Young Multi-millionaire Entrepreneurs Share Tips to Create a Successful Business HiSmile founders say you don't have to reinvent the wheel
By Pooja Singh •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Alex Tomic and Nik Mirkovic started their teeth-whitening brand business, HiSmile, in 2014 by pooling savings of 20,000 Australian dollars ($15,000). Within four years, they became two of Australia's youngest self-made multimillionaires and part of the Forbes' 2018 30 Under 30 rich list.
The success of HiSmile, which offers worldwide at-home teeth-whitening kits—its 79.99 Australian dollars (around $58) flagship product that includes a mouth tray, three gel tubes and a LED light—and other products like mouthwash, gels and toothpaste, rides on the social media wave.
HiSmile's marketing is done completely on social media to attract their target audience, 15 to 35-year-old social media users. They create about 10 unique ads per day and post at least three times on their Instagram page. The brand shares content on Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus and Pinterest as well. HiSmile has close to two million likes on Facebook, 14,000 followers on Twitter, close to a million fans on Instagram, and a YouTube channel with 10,000 subscribers that offers example videos.
After raking in millions in sales, they decided to target higher profile personalities like Guamanian singer-songwriter Pia Mia, French fashion guru Adele Grisoni and boxer Conor McGregor.
In 2016, they signed Kylie Jenner, an Instagram icon and herself a well-established entrepreneur in the cosmetics market. Her Instagram post with HiSmile kit received 1,803,995 likes, and made the brand a bigger hit. By the end of 2018, HiSmile hopes to hit 100 million Australian dollars ($77 million).
Both the founders believe that for any brand to be successful "it is important to know their customers in and out as much as you know your product because your consumers ultimately drive the sales and will be your advocate against competitors."
