Jaron Lodge realized he had entrepreneurial talent when he hit his highest sales goal selling popcorn as a Cub Scout. “I was hooked from there,” he says. By the time he was 18, he'd saved up $25,000 from starting his own dog-sitting business, working part-time at Subway and in an Ashley Furniture warehouse. After listening to a string of audiobooks on sales, he sold $30,000 worth of luxury cutlery the summer after graduating high school.
Inspired by the entrepreneurs he followed on YouTube, he began experimenting with creating a rock-throwing game he'd learned about in the Boy Scouts. As he researched rock-throwing, he discovered that people all over the world enjoyed it and that there were dozens of ways to describe it in different languages. This suggested the potential for a booming business built around it. “It seemed like the start of a new sport, and I thought it would be really cool if I could make my own standard ball for this sport,” he recalls.
Jason Lodge used his experience selling popcorn in the Cub Scouts to make a million dollars. … [+]
After enrolling at Arizona State University (ASU), he enrolled in a business entrepreneurship program. He began experimenting with making rocks from fish food and selling them at a pop-up shop at the Sun Devil Marketplace store. He recruited testers to try out his handmade rocks in a 24-foot pool. “I realized that the fish food rocks were very dirty, so I decided to 3D print them in the ASU library, where they have a makerspace,” he says.
As he perfected the plastic version, he went door-to-door to 100 homeowners to ask about their complaints about backyard games. “The feedback was that the games only lasted one season, were not portable and were difficult to store,” he says. “Arizona is very hot, and people needed something to play outside and escape the heat.”
That research helped him come up with the idea for SKIP 'NN Hole, a billiards game that combines skipping rocks with cornhole. He has raised nearly $35,000 through contests hosted by programs like Venture Devils, helping Arizona State University students and other members of the community grow their businesses and earn accolades from the university for their business success. “Jaron Lodge honed his natural talents for sales and creativity at Arizona State University,” the J. Olin Edison Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute announced upon his graduation in 2021.
Lodge is also committed to continuous self-improvement. After listening to and taking notes on every episode of the podcast “Funded Today,” recommended to him by his entrepreneur friend Adam Craft, he decided to put his product on Kickstarter. This crowdfunding marketplace allows fans of products that have not yet been manufactured to pre-order. Finding manufacturing support through Alibaba, a hub for manufacturing resources, he released his first product, SKIP 'NN Hole, on Kickstarter in 2020. He raised $53,378 in eight hours, exceeding his goal of $11,300.
Lodge currently sells Skipp 'NN Hole on Amazon, nationally through sporting goods chain Scheel's and on his own site. It retails for $99.99 on Amazon. The Score 'NN Hole all-in-one game set includes his first game and several others, including Floating Beer Pong, and his site, built on Shopify, encourages customers to purchase add-ons. Lodge participated in sports during high school, including baseball, golf, gymnastics and swimming. “Maybe that's why I wanted it to be versatile. I love playing a lot of different games.”
Lodge's one-person business in Surprise, Arizona, has grown from $60,000 in sales in 2020 to a projected $3 million this year, and is already on track to reach $1 million in sales by March 2024 after ramping up marketing efforts on Facebook and Instagram and bringing in an agency to help with marketing.
Number of businesses with revenues of over $1 million that have no employees other than the owners … [+]
The lodge is part of an exciting trend that continues to accelerate: the growth of million-dollar independent businesses. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of businesses making between $1 million and $2.49 million in revenue without employing employees rose to 53,460 for the first time in 2021. This number has increased about 48% since 2012, when the government began tracking statistics on nonemployer businesses. Nonemployer businesses are businesses that are run by owners without hiring formal employees, but may rely on contractors. In 2012, only 29,494 businesses reached this revenue size.
Some even surpassed that figure: 2,708 non-employer businesses achieved revenues between $2.5 million and $4.99 million in 2021, up from 1,900 in 2012. 536 businesses achieved revenues of $5 million or more, up from 386 in 2012.
But these companies remain elite players in the small business world: In 2021, there were roughly 28.5 million nonemployer businesses in the U.S., most of which don't generate more than $1 million in revenue.
How did the owner of a seven-figure company reach such heights? As Lodge's story illustrates, it's likely that online resources like YouTube and podcasts have made it easier than ever for budding entrepreneurs to learn from each other. While a university-level entrepreneurial education isn't required to become an entrepreneur, it's more widely available than ever before. Meanwhile, free or low-cost digital and AI-powered tools are helping entrepreneurs do more with less than ever before. At the same time, it's also easier than ever to find freelancers and contractors to help you grow your business on platforms like Upwork and Freelancer, or outsource to programs like Fulfillment by Amazon.
The top seven industries for businesses in the $1 million to $2.49 million range (the largest group of seven-figure sole proprietorships and partnerships) are:
* Professional services, 13,576 companies (up 48% since 2012)
* Retail, 4,215 companies (up nearly 31% since 2012)
* Construction industry (6,399 companies, 119.5% increase from 2012)
* Wholesale trade (2,652 companies, an increase of approximately 15% from 2012)
* Healthcare and social assistance (2,947 companies, up about 19% from 2012)
* Finance and insurance (5,064 companies, 102.1% increase from 2012)
* Real estate rental and leasing (4,536 companies, up 76% since 2012).
Remember, businesses aren't static. Some of these businesses will continue as businesses with $1 million in sales and one or two employees, while others will morph into small businesses with employees or traditional startups within a year or two. If you can achieve seven-figure sales and make a profit from it, you have many options for growth.
The latest version of Mr. Lodge's product can be used to play multiple games.
Lodge is currently preparing to scale his $1 million personal business. He said he's prepared for manufacturers to exponentially scale up production after experiencing supply chain issues early on. “It's hard for manufacturers to have that capacity, and it takes a while to scale up,” he said.
In the meantime, he plans to expand his marketing and highlight the fact that his games are games the whole family can play together. “There are a lot of backyard games, like pool basketball and pool volleyball, that are hard to get the whole family to play together because of height and strength advantages,” he says. “My games can be played competitively by people of all ages.” Meanwhile, he's at the forefront of the million-dollar personal business trend, helping to invent new business methods as he goes about his business.
