At the age of 27, Koko had a plastic surgery failure, which led her to search for natural solutions to help correct the failure. She found a solution called Face Yoga. Born and raised in Japan where Face Yoga has been popular for many decades, it was natural for her to start practicing and even teaching it. Since she started teaching in the U.S. in 2018, she has gained celebrity clients including Kim Kardashian, was voted #1 Yoga class at The Yoga Expo Los Angeles 2019 and has even been featured on global television shows such as “Shark Tank” + more!
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is Koko Face Yoga all about?
Koko Face Yoga offers natural solutions to help regain your youthful appearance. We offer 4 services. The first being a private/group sessions & instructor certification courses; the second being a Face Yoga App; third is free, video content on YouTube; and, finally, influencer collaborations.
Tell us a little bit about your background, how you started your company, and then ended up on Shark Tank?
Shark Tank became interested in me through an article they read by Good Housekeeping Magazine.
What was the biggest problem you encountered with your business and how did you overcome it?
When my segment aired on Shark Tank, our app product was not ready. We were rushing to launch our Face Yoga app, and while it was on sale via the Apple and Google stores, the quality of the app was where we wanted it to be, so we had to do a lot of trouble shooting. It was chaos.
Now that I think about it, we should have offered the instructor certification courses on air instead. That would have been much easier to deal with and may have prevented issues for our customers. I was obsessed with the app at a personal level. I let my ego or emotions get in the way. Don’t get distracted by your ego. See the situation from a third-party perspective. Now I don’t trust my judgement as easily. My intuition and gut are often wrong so I’ve made it a point to ask around, to find out what others think.
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
I would say the same, don’t get distracted by your ego. See the situation from someone else’s eyes and don’t trust your judgement so easily. Feel confident enough to go out and ask others what they think.
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
On the daily, I check the news and current trends. I think it’s great to learn what’s going on and how I can better my business. I learned the other day, for example, that Moderna’s vaccine could come with a side effect of swelling if you’ve had any fillers done recently. This gives me the opportunity of introducing Face Yoga to help create fuller lips instead of having fillers done. Just the other day, Pinterest announced that the word “face yoga” will be trending in 2021. This announcement gives us some leverage when negotiating to brand sponsorships. I often also learn new tips and tricks through social media platforms such as TikTok.
Tell something you’ve experienced on the show, we the viewers, might not know or seen when it air?
There was a scene when a shark offered $100,000 for an interesting idea that I didn’t think about at that time. I cannot go into any further details due to the NDA, but the point is that they might offer something separate from what you are doing as your main business. So, be prepared.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
There are many communities that are willing to help you. Now I am in multiple entrepreneur communities where I can ask questions easily and advise others. It is impossible to succeed in businesses without outside help. Also, it’s very important to be surrounded by likeminded, positive people so you stay motivated, because your network is your net worth.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Social media, especially YouTube and recently TikTok. My clients find me through these platforms as we don’t do any paid ads. Due to the nature of the business, social media content that shows facial muscle movements is a good fit for us. Therefore, we use YouTube for longer, more fun and educational content. We also use this to create fun teaser content on TikTok.
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
Invest the money to grow first, and then start doing online business that doesn’t require many, if at all, third party costs. In my case, it was YouTube since I received an advertising fee from Google. Nowadays, you can make cash from most of the social media platforms. Yes, you would probably need to be big influencer, but once you become one, it’s so worth it. You can sell your products without hiring other influencers or having to run paid ads.
What’s your best piece of advice for entrepreneurs who wants to apply for Shark Tank?
Even if you don’t have many sales, there is a good chance that you will get in IF your business is unique and may be likable by a television audience. In other words, any businesses that can show interesting visuals, movement or stories are good. The producers try to imagine how you would present on screen. I don’t think they care if the business will get an investment or not. They care about how many views they get from the segment, at least that’s my opinion. If they can imagine that “oh, maybe she can do something like this, and this would be great in a two-second teaser, etc.”, then you may have a higher chance at being selected. The character of the presenter is important too because no one wants to see a boring person. So, if you apply, I think you should imply how you would present to the Sharks, so they can easily imagine the presentation scenes. For example, in my case, I think they thought that the sharks and I would be doing funny face exercises together in the beginning, which we did and that scene was then used for the teaser.
What is your favorite quote?
Make mistakes to learn
How can we get in touch with you?
You can visit my website KoKo Face Yoga, find me on social media via Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. You can also email: smile@kokofaceyoga.com
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