Following his nose…
Here’s a familiar question, men: “How can I make my man-cave smell good without using a whole bottle of Axe spray or feeling like I’ve walked into Bed, Bath and Beyond?” For Hart Main the answer was ManCans. No more “lavender-valley” scented candles to ruin the atmosphere of a masculine dwelling, instead choose from a truckload of man-scents like “coffee”, “fresh-cut grass” and “Grandpa’s Pipe” to make your den fit your personality.
Smells that Give Back
ManCans was the brainchild of 13 year old Hart Main who was peeved that his sister did not include less “girly” candle scents at their school candle sale. He got the idea to make candles that appealed more to men and made his first batch out of leftover soup cans. When these caught on, he decided to keep the rustic soup can model and increased his production while at the same time drastically increasing his family’s consumption of soup. After a while, his family could take no more soup and he decided to donate it to local soup kitchens and keep the cans for his business. His sales pitch quickly came to include the line “One candle one Meal” and today he donates to soup kitchens across Ohio and even as far as north West Virginia.
One of a kind
Hart Main is a clever kid and a brilliant entrepreneur. Not only did he recognize a huge opening in the candle market (right guys?) he saw an opportunity to involve charity in his enterprise which helped boost his appeal to a market which is increasingly seeing the value of giving back to community. For such a young kid, Hart Main has aced two of the most crucial aspects of a successful business. This is a product I would definitely be interested in getting. For all the ladies out there, he also has a line of “SheCans” which appeal to women. With both of those boxes checked, these are great options for birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, or really just any time you want to give someone a special treat.
This is actually brilliant. I had read about him a while back and found this and I saw that there was a bacon flavored one. I thought that was pretty interesting. Really innovative and creative idea from someone so young! Great post Adam!
“One candle one meal”. That might be one of the best taglines for a non-essential consumer product I’ve ever heard. Hart deserves a lot of credit for seeing the value in sticking with using soup cans to hold his product, instead of transitioning to more conventional packaging.
What a great use of perspective to look at a situation from new perspective and be able to come up with a new way of selling such an old product. As such a young kid its encouraging to see him taking on a challenge of starting a business. Main is proving that just cause we are young doesn’t mean we don’t have great ideas and can make a difference. Keep doing you Hart Main and continue with your Man Can business!
I’m impressed with Main’s courage to fearlessly launch a business like this at such a young age. Not only is this a product I would buy, but it’s something I think a lot of people would be excited about purchasing because of the social and charitable side of the organization.
Fantastic post.