YouSaid · the spoken record

Mei Xu

lines on the record: 68
first: 2019-06-17
most recent: 2019-06-17
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“So remember the alien story Remember I thought I was you know going to meet an alien and discovered that I was actually the alien How cool is it that an alien can sit next the present of United States and talk about how to create jobs in America? That was me in twenty twelve. I was creating jobs in the United States because of our factory and the presence office took note and he invited 13 of the biggest manufacturers such as Ford, Intel. And I was invited because I was a small business and I was giving advice as to why it makes sense to revitalize manufacturing in this country, but why that we have not done enough for those companies to bring jobs back. So I feel very fortunate not only was I accepted not just as a foreigner, you know, I was able to give a path to realize what I want to do and more.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think that's precisely. I think immigrants are self selected group. They are self selected group that is very big on taking risks. In some ways they have the same traits as entrepreneurs already. Instead of taking what's easy, what's already familiar, they choose the unfamiliar, the unchartered, because they have more confidence and they have more curiosity. So in selecting themselves as immigrants, they are already facing big risks.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I came to this country and I'm a citizen for many, many years. I always want to find product that said made in USA when I go back to China, and I couldn't find them. Everything is always made in China, made in Indonesia, made in India. I think made in USA stand for something. We may have not realized that. People believe that there is integrity and there is a cool factor with products that made in USA, and we haven't explored that as a country.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we have one in Hangzhou, China as the first factory. Then we have one in Haifang in Vietnam. And now in Glenburney, Maryland.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's what we did, and we found a much bigger facility, and we outfitted so that by March we started shipping out of the new facility.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Until two weeks after it was set, and I get a panic order call from the buyer. She said, May we're in big trouble. So I said, oh no, they didn't get all the products or they're not moving at all. She said, no, we are under forecast. We could have sold $8 million of your candles this year. And you need to go back to China and build a bigger factory, and we need to catch up because I don't want to be empty shelves in April or March.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Five to six full time people. And we went into holiday season somewhat absent-minded, waiting to see when the product will show up on the shelves. And sure enough, right after Christmas, our products were there. But it was radio silence. There was nothing coming from the buyer.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And the thing about the target shipment is that it's really daunting. When you think about people scaling their business, one of the things people think about is finance, how to finance a big order. A million dollar order. The second thing they ask is logistics. Physically, how do you turn over 20 containers of candles in two days? And we don't even have the physical space to turn 20 containers in two days, right? So we rented a very big empty warehouse in Laurel. In Lora, Maryland, where are other warehouses, but there's no electricity. So we parked out two cars, used the headlight to light up the warehouse in the evening, and we literally packed and unpacked using off-level.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“She basically in a big store, it's a lot process involved. They ask you capability questions, pricing questions, they cherry pick what they want. So I didn't expect anything to happen. But she asked me, if I put it in my store, how soon can you ship? Was the moment when I froze because I said, What do you mean? Are you going to test? Because I heard they test a lot. So do you test in 50 stores or 100 stores? She said, no, mate, I want to put it in 750 stores. And I said, Oh, in that case then I started to calculate in my head how fast my sister's company can produce with seven hundred fifty stores, and I said six months, and she said perfect that will land us in October, and you can ship it so it arrives in December, and that's when we set for spring.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And she was very young, she was probably in her late 20s, and she came in and she was sitting down listening to my pitch, but halfway through she has to get up and smell the candles from the bottom. Candle buyers usually want to smell the candles from the bottom. That's when the oils settle into the bottom and you smell the most from the bottom.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Finally, come because as you can imagine, every new buyer wants to make a difference. They want to make their mark. And she heard me, so she said, Why don't you come? And I did. Where”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I basically was yes. So I waited until the next year in April and it was a very different voice. It was a very cheerful voice.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I have to say, this is probably one of my biggest failures is that I started to get frustrated and I said to the receptionist, she's not returning my call. So she said, I think you could call her boss. and make a complaint, which I did. I basically say, well, one of your buyers have not made any return phone calls. Two minutes later, the buyer called. And she said, This is so and so, and just so you know, it is not the way to start a relationship. And she”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What'd you say on the phone? My pitch was that I have a great candle, and now I can't even say it's sold at Bloomingdale, which usually target buyers would listen in and they would say, wow, they're already at those stores. We want to be those stores. So they would usually return your phone, but not the buyer.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So it was pretty straightforward, you can find the name of the buyer, there is a telephone extension, and you can leave messages.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They stand for style and design versus Walmart, which stands for value. And it really inspired me because I really subscribed to design for all that philosophy because I came from a country with a lot of people that are very poor. And I know a lot of teachers of mine who have great taste, who would never be able to buy things that are so expensive at Bloomingdale's. So how can we make it more affordable? How can we make it so we can sell it for $20 versus... So I knew it's going to be the big growth for us if we can get in because it's already 750 stores nationally and they have two dedicated aisles with 48 feet of candle space”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was never half time to worry, I'm a very optimistic person, but I was always wondering who's our next customer, so we sold to Nostrom right after Bloomingdale, they're very similar companies. But in nineteen ninety five and ninety six my eye started to search for who's the sort of company that's trending. They represent some demographic changes or style of shopping that's different. And my eyes started to focus on targets.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm always thinking because I was always thinking about the next color, the next fragrance I can mix or the next packaging that we can put together. So I was always doing a lot of things at the same time.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's already 95, so you can, particularly in that part of China, which is very entrepreneurial, there are villages that make nothing but buttons or village that make nothing but candlestick. So having a factory is possible, but we have borrowed very heavily from friends and family to build that from scratch.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I talked to a few factories in China. They look at me like I have some problem because they certainly wouldn't take on a project like that. I was frustrated and I told my sister about this and she too was very determined to help me. So she said, I'm going to quit. And she said I'm going to start a factory for you. In 1995. So that was the year when we started to have our own factory, we changed everything for me.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So here comes the best part. I was frustrated because at that time China did not have a home fragrance industry to produce that kind of oil you need a chemical compounding facility and they were not used to that. They used to sell their cinnamons and their adjustments overseas. The French and the US will then turn them into oils for fine fragrance or for food flavors, but they don't have industry themselves.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They loved it, they just showed it to their bosses and we got the first order to ship to the stores that I have been going so many times”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I called Bloomingdale's, and I was working with the secretaries, begging and pleading that I have a great product. So finally she gave me the name of the buyer. The buyer is really important. They are the eyes and ears for any company and particularly for Bloomingdale's. You can imagine the standards really high. But when I described the candles, the texture, the fragrances, and the colors, she was very intrigued. So I got an appointment right away. And you know when I went there, they didn't even sit down. They started taking the candles and show everybody around in the office. And you knew you got them.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's very pristine in the sense that to me, coming from China, it is very untouched, and it stands for natural beauty. And I want to communicate that because our candles are not touched by a lot of chemicals. It has that natural finish on our texture. So we just call it Chesapeake Bay Candle.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Annapolis, Maryland, and many times I would take my dog for a walk. I like how Annapolis really still today is still very quiet. Is not the Hamptons or any other, you know, fufushishi place. It's very down to earth.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, so think about those colors beautiful cobal blue with a lavender, with a honeydew green, not hunt to green which everybody used, sunflower yellow, white. Think about what it means. It means energy, it means fresh. And this is where we give the name because we were living in Annapolis at that time.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, and many people say the reason why they burn fragrance is the finishing touch to cleaning their home. When they want to finish and sense that the home is ready for their friends and family to come for entertaining or when their husband and children come back to home, they want to put something to mark that it's a clean house. So they put a candle. It smells like a cookie. It smells like a fresh cotton. And that's why people continually buy the candles because they need the fragrance.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It has a snowflake on it And no candles are like. So the snowflake would be on different parts of the candle. Everything looks handmade. And on top of that, I put watermelon with mint where many people just have straight vanilla or a straight watermelon.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Famat, so we started mixing in our kitchen with our regular pots, oils, with wax, with colors. One thing we forgot in our excitement is a chemical that blend the oil really well with the wax so that when you take it out of the modes, it looks very smooth. We forgot that chemical. But what happened is a random harvest because When we took the candle out of the mold, the candle looked fossilized.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Eating a lot of campbell soup? Exactly a lot of campbell soup knew those soup. So we say these are great sizes, so let's use them”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We were bursting out of excitement, we said while we're going to start making fragrant candles for the first time, and we decided to experiment what we learned, but we didn't have the modes when we went home, so instead we were always eating a lot of Campbell soup.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, have you ever seen candles that has a lot of black soot? That's because the wick is too big. Or you could have a candle that simply tunnel burn into the middle. And you don't smell anything. That's because the formula and the wick is not optimized.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Wax and some perfume, and you got a fragrant candle. Yeah, and then you pour that wick there, and then it's going to be a candle. But if you want to make it a business and you want to make sure it doesn't burn someone's house down, you actually have to study how to make it because a candle is both a piece of art. And a lot of science. It's five things that are interacting with each other. It's the fragrance, it's the bass, which is the wax, it's the color, the pigment, it's the wick, and finally it's the vessel, which is the glass or a container.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, at that time we were for the first time joined by a permanent employee which is a friend of David's. His name is Richard, and he and I went to visit one of the fragrance vendors in New Jersey to learn how to make candles with fragrance. So he and I went in his beat up hunchback and for four hours we learned everything that one need to learn about making frazer candles. So many people think about candles and they say how hard can it be? I can make it with my eyes closed.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I came back very refreshed from and invigorated from what I see, and really I was determined that I'm going to really start to do something. And another thing I discovered by starting to pay more attention now to candles is that my competitor in the US they sell candles in the millions and probably the billions, and I ask myself Why do they buy it all year round? It's not because they have a patent it's because of the fragrance hmm. The power of fragrance has been written. Men and women over the years have been wearing fragrances for many reasons, but for home it takes on a very new meaning.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I know. I think not many people end up doing what they're trained to do, but that training is very helpful because I was exposed to a lot of art education when I was a very young kid. So I started from the very high level of art and then it trickles down to fashion and finally it goes to home”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The colors are very bold. They have oranges, lavenders, and they have those beautiful contrasts with white. And I was so happy that I went there because it confirmed that home and fashion could be in sync.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly, that was the thought. But I wasn't giving up, I was always more international minded. I was already scheduled to go to visit Frankfurt, Germany, because every year in February there is a big home product show called Ambienti, and in my very depressed moment I needed to go there to see what could potentially be the next thing. Because what I envisioned for home is already there. The design is very streamlined of everything from home furniture to lighting and tabletop.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The second year I decided since the trade show is so important, we registered for the New York Gift Show, which is the holy grail of trade shows. So we went to the New York Gift Show and we thought that this is going to be the ticket to our success, but the show, which is 10 times bigger with an international audience, told us that we were wrong. It was a complete disaster.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We were taken surprised by that. We were not expected to do so well for the first four months of our business. And we were shipping every day, I was a sales manager, I was assistant, I was accounting, I was taking products out of the containers, I was everything.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We rent a very inexpensive warehouse with an office in the front, and we couldn't afford many people for time, so we just have one part-time to help us. and we were able to use our savings and our family and friends helped us. So the first container was a 20-foot container, not even a 40-foot container. And then we shipped them very fast and we got reorders.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You don't see them anymore. They are called glow candles. They're round, and they look like stained glass. And when you burn them, they are glowing from within.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We haven't imported them, we just sampled them. So they sent by DHL, FedEx, whatever it is at that time is available. Silk flour, seat cushions. I think David brought some of those back by breaking his back also. Oh, just the suitcase. Yes. And by that time, it was September 1994. All the major wholesale trade shows take place twice a year, in January when people replenish their goods after holiday, and in summer when they are buying more for Christmas. But it was September, so the only show we can possibly go to is in Charlotte, North Carolina.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Now it wasn't, and I don't really know what difference we will make other than making it design better, but I didn't even know how hard it was. Is that actually good that you don't know everything, that you don't know how hard it is, that you just have a gut that something can be done to make it better? There's no amount of research that can prove an idea. But there's one thing you can always do, which is to take your product to the market. So that's what we did.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Every category I mention is a huge business in this country. There are billions of dollars that are in each of those categories.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The first you will be surprised at silk flowers. I don't know if you know them. They're fake flowers that never die. The second category is accessories for your car, so seat, cushions, something to make you feel comfortable when you drive for a long distance. And the third category, because I noticed American doll was so popular, is a kind of doll that can rotate with music. And the last Something that I didn't even think is interesting, but I think it might have an opportunity is a candle.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not only without each other, but we really reach out to our friends. So we brainstormed with our friends. And as a result of that, when we started the business in the middle of 1994, we quickly got a lot of feedbacks. People sent me samples, sent me pictures, and we zone in on about four categories.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we knew it was going to be home because we know. Homewares, home goods. Home goods because the fashion business is dominated by brands and we feel the home business is left without brands. And that's where we see the opportunity. So it closed the gap between home and fashion. So that's our idea. We don't know what product. We just quit both of us at the same time.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In DC I was in New York and I would get up at five on Monday and took the first train and I'll get home at nine o'clock on Friday so it's not really a very good quality of life and I was calling him about what I discovered was very exciting and then I continually bring up how disconnected the fashion and the home departments are. Finally, he said, May you seem to be really upset about this commute. So he said, Maybe we should start something.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Furnitures were very ornate. It has a lot of very gilded finish. And then the plates are like Laura Ashley Prince, you know, very small grandma's wallpaper floral. And I'm just wondering, the person who is so confident walking on the street will go home to see this. It's so disconnected. So I keep saying that to David when we talk on the phone. He hears me.”
2019-06-17 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT