Passion for Potions
In fall 2015, Nate Ford discovered something that would alter his young life. While bored one day and seeking inspiration, he discovered tutorials on Youtube for luxury bath products and began experimenting and making his own products. This began his journey eventually making his own successful small business that would be restocked with colorful and fun products every week.
During the day, Ford is a 14 year old, freshmen at Father Gabriel Richard High School in Ann Arbor. After school, he spends 10 to 12 hours a week making bath products from bath bombs to bubble bars to shower gels, for his online business, Wwhiteforest. He makes each of these products from scratch in the basement of his house. The workspace is lined with shelves that he built, containing hundreds of goods he has made awaiting a website restock to go off to their new homes.
Ford created Wwhiteforest in March 2016, and the business took off very quickly, recruiting a following through its own Instagram profile @wwhiteforest, as well as Ford’s 60,000 followers strong @thelushking. Ford initially underestimated his popularity, “I remember when I used to make 50-70 bath bombs per batch, I would sell out within five minutes for every product [each restock],” Ford said. Recently the demand for these products has become so large that Ford has had to triple the size of his batches for each product to over 200 bath bombs. Ford has a unique online only business model and intends for it to stay that way for now, “I have decided that selling online is so successful, why take the time to put myself out there and set up a booth, other than the experience that it might be fun,” Ford said. This business model allows Ford to restock once a week on Fridays around 7 p.m.
When Ford increased his batch sizes in Sept. 2016, he also added a new ingredient to all his products. Ford started using legal CBD oil in all his products, a non-psychoactive chemical that relieves pain, nausea and arthritis. Adding muscle therapy to the aroma theraphy in the products.
Each month brings something new and different for customers. Ford spends about a month planning and creating new products and restocking them throughout the month. Products often relate to the time of year it is released. Ford’s Dec. line consists of aromas of peppermint and hot chocolate, and colors of red and green.
This business has opened doors for a potential career opportunity for Ford and the caught the attention of his family and friends. “[My parents] have really high expectations for me, and every time I bring up [my business] they are just so proud of me, and say ‘I can’t believe [you] have come this far and you are so successful and smart about this’.” Both Ford and his family are considering this a future career opportunity for him considering how successful this endeavor has been so far.