Daniel Alarik is not your regular fashion entrepreneur. He’s an army veteran, has a tight military haircut, large arms with tattoos, and a barrel chest. He is pro-military and pro-second amendment. He is also irreverent, authentic, and funny.

Daniel Alarik came up with a lifestyle brand that has been incredibly successful. Source: Forbes

What's so surprising and inspiring about Daniel is the fact that he turned $1,200 into $100 million with his lifestyle brand. So, how did he do it? Below are a few of his most important lessons.

Lesson #1 - Authenticity Is a Very Important Ingredient

Back in 2009, Daniel Alarik was a drill instructor for the army. He thought about leaving the army so he could spend more time with his family. At the time, he had $1,200 to his name and a business idea. Well, that was just on the surface.

Below the surface, Daniel had a secret ingredient, which was the ability to relate to his target market authentically.

How to be authentic is one of the most important lessons a person can learn. Source: Forbes

Daniel's target market is the post 9-11 warrior class: the first responders, military veterans, and their supporters. Since Daniel has been working in the army, he shares the values and beliefs of his target customers. That's what authenticity means, and if done right, it's something that’s very difficult to replicate.

Lesson #2 - Message Consistency

If you want to build a lifestyle brand, then you must pick a message carefully. Once you have done that, be consistent in delivering the message in all aspects of your company.

Daniel created a line of T-shirts with a backwards facing flag - which is well-known to Freedom Fighters. Source: Forbes

For example, Daniel’s Grunt Style T-shirts have an American flag print, except backwards. For the general public, this would seem odd.

However, for Daniel's community of freedom fighters, they already know the meaning behind the backward-facing flag. In fact, the U.S. military soldiers carry a backward American flag on their shoulders. This is to portray that the field of stars is advancing forward. Daniel's first video ad said: "This American flag isn't backward, it’s assaulting forward."

Lesson #3 – The Importance of Grit

Coming from the army, Daniel instinctively recognizes the importance of grit. In the army, you'll learn valuable lessons such as:

-Anything that’s worth doing is going to be hard
-Any difficult thing requires practice
-Practical and realistic improvement will only come with repetition

Just like a military sniper practicing taking shots in, entrepreneurs also need to practice to perfect the art and science of making a business successful.

The idea of repetition, correction, and then iteration was already a standard in the army long before Eric Ries popularized the idea of "Lean Startup."

Aside from practice and repetition, you must have grit when the obstacles come. In Daniel's case, there was no shortage of obstacles. For example, all the money that the company had, which was $5,000, got stolen, and yet they continued. Daniels' wife battled a stage three cancer, and yet they continued. Multiple times, Daniel thought about quitting, but they continued.

According to Daniel, grit is the most important aspect of business. Almost all causes of business failure, like the need for capital, bad marketing, and bad product fit, can be solved. However, the factor that will ultimately decide if a business is doomed is when the owners decide to quit.