From Football to Soccer to Candlestick Maker
What started as a side hobby for a lifelong athlete and coach has grown into a pro table business with sales in 12 countries and all 50 states.
Brad Namdar played football at Texas Tech and SMU and coached soccer at St. Marks School of Texas.
He was also director of operations for SMU men’s soccer and a coaching apprentice at FC Dallas. Between his athletic pursuits and academic commitments, he found himself needing a way to de-stress but wanted something more hands-on and productive than vegging-out in front of the television.
He discovered candlemaking tutorials on YouTube, purchased wicks, wax, and fragrances from online suppliers, and got to work pouring candles.
He discovered that the process helped him to relax, and found he enjoyed blending di erent waxes in search of longer burn times.
You can’t go around telling your teammates, ‘Hey man, you wanna smell my lavender candles?” -Brad Namdar
By 2017 Namdar had poured 500 candles, and though he still considered candlemaking little more than a relaxing pastime, he was encouraged by his roommates to test the market. He set up shop at a farmer’s market and quickly sold his entire inventory. Shortly after, he got a meeting with the co-owners of the In-Detail Showroom at the Dallas World Trade Center, who signed Namdar and gave him exclusive representation in their five-state territory. Namdar named his new company Namdar Décor and got to work coordinating large scale U.S.based manufacturing.
Namdar cultivated his candlemaking expertise mainly through trial and error.
“There are no candle consultants,” he said. While some YouTube tutorials show how to make a few candles in the kitchen, none teach how to develop a scalable saleable product, and build a manufacturing, wholesaling, and distributing business around it, he said.
Candlemaking and athletics might seem worlds apart, but Namdar said the lessons learned as an athlete gave him a competitive drive and mental toughness that empower him to succeed in the world of business. Time spent playing and coaching taught him how it feels to want to be the best and the discipline necessary to make that a reality. And though his focus is currently on business, Namdar looks forward to coaching again in the future.
When his stress-relieving hobby became his full-time business, Namdar sought a new outlet and settled on painting. But the pattern of hobbies morphing into companies continued when he created e House of Namdar, an art house, in February 2018.
His art house has been another quick success. He obtained a partnership with Formula One, signed anonymous Dallas artist Omnibus, and is helping clients personalize pieces to fit their homes.
