What work had been you doing beforehand?
I spent 15 years at Jaguar Land Rover, working a three-shift sample on the manufacturing aspect.
For about six of these years I used to be additionally a Well being and Security consultant. In plain phrases, a part of my job was how issues had been achieved on the store ground and asking: is that this truly secure, and does it do what it’s purported to do? That query ended up shaping every part that got here after.
What are you doing now?
I run my very own enterprise, Pure Glow Enamel Whitening, which I launched in February 2025 from Coventry.
We make peroxide-free enamel whitening strips. I do every part myself, from product improvement and compliance to advertising and customer support. I’ve additionally ended up writing for dental commerce journals about enamel whitening and the regulation, which is one thing I by no means noticed coming once I left a automotive plant.
Why did you alter?
I would been at Jaguar Land Rover for 15 years.
I labored a three-shift sample, together with six years in well being and security. It was a very good job, however I would reached the purpose the place I may see the following 25 years wanting precisely the identical, and I did not need that.
I felt I wanted a significant change whereas I nonetheless had the prospect to make one, in order that no matter occurred I may look again and haven’t any regrets.
The thought for my enterprise began with one thing small and private. Rotating shifts meant I drank loads of espresso. I smoked on the time and I seen my enamel getting stained. I had a vacation booked and needed to really feel a bit extra assured, so I attempted whitening strips.
The peroxide ones gave me sensitivity so unhealthy I needed to cease. The peroxide-free ones slid round, whitened patchily, left gel throughout my enamel and tasted of chemical compounds. I used to be paying for merchandise that could not do the essential job.
Coming from well being and security, that basically did not sit proper with me. Ache, mess and poor design had in some way change into regular in a product folks put straight onto their enamel. I stored pondering: any individual ought to repair this.
Finally, I realised that any individual might be me. Alongside that, I had been on shifts for a very long time and I needed to construct one thing of my very own, the place the choices and the requirements had been mine.
When was the second you determined to make the change?
It was on that vacation in Ibiza.
I placed on three units of strips by the pool and never one in all them caught. It was about 5 kilos straight within the bin and the cash wasn’t the purpose. The purpose was that nothing in the marketplace did what it mentioned on the field.
I turned to my girlfriend on the time and mentioned, “I will create my very own enamel whitening model and repair this.” She mentioned I used to be loopy. Wanting again, that was the second. Every part after it was simply understanding how.
How did you select your new profession?
In a method the profession selected me as a result of it grew out of an issue I had personally.
After I acquired house, I purchased each whitening strip I may pay money for. I used them and wrote down each single fault I discovered and each grievance I may discover from different clients. That listing grew to become my product temporary.
What gave me confidence was the well being and security behavior of testing claims reasonably than trusting them. I wasn’t guessing what folks needed. I had a written listing of what was flawed with every part already on the market, and a transparent thought of what “proper” would appear to be: a strip that stays put, whitens evenly, comes off clear, tastes nice and would not trigger sensitivity.
Are you proud of the change?
Sure, very a lot so.
What’s working is that the product does what I got down to make it do and the suggestions has been good. We have had folks with sensory points round oral care, who had by no means been in a position to make use of whitening strips earlier than, describe them as life-changing, and that genuinely struck a chord with me.
The press aspect has additionally grown: a bit of mine ran throughout a bunch of wedding ceremony magazines, the British Dental Journal wrote the product up in its product information, and I’ve been commissioned to write down a sequence for Dental Nursing. We had been additionally an official sponsor of the Miss England 2026 semi-final.
What do you miss and what do not you miss?
As a Well being and Security rep, serving to folks was the entire level of the function, and I miss that aspect of it.
It is also precisely the place all of this got here from: that behavior of looking for folks and asking whether or not one thing is secure and does what it says. In a method I nonetheless do this job, only for my clients now.
I do miss a few of the folks I labored with. However so far as the job itself goes, I am glad to be out and doing my very own factor. I do not miss the rotating shifts or the sensation of working laborious on one thing that wasn’t mine. Now once I put the hours in, I can see precisely the place they go.
How did you go about making the shift?
I did not leap right away.
I arrange Pure Glow alongside the day job, spending about ten months on improvement and launching in February 2025. Then final Christmas, JLR supplied voluntary redundancy, and I took it. That gave me the push to go full time on the enterprise, and I’ve funded it myself ever since.
Alongside the way in which, there have been just a few key issues that helped me flip the concept right into a enterprise:
1. Begin with the issue, not the enterprise thought. I wrote down each fault with each product I attempted. That listing did extra for me than any marketing strategy.
2. Discover the suitable folks to make it. I contacted a number of producers. Most weren’t concerned about altering their normal product. I stored going till I discovered a provider and producer who understood the issues I had discovered and had been keen to work on them with me.
3. Iterate correctly. It took round ten months of improvement. They’d ship me samples, I’d take a look at them and reject them, and we went spherical once more. We rejected 4 formulation earlier than we landed on the one I promote at this time.
4. Do the boring, necessary bits correctly. Cosmetics are regulated within the UK, so I appointed a UK Accountable Individual, and had the product safety-assessed and notified earlier than I bought a single field.
5. Launch small and hear. I arrange the web site after which added Amazon and TikTok Store. I paid shut consideration to each evaluate and message.
6. Inform the story. As soon as the product was proper, I began writing to journalists, editors and bloggers myself. That is how the press protection and the dental journal writing happened.
How did you develop (or switch) the talents you wanted to your new function?
Actually, I used to be nervous that coming from a automotive plant I would not have the “proper” abilities to run a shopper model.
What shocked me was how a lot transferred. Well being and security taught me to query claims, to learn rules correctly, to doc every part and to by no means reduce corners on something that would damage somebody. That turned out to be precisely what a regulated product like this wants, and it is the rationale dental editors now ask me to write down for them.
I additionally had a base to construct on: I studied enterprise and accounting in school once I was youthful, which helped greater than I anticipated as soon as I used to be doing my very own books and pricing.
The issues I did not have, like ecommerce, advertising and design, I discovered by doing: loads of my very own analysis, loads of trial and error, and a little bit of assist from AI instruments alongside the way in which. You needn’t know every part on day one. It’s good to be keen to study the following factor when it comes up.
What didn’t go effectively? What flawed turns did you are taking?
Lots.
The primary producers I approached simply needed to maintain promoting their normal product and weren’t concerned about fixing something, so I misplaced time there earlier than discovering the suitable associate. Growth took far longer than I anticipated; ten months felt like endlessly once I simply needed to launch.
I additionally underestimated how laborious getting seen could be. I assumed a greater product would promote itself, and it would not.
How did you deal with your funds to make your shift attainable?
Merely, I saved laborious.
Every part has been funded from my very own financial savings, with no loans and no buyers, and it price me about US$13,000 / £10,000 to get off the bottom. That coated the event and samples, the regulatory aspect (security evaluation, notification and a UK Accountable Individual), the primary inventory, packaging and the web site.
The principle factor I’d say to readers is to maintain your overheads tiny in the beginning and spend on the issues that make the product proper and authorized first. Advertising can develop later; a foul product cannot be marketed into a very good one.
What was probably the most tough factor about altering?
The self-doubt.
Strolling away from a gradual job and 15 years of familiarity to guess on your self is horrifying. There have been loads of nights the place I questioned if my girlfriend had been proper that I used to be loopy.
The opposite tough factor is how a lot of it’s on you. While you’re by yourself, each determination, each drawback and each e-mail lands in your desk. Studying to maintain going when one thing would not work, and never take it personally, has been the most important lesson.
What assist did you get?
Actually, not a lot in the way in which of formal assist.
I did practically all the analysis myself. I had the enterprise and accounting I studied in school as a base, and from there it was loads of studying, loads of trial and error, and a bit little bit of assist from AI instruments once I wanted to get my head round one thing rapidly.
The assistance I did get got here from the specialists I paid to do issues correctly, like my UK Accountable Individual on the regulatory aspect, and from the shoppers and reviewers who took the time to present trustworthy suggestions. I am used to simply getting on with issues, and this was no completely different.
What have you ever learnt within the course of?
That almost all issues are solvable should you’re cussed sufficient.
That your background is extra precious than you assume, even when it seems to be fully unrelated. And that being trustworthy, even when it isn’t the best choice, builds extra belief than any advertising ever will.
What do you want you’d achieved in another way?
I’d’ve began speaking about it publicly a lot earlier.
I spent a very long time getting the product good, which was proper, however I ought to’ve been constructing an viewers and telling my story on the identical time reasonably than ready till it was all completed. I would even have began speaking to clients about what they needed even earlier.
What would you advise others to do in the identical state of affairs?
Begin with an issue you genuinely care about, ideally one you might have skilled your self.
Write every part down. Take a look at your thought in small, low cost methods earlier than you commit every part. Do not underestimate the talents you have already got; take a look at what you truly do daily and you will find extra transferable expertise than you assume.
And do not wait to really feel prepared. I did not really feel prepared leaving a fifteen yr profession. You study by doing, and the arrogance comes after you begin, not earlier than.
What assets would you advocate to others?
I did not observe one guide or course; most of it was my very own analysis.
For those who’re making a bodily product, particularly something you set in your physique, learn the UK authorities’s personal steering on product security and cosmetics rules early and discover the suitable specialists for the regulatory aspect earlier than you promote something.
AI instruments are genuinely helpful for getting your head round one thing new rapidly, so long as you examine what they inform you. And should you can, decide up the fundamentals of enterprise and bookkeeping. My school enterprise and accounting course was extra helpful than I ever anticipated.
To study extra about Daniel’s enterprise, go to http://pureglowteethwhitening.com/
What classes may you are taking from Daniel’s story to make use of in your individual profession change? Tell us within the feedback beneath.