🛌They made $25 million putting people to sleep

They make their bread by keeping you cozy in bed.

Author

Zachary Alabre
October 06, 2023

These 25-year-olds made $40 million selling weighted blankets.

“Even the most brilliant product won't sell if there's no market for it.”

- Aaron Spivak: Age 25, CEO of “Hush Blankets”

What’s good fam?

Ya boi Zach is back with a new business on the attack! This week snuggle up and get ready cause we are looking at the company Hush Blankets and the founders, Aaron Spivak and Lior Ohayon. Hush Blankets is an online store that sells weighted blankets, pillows, and other bedroom-related products.

And in 10 minutes or less, you’re going to learn:

✔️Why overthinking kills progress

✔️How to make your business “evergreen”

✔️The only opinion that matters in your business

QUICK SUMMARY
TLDR:

Lior and Aaron started Hush Blankets when they were just 21 years old. Aaron was running his own juice shop and Lior was running his own software company when they met. They brainstormed business ideas, and they even thought about selling blended crickets as protein shakes! 🤢

They went on Google and saw that weighted blankets were getting over 300,000 searches a month, so they decided to give it a shot. They made a prototype blanket and a website and marketed it through Google Ads. Within 3 months they were making over $90,000 a month in sales!

However, during the summer their sales dropped to near zero. They didn’t understand why, and they were worried that they were going to lose all their inventory. But, Aaron thought of a genius marketing strategy that brought their sales back to over $100,000 a month, and they were able to sell their business for over $25 million!

My God, they sold for $25 million?

Call these guys NyQuil, cause they putting people, and the game to sleep.

What I love most about the founders is that they didn’t make the mistakes most businesses make.

They didn’t waste time overthinking.

1. They both said f**k it, YOLO.

Does anyone else here love to procrastinate?

Let me be honest, it feels really good to put things off for tomorrow.

I’m not proud of it, though.

Well, maybe a little…

But that’s not the point.

Part of the reason we procrastinate is because we think too much.

Instead of doing the work, we waste time planning.

And then we lie to ourselves thinking we actually did something.

In business, that is the best way to get your butt kicked.

Like the ghetto, business is tough.

Lior and Aaron knew this, so when they started Hush, instead of overthinking they did the most important thing…

They took immediate action.

Lior and Allen met each other at the age of 21 and instantly hit it off.

They began to meet and talk about different companies that they had started in the past.

After speaking they realized they had one thing in common.

They both took massive L’s in their businesses.

Since they both failed so much, they decided that they should start a new business together.

So they spent hours brainstorming business ideas.

Aaron came up with the idea to sell blended crickets in a powder as a protein shake.

Yeah….thank God they didn’t do that.

Lior noticed that there was a trend on Google of people searching for “weighted blankets”.

That term was getting over 300,000 search results every month!

Aaron and Lior knew they were on to something, so they ordered from other weighted blanket companies to see how they should build the product.

And they realized one thing…

They were all TRASH.

The quality was cheap, the fabric would rip easily, and they would barely keep you warm.

Once they saw the main problems that other products had, they built a website for their own company.

And here is where they finessed the game.

They made the website BEFORE they even built the product!

Then, they opened the website so that people could buy the product on “pre-order.”

After just 30 days, they made over $30,000 in pre-orders!

This method was genius because:

1. It completely removes the risk. Instead of spending money on inventory and just hoping you get customers, if you already have customers you know the product will sell.

2. It proves the marketplace. If people are willing to give you money before they even see the product, that means that the product has potential.

The three keys to Aaron and Lior’s business being successful were:

1. They took action quickly. Instead of doing too much market research, they saw a trend, analyzed their competitors, and got their product ready to go in less than a week.

2. They proved the marketplace by selling the product before making it. This allowed them to see if anyone was even willing to buy their product.

3. They learned from their competitor’s mistakes and improved the product because of it. Every business has a weakness, if you can find your competitor’s weakness, you will destroy them in the marketplace.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Takeaway and Tips:

Don’t waste too much time thinking about starting your business. Business rewards speed, the faster you can get your business out, the faster you can get customer feedback and provide better results. All the research and analysis that Aaron and Lior did was done in less than a week, and that turned into a $20 million company.

Remember that you are not selling a product, you are selling a result for your customer. This is why Aaron and Lior sold so many pre-orders, it is because they told their customers the benefits they would get from buying from them instead of their competitors. Really focus on how your product will benefit your customers, and mention how their lives will improve with your product. To see how Hush Blankets explains its product benefits, click here.

Make sure to sell a product that people would like to buy more than once. Aaron and Lior can sell multiple blanket sets because every house usually has more than one bed. This is perfect because they can get bulk orders, which means they make more money.

2. They talked to the only people that matter.

After they made $30,000 in their first month, Aaron and Lior knew they struck gold.

So they decided that the next step would be to grow the business fast AF.

Aaron and Lior were able to scale their business to over $90,000 a month in just 3 months!

These boys could buy a new Lambo every month with that kind of bread!

Lil Tay would be proud!

But, Aaron and Lior soon had a problem.

One day, almost all sales completely stopped.

Before, their business would average at LEAST 30 sales a day.

And for 2 months in a row, they got a sale every other day.

Seeing this, Aaron and Lior were quaking in their boots.

They had over $50,000 of bed sheets that no one was buying.

Now most people would probably drop their prices and sell to a new audience.

But my boy Aaron did a “high IQ” play instead.

Think About It GIF by Identity

He knew his product was good, so he decided to call his customers.

Literally, he called every single one of them himself.

Then, he asked them why they stopped buying their weighted blankets.

And they all said the same thing.

They loved the blanket, but it was too hot to use during the summer.

Once they found this out, they told customers that they would create a product that was more cooling in the summertime.

The problem they had was a problem that many businesses have today.

Their business was not “evergreen.”

Evergreen means that your business is not dependent on a time of year, so you can make consistent sales year-round.

A holiday-themed business or a seasonal business would be much harder to keep profitable year-round.

So Aaron and Lior added more products for the hotter seasons, and their revenue EXPLODED.

Their business was like:

Calling his customers on the phone was genius because:

1. It showed customers that he cared about them, which would increase their trust.

2. He wouldn’t have to market to any new customers, he could keep making money from old customers, which is so much easier.

3. The customer’s opinion is the only opinion that matters. Once you listen to them, it will help you exponentially grow your business.

MARKETING
Takeaway and Tips:

Remember that it is easier to make someone buy from you when they already bought from you in the past. If your business is struggling, instead of marketing to new customers, talk to your old ones and make new products to sell to them.

Make sure to build a product that can be sold year-round. Trying to sell a seasonal product can work, however, it is very difficult and makes your revenue very unstable.

You don’t need multiple marketing sources to grow quickly. In fact, being the best at just one marketing source usually works better. For Hush Blankets, they scaled to $2 million a year just from Google Ads.

PRACTICAL SECTION
How to start a business just like this one

1. First, you would have to find a trending topic or search term that you can analyze so you can create a product around that trend. The best way I find trends is by using two tools: Google Trends and a website called Exploding Topics.

2. Once you find the product, you have to figure out how to manufacture your product. I would suggest finding an example of a product you want to sell and buying it from websites like Alibaba or Aliexpress. These websites have Chinese manufacturers who can create quality products for you for a good price. Once you order a sample, design a website where you can sell your product. I suggest using Shopify. Start selling the product for pre-orders, and once you get enough traction, you should stop pre-orders and start sending out your product.

3. For marketing, I suggest using content marketing. That means creating free content online for people to see on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. When you create this content, make sure to put a link in your description that sends traffic to your website to buy your product. If you have money to spend, I suggest using Facebook Ads and TikTok Ads to market because they are the cheapest marketing channels right now.

🎮You just leveled up your mindset today!

What did you think of this week’s newsletter? Did you like it? Was it entertaining and informative? How can I do better? Hit reply to let me know!

Thank you for reading as always!

- Zach