Eclair Lips

I was very nervous at first to go approach the people at Three Plus Corporation about the Impact loan. I was nervous because we were such a small business. And I always imagined that loans were for larger businesses that had this track record of high sales. And here I was someone who had started a small business and had this big dream for it, but didn’t have that track record to show. So I was really surprised when I went for my first meeting to discuss the Impact loan. The man that I met with was Don Moore and he was so receptive and very encouraging. When I told him about my plans he was genuinely excited for me and for what I wanted to invest in to bring my brand to the next level. He walked me through all of the different elements that we had to provide to apply for the loan, and it was actually even a little bit of fun to get all of this information together and show the committee how we were going to take this idea and turn it into something concrete.

We used the funds from the Impact loan to hire a marketing agency that did a complete rebrand on the design of our logo and our packaging and all our point of sales materials, as well as investing in purchasing all of those materials once they were designed, and attending trade shows for the very first time. The Impact loan was a complete game changer for our brand. Before the investment our products were sold in about 50 stores in Canada and the US and within three months of launching our newly rebranded product our lip balms were sold in over 125 stores across Canada and the US and we’re now in over 250 locations, which has been huge for us.

From day one I knew that I wanted to sell our products to stores all across the world, and we’re still working on that. But it was a tough go in the beginning without a lot of the support that I needed, and having received the Impact loan I feel really helped us in terms of the perception of our brand. We went from a brand that was seen as a handmade crafter brand but now we’re seen as a premium handmade brand and that has really opened a lot of doors for us.

I would definitely recommend Impact and Three Plus to any entrepreneur that’s looking to secure a loan and grow their business. It was so easy to work with them but they were also very encouraging, which meant a lot. I didn’t feel like I was pitching my idea to someone who was going to shoot it down. I felt like I was pitching my idea to someone who was going to look at it, give us constructive criticism, but also cheer us on, and provide us with the funds that we really needed to make it happen.