Hart Main went from a 13 year old with some soup cans to an entrepreneur making six figures annually. It all started when Hart wanted a $1,200 bike, and in lieu of mowing lawns and shoveling driveways like every other kid, he decided to pursue a business instead. His idea arose when a confrontation with his sister lead to his discovery of a hole in the scented candle market. He discovered this hole could be filled with a more masculine take on scented candles, and thus he created the company ManCan. After some R&D, Hart nearly perfected his product and began selling in his community. Soon, his story got so big that he got picked up by the Associated Press and thus sales boomed.
Hart Main’s product always had a philanthropic angle. When just starting out, the soup cans needed to make the candles were consumed by his family and friends, however production increased and thus the soup followed suit. He eventually had enough soup to donate 200 units to a soup kitchen with the stipulation that the empty cans were to be returned. Later, instead of soup, ManCan began donating 75 cents from the proceeds of every candle sale to soup kitchens in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan, thus continuing Hart’s philanthropic venture. As of July 21st, 2015, ManCan has donated $35,000 to soup kitchens in the United States, and thus that number is likely significantly larger now that it’s 2021 and ManCan is still in business.
After years of hard work and creativity, Hart Main has contributed to the economy as well as communities beyond his own. In four years, he went from packaging cans in his kitchen to a rented warehouse space with five employees. In his time as a teenager, Hart managed to create a product that is currently in stores in all 50 states as well as online as a part of Beaver Creek Candle Company.
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Much of the information regarding Hart Main, as well as this photo, can be found here and here, and you can check out his candles for sale here.
I think Hart Mann’s idea of creating candles towards the male market was a very innovative idea, because he recognized a problem in the industry and fixed it. The ability for him to find a unique take on such a large market of candles takes a lot of creativity. His philanthropic principles of donating originally soup and now money to soup kitchens makes his business even more inspiring. Hart Mann’s ability to create such a far reaching business at such a young age is very admirable. Overall, his ability to find a need that he could meet in the market at such a young age makes Hart Mann a great example of a young entrepreneur.