🟢 Slime oozes approx $50M

Presented by:

By Ted Williams

Hello Thursday. It’s my birthday week! With my older kids off at camp, I did what any elite blogger would do — I took my 5-year-old daughter to Uchi.

We ordered the $120 Happy Hour Omakase for 2. The 9-course tasting is a sneaky good deal. Available from 4-6pm.

I was shocked when she crushed the Hama Chili, although it took us 6 painful minutes to scoop the yellowtail sashimi using her chopsticks.

Uchi's cook-it-yourself Hot Rock was a huge hit! She meticulously seared the 6 slices of Australian wagyu for 5 seconds on each side. Anyways.

EXTREMELY handsome 42-year-old blogger with 1 wagyu slice left

💼 Hot Job: Head of Finance at Bankrate ($230K – $350K). Remote. Part of Red Ventures. Lead financial planning. 20 PTO days. Report to COO Michael Sousa, a Wake Forest grad.

🥯 Opening: PopUp Bagels opens Friday at 7am near Uchi in Plaza Midwood. 3-pack with 1 schmear runs $14. Busy units do $6M in revenue with tasty 20% margin.

👨 Shout-out: Andrew Dunn, former star journalist at The Charlotte Observer and Charlotte Agenda, for writing his first book! The Change Agent covers the rise and reckoning of Gov. Pat McCrory.

MARKETS: YEAR-TO-DATE

S&P 500

7,483

+9.11%

Nasdaq

25,877

+11.37%

NOW OPEN

Sloomoo Institute debuts 7,500-square-foot flagship slime experience in Midtown

On a busy day, a single Sloomoo location does 1,000+ guests

Now open: Sloomoo Institute, a New York-based interactive slime museum with a DIY design bar, opened yesterday near Trader Joe’s in Midtown.

Price check: Dynamic ticket pricing averages around $35. For an additional $20 you can experience Slime Falls, where slime rains down on you.

Every guest gets to make their own 8oz slime creation to take home.

Background: 2 friends spent $600K to start this slime business in New York City. It became a viral sensation and now does about $50M in annual revenue across 7 locations.

“We’ve been called the queens of slime, so bringing Sloomoo to the Queen City feels meant to be," says Sloomoo co-founder Karen Robinovitz.

PRESENTED BY TOCCARE

Book an award-winning facial at Toccare Skin Spa in Dilworth

Toccare in Dilworth, the No. 1 Best Facial in Charlotte

Best facial: My wife and her friends are absolutely obsessed with Toccare.

The award-winning Dilworth skin spa sees more than 1,000 clients each month.
Known for its focus on clean beauty and individualized treatments.

Book it: Their popular Toccare Ritual Facial runs $145. Use code TINY30 for a $30 credit toward your first service!

SALARY JOURNEY

34-year-old's AI sales consultancy on track for $450K, shares wild $1M income swings

Lauren Goodell, founder and CEO with 43,000 LinkedIn followers

Salary Journey is a new series showcasing real-world examples of how people's income evolves. Participate.

Background: After graduating with a 4.0 from the University of Nebraska, Lauren Goodell started her career at tech giants Microsoft and Salesforce. Now she's a 3x startup founder, but the path hasn't been straightforward.

I've known Lauren for years. I respect her transparency and vulnerability.

Salary journey: Year-by-year breakdown of Lauren’s income👇

21 years old: Started at Microsoft making $150K
22 years old: Awarded Platinum Club (top 1%) making $250K
26 years old: Took a new job at Salesforce making $360K
27 years old: Awarded President's Club making $1M
28 years old: Quit to launch Web3 startup making $0K
30 years old: Launched AI Sales SaaS startup making $50K
33 years old: Decided to sunset the startup making $0K
34 years old: Launched AI sales consultancy, on track to make $450K

Startup life: "No matter what the highlight reel shows on LinkedIn, just remember — no journey is linear," says Lauren.

TINY MONEY JOB BOARD

Who’s hiring in Charlotte? 5 Trending jobs

Manager, Performance Marketing at Credit Karma ($213K – $289K). Own paid acquisition. Lead 12-person team.
General Manager at Broomsedge Golf Club. New golf destination near Camden, SC. Initiation around $60K with $6K annual dues.
Social Media Manager at USAA ($77K – $147K). Hybrid. New South End office near Superica. 16 paid volunteer hours.
Branded Content Writer at Axios ($55K – $85K). Remote. Create advertising content. $100 monthly work-from-home stipend.
Manager, CEO Events at Honeywell. Hybrid. Lead run-of-show logistics at global town halls. CEO Vimal Kapur comp $5.3M.

Hiring? Post a job

Hunting? View all 96 open jobs on the Tiny Money Job Board💰

MONEY TALKS

40-year-old sales leader making $382K aims to build consultancy to $100M

$24 Palm Beach Salad at Bricktop’s, this sales exec’s No. 1 spot

Money Talks is a weekly series showcasing how real people in Charlotte approach money. Participate.

Living situation: “We own a 5-bedroom home in Plaza Midwood. It's our 3rd home in 7 years in Plaza. Mortgage is $3,900 a month at 5.9%.”

Family: “We've got 4 kids under 8. College largely seems to be on the verge of obsolescence with vibe coding and AI.”

Job: “Sales leader at a CPG firm. $283K with a 35% bonus. I also started a consultancy, where brands pay us $10,000 – $20,000 a month to manage their sales teams along with a 5% commission.”

First job: "After college, I started as an overnight inventory manager at Lowe’s making $18 an hour. I've gotten lucky and owe it all to God’s grace.”

Retirement: "I don't plan to retire. It's a soft way out. I'd love to scale my consultancy to $100M, hand it to my kids, and work with them until I die."

Money decisions: "Best was using my 401(k) to buy a home during COVID. Value quadrupled in 2 years. Worst was when I was up $17K in Las Vegas, put it all on black, and lost."

Rich in Charlotte: "$10M net worth. But to me, rich means a loving family, a place to lay our head at night, and food to eat every day."

Full story: 40-year-old worked sales day job and NASCAR pit crew job 7 days a week for 8 years to build $1.5M net worth

MONEY SNACKS

5 other financial headlines I’m snacking on

Eastover home on coveted Colville Rd asks $5.2M. 5 beds. 6 baths. Built 3 years ago. Designed by Greg Perry.
Luxury pet stores for sale asking $4.2M. 2 locations, Greensboro and Charlotte. Revenue $4.9M. Cash flow $1M.
Grey's Diner now offers kids-eat-free and half-price wine on Thursdays. Go with the signature $22 Big Sam’s Lasagna.
Davidson College now offers free tuition for all families earning under $175K. Sticker price for freshman year is $93K.
3-store Duck Donuts franchise for sale asking $500K. Total revenue $1.9M. Cash flow $186K. General managers in place.

HOUSEKEEPING

Olivelli Deli sells 1,000 sandwiches in first 5 days, $14 Oli Italiano stealing the show

Oli Italiano, the trending No. 1 sandwich in Charlotte right now

Hot start: Olivelli Deli sold over 1,000 sandwiches and 420 soft serves in its first 5 days 🤯

"The biggest bottleneck is baking enough homemade rolls," explained owner Jeff Tonidandel. "Sister restaurants Leluia Hall and Supperland pitched in and doubled our roll capacity over the weekend."

Star sandwich: The walk-up deli’s $14 Oli Italiano sandwich is accounting for 40% of revenue.

Happy Thursday! I invited a few buddies over to my house for my birthday and instructed them to “bring a bottle of wine equivalent to the value of our friendship.”

– Ted