Starting a business from your bedroom might sound a bit far-fetched, but for Tina Nguyen, founder of XXL Scrunchie & CO, it was all too real. In our first episode of season 2 of Secret Life of Inventory, we sit down with Tina to learn how she turned a simple Christmas gift made from her mom’s old t-shirt into a growing business with over a million social followers and a team of eight running a 5,000 square foot warehouse.
For the entire conversation with Tina, watch the podcast episode below.
How one scrunchie changed everything
Tina’s entrepreneurial journey started almost by accident. As a college dropout pursuing her dream of becoming a mural artist, she was strapped for cash during the holidays. Her solution? Create a personalized gift for her cousin using the recycled fabric she had lying around. So, with the help of an old T-shirt, Tina crafted an oversized scrunchie, made specifically to accommodate her cousin’s long hair.
“That night when she opened her gift, I wasn’t even in the same room,” Tina recalls. The reaction was immediate and overwhelming. Her cousin excitedly shared her gift in a social media post, which generated instant demand, with people asking where they could buy one. Even better, her cousin owned a salon and offered to sell them there, giving Tina her first wholesale opportunity before she even knew how to sell wholesale.
Transitioning from an apartment to a warehouse
The early days weren’t glamorous for her growing business. Tina describes the chaos of managing orders from her 400-square-foot apartment. She would take buses to the post office, juggling multiple packages, and pay $20 to ship items just within Toronto. The learning curve was steep, but each mistake taught her a valuable lesson about her business processes, including shipping, inventory management, and customer service.
It wasn’t long before Tina outgrew her cramped space, and she realized her living situation was becoming untenable. “Eventually my bedroom became like, there’s boxes beside me and I had to, like, climb over things and sleep and wake up in boxes,” she explains. That’s when you know it’s time to scale up.
How family support helped Tina’s growing business
As her business quickly grew, she realized it would be difficult to manage everything on her own, so Tina made a crucial decision to move back home and involve her family. Her parents, who had just retired from running their own restaurant, became integral to the business operations. However, this transition from solo entrepreneur to team leader presented new challenges.
“I didn’t realize, like, you need to be like someone’s boss and someone’s leader. You can’t just be their friend,” Tina admits. Learning to delegate, establish boundaries, and implement systems became essential as the team grew to include family members, friends, and eventually employees.
From spreadsheets to software systems
As XXL Scrunchie expanded beyond just scrunchies to include hair claws, satin pillowcases, and even dog accessories, the need for better systems became critical. The company evolved from Tina memorizing orders from her laptop screen and rushing to inventory locations, to implementing barcodes and a scanning system.
Implementing a barcode system transformed the fulfillment process dramatically. Gone were the days of memorizing orders and making frequent trips back and forth when picking them. Now, every product has a barcode, and the team uses barcode scanning to verify each item before shipping, significantly reducing errors and saving time.
How an online community has helped shape Tina’s business
What sets XXL Scrunchie apart isn’t just their products, it’s their authentic approach to content creation and community building. Rather than pursuing perfect, polished posts, Tina chose to document the real work environment and share both successes and struggles.
“I just started to document what we were doing,” she explains. “When I looked at it like that, it was less of a chore and I was like, wait, I’m already doing this, why don’t I just film it?” This approach has created a loyal community that not only buys products but also provides support and advice during challenging times.
How to find the right suppliers to grow your business
One of the biggest hurdles for any business launching a new product is finding reliable suppliers. Tina decided to keep her approach straightforward; she started sourcing material from her local fabric supplier and aimed to work her way up the supply chain.
Her breakthrough came when she noticed the manufacturer’s name on a fabric label and contacted them directly. This led to significant cost savings and a local partnership that continues to benefit the business to this day.
Key takeaways for aspiring entrepreneurs
Tina’s journey from tiny apartment startup to full-blown ecommerce empire offers valuable lessons to other growing businesses:
- Start where you are: Don’t wait for the “perfect time.” The perfect time is always now.
- Embrace authentic marketing: Real people resonate more than polished perfection. Embrace your struggles.
- Build systems as you grow: What works for one person won’t work for a team. Build systems and processes that will scale along with you.
- Leverage your network: Family, friends, and community can be your greatest assets. But don’t forget to set boundaries.
- Learn from mistakes: Every error is an opportunity to improve processes. Turn your failures into data and learn from them.
The XXL Scrunchie story proves that with persistence, authenticity, and smart scaling decisions, even the smallest business can grow into something remarkable. Sometimes the best business ideas come from solving simple problems.
To hear the whole story from Tina and get more detailed insights into building and scaling a product-based business, watch the complete episode of Secret Life of Inventory.
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