Anthony Coombs knew he never wanted to work for someone else at age 16, when his mother, a single parent, got laid off from her job with the State of Florida after the governor changed. His family had to go on public assistance until his mom found another job in retail. That experience made him realize at an early age that he wanted to be his own boss. “I remember thinking right then I never want to put my future in someone else’s hands,” he recalls.
Entrepreneurship turned out to be the right path for Coombs, who, today at age 40 runs Splendies, a Los Angeles-based company that sells subscription boxes of undies for curvy women. He started the business with $500 in 2013 after a cousin told him that plus-size women had limited shopping options. Coombs says the business, which brought in $13 million in annual revenue for 2020 and turns a profit, is on track for $17-18 million for 2021. He gets things done by using automation such as chatbots and e-mail marketing and…