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Chapter 7 - Candy Direct
www.candydirect.com
Candy Direct is the oldest
Internet candy distributor on the
web today. We have grown from a
small operation into one of
the largest wholesale candy
distributors in the United States.
Your name:
Stephen Traino
Company name: Candy Direct, Inc.
Website URL:
www.candydirect.com
Your company / website vision statement / goal:
To continue building Candy
Direct in order to maintain our
leadership in the Internet candy
marketplace. We will not rest on
our past success.
What you sell / services you offer (brief description of your company):
Most of our business is done
with individuals craving candy that
they cannot easily find
elsewhere. Similarly, a large part of our business comes from sales to
individuals wanting to send candy
as a gift. The remainder of our
business comes from retailers
needing candy wholesale and
corporations buying candy for promotional reasons.
Have you always wanted to run
your own business? What were some of your previous jobs / companies?
Since I was 8 years old I’ve
known that entrepreneurship would
be my career path. As a kid I
sold mazes to other kids for a
dime a piece and then candy
until I was shut down by the school administration. For 3 years in high
school and college I ran a business called United Garage Sales. I would
pick a
neighborhood and go door to door
asking households if they
would like to participate in a
gigantic multi-family garage sale. I
would convince one neighbor to
donate a garage and each family would receive 50% of the proceeds for
their items sold and I
would receive the other 50%.
During the rest of college I
interned for an
immigration/economic consulting firm which
helped executives setup
subsidiary operations in the
United
States.
After graduation I moved to
California and landed a sales job
with Xerox and stayed there for about 2 years. I left Xerox for a
job with Realm Internet Systems as their Marketing Manager in 1994. In
1995, I started an Internet videoconferencing company which I sold for a
small profit in 1997. A few months later I
started Candy Direct.
Have you got any qualifications? Please tell us about yourself
academically?
I received my Bachelor of
Science Degree in Accounting & Marketing for Entrepreneurial Management
in 1992 from
Plattsburgh State University in New York. In those days,
Plattsburgh did not have anything remotely related to entrepreneurship
studies. Luckily there was the Individualized Studies program which
allowed students to create their own
majors. I was able to choose interesting classes from the
Accounting and Marketing departments and mix in two
internships. In one internship I assisted the company President
and the other was as a counselor for the Small Business
Development Center run by New York State.
How / when did the idea of your
website / company come
about?
I came up with the idea in 1996
when I was thinking about businesses that I could start that involved
the Internet. At the
time there was no competition in
the Internet candy business.
If you could give readers of
this book one piece of advice when starting up a business, what would it
be?
Be hungry
and have an overwhelming desire to succeed. Be
willing to sacrifice. I literally lived out of my office for a few years
until the business grew enough. If you are not willing to work
extra hours then perhaps this is not the career for you. There are
plenty of useful professions to enter that are just as rewarding.
Find something else that you absolutely enjoy because life is too
short to waste in the wrong place.
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