27-year-old entrepreneur Jake Munday, Managing Director of Pearly Whites Australia (a leading Aussie in-home teeth whitening kit company based in Geelong), has grown his company by more than 10,000% since August by using social media marketing.
Tell us about Pearly Whites Australia.
Pearly Whites Australia creates a way for everyday people to achieve a brighter, whiter smile in the comfort of their own home, without spending hundreds of dollars at the dentist. People often say that they notice a person’s smile before anything else, so we hope that by using our whitening kit, whitening strips or whitening pen, our customers feel more confident to flash their pearly whites.
As Australia’s number one choice for in-home teeth whitening, we use only the highest quality ingredients; the same formulations supplied to dentists. We pride ourselves on our reputation for outstanding results, using the highest legal percentage whitening gel in the country to ensure we provide a product that really does work for our customers.
We’ve grown rapidly since starting in 2015 due to our focus on providing easy, pain-free and safe products, and are thrilled to now have more than 30,000 customers around the globe.
What inspired you to join Pearly Whites Australia?
I have a passion for building and growing businesses, largely through online channels, which is what led me to join Pearly Whites Australia. The company was founded in Geelong in 2015, and I joined a few months later as I felt there was huge potential to grow the business, particularly through social media channels like Facebook and Instagram. I also noticed that there was a huge trend towards in-home teeth whitening solutions and wanted to be a part of a team that offered a genuinely safe, high quality product to meet this demand.
I’m now the managing director of Pearly Whites Australia and am amazed at how quickly we’ve managed to grow; we’re a well-recognised brand and the results and feedback from customers has been awesome. Since joining Pearly Whites Australia our sales have increased by 10,000% and I think this is largely from understanding who our customers are, what they want from our products and what channels to reach them on.
Tell us about your career and background.
Like many entrepreneurs, I don’t have any formal qualifications and left school early as I knew it wasn’t for me. I started work in customer service in the telecommunications industry and quickly worked my way up to store manager of one of the busiest stores in Australia before going into business sales.
At 23, and while still working full-time, I bought the Dog Lovers Facebook page. Through social media marketing I was able to increase the number of page fans from 43,000 to more than 3 million fans and earn a decent income, which I think is where my entrepreneurial passion really developed.
I now run a number of successful online and offline businesses alongside Pearly Whites Australia and love the variety, challenges and reward that comes with an entrepreneurial lifestyle.
Describe a typical day for you.
No day is ever the same for me! Running over 5 businesses means that I spend the majority of my day on the phone organising various aspects of the different businesses, from staffing, to talking with suppliers, and managing the day-to-day operations. With so many competing priorities I’ve found that I can’t (and don’t want to) have a typical structure to my day, I just need to be adaptable and focus on one step at a time to make sure everything gets done. One thing that’s always the same is that I start early and finish late!
What advice do you have for those wanting to start a business?
If you think you have a great idea then back yourself! Work hard and remember your business reflects you, so stay humble. I think it’s also really important to surround yourself with like-minded people who you can bounce ideas off, and build a team of experts to help you such as accountants and business advisors. Make sure you include people who know your vision and have goals that match yours to ensure you will be able to work closely together and achieve the best outcomes.
What’s next for you and Pearly Whites Australia?
Pearly Whites Australia is continuing to grow rapidly and we have a wonderful team who are constantly working on new products and expanding our customer base worldwide. Ultimately, we would love to be known as the world’s number one in-home teeth whitening solution. For me, personally I’d like to keep pushing all of my businesses to new heights and just enjoy the ride!
