Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in consumer products, but not sure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Angie Tran, co-founder of Kind Laundry, based in Toronto, Canada. Winner of the Best Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent award 2021.
Tell us a bit of yourself and your journey to where you are today...
Kind Laundry is a purpose-driven company whose mission is to eliminate single-use plastic polluting our oceans and landfills while providing people with a more eco-friendly laundry cleaning solution. They keep sustainability at the center of every single step of their business operations by offering innovative, greener, and safer ways to do laundry that will keep your clothes clean and the planet happy.
What's your background and motivation to grow as a solopreneur?
Over the last five years, I have seen friends build unique businesses with great products and happy customers and somehow give back to their communities. My business partner and I love nature, animals, eat a plant-based diet, and live a more sustainable lifestyle. We wanted to create something that positively impacted the beautiful planet we're lucky to call home. At Kind Laundry, we aim to eliminate the number single-use plastic waste people use, so we can directly impact our product and help our customers who also want to contribute to a more sustainable future. Every day, we get messages from customers thanking us for making our product as we now have an alternative solution for zero waste laundry that works. It makes us happy and excited to wake up every day knowing that we've created something much bigger than ourselves.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
To date (within a year), we won the "Best Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent" by Better Homes & Gardens and eliminated over 100,000 single-use plastic jugs.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Managing cash flow - especially when we're trying to grow. We're constantly investing back into the business, so working enough cash flow to fund all areas of our company becomes a challenge.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run or grow a small business today?
- Execution over perfection. If it's good enough, just put it out there to market....collect some data and feedback and reiterate to make it better. Since launching, we've changed our product a few times as we got more feedback from our customers on improving.
- Constantly innovate. What sets brands who are selling almost the same promise apart are the ones that truly have a better product. We're always reaching out to industry experts and learning from them. We're constantly surveying our customers to get feedback. This helps us produce a unique and better product in the market. We're always striving to go above and beyond.
- Keep learning. In e-commerce, things change so fast, so we are always learning from masterminds to conferences, new courses, and joining like-minded communities on Facebook.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
There has never been a more exciting time to start a small business. There are so many more resources, platforms, networks, and support for starting small businesses. The cost to create one is much lower than a traditional business back in the day where a franchise or a restaurant would cost $500K to millions of dollars in investment. YouTube videos and business owners across FB, Instagram, and TikTok sharing excellent business tips - learn as much as you can, execute and reiterate.
Where can people find you online?
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.