Few of us would ever be brave enough to talk about not making it through high school, if that was the case. Bryce Cleveland proudly displays this fact on his LinkedIn profile. If you don’t know him, Bryce is the founder and CEO of Scalpa, the world’s largest micropigmentation company. Scalpa provides online training to thousands of aspiring beauticians across the globe as well as quality products required to perform aesthetic procedures.
Once a kid struggling with severe ADHD who teachers never had much hope for, Bryce has successfully guided numerous budding beauticians into entrepreneurial success. Not only does he show his students how to use beauty products, he teaches them how to start and run their own online businesses from the ground up. To put it in his own words, he wants every one of his trainees to “discover greatness”. He has even put his vast knowledge and life experiences into a paperback manual for anyone looking to establish a thriving business.
A lot of the wisdom Bryce shares about entrepreneurship doesn’t sound at all conventional. He can’t, for instance, stand the phrase “Don’t give up”. He is against the idea of business owners hanging on to outdated ideas or products, which are clearly not working. Instead of flogging a dead horse, he encourages businesspeople to be nimble and adjust whenever they feel the winds of change blowing. Drop concepts that don’t work and align yourself in the direction the market is moving. The foundation for your business should be a passion for solving a particular problem, not for your product or idea.
We have all heard about the importance of taking time to strategize and launch a business venture when conditions are ideal. Bryce says just get started. Don’t wait until you learn all there is to know about your line of business. Take the plunge and learn as you go along. Don’t wait for an angel investor to drop thousands in your lap; start with what you have. As you twiddle your thumbs and wait for the perfect weather, someone else will swoop in and offer the market something similar. Stop talking about your idea and execute; funding will find you down the road.
This is how Bryce started his business empire ten years ago. Scalp Aesthetics, as it was known then, offered customers a range of aesthetic procedures for scalp micropigmentation. Over the decade, Scalp Aesthetics has grown into a global force with more than 1,300 locations in 65 countries. True to his principles, Bryce moved his enterprise online as soon as he saw the potential of e-commerce. This is how Scalpa was born. Using this platform he offers anyone with an interest the training required to become a micropigmentation expert along with quality products to help them set up their own beauty venture.
Now Scalpa boasts a community of over 35,000 business owners empowered by the techniques taught on Bryce’s online platform. The master beautician takes great pride not just in how big the community is, but in the fact that its members actively support each other through his platform. He also draws great satisfaction in watching people change their mindsets and build their own successful ventures from scratch, being able to support themselves and their families. This is because a lot of what Bryce is done is fueled by love, caring and wanting others to succeed. Watching people achieve their dreams from humble beginnings probably feels like reliving his life story.
“Humble beginnings” is probably an understatement of where Bryce’s journey to becoming the CEO of a global brand started. A native of Rochester, New York, Bryce parted ways with the traditional educational system at the tender age of 16. This is when he dropped out of high school, his tutors having all but given up on him. But instead of looking at the ADHD that had hampered his educational development as a handicap, Bryce began to view it as a blessing in disguise. His condition allowed him to think unconventionally and see opportunities those who had undergone traditional schooling could not. While they were struggling to get through college, Bryce had already started creating companies and experiencing success.
As he built these early ventures, he began learning the keys to entrepreneurial success that he shares in his book “How to Become a Business Savage”, snippets of which you read earlier. But more than business principles, Bryce’s struggles and successes have taught him a number of deep life truths. One of these is perception; opportunity, or abundance, is what you perceive it to be. If you have positive energy radiating from deep within yourself, you will be able to maintain a positive outlook even in the face of what others see as challenging situations. In this way you will position yourself to see and seize opportunity, even when it is hidden in trying circumstances.