Who would’ve thought that a petty argument between a brother and sister could be the start of a successful candle business? That is exactly what happened back in 2010 with Hart Main and his sister. As she was selling candles for a school fundraiser, Hart told her that she wouldn’t sell any candles because the scents were too girly. He didn’t think anything of this statement until he needed to find a way to raise money to buy his own bike about a month later. He invested $100 in a candle kit and got $200 from his parents. Over about 6 months, Main and his family spent their time making over 20,000 candles. His manly scented candles included scents like campfire, bacon, sawdust, fresh cut grass, grandpa’s pipe and more. To add to the masculinity of the candles, he decided to put them in soup can as opposed to glass containers. He bought hundreds of soup cans and donated them to a local soup kitchen and used to empty cans for his candles. After he had enough inventory, he began selling to family and friends, and eventually more and more people heard about this business. As his sales rose and his candles were beginning to be a success, he moved into a warehouse and hired five employees to work on candle making. In 2014, Main was approached by the Beaver Creek Candle Co. in Lisbon to manufacture and distribute the candles, and that is where they are made today. At the same time, Main launched a line called SheCans with scents targeted towards women which is also manufactured by Beaver Creek Candle Co. Main is continuing with his charitable giving even as his business is growing into something he can potentially live off of. Instead of soup, however, ManCans donates 75 cents of every candle sale to soup kitchens in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan. Main is now studying economics at Kent State University with the intentions of becoming a sports agent. Although MainCans gives him a steady income, it is not his passion and he is aware of how lucky he was that the business took off. He will continue running the company while in college as a source of earning money.
What a cool story of how a simple disagreement with his sister turned into a business venture for Hart at a young age. I can totally relate to guys not liking candles that smell too girly. My brother would not like to burn candles we would buy because they smelled too girly, and when they introduced more guy friendly scents, he then wanted to buy them. I would never think of making a candle in an empty soup can, but it worked and I liked how he took a different approach to packaging. I will have to look out for ManCans next time I am looking to buy more candles!
It is interesting to see where ideas originate. Who would’ve though that a huge business could be the result of an argument with a sibling. Many ideas come out of circumstances other than brainstorming all day. That being said young entrepreneurs are the opposite of traditional. It makes sense that their ideas for products and other things don’t come from the same place a traditional idea comes from. This is an interesting product that I would consider buying. He was fortunate that this took off and is providing him with a steady income at such a young age.