Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cherie Monson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Cherie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My journey began 15 years ago when I stopped getting permanent waves to start coloring my hair for gray. After a few years of trying every hair tool available to recreate my previous wavy hair style, I finally discovered a volumizing diffuser attachment that could add volume to my thin, straight hair. I quickly discovered that I couldn’t recreate the look on vacation without bringing my heavy hair dryer and clunky diffuser with me. I asked myself, “How can I replicate the results of a diffuser without the hassle?” I decided to try attaching a piece of my universal diffuser attachment on a brush handle. I was delighted at how well it worked and that it could be used with any hair dryer including the one at the hotel or resort while I was on vacation. I kept waiting for someone else to come up with a similar idea while perfecting a travel-friendly volumizing diffuser hairbrush. After about ten years, I decided it was time to apply for a patent.

After a surprising breast cancer diagnosis back in 2020, I decided to remain positive, not be a victim and wasn’t going to let cancer beat me. I had no family history, so this was a complete surprise and my worst nightmare. After going through radiation and fighting a depressed immune system, I decided to start up CLM Creations and manufacture my patented hairbrush.

Unfortunately, radiation wasn’t done with me yet. A few months after I finished treatment, I noticed that I was losing more hair than ever before. When my hair stylist mentioned that my hair kept breaking off, I thought it might be from radiation damaging my fresh roots months before. After trying several brushes and combs, I discovered that my new hairbrush could detangle and minimize further damage, while adding volume when I dried and styled my hair. The possibility of helping other women like me made me even more determined to bring my brush to market.

Cherie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Cherie Monson and live in Minnesota with my husband of 26 years. I set up CLM CREATIONS and applied for my patent as my 26-year career was becoming more stressful. Since I had no interest in being a “couch potato” when I retired, I decided to start marketing my brush with the intention of being able to retire with a business already supplementing our income. Unfortunately, 2020 and my breast cancer diagnosis happened before I could get the business moving in the right direction.

I decided to manufacture and started selling on Amazon in 2021. Two years ago, I chose to retire earlier than expected to give myself the work/life balance I didn’t have during my 26-year career. I didn’t want to give that stress a chance to continue to break down my body or be the reason for breast cancer reoccurring. I started working with a marketing company to create my website, my videos/photos, and a social media presence I needed to get more exposure for my brush than I was getting on Amazon.

My GentleStyle Brush does everything a diffuser attachment does and more. The finger shape and design create extra body and lift in the root of the hair, especially for those with thinning or pattern hair loss issues. It makes the hair look thicker with more natural looking volume. After realizing what the radiation treatments did to my hair, I also discovered how great my brush is to detangle with less stress. Instead of pulling out large quantities of hair while detangling, I limited my hair loss to 2 or 3 strands. It’s less damaging, easier to travel with, and doesn’t tangle your hair while blow drying like other brushes do.

Being a survivor, it was very important for me to “give back” to breast cancer. Rather than donate money to a breast cancer foundation, I decided that the best mission for CLM CREATIONS would be to give women an opportunity for early detection even if they were too young for a mammogram or didn’t have insurance. I partnered with HerScan Breast Ultrasound Screenings and a local Mastectomy retail store, Underneath It All, to provide this life saving opportunity. Because of the early detection of my annual mammogram, I was diagnosed as only stage 1 and needed very little treatment.

I am most proud of patenting my brush and starting CLM CREATIONS with no previous business owner experience. Even though I never planned to be an entrepreneur for my 2nd career in life, I am enjoying my on-the-job training as I “bootstrap” the development and marketing of my first invention.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

My brush is manufactured using an injection mold. It took me 9 months to find a manufacturer. I originally used Protolabs online to help with the final injection mold design, but they were unable to manufacture my outer casing.
I then spoke with a local referral from a friend. I spent a few months collaborating with them on the design and finish (smoothness) needed to tool (create) the mold. We also discussed what type of plastic material I wanted to use for the brush. Unfortunately, they ultimately decided that they didn’t want to manufacture a consumer product after all (they only do industrial manufacturing). I was very disappointed but knew I had to keep trying to find a manufacturer.

I decided to go back online and contacted a few companies that looked like a good fit. After my previous experience, I could now “speak their language” regarding the design, finish, and materials I needed. I quickly discovered that most manufacturers aren’t interested in working with new businesses with new products. The ones that were interested in giving me a quote always quoted very high with the tooling of the mold to be done in China. I wasn’t interested in having my tooling or manufacturing done in China.

I finally asked for help on The Women Inventors Club Facebook group I had joined when getting started on my journey. Some of the women that I had become friends with recommended EarMark Sourcing, a manufacturing sourcing company. EarMark Sourcing was started by the United Inventors Association board president to help new inventors find cost effective ways to manufacture their products. Even though I wasn’t able to make it work financially to tool or manufacture in the United States, they gave me a quote using a factory in South Korea that was 1/3 less than any of the online quotes I had received.

There is a very important thing to remember when deciding on who to do your manufacturing. In most cases, U.S. manufacturers require a much higher Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) than the non-U.S. manufacturers do. The difference between 3000 and 10,000 units at $2/unit is $14,000. Be sure to take shipping costs from a foreign country into consideration because that cost difference might be more than your savings. As a new business, I didn’t want to invest that much extra in a product (even after shipping costs) that hadn’t been proven in the market yet. After I sell out of my current inventory and have a sales record, a U.S. factory might be interested in offering me a better price/unit and/or better MOQ. EarMark Sourcing can negotiate this for me when that time comes. I also found it very enjoyable to work with a sourcing company who had all the factory relationships already established, so I didn’t need to learn another language to converse with a factory myself. A sourcing company will also help you with your packaging and any add-on services you might need for your product. This makes the billing less of a headache since the sourcing company invoices for all services and shipping too. As you can see, I highly recommend using a sourcing company as a new business inventor.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

After my first year of working with the marketing company, I decided that I wasn’t getting the sales I needed to keep working with them. I seriously considered shutting down the business until I met Cassandra McClure, the creator of the Clean Beauty Founder Collective, now called the Clean-Living Founder Collective. She recommended that I start collaborating with her using her connections to get my brush noticed by business owners and possible investors at in-person events instead of wasting my money on advertising that wasn’t working. Being a member of the Clean-Living Founder Collective gives me the opportunity to have my brush featured at events at a discounted rate because there are multiple brands displaying in the same space/booth. The biggest bonus is that I don’t need to be present at all the events, so I can participate in several events without needing to travel to each event.

At the same time I met Cassandra, I was also working with Marcy McKenna, the administrator of the Women Inventors Club on Facebook. She suggested I rebrand my brush to go after a smaller niche market concentrating on individuals with fragile or thinning hair instead of trying to compete with all the other volumizing brushes. After an exhaustive search for a new name I could trademark, I finally decided on GentleStyle Brush. The rebranding ties to my story of how my brush gently detangled and styled my hair when I was dealing with hair loss due to radiation damage, and it also aligns with the Clean-Living movement I’ve chosen to pursue.

In the last two months, I’ve personally attended Miami Swim Week Hammock Sales and the International Esthetics Cosmetic Spa Conference (IECSC)/International Beauty Show (IBS) in Las Vegas. These events were made possible and cost effective because of my membership with the Clean Living Founder Collective. People at these events loved my GentleStyle Brush and are interested in creating content as well as collaborating with CLM Creations in the future.

Because I was open to making a major pivot, I now have a new opportunity to market and sell my brush to the people who need a multifunctional hair tool that gently massages the scalp, distributes products evenly, detangles with less stress, diffuses using any hair dryer, and volumizes thin hair.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gentlestylebrush.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clmcreationsllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clmcreationsllc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clm-creations-llc/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@clmcreationsllc

Image Credits
Nat Visualz