Weird Business #7: “Pizza Scented Candles”

Meet Hart Main. He’s the 14 year old entrepreneur that is putting the rest of us to shame. Seriously.

Main in the founder of Man Cans, a start-up company that has already sold 9,000 of his manly scented candles and earned him appearances on the Today Show and a feature in Entrepreneur magazine. Did I mention he’s 14?

Main says he got the idea after teasing his sister about her girly scented candles and thought it would be cool if there were some manlier scents like pizza and bacon. And so that’s just what he did; launching an online empire that now sells 9 different candles including grass, coffee, dirt, and sawdust.

It’s such a cool idea, but fortunately for me, my apartment is already permanently scented like pizza and coffee (with just a hint of wet dog), so I have no need to light a “man can.” Hey, maybe wet dog could be his next candle?

This really is the definition of a home business. The candles are made right out of the family kitchen and they use old soup cans as the container. In between Algebra class, Main goes over purchase orders and any spare time the family has is dedicated to filling orders and manufacturing new candles.

I think the lesson we can learn from Main is that the key to having your own business is simply, stop thinking about it and do it! So many of us spend our time thinking about how great it would be if we were self-employed when half the battle is really convincing ourselves that we already have the skills to start a business. I mean, if a 14 year old kid can do it…

Visit Hart Main’s site: Man-Cans.com. Or check out the rest of our Weird Business series.

If you’d like to have your business featured or if you have an idea for our weird business series, please send us an email to [email protected]. Thanks!