Meet Ty Wears

We were lucky to catch up with Ty Wears recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ty, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.

My optimism comes from the many life challenges I’ve faced starting as a young boy as well as my natural mindset. As a young teenager I knew I wanted to be my own boss and own my own business. In first grade I was held back for having difficulty reading. In middle school & high school I excelled at sports and subjects involving creativity while struggling academically getting C’s & D’s in most classes such has history, math, reading and writing. Although it took me 5 years to get a 4 year college degree I graduated on the Dean’s list from Franklin University in Columbus Ohio with a degree in Finance. The next 12 years I was in sales. As much as I liked sales in those 12 years I probably worked for 8 different companies in 4 to 5 different industries. From age 34 to 40 multiple life changing events occurred. I got married. I quit sales and started driving semi’s. I got divorced. I quit driving truck and started selling cars. I always wanted to sell cars because of my passion for cars. In January of 2009 I was the top salesman out of 3 dealerships and 30 sales people. In February of 2009 I was number 2. Less than 6 months later the economy was very poor and I was fired. That was the 2nd and last time I was fired from a job. And I started on my self-employed journey. Having said all that the most life changing thing that happened shortly after getting divorced was my counselor / psychologist helping me recover from my divorced diagnosed me with ADD or Attention Deficit Disorder. Known today as ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and I started taking Ritalin.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I have known that I wanted to be a business owner since I was a young teenager. I didn’t know that it wouldn’t be until I got married a 2nd time (October 2021 to Cate Wears) in my early 50’s that I would be the founder & owner of a business (Wears Market Vanilla) which I believe I will retire from some day. A month after getting married Cate and I went on a trip to visit my mom. Cate purchased a Food Network magazine to read during the flight. In the magazine it had a 1 page article talking about the different types of vanilla beans and the simplicity of making vanilla extract. I immediately started researching as much as I could find about vanilla beans. I placed my first order of Madagascar vanilla beans and started making vanilla extract December of 2021. In January 2022 Cate and I visited local farmers markets looking for businesses selling vanilla extract. To our surprise there were none. I did more research on what was needed to sell vanilla extract at farmers markets. Turns out we needed to have a food permit. I found 3 local shared commercial kitchens and the last commercial kitchen gave me a price to rent it and a price to buy the commercial kitchen. I came home all excited and my wife didn’t want to have anything to do with dealing with government regulations. I can be very persuasive some times and it didn’t take me long to convince her to buy a business. In just 4 months after getting married I’ve convinced my wife to start a business (Wears Market Vanilla) and buy a business (Phoenix Commercial Kitchen located in Phoenix Arizona.) My wife runs Phoenix Commercial Kitchen and I run Wears Market Vanilla. Come to find out vanilla beans are the fruit of Orchids which only grow 20 degrees North and South of the Ecuador. Similar to wine and coffee depending on where the Orchid grows it has different flavor profiles. Vanilla originated in Mexico. But Madagascar made it world famous. Why is Madagascar the best vanilla in the world? Madagascar vanilla has significantly more flavor profiles than vanilla grown else where plus it adds considerable buttery and creamy notes lots of ingredients. One of the keys to our high quality vanilla products is our vanilla extract is aged at least 12 months. We make Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Tahitian vanilla extract. Our Madagascar vanilla paste is one of our most popular products. Vanilla paste yields a stronger vanilla flavor in recipes even in baked goods plus it has the little black vanilla seeds you will often see in vanilla bean ice cream. In addition to educating people about quality vanilla we sell our products wholesale to bakeries, coffee shops and ice cream companies.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Don’t be afraid to fail. Having someone you trust to bounce ideas off of can be very helpful. Find a niche or a solution to a common problem that you can profit from.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

Self help or personal development books, seminars, pod casts etc. I highly recommend John C. Maxwell. Read at least 30 minutes a day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wearsmarketvanilla.com/
• Instagram: @wearsmarketvanilla
• Other: Email: WearsMarket@gmail.com