Now, let's get $5 million,'" Fisher says. It was more of, 'OK, we've cracked a million. "There wasn't this massive moment and celebration. In 2013, Blenders generated six figures in revenue, and that figure topped $1 million in 2015 after Fisher added snow goggles to the product line, he said.ĭespite that "huge achievement," Fisher says his focus never wavered from "keeping the business healthy and profitable." "We were getting a lot of followers and a lot of eyes on the product," going from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of followers within a few months (Blenders currently has 480,000 Instagram followers), and sales started to pick up. And "this was the cool, new way to do it." Fisher and Jensen started a 30-day Indiegogo campaign, where they pitched "vibrant, polarized, designer sunglasses." "We didn't know anything about investors," says Fisher. Still, by the summer of 2012, Fisher was out of money. "It took me two years to pay myself $1,000," says Fisher, who continued to work as a surf coach to pay the bills. But to keep the business afloat, Fisher's own salary came last in line. And although Fisher was cash-strapped, he still managed to pay his roommate back within six months as promised. "I'd be going to the bank every night and depositing 40 to 60 bucks and reinvesting it in the company," he says. Riding a new wave of motivation, Fisher made branded stickers that he "slapped" on street signs to advertise he sold his $20 sunglasses at pool parties, concerts, festivals or on the beach while teaching surf lessons and he established connections with popular DJs and local musicians who wore Blenders sunglasses for free while performing sets. "And sure enough, you fall flat on your face."įisher almost quit, but then received advice that kept him going: "Someone said, 'The only way you're going to fail is if you stop." "When you're 22, you just graduated college, you have this young mentality, like 'I'm going to take on the world and anything I do is going to turn to gold and it's going to be easy,'" he says. Hoping to sell all of his product, Fisher was extremely disappointed to only sell 10 pairs, which he called "the most humbling experience." Customers at the fair were looking for different styles of frames and more vibrant colors. He got a booth at an entrepreneur fair in San Diego and priced his sunglasses at about $20 each. In 2012, Fisher went to sell Blenders for the first time. When he found a manufacturer, his first order was for 300 pairs of sunglasses – which cost the entire $2,000 loan – featuring black frames, red detailing and the brand's signature pair of stripes on the arms. Those positive reactions validated Fisher's idea and gave him the confidence to ask his roommate to borrow the $2,000 with a promise to pay back the loan with a 25% return (or a total of $2,500) in six months.įisher then spent eight months trying to bring his designs to life, researching online and googling things like "how to find a manufacturer" and looking for negotiating tips. "Before we knew it, we had hundreds of likes and a lot of people. "I hustled to get fans to that Facebook group," inviting all of his friends and family, Fisher says of the company's first social media presence, which amassed 1,500 followers over a few months. Jensen created a few mockups of sunglasses and the pair shared them on Facebook to seek feedback. So in 2011, Fisher started Blenders with his neighbor, Blake Jensen, a graphic designer. "In the darkest of times and in the lowest of your life, you can create opportunity," he says. The idea of starting his own business was also motivating to Fisher, who had always struggled in school due to dyslexia. So "I decided to go out and create our own." "There wasn't really a competitor or a brand that was in between that offered a cool style sunglass at a price point that was affordable and quality and comfortable," he says. He bought his own sunglasses at Target, because he "couldn't afford the shades I actually wanted," like Gucci, Oakley or Ray-Ban, which can cost hundreds of dollars. I would be spending nine hours a day at the beach just noticing people and the expensive sunglasses that they were wearing," Fisher, now 32, says.
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