Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Knox.
Hi Brian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m what some people call a “Renaissance Man” and others call “A mess.” Since I was a kid, I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do and kept changing my mind. In fact, if you asked about this you would probably get the story of how it took my family a half-hour to leave the lake where we picnicked with my cousins when I was six years old because I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to spend the night with my cousins or go home.
The weighty decision, right? Since that time, I’ve been a soldier, missionary, land surveyor, salesman, attorney, professor, high school teacher, amateur magician, singer, and purveyor of fine natural body care products. I thoroughly enjoy engaging in “ancient” arts, such as blacksmithing, making leather, primitive leathercraft, etc. I always knew I wanted to learn soap making, but kept putting it off. When I finally did a couple of years ago, I found I had a knack for it and for mixing scents. Friends and family started buying my stuff! Who knew?
I decided to hang up my attorney hat in February 2020 and make a go of this full-time. The name “Bear Naked Body Care” came to me and my wife as we were lying in bed (don’t get any ideas there – this is a PG-13, if not PG, telling of our story). There are plenty of “Bare Naked” references out there, but I have always been referred to as a big bear (my kids call me “Papa Grizz”). So, Bear Naked (not the granola) because a thing. Our official start date was one month before the COVID shutdowns started in earnest.
Great timing, right? Much of my early marketing and sales efforts were planned around fairs and events, but there were very few of these in the western states. We did as many as we could. We have expanded this year to around 15 fairs plus a couple of Christmas gift shows. Our goal is that all of this leads people to our website and to become members of The Bear Naked Family. I hardly anticipated the passion I would feel for skincare, soap, and all that goes with it. It’s very rewarding when a customer with a skin condition contacts us later to let us know that no other product has helped their condition as much as our products have.
Fantastic! My other passion is teaching, which I am blessed to do part-time at Mount Liberty College, in Murray, as a professor of history, political theory, and philosophy, and at Ascend – A Mentored Education, a private high school in South Ogden, where I teach American History and Literature to 10-12 graders. When people ask me how I got here, I usually let them know that I loved practicing law so much that I sell soap now!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Cash flow, cash flow, cash flow. It’s the not-so-silent scream of every fresh entrepreneur. In my MBA program, I learned the finance portion of the courses without realizing just how this topic would affect my family’s life. We have put EVERYTHING into this. It’s the age-old story of the entrepreneur. This would have been so much more efficient and easier had we started with surplus capital to throw at marketing.
I mean, the goal is to get people to our website, but this is extremely difficult in this digital age without a large budget for digital marketing/social media. We started with no capability for this. A good friend helped me design our first version of a website. It was only a few months ago that we hired a professional to design a new one. COVID has been one of the craziest obstacles to building a product sales company. We were depending on in-person sales at fairs and events last year to gradually gain exposure and loyal customers.
While we were in the black at each of the shows we could find, we ended the year barely in the black. What’s more, we were scheduled for a large Christmas gift show in Salt Lake last year and paid the rather expensive booth fee and purchased decorations only to have it canceled days before the event. The event company even refused to give back the booth fee and instead apply it to 2021’s show. Not only had we invested in a huge amount of inventory, now were out of this other large cash outlay. Suffice it to say that Christmas last year was TIGHT!
This year has been more positive, but we are still in early growth mode. Online sales continue to increase, and we love our customers, members of The Bear Naked Family.
We’ve been impressed with Bear Naked Body Care, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Bear Naked Body Care is one among many natural soap and body care companies on the market. While other such companies may focus on women, men, CBD, etc., we like to offer products for the entire Bear Naked Family. We also focus on keeping our natural products as affordable as possible so that The Bear Naked Family can experience a great product without breaking the bank! The most important point of our experience is that we bring a smile to our customers’ faces.
I can’t begin to convey how often folks pass in front of our booth at an event, look at our banner (which proudly proclaims our slogan “It’s Better… Bear Naked”) and promptly begin a chuckle to loud guffaw (dependent on the individual’s demeanor, of course). Because we have a wider selection of scents than most other companies, customers spend a lot of time sniffing around our booth. We hope they do the same on our website (unfortunately without the benefit of an online olfactory presence).
Through happy circumstances, we have become involved with the Mrs. Utah, Miss Utah, and Miss Utah Teen pageants. When I met Amanda Palmer, Mrs. Wyoming 2020, at the Wyoming State Fair last year and got to know her and her husband, Mike, I gave her a small assortment of our products. She has been a great support, which led me to engage each pageant queen who passed my booth. This has been extremely rewarding!
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My wife, Sharene, has always been my greatest cheerleader in all of my endeavors. She looks at least ten years younger than me, is at least 100x more beautiful, and when we go out on the town, I’m sure people look at us and think, “That guy must have an amazing personality to have scored that babe!”
They’re right! Bwahahahahahaaaaa (wiping a mirthful tear from my eye!). My parents, Bob and Twyla Knox have always believed in and supported me. I owe a lot to them. Steve Reich of R Marketing in Clearfield has been unwavering support and a brilliant mind to use as a sounding board.
Contact Info:
- Email: brian@bearnakedbodycare.com
- Website: www.bearnakedbodycare.com
- Instagram: @bearnakedbody
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bearnakedbodycare
