$20K/Month Miniature Building Supplies E-comm Business – Jared Waters of Mini Materials

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Hey there, entrepreneurs. My name Sushant and welcome to Trep Talks. This is the show where interview successful e-commerce entrepreneurs, business executives, and leaders, and ask questions about their business story and also dive deep into some of strategies, tactics they have used to start and grow their businesses.

And today, I’m really excited to welcome Jared Waters to the show Jared, uh, is the CEO of Mini Materials. Uh, mini Materials is a company that sells miniature masonry and woodwork supplies like cinder blocks, red bricks, pallets, lumber, and even molds to pour your own cinder blocks. And today I’m going to ask Jared a few questions about his entrepreneur journey and some of the strategies and tactic that he, that he has used to start [00:01:00] and grow his business.

So thank you so much for joining me today at Trep Talk. I really appreciate your time. Uh, thank you for having. So, uh, it’s, uh, first of all, it’s a very, very interesting business. I don’t think I’ve come across any, uh, similar concept. I guess, I guess Legos is what, uh, uh, I could compare this to what I’ve seen, uh, in the past.

But, uh, you know, we were just talking and you shared a little bit like this. You, you, you were not the original founder of the business. You actually purchased this business last year. So, uh, if possible, can you please. Uh, the viewer is a little bit of a, uh, history and the story of the business and what really motivated you to, to buy this

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: business.

Sure, yeah. It’s actually kind of, uh, interesting cause, uh, the online community, Reddit plays, uh, an integral role in both the, the, the founding of the business and me getting involved. Um, so one of the original, uh, [00:02:00] founders of the company, uh, saw something that he liked and I believe he saw it on. Uh, but wasn’t able to purchase it.

It just wasn’t for sale. So he went and created his own. And it actually, when it, uh, ended up going viral on Reddit, hit the front page and people were like, I wanna buy this. I wanna buy this. And so, lo and behold, he, he, uh, started a business. Um, and he’s definitely more of the, uh, to my understanding the, the creative side behind it.

So he brought in a close. Uh, to kind of run the business side of it and together they forward many materials. Um, and so it was always kind of a, um, a, a side business for, for, for both of them. They had, um, several people, you know, including, especially with founders, they often bring the family members and things in.

So they, they had a bunch of, of, of part-time people focusing on it, and they grew it to a certain level. Uh, and I think they were just, um, it was, it was one of those things. Um, they were, um, looking to transition. Um, [00:03:00] they, they weren’t quite ready to go full-time with it, but they knew there was a lot of potential there.

And ironically enough, I worked in the, the business valuation, financial publishing world, uh, before jumping into mini materials. So, um, I was just, uh, looking around, uh, I just followed various, uh, online groups and I was on Reddit and I saw a post, uh, that they were. Asking, you know, which of these sites would be a good place to list their business?

And, and I, I’ve been, uh, wanting to start my own business for quite a while. Uh, I have a family, so it’s a little difficult to, to make that jump into a no income true startup. Um, so I started looking for businesses that might be a good fit for me and my skillset. And saw that post where they were looking for a place to potentially list their business and reach out to them and said, Hey, I, I saw that you’re looking to maybe sell.

I think you have a super cool company. I love your guys’ products, branding. Um, and that just started a conversation. So, uh, lo and behold, uh, after, you know, [00:04:00] uh, a few months of, of back and forth and, uh, site visits due, d. I ended up purchasing the company, uh, in May of 2022. So just under a year, uh, as Dave, uh, recording this.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So that’s really interesting. I mean, I definitely want to get into a little bit of, you know, your selection criteria of this business, and of course I’m sure you did as you said, you know, you did your due diligence and you probably looked at financial and things like that. Um, but before I go into that, I mean, I want to, I’m, I’m curious.

About the, the product itself, you know, this kinda like a miniature, um, masonry and, and these building materials kinda things. What is the appeal of these products and who, who is actually buying these kind of product? Like I’m assuming this is kind, is this kind like a kid play kind of a thing or is this actually used in, uh, certain.

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah, so it, it, it’s actually for such a, a niche product, it [00:05:00] actually has a lot of different applications. So, um, one of our core group of users is people that are using it for miniature making. So people that make miniature to all houses, people that make dioramas, people that do, um, you know, a lot of people are into say like action figures or RC cars and the people that are really into.

Basically use this as an accessory. So I’m really into remote controlled cars. I’m gonna build myself a garage. I’m really into action figures. I’m gonna build a cool cement wall backdrop for it. So there’s a lot of people that are actually, uh, creatives that are using this to build a world around, uh, whatever hobby that they have an interest in.

So that’s kind of a core group of users. Um, and then, um, secondary, it’s, it’s actually just a. Uh, I, I don’t wanna say novelty, but like, just a unique gift. So we have another group of people that, that are probably only like one type purchasers that just see it and go, ah, that’s just gonna make my dad [00:06:00] smile.

I’m gonna buy him one, they can sit on his desk, you know, uh, you know, a husband works in construction, uh, things like that. So there’s a, a group of people like that. And then the third area is actually we do a lot of emotional work. So we take our miniature. And we have the in-house capability to print on them.

So, you know, an engineering firm or a property development company or, or all sorts of businesses will actually come to us and say, Hey, I love this. It’s so much more unique than a business card. Please, you know, print me a thousand of these and I’m gonna give ’em out instead of just, you know, heading on a business card.

So, yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Very interesting, very interesting. Um, I’m curious, so, so your decision to, so you said that you had a full-time thing, gig that you were doing, and you always had this idea of, of becoming an entrepreneur, I guess, but, uh, you didn’t want to go through the whole process of starting your own business.

I mean, that, that’s actually a very interesting route because [00:07:00] I don’t usually come across, Entrepreneurs who think about just, you know, buying a business and getting into a business that way. But, but, but I guess it, it makes sense, you know, if you buy a, a business that’s already profitable, it’s like you are kind of avoiding all the, the, the painful years of your number one trying to validate an idea.

Number two, you know, growing pins and all, you know, the, the sleepless night and, you know, working 20 hours a day and everything like that. Um, Can you share? I mean, but even, even if one goes or decides to go this way, like you have to have a certain interest in the, in the business that you, that you’re buying, right?

So when you looked at this idea, What really motivated you? Because I mean, if I look at it, of course looks like an interesting thing and maybe it has good financials, but I, I don’t, you know, I don’t know if I’ll decide to buy it and start running this business. Cause I wouldn’t, number one, I wouldn’t really [00:08:00] know the customer.

I wouldn’t know, you know, I mean, I would, I would’ve to spend some time before, before making a decision, but, so can you share a little bit about what really motivated you and what kind of research and how did you. Did you already know about the, the niche? How, how did you get, get into this business?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah, no, so it’s a really fair question.

Um, and my previous job, I was in the, the business valuation world and I, I was kind of keeping an eye for businesses out there for sale and, and the majority of businesses out there for sale are not, uh, growth oriented business, the more income oriented business. So there’s a lot of. You know, if you go on any business for sale site, you’re gonna see tons of restaurants, tons of dry cleaners, tons of tons of bread and butter businesses that are, you know, maybe a good investment, but they’re not necessarily geared for growth.

So, uh, it was actually really difficult to find a business that, um, was something that I could both [00:09:00] afford and still had a lot of growth potential. Um, so, um, you know, I, I, I, I literally had my kind of ear to the ground for years. Kind of keeping, keeping an eye out for, you know, um, um, uh, a type of business, um, that would, uh, have the potential to, to grow beyond, you know, uh, what like a brick and mortar location, which is what a lot of businesses are sold as.

Um, I don’t have a background per se, in, in miniature making, which is, which is really what we’re selling. But I do have a really strong background in, in, in being like a maker. So I’ve always really been super, super handy and I’ve. Have a, a decent product design background. So, um, in my previous job I was designing a lot more digital products, but, uh, I’ve learned to, you know, uh, do like computer edit drafting and, and different things like that, uh, just as, uh, just as part of my interests.

So I, you know, was doing things like 3D printing and, and doing things that were directly applicable to [00:10:00] this, to this. To, to the actual manufacturing and making of things, uh, before I got involved in it. So, um, I, I think the, the combination of a business that, uh, you know, was an online, mostly direct to consumer business that had the capacity for growth and what I really needed as somebody who understood, you know, how to make products and make physical products and, you know, and, and that, and that part of it, uh, which, um, uh, I didn’t have a lot of proven experience in, but uh, uh, a lot of background in.

And so, uh, that’s kind what made it seem like a really good fit for me.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I wanna, um, dig a little bit deeper in your, in your, in your background around business valuation. And you mentioned. Two things. You know, there’s some businesses that, that are cash flow generating, but they’re not necessarily going to grow, uh, year over year or have a significant growth.

But you somehow knew that this business had the potential [00:11:00] for growth. Can you share a little bit about how you came to that conclusion and. And I would also love to know, like, is it, is it bad to buy a business? Just like, you know, you mentioned, uh, uh, like a coin operator laundry or something that’s not going to grow significantly, but probably generate a monthly cash flow.

What is, what is the, what is the difference? What is the criteria? How do you know if, if it’s worth it to buy a business?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Sure. Uh, and, and I think it’s, you know, the same process that you’d use to evaluate launching your own startup idea. You know, um, I think the, the, the key question is scalability. Like, you know, with a coin operated laundry, there is some potential to scale.

I mean, you could invest your cash flow and open more locations and, and do things like that, but the scalability is fairly low. Um, with this business, it was an online based business that could really be ran from. Actually moved the business from the east coast to the west coast. And, [00:12:00] um, um, it, you know, there is a lot of kind of peripheral product lines that, that use the same manufacturing technology, uh, that can be done at scale.

And so really looking at, you know, um, manufacture the majority of our own products, but we do it very quickly. And so even though we’re doing very unique things and very um, You know, like tangible products, we’re still doing it at a scale, um, a, a a speed of scale, you know, typically to what you’d see for like, mass manufacturing.

So we’re able to, you know, produce most products within a day. So if there’s something that, that we wanted to make that we didn’t have, we could, we could turn around and make it a day. And that’s really not the same with, you know, uh, you know, if there’s a, an increased demand for. Uh, for washing, you know, for washing your clothes, you, you, you know, the ability to ramp that up, uh, you know, to whatever that demand is, is much more difficult than, uh, than it is with this business.

So that [00:13:00] was really appealing with, uh, you know, the selection criteria. Um, but I, I, I don’t think the other routes a necessarily a bad route to go as far as like, oh, if I just wanted an investment and, you know, here’s something that I can invest X dollars in and get a consistent return. I think that makes a lot of sense.

It just depends on what your goals. Um, as a,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: as an entrepreneur. So, so as, um, as someone who purchased this business, do you think that, um, you did not have to, um, in terms of, you know, the, the, the hard work that goes into starting a business, like, you know, you al you had a business that’s already running.

All you had to do was come in and learn all the processes. Make sure that you’re doing the processes and then I guess where you are really, um, your expertise or your, uh, ingenuity would come in around the new customer acquisition and, and really [00:14:00] the marketing aspect of it, right?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah. And I would, I would add the product development, product development portion of it that’s really.

Focused on, and this not quite year that we’ve owned it is it’s just, uh, adding, uh, different types of products and more products as well. So, um, um, there is definitely a lot less risk. I mean, you, you pay for that risk obviously when you purchase a business. Um, I, I think, uh, a lot of the startup, a lot of the processes, um, are, are kind of the same.

I, I. It always feels like it should be easy just to kind of pick up a project, uh, or pick up a business, you know, when someone, when someone leaves it off. But it, it is truly kind of a learning experience. But, um, I think the biggest advantage to it is, you know, I had sales on my very first day, uh, which, um, I, I think is, was.

Um, difficult, uh, hurdle for me and kind of other ideas that I had before [00:15:00] where I would be like, oh, this would be something that would be really interesting to pursue as a startup idea, but how long is it gonna take to break even, you know? And then it becomes a question of like, do you go out and get funding?

Do you, you know, try to boost, wrap it and, you know, you know, uh, and tell your family you’re not gonna buy anything for, you know, six months. So it definitely makes it. Um, it’s, it’s definitely, um, um, yeah, it’s, it’s definitely, uh, uh, I think a little bit more comfortable than, um, starting from scratch for sure.

Uh, but you do, obviously, you, you, you do pay for the, for the growth that you’re, you’re acquiring. So,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: yeah. Do you like, as, one of the criteria that, that one should look for is, um, I mean, I, I know that, you know, there’s. Sites or uh, places where I think even Shopify has like a directory where [00:16:00] people are trying to sell their Yeah.

E-commerce businesses and things like that. Like, are those good places to buy businesses? Like let’s say there’s like two different businesses, like one business. You look at their numbers and you, you’re seeing that they’re in a growth trajectory, right? So you are seeing that there is an ear over ear growth that’s going on.

Um, I, I’m assuming that’s, that’s a more safer business, uh, safer business to buy as opposed to a business that, that, that does have a significant revenue. But you see that there’s some sort of a declining trend there. Uh, how do you, what was your, uh, I mean with, with this business, like, did you see that it was already growing and, and so that was a good time to buy, or you knew that, uh, you could grow it?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Um, So, uh, and I, and you know, kind of just before I purchase this, I, I, I looked at a lot of those and, and, and before really looking at [00:17:00] the financials, um, I, I would say really take a look at what’s driving those underlying financials. Cuz you look at some things like, um, like, um, a lot of things on Shopify are where they’re doing, um, like drop shipping sites where they, you know, they purchase something and they don’t even touch the product.

Um, and they’ll have tremendous. If they happen to have a product that’s seeing a lot of growth, uh, but they’re often short-lived, they don’t, uh, they’re, they, they don’t have any competitive advantage because the person that they’re buying thought from can buy somebody else. And once people start to see this market take off, it becomes saturated.

The margins get, you know, taken out. So it’s very, I think it’s very easy to get distracted by financials. Uh, when I actually purchased the company, the financials had had somewhat plateau. Uh, in a healthy place. But, um, I think that was more a reflection of, of where the previous, where the founders were, um, you know, they had grown to a certain point and it was [00:18:00] kind of like, okay, we either probably should pass the torch on this or maybe going on, you know, full-time.

And that’s something that they had considered too, is just. Uh, running, you know, mini materials as a full-time business rather than, uh, a side household. So, uh, yeah, it’s really, it’s, it’s really interesting. But before I looked at financials, I would think about what’s driving those financials and it’s as, is it a secure or is it a sustainable business plan, or is it, uh, or is it not?

So, you know, we’re manufacturing the product. We have, you know, control of basically everything from a, to. Uh, so while maybe there’s more impressive financials out there, I think the underlying business concept was, was a little, uh, was, was what attracted me to purchasing, uh, the materials.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah. So when you purchased this business, did you go all in?

Like you, you basically quit your job or what? I mean, I don’t know. Yeah,

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: I did it basically, I, I quit like a, it’s funny cuz my best friend, [00:19:00] uh, thought I was crazy. Uh, the job that I had was a, a with a, a really a, a really, uh, good job with a really great company. And, um, you know, uh, going from that to, uh, more uncertainty, you know, uh, ma you know, less money in the short term.

Like, you know, there was definitely a lot of things, uh, that, uh, that some people, some people wondered about, but, Uh, you know, uh, it was a big financial investment for myself as well. So all those things coupled Gather definitely made it, uh, something where I’m all in on it for

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: sure. Yeah. But, but what was freedom that you,

with a, I mean, for an entrepreneur, ultimately it’s about freedom, right? Having, having control of their, your own time and. You know yourself? What, what, what, what was your driver? Driver for you?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah. Yeah. [00:20:00] I, I, I mean, definitely freedom, but, uh, not on the time. I, I had a lot more free time and a lot more, uh, um, um, a lot.

Uh, yeah, I felt like I, you know, in, in practic in practical terms, I had a lot more freedom when I was, you know, working like a nine to five. Um, okay. But, uh, I, I, I think the appealing part is, is the ability. Uh, to take it as far as you can. Uh, I mean, realistically, if you’re working for somebody else, there’s only so much you can do and, and so much you can make and, and so much you can accomplish.

Uh, and, and it’s, you know, uh, you’re, you’re, you’re being employed to do that, so you’re doing it for somebody else. I like the fact that. Everything I’m doing, you know, the, the kind of the struggles over the last year, uh, turning it around, you know, and, and, and going, you know, going in a better direction that’s, that’s gonna be all on, on me.

And, you know, the risk and reward is, is, is all for me. So I really like that direct connection between the things that I do and the [00:21:00] success, uh, of, of the work I do. So, So

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: as, as part of the purchase, like, uh, did, did the business come with the team or, um, did the founders there was, was, was there some sort of a ramping, uh, ramp up period where, you know, the founders worked with you for like a few months before they left?

Completely?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah. So, um, there, um, So it was a little oddly organized before where they had a bunch of people doing a bunch of part-time things. So a lot of that I was able to consolidate just to a position under me. Um, and then we have production help, and then we also use some independent contractors. So that’s kind of the nice thing about the business as well, is that, um, it, it, it is designed, uh, to be pretty employee lines and, um, you know, like a lot of the, a lot of the interesting things we do, Um, you know, for example, we just put together, uh, a large order for, [00:22:00] um, these construction ba basically a mini house kit or a construction school.

Where they go and they do outreach and they, they take these kids into schools and they, the kids build them. Um, and they’re really detailed parts, but we use like laser cutters to, to do that. So it’s, you know, uh, you basically, you know, throw something into a machine, press a button, and the machine does all the work for you.

So, uh, while do a lot of really cool, interesting things and a lot of detailed things, it’s not super, uh, hands-on production for a lot. We, we use. Uh, as much technology as we can, and that’s part of the reason that we have a lot of scalability, uh, as a manufacturing business. So

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: awesome. I mean that, I mean, I think this business definitely fits a lot of the, the best, uh, trades of successful e-commerce business.

I mean, it’s a niche. It’s, you know, the items are small, they’re not heavy. And, you know, apparently [00:23:00] there’s a, there’s a demand for it out there. So, yeah, I mean, definitely a, a great, uh, business to acquire. Um, in terms of competition, I mean, are there other businesses that do similar kind of things or do you have like a direct competitor or is this kind of like you, you’re in a place of your own and maybe other businesses There are, you know, miniature kind of products out there, but they’re not directly competing with your kind of.

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah, I, so there, there, there’s, there’s a couple different things. I mean, there, there’s some people out there that are copycatting exactly what we’re doing. Uh, I mean, we even sell the mold. So if you wanted to go start a brick mo, uh, like a little miniature brick company, you could do that. You can buy a mold from us and start making ’em and start selling them online.

Uh, we’re not really worried about people that are, are trying to replicate what we’re doing. We’re doing it at, I think, a scale that’s good enough that, that we’re able to compete pretty well with people that are trying to do exactly what we’re doing. Uh, kind of the interest thing. Like there’s a lot of bigger dollhouse, [00:24:00] uh, like people that are making Dollhouse and other miniatures, and I, I think unless you know somebody, uh, that does it, you don’t realize how many people are actually out there doing it.

But it’s, it’s, it’s a fairly large community. Um, the, uh, thing that I’m running into is that a lot of the people out there that are, uh, running these businesses are using really old technology and they’re all sourcing their materials. The same three or four wholesalers. So, uh, even though there’s, you know, hundreds of websites out there selling miniatures, they’re all kind of selling the same thing.

Um, and it’s all fairly low quality imports, um, that, that don’t really fit. So you have kind of this mass produced items, which is what a lot of websites are out there doing. Um, Uh, I, I feel like we compete really well against the, the quality that we’re doing things with. Um, and then, you know, we’re, you know, there’s, you know, 50 sites, but they’re selling the [00:25:00] same item and we’re one site that’s selling something completely, you know, uh, not, not something completely different.

For example, like we just, it’s a winter item, so we did a little, a little sled. So we made, uh, a custom 3D printed plastic sl. Uh, it looks much more realistic to what you see if your kids are out playing with a sled. It looks like that, uh, compared to what people are importing, it’s very price competitive.

We have a good margin on it and, uh, you know, it, it makes us unique. So even within the world out there of, of people that are, have been doing this for a long time, uh, they’re, they’re kind of all, they all have the same flavor. So, uh, we really like to stand out with, with different items, uh, that what’s out there.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. Um, in terms of channels, I mean you mentioned that there’s like definitely, I mean, a niche and there’s a big community on Reddit and things like that. How do you go about, um, if someone who’s [00:26:00] interested in this kind of product product, would they go and search for miniature items on Google, or is it that you want to be.

Part of all the communities that are online, uh, that are interested in this, this kind of materials and, you know, be there as part of the discussion and, and, you know, uh, and that that gets people, uh, that brings people to the, to the, uh, to your business. Uh, I mean, what, what have you done since you’ve acquired the business, uh, to really drive new customer acquisition?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah. So sadly you have to kind of be everywhere. Uh, so. Instagram is probably our biggest single channel of new customers. Um, we actually have, uh, a pretty, uh, solid rate of returning customers. So once we acquire a customer, uh, then we send out, uh, email marketing that, that, that does really well. So kind of the, the, the goal of.[00:27:00]

Mostly Instagram, but other channels as well to try people to the site, get them to opt into our email list. And then once they’re on the email list, uh uh, it sustains pretty well. So, uh, that’s, that’s kind of our big picture marketing strategy, those channels. And,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: uh, are you, are you the main marketer now or was there any from a team, team member who was already in charge of that and you’re kinda like working with them, giving them direction?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah. So, uh, kind of interesting. So the, the one of the founders, uh, did a lot of graphic design and, and, um, created a lot of, I feel one of the things that I really liked about the, uh, the company is they had a really strong brand and a really clean brand, and something that, that felt modern to me. Um, uh, so we, we retained all that and just continued to, uh, kind of use that styling.

Um, marketing has definitely been something that, um, I used to be slightly involved in [00:28:00] my previous job and I really liked it. I thought it was a lot of fun. Now that I’m doing it full-time, I really don’t like it as much. It’s so much work and, uh, it’s so much more, uh, intensive than, than, uh, you think it should have been.

Um, so I was doing it for myself for a while and I was doing okay, but I thought I could do better. Uh, I hired an outside company that did, uh, slightly less well than what I. As far as the metrics. So, uh, I’ve discontinued that relationship and, uh, I’m currently running it on my own. Uh, it’s something I think that can be, that can be done better than I’m doing.

Again, I just, uh, I’m looking kind of for the right fit for, uh, you know, you know, a company or intentionally, you know, like a part-time employee to, to really take that to the next level. So we’re, we’re, we’re solid, but uh, that’s definitely an area where I want to improve in the next six.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah, I mean, I, I hear that feedback again and again, like, um, working with like an external agency, it’s like it helps, but [00:29:00] because they don’t have the same kind of passion or same kind of commitment as, you know, the would, it’s are usually either disappointing or, you know, they’re not good at what you would do yourself.

Uh, so, so yeah. Very, very interesting insight there. Um, in terms of, Fulfillment, I’m assuming, um, because these are smaller items. Uh, do you have, uh, so, so you mentioned like you have kind of a production facility and I’m, I’m assuming it’s, it doesn’t really require a, a huge space.

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Uh, how do you,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: how do you, how, like, do you create batches as like you don’t have to create a large batch because you know, you can create, if it’s easy to create, then you can create based on, you know, demand.

When the order comes in or how does that

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: work? Yeah. Um, so it’s a mix of items. I mean, we definitely have a lot of inventory cuz we’ll get these larger orders outta the blue that, that we wanna be [00:30:00] able to fill fairly quickly. Um, and, and certain projects, uh, we just actually. Finished the, a large pallet today that’s being shipped internationally.

So, uh, it, it kind of depends a little bit, but, uh, I, we use, you know, Shopify and then like an out of the box shipping, shipping, uh, component. It’s actually one of the things I really like about the business is that it’s uses, uh, really standard and uh, uh, software. Uh, in my, in, in other jobs I’ve worked at, you know, you have these really.

Unique, odd legacy programs that, uh, you know, nobody can, nobody really knows how they run and, you know, if they break, nobody can fix them. Uh, everything we use, I, we, you know, just use out of the box, uh, software to do what we do and, and just keep everything super simple and, and it works really well for them.

Okay.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And, uh, in terms of shipping, Um, [00:31:00] are you shipping like within the US only or are you shipping, uh, like do you have international orders also? Yeah. What are your biggest, what are your biggest

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: market? Uh, the US is by far our biggest market, and then Canada’s second, and then, uh, uh, you know, onwards from there.

I, I, I, we do, uh, a fair amount, like, like international shipping’s always, uh, a really hard hurdle to overcome just cuz you double the price of your product fairly. Uh, uh, uh, well, yeah, we, I, I think we shipped to 2022 Shipo sepia report. I think it was like 85 countries. So, uh, you know, a lot of those were maybe just like one shipment to one person.

But, uh, yeah, we ship all over the world. Uh, uh, so are you on Amazon or, uh, we are on Amazon. Uh uh, we are on ets. So those are probably our two biggest second online channels.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So when you think about like [00:32:00] international expansion, like do you ever think, I mean, I’m, I’m assuming that the easiest way to expand internationally is through a marketplace, right?

So just list on, for example, let’s say UK, Amazon or something, or European Amazon version of the Amazon. And maybe ship, ship your items to Amazon directly and they can fulfill in that market. Like is it, like, do you ever think about that kinda a thing or is, is it, have you already tried it and experienced challenges?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: It, it definitely is something that’s kind of on the radar. Uh, we are doing, so there’s, there’s so much kind of, uh, uh, things that, you know, uh, that to develop with our domestic core, my core business that. Um, that, that hasn’t gotten on the list to like, be the next thing yet. Um, we’re serving people Okay.

Through, um, you know, the international shipping options that we have, uh, that, you know, so that’s, it’s kind of like a stop gap and, but, [00:33:00] but that’s something that would definitely be, uh, you know, on the radar hopefully for like 18 bucks or something like that. So, yeah. Cool.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I want to talk a little bit, I don’t know if you’re looking into the new, the newer, you know, technologies like the AI and chat G P T and, and some of these new things that are coming in.

Yeah. I’m really curious. You know, um, I think these technologies are going to disrupt, you know, e-commerce, marketing a lot of different things and. And I also think that it’s not going to be like a big rank, ramp up. I think it’s going to happen quick and it’s, everything start, will start getting disrupted pretty quickly.

Um, how have you played with, uh, with Chad g pt? Have you thought about it? Like, how do you use in your business or, you know, what are your thoughts on this and are you using it for, have you already started using it for.

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Um, we [00:34:00] are not using it in much yet. Um, we played around with chat g uh, at G D P a little bit with, uh, with just like content and things like that.

Uh, I, I, I enjoy like, like, you know, like writing product descriptions. I enjoy that. So it’s not something I’m looking to outsource yet. We did actually a really, uh, successful Instagram post where we built a concrete wall and then, uh, typed some prompts into an AI search. Not mid journey, but, but one of them out there to generate some art.

And then we printed the art on the stonewall. So we have this really cool graffiti art, uh, that made it Instagram post that people really liked. They thought it was really interesting to use AI to, to paint a minia. So we’ve done some fun things like that. Uh, we’ve, we have some interesting ideas about maybe ways to work like image generation into some production ideas.

Um, so that’s always interesting. Um, so yeah, no, it’s something that, uh, we’re very technol. Oh, uh, we [00:35:00] actually have another, uh, aspect where we might use a, uh, where we’re, we’re playing around with ai. So, uh, one of the employees is just, uh, very tech savvy and one of the most monotonous parts of the production at this point is actually like packaging, uh, the materials.

So our most popular product is 24 bricks on a miniature pallet. Um, and they have to be hand placed onto a pallet. It’s just kind of tedious. Uh, so he, uh, is working with, uh, with uh, just off the shelf robotics to. An arm that uses AI to identify bricks and place ’em on a pallet. And so, you know, it’s not something we’re using, but uh, it’s something that’s kind of cool to, to see the, like the robot arm get a little bit better each week.

And, you know, hopefully, hopefully that will take like, you know, the monotonous, uh, job of packaging, uh, all those pallets out every, uh, every day, uh, to, you know, to, uh, to a robot. That’d

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: be, that’d be pretty cool. [00:36:00] Wow. That’s, that’s really interesting. Um, What is your future vision for the business? Like, are you, you know, given that you bought this business, like, is your goal to grow this business to a certain extent and then resell it?

Or is this something that you want to continue doing it? Like what, what, what is, what is your goal with, with your business? Is it like cash flow generation? Is it really just to, uh, practice being an entrepreneur? Is it to, you know, uh, Yeah. So to to to sell it. Sell it, and then, you know, buy another another.

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah. Um, I, I’m still pretty, um, still pretty, uh, distant on a, on a exit plan at this point, uh, just being a year into it. Um, so just kind of in the next five years I am, I’m just looking to, you know, ramp things up as, as much, uh, as possible. [00:37:00] Um, there’s a lot of peripheral businesses, you know, like for example, um, we do, uh, a little skate line for like finger boarding.

It’s like a, another really weird niche thing that has a huge following out there. And so, uh, I think there’s, you know, there’s maybe, uh, five or six businesses I have in my mind right now that will use, you know, the manufacturing expertise, resources that we already have, uh, to kind of split into. Uh, forms of revenue and, uh, you know, I, I don’t know if, you know, maybe sell some down the road or just keep on growing it, you know, keeping cash flow positive.

Um, it’s, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of, uh, a lot of options and that’s what I really love about the growth of this is that, you know, uh, we have a really cool base. We’re doing something interesting and, uh, there’s a lot of opportunities to basically be an entrepreneur again and again and again. Uh, with, with this [00:38:00] platform that we have.

So yeah, that’s, that’s what ibut exciting. So, uh, once I start getting bored, if I ever do, then, then, then maybe I’ll start looking for an exit. But, uh, at this point it’s just, it’s just, let’s keep having fun. So

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: it’ll be interesting to ask Chad PT about all the different niche. That, that people are into, because I would’ve never thought, there’s something called Finger, what do you call?

Finger skateboarding?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yeah, finger skateboarding. Yeah. No, it, and, and it has a huge, uh, online community out there that people, people, people like do tricks and it’s like, yeah, it, it, and uh, you would think that there, there’s so many companies out there that are just dedicated to making fingerboards like items that you’re like, wow.

Like, I, I didn’t know that, you know, this community could support, you know, 30 companies and yet they do. So. Wow.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Where, where, where, where do you go to find these kind of communities? Is like Reddit, the, the main place, or how do you, how do you come across these kind of [00:39:00] niche C

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: communities? Yes. Uh, Reddit, Instagram, like, uh, all, all the places there, there’s not one place.

And, and it’s always in the places that you’ll least expect it. Um, you know, when I see something that’s really cool, I, I just like start kind of diving into it and see if it would make sense for, for us. So, yeah. Awesome.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, in every entrepreneur journey, there’s always mistakes made, lessons learned, failures.

Uh, I mean, since you’ve, uh, acquired this business, what has been your biggest um, challenge? Failure or thing, you know, or decision Yeah. That you made that kinda ended up not as you would’ve wanted. What did you learn from it? What can other entrepreneurs learn from

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: your mistakes? Yeah. I, I think, you know, the, the, the marketing aspect of the company is something that, uh, that I keep coming back to, especially when I was first starting the business.

I was so focused on, you know, getting the manufacturing processes [00:40:00] squared away and I. I didn’t, uh, I didn’t ignore that, but I definitely didn’t give it the intention that it needed. And, uh, marketing’s accumulative, you know, it compounds upon itself. The more people that you have, the more things you know, the more people that you have, uh, watching what you’re doing, the more people that that will get shared with, the more people that will then come watch it.

You know? And so you really can’t stop marketing. Uh, and I think that’s, uh, you know, that was one of the biggest surprises to me is just, you know, how much there is to do for it. Uh, and I wish really the beginning that I would’ve, uh, uh, even, even before the purchase of it, uh, had a better and stronger marketing plan, uh, because, uh, a, a lot of the success is kind of just organic and, uh, I think, uh, a little bit of direction will, you know, really supercharge.

[00:41:00] The sales of the

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: company, so Awesome. So now I’m gonna move on to our rapid fire segment and then this segment, I’m gonna ask you a few quick questions and you have to answer them maybe in a word or two or a sentence. Sure. So the first one is, uh, one book recommendation for entrepreneurs and why.

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Uh, so the book is actually kind of maybe out of left field here.

It’s called How to License a Million Dollar Idea, and it has the most spammy title there. Um, but what I really liked about it is it’s a, it, it, it really opened my eyes about a whole, like I get all these ideas all the time, as I’m sure many entrepreneurs do, and you want to pursue everything and you sometimes you get a really good idea that you’re like, man, I would love to, this is a good idea.

I don’t necessarily wanna start a business about a, around it, but I want, I, I don’t want it just, you know, live in my, I use ever know. So I don’t wanna just live in my, you know, my files. And the idea of licensing a product out to an, uh, uh, an idea to another company. Uh, so there’s [00:42:00] one thing I have that’s in the RV industry.

So nothing, nothing that many materials does, uh, that I’ve reached out and, and had a conversation, uh, about licensing it to an RV manufacturer. Right? And I think that’s just a really cool way to scratch that itch of I have a cool idea. But I don’t wanna build a company around this one idea. It’s either too small or it will be too much work for, too little restored or whatever.

Uh, so yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah, that’s, that’s, uh, I’ve definitely, uh, I’ve definitely heard about that book and it’s, it’s such an interesting idea and some people, Are great at licensing ideas and you know, they’re making like it kinda passive income coming in. Right. It’s, uh,

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: yeah, it’s, it’s def I, I have yet to get there, but it definitely gives me a alternative way to think about things.

So, yeah. And

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: innovative product or idea and the current e-commerce retail or tech L scale that you feel excited about?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: So I, I, I don’t really think it’s too innovative at this point, but what I’m really interested in is doing some more drop [00:43:00] shipping, you know? Um, and there’s lots of companies out there that offer drop shipping as a service.

Uh, but I’m not aware of any software companies out there that are like setting up, making it easy for you to drop ship to other people. Um, kind of the reverse side of that. Um, so there’s, um, uh, I have a lot of people that are interested. In some of my products, but they’re, you know, they’re very small and they don’t want to carry, you know, a thousand dollars worth of inventory.

So it’d be great to have an easy way to drop ship to them. Um, so that’s something I’m kind of looking into as far as like, where’s a good opportunity for, uh, you know, there’s a Shopify offer, everything, but I didn’t see one out there to offer drop shipping to people, only to get drop shipping, you know, from other

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: people.

So, So basically, um, you want other people to be able to drop ship your items and you’re going to fulfill it or, exactly,

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: exactly. Yes. Okay.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I thought there used to be, I mean, there’s definitely, there used to be platforms. [00:44:00] That helped with that, the whole, so I, I, I’m, I’m pretty sure there are solutions out there, but, uh, I’m not sure if they still exist or what, what’s

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: going on with them.

Yeah. No, I, most, most of the, most, the solutions that I’ve come upon were bit worried, like if you were looking for products to drop ship. You know, here are the services for that. Uh, but it’s something that I haven’t typed as deep into. So, uh, but that’s something where I think there’s opportunities is, is drop shipping for smaller companies.

So yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: One of the things that, that I also think is maybe drop shipping has kinda got a bad wrap now, I think as a business model in general. I do. Yeah. So I think maybe that’s, that could be part of the reason that, uh, yep. Uh, a business or productivity tool or software that you would recommend or productivity.

Oh

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: yeah, I mean the one I use the most, uh, besides like Shopify, which I don’t think really counts, but the one I use most, uh, that I find most personally useful is [00:45:00] probably just ever know. I just have tons of ideas and being able to quickly kind of just like gather, you know, gather them. I have just way, way too many in there.

But, uh, yeah, uh, that’s my favorite little

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: productivity. Awesome. Uh, a startup or business, uh, an e-commerce, retail or tech that you think is currently doing greatly? Uh,

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: so it’s funny cuz I, I cannot remember the name of this, uh, but there’s, uh, they have a, they have a big YouTube following. Uh, and they’re, they’re on ce one of the things they do is mass customization.

So, uh, they actually sell like dog collars and they’ll get ’em customized for, you know, whoever for the name of your dog or, or, and things like that. Uh, but they do customization at scale and we do a little bit of that. We do like custom signs and, and different things like that. But I really like the idea of being able to offer custom products quickly and scalably to, to people.

So that’s something I’m focused

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: on. Um, I’ll, I’ll share a business. Actually, I, I interviewed a business, um, [00:46:00] on my podcast a few months ago, and it was, they are customizing these rings. So the, the person or the owner, a dog owner would, would, would wear the ring themselves, but they would, uh, I guess they would tell the name of the dog and, you know, they, the company would engrave the name and they would send it.

And I, I think they were making like 10 million platform doing that. Yeah. So I think with this, um, the pet, pet, uh, pet industry and, and customization, it’s, uh, I think there’s a lot of opportunity, um, peer entrepreneur or business person whom you look up to or someone who inspired you.

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Um,

um,

trying to think of, Uh, cause I, I think most of the people that have actually been, or are people that I’ve worked with, so I, I’m trying to think of somebody out [00:47:00] there that, that, that would be known by others. But, um, um, you know, I think, um, um, like even my old, old boss was a very inspirational woman. She, you know, uh, Really taught me the sense of urgency in, in getting things done.

It’s so easy to let things take three days when they could take one. Um, so I, you know, I, I, I, I thought about that a little bit and there, and I really, yeah, so, uh, I, I, I, uh, nobody that anybody would, would, would probably know. Um, but, uh, yeah, I think the most impactful ones have been people that just gave me like small lessons personally.

Um, so

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: yeah. Okay. Final question. Um, best business advice you ever received or you would give to other entrepreneur?

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Um, that sales solve everything. I think, uh, yeah, there there’s very few things that if you have good [00:48:00] sales, uh, anything else can be fixed. So, um, as an entrepreneur, I, that should really be.

You know, so, so many ideas and so many things I have, uh, thought of in the past. They, you know, with, without, without money behind them, they have all these other problems. So I think, uh, you know, focus on sales and then every other problem can just be, you know, fixed with time, effort, and money. So, yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Definitely there’s, there’s no business without sales, I guess, right? Yeah. So that’s, that’s definitely the most important part. Well, Jared, uh, pleasure, pleasure speaking with you. Thank you so much again for your time, uh, this evening and, uh, sharing your, your story. Very unique, uh, interesting story and, uh, and your, uh, future vision for your business.

So really, really appreciate it. Uh, if anybody wants to purchase your, uh, products, uh, or check it out, what is the best way they

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: can. Yeah. Uh, mini materials.com is is our website. And then, uh, follow us on Instagram at [00:49:00] mini materials. Uh, those are probably the two most active places to see what

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: is new with us.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much again. Uh, uh, Jared, really, really appreciate it. And yeah, wish you all the best, uh, with your business.

Jared Waters of Mini Materials: Yes, thank you for having me.

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