I have a lot of experience in the industry (I was the owner of Baxter of California for over 10 years before it was acquired by L’Oreal in 2013) and in the mid-2000’s we made several fruitless attempts on creating natural formulations and gave up since we just could not get it right. Moving ahead just one decade later and Natural + Effective has been established. The science has delivered on the promise. The major ingredient suppliers have put big efforts into making safe and bio-based alternatives and that has made product formulation easier and effective. This is what made CORPUS possible and the time was right to create.

Buying that business was unlike any transaction I will likely see again. I was a buying agent for Japanese trading firms in the late 90’s. A good time to be in that industry as it was a boom time. However it was slowing as the trends and economics were no longer favoring the import market. I was eager to have a brand of my own, and it was purely a chance situation when I went to see the owner of the brand {Baxter of California} with the intention to see if the brand could be acquired. Before I could ask the old family friend …. he asked me if I would be interested in taking it over. We went to lunch that day and shook hands at the table and I was the new owner the following week. No negotiations, no postering or legal hang ups – it was as simple as buying a used car.

I was 25 years old and clueless on how to run brand. I would say the first 4 years were the equivalent of getting a degree in business school. Chalked full of mistakes and learning moments that eventually prepared me to turn the brand into a success story. I always tell people I made so many mistakes, but countered those mistakes with good gut decisions that made me come out on top.

Selling the company to L’Oreal was more of a traditional long drawn out negotiation and legal counsel driven process.

I have been in this industry for more than 20 years and I can tell you that good deeds and having someones back often comes back around. It can be the difference maker on many levels. I like to think that my reputation is purely based on how I genuinely interact with people, my accountability, and general demeanor. I will not make fans out of everyone, but I hope that in the end people will talk about how I treated them vs how much profit we shared in business.

This is commerce and commerce is reliant on funds. Pay your bills, and when you cannot, be honest. My top reasons for a poor reputations are avoiding accountabilty, dishonesty, and gossip. The reputation I hope to earn in trust.