Archive for Experience

Jungmin Kang & “Snoopslimes”

Jungmin Kang was just 13 years old when she started her slime business in 2017. She became familiar with ‘slime’ through social media, as she enjoyed watching ASMR slime videos. Soon, she started her own e-commerce slime business using her allowance money. She launched her own social media and website for ‘Snoopslimes,’ selling various different types of slimes.

Kang’s business started small, but it has now grown larger than she could have ever imagined. Her social media following has now reached over 6 million, and she has sold over 1 million slimes total. To grow her business, she consistently posted high-quality videos of her slime products on Instagram and TikTok. Many of these videos went viral, which helped to spread the word about her company. In just over a year of posting on her social media, Kang had gained over 1 million followers.

Kang explains on her website that her product is a “therapeutic sensory toy” that provides a “creative outlet” for customers. Snoopslimes serves a wide array of customers, from young children who use slime as a fun toy to adults who use slime for “stress relief.”

Kang has found interesting ways to innovate in the slime market. She uses a “drop-based” business model, meaning that she launches a new supply of slimes every week at the same time. Some of the slimes stay the same every week, and others are brand-new or seasonal. Many of her slimes are carefully curated to coincide with current trends, events, or media. This business model creates more interest and demand; she can be more creative in the slimes she launches each week and many of the slimes sell out quickly after the drop time.

Kang also offers ‘slime subscription box’ plans for dedicated customers. The Snoopslime website also has a ‘Slime 101’ page for slime information and care, as well as a ‘Slime Lookbook’ page where visitors can see slimes from previous drops.

Kang is an inspiring example of a young entrepreneur who found an extremely niche interest and used her creativity to satisfy a need in the market.

Adriana Carrig & “Little Words Project”

Adriana Carrig (now 32 years old) started her own business at the age of 22. She creates fun, colorful bracelets with inspirational words and phrases on them, such as “you got this, “keep going, “and “believe.”  Carrig was inspired to start her business because she witnessed a lot of bullying and negative talk between women in college.

Carrig wanted to find a way for women to empower one another instead of putting each other down. So, she started making motivational bracelets for herself and her sorority sisters. Carrig shares on the “Little Words Project” website that the bracelets helped them “get through tough times together.”

Carrig’s new way of “spreading kindness” was very popular amongst her sorority sisters, and she decided that she wanted to spread this loving “sisterhood” feeling to all girls. Thus, the “Little Words Project” was born.

Carrig’s vision behind the “Little Words Project” is for females to buy a bracelet with a word or phrase that is important to them, wear the bracelet for as long as they “need it,” and then pass the bracelet on to another girl who needs it someday. Each bracelet has a unique ID tag on it, so girls can actually “connect” their bracelet to the company’s website and share how the message on the bracelet is meaningful to them. Then, after they have passed the bracelet on, they can “track” it on the website to see who else has been inspired by their bracelet.

Carrig’s advice to young entrepreneurs is to be yourself, be perseverant, and focus on constantly learning new things about entrepreneurship. Carrig is an excellent example of a young entrepreneur who 1) found a problem she was passionate about, and 2) came up with a unique solution that people are willing to invest in. Aspiring entrepreneurs can certainly learn a lot from Carrig’s story.

Johnny Cupcakes

Johnny Cupcakes, an odd name for a bakery. A nickname from co-workers, Johnny Earl has been serving “fresh-baked” T-Shirts across multiple locations for several years now. An entrepreneur from a young age, he started 16 businesses before the age of 16. He has been featured in FORBES, NPR, BusinessWeek, INC Magazine, Wall Street Journal, WIRED, New York Times, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times; and seen on MTV, Bloomberg TV, MAKER, Attack Of The Show, The Food Network, and WWD!

Johnny Cupcakes: A T-Shirt Startup That Gained a Cult Following Through  Unique Marketing and Word of Mouth

The idea came when he was creating new designs for the rock band he played for. He came up with the first Johnny Cupcakes design, featuring a skull and crossbones with a cupcake replacing the head. After wearing it in the office, everyone seemed to want one! Johnny began selling t-shirts out of his truck, and focused on customer experience instead of marketing. A known prankster, he loved the idea of “tricking” people into thinking he was running a real bakery!

50 Johnny Cupcakes ideas | johnny cupcakes, johnny, cupcakes

“Our bakery aesthetic is so convincing, that customers are usually convinced they are walking into a bakery expecting to get a cupcake. My inner-jokester still gets a kick out of fooling hungry shoppers. Cupcake or not, customers usually leave with a t-shirt or a great story. However, one April Fool’s Day we sold real cupcakes and hid all of our t-shirts!”

Johnny Cupcakes® Dragon Ball Z on Behance

As he began to assume a cult-like following, he added new and exclusive designs. some would only be available for certain hours! The T-Shirts, which make fun of pop culture and replace known figures with cupcakes, are becoming increasingly popular on social media where they garner the attention of masses.

OFFF16] In Conversation with Johnny Cupcakes • Inkygoodness

For Johnny, customer experience is everything, he hides vanilla scented air fresheners in store locations to mimic the smell of frosting. T-Shirts are placed in vintage refrigerator cases and packaged in pastry containers when purchased. He is known as “The top Innovator in Retail” because of his personal connection to customers. He has been known to show up randomly, and post his location for people to find him. Johnny Cupcakes has hosted movie nights, bowling, roller-skating and more simply for the connection and brand loyalty. Prankster or not, Johnny knows the importance of a strong customer base and uses the connection to his advantage by dialing in to what fans want to see next.

 

Want to learn more? Check out this YouTube Video

Visit Johnny Cupcakes website here

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Rich Rafferty – Flight Entrepreneur

Rich Rafferty is a young flight instructor at High Flight Academy in Butler, PA. Although he is an outstanding instructor, he is not limited to that role. Rich is an entrepreneur in the world of Aeronautics. He produces quality social media content on a daily basis, using Tik Tok, Youtube, and Instagram as his main platforms. His content is focused on helping flight students accomplish their goals, learn at a faster rate, and improve their lifestyle. Rich has grown to about 50,000 followers across platforms, and shows no signs of deceleration.

Not only does Rich Rafferty produce social media content, he also has started his own business called Aviator Accelerator. The mission of Aviator Accelerator is to help aviator’s improve through mentoring. The goal is to help each aviator improve themselves inside and outside the airplane. The process allows for students to “get through flight training easier, faster, and with more money in your pocket than you would elsewhere.” Rafferty is also a Mastermind Facilitator, through L3 Leadership, where he leads a group of young leaders and takes their leadership to the next level.

Rich’s passion for leadership and success is truly admirable. He is a motivated individual that will not stop innovating and building upon his strong foundations. He has already accomplished so many entrepreneurial feats in such a short period of time. It is amazing to think about all the success that will come in the future. Rich dedicates most of his success to a mental toughness challenge called 75 Hard. 75 Hard is a challenge that develops immense mental discipline, requiring the completion of  a number tasks every single day for 75 days straight. Personally, as someone who has also completed the 75 Hard challenge, I can attest to the fact that it is not an easy task but the rewards are well worth the hard work! The challenges include 2 workouts, 10 pages of a book, a gallon of water, a diet of your choice (no cheat meals), no alcohol, and a progress picture every single day. Not only did Rich complete 75 Hard, but he did the entire Live Hard program, that extends for the rest of the year. While doing all of this he built the beginning of his entrepreneurial empire.

Aviator Accelerator: http://stan.store/AviatorAccelerator

Brittany Canty: Co-founder of Comfort Eats

Brittany Canty is the co-founder of a brand called Comfort Eats. This business idea came about when she was visiting her best friend and co-founder, Reina in New Zealand. When Brittany visited, she came with her suitcase full of snacks from back home that her friend had missed so much. The joy that it brought her friend made them think- how can we ship comfort food to people that can’t find these foods where they live?

Brittany Canty

This is exactly what Comfort Eats does. Brittany and Reina have an online shop where people can have their favorite American snacks shipped to them while in a different country. They said they have seen people from other cultures become interested in their business too, not just Americans who are traveling. Brittany says her past experience as a product manager has given her lots of experience with their business. She tries to set one goal to accomplish a day, giving her freedom while also getting something important accomplished for the business.

Brittany says that she would give her younger self the advice of “trust your gut!”. She explains the world has a way of putting insecurities on young people and making them triple check everything. Her and her friend started this business as young entrepreneurs and they succeeded by being passionate in this one area.

Brittany says that listening to their customers is most important in running Comfort Eats. Their voice is most important in getting the right food delivered that will bring joy in so many ways. Brittany and Reina will continue to grow their business, reaching many people who miss the taste of their hometowns.

Brittany Canty – Co-Founder of Comfort Eats (ideamensch.com)

Mo’s Bows

Moziah Bridges grew up in a home in Tennessee, where fashion had a huge roll in his upbringing. His father used to walk around the house in suits, even when not going out in public. He was always taught to dress nice and present himself in a professional way. It was very rare that you saw a Bridges family member in a sweatshirt.Mo's Bows

When Moziah was 9, he remembers going to the mall and seeing very overpriced, low quality bow ties. Moziah begged his mom to buy one for him, but she said that they were way too expensive.  Moziah, who now goes by the name Mo, decided there to create his business, Mo’s Bows.

Mo’s grandmother was a skilled seamstress who taught him how to sew his own bows. This rocketed Mo’s interest in the fashion world. Mo’s Bows are high quality and affordable bow ties. Each and every bow is hand crafted and unique. While Mo is at school, his mother keeps the business going, and when he gets home from school, he helps her to package and ship the bowties.

The duo appeared on the hit television show, Shark Tank. While on the show, they gained the support of Daymond John who offered not only an investment but also an entrepreneurial mentorship. Starting off by selling bow ties on Etsy, Mo’s Bows are now featured on Amazon, ebay, and Mo’s personal website. Additionally, Mo has worked with the NBA becoming their personal fashion correspondent; many of Mo’s Bow’s feature the NBA logo.

Next year, Mo looks forward to graduating high school and going to college for fashion design. Mo’s story serves as an inspiration to other entrepreneurs, and he is a role model to young kids. He teaches the lesson that when there’s a passion, there’s a successful business to be unveiled. Mo’s business is something that he loves doing; so in a way, he never really works. Young entrepreneurs should take his business as a model of how they run their own businesses, find a passion and run with it.

Entrepreneur Inspiration-APEX 4 Kids: Caleb Maddix

Want to go above and beyond for your kids? Then Apex 4 Kids: Kids For Success might be what you need! Caleb Maddix started Apex 4 Kids when he was only 14 years old and he created this business to steak to kids who want to do more than the bare minimum. He is going out and speaking to kids all over the world so he can express to kids how the could become successful. As a young entrepreneur, he knew he wanted to help people and overall, Maddix wanted to start his own business NOW rather than working for someone else. In an interview with Nick Morgan, Maddix responded to the question of how brave it is to start an ambitious mission at such a young age in this way, “So I live my life by a quote and it’s “the gun that kills the most people is the ‘gonna.’” I meet too many people, especially kids, who are like “OK, I’ll get out of college and focus on my future” or “I’m gonna write a book, I’m gonna start a business …” and all of a sudden they’re 40 years old and unhappy with their life, all because they thought it was just gonna to work out. They end up killing their dream!” The main thing that’s needed to be done for Kids for Success if that he gets to personally coach ambitious students for a year in his business starting and successful ways. This greatly impacts our current students and the future of our economy.60: Making Your First Million by Age 16 | Caleb Maddix - JeremyRyanSlate.com

Now, he started out in a rough patch with his family and the divorce of his parents. He became very shy and insecure with himself. Now, he became ambitious about studying greatness and that’s all he needed to get a spark of creativity. Maddix has now written 9 books, and he was voted most successful young entrepreneuras well. He is also a 14 year old (now 18) billionaire. He now has the joy of waking up and going out and making a change in the world because he wanted to change his way of life and the way that he looked at things. His father was the root of his success because of his father’s push to study greatness and knowledge to become successful in this life.

Caleb Moddix’s craving to help other students become successful is one of his unique qualities. Most young entrepreneurs want to help others, but they most often just want to sell. I admire how he just dove into his dream and made it happen. Like he said, most people wait to achieve their dreams when they have a degree or have licensing when they’re older, but his point is, start now! Don’t wait. In addition, he sees the needs of poorer countries and underprivileged children and he wants to give them the tools to help them strive for a better way of life.

Maddix is creating his own line of books and lectures that encourage people from all over to start businesses and strive for success. When asked the question about what he would say to parents to help their kids seek success is, “Be the type of parent that your kid wants to become because they respect you, but also be the type of person that if they became identical to you, you would respect, as you would respect yourself. That’s the most deep and true thing you can ever say about being a parent. Some parents are so mad with the person their kid has become, but the kid is really just like them.”

Overall, I think this idea is very innovative because we need to be influencing the next generation now of how to live life successfully, no matter what that may look like. This has inspired me to look at students in a different way knowing that they have the exact same capabilities, with a little more understanding of how to accomplish things. Most often people look at kids as inexperienced, but the more they learn how to navigate life, the more impactful experiences they will have.

 

Website Link:

https://apex4kids.com/home

Article Link:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2016/03/15/caleb-maddix-extraordinary-entrepreneur/?sh=5771a77c34b5

City Bonfires-A Mini Mobile Bonfire

City Bonfires was created and is still produced in Maryland.  It was created by Chris McCasland and Michael Opalski when both of their jobs were impacted because of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Because of this, they were both at home a lot more than they were used to and started looking for something to do with all of this time they had recently acquired.  I think that it is really great that they make everything right in Maryland and with American made materials.

City Bonfires sells several different product packages on their website.  They sell just the “portable firepit”, three different smore packs (which include smore ingredients since these are safe to cook over, and scented ones which interestingly you can also still cook over.  I think this is a very interesting concept and something that has been missing on the market.  Yes there have been other little fire makers out there, but none that are made out of food grade wax and plant based materials that makes them perfectly safe to cook things like smores over.

I really like the idea and execution of City Bonfires.  I believe that with innovation cool niche products like this can really make a go of it.  There is nothing quite as perfect and well thought out as this product on the market.  I think it is very fun that this whole company came from the pandemic.

Shop Page – City Bonfires

The Bridge to Success

Social media has been building bridges to new ways of innovation and entrepreneurship ever since it began. Those who have capitalized on it when it began, however, are the ones making all the money and gaining the most fame. Felix Kjellberg, or better known to some as “Pewdiepie,” created his youtube account only one year after the website was released. It wasn’t until 2011, though, that he began to post on what would become the largest account on the platform ever (owned by one person). He began by posting quite short and relatively boring videos on his account purely for the entertainment of his friends and himself. As time went on, more people began to find his account, subscribing to it, and Felix’s fanbase grew. Less than a year later he had surpassed the 1 million subscriber mark. He began to post more and more and only a year after that was at 10 million. It was safe to say that he was on the right track.

Pewdiepie began to create merch such as shirts, chairs, headsets, and eventually his own game on the app store. He was rapidly gaining fans and in the spring of 2019, the creator finally reached an astonishing 100 million followers, which meant that 1 in 15 people who used youtube was subscribed to his account. This may not seem like much, however, almost half of the country uses this platform. He is still creating to this day and after selling many products and featuring in other videos and ads, he has accumulated roughly a cool $45,000,000 from online interactions alone. Felix will forever be remembered in the industry of videomaking and for revolutionizing the world by his assistance in bridging the gap between the real and digital worlds of entrepreneurship.

$10 Car Wash to $3000 Protectant Coating

Alex chapman is the young entrepreneur who started a car washing business and turned it into a luxury car detailing company. He started this car washing business in his neighborhood. It began with going around to his neighbors houses and asking if their car needed washed. Eventually, Chapman upgraded his equipment and expanded the cleaning capabilities of his company.

 

I have some knowledge in this industry from personal experience. I have been interested in cars for nearly my entire life. I’ve always dreamed of having a fancy car. This year, I bought a 1992 Mazda Miata on my senior trip in Florida. This is a 30 year old car that sat in the sun for a long time. The clear-coat that protects the white paint was been mostly burned away by the sun and age. I have been a car enthusiast for a long time, but this was the first time I owned a nice car. All my previous vehicles had been beaters or boring. I wanted to protect this car’s paint and preserve it to last as long as possible. My friend offered to help me out by using his electric buffer to shine up my car’s paint. This was a big favor because it costs a lot to pay a professional to buff a car. My friend explained that he had bought the electric buffer about a decade ago because it was cheaper to buy the equipment and do it himself than pay a shop to do it every couple years.

 

It costs hundreds of dollars to buff an entire car’s paint, and Alex Chapman saw this opportunity when he was looking to expand his car washing company. Chapman pivoted upward and expanded his services to offer more intense automotive cleaning service. Chapman’s company now offers a service called paint protective film and ceramic coating for cars. A ceramic coating is a layer of hard, glossy lacquer that covers all the paint on a car to prevent scratches and improve the shiny of the car. A protective film over the car’s paint is a clear wrap that molds to the cars curves and is attached with adhesive. Sometimes these films are heat-activated, making it an even more tedious job. Protective film is a way to prevent severe scratches that can occur on a racetrack. Luxury and sport car owners want to use their car to the full potential and push them to the max on the track without worrying about damage to the paint. Although paying three grand for a barely noticeable modification might sound asinine to a normal person, it must be taken into account how immensely expensive it is to fix paint damage on expensive cars. Alex Chapman saw this opening in the market and took advantage of it.

 

England is home to many, many car enthusiasts and luxury car owners. The population density is comparatively high to the United States and Chapman’s clientele will pay for his services. An appealing aspect to Alex Chapman’s business model is the exclusivity and environment in which he treats the cars and meets with clients. This business is very interesting and has extensive material for discussion and exemplifies a great strategy to build a business from the ground up.

 

 

Sources:

https://www.ladbible.com/news/uk-teen-entrepreneur-has-own-business-polishing-luxury-cars-for-4000-20190320

https://www.ladbible.com/news/uk-teen-entrepreneur-has-own-business-polishing-luxury-cars-for-4000-20190320

https://awccardetailing.co.uk/about-awc-car-detailing/