Hi All,I'm not the founder of a SaaS company or large tech giant, but today is the day I've been dreaming of my entire life. I finally have a product that's for sale. A while back, I hosted my cousin at my apartment. As a thank you gift he gave me a candle kit. I loved it and wanted to make more. When I went online, none of the kits had much personality and I thought I could do it better. With that being said, here are the things I've learned while trying to get this off of the ground.You Have to Start Somewhere - I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and have come up with hundreds of ideas. None of them ever went anywhere because I never took the first step. When I finally decided to focus on candle kits, I sat down one day after work and began to browse Alibaba for jar ideas. I ordered 5 samples that day. When you finally take the first step, you'll be surprised how things keep rolling.Don't be Afraid to Ask For Help - Maybe it's just that my friends are incredible, but most people are willing to give advice if you just ask for it. I tried never to take advantage of anyone, so when I needed a logo, or wanted my friend to model in some product shots, or needed an instruction manual made, I ALWAYS offered to pay them. They always tried to decline payment (I paid them anyway), but the point is that everyone is always so eager to help. One of my friends who works in the fragrance industry even spent an afternoon with me at Bloomingdales teaching me everything there is to know about candle scents and why some candles are so expensive. I couldn't have gotten this far without the support of others.Believe in What You're Doing - I've had so many doubts along the way. I mean, it's a candle kit. Could this really succeed. But I've also always believed in my core value proposition to produce the highest quality candle kits on the market and believe I've succeeded. When someone asks me about my product, I'm so excited to tell them about it because I BELIEVE in it.Source Domestic if Possible - Some of my kit components are from China and some are from the United States. Although I've worked with some great people from both countries, the barriers to getting products from china is a real pain sometimes. There is a huge language barrier and once I even got a product sample, loved the sample, ordered thousands of product, and then they showed up off spec (different from the sample we received). When we contacted them, they claimed that nothing was wrong. Of course there are some things that are just prohibitively expensive in the United States, so you'll have to go offshore, but if you can source domestic you're going to have an easier time.Test Your Website - There are so many great tools to build an e-commerce website now. We are using Shopify, but even pre-built themes can have their issues. We wanted to include a subscription component, and that was a pain. It was only after extensive testing that we were able to work through everything and I'm sure there may even be a few things we are missing.I'm not a millionaire. I haven't grown into the kit making empire I would like to eventually be. But I've taken the first step. I wasn't afraid to ask for help. I believe in what I'm doing. I sourced my products the best I could. I built and tested my website until I was satisfied.Today I have $405 in revenue, which is from friends and family, but I know I'll get my first "real" customer soon. I know you can all do it. see hubwealthy.com/wealthy
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