$250
Million For A 14-Year-Old's Big Idea: Origami Owl
All
Isabella “Bella” Weems really wanted was a used car. That desire set in motion
a chain of events that led to the Arizona teenager spearheading what is now a
multi-million dollar enterprise that she may someday control. When she finishes
school, that is.
Weems, now 17, is founder of Origami
Owl, a custom jewelry company whose direct sales business model turns would-be
entrepreneurs into salespeople and evangelists. The company, which she founded
in 2010 at age 14, generated $24 million in revenue in 2012 and this year
expects to reach $250 million, according to the company.
Origami Owl takes on independent
associates – known as “designers” – who buy products at a discount and then
peddle them to others for a marked up price. One of the favorite points of sale
are “jewelry bars,” or private parties at someone’s home or another venue
operated by a “hostess” (the hostesses get discounts and some free products
too). The company has about 50,887 designers.
In a sense, what Origami Owl is
offering is a canned small business that could appeal to would-be entrepreneurs
interested in making a few extra dollars. That motivation is really what got
Weems herself started in the first place.
At 14 Weems announced that she felt
a car would be an appropriate gift for her 16th birthday, but was
told by her parents, Chrissy and Warren, that she should earn her own wheels
instead of relying on their funding. They suggested she start a business.
“I started researching and looking
for ideas,” she told FORBES. “The locket’s been around for a long time and I
thought, ‘well, what if you could make a locket with charms?’” Weems asked her
parents to match the $350 she’d earned for babysitting, which she then spent on
wholesale components to make her lockets. She quickly leveraged her network of
friends to find buyers. “We started selling our product at house parties and
boutiques and selling at any jewelry show we could. The product started selling
itself.” In 2010 Weems opened a kiosk at the Chandler, Arizona mall in time for
Black Friday shoppers.
The company adopted the direct sales
platform in 2011 and generated about $280,000. The following year revenue took
off like a rocket, multiplying 86 times.
The growth for Origami Owl is
dramatic and its revenues impressive but those figures are tempered by the
company’s need for components and a large personnel roster to keep business
flowing. Though the firm won’t disclose profit margins, as of this writing
there about 373 employees, the majority of which work in warehousing (the firm
just set up an 80,000 square foot facility in Chandler where components from
China are assembled before shipping). According to CEO Robin Crossman, employee
numbers fluctuate tend to fluctuate.
On the sellers end, it’s possible
for designers to find that it more difficult to make money selling the jewelry
after they’ve depleted their list of personal contacts and local boutiques.
Continuing to maximize profits takes serious hustle.
Speaking of hustle, Weems is not
alone in her jewelry business and has a cast of close family and business minds
behind her. The Origami Owl executive team includes Weems’ mother, Chrissy, who
is co-founder and worked with her on the company’s product design team.
Nowadays she plays a supporting role.
(Christian “Chrissy” Weems, has a
touch of notoriety to her past: in 2011 she pleaded guilty to computer
tampering for hiding evidence in the case of Susan Brock, an Arizona woman
convicted of three counts of sexual conduct with a minor
who Chrissy Weems had then mistakenly felt was innocent of the charges, a
spokesperson for Origami Owl confirmed. She was sentenced to one year of supervised
probation).
Other family members helping Bella
Weems build her business are uncle, John Weems, who is vice president of IT;
and also an aunt, Jessica Reinhart, who has helped out in marketing.
Her other uncle, Jeff Reinhart, was COO. The family owns the company but the
company will not disclose equity percentages.
Crossman, who had previously acted
as a consultant with the company for several months early this year before
becoming CEO in May, boasts a resume that includes Amway
Global, Home Interiors, Suzanne.com and The Longaberger Company. The direct
sales veteran seems to be building Origami Owl to scale. In her short tenure
she’s hired several key people, including COO Kevin Raulston, an operations man
with experience in direct sales, fast-growing companies and family businesses
looking to go pro.
Other hires include vice president
of creative, Tom Rascati, whose past includes stints at Avon, Cutex, Ultra Beauty
and Bond No.9. Other additions also hold backgrounds in direct sales—Origami
Owl’s bread and butter. Further strengthening its machine is a new IT platform
that will give the company’s indepdendent “designers” more tools to run their
own business (rather, sell Origami Owl’s products). “This is where they’ll
order their supplies,” Crossman said. “They have all their training, we have
webinars, we have videos, we have product sheets that tell what the
specifications are, what the selling points are.” The platform will also
remember a jewelry bar guest list, track sales and maintain records. A mobile
app is on the way.
Weems herself is taking a practical,
measured approach to assuming control of her business. So important is it that
she learns about her company from the ground up that she’s taken on the role of
intern at her own enterprise. After school she visits the company HQ and helps
out and, in the summer, spends time in each department. “She’s definitely
hands-on but we want her to have as normal a life as she can and to have the
opportunity of college,” Crossman explained.
How did Weems’ dream of getting a
car work out? The founder that started it all is the proud owner of a white
Jeep which she acquired in 2012 and named Alice.
Source: yahoo stories
CHARGING CARS ARE AMAZING
this is a new technology that aims at making life easier. source; yahoo stories
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