Michelle Phan announces Icon Network, a digital platform for discovering talent in beauty, fashion, and cooking, built with Endemol Shine Group. She shares how a rejection from Lancôme pushed her to start making YouTube videos, which made her a pioneering creator. She argues that entrepreneurs must stay passion-driven and treat failure as a compass for growth.
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And 2 weeks ago, I launched a premium multiplatform network called Icon Network. I launched this with Endemol Shine Group, the largest production— the largest independent production company in the world. So we launched 2 weeks ago in the UK and in the US. And very similar to my model where I'm all about quality content and building brands, we're gonna be finding talents all within the lifestyle network. Whether it's cooking, fashion, beauty, everything within the lifestyle brand. We want to create powerful brands finding these new talents and really nurturing them. And really everything that I've been learning, sharing my knowledge to them so that they can also create the next Ipsy or the next Icon. Really what I wanna do is really inspire them to create a better economy because that's what we need right now. We really need to reinvigorate our economy by providing more jobs. And all these jobs are all started by a simple idea. That simple idea happened to be a video, which, taking you guys back 7 years ago, was inspired by actually a door that closed on me. So 2 months before I shot my first video, I applied for a job at a Lancôme counter, a beauty counter, and I was turned down because I didn't have enough sales experience. But I didn't let that stop me. I told the person, you know, it's unfortunate that you can't hire me, but I'm gonna find my own way to share my love for beauty. And that door that I opened wasn't a door, it was a laptop. I opened that laptop and I shot my first video. I learned how to edit. I learned how to do everything. And I didn't let a no stop me because I understood that in life, if you really want to do something, if you want to accomplish something, you have to pave the way. You have to go out of your way and take those risks. So Icon Network, we just launched and it's doing really well. So we are gonna be launching also in Asia. So that's why I just came back from Japan learning about the market and seeing how it's ripe and it's ready for premium digital content. Anyways, I wanted to end it with a cute cat. Good luck. The last thing I really wanna say is just remember, I know that you guys are aspiring entrepreneurs, but the most important thing that you have to remember is that You're a creator at heart. An entrepreneur is a creator, but what makes a creator different than an entrepreneur is that a creator is creating something from a passion. It's not creating things for money. And when you are about to journey off into this world of becoming a business owner, it's tough. It's tough because you have to be self-motivated, self-determined, and sometimes you'll feel like you don't want to carry on because it's tough. It's a really hard journey. Oftentimes you're wearing a million hats. You have to be your own lawyer, your own publicist, your own everything, your own president and CEO and CEO. So if you ever feel discouraged, just know that failure is OK. Failure is part of success. Failure is like a compass. If you fail, that's actually a good thing because it shows where you should be. And it leads you to a better direction. So don't ever feel like failure Is a negative connotation because failure is part of success, and it teaches you a lot about yourself, which I think is the most important thing because it's all about personal development in this world that we live in.
