Humza Islam graduates from Rutgers University this May. Unlike most of his classmates, though, he won’t be scrambling to find a job. That’s because while they’ve been studying and maybe working a few hours a week at the dining hall, he’s been busy building Vayose which will become a million dollar brand. Through it, he aims to help people move away from toxic chemicals in their daily lives so they can become the best version of themselves.
This move away from products featuring harmful chemicals is one Humza has been on for years. He’s gradually eliminated he didn’t want on or in his body, including shampoo.
That’s right, Humza has been shampoo-free since July 2021. He’d gotten fed up with bad hair days, heard of people ditching shampoo, and gave it a try. Within just a few months, he was having the best hair of his life. Check out his TikTok channel - you’ll see some glorious locks and also find out what he does instead of sudsing up.
The no-shampoo movement isn’t new. Ever thought about what people did hundreds of years ago to stay clean, healthy, and looking and smelling good? They sure weren’t smearing chemically questionable products on their largest and most absorbent organ. Everything you put on and in your body matters.
Vayose isn’t his first venture. Or even his second or third. He started his entrepreneurial journey in high school. Then he built a 6-figure drop shipping business in college. Unfortunately, as often happens in drop shipping, that business went away.
Humza dusted himself off and got back up. He read 12 Months to $1 Million, gathered his courage one more time, joined the 5 Days to 7 Figures Challenge, then The One Percent this past June, built an 11.2K audience, and shared exactly how he did it (in a sec!).
His First Product
He’s already created the first product for his brand, a boar bristle brush (say that 5 times fast). Vayose launches in December. Shampooer or not, if you’ve got brushable hair, you’re going to want this.
And if you’re growing an audience of your own, you probably also want to know how Humza grew his so fast on TikTok. Humza shared his strategy in detail inside The One Percent but here are the CliffsNotes. OK, anyone else just have an instance of the Mandela Effect? Coulda sworn it was “Cliff Notes”... anyway:
Mindset: Getting to 100 followers is no easy task. Focus on what is right in front of you. If you’re at 0, focus on getting 10 followers. If you’re at 10, focus on getting to 50. Looking at your low follower count and being discouraged by it will get you nowhere.
Consistency: Growing your TikTok account becomes easier once you start posting more. When I started, I was posting 3 times a day. Every. Single. Day. I had nobody following or liking for a long time. When a few got traction, it trickled to my older posts and exponentially grown since then. Do what fits your schedule and don’t punch yourself for not posting.
Authenticity: Give your viewers a full glimpse of who you are and your personality. Imagine your phone camera is a friend that you’re talking to. Speaking naturally and by all means, don’t fake your personality to fit into a trend.
Value to viewers: What you say is extremely important. The topic you touch upon, how you talk about it, and how exciting/intriguing it is to the viewer. And when you run out of ideas, search your niche on TikTok > go to videos section > tap 3 lines on top right > filter by 1, 3, or 6 months > filter by most liked
Hooks: Make sure your hooks catch the audience’s attention, then you can go into detail however you want for the rest of the video. How? Search for your niche then tap the lines in the top right, filter for past 1 month, 3 months, or 6 months (whichever you choose) and by most liked. This will give you some ideas.
Camera quality + lighting: Good lighting can make all the difference. I’ve literally remade videos that had bad lighting before just to record with good lighting, and by doing this I will EXPONENTIALLY increase views and engagement. The best lighting you can have is natural light, or recording in a well lit room
CTA (call to action): Always make sure to have a CTA at the end of your videos. In my case, it could be as simple as “follow to learn how to quit shampoo the right way”. You’d be surprised how many people act upon that small CTA
Audio: Check that your audio is clear and not too quiet or too loud. Also, make sure the audio you use in your TikTok videos aren’t drowning out what you are saying, but also make sure it isn’t fully muted. I usually adjust the sound to be between 5 and 10% instead of the full 100%
Editing: Do not leave any pauses or gaps in the video. People have 0 attention span nowadays and any gap will make the viewer scroll.
Takeaway
There you have it, folks. Humza’s one to watch! His long-term plan is to grow Vayose to cover pretty much every personal care category, serving his customers from the top of their heads to the tips of their toes. And he’s a pretty awesome community member, to boot.
We'll keep you posted on his progress on the road to $1 million.
If you're inspired to start your own journey on the road to $1 million, we'd love to help you get there. In fact, we're on a mission to make one million millionaires by 2028. You can follow along with more students right here.
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