Hart Main, age 13
When Hart Main was 13 years old, his little sister Camryn was selling candles for a school fundraiser. He remembers teasing her for the “girly scents” and saying that only women would buy her candles. This jovial teasing turned into a business idea later on when Hart was saving for a $1500 bicycle. In order to reach a larger crowd Hart created ManCans, candles scented to appeal to men as well. Instead of flowery, sweet scents, ManCans candles smell like a “fresh new baseball glove.”
Hart’s business idea was like no other, it was unique, and appealed to a new genre of people; for this reason, ManCans rapidly took off selling more than 300 candles a week. “It started as a Joke; it really wasn’t meant to turn into anything serious” says Hart. Thanks to his mother’s encouragement, his jokes became reality. “Even if it sounds like they’re joking, if their idea sounds like something they can do, by all means, I tell them to go for it,” Amy, Hart’s mom, says. Hart’s little sister also has a dog-walking business of her own, which was sparked by a simple conversation in the car.
Starting off, Hart had high ambitions, a little too high for a startup business; however, he was encouraged by his mom to stick to his main scents and branch out as expenses allow. Right now, ManCans offers eight unique scents such as: NY Style Pizza, Grandpa’s Pipe, Sawdust, Campfire, New Mit, Fresh Cut Grass, Coffee, and even Bacon. Along the way ManCans featured the scent “Money to Burn” but because of low sales has since been discontinued.
Variety of ManCan Scents created by Hart Main
Hart makes all his candles in soup-cans, and although it is a for-profit business, he donates soup to local soup kitchens with a portion of the proceeds. This is a prime example of how you can make a positive influence in the world, without necessarily donating all of your earnings to charity.
ManCans has been a business of trial and error. Hart took something laughable and made it sellable. ManCans serves as a perfect example that products don’t have to serve just one audience, and there is always a way to make things marketable to different groups. Young entrepreneurs should be encouraged by Hart’s story to not reject a product, until they attempt see it from a different angle; in Hart’s case, this meant making masculine scented candles.