Archive for Great Ideas – Page 6

It started with a bath & it was “Da Bomb”

In 2012, sisters Caroline and Isabel Bercaw were a couple of young teenagers who loved using bath bombs, so they decided to start creating their own for fun. But — theirs were unique. Some of their “bombs” would have a fragrance or would be fizzy, but what was most striking for customers was that each would have a small treasure—like a ring, or a fortune—in the middle when the outside had dissolved. After selling out their products at a local art fair and getting a call from local and major retailers, Caroline and Isabel realized they could turn this into something real.

As of 2018, Da Bomb is a $20 million-plus company employing 200 people with features on Forbes 30 Under 30 2019 as well as the Wall Street Journal Business. With their parents as CEO/CFO, co-founders Caroline and Isabel are now young college students with their products — that were once just a hobby — in thousands of stores worldwide and online. Their bombs are made from a selective few, clean ingredients in order to keep things “as natural as possible” (Da Bomb). Additionally, for a long time, they made each bomb by hand in their basement, but due to their immense growth, they have had to outsource; however, all of their products are made in the USA.

What made their bath bombs so great? For most people, it was the treasure inside. It was a personal gift, and that made an impact on the consumer. Also, clever names such as “F-Bomb,” as well as fun fragrances caught the attention of consumers looking for something unique. Caroline and Isabel are now the authors of two books, both of which contain recipes and other DIY-type activities to make and do with bath bombs, face scrubs, and more.

Overall true innovators in their field, Caroline and Isabel Bercaw created a highly-successful, family-run business founded on simplicity, uniqueness, and fun — and it is the bomb.

 

 

ManCans! Manly scented candles

 

Another young entrepreneur out of Ohio is Hart Main. Hart Main is a 13-year old that came up with the idea of manly scented candles. “Why don’t people make candles with scents that everyone likes?” Hart Main asked, while smelling the overly perfumed candles his sister was selling for a school fundraiser, he thought about guys who did not want their bedrooms to smell like, lavender soap. Although his sister did not expect him to fully pursue the manly scented candles idea himself, he did, and the idea has turned into a nationwide success. But before this success, before the company started, Harts’ wheels began turning, and the entrepreneur in him began to come out. He saw the opportunity right under his nose, the young entrepreneur combined his passion for helping his community with his interest in making a different sect of candle by donating to local soup kitchens and using the empty cans to hold his extraordinary scents. Main put in an initial investment of $100, his parents put in $200, and they all worked together to develop the candles as a group. Hart and his family work together to craft these handmade soy-wax-blend candles that possess the kinds of familiar smells from around the house that no man (or woman) would turn their nose up at. Hart’s current candles includes scents like dirt, fresh cut grass, sawdust, campfire, pizza, and coffee, bacon, Grandpa’s Pipe, and more. Each comes individually packed in a gift box. Today, ManCans candles are in over 60 stores across the country and have sold about 9,000 units. Main looks forward to improving his business, as well as moving into other entrepreneurial ventures, “I like the fact that I have control over things and can make decisions and see what’s actually happening,” he says.

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hart-main-mancans-13-year-old-entrepreneur_n_909300

How did you Blog today

Ever notice when going to post on this blog, “Millennial Entrepreneurs” for assignments, what you log in through. Well it is WordPress, founded by Matthew Mullenweg when he was in college in 2005. Today it is used as one of leading, and most successful websites to upload and create blogs worldwide. How ironic that the cite we use to talk about all the entrepreneur’s in the world, is one created by a millennial entrepreneur.

Like most college kids, Matt was struggling keeping up with his grades. He also didn’t feel he was in the right spot, and college wasn’t his thing.  So he wanted to vent those feelings to kids in the similar situation, but noticed there was no way to connect and do that. He did however, realize the World Wide Web was on the rise and the new place to be, so why not there. He created WordPress to connect with kids who didn’t “fit in/like” college and started a blog. Little did he know it would take off and blow up how it did. Today, there are about 60 million blogs on WordPress alone, one of which is ours. He saw a way to take venting and expressing his feelings to the next level. He knew, the only way to do it before was write it down, and save it and share with friend if you were brave enough. He wondered about making it better and in real time by allowing blogging to happen at your finger tips, and be published when you want.

WordPress and millennial entrepreneur is one thing I never expected them to go together. I never saw us talking about entrepreneurs and writing about their success and what they did, on their platform. It is a small word to say the least, and very ironic that it comes together how it does.

 

Stung By Success

Me & the Bees Lemonade

No one likes being stung by a bee – all you are left with is a painful red bump on your arm. Mikaila Ulmer’s bee sting left her with the inspiration to start a business. She came up with the idea to sell lemonade (her great grandmother’s recipe) and to donate part of the profits to help save the honeybees. At the age of 4, Ulmer entered the Action Children’s Business Fair where she pitched her idea. With help from her family, her business has grown by 500%. Ulmer now at age 15, sells her Me & the Bees Lemonade at a variety of major retailers and has even appeared on the show Shark Tank. The fact that Ulmer was 4 years old when became the founder of her own business that has grown so substantially shows her entrepreneurial gifts.

Nannies by Noa

https://www.noamintz.com/

Home

Noa-edited-10 copy.jpg

This young entrepreneur named Noa Mintz started a business called Nannies by Noa when she was just 12 years old in 2012. She has made numerous appearances on various television stations and channels to talk about her service and has a wide following behind her business. As of 2015 her business had a net worth of about $375,000. Her business aims to find the best nannies and babysitters for families around New York City, the Hamptons and the Tri-state area. Noa is extremely driven by her passion for helping children and their families. Friends and family close to her would say that she has a niche for matchmaking people together which has aided her in finding nannies and babysitters that are compatible with certain types of families. Her idea is great and very interesting because it gives families a platform in which they can find reliable, fun, passionate, and trustworthy nannies that parents can feel safe leaving their children with and to help care for their children when they are unable to. They do a detailed background screening and even provide some educational services for nannies and babysitters to improve their skills. She ended up hiring a trained CEO to run the business for her because working 40 hours a week was interfering with her schoolwork. That being said, she clearly cares about her education in addition to her business. When she is not engaged in work for her business or school, she is also part of an organization called The Friendship Circle which pairs teenagers with special needs children and offers mentorship for them. She demonstrates innovation by providing this service to families all over New York City and the Tri-state area, which is a very large geographic area, that has a lot of people in need of this type of service. Her story and motivation is very inspiring to me and shows me that any business is possible to create and establish no matter what age you are.

The Building Blocks of A Better Future: The Tegu Story

Chris Haughey and Will Haughey were born on the other side of the world in the island country of New Zealand. When they were both still very young, their family moved to the Saint Louis, Missouri. Growing up in the United States, the Haughey parents put great emphasis on international mission trips to impoverished nations. Many of these trips included every member of the family together. It is likely at this time that the brothers began to develop a heart for the impoverished peoples of the third world. Upon receiving a degree from Stanford University, Chris Haughey joined the Boston Consulting Group which allowed him to travel extensively through Central and South America. On a business trip to Honduras, Chris was able to reconnect with missionaries he knew from previous trips. Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Central America with one of the highest murder rates in the region. According to World Fact Book, over half of the population lives in poverty, creating a serious problem. Through his interactions with them and his immersion in the Honduran culture and people, Chris decided that he needed to be a part of solution in Honduras.

After a year of extensive market research, Chris left his position at the Boston Consulting Group to found Tegu, a magnetic block company made of Honduran wood, in 2007. Tegu gets its name from the capitol of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, which is also the city in which the toys are made. The company employs two hundred Hondurans, and provides for over three hundred more that rely on their income. Chris’ brother, Will, after a brief but successful career in investment banking, came on full time with Tegu. Together, the two brothers now run the company and every day strive to have a tangible impact in one of the poorest corners of the world.

Are there cheaper ways to make toys? Yes there are. Could these brothers be making more money elsewhere? Absolutely. But is Tegu making a tangible difference? Yes it is. And that’s enough for the Haugheys. To see them utilize their God-given business capability and know how, not to line their own pockets, but to instead develop the economy of one of the poorest nations in the world is an inspiring story indeed. Their story is a testament to the fact that there’s more to business than money. To the Haugheys? Ultimately its about people.

Catherine Cook – myYearbook

In 2005, Catherine Cook and her brother, Dave, were flipping through their high school yearbook to see if they recognized anyone. While looking through it, Catherine thought of putting the whole yearbook online. This idea sparked a multi-million-dollar company in the years to come – and Catherine was only fourteen!

After coming up with the initial idea, Catherine contacted her oldest brother, Geoff, who was a sophomore at Harvard University. Geoff Cook was already on the road to making hundreds of thousands of dollars off his two websites EssayEdge.com & ResumeEdge.com, when his younger sister first told him of the idea. He immediately invested $250,000 into her idea and they began working with developers in India to bring the website to life.

Within one week of launching the site, Catherine & Geoff had 400 people with accounts – and it was confined to their hometown of New Hope, PA. Catherine would wear creative shirts that said things like, “Are you the prettiest girl in school? How about the dumbest? Find out!” By 2006, the website had over 1 million users. It continued to grow throughout the following years until, in 2010, it entered the top 25 most-visited websites.

In 2011, myYearbook merged with the Quepasa Corporation for over $100 million. One year later, they renamed the company to MeetMe. MeetMe still keeps some of the same features that made myYearbook so popular, but it now offers online chatting and connections with other people.

Katherine’s simple idea turned into a multi-million-dollar venture, something she says she definitely did not ever expect. myYearbook is a great example of the possibilities that can arise from a unique idea.

Drew Estate: The Rebirth of Cigars

Drew Estate is one of the most famous cigar brands ever, and dominates a large percentage of tobacco sales today, even though the company was started only twenty years ago. Drew Estate was started in 1998 by Jonathan Drew and Marvin Samel, who lived in New York City at the time, and had a small boutique that sold cigars in downtown New York City.

Experiencing declining sales and interest in cigars in the American market, Jonathan Drew moved to  Esteli, Nicaragua, with the hope of starting the “rebirth of cigars.” While in Nicaragua, one of the cigar hubs of the world, Drew obsessed over making new, exciting cigar blends that could bring flavors and experiences never before seen in the American market. After a year or so of meticulously perfecting his cigar blends, Drew returned to the United States and launched what would become the company’s signature cigar line, ACID Cigars.

The company grew and grew because of the wildly popular ACID line, which was a completely unique set of flavor profiles for the cigar market. By 2004, the company had expanded so much that they moved their headquarters from New York City to Miami, Florida to help continue grow the expanding company. In 2007, the company opened one of the largest cigar manufacturing plants in the entire world, which was 96,000 square feet.

This state of the art factory helped to maximize the company’s production, and helped Drew Estate to become a wildly popular brand in the cigar market. Through innovation and perseverance, Jonathan Drew and Marvin Samel were able to start one of the most innovative and popular cigar brands in the entire world.

RCP Drum Company

RCP Drum Company was started in 2018, by the father-son duo Brian and Robert Pettry.  The idea originated when Brian and his wife ordered a drum pad for their son Robert from a different company, and were unsatisfied by the pad, the shipping time, and the customer service the company provided.

By using Brian’s business knowledge that he acquired from running another family business, and Robert’s skills as a drummer, the father-son team created what they believe is the best practice pad on the market.  Many practice pads that are currently available do not provide a similar feel to a real drum, nor do they always have a rim or sound anything like a real drum.  Using Robert’s knowledge as a drummer, as well as feedback from others, they designed the pads to be flexible enough to meet many different types of drummers’ needs.  By placing different types of rubber under the head, each pad can have a different feel.  Their mindset was not to make the most profit, but to create the best practice pad they could.  Brian and Robert also made the pads so that if a part breaks or wears out, or the drummer just wants to change up the look, each piece is easily replaceable and interchangeable.  The head of the pad is made out of an epoxy coated anodized aluminum fabric, which can only be sourced from two companies in the U.S., but it sounds the best.  Every pad is custom built for each order and is guaranteed to be shipped within two business days of placing an order.

Brian and Robert wanted all of the parts to be sourced locally so that they could have personal relationships with the manufacturers, while also allowing them to have easier access for faster shipping times.  All the parts for the pads are made in the USA, many of which are made in Illinois and Wisconsin.  The pads are then assembled by Robert and his dad.  They also realize the opportunity they have been given to start this company and try to give credit to God as often as they can.  While setting oneself apart as a Christian company can have a negative impact, Robert and his dad have said that more often than not, they have received wonderful support and have had some great groups purchase from them because of it.

RCP Drum Company really strives to create a local and personal connection both with their customers and their manufacturers.  They believe that a personalized connection is important for a company, and something that is not often found today.  Sometimes this means answering phone calls late at night, replying to countless emails, answering questions on social media, helping someone with a broken product or who isn’t satisfied with the product, and numerous other ways of making the customer feel like they aren’t just another dollar.  Robert and Brian also use a local college student to film their product videos and a local high school student who takes a lot of the stock photos and designed their logo.  This gives a young person in the community the opportunity to be a part of something bigger.

Looking for a custom practice pad, made in the USA, from a company that gives wonderful customer service?  You will find all of that at RCP Drum Company.

 

https://rcpdrum.com/

Bravo Company Manufacturing

Bravo Company Manufacturing is a firearms manufacturer that was started in 2003. After serving in Iraq and being part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, former United States Marine Paul Buffoni began Bravo Company Manufacturing in his garage in Hartland, Wisconsin.

After 9/11, there was a massive increase in the demand of riffles and other firearms from people in the United States that were looking for tools to defend themselves and their families. At the time, there was only one large manufacturer that was making AR15 and M4 riffles for the commercial market, which was the legendary gun manufacturer, Colt.

Buffoni quickly recognized that there was a need in the commercial market for riffles that were professional quality and that people could rely rely on in literal life or death situations. This is exactly what bravo Company USA provides: they rigorously test each riffle, barrel, and upper-receiver that they produce in their factory, and if any one of their products does not meet 100% of their specifications, they immediately scrap the product and will not sell it to any customer.

Bravo Company has been based in Hartland, Wisconsin since 2003, and they are one of the largest employers in that area. Interestingly enough, Buffoni focuses on hiring people that thing more like mechanics or engineers, since they are able to help the company develop better, more innovated products to bring to the market. Bravo Company spends years developing new parts for their weapon systems, with the focus on making these products lighter and stronger than previous versions.

Paul Buffoni was able to recognize a real need in the firearms industry and used his expertise in this field to create high quality, affordable products that the market desperately wanted. Buffoni also helps out other veterans through some charitable efforts of his company, and he loves to spend time giving back to the great community of veterans that we have here in the United States. Bravo Company is an excellent company, with a great founder, that accomplishes it’s mission of being a premier gun systems manufacturer in a simple, and customer friendly way.