HGTV put a bunch of detergents through the smell test. Turns out it wasn’t much of a competition.
We just found out Laundry Sauce won the HGTV Clean Home Award for Best Smelling Laundry Detergent.
That is a massive win for our team.
Running a business is hard. Building an eComm brand from scratch and scaling it into an 8-figure business takes everything you have. You spend most of your time in the trenches. You deal with supply chain issues. You optimize ads. You manage cash flow.
You don’t wake up every day thinking about winning awards. You wake up thinking about how to move the needle.
But sometimes you have to step back and celebrate when the work actually pays off.
The Verdict
Here is what HGTV published hot off the press:
“Hands down, Laundry Sauce imparts the strongest, longest-lasting fragrance to your laundry. It’s like perfume (or cologne) for your clothes. More importantly, I find it to have good stain-fighting power, leaving clothes looking as fresh as they smell.”
That quote right there? That is exactly why we built this company.
Let’s break down why those two sentences matter so much.
First, they called it perfume for your clothes.
That was the vision from day one. We looked at the traditional detergent aisle and saw a sea of boring plastic jugs. Everything smelled like artificial rain or generic spring breezes. Nobody was creating a truly premium experience for laundry. We wanted to build something that smelled like high-end cologne. We wanted to elevate a chore that everyone hates into an experience people actually look forward to.
We wanted to make laundry day the best day of the week.
When a major publication like HGTV validates that exact positioning, it proves our thesis was right. The market wants better. Consumers want products that make them feel good.
Second, they called out the stain-fighting power.
A great scent is useless if the product doesn’t actually work. You can have the best marketing in the world. You can have the slickest packaging. But if the product fails at its core job, the customer is never coming back. We spent countless hours getting the formulation right so it cleans just as well as it smells.
The Playbook Is Cooked
Traditional retail and legacy CPG brands have been running the same playbook for decades. Slap a bright label on a massive plastic jug. Put it on a grocery store shelf. Race to the bottom on price.
That playbook is cooked.
We saw an opportunity to completely disrupt a stagnant category. We didn’t want to compete on price. We wanted to compete on quality, experience, and brand soul.
When you try to be everything to everyone, you end up being nothing to nobody. We decided early on that Laundry Sauce wasn’t for everyone. It is for people who care about how they smell. It is for people who appreciate luxury fragrances. It is for people who want to elevate their daily routines.
Taking that stance is risky. It means you will alienate some people. But it also means you will build a tribe of raving fans.
And eventually, the critics and the experts have to pay attention. You know you’ve built something legit when HGTV is putting you at the top of their list.
Why We Didn’t Start This For Awards
We didn’t start Laundry Sauce to win awards.
Trophies are great for the ego. They look good on a website. But awards do not pay the bills. Awards do not fix your supply chain. Awards do not keep your customers coming back month after month.
A relentless focus on excellence does.
If you are a founder building something right now, listen to this. Do not chase accolades. Chase the customer. Build a product that actually solves a problem or elevates an experience.
When we started, I had “launch an eComm brand” written on my vision board for two years. I didn’t write down “Win an HGTV award.” We just kept our heads down. We focused on getting the product right. We focused on building a lean team that knows how to execute.
We stayed scrappy. We stayed hungry.
The awards are just a byproduct of doing the hard work every single day.
A Massive Shoutout To The Team
This win is not about me. It is about the incredible team at Laundry Sauce.
It feels amazing for our team to be recognized for all the hard work we poured into this brand. Building a physical product company takes an army. It takes operations people sweating the details on fulfillment. It takes marketing teams figuring out how to communicate scent through a screen. It takes customer support making sure every single person who buys our product has a flawless experience.
They are the ones getting s*** done.
When you build a special forces team, you can achieve incredible things. I am extremely proud of what we have built together.
How To Build A Product That Wins
Here is what I have learned about building a product that actually gets recognized:
- 🧪Obsess over the product. Marketing can sell a bad product once. Only a great product creates a sustainable business.
- 🎯Define your enemy. For us, it was boring, generic laundry chores. We made it our mission to destroy that.
- 🤝Build a special forces team. Hire people who execute. Give them the tools they need. Get out of their way.
- ❌Ignore the noise. Critics do not know sh*t. Keep your head down and focus on your customers.
- 📈Stay scrappy. Even when you start hitting 8 figures, you have to operate with the same hunger you had on day one.
What Comes Next
We are not slowing down.
Winning Best Smelling Laundry Detergent is a massive milestone. It proves we have built something legit. But we are just getting started.
We have more products to launch. We have more customers to reach. We have a financially abundant future to build for our families and our team.
We are going to keep moving the needle. We are going to keep having fun. We are going to keep ignoring the critics and focusing on building the best possible experience for our customers.
If you are in the trenches right now, keep going.
Stay focused on your product. Build something that matters. The recognition will follow when the time is right.
What are you building right now that you are proud of? Let me know.