So many great products and companies started out this way, but only a fraction really make it all the way successfully.

Maybe I can add something to the mix here, a little bit of experience and knowledge I have accumulated developing products and companies, and bringing a select few to success, while also experiencing several failures. Also, now in my position of helping other companies with their product lines, I have an excellent view of why most fail and some succeed.

Anyway, I’d like to preface this blog with an understanding that although I do have experience in this area, I am certainly not advocating anyone actually uses anything I write for their own journey, but can at least think about and consider it in the framework of what they are starting to do.

As a kid, I was always curious about form and materials and I seemed to have a knack for creating things mentally and visually and then making them come alive in drawing or other media.

So over time, although I got off track at many points early on in my life, I did follow through and hone and apply some of my skills. For many years I developed and ran a studio arts company -studio e (now www.evanmosaics.com) based out of Chicago, that specializes in architectural mosaics and art installations. I applied my guerilla marketing skills to this business, and through networking and hustling built a decent business that ended up doing public commissions nationally for clients like The Chicago Cubs, Chicago Transit Authority, Rockwell Group, Nine Group, and many more.

During this time I was involved with the kitchen and bath industry with several mosaic projects and connections in this market. As travel has always been a key component in my life and work, I started looking for opportunities to create a line of home elements in my frequent travels to Mexico, as I discovered the abundance of great art and artisanship there.

I identified an opportunity in the marketplace for hammered copper and cast metal sinks, and my venture began.

I drove my old workhorse 1982 Benz 380 SLK almost 8000 miles on a trip through the American Southwest and then down through Mexico, discovering Juan Ramirez and his brothers in Santa Clara Del Cobre, Michoacan. We quickly struck up a partnership-collab and started developing a line of high-end sinks and sink vessels. After much back and forth and feedback from Chicago K&B dealers, who were most helpful, we had a new line of contemporary hammered sinks inspired by Nambe in New Mexico.

Ironically our signature Tortuga Loca model later on appeared to inspire Nambe in their own Butterfly series.

With our new line of sinks and sink vessels in hand, through my earlier feedback and guerrilla marketing efforts, I was able to setup a presentation to a large K&B trade group at the 1997 Chicago Kitchen and bath Show.

It was highly successful and through much research, travel, networking, collaboration, design iterations, some financial investment and luck, Firebowl became a fairly well known high end niche brand that I eventually sold to Elkay manufacturing, whom I met at the 2004 K&B Show in Chicago.

There were lots of learned lessons in the whole experience. Ultimately it was great to be involved with a venture that was extremely challenging, yet rewarding. The experiences in developing a product line and business collaboratively, and also financially benefiting from the endeavour while bringing value to customers, was fulfilling and by developing a niche product line, I found my niche life.

Here are some key points I have learned from this experience and also by being involved with other successful entrepreneurial product lines:

Get Feedback

Once you are dialed in somewhat with your concept line (dont just think one product as you will need several most likely to be successful, although you can focus to start on the first 1-3 skus)do research on the industry and market opportunity and reach out and get as much feedback from industry folks as possible. People generally want to help. Both through direct communication and digital forays get in touch regularly with these people that are willing to help and you will get critical info and also start making more industry connections that can lead to marketing and sales.

Budget and Business Plan Well

One should have a realistic budget on what you can afford to start with financially and time wise.

Whether its 1-2 days a week total, and 5%-15% of your income for that year, put together a realistic budget on what you can afford to lose, because most of the time you will lose. Ask most entrepreneurs and they will tell you maybe they succeed in ⅓ or less of their ventures, if they are being honest.

Develop a plan and outline and goals for yourself and the business. Why are you doing it? If it is to become a millionaire and only undertaken for materialistic gain it will probably not be a very rewarding undertaking. There probably should be more to the venture, although I do understand some people only need this type of gain and are successful occasionally, it seems like a hollow existence, and this blog is probably not for you. Set realistic goals, and see how you can help people with your venture.

The Firebowls brought handcrafted beauty to customer’s kitchens and bathrooms, and improved their experience. Also it was enriching culturally and financially for the Ramirez family and myself.

Collaborate and Team Build

It is a good idea to not undertake any new venture solo. Find a partner or two on your venture that has shared vision and can add to the mix and everyone benefits. The key is finding the right partner(s) and you yourself being a right partner.

Juan and his brothers and me worked well together, and we also got some help on the business end, although I could have done way better on that side. That’s another lesson really, the product line and brand is important but equally important is the business behind it.

Think about work on product development and business and brand development simultaneously.

Focus on The Customer

Keeping the customer in mind the whole time and keeping your customers happy, even if you have to lose sometimes is important.

Your customers and their loyalty and referrals and reviews are invaluable, so do whatever you can to appease them.

Be Dynamic, Network and Keep Hustling

Don’t stop or pause for long your endeavor. Keep strategizing, being tactical, and moving forward either to success of failure.

Follow through with everything you have to and organize a good way to launch and develop that follows your budget.

Don’t go for broke! Maybe go for 10-20% of broke, because you don’t want to lose too much if and when you fail, whether its a particular, program, strategy, or the entire product line.

In any venture and generally in entrepreneurship, don’t get defeated for too long. If something(s) go wrong, which will happen, review, analyze, take a breath, and get back to doing something positive as soon as possible.

That’s it for now, thank you for reading this, and the privilege of your time, and I hope it was helpful in some way.

If we can help you in your soft goods product line journey, as I don’t make sinks anymore, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Evan Glassman