Growing up in South Florida, Colin never knew he would one day be the proud owner of a multi-million dollar business in Denver, Colorado. Like everyone his age, he pursued education hoping for a better life. He attended the prestigious Emory University Goizueta Business School, excelled, and took a leap into formal employment.
His employment sojourn would take him to some of America’s foremost companies, including Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. But not everyone is cut out to sell their labor in formal employment. A terrible employee, McIntosh was fired 3 times, the last one coming so hard on him at 1 PM one fateful afternoon.
This was the last straw that broke the Camel’s back. McIntosh decided he was done working for other people and taking orders he didn’t agree with.
Another employment offer would mean another firing. He chose a different path.
Writing the Business Model.
A fierce advocate of not starting a business before writing down a business model, McIntosh embarked on putting together a financial model, revenue projections, and cost of goods among others.
After this was in place, his next stop was crafting a brand identity map. For him, this meant his business had to be built around comfort, quality, innovation, sustainability, integrity, friendliness, transparency and humor.
Starting Sheets & Giggles
In October 2017, three weeks after he was laid off, McIntosh founded Sheets & Giggles, a sustainable bedding brand selling naturally soft and sustainable bed sheets made from eucalyptus trees. Colin previously worked in a direct consumer company, and this informed his decision to do something that is a direct consumer brand.
He started with sheets, duvet covers, comforters and pillowcases.
It would take him a whole year of building, preparing, trialing, and putting systems in place, an amazing patience that only a man who had lost a job thrice could muster.
Strategies for launching the business.
After every effort was made to start the business, every effort had to be made to source funds to finance operations and to get the word out to the customers about their products of Sheets & Giggles, attract customers, and retain them.
To achieve this, the budding entrepreneur employed several strategies;
- Crowdfunding – raised $284,000 through a pre-order campaign in 2018 that gave him the resources to meet financial obligations required for operations. A revenue-funded business model.
- Gained over an 11,000 strong email list through his outreach campaigns.
- Answered every social media comment himself.
- Responded to every customer email.
In October 2018, in a moment of pride and celebration, McIntosh made his first shipment. This was his proof of concept that indeed the field of sheets and other bedding brands was not saturated, and one could still make money if one did the right things.
Mode of selling
Sheets & Giggles products are mostly sold through their website sheetsgiggles.com and Amazon at amazon.com/sheets.
Growth Channels
To ensure continuous visibility and drive sales, the company uses the following media;
- Google ads
- Amazon ads
- Podcast channels.
Tools and software McIntosh uses to help drive business.
- com for which he pays $299 which helps in supporting online commerce.
- Google Analytics, which is free.
- Google Ads.
- Okendo, for product reviews.
- Rebuy
- Aftersell – for post-purchase upsells.
- Trackingmore – for order tracking.
- ai for customer support.
- OpenAi – for image creation.
- Chatgpt writing assistant.
He runs ads worth over $800 per month.
Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs on choosing a business name.
- Choose a name that is spellable, shareable and memorable.
- The name you choose should show or describe what you do.
- Work on a good Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
- Find a domain name aligned to your brand name.
Quotes to remember and advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.
- ‘Starting my own business is the best gift that I ever gave myself.”
- Write your business model and brand identity map before embarking on your chosen business.
- You don’t need to have a ‘never before seen idea’ to start a business.
- Sell before you build. Get people involved in building your business. A sign-up form helped him reach out and collect emails, over 10,000 strong.
- Build deep and meaningful contacts with your customers.
- Founders should take the time to engage with people at a personal level.
- Respond to every email and try to address every social media question or concern.
- Kindness, hard work, and intelligence lead to good things. Keep working hard and eventually, it will pay off.
Conclusion
One year after he started the business, McIntosh made his first shipment. Two years later, the company had its first month worth $1,200,000 in sales. From that moment on the growth has been phenomenal. From just a few products at inception, the company has grown to several products including mattresses.
The company which was founded out of frustration with perennial job loss now boasts a staff of 40-plus people, 50,000 customers, and millions of dollars in annual revenue.
Finally, now that McIntosh has set all systems in place for the efficient running of the business, he says he does most jobs from the comfort of his bed or by the riverside in his laptop. His job now mainly entails coordination, meetings, follow-ups, analytics, reporting, and content creation.
The Colin McIntosh story is an inspirational story of facing adversity by the horns and turning it around to gallantly change one’s station in life and live happily thereafter.
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