How Do Entrepreneurs Make Their Products?

Once you’ve had your idea, made sketches, and created a prototype, it’s time to actually make the product. Whether you’ll be doing this in your home or a factory depends on your budget, your product idea, and what type of material you’ll be using. 

We asked ten Abound entrepreneurs how they make their products, whether it’s all by themselves or with a manufacturer, and what their process was like in general.

 1) DecoPlate

Our products are 100% manufactured in the Chicago area. The plastic resin is manufactured in the western suburbs of Chicago, the molding is done (using our tooling) on the South Side of Chicago, and the digital decoration is done at our facility in Northbook, IL using a proprietary system we worked almost 2 years to perfect, before we made our first sale.

2)  Fuze Body

We hand make all our unique products in two separate dedicated rooms in our house we call the ‘factory.’ It’s fun this way, but one day we will need to expand to a larger facility.

3) Huckle Bee Farms

Our honey is infused with organic fruits and vegetables made right here in our kitchen with love and skilled hands. It can take up to two weeks for each batch to finish.

4) Floral Elixir Co. 

We produce everything in house in 5-10 gallon batches, as the ingredients are all natural and organic, they’re highly delicate. This way we can keep our eyes on them at all times for the highest quality control! We fill each bottle by hand and apply each label by hand as well.

5) The Healing Sanctuary

I create the recipes and order the herbs wholesale and blend them myself in small batches. The herbs are based on the recipes, creating recipes and blending herbs is an art. It is really just understanding which flavor of herbs go together.

There are only a few herb wholesalers that sell organic. I love them and only use them, I have several wholesalers for my crystals. Picking out wholesalers can be difficult, unfortunately you win some and lose some. If they have great customer service that is a win for me.

6) Castle McQuade

As an entrepreneur, I make my products by starting with an idea and the artwork. I illustrate and design everything myself. I create them by using a combination of traditional mediums (pencil, ink) and digital for additional line work. I go back and forth.

For color, I’ve been using an Ipad and Procreate since last summer, I love it. I’ll then complete the design work, the fonts, and bring it all together using Photoshop.

I print all my cards through Over Night Prints. Great company, and made in the USA! I print my stickers and magnets on custom sheets, then hand cut everything myself.

I’m fast, can cut a couple hundred stickers during the course of a baseball game, or watching bad tv. My wife helps out during the holiday season, and I’ll hire some help here and there to help fill orders when things get really busy.

7) Studio 29 Eleven

All of our products are designed and cut in house. We use a computer program to design our pieces. We started with a simple single wood letter and now we offer products in a wide variety of materials and designs.

8) Calyan Wax Co.

We manufacture all our products in house. We label, wick, and package by hand. We have the help of a wonderful machine that mixes wax and fragrance and pours each candle, the most important part. Imagine lots of liquid wax, fragrances, and heat.

9) Southbury Baking Company

We make, pack, and ship all our products right in our boutique commercial bakery. Our team makes and forms the dough, hand cuts it, and then it’s off to the ovens. We use only the purest nuts, herbs and cheeses in our crackers.

10) Nikki Smith Designs

We handcraft our pieces in our office in downtown Dallas. For some of our categories, such as stud earrings, we now design them and have them made for us.

No matter what your idea is, if your entrepreneur dream is strong enough, you have what it takes to make your product!