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I read TMF when I was 20, now $500k

Rivoli

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Hi all!

Wanted to introduce myself. I was in my room when I was 20, browsing murcielago pics when I came across a picture of MJ and a little story.

At the time, I had really ambitious dreams and was desperately looking for templates to follow of people who started like I did (single mother, poor, no rich uncles, no sport or entertainment talent).

I bought TMF , and along with some other books it became part of a biblical anthology for me.

I followed the book to the letter as much as I could, self studying from 20-22 and then getting a job in sales at a factory at 22. I was really ambitious and from start to when I left the company last November, I did almost $35,000,000 in sales and made about $350,000 in commission.

I saved about $200,000 of that commission and started a factory to produce consumer candles for retailers. And have been getting orders from 8 of United States, Canada and England’s largest retailers.

I’m joining the forum because I have a lot of knowledge about sales, and my niche market, but also because I have a lot to learn about financing (cash flow with the growth I’m having is my biggest problem right now, and I’m looking for advice on lines of credit)

Looking forward to meeting you all!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Rivoli

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Wow, and congrats!

How did you score a factory?

Hi MJ! I forget to mention I read unscripted too!

I didn't buy a factory actually. I got a 4,000 sqft warehouse in SoCal and built the factory - labeling machine (used) to label jars, mixing pumper, 1200 lb wax melters etc. I built a process from scratch where we make around 3,000 candles every day. I learned this 100% on my own starting fresh in the industry. We have strong sales because a unique approach we took on product development for a certain US retailer...
 

Rivoli

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There was an interview on How I Built This (a while back) with the woman that started Chesapeake Bay Candles, Mei Xu. It sounds like you've already found considerable success, but maybe there's a nugget in there that could help you either land the next large client or streamline your process.

Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu | How I Built This with Guy Raz on acast

Was your factory sales job selling candles? How did you decide on this niche?

Great intro, and welcome to the forum!

Hey! Thanks for sharing this man. To be honest, I couldn't believe she just imported candles from China and had the audacity to name her company after an American location. That really pisses me off. We produce everything here in the US, and even use mostly US originated packaging, so these companies that want to sell to American customers but don't want to think about the American worker really frustrates me.

My factory sales job was selling beauty products.

Honestly, I didn't care about candles. I listened to MJ 100% on this one. Our biggest retail customer at the old factory, who I had a relationship for, liked what I was doing in beauty and asked us for Candles. The factory didn't want to do it, but I had a customer who was ready to "open their wallet" and pay me for a product, so I jumped on the opportunity and hit the library. I learned everything I could about candles and started making them in my kitchen. Within 3 or so months I had the formula and process down as good as products I was seeing in their store, so I was ready.
 

Merging Left

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There was an interview on How I Built This (a while back) with the woman that started Chesapeake Bay Candles, Mei Xu. It sounds like you've already found considerable success, but maybe there's a nugget in there that could help you either land the next large client or streamline your process.

Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu | How I Built This with Guy Raz on acast

Was your factory sales job selling candles? How did you decide on this niche?

Great intro, and welcome to the forum!
 
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Rivoli

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I'm interested to follow your story. The candle niche is an interesting one, since it seems oversaturated to me (a non-candle lover) - how did you start your biz dev with the big retailer? Cold call? Connection from your past job?

It is oversaturated. But I have a completely unique take on it that no one is doing. It's really really hard - the way I'm doing it. But I'm building a "performance moat" to keep competitors out. If I explained my model, a lot of people on this forum who ran factories would tell me I'm out of my mind because its unconventional, but at the last job I did - at the factory I was working at, we did over 40 mil in sales with a slim but significant profit in the 7 figures
 

MJ DeMarco

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Wow, and congrats!

How did you score a factory?
 

Rivoli

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Congrats on your success man!
Always felt manufacturing has a yuge barrier to entry... awesome what you did with the warehouse
What do you want to know about lines of credit?

Well honestly I joined this forum to see what the seasoned business owners to get more cash for their business. Right now my company is growing with average ebitda margin of 8%..I started the company with 200k and have $200k of sales this month and have done around 450k in sales past months. I am really stretching my capital to the limit. How can I get more funds to fund the growth? My margin is tight, so invoice factoring isn’t an option. My average terms with vendors is 30 days and I get paid in 30 days.

Should I post this in fast lane INSIDERS?
 

MJ DeMarco

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Cat Lady

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I'm interested to follow your story. The candle niche is an interesting one, since it seems oversaturated to me (a non-candle lover) - how did you start your biz dev with the big retailer? Cold call? Connection from your past job?
 

Jav100

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This is indeed very impressive!

I think its even more impressive that you did it so young, when there are many distractions!

Congratulations! When I was young, my then girlfriend and a few neighbors started a candle making business - we were making it out of pots in the kitchen (soy and wax candles). They made the candles, I built the website (a dam nice one too for my skills at the time). We sold 0! So kudos to you.

What was your sales job - the industry and what were you selling?

Hi all!

Wanted to introduce myself. I was in my room when I was 20, browsing murcielago pics when I came across a picture of MJ and a little story.

At the time, I had really ambitious dreams and was desperately looking for templates to follow of people who started like I did (single mother, poor, no rich uncles, no sport or entertainment talent).

I bought TMF , and along with some other books it became part of a biblical anthology for me.

I followed the book to the letter as much as I could, self studying from 20-22 and then getting a job in sales at a factory at 22. I was really ambitious and from start to when I left the company last November, I did almost $35,000,000 in sales and made about $350,000 in commission.

I saved about $200,000 of that commission and started a factory to produce consumer candles for retailers. And have been getting orders from 8 of United States, Canada and England’s largest retailers.

I’m joining the forum because I have a lot of knowledge about sales, and my niche market, but also because I have a lot to learn about financing (cash flow with the growth I’m having is my biggest problem right now, and I’m looking for advice on lines of credit)

Looking forward to meeting you all!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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amp0193

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Hi MJ! I forget to mention I read unscripted too!

I didn't buy a factory actually. I got a 4,000 sqft warehouse in SoCal and built the factory - labeling machine (used) to label jars, mixing pumper, 1200 lb wax melters etc. I built a process from scratch where we make around 3,000 candles every day. I learned this 100% on my own starting fresh in the industry. We have strong sales because a unique approach we took on product development for a certain US retailer...

@Scot

You in a year....
 

msufan

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Honestly, I didn't care about candles. I listened to MJ 100% on this one. Our biggest retail customer at the old factory, who I had a relationship for, liked what I was doing in beauty and asked us for Candles. The factory didn't want to do it, but I had a customer who was ready to "open their wallet" and pay me for a product, so I jumped on the opportunity and hit the library. I learned everything I could about candles and started making them in my kitchen. Within 3 or so months I had the formula and process down as good as products I was seeing in their store, so I was ready.

This is a paragraph everyone should read. You didn't follow your passion, you followed what the market wanted. And you won. Congrats!
 

ChrisV

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man i love hearing stuff like this
 
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XxThelionxX

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That’s epic!

There is this guy called Grant Cardone who is like a bro marketer. I was invested in that kind of stuff for about a year. He had good stuff and talked about how there isn’t any other stuff like his.

Your story is amazing and welcome to the Forum, you’ll fit right in.

Quick question, where did you learn your sales skills?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Rickh

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Hi all!

Wanted to introduce myself. I was in my room when I was 20, browsing murcielago pics when I came across a picture of MJ and a little story.

At the time, I had really ambitious dreams and was desperately looking for templates to follow of people who started like I did (single mother, poor, no rich uncles, no sport or entertainment talent).

I bought TMF , and along with some other books it became part of a biblical anthology for me.

I followed the book to the letter as much as I could, self studying from 20-22 and then getting a job in sales at a factory at 22. I was really ambitious and from start to when I left the company last November, I did almost $35,000,000 in sales and made about $350,000 in commission.

I saved about $200,000 of that commission and started a factory to produce consumer candles for retailers. And have been getting orders from 8 of United States, Canada and England’s largest retailers.

I’m joining the forum because I have a lot of knowledge about sales, and my niche market, but also because I have a lot to learn about financing (cash flow with the growth I’m having is my biggest problem right now, and I’m looking for advice on lines of credit)

Looking forward to meeting you all!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Wow, great intro and congrats on your sales success.

Candle factory - it's like the industrial revolution all over again! :)
 
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Adeoluwa Adejumo

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Hi all!

Wanted to introduce myself. I was in my room when I was 20, browsing murcielago pics when I came across a picture of MJ and a little story.

At the time, I had really ambitious dreams and was desperately looking for templates to follow of people who started like I did (single mother, poor, no rich uncles, no sport or entertainment talent).

I bought TMF , and along with some other books it became part of a biblical anthology for me.

I followed the book to the letter as much as I could, self studying from 20-22 and then getting a job in sales at a factory at 22. I was really ambitious and from start to when I left the company last November, I did almost $35,000,000 in sales and made about $350,000 in commission.

I saved about $200,000 of that commission and started a factory to produce consumer candles for retailers. And have been getting orders from 8 of United States, Canada and England’s largest retailers.

I’m joining the forum because I have a lot of knowledge about sales, and my niche market, but also because I have a lot to learn about financing (cash flow with the growth I’m having is my biggest problem right now, and I’m looking for advice on lines of credit)

Looking forward to meeting you all!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Congrats on your success man!
Always felt manufacturing has a yuge barrier to entry... awesome what you did with the warehouse
What do you want to know about lines of credit?
 
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Adeoluwa Adejumo

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Well honestly I joined this forum to see what the seasoned business owners to get more cash for their business. Right now my company is growing with average ebitda margin of 8%..I started the company with 200k and have $200k of sales this month and have done around 450k in sales past months. I am really stretching my capital to the limit. How can I get more funds to fund the growth? My margin is tight, so invoice factoring isn’t an option. My average terms with vendors is 30 days and I get paid in 30 days.

Should I post this in fast lane INSIDERS?

If I'm correct you do about $450k gross revenue per month... pm me how much are you looking for in finance?
 

Rivoli

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If I'm correct you do about $450k gross revenue per month... pm me how much are you looking for in finance?

No, I've done about 450k in revenue since January in total. But go forward I believe I am doing around 200k to 220k consistently per month. Yes I will pm you.
 
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