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How Living Lean Helped One Startup Get Off the Ground

To save the cash she needed to launch her new beauty product, Brandy Jans traded her pricey Manhattan digs for room and board with Mom and Dad.

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By Michelle Goodman

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Boo-Boo Cover-Up
Photo Courtesy of Boo-Boo Cover-Up

Living lean is job No. 1 for fledgling entrepreneurs. But Brandy Jans, founder and CEO of Boo-Boo Cover-Up, a concealer that helps heal scratches, bug bites and other skin imperfections, took the concept to an extreme. The 30-year-old left a job in the beauty industry in March 2011 to focus on her startup. A few months later, to save cash, she rented out the New York apartment she owns and moved in with her parents in a Detroit suburb.

With the money she saved by radically slashing her expenses, Jans was able to hire a photographer, revamp her website and create a TV commercial, all at a fraction of what she would have spent in the Big Apple. Now her product is available through 20 retailers, and she hopes to return to Manhattan by the spring. We chatted with Jans about her startup strategy.

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