170 | Sell Your Products Yourself First | with Laurie O'Hara

Laurie O’Hara is the Founder and CEO of OLITA, a San Rafael, CA based brand of eco-friendly, healthy sun care.

In the market since 2015, Laurie has grown OLITA from its original Beach Be Gone product line, expanding to REEF SAFE mineral sunscreens, soothing SPF lip balms and nourishing After Sun body serums.

OLITA’s mission is to create clean products that are safe on skin and safe on the planet.

Prior to launching OLITA, Laurie had over 20 years experience in marketing and acquisitions of credit products and microloans, having worked as a Director for JPMorgan Chase and Citibank in New York City and a Bay Area CDFI.

She holds an MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management and a BA from the University of Colorado.

Laurie lives with her husband and four children in Marin County.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:00] Intro
• [01:16] OLITA’s product assortment
• [02:04] Where OLITA’s idea came from
• [04:03] How long from OLITA’s inception to selling
• [06:46] OLITA’s go-to-market strategy
• [08:01] Establishing B2B relationships
• [08:57] From beach-side stores to D2C
• [10:10] Why won’t a startup hire experts from the start?
• [12:13] Paid is expensive, sell products yourself
• [12:59] OLITA’s customers are their perfect demographic
• [14:34] Loved ones won’t give you good feedback
• [16:01] Start early and delegate early
• [16:50] Work with performance-based partners
• [17:58] Laurie loves going to trade shows
• [18:40] Make sure invest pays for itself
• [19:22] The sign of a great entrepreneur
• [19:30] Sponsor: Electric Eye https://electriceye.io
• [19:50] Sponsor: Mesa https://apps.shopify.com/mesa
• [20:34] Sponsor: Gorgias https://gorgias.grsm.io/honest
• [22:01] Sponsor: Rewind https:/rewind.com/honestecommerce
• [22:31] Sponsor: Klaviyo http://klaviyo.com/honest
• [23:19] Laurie’s favorite Shopify apps
• [24:37] Shopify has a great community
• [26:07] Competitors are great assets
• [27:57] The meaning of OLITA
• [28:43] OLITA’s partnership with the Coral Reef Alliance
• [29:31] Where to find OLITA

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• The natural and organic skincare brand we all need for sun safe skin and planet protection olitashop.com
• Connect with Laurie linkedin.com/in/laurie-o-hara-022880a
• Support Olita’s crowdfunding campaign wefunder.com/olitainc
• Sell products from other top US stores without inventory apps.shopify.com/carro
• Save the world’s coral reefs coral.org/en
• Scale your business with electriceye.io
• Download Mesa at the Shopify App Store apps.shopify.com/mesa
• Level up your customer support gorgias.grsm.io/honest
• Respond to any of Rewind’s welcome emails and mention HONEST ECOMMERCE to get 1 month free rewind.io/honest
• Get started with a free account at klaviyo.com/honest

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