This Aspect Hustle Highlight Q&A options Colorado-based entrepreneurs Boone Whiteside, 29, and Ben Medalie, 28. Whiteside and Medalie are the co-founders of Highlanda haircare model that began as a DIY ardour undertaking in a Denver condominium and has grown into an eight-figure enterprise in three years. Responses have been edited for size and readability.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Highland. Boone Whiteside, left, and Ben Medalie, proper.
When did you begin your facet hustle, and the place did you discover the inspiration for it?
Whiteside: When Ben and I grew to become finest associates throughout our junior yr at CU Boulder, one of many issues that introduced us shut was our shared aspiration of constructing our personal factor — in not strolling a 9-5 path engaged on another person’s dream. This shared ardour would not manifest till a lot later, although.
Once I first began dreaming of a hair product firm that went past styling one’s hair with poisonous sh*t, I used to be working at an ecommerce startup in a advertising and marketing and operations function. We have been a small group, and the corporate was struggling arduous to ascertain itself. I discovered a ton about problem-solving by way of the early phases of enterprise, however I had one foot out the door, pulling me towards my calling of being my very own entrepreneur.
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Ben was working at a payroll tech firm in an analyst function, however the precise function modified a lot throughout his tenure as a result of he hated doing the identical factor on daily basis. Juggling gross sales, studying to code, dealing with threat evaluation, dabbling in advertising and marketing and development… his managers have been always respiration down his neck to “JUST FOCUS” on “his fundamental function.” Neither of us have been proud of these profession trajectories.
Sick of the archaic legacy manufacturers that dominated the hair styling area with low cost, chemical-based formulations and wasteful packaging, and unsuccessful in my seek for a model that was disrupting the business, I stumbled into an thought that may resolve my very own client want. I had a hunch this drawback would resonate with individuals like me.
What have been a few of the first steps you took to get the facet hustle off the bottom?
Whiteside: The primary steps have been hitting the Google machine (BAI, or earlier than AI) to uncover naturally occurring, plant-based components that might substitute plastic, endocrine-disrupting formulation. With no lick of chemistry or cooking expertise to my identify, I started ordering waxes, clays, oils and different botanical components and began mixing them on my stovetop.
Thankfully I’ve all the time been a weirdo, so I used to be bizarre sufficient to begin placing these failed concoctions into my hair, bizarre sufficient to make all of my associates do the identical and provides me suggestions and bizarre sufficient to be unbothered by my roommate, Ben telling me how bizarre I’m… quickly to turn into a hair weirdo himself.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Highland
Are there any free or paid sources which have been particularly useful for you in beginning and working this enterprise?
Medalie: Some tech standouts embrace: Klaviyo for e-mail advertising and marketing, Shopify (and all its superior plugins) to energy our website, Triple Whale for attribution metrics, Amped (now Mailchimp) for lead seize, Adobe Premiere for content material creation and eventually Figma for making the non-designer appear and feel like Rembrandt.
Whiteside: Ben coated many of the paid ones. Free of charge, the perfect useful resource we tapped into was our well mannered persistence in demanding assist from different enterprise builders. Individuals typically need to assist, however you’ll be able to’t be afraid to ask. We not too long ago grabbed espresso with Justin Gold, founding father of Justin’s, the peanut butter model, and he summed it up properly: “Be unreasonable.” This mentality has been instrumental in constructing an unbelievably useful community of people that have helped us construct the Highland technique from the bottom up and in avoiding errors different founders have made. So go be unreasonable — simply be well mannered about it.
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For those who may return in your online business journey and alter one course of or strategy, what wouldn’t it be, and the way do you want you’d finished it in a different way?
Whiteside: I feel Highland will get excessive marks for doing this early, however I want we would finished it even earlier. Get very severe about your unit economics from day one. Be taught what your gross margins are. Make a plan for the way you’ll carry down COGs over time, and know that each penny counts. Get severe about your funds, and work out how and when you can also make your online business worthwhile. For now, the times of elevating capital and determining the way to turn into worthwhile later are gone, as are many of the companies that took this route.
One of the magical days of Highland was when the June 2023 books closed, and we had $113 in revenue. We might found out the way to make the enterprise self-sustaining, and that meant our runway was limitless. Change into worthwhile, do not die, then work out the way to successfully scale.
But additionally, no regrets. The journey was the journey, and it formed us. Let yours form you.
In terms of this particular enterprise, what’s one thing you have discovered notably difficult and/or stunning that individuals who get into this kind of work ought to be ready for, however possible aren’t?
Medalie: Formulations (of any form, however particularly in magnificence) which can be really pure are extremely arduous to get proper. We discovered quick why all of those that got here earlier than us minimize the corners they did, and we have been provided the identical formulation shortcuts that guarantee consistency and so-called “efficiency.”
In being adamant that our merchandise could be completely different, we bumped into points left and proper. Our components are risky and misbehaving; early batches would fluctuate drastically, they usually had a a lot shorter shelf life than the merchandise we have been going up in opposition to. A number of instances, we misplaced hundreds of items to failed batches, went out of inventory consequently and questioned if it was all value it. In the long run, we broke by way of on the opposite facet of this problem, now redefining what innovation is feasible inside “higher for you, higher for the planet” formulation.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Highland
Are you able to recall a selected occasion when one thing went very mistaken? How did you repair it?
Whiteside: We have by no means raised a multi-million-dollar spherical — not less than, not but — however that hasn’t spared us from going through severe money circulate challenges. Proper after our family and friends spherical, we hit a tough patch. We have been burning about $10,000 a month as we labored towards decreasing our losses and slowly ramped up our advertising and marketing spend. Nonetheless, we weren’t too anxious. We had three months of runway and what felt like the proper investor lined up — somebody prepared to put in writing the total examine and convey business experience and mentorship that Ben and I had solely ever hoped for. We have been set. Till, immediately, we weren’t.
The method dragged on for months. Our checking account drained. The deal finally fell by way of. We needed to cease paying ourselves, minimize bills to the bone, delay development plans and pressure relationships with our manufacturing companions. It was the primary time we actually confronted the potential of shedding the corporate, and it was a intestine examine.
Medalie: So, we scrambled. We raised much less capital than we had deliberate, however we made it work. We stored a assured entrance for our buyers, received lean and stayed scrappy. Wanting again, it was probably the greatest issues that might’ve occurred. It compelled us to show our path to turning into cash-flow constructive and helped us retain extra possession. But it surely was a hard-earned lesson: Fundraising is not actual till the cash hits the financial institution. And regardless of how promising a deal appears, you’ll be able to’t construct a enterprise on potential alone.
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How lengthy did it take you to see constant month-to-month income? How a lot did the facet hustle earn? What does development and income appear like now?
Whitside and Medalie: We did not begin incomes constant month-to-month income ($10,000-$20,000 per 30 days) till mid-2023. The facet hustle kicked off all the way in which again in 2021, when Ben and I have been making the batches of our Glacial Clay Pomade in our KitchenAid mixer, packing the items by hand and promoting them on our Shopify storefront and to a few salons and barbershops. The facet hustle most likely generated a median of $1,000-$3,000 a month between 2021 and 2023.
Now in 2025, after launching our third-ever SKU, we hit our first million-dollar month and have been worthwhile for almost two years straight. It isn’t a race. Change into an in a single day success in 5 to 10 years.
What do you take pleasure in most about working this enterprise?
Medalie: Truthfully, sizzling take… getting to do that entire factor with the individuals we love and cherish most in life. Individuals all the time warn in opposition to entering into enterprise with finest associates or household, however this half has been probably the most enjoyable. Each single day is completely different, and attending to see your self and associates develop, thrive and even fail in entrance of one another is extremely highly effective and motivating.
Whiteside: What I take pleasure in most is waking up every day with a objective, fixing difficult issues with my finest good friend and co-founder and selecting our personal journey in each side of what we do. Being your personal boss is NOT an overrated a part of being an entrepreneur. It is extremely arduous, however it’s additionally the perfect.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Highland
What’s your finest piece of particular, actionable enterprise recommendation?
Whiteside: Getting began is commonly the toughest half, but when somebody has, I would supply a chunk of recommendation from my pricey good friend and Shopbop founder, Bob Lamey: “Beware the incoming name.” It means to be laser-focused on what you assume the roadmap is for your online business and striving towards these objectives with intention. Many emails, cellphone calls, pitches and day-to-day duties turn into a distraction from what it is advisable be engaged on.
This does not imply to disregard alternatives as they come up — it’s a name to outline your imaginative and prescient and maintain your self accountable in working to carry it to life. You understand what it is advisable be doing; do not let the noise distract you.
