Dermalogica Founder: Building A Billion Dollar Business While Looking After Your Mental Health

1. Learn a Skill for Self-Reliance

Acquire a practical skill set that allows you to be self-sufficient and earn money quickly, ensuring you can support yourself and avoid putting your future solely in the hands of someone else’s income.

2. Build Community for Success

Actively foster a strong sense of community among your customers or team members by creating frequent opportunities for connection, as human connection is a fundamental need that drives loyalty and engagement.

3. Prioritize Decisive Action

Make decisions when you have approximately 70% of the necessary information, as waiting for 100% often means missing the opportune moment; leadership requires timely decisiveness.

4. Embrace Attention to Detail

Recognize that meticulous attention to detail is crucial for effective execution, consistent maintenance, and long-term relevance in business, distinguishing a lasting brand from a fleeting trend.

5. Cultivate Truth-Tellers

Surround yourself with honest individuals who will provide unfiltered feedback and tell you when you are out of line, as they are essential for self-correction and preventing ego from leading to missteps, especially when successful.

6. Dare to Be Disruptive in Branding

Don’t try to please everyone; instead, aim to have a strong, authentic voice and personality that stands for something specific, as this approach triggers emotional responses and defines a brand, even if it alienates some.

7. Integrate Work into Life

Reject the notion of “work-life balance” and instead view work as an integrated part of your “big messy life,” striving to make all aspects happen rather than separating them into competing spheres.

8. Guard Against Business Gravitational Pull

Regularly assess if a perceived business “emergency” is a true crisis or merely an ego-driven rush, and consciously prioritize time for loved ones or personal needs over non-critical work demands.

9. Be Present with Loved Ones

Actively put away distractions like phones when with family or friends, recognizing that moments of genuine connection and presence are paramount and more important than immediate business responses.

10. Address Resentment Immediately

In relationships, confront disagreements directly and work through them until a point of agreement is reached, preventing resentment from festering and harming long-term connection.

11. Seek Therapy to Unpack Trauma

Consider therapy to address persistent emotional burdens or unresolved past losses, as it can help you understand your patterns, reframe experiences, and achieve authentic self-love and healing.

12. Reframe Negative Experiences

Consciously reframe past shames or difficult experiences into sources of pride and gratitude, allowing you to acknowledge their impact without carrying their emotional weight daily.

13. Recognize Wealth’s Responsibility

Understand that significant wealth carries a responsibility to benefit others, both known and unknown, as this sense of purpose can prevent it from becoming a burden and foster gratitude.

14. Know When to Exit a Business

Be able to objectively recognize when your leadership has taken a business as far as it can go, and be prepared to pass the baton through acquisition or other means for its continued growth and evolution.

15. Embrace Impatience as a Strength

Acknowledge impatience as a dual-edged sword; while it can lead to anger, it also drives rapid execution and urgency, so learn to harness its positive aspects while managing its negatives.

16. Stay Accessible to All Staff

As a leader, remain accessible to all employees, including support staff, by sharing common spaces and demonstrating that everyone is “in this together” to foster a collaborative and inclusive culture.

17. Commit to Never Be Vulnerable

After a significant personal setback, make a firm commitment to yourself to never again allow yourself to be in such a vulnerable position, driving a strong resolve for independence and self-protection.