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A podcast that explores what it means to work with purpose by interviewing people who are working for more than just a paycheck.
Are you in corporate America grinding away the weeks as you watch the years fly by? Do you have that voice in your head that’s asking for something more? But you shouldn’t complain, right? You’ve got a good job, good pay, good benefits. There’s people out there that would kill for a job like that. But that little voice just won’t go away.
I’m your host Gino. And as an ex 9-5er I know that feeling all too well. I worked in corporate for 6 years before I finally decided to walk away, choosing to live my life a little differently. And since then, I’ve met some pretty amazing people who do work that positively impacts the people around them, their communities, and the world. This podcast exists to share their stories, and to help inspire you to do the same. Leave that job that you hate and to start working towards your purpose.
Welcome to Working Towards Our Purpose, a podcast that
offers a different perspective on what a job can be. For everyone
out there that's heard that voice in the back of their head asking for
something more, it's time to listen to it. I'm your host,
Gino, and join me as I interview people who have decided to
work in their own purpose. Together, we will learn, become
inspired, and hopefully find our own path towards working in our
purpose. Joining me today is
Dimitry Kotman, who is founder and owner of Zenith Point Candle, where he
handcrafts candles, body butters, and room sprays for self care
and relaxation. Dimitry, thank you for being here. How are you doing
today? Hey. Thank you for having me, Gino. I am
doing great a little everywhere, but, I guess
that's the life of a entrepreneur. Certainly.
Certainly. Juggling all the hats. So, yeah, I'm
glad to have you here. And, just wanna kinda start by getting to know you
a little bit more and, like, ask you about your growing up and, like, you
know, where you grew up, what kinda schooling you went to, and that sort of
thing, and whatever you feel comfortable sharing. Alright. No problem.
Well, hello, everyone. Like you said, I'm Dimitri.
I am 31 years old turning 32
in April. So too. Really? Yeah. In
April? Mhmm. April what? 16th. Oh,
nice. Alright. You're just a little bit older. I'm 21st.
Gotcha. Nice. So, yeah, I went
to elementary school in New Haven. Actually, that's where I was
born and raised. Born at Yale, lived on Sylvan
Avenue, so it's like the heart of basically New Haven
at that time. I went to Vincenimarro, which is no
longer there. It's, like, Sheridan Morrow now. Some
are they combine with, like, 2 schools together. Like, that's what they do nowadays.
I grew up, like, excellent grades.
My parents really enforced that in me, like, education is gonna be the best
thing for you growing up in this kind of world, and
you just wanna go to school, get the best grades that you can, and
that's about it. I grew up in a, like, sheltered home. It was home,
school, homeschool, church, homeschool, church. And,
that's another part of my life. It was a lot of Pentecostal
church basically almost every day of the week. Yes, I did
enjoy it. I felt forced at first, but I kinda like
grew into it in a way. And, then I
went to Worthington Hooker for middle school.
It's a small school. I don't even know oh, it's still around. It's
just like on Whitney Ave, and they have, like, this huge grandiose
site, like, building. Nothing what I went through. I was
just, like, it was an old church, and they just, like, rented it
out next door. And there, that's where I kinda, like,
struggled with, you know, like most kids, growing up in middle school, trying to figure
out who you are without people telling you who you are,
really. And then you're like, alright. Am I this? Am I that?
And you're still trying to figure out everything, like, I
said, life. Right after that, I got
a full right of scholarship, academic scholarship to Notre
Dame in West Haven. I'm still living in New Haven at that point, and it
was a, like, a good family and community
came together for me in a way. The schools, the principals,
social workers, everybody wrote me, like, very kind recommendation
letters knowing that I would not be able to afford to
go to Notre Dame at that time. You know, like, it was a tuition, private
school, Catholic, and then cost some cost a little
money to go. Hey. And I was excited to at
least receive the academic scholarship. I did not wanna go to an
all boys school whatsoever. That was not the cool
thing to do. That was not my plan. I wanted to, you know,
follow my friends and do art school and,
hey, that's just how my cards fell. And it was one of
the best things that I could have done in my growing up time
was going to Notre Dame. They introduced me to so many
situations that I would have not been in in a regular public school.
The education was great. Oh, man. It was brutal
brutal and, like, it was a college preparatory school.
So they really wanted to make sure that you're, you know, ready for
college. So it was college work. Like I said, it was
tough, but I made it through. In the end,
it's literally everything that comes up in a lot of conversations. Oh,
where'd you go to high school? Notre Dame? Oh, really? Did you do this? Did
you do that? Do you know so and so? The college that I went to,
Alberta's, most of my teachers ended up being from
Notre Dame and, a lot of the,
advisors. And I was like, wow, like, we are everywhere. So, you
know, keep my best foot forward, keep trying to do well because you never know
who's watching those n d eyes. Yeah. I
went to college. I went to Southern right away because, you know, college preparatory. You
gotta go straight to college. Unfortunately, I was not matured
enough to be in a school by myself, you know,
coming from a sheltered life and having total freedom.
It was, let's just say, I had a great time
and stopped going, needed to get to work. I
actually just recently finished all my classes at
Albertus. Magnus Congratulations. Haven. Thank you. Thank
you for a bachelor's in computer
information systems. It is something that, I don't know, it was
kinda always dear to my heart just like anything software, computer, electronics.
I was the one that would take apart my computer and try
to put it back together. Replacing motherboards
and just digging in there and learning as I went. So I was like, hey,
let me get a little education background in that.
You know, I had went to school for psychology,
sociology, and early
childhood education. So I'm, like, I was in a
mix of everywhere, and I was, like, let me just get in a
place where I know that I will be happy, and
something that's still gonna be able a great flourishing career.
IT, communications, all of that is becoming the
world that we're in. AI, like, that is
something that wasn't around, you know, a couple of years ago, and here we are
full blast into it. Yeah. There's still, like, a lot of policies that has
to be dealt with, but it's the wave of the future. And,
like, I wanna be able to fix anything.
I had, like, a little web design class, which I
really enjoyed. I was able to incorporate that into my business.
But, yeah, no. Hey. That's my greatest achievement so far. I am
done with this degree. Gonna keep
going for something else. Now I'm really into nursing,
so my idea was to go into health care technology
where I can build these instruments and have
recommendations for even their softwares and teach these
softwares and be able to evolve and progress in this health
care technology world as well. Interesting. Yeah.
Thanks for sharing all that. That's my background, dude. Like, it's it's
everywhere, but I'm here. Still young guy. Right? Yeah. No.
Definitely. I think it's super important to, like, try a bunch of different things and
figure out, you know, what it is that you like. So it's it's awesome that
you have tried different things and kinda trying to meld maybe
2 different worlds into, like, a future path. I think that's
that's, you know, nice that you can use different areas of,
of things that you like. So, what do you like
currently, you said you do do some nursing now. Is that, something that you,
like, did while you were going to school? I did
private pay nursing. So I was able to get hired through a
company with no, like, nursing background or
even really experienced on degree training, and they gave me training, and
I was able to do it for this one person. And growing up,
I grew up like with my grandparents and my great grandparents.
So it kind of came natural for me to be able to
wanting to take care of somebody and be able to try to heal them
and my mom's a great little self prescribed doctor. In a
way, she was like, honey, it's this, and most of the time it is that.
And from, like, with her experience telling me, I I kinda
grew on me in a way. So after that, I was like,
alright. Maybe I do wanna go into health care. It was just the nursing part
of it and timing just never really worked out, but I'm in a great
place where I could have a degree now. I don't have to
do these little steps before. Like, there's bridges just for
that. And that's something that I can still, you know,
jump into. My partner right now, he's a I don't wanna
say a retired nurse. He nursing from over 20
years and went into, like, another field of nursing, which is the case management
field, getting people out of the hospital, making sure that they're safe
discharges. And with our, like, our relationship
now, I still wanna go into something like that.
And it's, you know, exciting and scary at the
same time. But I just wanna be able to, in the end,
heal the world. Yeah. That's awesome.
Appreciate that. So so when did the business start?
When did you start your business, and when did the idea come from? And, you
know, tell us about that. Alright. No problem. So Zenith
Point started in literally
2020. Right? And the beginning of the
COVID era, Like most businesses,
people got laid off and wanting to put their
energy into something creative. And me has already created a
background as long with, like, I got into art. So I
was drawing, painting, sewing,
crocheting, even playing around with, like, making candles.
So this all started by my partner,
Scott. Really, he gave me the idea that I'm was just
making candles. He was like, this is a
great candle and I think other people will like it too.
You should just see just put stuff out there and see what people
think about it. This could be a way for you to have an
income and to be able to be your own boss. And I was, you know
what? That's great, because I got laid off. I was working at
a nursing home as a, admissions coordinator,
And most right in the beginning, got laid off and still
needed to make an income. And I was like, now is the perfect time to
do anything that I wanna do, which was
school and now try to make a business.
I started by making candles, bath soaks,
and whipped body butter. This product, I was able
to make little sets and give them to my partner because he worked in
a hospital still at this time, and it was geared towards
nursing. You were beat up and you needed to
be able to relax at home, I wanted to give you that spa
quality, self care essential line, and
try to make it as easy as for, you know, people in health care after
their long shifts. And let's say they
loved it. They loved it just like my partner
did. And they're like, oh my gosh, we want more. We're willing to
pay for these now. Like, I was just giving them away. Like, oh, this is
a fun hobby. Like and it was like, alright. How much do you want for
this? I'm like, selling something that I made
as you know, even though Scott was saying oh, that's my partner
in Scott. He was saying that this should be a business. And I'm like,
it's still a hobby. Like, I wanna have fun with it. It's in
a saturated market. Everyone started wanting to make candles at home,
because it was, you know, easy and beautiful.
You were able to enjoy it after.
And, literally, from there, they're like like I
said, they wanted to buy them. I gave them a price. They started sending me
money. I started making more and more sets and they were buying them
as gifts, buying them for their bosses, daughters,
tons everyone just started zooming in. Yes. We want some of your stuff. Dimitri,
we love you. So obviously, your stuff is gonna be great even though we heard
great news about it. We're still gonna try it out. And here we
are today. I was like, zenith point. Zenith point means the
highest celestial's point in, like, space,
or it means the most successful point of time. And
from that, I was like, this is gonna be my
success. I've always felt like I had, like, a background of
not bad karma. Just nothing was working how I needed to
be. Each little step was taking me 2 steps back, and I
could never get to that next step forward. And with this
business, I was able to mentally put myself
in a new place, physically put myself in a new
place, and financially put myself into something that
I wanted to continue doing. From there,
I was like, hey. Let's do this. I got
my LLC. I got my EIN.
I was like, what's next? What how what else can I do to make this
a legit business? I was always worried about taxes,
but, hey, I was, like, worried about that down the line, Dimitri. You just
wanna get something on the books and try to make this,
you know, flourish, actually become one of those household
names products. You know, I wanna be up there with Yankee Candle and
Gooseneck. Like, these are great places. And with
that, hey, here I am. I added more products to
the line. I added a room spray, bath
soaks. I'm working on a face toner. I
did incense. And, basically, everything that I needed
to make it a self care line. Self care
became, you know, very popular. No one was,
oh, self care? That's a thing thing now? Yes. It's
always been a thing, and that's what I was doing during when I got
laid off before starting the business. Everyone got into the
depression. I had a little slip passion, and the best way to get out of
it for me was self care. Yes. Taking baths,
showers, moisturizing my body, healing my body from the
inside out. I don't wanna see dry patches. I'm trying
to heal myself first. And if it's healing me, it's
obviously gonna heal everyone else. And, you know, like I
said, here I am still at it 3
years 4 4 years now. 4 years later,
and 3 stores so far. I'm in Avant
Garde in Brantford, Stoney Creek Depot in
Brantford, Gracious Gifts in Brantford,
and actually, Anna Visa Salon in Wallingford. So that makes 4. Working
on more locations as we speak. I have a website
now that was not there for, like, the first two
years of the business. It was all word-of-mouth. And
that's how I was still going, word-of-mouth and people reaching out
to me. Hey. We wanna try your product. I have VNA
Community Central. Well, if they're, like, do hospice
care, and they come out to your homes and do the nursing at the home,
or even in the skilled nursing facility. I've done Mother's
Day presents for them. I've done nursing week
gifts for them. And that's the most exciting part is being able to create
something that's gonna make someone else happy just as it makes
me and my partners and everyone else happy.
Yeah. That's awesome. I I love when people have, you know, products or
even all the whole business designed around something that they just did,
like, you know, for themselves or as a hobby, and then everybody comes to you,
and you're like, oh, I can I can charge from this? I thought that was
funny that you you didn't even expect to, like, to get paid for it. So
what was that like to, like, have to then put a price on something that,
like, you didn't even really expect to get? Was that difficult? Very
difficult. It's like, how do you put a price on something that you're
just had fun making? It was like, my gosh. How do I
do this? My partner Scott stepped in. It's like, you gotta
break it down. You gotta do this, do this, do this, and then,
hey, that's gonna be your price point. And he was like, don't forget the time
that you put into this, your sourcing. And
I came up with or it came out to be $12 for my first
candle. It was a 10 ounce soy candle, like, still
making the soy candles. $12 just for the candle. For a
set, it was $25. I wanted to be able to make it
affordable, something that I could be able to afford
without having a grandiose income. Something,
like, super pricey, like, these certain candles, paying $30 a
candle, or even being a $10 candle but not having
that quality to it. It still had, you know, a lot of love and
quality in my product. So I was like, can't make it too expensive, can't
make it too cheap because then people are like, why is it so cheap?
But, hey, no. I got there $12 for the first candle.
Currently, I am at 1695, which is a
big jump. But with that jump, I have
a whole new candle vessel. It's very sleek,
masculine and feminine at the same time and can fit in
everyone's space. And it's a great, just like, decor in a
way. And I was like, I have to have something that still looks
nice on the shelf. Yes. It's great quality, but it
has to blend in or stand out, however you need
it to be. I worked with 420 Custom Supply.
They made my original logo, which is still the
original logo, and all my labels for all the
16¢ that I had at that time. And like I
said, 1695, you're gonna get one of the
best candles that you receive, soy candles at that. Mhmm.
Yeah. I can attest to that. You have this scent, Moroccan Cashmere
that's just, like, amazing. The first time I met you, that was the candle that
I bought. Yes. And then the second time I saw you, I bought the body
butter, and the scent is just, like, so amazing. I need to get some more
from you because it smells so good. Oh, yes. You know? How do you come
up with the scents and, like, you know, is that like a a I
imagine, like, a long process to try to, like, get them right and tweak them
and stuff? So with me, I ended up working with
another company that actually makes the sense. What
I was able to do was just kinda choose what I wanted to be in
my line, and I was thinking, alright, it's just
self care. I need something relaxing. White Sage and Lavender
was my first scent that I've chosen and worked with that one for like
a good month. So everyone really got to know that scent and I was everyone
loves a lavender. Lavender is calming, relaxing, smells
great. The white sage along with it just gave it an extra boost.
And, like, with that, hey, I was able to come up with so many more
different ideas that I wanted to have with my line. It became,
alright, not just the self care, like, this is still I'm making
just candles as well. I have a spring line. I have a
summer line, which is fun fruity scents. I have
the fall line. That's when you came into the
Moroccan Cashmere because I try to keep it seasonal, so the Moroccan Cashmere. And
then now I have a winter line. And it's just slowly going,
adding more and more and more. I'm actually starting also a
men's line, so it's dedicated to men. It's, you
know, stronger scents, more muskier,
vanilla, let's say, you know, all of the things that you're
wanting. Your room or your office that smell like as a man, you wanted to
be like, alright. This is really nice. It smells good in here. Clean
and strong actually. So I
just created a Cuban tobacco scandal which is gonna
be named Havana and I believe you're gonna love that one.
I'm sure I will. All your stuff smells really good, and,
yeah, definitely. If if people haven't checked them out, they should.
So talk to me about the Collab program that you were a part of. I
know that Collab is like a local New Haven organization that helps
businesses grow. So what was that process like for you, and and how
has it helped your business? Well, Collab was a great foundation
for my business and be trying to accelerate my entrepreneurship.
I was on Instagram And so, like, one of their graduating
classes from the spring, and it was the empanada
girl, Madeline. Now, she has a shop. Yeah. Do you know
it? I know her. Yeah. Her name's not Madeline. I'm trying to remember her name.
But It's yeah. Yeah. She has the empanada shop, and she's got, like, other businesses
too. She's she's awesome. Yeah. So I saw her, and that really
that was my inspiration and my encouragement to apply
for the program. I was like, hey, I already done one, which
was the I've Squared at the live Yale New Haven
Library. It was that was my first one. Gave me, like, you know, my
foundation for my LLC, how to run a
business. And with Collab, I was thinking, how can I take this to
the next level with that background experience already? How can I make
this an even better business? And with that, they were able to
help me with my pitch. That pitch, it
was the Bethany. But, yes, it was so exciting making it,
but so nerve racking. It's just like, how can I
convince somebody to buy my product when so far it's been
word-of-mouth and it kinda just sells on its own in
a way, which is great and easy? But when you have to put
it out there and you really gotta sell it, this is my wanting.
This is what I need. This is the capital that I'm looking for. And with
that, that gave me all the knowledge that I needed to be able
to, if I wanted to partner with somebody, let's say, reach
out into the community, they gave me goals on to
basically clear out my stock, my inventory. That was one of my issues. I
was like, I'm keeping making candles, but like I said, I was doing them
seasonally. So I'm left with some back stock and it was like, hey.
Get rid of what you have and let's kinda not start fresh, but start off
with a clean sheet. Let's see exactly how much you're bringing in. Let's see
how much is going out actually. And it was a
great group of entrepreneurs. We are still in
communication today in our little Instagram chat. Shout outs
to you guys. I was not able to technically graduate from
the program or, like, do my pitch because I had a deaf and a family
at that time, but they were still very along with
me and gave me all the, you know, encouragement and
confidence that I needed to still continue my business because it was, you know,
with life happening all kinds of ways. It's like,
alright. My business still has to be a business and it can't be pushed on
the back burner. So they allowed me to even create a schedule
certain days. You go in and you do everything that you can with your
business. Let's try not to, oh, a little something here, a little
something here. Complete a project, complete an idea. They
help me with my social networking, how to
post certain things, when to post, what's gonna capture the
audience, and how to receive great feedback from your
target audience, which is another thing that we had to figure out who's our
target, who are we aiming to sell this to. And like, you know, most
business like, hey, you know, it's for everyone. Anyone can do this. Anyone can
buy it. It works, but not in most cases.
You have to target a place and then it will
slowly make its way to wherever you need it to be.
Like I was saying, Collab was great foundation for this
business. It kept me on my feet and it's still keeping
me on my feet. I'm still doing everything that I was doing during the program.
I was in school during the program at the same time, so I was working
full time, school full time, and doing the program
during the week. So it was busy, but, hey, it wasn't
able to help me manage everything in my life.
Yeah. That sounds like a lot going on at once and a lot to balance
and and manage. But I did wanna touch on, like, the the community piece
of Collab because I think that's like a a huge piece of not only,
like, the education that they teach you, but then also the cohort that you're with
and and the other people that are kinda doing the same thing as you. How
important has community been to you in your business? And I
imagine all areas of your life, you know, we talked about church earlier, and that's
a big community. How has community helped you? Community
has been my foundation in
life. It's like we stated, going from church, I'm
surrounded by a community of like minded people
that wants the best for you and trying to get you to that
place as well. With that, I've my grandpa,
he is a or he was. He was like a supervisor
maintenance of a homeless shelter in New Haven. That's
where I got a lot of my wanting to serve the
community from was just being right by his side and
meeting all these families. Like, we were able to literally have
these kind of meetings with these people and emotionally connect with
them and to let them know, like, this isn't the end. It's kind
of the beginning. Yes. We all fall, but there's always gonna be
somebody, the community, that should be there to be able to
help lift you back up. I done so
much community service growing up, just
naturally. I was in the food banks,
soup kitchens. This was all before it was mandatory for
me in high school because each year, you had to complete a certain amount of
volunteer hours in different kind of places. So I was
like, hey. I'm already used to this. This is fun for me. Like, yes.
Alright. I'm gonna go I'm gonna volunteer here. So that opened me
up to a lot more, you know, situations and people
personalities and how can I find a way to
uplift your day in a way? Like, I'm a kid. I can't give you
the things that you need, like the money or even the
home, but I'm going to try to put a smile on
your face. I'm gonna help you stop the crying and
feeling worried about everything because me as a kid, I
I saw it all. And, you know, and these being inside the homeless
shelter with my grandpa, they gave him a place to stay in there so that,
you know, he can always be on point. And like I said, I basically
grew up with them. So I lived there with them. So I could say I
grew up in a homeless shelter, but I had a little home in there and
a community family surrounding me. With Collab,
I love the ending pitch, the big kind of
party thing that we had together. They invited everyone from the
community to come out to even just ask questions, people that
wanted to support us. They wanted to know more about these local businesses
because that's what it's all about. We gotta keep this word-of-mouth and that's what the
community is all about. We're going to continually talking about
what's great, what's gonna be the next best thing, how can we make
something better. And, you know, if somebody's talking about Zenith
Pointe. Hey, this person right here, he has great self care products.
It's gonna circle the community. And just like how it happened in the
hospital setting with the products in the beginning, word-of-mouth. It was just
that community wanting to to support me. And here I am
now, you know, further in my entrepreneurship,
and I'm still depending on the community to
keep me up because that's, you know, that's it's you guys
that's keeping us going. We wanna continue to bring out more stuff for
you. We want the feedback, good or bad. Like,
there's no such thing as bad feedback. I'll say that it's just great
criticism to help some make something better for, you
know, yourself and for the next person. I hope that
answered the question. Yeah. It did. For sure. No. It did.
And that's something that I, like, picked up too was when you were talking about,
like, being a kid and only being able to, like, you know, try to bring
joy to people because that was all that you could offer. That's definitely something that
I noticed as you vent. Like, the first time I talked to you, you're like,
you were making me laugh, and you're making me, you know, me comfortable and talking
to you. And that's, like, you know, I guess you could say a transferable skill
or something that you take with you. Was it difficult for
you to, like, first start vending your product? Because it's it's kinda 2 different
things. Like, making it's one thing, but then, like, selling it to people could
be, you know, super intimidating, at least it would be for me. Oh,
man. It was. It I was so nervous for my
first show. My first show was, in New
Haven. It was like a Sip and Shop type of thing. And I my
partner was working with somebody who also had a business, business,
who was running these kind of events. So I was like, have him come down.
Well, let's see what he could do. Let's see, you know, try to get him
some sales and get his name out there a little bit more. So
purpose. You know, I was so nervous, like, making the product. I
stayed up all night making everything and literally could
not sleep because of the nerves. I was like, what am I gonna say? How
is this gonna go? I don't sell products. I'm not like a
salesman, but my partner just reinforced it in me.
Dimitri, you're a people's person. You use your your
talent, your personality, and just literally let that shine. Try not
to think about it too much. Make sure you state your name and your
business and why you're doing this. That was the best advice
that he could give me. I literally just went out there, pure smiles.
Hey, like, you met me. It's just all smiles straight from the
beginning. They say this is a little infectious that a person is not,
you know, looking blah blah blah. Like, this is my business. Blah blah
blah. They're gonna be like, alright. Next. Like, you didn't attract
me. I had no feeling, no connection with that. So I'm
wanting to make a connection. And like I said, I was
kind of a people's person already. I was just able
to communicate in the short
conversations. It's not about just the weather. Try to have
an in-depth really conscious conversation about what's going
on. And it's not just about me and my business. I'm gonna ask you what
you like. What are you into and get to know you as well? It's just
literally I try to have a conversation with a person and if they like
the product, they like it. Most of the time, they're buying it just because
of me. I that's what my partner says. Like, you
know, you're the you're the face of your product. You are your
product. I try to keep that separate because I want my
product to seek for itself. I don't I don't wanna be able to, like, you
know, have to, you know, gas it up. Oh, you
definitely really need this. This is it. But, you know, just take it, dial it
back a little bit, encourage self care, and, you
know, let the product speak for itself. But I'm definitely gonna give you a good
time if you're at my event or, you know, checking me
out. Mhmm. I can attest to that. But, yeah, I
mean, that that's totally part of it is, like, getting, you know, somebody to like
you and then then trying your product and being, like, oh, this is really good.
Like, he wasn't just, you know, saying that because that was totally my experience. You
know? Like, so I think that that's a that's a good strategy for
sure to have to have both of those pieces. So I also
wanted to ask you about, like so you do the vending and you've done, like,
you know, different shows and stuff like that, but then you've also gotten into locations.
How's how's that been? And what's the process like to get into, like, a
physical location? So it takes me way back to, you know, my
first event. It's nerve racking. You
literally once again trying to convince somebody, hey, like, you should buy
this. It's really good stuff but you have to do it in such
a business way. Like, you can yes. Personality is great,
but you also have that the paperwork for it. You need your price
list, your wholesale pricing, and that was another thing my
partner to help me with, how to create wholesale pricing.
It's a fun thing to look out
into the community and be able to say, I believe my product
can fit in that store. I believe we share the same vibes,
and I believe we can make a great connection with this. My first
store was avant garde, which is actually down the street from me.
It's a holistic wellness center. I came across,
like, their I wanna say they were holding an event,
and they wanted me to come down and do an event with them.
And literally from that meeting, it was like, we have to have this product in
a store. How can we do this? I was like, oh my gosh.
I do small batches. How am I gonna
upgrade again to put this in stores? Because,
yes, I you know, out there doing the shows, but they're not a
constant turnaround of people coming in, buying, and having to
restock it. It's like I bring what I bring, and if you buy it, you
buy it. If you don't, hey, it comes back with me and I try it
again at the next show. And then I try to, you know, think about
what's selling more. But reaching out to these places is
it's easy. It's easy. You're literally I send out an email
with, my price point, a couple of pictures, and
access to set up a meeting with them. And with that, I was able to
come up with an idea to do signature scents
for these shops. So I was like, alright. I have so many scents.
Which one would you like? Would you like to do a mix? And it was
like, hey. We wanna make it special so that they have to come here to
buy your product. Here we go. Whatever scent you
wanna do, let's try to combine that together. We sit down. I
bring in, like, 5¢ or, you know, something that they're interested in, and
we do the mix right then and there. And it was that's it. That's
perfect. Here you go. That's your signature scent for your store. Now,
let's see how it sells and then, you know, take it from there. Right
now, my, with gracious gifts, my products
got in there. It was word but word-of-mouth. The
community had my back again. Dimitri, you need to reach out to
this lady. She has a shop. And I think your products will be great in
there. Let her know you I sent her over your way. And let's see, you
know, good luck. I reach out to them, put on
my personality. Hey, guys. How's it going?
And, you know, promote my products. And it's like, yes, we love that. Come
on down, set up the meeting and, you know, like I said,
let's see how it's going. The restock is the best part about a bit all.
You're seeing, oh, what's selling? What's not selling? How can I make
something even better? With avant garde, I try to do it seasonally.
So I'm gonna leave a whole bunch of sense there for that
season, see what sells the best. And so I know for the next
season, hey, let's try to do more of these so we could have a little
bit more of people wanting, you know, that stare. I need
to do that there with, I did, like, a
crystal candle, which is like a full solstice of the body if you're
into the chakras from head to toe. And,
with a little bit of extra lavender in there, and they ate it up.
Eat it up. I just have to, you know, find a way to make it
special to these places. Literally, it should sell for
itself. Now, we came up with this together. Like we say, you know, some
sense does better than the others. And that's when we work together and, you
know, hey, let's take this out. Let's do a trade out. I do trades out,
so let's try this then. You already paid for the product. Wholesaling was
great. And now I am on to, like I
stated, trying to get into more shops. I am
working on with, Gather at Bloom in New Haven on
Edgewood Avenue and trying to get some self care products in there.
And like we said it, you know, let's see where it takes me. The goal
is to have my own shop. Definitely for sure.
It's disclosed disclosed, you know, coming from
not even having the idea of a business to wanting to open up my own
shop and do this full time all now. And I'm gonna try to do it
in Brantford or, you know, whoever is gonna be best,
whoever is best for me. I'm gonna make my way there.
Yeah. That's awesome. That's, has what what a good idea to have, like,
signature scents for specific shops. Like, that's genius
to be able to get people into, like, the specific shops. And then, yeah,
having a shop your own would be really cool too. Yeah. And, yeah, you make
it sound so easy, like, from starting to, like, having your own shop. I
I'm curious as to, like, what was the most difficult part, do you think, of
of your business? Because I think a lot of times people, like, have really good
ideas of something, but they think it's, like, too much of a big task
and they never end up getting started. Like, what was the biggest challenge that you
had with your business? The biggest challenge was definitely
the income for your the supplies in the beginning.
You're doing this by word-of-mouth. No one is giving you money
for it just yet. You're kinda just trying to get it out there. So
that upfront money was definitely one of the hardest things that I had to, you
know, come out of my pocket with. I got my
taxes. I was like, alright, invest in yourself.
Invest in this business and see where it takes you. You know, most people
take their taxes and, you know, whatever they do with
it. And I was thinking, let's do this.
And with the foundation of not having a business,
a no business background, that's where I kinda messed
up. Plan out your buying and
sourcing. I had no idea where
where how to obtain any of this stuff,
and I was on Amazon. Everyone was doing Amazon.
It's like, you know, I became a prime member, and whatever was on there,
that's what I got. Down the line, I'm realizing I should've
did my research and shopped around to different
locations to find out which one is gonna be the most cost
efficient for the business and to be able to allow me to have a
return once it starts selling. Good night. I don't
wanna I came out of my pocket about $3 for the
business. That was for everything. I bought probably
about 1400 jars,
my labels, new equipment, like, my candle
melter. I had literally just a one single thing. I was making 3
candles at a time. That's like really small batch type
business. So I'm like, how am I gonna be able to upgrade
this? Got a bigger wax melter, more pourers,
even my body butter because I'm, like, adding more items at this time too. I'm,
like, what else can I do? What else can I do? It's self care. Like,
I got the business going. Let me add this. Add this. I shouldn't
have added so many things so quick because it
costs more to keep trying to replace those items. And, yes, I'm doing it
on Amazon, which is giving me free shipping, but there was
better options out there that was, you know, like I said, more
cost efficient. And I got along with, you know, my work my
way around Alibaba. If you guys are looking for, you
know, big quantity, low amount,
Alibaba was the way to go. Do your research as
first for that as well because I got,
some supplies actually stuck in customs because I had no idea
how to work my way in and around customs. So till this
day, it's still there. I that's lost.
Now I try to, you know, do my research first and, try to stick
with the same businesses. Like I stated, it was that having
a foundation of how to source your items
correctly. Mhmm. Yeah. And I'm sure, you
know, there's many things that you have to learn as a business owner, especially as,
you know, doing everything yourself with no background in business. I was the same way.
It's like there's so many things you have to learn. Sometimes you gotta learn the
hard way to, you know, learn the lesson, but Yep. Yeah. You gotta keep going.
Yeah. And that's the that's the key is, like, not giving up. So, yeah,
as we're we're kinda coming to the end of our time here, I like to
ask everybody, what the word purpose means to them and, like, to
kinda get their own definition of purpose because that's kind of a important word to
me, and I know that everybody has their own definition. So how would you define
purpose for you? I love this question because it's something that
I'm currently not currently, but within this business,
it was to what is my purpose? What am I
doing here? And how can
I bring this type of energy out of me?
My purpose, I've always felt this. Purpose is
literally something that's true to your heart that you cannot
get away from. And anything that you do, you will know
you won't even notice it. Like, this is what you're doing. Like, my
personality comes off naturally, but I feel like
my personality is here for a purpose. I have a purpose in
this community to continue to share love
and strength and joy and be able to lift up
anybody just as they lifted up me. And, oh,
man. No. That's a good one, dude. Like, what is purpose to me?
It's yeah. No. Wanting to achieve
something that's really dear to you close into your heart. Yeah.
I think Yeah. No. I think that was a great definition. Like, yeah, something that,
like, feels true to your heart, and it almost seems like you're not even doing
it. Like like, how we you explained with, like, the selling and being a
salesman. It's like you it's already in your personality, and you don't even, like,
realize that you're making those connections with people. So yeah. No. I love that definition.
That's awesome. So and then, you know, one last question too, like, where can
people find you? Where can people look at your products, buy your products? I know
you mentioned the locations, and I'll put those in the show notes so people can
find them. But where can they find you online? Alright. So
you can find me on Facebook at Zenith
Point CC, Instagram z dot
nith point. Check out the Instagram. It's working on it.
It's getting up there. My website is www.zenithpoint.com.
No period in the between the z and the p and
you can also find me on Etsy. I'm on there. Even if you just
try googling Xenith Point, you should be able to find me there as well.
Perfect. And I'll put a bunch of links for people to find the products.
And, like I said, Moroccan cashmere is my favorite scent. So if you
don't if you don't know where to start. Yeah. No. That one's a great
one all year round. Thank you so much for,
sharing all your wisdom, Dimitry, and your personality with us and your
experiences. I wish you the best in the future, and hopefully, we'll see you
soon at, another show. Hey, Janelle. Thank you for having me.
You are doing your purpose. You're slowly
coming into your purpose. I was like, it's come happening at the same time. You're
great. I love this little podcast thing that you got going on. Well, not little,
but like, I love your podcast thing that you have going on. And, yes, you're
coming into, you know, different peoples and trying to find their purpose, but
I believe you found your purpose. Well, thank you so much. I really
appreciate that. No problem. Means a lot to me. No problem.
Thank you for listening to Working Towards Our Purpose. If you liked today's
episode and are interested in more, you can sign up for my Substack
newsletter with the link in the show notes, where I share thoughts,
tips, and ideas that I'm learning along my journey to help inspire
you. The show was produced by Pleasant Podcast at pleasantpodcast.com.