SMAC-ing Your Way to Success with Jason Daase

Have you wanted to make the sweet switch to sugar but are afraid of sticking out in your local waxing community like a sugar-coated sore thumb? You’re in good company! Elena Daase was in the same boat when she first created SugarSMAC®, and all she needed to make this dream a reality was some from her brother-in-law Jason.

Jason Daase became involved with SugarSMAC® after catching the vision from Elena of what a world-class Sugaring company could be. Prior to his involvement in SugarSMAC, Jason was an educator for 23 years who had a passion for training the next generation to be lifelong learners and critical thinkers. He has used his skill set to help guide the SugarSMAC certification program, and to cast an exciting new vision for the future of the company. He is committed to increasing the prominence of Body Sugaring in the esthetics industry, and to making SugarSMAC Professional® Body Sugaring a household name.

In one of our first Love2Sugar Partner Spotlights of the year, Jason breaks down the story behind SugarSMAC®, their journey, and what sets them apart from other sugar pastes on the market.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL DISCOVER: 

• How one esthetician helped pioneer the art of sugaring in her Canadian city. 
• Why you should NOT trust that YouTube video that claims you can DIY sugaring at home.
• The family secret that makes SugarSMAC® so special and truly sets them apart!

Check out SugarSMAC’s Sugaring Courses HERE!

If you’ve connected with or been inspired by this episode in any way,  leave us a review and let us know your biggest takeaway - I’d love to hear your own personal journey to sugar greatness! And while you've got your phone out, make sure to follow us on Instagram @Love2Sugar and @Sugar.Smac.

Want more of our Love2Sugar Official Partners? Download the Love2Sugar App for your one-stop shop for all things sugar and join The Sugar Tribe while you’re there!

If you’ve connected with or been inspired by this episode in any way, leave us a review and let us know your biggest takeaway - I’d love to hear how you embrace Sugaring For All!! And while you've got your phone out, make sure to follow us on Instagram @Love2Sugar.

If you are interested in learning more about Radeq Lab's Premium Prebiotic Sugar Line of products, you can find them at www.radeqlab.us.

Cheers to your Sweet Success!

Transcript

[00:00:00] Shannon O'Brien: Welcome back to this episode of The Sugar Show. We are featuring our love to Sugar Partners each month and this month we are going to share with you Jason Doss. He is the owner of Sugar Smack up in Canada, and they have a. Beautiful product line of pace and pre and post-care. And Jason has come onto the Sugar Show to share with you what has been going on in the last little bit for their company and how they're expanding and growing, and how they can be of benefit to your sugar business.

[00:00:32] So let's check it out. Sugar Show with Jason. Gus. Welcome to this Sugar Show. I'm Shannon O'Brien, body sugaring expert and licensed esthetician who's taken my own skincare business from zero to multiple six figures and has helped over 3000 students learn how to do the same. Now, let me tell you, it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked.

[00:00:54] The time, budget, and knowledge needed to grow my small business as a body sugar and pro. If we were to [00:01:00] press rewind, you'd see the many failed attempts and lessons learned that have helped me build the profitable business that I have today. One that runs on its own and gives me the lifestyle and freedom that I only used to dream of.

[00:01:13] I created the Sugar Show to hand you my secrets and give you the simple step-by-step strategies to help you do the same. So if you're a cosmetologist or esthetician or wax professional who's looking to fill your books, make more money in your business and enjoy greater balance between your work and home life, you are in the right place.

[00:01:34] Let's dive in.

[00:01:47] Hello. Jason is here all the way from Canada. Yeah. Hello? Up there. 

[00:01:52] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: We're up here a little colder up here than it is down there, but uh, actually we've had a bit of a warm spell, so we're, we're being spoiled. It's not [00:02:00] 40 below, so , I don't even know how 

[00:02:02] Shannon O'Brien: you do that. Yeah. I don't know how you do that weather.

[00:02:05] Yeah. Gosh. It gets to, it gets to 20 above and I'm like, oh, it's too cold here. . 

[00:02:11] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Yeah. Funny story quickly, when I was traveling down to Florida, um, and my buddy and I went in the middle of the winter and we had our block heater cord sticking out of the front of our car, we, uh, pulled into this, uh, little place in Miami.

[00:02:26] And this guy's looking at our car and he says, wow, look at this. It's one of them electric cars, . And my buddy and I just looked at each other in the night. We thought, they have no idea. . 

[00:02:37] Shannon O'Brien: I don't even know what a block heater is, so I'm gonna have to look that up. Whoa. 

[00:02:41] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Oh wow. Well, when it gets so cold that your engine won't start without you heating up the oil pan to get the oil a little more viscous, uh, you need a block heater so that, that, uh, keeps everything flow.

[00:02:55] Shannon O'Brien: Okay, so all the Canadians listening to this right now are nodding their head like block heater. Of course. Who [00:03:00] doesn't know that? And all of us from the US are like, what? Except for maybe like Minnesota. 

[00:03:05] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Yeah. Oh yeah. Minnesotans and North Dakotans. And they, they, they know. They know. 

[00:03:10] Shannon O'Brien: Yeah. They know. They're in the know.

[00:03:11] The rest of us are like, huh? Electric trs. So speaking of Canada, let's talk about the sugar in Canada. Yes. How you sugar a lot in Canada. 

[00:03:23] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Yeah, it's, uh, it's really taking off. I mean, it started, uh, took route in Ontario, in the Toronto area, and then it's just spread and, um, I mean, here in Manitoba it's, it's really taken off.

[00:03:37] And then as you travel west, Calgary, Edmonton is just exploding. And, and BC is finally gonna catching on and the interior there and even, you know, Vancouver and it's, it's, uh, it's a really exciting. That's, 

[00:03:50] Shannon O'Brien: that's so exciting. We have so many people that listen to the Sugar Show from Canada, so hello to all of you.

[00:03:55] And, and you actually distribute down into the US [00:04:00] now as well. So let's talk about how that's been. Where, where's your number one US location that you're sending sugar to? Wow. 

[00:04:08] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Um, well, we're, I'm always trying to keep track of how many states we've penetrated into, and we're, we're getting close to all 50, so that is exciting for us.

[00:04:17] Um, and I think still, um, California and Texas and Florida are where we're making the most, uh, sales. Um, interestingly, Ohio. Has really been picking up and some Nebraska just recently. And so it's, it's, it's all over the place. New York, we've got some very, uh, loyal customers right in, uh, in the big apple. Um, so it's, it's, it's, it's all over the place, but I love it.

[00:04:45] Shannon O'Brien: There's a lot of bodies. Yeah. And there's a lot of bodies we have to sugar. 

[00:04:49] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Well, there's bikinis all year round. That's, that's where we wanna sell to, 

[00:04:52] Shannon O'Brien: so For sure. For sure. So talk to us a little bit about, I know all about you cuz we've been buddies for, for a [00:05:00] while now, but share with us a little bit about sugar smack and how.

[00:05:04] How did you start? We don't have a lot of males in our industry. Yeah. So how did you start with, uh, sugar Smack? I know the story, but share it with our audience. Sure. I'll give you 

[00:05:13] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: the, the, the quick version. My, um, my brother's wife, ENA, uh, was an aesthetician who then started specializing in body sugaring.

[00:05:23] She kind of was one of the pioneers here in the city that started it off, and her and my brother. Decided that, you know, the product we're using right now, it's, it's okay, but I think we can do better. And they put their heads together and develop. A new recipe for, uh, paste. And, um, Ellen's sister was also in, um, the, uh, natural cosmetic industry and helped her develop some of our back bar products.

[00:05:50] So we had, um, a nice in as far as coming up with all our, our recipes and formulas. So they're all kind of unique to us, and [00:06:00] they were doing that for several years and just decided, Um, Elena loved the sugaring side of it, not so much the business side of it. Um, and my brother was involved in the manufacturing part of.

[00:06:13] So I was a teacher. I'd been a teacher for 20 years and was looking for a bit of a change. I was always keeping track of what my brother was doing and, and was interested in business and, and it came to the point where they thought, you know, we're either gonna shut this thing down and let Ellen just be a sugar again.

[00:06:30] Um, or maybe would you Jason be interested in taking this over? And I thought about it, prayed about it, and just felt, okay, I think this is something I wanna do. So I quit my job and tackled, uh, being an entrepreneur, being uh, in charge of a sugaring company. And from there, when I first inherited, we just had a couple of distributors and, um, my main goal was to get this out to as many people as possible cuz everybody was loving our product.

[00:06:58] So we opened, so I created, [00:07:00] Website that now had a, uh, vibrant store. And, uh, in a way we went and the rest is, is history. So now it's just trying to scale and grow and, um, you know, I've, I've been hiring people and making this thing way beyond what I thought it would be. And I mean, we're just, I was just looking at the numbers and we.

[00:07:23] Just last year alone, we had 90 new customers come in. That's like one new customer every four days, and a lot of those are coming from the states. So it's, it's been really exciting. So yeah, I mean, You asked me five years ago if I'd be, you know, uh, president of a sugaring company. I would've thought you were crazy.

[00:07:43] Right? But, but here I am and then I'm loving it. It's, it's quite an adventure. Always something new to learn. And, and, uh, you know, sometimes I. You know, I wonder what the heck am I doing here? But, um, but it's been, it's been good. It's, I'm in the right place. 

[00:07:58] Shannon O'Brien: Yeah. You truly are a sugar daddy. I love [00:08:00] it. . Yeah.

[00:08:02] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Yeah. They call me the sugar king, you know, at the shop here. I like 

[00:08:06] Shannon O'Brien: it. And then you have to explain that you're actually not a Baker . No, that's right. Yeah. To, to your friends at, that's right. At parties. 

[00:08:14] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: When we, uh, when we make our trips, uh, to pick up our, our sugar, our granular sugar, people are wondering, what the heck are you doing?

[00:08:22] Right? And it's always a big joke. Uh, we always come up with a different answer. Some people think we're beekeepers. Some people think we're running a distillery. But, uh, no. 

[00:08:32] Shannon O'Brien: Making a whole lot of cupcakes. . 

[00:08:34] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Yeah, we're, yeah, we just got a really sweet tooth with our lemon juice and our sugar. We got a big lemonade stand coming 

[00:08:39] Shannon O'Brien: up.

[00:08:39] Right, right. Okay. Alright, so talk a little bit about sugar smack paste and kind of what sets you apart. You know, this, the lemon sugar water concept is kind of the baseline, but how, what did you do? What is, what is a little bit different about sugar smack paste that kind of took it to the next level?

[00:08:56] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Yeah. Well, you know, it was, It really was a [00:09:00] labor of love creating it. I mean, it was a, it was a process of constant feedback. I mean, the time it took us, cuz again, ENA was a sugar and using somebody else's product. So between her and when I took this over, I, I mean I, when I was a teacher, I taught math and science.

[00:09:18] So I've got that kind of mind that wants to tinker and, and, and improve. So I looked at all the numbers of what we, of our recipes and then we just. Um, we, we just kept sending stuff out there. I kept tweaking and sending it out and getting feedback from a few sugars that we knew and trusted that were very experienced.

[00:09:37] And we ended up settling on this, this one recipe, and again, it's just water, lemon juice and, um, and sh and, and sugar. So it's, and it's, um, you know, made in a very. Consistent way. One of the things that I brought to this is getting everything in the shop to [00:10:00] be very, uh, clean and consistent. Um, so that we knew we were gonna get our, our customers the same product every time.

[00:10:07] Mm-hmm. , that was a big thing. And so, you know, what really sets us apart, I think, is that we've, we've, we've tweaked our sugar to the point where when I send out a sample, um, to people, they, they notice a difference. Not only them. , um, as a sugar is, but their customers notice it as well. It's like, wow, you're using something different.

[00:10:27] It doesn't, doesn't hurt as much or, or it's smoother or something. Mm-hmm. . So we're really trying to, we're getting ourselves now set up as a kind of a premier, uh, sugaring company and a premier paste that, um, really kind of stands out. And, you know, as a company we've been thinking about, you know, setting up our vision, mission, values.

[00:10:47] Mm-hmm. , uh, One of our main missions is empowering sugars to be at their best. And when you give them sugar smack paste, you know, they can really, you know, just, [00:11:00] uh, go into their, their, their skillset and their trade and all their experience and the pace then just kind of settles into the background because it just allows them to be at their best.

[00:11:09] So, so we spent a lot of time tweaking. And a lot of feedback and then a lot of consistency at the shop. Just streamlining and, and making everything just so, and, uh, and yeah. I mean, then you, then here we are, the sugar smack paste. Yeah. 

[00:11:24] Shannon O'Brien: What, what I think people don't understand when, when they think about sugar, a lot of people say, oh, I just make it at home.

[00:11:29] Oh, just make it in my kitchen. Yeah. And it's funny, I watched some of these like tos and YouTubes of, you know, the, the public trying to make their own paste, right? They're trying to give a. The big thing is Dukes these days is to duplicate what you're doing right and what they don't understand or what they come quickly to understand as they're making it themselves is it's not that easy, number one.

[00:11:52] Number two, you know, to get it consistent every time and clean and [00:12:00] and safe for your clients is not that easy and really, It's, it's taking over time and, and I hear this with lots of sugar companies is getting that recipe just right. I mean down to like the humidity where you make it. You know, and the temperature in the room of the factory that you're making it in, you know, the, the length of time you cook.

[00:12:25] Oh yeah. You know, the, the, the type of sugar you use, the type of lemon juice you use, the type of water you use, like you're not pouring under the tap, throwing some squeezes of lemon juice in it and throwing a couple of scoops of sugar and like boiling it down. Like it really does take some time to really perfect that.

[00:12:45] And then to be able to, Duplicate that every time. Really. It truly does take a whole lot of focus and passion and love, for sure. 

[00:12:54] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And it's, it's taken time, but I think we're, we're in a good place that way, you know, 

[00:12:59] Shannon O'Brien: [00:13:00] we're, uh, yeah. Yeah, so then you have this, you know, back bar of course.

[00:13:04] Cuz we have to prep the skin properly. Yes. And this retail line that you came out with, which is a whole nother labor of love. Like it's one thing to make sugar right, but to make the products that that wrap their arms around either end of that sugar is truly something that is a labor of love as well.

[00:13:21] So I have a question for you. What would you say if you had to. One product that surprised you that, that your clients, like your, your estheticians, keep ordering and cannot keep on the shelves. What would that, if, if you could just pick one, what would it be? 

[00:13:39] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Yeah. Well that would have to be our, uh, our exfoliating soap.

[00:13:43] The soap. Our soap. Yeah. You wouldn't, you wouldn't think. And I never thought, I mean, when I was getting into this, like we make all our own stuff handmade in-house, so, you know, our lotion, our tonic, our cleanser, all that stuff is made. From all our clean and and natural [00:14:00] ingredients, we hand make it in the shop, um, cook it all up ourselves.

[00:14:03] And the soap was something that I was, when I first got into this, I was sent on a mission, said. You gotta learn how to make good soap because people love to exfoliate, right? It's part of the whole process. And, and then sugar, love to sell that to their customers and then they can make some, some retail profit.

[00:14:20] So I went and I learned how to make soap and I had some adventures when my first batch of soap that I actually made in the shop was boiling like a volcano. And it was an oily, greasy. Took me an hour just to clean up, but I got it mastered and now this soap is just flying off the shelves. I mean, people just love the fact that it's got all these, all the natural ingredients.

[00:14:41] You know, we've got all the oils like olive oil and coconut oil. And we've got ground lofa in it, which is just an amazing exfoliator. And it's all made by hand in a very kind of old fashioned way. And we cut it all with these little, you know, these little cutters. So they're all unique pieces and no, no one is the same.[00:15:00] 

[00:15:00] And as soon as people try it, they just fall in love with it. And, and when sugar is figure out that this is a money maker for them, you know, I've had some one sugar risk. Buys a hundred at a time. So, uh, right there it's, uh, you know, it's right. It's, it's, it's a money maker for them instantly. And, uh, it's, it's a lot of fun to make.

[00:15:19] It's one of my, that's, that's part of the stuff that I get involved with personally. And, uh, I love just, Feeling like I'm in an old kitchen and making soap, and it's, it's, it's a lot of fun, but it's just shocked me that it would become as popular after our paste. It is our biggest money maker, believe it or not, is that crazy soap.

[00:15:37] So it's been fun, you 

[00:15:39] Shannon O'Brien: know, I love that. You have answered, you know the question for estheticians when people ask like, okay, well what should I use after, you know, what, what can I provide for home care? And some folks will say, oh, go out and get this. And they'll send them out the door without any products in their hand that they can [00:16:00] sell them.

[00:16:00] And you know, just having that baseline soap that is safe for the skin, great ingredients. You know, that reminder in their shower that you know, oh, that's right. You know, this is for my sugar girl. You know this for my sugar shop. You know that that's a, it's a really great retail sale. That's pretty low ticket price, but the volume that you can get, like every single person uses soap on a regular basis.

[00:16:30] So it is a great money maker, you know, as far as retail sales go. That's awesome. Yeah, for sure. That's awesome. So, You've made this past, you're, you're shipping it now all over the place. Yeah. And I ventured a guess that you got to a place where you had to kind of streamline everything. I mean, pandemic hits everyone was.

[00:16:58] Kind of, I remember you and I talking [00:17:00] about, oh, we gotta help these estheticians, you know, so you came up with, you know, people being able to have home kits and, and it was really like a great success. And then you had to pivot again when everyone's back out and in the treatment room and yeah. Get your production back up.

[00:17:13] And, and that was a big production and pun intended. And so now you have really answered kind of streamlining that with your new. Yes. And thank you for doing that cuz a lot of times, you know, we have, uh, companies that are great no matter what company it is, and then it's really difficult to order from them.

[00:17:32] So that had to be big for you too, to learn the website game. Yeah, 

[00:17:36] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: well, like I said before, when I got into this, we had a website, but it was just an information website, right. Um, you know, you can learn about our education, you could learn about the product, but there were no sales. Right. And today, You know, people are so comfortable ordering online that I just knew that that was where we had to go and allow people to, uh, have the direct sale experience.

[00:17:59] Yeah. And [00:18:00] our turnaround time is very quick. Yeah. Um, you know, we get an order and we either fill it that day or the next and it's out the door and people have it three to five business days. So it's pretty quick that way. Um, and so my first run at creating the website was, was decent and I was happy with it.

[00:18:17] And then along came. Someone I got connected with here in Winnipeg, Kyla, and, uh, she just had a flare for what's hip and in, and, um, said, okay, let me throw a few ideas past you. And you know what started off, and again, you, when you have something that you birthed, you kind of it hold it dear to you. Right?

[00:18:36] So the website that I started and, and tweaked, um, I was uh, really kind of held it close to me. And then she said, let me change this little thing. And I said, oh, that looks interesting. Okay. And then how about this next thing? And the next thing you know, the entire website is completely redone from, from top to bottom.

[00:18:57] And once I saw the whole thing, like she's just, okay, just trust [00:19:00] me on this one. So she c she comes back about a month later and with this whole experience that you can just scroll through and everything is there, and. And, um, like, it's just, it blew me away. And, uh, and everybody seems to love it and it's an easier user experience now, especially for people on their phones.

[00:19:18] Um, so that was, that took a while for us to develop and, um, but boy, I had the right person for the job and, uh, she did an amazing job. Yay. Carla . Yeah, it's, it's really, it's been a nice change, but it was, it was, it was tough for me to, you know, I didn't. , I hadn't been in the business that long. You, you, it's funny how you get attached to things, but , if you're willing to, to take some risks and trust people, uh, good people that are talented, then it's amazing if you let them loose what they'll do.

[00:19:45] So, yeah, the website has been a, has been a real boon for us. That's awesome. 

[00:19:50] Shannon O'Brien: Yeah. I love that. So at the end of the day, You have this amazing paste now, easy ordering. Um, I am [00:20:00] happy to let everyone know that sugar smack is a love to sugar partner, which means that you have access to all of the sugar smack information inside the free sugary app, which is exciting.

[00:20:14] And sugar smack will be including when their live class is in. The training center. So talk about your live class and what that entails, and we'll put that in the event calendar so you'll know when you're in Canada when you can go visit sugar smack. So talk about your live class. 

[00:20:31] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Yeah. Well, to take it back a step, we, we are running, um, classes out of Winnipeg, uh, for groups of about six, you know, we found that to be a nice size for a, for an in-class session, and we're doing that for several years.

[00:20:47] And, um, Billy Joe is our kind of head educator and, um, and then Covid hit. And everything shut down. Mm-hmm. , um, sugar were, you know, forced to [00:21:00] close their shops everywhere. Here in Canada. There were no exceptions and, uh, we had to struggle and figure out, you know, what to do. So, I mean, there was the product side of things.

[00:21:10] I mean, sugar weren't sugaring, so that's where our, you know, our strip kits came in and we pivoted into that. That's a, a side story, but out of that as well. Came the need to change our education because even when things started opening up, people weren't as okay. You know, let's all go back and be together.

[00:21:31] It took a while for people to feel comfortable. Yeah. Being in an enclosed space again together. It's crazy how all this got in people's heads. Yeah. So Billy Joe had the, the brilliant idea of, um, you know, creating a, a live zoom in option mm-hmm. so that they could be part of the class. Now, at first it was all Zoom.

[00:21:52] So the entire class was, was via Zoom. Mm-hmm. . And, uh, I would be live and Billy Joe would have her, [00:22:00] one of her workers there, and they'd work together on it. Or she would just do it on herself. And then as now as, and then we thought, okay, once all the restrictions are lifted, we'll just go back to doing what we were doing.

[00:22:13] But then we found that people enjoyed the Zoom classes, and again, they had, they'd done such a good job of bringing in, you know, people right into the experience. And I mean, to the point where, you know, they've got the camera and, and they'll give them feedback on their molding and flicking, and, oh, try this and that.

[00:22:28] And, you know, it's just like they're, you know, they're, the, the, the feedback that sugar or the, the trainees are giving them is that, yeah, it felt like I was right there. So we continue to do it and to this day, You know, out of, uh, a class of, you know, five or six, you know, we have a couple of people zooming in every time.

[00:22:45] So we run them once a month and, and they're from all over the place. We have people zooming in from, you know, Texas and, and, uh, and California. So it's worked out, uh, really well. So things that you think are gonna be temporary. Actually morph into something a little [00:23:00] more permanent. And, and at first, you know, we thought that, you know, we, you know, no, we'd never bothered to try to record things or whatever, but, 

[00:23:07] Shannon O'Brien: but Lord knows I love a good online class, that's for sure.

[00:23:10] Yes, 

[00:23:10] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: you do. Well, you, you're the, you're the pioneer of that, so, you know. So we took a, took a page off of your book and, uh, and the way we went. So it, it's, uh, it's worked out a lot better than I expected. That's good. So then the surprises in life sometimes that come along and, and when you, when you're open and flexible to things, then good things can happen.

[00:23:29] Shannon O'Brien: For sure. For sure. So if you're interested in the class live in Winnipeg audience, you can go into the, uh, sugaring app and you will find. The next classes, um, each month, uh, that Jason will and his team will put inside the app so you'll know and you can sign up for that live class in Winnipeg. So we will make sure that that is inside the app as well.

[00:23:52] Jason, thank you so much for always being ready and willing to partner with Love To Sugar. We're gonna be hearing some [00:24:00] success stories, some sweet success stories from some of your. Customers that are just killing it with the sugar and we wanna hear more about them. They will be on future episodes of the podcast.

[00:24:10] And audience, Jason and I wish you nothing but sweetness in your business. And Jason, thank you. Thank you so much for always, uh, just making a great product so that we can do our good work. 

[00:24:22] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: Well, thanks for having me. And it's, it's a pleasure. It's a, it's a exploding industry and I'm very excited to be, uh, to be a part of it.

[00:24:29] And thanks. Thanks for all you do. We appreciate your, your, uh, advocacy for, for sugaring and, and spreading the words. Keep doing it. You're welcome. 

[00:24:38] Shannon O'Brien: Have a great week. 

[00:24:39] Jason Daase of SugarSmac: All right. Take care.