. My clients know that when I took the first step to love myself again, I kept it simple because I didn’t want to feel like makeup masked what I was going through. Lip gloss being so simple, easy, and natural was a breath of fresh air to me.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment in my career was when I followed through with my idea (a joke), and poured my all into it. When I realized I had sold 100 tubes in a week, and then later realized it was actually 130 tubes that were sold, I cried out of happiness and felt like I was in a dream. My dad wrote me a letter years ago, and it says, “I will do my best to give you back what you bring to me, hopefully tenfold.” I know that with Daily Dose, my dad is smiling down on me because everything he taught me is what I implement into my business that I one day want to pass down to my kids.
Pricing:
- $12 for per each gloss
Contact Info:
- Website: dailydosebydrea.com
- Email: dailydosebydrea@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailydosecosmetic/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailydosebydrea/
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