I'm writing this from the Algarve, on the southern coast of Portugal.
Last night, before I went out, I reached into my bag and pulled out a container of GLZD — the body glaze I've spent the better part of a year building — and put it on.
Fresh skin, a little glisten, a scent that stayed with me all night without me having to spray a cloud of cologne and walk through it. I stood there for a second and thought: this is the whole reason I did this.
Let me back up.
The thing that was always missing
I'm in my own routine most mornings, and it's become sacred to me.
I start the day with a great coffee — usually something I picked up somewhere around the world on a trip, because that small ritual matters to me. I work for at least an hour while it's quiet.
Then I break, hit the gym, and go straight from the gym into the sauna I have at my house.
Fifteen minutes to cool down, then a shower. And right out of the shower is the moment I apply GLZD — before I head into the office, fully reset, ready for the day.
That sequence is the truth of why this product exists. Personal care has become a bigger priority for me as I've gotten older, because it simply makes a bigger difference now than it did at twenty-five. The gym, the six miles I walk most days, the daily sauna, the attention to my skin — none of that is vanity. It's maintenance. It's how I show up.
But there was always a gap at the end of it. I like cologne, but I don't always want to spray something all over myself. And the products meant for your skin never fit either — I didn't like the oily look of a lot of lotions, or the literal sheen of body oil people pour on. I wanted something more subtle.
Something that added a little glow to the skin and carried a scent at the same time. A one-two punch for a guy who wants to look and smell good without overthinking it.
That product didn't exist the way I wanted it.
So I made it. Body glaze fills that void — a subtle glisten, a fast-absorbing feel, and a scent you actually choose. It's the thing that was always missing from my own routine, which is exactly why I trust it. I'm not selling something I read about in a trend report.
I'm selling something I packed in my bag for Portugal.
I didn't have to do this — and that's the point
Here's the honest part.
Every new business is a risk. I could have taken the money I've put into GLZD so far and dropped it into a high-yield ETF and collected dividends for the rest of my life without lifting a finger.
On a spreadsheet, that's the smarter move. Starting a brand also costs me something money can't measure — time and attention pulled away from businesses that are already working.
So why do it?
Because this one is personal. For more than a decade I've built in the hair extension and wig industry, and I love that business — but it's not something I personally use.
I can talk about quality and sourcing and systems all day, but I'm not the customer. GLZD is different. This is a product I use every single morning and every time I go out at night. It's a passion project in the truest sense: something I can speak about from my own life, not from a position behind a counter.
That distinction changed how I think about risk. The ETF would've made me money. GLZD makes me show up as myself. Those aren't the same thing, and at this stage of my life I know which one I actually want.
This isn't a pivot
I want to be clear about something, because people love to frame a move like this as a guy abandoning ship. It's the opposite.
I am still deeply involved in hair and wigs, and I'm going to keep growing that business. What's changed is that I've spent years building a team I genuinely trust to run the daily work — and that's freed me up to do what I should be doing: focusing on the high-level, high-impact projects only I can do.
GLZD is one of those projects. It's not me walking away from anything. It's me finally having the room to chase something I care about because I built the foundation that lets me.
Always in my own lane
I didn't come from a family of entrepreneurs.
I didn't come from a family that cared much about self-care, either. Nobody handed me a blueprint for any of this. I've always been in my own lane — and over the years I've come to see that as a feature, not a flaw.
Because here's what I've learned: most of the people around you are not entrepreneurs, and they will not understand the difficulties of the road you're on. That's not a knock on them. It's just reality.
You make a bet they think is reckless, you obsess over a detail they can't see the point of, you take money that could've sat safely in the market and pour it into a tub of scented glaze instead — and the people in your life look at you sideways. You learn to be okay with that.
You learn to trust your own read of the world.
GLZD came out of that lane. A guy who wasn't raised to care about glow, building a brand around the idea that men glow too. I find that funny and right at the same time.
Why I'm writing this down
I'm documenting this journey on purpose. Building GLZD from zero — the wins, the dumb mistakes, the stuff I'm figuring out in real time — and putting it somewhere people can follow along.
If you're reading this and any of it resonates — the routine, the bet, the lane — then come watch what happens next. I'm building GLZD out loud, and I'd love for you to follow the journey.
Now I'm going to go enjoy the rest of Portugal.
— Mikey