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Evan Van Auken | Physical Products

@vanadergrowth

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📦Started with $682 now $1.7M/yr selling my own products
🎯I find the ONE thing holding your Ecom business back
👇🏻Get assessed inside Operator Academy

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I’m after meaningful work and meaningful relationships.

Comment “operator” for more info. by @vanadergrowth

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2 months ago

I thought firefighting was my dream job - until I realized 22 days a month away from my family for $24 an hour wasn’t the life I wanted.

So I started putting more energy into @scorchmarker. Made videos. Sent out products for feedback.

Then one TikTok went viral - $30,000 in two days.

That’s when I knew.

If the business could replace my salary, pension, and benefits… I was done.

So I quit the fire department. Terrified, but ready to take on the challenge.

Now we’re in big-box stores, have a huge community, and are scaling toward eight figures.

Every win, loss, and lesson - I’m sharing it all right here.

Follow along to really see what it really takes to build something from nothing :) by @vanadergrowth

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a year ago

June 23rd, 2017 - I graduated from the fire academy and handed over the first Scorch Marker project I ever made.

Back then, it was just a gift.

But between 911 calls, I started building @scorchmarker from scratch.

I went from making $8K to $1.2M in 2020.

That’s when I asked myself - why am I still working 22 days a month for $24 an hour?

So I quit the fire department and went all in on building @scorchmarker

Since then, we’ve hit retail shelves, sold out on HSN, and built a community of 1.6 million makers.

Now the goal is eight figures, aka $10M+

And I’m documenting every gritty detail along the way.

If you want to see what building a real business looks like, you’re in the right place. by @vanadergrowth

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a year ago

Letting go of people has been one of the hardest things I've ever done!

I still think about that time period, but if I hadn't done that, our business wouldn't have survived.

It was one of the biggest lessons I learnt as a business owner, and now I'm hesitant to hire and make promises too quickly.

If you've been through something like this, or you're selling online and want to be around people working through the same stuff, come hang out inside Operator Academy.

Comment "Operator" and i'll send you more info by @vanadergrowth

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a day ago

Nobody's going to care about the product as much as you do!
Thats why i had to move away from 3PLs and get everything in-house.

Because I was losing too much money and I needed to put my fingerprint on everything and take back control.

Our current warehouse costs us around $2k/month but it changed everything!

It unlocked real storage, inventory management, logistics, shipping and everything in between.

That $2k expense actually saved me $5,000 to $7,000 a month I was pouring into 3PLs, co-packers, and unwanted shipping.

If you can run your business out of your garage, do it. Its a huge unlock early on.
But eventually you'll outgrow it, and that's when it's time to get into a warehouse.

If you want to be around other people building product businesses and talking through this stuff daily,
Comment "Operator" and i'll send you more info. by @vanadergrowth

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2 days ago

This is what building a real business actually looks like…
@scorchmarker
#ecommerce by @vanadergrowth

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3 days ago

Everybody told me to outsource manufacturing. I did the opposite, and it's the reason we're still alive!

Not everyone can manufacture their own product, but if you have the ability to, it's worth it.

If you want to be around other people building product businesses like this, check out Operator Academy.

Comment "Operator" and I'll send you the link to check it out by @vanadergrowth

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4 days ago

This one process helps keep our jars from leaking during shipping.

It's called induction Sealing!

So basically, the induction sealer heats the wax seal on the foil present in the cap to make an airtight seal.

So even if the lid loosens or the bottle gets tossed around.

The product stays inside the jar.

But every jar-and-cap combo needs its own heat and timing.

Too little heat and it leaks.

Too much and the seal fails later.

So we dial in the right settings for every jar size.

This is one of those small steps that keeps your operations clean and more importantly, keeps our customers happy.

If you want to hang around other ecom business owners,
Comment "Operator" and i'll send you the link to check it out by @vanadergrowth

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5 days ago

Get your inventory timing wrong and it'll cost you everything!

Over-order and your cash sits locked up on a shelf.
Under-order and you're scrambling to air-freight product in, paying a premium that wrecks your margin.

Demand planning solves this.
We pull 90 days of sell-through data on every product, add on 10%, and that becomes the next order. Then we take current stock and subtract lead time.

It took time to get the formulas right, but once you know your lead time, sell-through rate, and shipping time, you can plan ahead instead of reacting in panic mode.

If you want to be around other Product Founders,
Comment "Operator" and i'll send you more info by @vanadergrowth

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6 days ago

After 4 years, we finally had to blister-pack our Scorch Paint to sell in retail stores.

Instead of outsourcing it, I found a used blister packing machine. Bought it for $8k, spent $2k on cards and plastic.
The whole thing paid for itself after the first production run.

You don't have to buy all your equipment new. Buying used saves a ton of money, which you can put towards operations and inventory instead.

If you're selling physical products and want to be around other product sellers,
Comment "Operator" and I'll send you the link to check out our community. by @vanadergrowth

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7 days ago

Amazon rents you customers. Shopify is the only place you actually own them! by @vanadergrowth

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10 days ago

This is How I Setup my Partnerships.

First, you need to form an LLC, taxed as an S-Corp.

Then, when you want to work together, form a new LLC where each of your companies is a 50-50 partner.

This way, when the sales come in, you can pass the money to each other, enjoying your own fringe benefits and tax savings from your own S-Corp.

If you want to know why, look up “Pro Rata”

Follow me to see more business-related content like this by @vanadergrowth

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13 days ago