Being a founder, entrepreneur, or a business owner can have many exciting and thrilling moments. But it is also punctuated with periods of doubt, slump, and anxiety. So how does one successfully and healthily ride the highs and lows of Entrepreneurship? In this series, called “How To Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur” we are talking to successful entrepreneurs who can share stories from their experience. I had the pleasure of interviewing Ginger King
Ginger is the founder & CEO at Grace Kingdom Beauty (www.gracekingdombeauty.com) a cosmetic product development firm in New Jersey specializing in helping people to create beauty brands from concept to launch.
She has been the keynote speaker for brand launches and has spoken at various trade conferences on product development and product innovation. Ginger is an often-quoted beauty expert and has been on radio and video chat with leading beauty magazines.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Ginger King: I was born into beauty as my mom opened the very first Shiseido Boutique in Taiwan. I never realized it had an impact on me as we can only connect the dots looking backward that it sprouted my love for makeup and eventually my entrepreneurial journey in beauty. For the love of beauty, I have worked in every single aspect in the industry, from being a beauty consultant at retail, to formulation chemist, to product development marketer, to business development and sales and eventually having my own consulting company and brands.
What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?
Ginger King: Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, I was working in a cosmetic raw material company offering brands the latest technologies for innovation. I met this woman on linked in wanting to have her line. She mentioned she has connections in packaging and is a beauty marketer herself and I have connections in factories, and I know how to formulate, I thought it was a match in heaven so I went in 50/50 with her to start a beauty brand. Building a beauty brand is takes tremendous dedication and resources. I started consulting on the side to supplement my living while building a brand so I was working two jobs at the same time.
In your opinion, were you a natural born entrepreneur or did you develop that aptitude later on? Can you explain what you mean?
Ginger King: I am not a natural born entrepreneur. As being Asian, I was expected to go to college, have advance degrees and climb the corporate ladders as the norm. I have to say I got my entrepreneurial bite from the sharks from the shark tank and especially from Daymond John. Eventhough I have my MBA’s and other advanced degrees, I still feel inadequate in running a business. I started watching Shark Tank and did live-twitting with the shark every week. I got Daymond John’s attention. In fact, we are good friends now and he is my mentor and inspiration for this entrepreneurial journey.
Was there somebody in your life who inspired or helped you to start your journey with your business? Can you share a story with us?
Ginger King: I attribute 100% to Daymond John. I devoured his books and youtube videos and followed him on social media like a stalker. Whenever I feel not motivated, I would think how Daymond made his success. He always said if a brown boy from queens who did not go to college can do it, anyone can do it. In fact, one of my why that I have to be successful is do not let my mentors down. About two years ago, I also encountered Grant Cardone. Both Grant and Daymond are my mentors and inspiration. Both are very different yet compliment each other well. One is the shark and the other is the octopus. I am the sharktopus.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Ginger King: I have never done advertising for my consulting company. My clients are 100% from referrals or when they see my name on beauty media. I am fortunate to have been quoted by over 30 beauty media so I do get some attention from perspective clients. A simple google search of Cosmetic Chemist Ginger King, you can find where I got quoted under the news section. Media is a powerful thing in building credibility.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Ginger King:
1. Always Show up- In life, connection is the most important. As Grant Cardone always says your network is your networth. How are you going to hang with the influential people? You have to show up. This is precisely what I did with Daymond and Grant. I showed up on every occasion possible. I got their attention.
2. Follow Up- there are skills in following up as there is a fine line. Pleasantly persistence is a key to get what you want. The money is in the follow up. It can take up to 30 touch points for people to respond to you.
3. Begin with an end in mind- Life is short. You have to be intentional on what is the outcome you want or you will be wasting your time. As Daymond always says time is the only resource once you lose it, you will never get it back. Spend it wisely.
Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?
Ginger King: I wish I would not have listening to my website designer and take their lead as they are the “expert”. I was debating between two platforms and by trusting them, I ended up redo my website with another agency. I should have trust my own intuition rather than giving people too much credit for their expertise.
Explain the desired outcome and accept different approaches to encourage creativity. Don’t ever change the target but change the approach because if what you did can not get you there, by continuing the same path will not get you where you want. If you want someone to answer you and you get nowhere, try video messaging, linkedin message or through their close friends. If the front door does not open, try the side doors.
What would you advise other business leaders to do in order to build trust, credibility, and Authority in their industry?
Ginger King: Press is important. People do not know you, they do not flow you. Get attention. Keep attention. Multiply attention. Thank you for inviting me for this interview .
Can you help articulate why doing that is essential today?
Ginger King: In any business, people buy from people they know, like and trust. Before they get deeply engaged with you, they have to know you from somewhere. Celebrities have followers do not mean they just pop up a new social media channel and people will find them. They still will say follow me on clubhouse, follow me on tik-tok. Getting the message out is the first step in building a community. Be seen. Be heard. Connect. Transform. These are my four pillars.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Ginger King: There are three mistakes commonly seen and the first one being overfunding. It is important for the founders to roll up the sleeves and be the example. Seek funding only when you absolutely have to as when you have investors, you may be working on their terms and not yours which can be a source of burned out. Secondly, there needs to be a demand on the market. So many times there are new products based on new technologies without real consumer benefits. That usually ends up to be a museum piece. Thirdly, having a great team of people is important. You can’t do it alone. Have an accountability group to share wins weekly can be a morale booster.
Ok fantastic. Thank you for those excellent insights, Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview about How to Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur. The journey of an entrepreneur is never easy, and is filled with challenges, failures, setbacks, as well as joys, thrills and celebrations. This might be intuitive, but I think it will be very useful to specifically articulate it. Can you describe to our readers why no matter how successful you are as an entrepreneur, you will always have fairly dramatic highs and lows? Particularly, can you help explain why this is different from someone with a “regular job”?
Ginger King: Being an entrepreneur means you control your own destiny and own earnings. If you don’t hustle, your bank account can suffer. Often times especially solopreneurs have to joggle between prospecting new clients and doing the actual work and it can be like a roller coaster with variable income while someone has a regular job always get a predictable paycheck every two weeks. There is stability there but the earning potential also is reduced dramatically. Entrepreneurship game is high risk, high reward.
Do you feel comfortable sharing a story from your own experience about how you felt unusually high and excited as a result of your business? We would love to hear it.
Ginger King: I usually get excited when my clients enter into the prestige retailers of their dream or have won some prestigious beauty awards due to my creation. My name is never shared but the products are still my babies. Sometimes I feel like a surrogate mom, that my client may have come with an idea and I helped them to deliver their dream with my formulation.
Do you feel comfortable sharing a story from your own experience about how you felt unusually low, and vulnerable as a result of your business? We would love to hear it.
Ginger King: My lowest point would have to be 2 years ago which I lost 2 retainers as one of the company got bought out and the other had some financial issues and could not pay me. I went through a dark period of time because of the pressure from family to go back to a corporate job
Based on your experience can you tell us what you did to bounce back?
Ginger King: I turned to my mentor Daymond John. He did a testimonial video for me as seen on my website. I also started to market myself better so if anyone ever question why they should work with me, I have my top 8 reasons ready to share.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Five Things You Need To Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur”? Please share a story or an example for each.
Ginger King:
1. Know Your Why– this is going to be the guiding post when you have a low point. Think about your why can empower you to move forward. One of my WHY’s is to make my mentors Daymond John and Grant Cardone proud of me. I have this photo of them lifting me up and it’s displayed in three different areas in my house as a daily reminder.
2. Do Not Fear– Fear is false evidence appear real. Think about what is the worst can happen? Take calculated risk and affordable steps.
3. Do Not Give-Up– All the greats practice their craft daily to be where they are today. You may be three feet from gold and if you just give up today, you will never find your pot of gold. You may need to change the approach on how you do things but if you feel in your gut that you should continue doing what you do, just do it.
4. Get Mentors– It’s important to get advice from people who have done it. If you want to be a millionaire, learn from a millionaire and not seeking advices from your friends and families unless they are a millionaire as success follow cluse. There are patterns of success you can model, mimic and master.
5. Mentor Others– When we teach people, it also makes us think in different situations. Our mentees can also hold us accountable for what we say and do.
We are living during challenging times and resilience is critical during times like these. How would you define resilience? What do you believe are the characteristics or traits of resilient people?
Ginger King: Resilience is how you pivot when situation arises. Resilient people uses failure as the fuel for future and never give up. They do not feel sorry for their past but pick up where they are and forging forward fiercely.
Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Would you mind sharing a story?
Ginger King: I learned a lot from my mom for resiliency as I lost my father when I was a three-month-old baby due to air crash. My mom never remarried and she has been quite an entrepreneur all her life operating a beauty boutique, travel agency, restaurants, newspaper agency. She takes risks and is not afraid of hardwork. From president of several companies in Taiwan to baby sitter and waitress when we just started in USA, she has ran the gamut. Luckily I don’t have too much hardship myself because she has sheltered me.
In your opinion, do you tend to keep a positive attitude during difficult situations? What helps you to do so?
Ginger King: My thing is what is the worst can happen? Will worry take care of the situation? If not, just find the solution to fix the problem instead of complaining.
Can you help articulate why a leader’s positive attitude can have a positive impact both on their clients and their team? Please share a story or example if you can.
Ginger King: There is a Chinese saying that if your top is not leveled, the bottom will collapse. The reason why leaders are called leaders, they have to walk the talk. Never compromise ethics for anything. Since I started consulting business, I do not divulge my client’s information because I never want people come to me and say “ make me a product just like so-and-so’s product” who you have worked with.
Ok. Super. We are nearly done. What is your favorite inspirational quote that motivates you to pursue greatness? Can you share a story about how it was relevant to you in your own life?
Ginger King: My favorite quote would be I did not come this far to get this far. Whenever things are not going my way, I think about my why. I repeat what Grant Cardone says- success is your duty and obligation. I remind myself that Daymond John wants you to be successful. So, get up, chin up, rise up and hustle.
How can our readers further follow you online?
Ginger King: My IG is TheBeautySharkGinger
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!
