Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in beauty and skincare but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Richard Langley, Founder of MRVL Island Ventures, located in Beverly Hills, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
MRVL Island Ventures is a lifestyle brand dedicated to developing groundbreaking and rejuvenating products featuring our revolutionary new ingredient, the blue scorpion peptide (BSP).
MRVL Skin products offer the latest in anti-aging technology and wellness while showcasing the luxury MRVL Skincare line and our new MRVL Spa product line. Our key ingredient, BSP, is in every product that stays on the customer's skin. Our products wash off and are only made with the purest and highest quality skincare ingredients available today. We push boundaries by focusing on innovation, always using the best equipment available combined with our BSP, and implementing the highest quality standards.
We have a strong customer base of both men and women of all ages from many countries, with the primary customer base in the United States. We continue to get amazing testimonials on the results of MRVL Skin Products.
Tell us about yourself
As a venture capitalist, I was asked to evaluate a wide array of investment opportunities annually. In 2012, one such venture particularly piqued my interest. It involved milking scorpions for research and development on the use of venom to fight cancer. For the first time in his life, cancer was attacking my own family. My step-father, grandmother, and even my beloved cat were simultaneously fighting their own battle against this deadly disease. I decided to invest, and this marked a turning point in my career.
As I gained knowledge of the research, I became fully engrossed in the positive results and potential applications of scorpion venom for cancer, arthritis, pain relief, and cell renewal. I became particularly interested in the positive findings, and personal testimonies associated with the rare blue scorpion found only in the Caribbean. It became apparent that the best way to advance and escalate results, ensure quality, and control costs were to create my own scorpion farm and labs.
During the research and development process, the components within the venom revealed promising applications not only for fighting cancer and relieving arthritis but also for its therapeutic skin care properties. I have now successfully created a brand of skincare products. The MRVL Skin Solutions lines are amongst the proudest achievements of my career. Using proprietary technology, MRVL labs extract, isolate, and purify the complex compounds within the venom to form the perfect concentration of Blue Scorpion Peptide, the "secret sauce" infused in MRVL products and key to the brand's successful outcomes. 5% of the profits go to my charity, Today's Promises, to help impoverished children in the Caribbean, and this motivates me every day.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I would say founding my charity, Todays Promises, which cares for impoverished children in the Caribbean.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Hiring personnel and key executives that are driven and can complete a project. Also, knowing when to let personnel go. Sometimes you just can't fix something.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Make sure you are properly funded.
- Hire the right people, and don't be afraid to let them go.
- Make a decision. Better to make the wrong decision than to flounder and not make one at all.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.mrvlskin.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrvlskin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scorpion.rick/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrvlskin
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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