Unfair Advantages

Through my career, at work or in my own business, I used to look around and feel like some people just had everything so easy. Friends would get these amazing jobs paying massive salaries straight after school, while I had to grind on the job hunt. Some would start a business and see incredible success in the first year, while the average business takes years just to break even.

As if everything was handed to them, while I had to work my face off for a fraction of the success. Maybe you’ve felt this way at some point in your career. That there was some magic key; a life hack that propelled others to amazing heights. Without the effort, sacrifice, and pain, they just had it handed to them. While we never had access to the same keys.

I get it. And in many ways, it’s true. The Opportunity Atlas has conducted several studies that suggest one thing: the greatest indicator of a person’s future success and health is the zip code they are born in.

But this isn’t a post about how unfair life is. I remember what it was like to feel jealous and bitter, trust me. This is about much more.

It’s about finding inspiration, and seeing how they’re not everything. While the cards may not always be in your favour or mine, there’s always a way to achieve more. If we look at all of these ‘unfair’ advantages, at the highest levels, these people have worked for their success for over ten years.

Sure, some people are born wealthy and with the right connections. Sometimes we just can’t do anything about what’s given by birth. But to think that’s everything is absurdly negative, and unnecessary.

For now, let’s start with some context.

The Rhode to a billion dollars

This all came to mind when I read that Hailey Bieber (Justin Bieber’s wife), sold her beauty brand Rhode for approximately one-billion-dollars. She started the brand just three years ago, and is already seeing a massive pay day (though she’ll be staying on as the Creative Director).

And you’ll be wondering if it was because of an unfair advantage. You may have already determined that it must be.

But remember, she’s spent a decade as a top model. She began her business with over 40 million social media followers (massive distribution from day one). She had more IG followers than Canada has people.

Those didn’t come over night. And sure, we can’t deny there were some advantages at play. That’s life. She’s daughter of Stephen Baldwin (Alec Baldwin is her uncle), and wife of Justin Bieber. That means something. But not everything.

In fact, she was always upfront about how she didn’t know much about the business. She knew skincare, had her amazing following, and amazing connections. Regardless, she has $212M in net sales on the back of just 10 products. These numbers are unreal.

While it’s easy to say “she had the right marketing team,” or that the “Erehwon partnership only happened because she’s Hailey,” it’s just not that simple. Several celebrity brands never make it.

‘Celebrity’ is not enough

• Britney Spears opened a restaurant in 2002 that flopped.

• J.Lo’s clothing brand was a Kohl’s exclusive that was dropped by the store due to poor sales.

• Lindsay Lohan’s club in Mykonos shut down after just 13 months (when she was still mega famous).

• 50 Cent started a condom company (was called Magic Stick) that failed before selling anything.

There are so, so many more. But the point is the same. These people were at the peak of their popularity, and couldn’t make it work. Being a celebrity is not necessarily enough (though it obviously helps, as we’ve seen with Hailey and several others).

What can we learn from this?

Look, Rhode is a wild exception that is naturally (probably in large part) due to the ‘unfair’ advantages that Hailey Bieber had when she started the business.

But we also know that this kind of popularity is not enough.

So, what can we actually take from this?

1. Distribution is everything:

It’s easy to think that an amazing product is everything. In many ways, it’s also a kind unfair advantage. The insight to create an amazing product is not common.

But, building an amazing product is not enough. Just like Lindsay Lohan being famous in the early 2000’s didn’t save her nightclub.

Celebrities like Hailey Bieber have absurd distribution (again, more followers on IG than Canada has people).

Great marketing and distribution really is a magic key (that’s not so magic, there’s a science to it). It’s also a lesson I learned the hard way.

Instead of releasing 9 different products and promoting each one a few times, I should’ve released one and promoted it hundreds of times (and only then released the next). Lesson learned. Promote, promote, promote, but keep it tasteful. I’ll cover more lessons I’ve learned personally (and some research to back them) in a future post.

2. Partnerships

Specifically the right partnerships. Again, not easy to just have them handed to you, but a powerful strategy. For Rhode, the best partnership was the Hailey Bieber smoothie with Erewhon. It’s a very high-end, expensive grocery store that’s become a bit of cultural phenomena (people in California are all over it).

It’s easy to think you have to go it alone in the beginning. The opposite is more true. The best part is that if done well, it costs neither side that much money, but everyone can benefit. That $20 smoothie costs a few dollars to make, and Erewhon’s selling thousands and thousands of them.

3. High Margins

It’s natural to think “I’ll charge less, get some customers, and then raise the price later, after I’m established.” This is much, much harder than making the product more premium and charging a higher markup for it (because you’ve made it better). Another mistake I made.

Beauty products have some of the highest margins in the world. Same with alcohol, another popular celebrity go-to (Casamigos with George Clooney, Aviation Gin with Ryan Reynolds, 818 Tequila with Kendall Jenner, etc).

Britney Spears’ restaurant and Lindsay Lohan’s club in Greece are examples of why this is so important. They were huge celebrities at the time, but those industries have brutally low margins.

Starting low and raising the price later is tricky. You’ll lose the customers who purchased at a lower price, and it’s hard to convince people your products are suddenly just “worth more,” after they saw the old price. The market remembers.

Wrapping Up

If you’re like me, you probably aren’t starting with the same advantages as celebrities. Most of us are not. Rhode’s billion dollar sale will hopefully inspire you to keep pushing. Not necessarily to do more of the same, but look at what Hailey did, what other successful celebrities do, and focus on that.

You may not be a top model, an actor, or a celebrity of any kind. But the good news is that you don’t need to be. What you need is to keep going, be patient, and realize that changing what you’re doing may be the best thing for you.

Do you feel cringe posting your brand? I do sometimes, I’ll admit it. But they do it, and look at them now. Celebrities are some of the most shameless promoters in the world. Maybe it’s time we realize that they got where they are because they promote themselves, not because they let the cringe stop them (among other things that I, for one, need to change too).

But that’s a story for another time. Thanks for reading!

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