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Hesitant to Bootstrap? Here's One Founder-Approved Strategy to Make It Happen

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Jordan Harper, CEO of Barefaced, launched her clinical-grade skin-care brand with no business background, no investors, and no savings to fall back on. However as a nurse practitioner with nearly a decade of experience in aesthetic medicine, Harper had a solid understanding of the products she wanted to create, and a strong demand from her audience.

With a strategic pre-launch plan and determination to fill a gap in the skin-care market, Harper brought her product line to life without any support from outside investors or accruing personal debt.

Bootstrapping, a business funding approach for entrepreneurs who don't want to rely on external sources of capital, is the option most small businesses (aka companies with fewer than 500 employees, which is 99.9 percent of all businesses in the U.S.) use to establish their companies. According to a recent survey of startups, 78 percent of small business owners self-funded their launches.

To pay for product manufacturing deposits, Harper took out several zero-percent-interest credit cards This may seem like a risky move, but it allowed her to maintain complete control over the business, without pressure to quickly scale and generate massive returns for investors.

Once production was in motion, Harper relied on the power of pre-orders to keep the business in motion. Thanks to her loyal Instagram following and patients' feedback, she was right about the strong demand for products. Pre-orders raised enough funds to match her manufacturing costs, and paid for even more goods to go into production. Harper ended up offering four rounds of pre-orders, which she reinvested into growth strategies for the business.

On a recent episode of WorkParty, Harper backed her approach as a simple and achievable tactic for any new business owner. The key is to have a solid understanding of your products, build a strong audience base, and educate.

Tune into Jordan Harper's episode of WorkParty where Jaclyn Johnson learns more about her career transition from nurse practitioner to entrepreneur, Barefaced’s unique take on customer engagement, and tactics for maximizing efficiency.

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