Today we’d like to introduce you to David Ferrell.
David, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Since I was a kid, I always sat around and drew out ideas, designs, etc. like most kids do. I always tinkered with things or just wanted to know how they worked. Growing up I tried just about everything from musical instruments, basketball, baseball, football, to BMX biking (it was a big thing when I was growing up with people like Tony Hawk, Dave Mirra), to building things. My childhood friends and I built a bike ramp that dwarfed anything you’d see these days being built by kids. I had the mind of being someone someday, but never truly latched on to one specific thing, until after high school.
As most kids, my first job was sacking groceries at the local grocery store. Truthfully, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed people mostly, and when I was there, I felt important; like I was doing a good service for people. I handled the nice customers, and the angry customers all the same; with empathy and care. My mother always said I had a good heart growing up, despite being a little bit of a wild child. This first job shaped the next 13 years of my life.
Eventually, I landed a nice job with one of the largest telecom companies in the world. My first order: sales. And for some reason, I was good at it. I never sold the product, but instead sold myself. A lot of trainers, coaches or motivational speakers will say to sell yourself, not the product – but most of the time, their training or advice falls short of putting that idea into practice. Well, I lived it. It was my passion to get to know people and to develop relationships with them. I knew my customers by their first names. I knew about the children, or their jobs, or what issues they were having with life in general. Customers would come up to the store just to say “hey” and ask me how things were going. They became interested in me and my well-being, as I was for theirs. This takes a short detour, and goes back a few 23 years or so.
Growing up, I dealt with debilitating migraines. From the age of 3 to the age of 26, I lived with almost daily headaches. They went undiagnosed for 23 years of my life. In 2010, I finally reached a doctor that knew what I was dealing with and how to correct it. To this day the only thing I remember about the doctor when he first came into the room to give us the news about the MRI scans was he simply stated, “I know what the damn problem is, and I can fix it.” I was sold. I think I cried a little driving back home with my mother. Dealing with something every day for 23 years was potentially coming to an end and I was excited. The condition that caused 23 years of suffering is called a Chiari Malformation. It is essentially a condition where some of the brain tissue extends into the spinal canal. This condition shaped who I am today in many ways.
When I stated that my customers became interested in my life, and myself in theirs, I was being 100% truthful. I never had to go to a class on how to treat customers, or in other words, “how to get the customer to like you so they’ll buy more” classes – it just came naturally to me. Because of my career with the telecom company, and the condition I dealt with for 23 years, I developed some lifelong friends that were forged with everyday customers. Multiple customers came to see me in the hospital recovering. One in particular even came to the ICU the day of the surgery. It is because of the condition, and my love for people that gave me these friendships, and it is something that has been the core focus of The Rustic Beardsman – putting people first, always.
A conversation with a friend led my wife and I to, what is now, The Rustic Beardsman. Since my first beard hair popped out, I have been growing one. My wife Biljana (Bil-yana) purchased some beard care products for me as a surprise gift one year and I instantly understood why they were so important to the proper care and maintenance of a beard. I always kept a beard, but typically a shorter one due to the non-stop itching and inability to tame the craziness that is a very curly beard. After months of trial and error, hundreds of bottles being thrown away or dumped down the sink, we created our first product – The Rustic Original Beard Oil. With a nice blend of Spearmint, Cedarwood, Lavender, Orange and Lemon, The Rustic Original was an instant hit. From there, we introduced our original Beard Balm, Beard Wash, a few other scent choices and a t-shirt. Since 2015, we have steadily grown to where we are today. We offer 6 different scent choices, a few t-shirt designs, 2 very unique products to the beard care market, Hulk Hold and Thick & Creamy Beard Oil, a few products geared towards women, a few home products and even more planned for 2018. We are excited about the future and where it will take us.
The core of The Rustic Beardsman is to put people first, always. We don’t spend a lot of money on over-the-top marketing, rather we rely on the product quality and our approach with every customer to build a brand that people want to invest their time and money in. We introduce products by listening to our customers. I routinely reach out to some of our long-time customers to ask their opinions on ideas I have. Whether that is the “politically correct” thing to do or not, I find it vital to the growth and success we will have. Two products we have currently were bred out of those conversations with our customers. In 2018, we will be introducing another product to our lineup that came from the exact same approach of asking our customers what they want to see us offer. In the month of December, we launched our Beardsman Bucks Rewards Program, which was bred out of those same conversations. As a business, any positive social media buzz we can make is worth more than any paid advertisement. And when one of our customers says something about us on social media, I always feel compelled to do something for them in return, which typically means throwing in an extra bottle of beard oil, or wax melts, or lip balm with their next order. I enjoy doing those things, but they aren’t sustainable for a business to be doing long-term. So, we created the Beardsman Bucks program to reward our customers for their loyalty and love of what we make. Each purchase is worth a certain amount of Beardsman Bucks, which they can then use to knock a little extra off another order, or even snag some free products. It has been something that our customers have wanted, and we listened.
Another part of The Rustic Beardsman is the friendships we have made through our business. I never look at an order as just another number. I remember each order by name. I remember addresses. I do this because I care about our customers, and I want them to know that they are the reason we are still in business after 2 years in a very crowded marketplace. I recently ran into one of our customers, and when they introduced themselves, I instantly recalled all their orders and even the area they lived in. It surprised them that I remember that little tidbit of information, but they were astonished that I knew. I could tell it made them happy to be doing business with me and it gave me a sense of joy from being able to connect with them in that way. My business is people, not products. A tangible product brings a smile, but the intangible product of putting people first is something that forges a relationship that lasts a lifetime.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has been a smooth road along the way since opening in 2015. We make everything by hand. From the beard oils, beard wash, body butter, lip balm, Hulk Hold, Thick & Creamy, etc. everything is made by us. This has probably been the most challenging thing to learn.
Anyone can make a product, but learning how to make the product the same from the first one in 2015 to the 1000th in 2017 is no small feat. Another aspect of the day to day business that has been a struggle is maintaining multiple supplier relationships. One thing we have tried to do since we started was to be price conscious for our customers, but also for ourselves with being able to turn a profit. We have had to go to some of our suppliers to try and negotiate pricing levels to meet the price point we want to sell our final product for. That is always a difficult thing to learn but it is part of our core value of putting people first, always.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I typically will make all of the products. I handle the production, ordering processing, purchasing, social media accounts, customer interactions and site design/maintenance. Everything I do goes through my wife. We started the business together and she helps guide us. Every scent we make goes under her nose first. She has been the idea factory for a majority of what we have done.
The product we are known for has to be our Hulk Hold. Hulk Hold is a hybrid version of a beard balm and a beard butter. Beard Balms are typically made using beeswax to provide some stability and hold for your beard. Beard butters are typically more on the line of a leave in conditioner, made up of butters such as Shea, mango or cocoa butter. Our Hulk Hold product brings the best of those two, into one product. Hulk Hold provides an intense, all-day conditioner, while providing a stronghold that looks natural. So far, our Hulk Hold product has received all 5-star reviews and some customers have even said that is the only thing they use or will ever use.
As a company, I am most proud of our customers. We have met some incredible people over the past 2 years and continue to meet new ones every day. Some of our customers have invited us to their weddings, some into their homes and some even to fly out and hang out with them for a couple beers and good food. It is our customers that encourage us to keep working hard, and that is what makes The Rustic Beardsman different from others. We aren’t out to make a quick buck. It is part of our lives, professionally and personally, and we strive every day to keep it that way – people first.
Pricing:
- Our Hulk Hold product ranges from $15.95 to $22.
- Our Thick & Creamy Beard Oil is $20.
- Our Beard Wash – best price anywhere – is $8.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.therusticbeardsman.com
- Phone: 8173742505
- Email: david@therusticbeardsman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therusticbeardsman
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therusticbeardsman
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/rusticbeardsman
Image Credits:
Bilyana Photography
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