By Mary Duggan
If I had known six years ago how rough and tumble the deodorant business was going to be, I would probably not have jumped into the fray. Good thing I didn’t know. I stand here now bruised and banged up and sucker-punched in ways I could never have imagined. Business can be a tough experience. If you make the brave choice to launch a brand, you need to expect to get lied to and lied about. You will most certainly work too much, lose all sense of balance, damage your health, gain incredible amounts of weight and discover that all sorts of people you thought were on your side in life plain and simply aren’t. If you aren’t careful you might even get to a place where you wonder if your dream is worth all the worry and disappointments. That’s when you need to get all wrapped up in love.
Chicago’s One of a Kind Show and Sale, Merchandise Mart, December, 2013, the wall of love prototype. HUMANS OF LIFESTINKS. Few got the New York reference. But it worked.
At least that’s what we did when we decided to not go out in public any longer without our comforting and empowering quilt. A photo montage of some of the darling folks who have supported our work, taken the time to drop us an encouraging note, left a supportive phone message, invited us to come for dinner, passed along a compliment, put our products in their store, told a few others about us, e-mailed millions about us, loaned us a buck or invested tens of thousands of dollars. The amazingly generous and thoughtful folks who have with a smile, a hug, or a great big web order given us the will to take this endeavor one step further. To keep on going against odds that often times feel insurmountable. To believe in ourselves and know that what we are trying to do still matters.
STORIES OF LIFESTINKS unveiled at EXPOWEST March 2014. Despite wrinkles and technical problems we got our quilt hung.
It took 2 years to pull together a sampling of photos, drill through our treasure trove of at times overwhelmingly large numbers of testimonials, test-drive the homespun results at the One of a Kind Show, involve a designer to piece the whole amazing quilt together in professional and re-produceable ways and then to present it in all its 10 feet wide x 8 feet tall glory at the recent Natural Products Expo. But it was so worth it. We stood taller and more sure-footed surrounded by a representative sampling of some of the amazing and wonderful folks who have said yes to three sisters determined to reshape the planet into a safe, healthy, and sustainable place for everyone.
We hope you appreciate our new “In Store Presence” as they say in the biz. We believe that stories matter. We have shared our own and treasured yours, as well. So here’s to the champions of lifestinks. The regular Joes and Janes of the world, and a few of the superstars, who said let’s get smart, let’s do things a little differently, let’s get it right this time. Sure lifestinks; but isn’t making lemonade together just the best fun ever?
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About the author:
Mary Duggan is Co-Founder and President of the Duggan Sisters
The Duggan Sisters cracked the code and created a natural deodorant that actually works: lifestinks. And that was just the beginning. We hope you will spend a few minutes exploring duggansisters.com to experience their spirited approach to wellness through their natural products and healing stories.
Tags: Customer Testimonials, Humans of New York, L3 Design, One of a Kind Show and Sale