Teen’s business perseveres through pandemic

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    PAPILLION, Neb. (WOWT) — A Papillion candle company has found a way to thrive during the pandemic.

Call it business savvy or refusal to fail, the company’s CEO won’t let anything get in his way. But, he’s not what you’d expect.

“This is what we’ve done since 2015, and just now in 2020 we had the new relaunch,” said Nic Bianchi, the CEO and founder of Bianchi Candle Co.

While some things have changed, Nic’s dream has remained the same.

“From Day 1, I’ve kind of had a vision of what I want the Bianchi brand to be but it takes a lot of tears to get there,” he said.

He’s grown and adapted with his company throughout its 6-year history. This year has been especially trying.

“Because of COVID, I’ve had to step back in some of the positions and just, be very smart and strategic to keep this place open,” Nic said.

But he’s not your typical CEO.

“I’m 18 now,” he said with a laugh.

But his entrepreneurial side started much younger than that.

“So if we actually go back a little bit farther to when I was 7 years old, that’s when the first company ever came,” he explained.

In his art class at 7 years old, Nic designed a logo for his future company called The Wild Worksman. That company is now a part of his larger candle company brand.

Now actually making candles, that came a few years later when he got a kit on his 12th birthday.

“What really sparked it is when my teacher offered to buy one of the candles,” Nic shared. “So that gave us the idea of ‘hey let’s start a candle company.’”

He says us, but his mom Nicole and dad Dave say it was all him. They were simply the chauffeurs to the business meetings.

“We go in, and I’m like – we always if we’re in the building, we’re away from him,” Nicole explained. “He’s handling everything. And he comes up to me at the end and is like, we got it, I got Borsheims. And he was so excited and just as an 8th grader right, he has to change in the back of the car to get back into school clothes to go back to class.”

Nic can drive now and he’s finishing out high school on a modified schedule, but the pride his parents feel hasn’t changed.

“I’m here, we’re both here, no matter what to be here for him along his journey,” Nicole said with tears in her eyes. “And it’s so fun to be a part of it and to cheer him on along the way.”

Nic knows he’s not like most people his age and he’s okay with that. His priorities have always been different.

For most, it would be had to think of what comes next when you’re already a teen CEO, but Nic has his sights set high.

“There’s all kinds of new and innovative things I want to bring under the Bianchi name for future times,” Nic said. “But, mainly be able to travel the world, enjoy it and help it, all at the same time.”

Nic hopes to create a nonprofit and help other small businesses like himself.

Like most other things, Nic says he wants to approach college in a different way. But, ultimately, he hopes to get his Ph.D. in entrepreneurship and international law.

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