The Story
Jeremy, known as "Van Man" online, built a $5M/year natural products business selling toothpaste and balms - all started from a $2,000 van he bought on Craigslist. His products are handmade, scooped by hand with a spoon, and shipped from his San Diego warehouse.
Jeremy was down on his luck, wanted to reset his life. He sold all his belongings, quit his job, and bought a van. He started an account called "Van Man" on Twitter, posting about random health things. He got into the anti-fluoride movement, bought fluoride-free toothpaste by accident, then just started brushing with baking soda.
Baking soda was too harsh and salty, so he started adding stuff to it. He documented everything on Twitter. People said "I'll try that!" Then he saw an Arnold Schwarzenegger video about putting eggs in protein shakes, started researching eggshells for teeth, found eggshell powder, added it to his tooth powder. When he launched, he sold a couple hundred units in the first hour.
Key Insights
Building in Public
- •Documented his entire journey on Twitter
- •The community taught him the knowledge, he gave them the product back
- •"The customers taught me this knowledge and then I gave them this product"
Top Products
- •Tallow Honey Balm - The breakout product. Reviews went nuts, people share it for free because they love it
- •Mint Bone Toothpaste - Second best seller
- •Coming soon: Soap (expected to be a top seller)
Meme Marketing Strategy
- •Most divisive posts on Instagram generate comments and traction
- •Use recognizable faces with memes to make content relatable and shareable
- •Example: Picture of Mel Gibson talking to Mark Wahlberg, write what the voice would be
- •Timing matters: Get current events and turn them into memes the next day while fresh
- •"Getting good at meme marketing isn't 20 minutes a day - it's being perpetually online"
The Power of Product Expansion
- •Started with tooth powder under $20
- •Added mouthwash, deodorant, hair oil
- •When you have 5-6 products under $20, average order goes up
- •Higher average orders = shipping costs go down, processing goes down
- •"That's when we actually started to have free cash flow"
Operations
- •Ships 500-600 orders per day
- •Everything handmade in San Diego warehouse
- •Tallow scooped by hand with a spoon since day one
- •"I think we'll just keep doing it by hand forever"
The Vision
- •40% of customers come back (lifetime value focus)
- •Goal: Own their own cows and bison
- •Make more money per animal, take better care of animals
- •Eventually sell premium meat for Walmart prices
- •"Extremely affordable high quality meat and eggs and dairy"
Day in the Life
- •Morning: Check for fires, make sure ingredients aren't running out
- •Lots of time being online: commenting, answering DMs, emails
- •Come up with posts that resonate
- •After posting: Stay in comments for hours
- •"That's when you're getting the pulse of what everyone thinks"
Key Advice
"Etsy is the best place to start. Browse for product ideas, put your own spin on it, sell it right back on Etsy. Always be testing ads on different products. Find that one winning ad that could float your next month. Never stop - some people get a couple failures and give up. Just never accept that life and try anything to get out."
Resources
- •Follow Van Man on Twitter: @vanaborat