How I turned $200 into a million dollars (Part 3)
Why would you buy that?
Life in the perfume world was great- it was steady and profitable but I was looking for a new adventure. I had grown interested in the concept of wholesale, or selling your product in bulk for a lower price. I loved the idea of selling a collection of items to a boutique and having them proudly displayed in stores. Since the perfume had more of a niche appeal, I didn’t think that it was the right opportunity for wholesale. Then, when I least expected it inspiration it. And it hit in the form of a sweet little old man.
An elderly gentleman was intently looking at my perfumes at this event, picking each one up and reading the label before carefully opening and sniffing. I was shocked when he brought over a bottle of our scent “Ghost of the Knoxville Girl” and asked to purchase it. This scent, created for the amazing album from the band Doug & Telisha Williams, was quite young and feminine. “Sir?” I asked, “What made you choose this perfume?”
His answer was pure gold.
“Well,” he said, “My daughter is in Knoxville, so by principle alone anytime I see anything that says Knoxville on it I buy it for her, I think she will love the smell as well.”
This was one of the biggest light bulb moments in my business life. The concept of “location pride” in marketing wasn’t on the radar yet, so there was no particular precedent; however, I had an inkling that if I could find the right product and market it based on location then I may have a hit.
Getting my jewelry on the map… or getting the map on my jewelry
I had always been interested in jewelry, but I found a lot of it to be the same and wasn’t sure I would be able to differentiate my product from everything else on the market. Before the day was over I had re-visited the jewelry concept in my head and asked myself how I could add in the location piece. Could I write Knoxville on a necklace? Sure, but that seemed way too easy to copy (especially for China) and would likely be a race to the bottom. I had to combine location with some kind of secret sauce.
Remember how I studied Latin in college? It may not have been the most profitable path of study but it sure did give me an appreciation of all things old and vintage - including maps. I loved old maps and even had a few of them lying around the house. I had seen people make pendant necklaces out of photos before, so it stood to reason that any kind of paper could be mounted under glass to create jewelry- even maps.
That evening when I got home I returned to what I lovingly call “YouTube University” for a crash course in jewelry making. Before the evening was over I had ordered some starter supplies to test my idea.
Putting My Idea Out Into The World
I had created a successful business from scratch once, but I was itching to do it again. Using the same mathematical process from before I was able to get my cost per unit under $2 per piece, but this time I was selling them for $25 - $30. I was in that margin sweet spot of over 90% which boosted my confidence about the viability of the business. Even better - if I wanted to offer a 50% wholesale discount to retailers I was still over 80% profit margin. Which is absolutely fabulous for wholesale.
But how would I break into the wholesale market? I had a contact at Americasmart, which in a nutshell is a company that puts on tradeshows for retailers to come and shop with vendors on a wholesale basis so they can stock their stores with unique and interesting goods. I signed up for one of the smaller markets throughout the year, ordered enough supplies to make about 50 “example” necklaces and showed up with my samples pinned to a corkboard (yes, that was my presentation).
Presentation style aside, the product which I was very creatively calling “Map Pendants” garnered some good attention. I wrote a few orders which thrilled me to the core, but the major opportunity came when I was approached by a showroom.
What’s a showroom? Think of it like a department store that’s not open to the public- only to customers buying items for their stores. They can come into the showroom and shop from the beautifully merchandised samples and place orders. In addition to that, showrooms employ “road reps” who take your items out on the road and take orders from retailers on your behalf.
I’m not sure I knew what a showroom was when the first one approached me, but I did know that this seemed like the exact opportunity to fulfill my dreams of dipping my toes into the wholesale world.
My First Showroom Experience - Six Figures In A Week
The showroom that recruited me was in Dallas, so I flew out there for their major event of the year. In a true Fake It Til You Make It moment I put on a smile, stood by my jewelry display and waited for the customers to come. And come they did. The showroom did not disappoint. The reps did not disappoint. This would turn out to be an exhilarating experience.
After the week of the show wrapped up, I was able to attribute over $100,000 in sales to the one wholesale market event in Dallas. And that wasn’t even the best part. I was fresh on the market and other showrooms in different areas of the country started to take notice. Within a few months, my product had representation in showrooms in Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, California, Seattle, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Toronto.
And the reps were bringing in the sales.
From the day I started the jewelry business, in two short years I had made $1,000,000 in sales. I had done it. I started with $200 and turned it into a million dollars.
Exactly how did I turn that initial $200 into a million dollars?
I want to pause here and go back to my margins, which are vitally important. How much money from these sales would I have been able to keep if my profit margins were drastically lower? Not a lot. This has been a long story but here’s the main point:
Fix your margins before you scale.
Period.
I started my business journey with $200 and continually reinvested into my product, added value, adjusted margins, and made sales until I hit a million dollars and beyond.
My business went on for another 10+ years before I decided to take on another challenge. Those are other stories for another time. The important thing is this. I learned the lessons to duplicate my success a third time with a new business. One time might be a fluke, two times might be pretty lucky, but three times shows me that I have discovered a system that worked for me and can work for you.
I’m at a point in my life right now where I feel incredibly fulfilled by helping others to have the same success that I was able to achieve. That’s what lights my fire and gets me out of bed in the morning.
If I can do this for my business, then we can do this for your business.
Do you want today to be the day you stake your flag in the sand and say, “Yes, I have an amazing product and I know it can make me money!”