Jaime Schmidt - Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms

Copyright 2020 by Jaime Schmidt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Schmidt, Jaime, author.
Title: Supermaker : crafting business on your own terms / Jaime Schmidt.
Description: San Francisco, California : Chronicle Prism, [2020] | Summary:
Jaime Schmidt: acclaimed entrepreneur, founder of Schmidts Naturals,
and icon of the Maker Movement shares how you too can start or grow your
own business with advice on branding, product development, social media
marketing, scaling, PR, and customer engagement, all based on her own
hard-won masteryProvided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019056907 | ISBN 9781452184869 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781797201481 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: New business enterprises. | Small businessGrowth.
Classification: LCC HD62.5 .S3525 2020 | DDC 658.1/1dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056907

Design by Pamela Geismar.
Cover design, logo, illustrations, patterns, and dingbats by Rick DeLucco.
Typesetting by Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama.
Typeset in Montserrat and Tiempos Text.

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Chronicle Prism is an imprint of Chronicle Books LLC,
680 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94107

www.chronicleprism.com

Copyright 2020 by Jaime Schmidt.

This book is dedicated to the creative community of makers and entrepreneurs everywhere who have provided endless inspiration.

Perfect your product + share your passion

Claim your corner OF THE MARKET + distinguish your brand

Change the landscape + disrupt an industry

Sustain your product + stay true to your path

E very entrepreneur has a story. Each is passionate, driven, and committed to creating the best version of their product. Many have hopes of turning their passions into profit, and many are doing just that. But even for entrepreneurs with a groundbreaking product, perfectly curated Instagram feed, and connections to people of influence, it is excruciatingly difficult to advance to the next level. No matter the enterprise, anyone out there building their own business will encounter a landscape that is profoundly saturated, competitive, and fierce.

Thats why each of these entrepreneurs is asking the same question: How will I make it?

Not long ago, I was one of them. I attended market upon market, carrying my supplies and faithful sidekick (my toddler, Oliver) in tow. Id set up my folding table, drape a thrifted tablecloth over it, and arrange my lotions, sunscreens, soaps, and deodorants. Each item had been made by my hands in my kitchen, carefully poured into its respective Mason jar, and labeled with stickers my friend helped me create. Id take a seat behind my modest products, look out at the sea of other makers, and on many long afternoons with few customers and little business, inevitably ask myself that very question: How will I make it?

I first joined the Maker Movement in 2010 in Portland, Oregon. At the time, it seemed everyone in the city was making and crafting. There was some comfort in that company, but it was also intimidating.

Within two years, I decided to focus entirely on my bestselling deodorant and stopped making other products. I moved production from my kitchen to my garage and then to a nearby warehouse. I couldnt keep up with the demand, so I hired two employees. My husband, Chris, helped me build a website, spurring orders from customers and retailers all over the world. We were suddenly a smash hit online, filling a niche for customers who had been seeking a natural deodorant that actually worked. Not long after, Chris left his job to run our marketing, which meant our family was fully invested in and dependent upon the success of Schmidts Deodorant.

Before I knew it, Schmidts was sold internationally and in big stores like Whole Foods and Urban Outfitters. A few years later, we were flying off the shelves at Target, Costco, and Walmart. The company grew into a multimillion-dollar brand with 150 employees and a presence in over thirty thousand retail accounts in thirty countries worldwide. Major consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies took note and wanted to buy my company. Seven years after starting the business, Schmidts was acquired for nine figures by Unilever, the largest CPG company in the world, and I found myself with a deal securing both my familys financial future and the integrity of my product and creative vision.

Id sold millions of units and earned millions of dollarsnot for an app, device, or shiny new technology, but for deodorant, the stuff you put on your armpits each morning and hardly think about. Fueled by my own intuition, self-determination, and a natural recipe I had conceived of and believed in, I went from countless hours on my feet at the market to disrupting the landscape of an entire industry. The journey required not just an unrelenting faith in myself, but also a hard-won mastery of product development, customer support, branding, PR, digital marketing, and much more, including the ability to consistently innovate sooner and better than the competition.

The maker community gave me the courage to do what I love and the foundation upon which to forge my own path. But when I was in the throes of growing my business, I had to give it my complete attention, with hardly a moment to take a deep breath, let alone stay deeply connected to the community that had given me my start. Now that I have the time to step back and reflect on what helped me succeed, Ive shifted my attention toward sharing the lessons Ive learned and giving back to the community that launched my career.

Nowadays, the landscape is more congested and competitive than ever. Even innovative, purpose-driven brands that kick ass on social media must go the extra mile to stand out against others like them, offering specialized products that meet the needs of conscientious, sophisticated audiences. Facing increasing demands for authenticity, transparency, and quality, todays makers and entrepreneurs are driven to redefine excellence. Theyre fueled by a passion for their product, an entrepreneurial fire, and a desire to build a better worldall while meeting their own standards for self-fulfillment along the way.

I am living proof that success is possible, despite the remarkably high bar thats been set. And with the benefit of the know-how that took me over seven years to amass, Im offering this book as a springboard to supermakers like you. Ive put it all in these pages, from my days hand-pouring deodorant in the kitchen to heading up a 150-employee company. This book contains not just my own story, but all the lessons I learned along the way. My hope is that it will help you bypass years of toil or self-doubt, so you too can embrace and become the supermaker you are.