We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dan Gosling a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I am a professional trumpet player. Years ago, I lost an audition for what was supposed to be my dream job with my hometown orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. I was a frequent guest and substitute player for many years. A full-time position opened up, but it meant they would have a national audition and they ended up awarding the job to a fantastic, younger player. While he won fair and square, I was crushed as these opportunities don’t come along very often.

A couple weeks after the audition, I was having a random conversation with an old friend who also happened to be one of my former students. He told me how he treated a lip injury from a marching band accident with an herb called arnica. I was so intrigued by his story, I become obsessed with the idea of incorporating arnica in a lip balm to create a much improved product for musicians who play a brass or woodwind instrument.

I worked like a mad scientist in the kitchen for weeks perfecting my formula. (My wife thought it was a mid life crisis!) But within two months, I had created the basic formula for what we now call ChopSaver Lip Care. I ended up creating what many believe to be the finest lip balm on the market and more and more non-musicians continue to discover it. It is even recommended by dermatologists for their patients with chronic dry, chapped lips.

I was so convinced that I had a great idea, that I rarely thought in terms of risk. The idea simply wouldn’t let go of me, and creating a household brand remains my obsession. At the time, I did not realize just how risky pursuing this dream would become. There have been countless frustrations along the way and simply resuming my freelance trumpet career would have been the safe move. And creating a significant brand has taken MUCH longer than I ever anticipated. But for people with chronic lip problems, often as the result of a medical condition or treatment like chemotherapy, ChopSaver is a life saver. That is why, despite the challenges, I have never regretted taking that risk. The final story, as they say, is still unwritten.

Dan , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Honestly, I think I answered all of that in the first part. But a few more specifics about the product. Along with arnica, it contains other natural moisturizers and healing agents not found in other lip care products. It is smooth yet very long-lasting and heals in a natural, gentle way.

It is used by some of greatest musicians in the world, but clearly, you don’t have to be a musician to enjoy the benefits of ChopSaver. We look forward to launching new products based on the ChopSaver formula next year including a body balm and a lotion.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After many years of trying, we managed to get ChopSaver SPF 15 in CVS pharmacy nationwide – over 7,000 stores! It was a major accomplishment for a very small brand and we thought it would be our golden ticket to big success. Unfortunately, after a two year trial, CVS dropped ChopSaver from all of their stores. There were many reasons for the failure and CVS turned out to be a very challenging company with which to partner.

But we realized that our other sales channels, namely our own website and Amazon, were still growing. So, we knew there was still a path forward. I know other small companies might have quit after such a huge disappointment, but we simply chose to not give up.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The COVID pandemic affected many industries, but the music world was hit especially hard. From school band programs to large touring acts to symphony orchestras, everything just stopped. And it remained quiet for close to two years.

We always believed ChopSaver would appeal to non-musicians, but now it was time to prove it. We spent the summer of 2020 completely re-designing our website to be less focused on the needs of musicians and launched a website that we hoped would have much wider appeal. It is the website you see now (www.chopsaver.com) and it has worked extremely well for us. In fact, most of our new customers are non-musician women over 45!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chopsaver.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/chopsaver
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/chopsaver
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/chopsaver
• Other: www.tiktok.com/@dan_gosling

Image Credits
All photos are created and owned by me.