Starting a 7-Figure Business From Scratch: Daisy Jing, Founder of Banish Shares Her Story

Welcome to the Marketing Growth Podcast. I’m your host, Shane Barker. My guest today is Daisy Jing, founder of Banish, an e‑commerce–only brand that sells all‑natural, organic skincare products. She started as a YouTube blogger where she documented her struggles with acne, and that journey led her to entrepreneurship. Today, Daisy’s company is a multimillion‑dollar business. She joins us to share her journey from bootstrapping Banish to turning it into a seven‑figure success.

Before we discuss how Daisy grew her business, I want to let you know that my team and I can help you achieve the same results. We’ve helped businesses skyrocket their revenue through customized digital marketing, including influencer marketing, online PR, SEO, content marketing, and more. We can help you grow organic website traffic, generate sales, and boost your ROI.

If you’re interested, visit our website at shanebarker.com (that’s S H A N E B A R K E R dot com). Now let’s get back to Daisy and her multimillion‑dollar business, Banish.

Daisy Jing, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. We’re excited about having you.

Yeah. You’ve got quite an interesting story. We’ve been following it for a while, and we were excited to have you on the podcast to tell it. It’s been an emotional ride for you, huh? You’ve had some ups and downs starting this business. That’s why I was excited about today’s interview—to talk about the backstory: how you started and how we found you. Greg, why don’t you give us a little backstory? I always like to know a little more about the people I interview. Where did you grow up?

I love that. I love that you were able to take something that was so difficult on a daily basis and turn it into something positive. I think that’s really what intrigued me about your story—being the only Asian family in a certain area with nobody else to relate to, and dealing with money challenges. You were able to turn that around, and that’s what we’re excited to chat about today.

Staying active and staying productive. I love that. So what would be any interesting facts about growing up? I mean, other than it was kind of you by yourself in the community?

Yeah, I can only imagine. If everyone’s listening to the podcast, I can tell you right now your skin looks flawless—no issues whatsoever. Obviously, the company you started and the years it took to develop that formula are working. I can see it firsthand; you look amazing. Congratulations.

Growing up I had some acne too, not as bad, but I can only imagine how hard it was in elementary, junior high, and high school. Adding that to the usual challenges isn’t easy. I love that you started this to help yourself, but over the years you’ve recognized a deeper issue: the psychological impact. Your company is for profit and successful, but it’s really about how acne affects people’s confidence—something many don’t understand unless they’ve experienced it.

So where do you currently live? You’re in LA now, right?

Awesome. And then where did you go to school at? Where do you go to college?

Yeah, you absolutely are. I love that. I think it’s kind of interesting to hear the foundation—where people started and where it’s taken them. I ask about major not necessarily to confirm college, because some people say “Hey, I didn’t go to college” and they have successful businesses. That journey is always interesting.

You went there for dermatology, and you’re doing dermatology—just not as a dermatologist but in the industry—and you’re making waves. What was your first job out of college?

Yeah, looking forward to escaping that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only to go back to the grind. I think you’re seeing more and more people looking at that and thinking that’s just not the life for me. Some people—great. That’s great for you. You want to do it for 25 years? That’s awesome. But really—wait a second. To be a senior partner just so you can drink more expensive liquor? What is the goal? What is really the goal of that?

So you were able to get out. What other jobs did you have? I want to talk next about Banish, but what other jobs did you have outside of that?

I love it. So let’s talk about Banish. We’ve touched on it a bit and given the audience some teasers. Tell us the story behind Banish. I know it’s an e‑commerce skincare brand you created, but I want to hear more about what inspired it and how it all began—I think that will intrigue people.

That’s crazy. I think about the courage it took because obviously feeling ugly and going into a video—there can’t be anything more difficult. I mean, I don’t feel good looking; I have all these issues that feel like they’re punching me every day. Then suddenly I go into a video. What did it take to click enter on that? I can only imagine.

Yeah, the hard part is getting the genie back in the bottle once it’s out. Especially when something goes viral. I always tell my students at UCLA, my son, and anyone who will listen: when you put something out there, it’s very hard to take it back once it’s on the internet. Obviously this was a good thing—it was difficult for you, but you did it, and here we are today on the podcast.

What were some of the most difficult challenges you faced starting Banish? Sales started to go well, but there are always growing pains. Tell us a bit about that.

It is what it is. I love that you called it an out‑of‑body experience. There was something so profound that you thought, Listen, this is what I’ve got to do. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for the conversation with your parents: Listen, I know we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Duke, but I want to do the skin thing. Your mom probably said, “Okay, so obviously you’ve been drinking—let’s sit down and talk again.”

That’s difficult, especially coming from a family with no money. You go to college, finish, and then decide to follow the voices in your head, which nobody understands. That’s a tough position, especially in the Asian community. I know friends who didn’t go to college and told their family, “I don’t want to be a doctor.” Their families replied, “I’m sorry, what? You don’t want to be a doctor?” In their world, being a doctor or attorney is something to boast about. I can only imagine how hard that is—feeling there’s something bigger, even if you don’t know what it is.

I’m sure that was a hard position, but you’ve been in many hard positions and pushed through. We’ve only been talking for 20 minutes, yet we’ve already heard a lot you’ve overcome. I’m excited about this interview because it shows that perseverance pays off. If we push through, good things can happen.

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. I always tell people that. Two years ago I was a keynote speaker, and they asked, “What’s it like being an entrepreneur?” I said it’s hard—extremely difficult. That interview was different from others, because everyone else says, “Oh, it’s great, this happened.” I’m like, it is not easy. Sure, there are tools and software for efficiencies, but at the end of the day, it’s not easy. If someone tells you it’s easy, they’re confused.

When I went to college—let’s just say it was many years ago—there were no entrepreneurship classes. Today you have Udemy and online training to get ideas. But it’s hard when you don’t have a co‑founder or mentor to tell you, “Don’t do that, that’s dumb.” You’re left figuring things out: “Oh, I have to file taxes here? Thanks for telling me.” Then you get a message from the IRS: “You have to make some changes.” You’re like, “I have to pay taxes? I didn’t know.”

Yeah, learning lessons, right, right? We make, we made it through it. So, so tell us, you and I can, because I’ve done the research. I’d like to get the numbers from you. But you’re, you’re seven figures right now. You’re sneaking up on there. You’re already, you’re already, well…

Yeah, that is awesome. You should be smiling a lot more. I need a big old smile. That’s, that’s a huge accomplishment. That is, there we go. She, you guys didn’t get to see it, but she gave me the big pearly whites. Congratulations on that. What did it, what did it take to scale? You guys started, what 2011 was that? Or 2012?

I love that. So you guys started doing influencer marketing. What? Eight years ago? Nine years ago?

It’s actually right when I jumped into influencer marketing, and I knew the landscape very well. I don’t manage campaigns as much these days; we did back in the day. But yeah, it was a juicy time back then. There were some good things that happened. If you had a good product, there were plenty of people pitching bad products, but it was definitely an interesting time. It was a lot easier back then; I think it’s a little more challenging these days, but once again, not impossible if you’re willing to pivot and try new things.

So I want to talk about what advice you have for anybody looking to start an e‑commerce business. So you found that one of the first things is finding your first 1,000 loyal fans who love you, and I think you did that through the YouTube channel. What other advice can you give to entrepreneurs looking to start an e‑commerce business?

Don’t be oblivious.

Thanks Daisy, your resilience and courage to turn your problems into a successful business inspires me. I’m sure listeners struggling to start their businesses will also appreciate all the advice and take the next steps into launching their businesses, but there’s a lot more that Daisy has to offer. On my next episode, she’ll join us to discuss how she used social media to grow her customer base. Stay tuned to the Marketing Growth Podcast.