From Pain to Business

Wayne Levert lost a close friend years ago and to honor his friend, Levert put his friend’s face on a styrofoam cup. Years later and Levert is running his business Pain Cups in Atlanta which honors individuals dead or alive.

“It just gave me an idea to put him on a cup because I didn’t want to put him on a shirt,” said Levert.

With the use of social media, Pain Cups has grown into a full business. Levert pays for promotional advertisements on Instagram, which has resulted in him working with rapper Lil Durk.

“People in your city might not like what you’re doing, but somebody in the world might,” he said.

– Wayne Levert

With Pain Cups growing every day, Levert needs working capital to hire employees.

300 Orders in One Week

At the time of the interview, Levert was working on a 300+ order that had to be done within a week. He did admit that business can be overwhelming, especially since he makes his products at home, but he’s happy with the success he’s attained.

“When you got something that somebody else don’t got…it boomed immediately,” he said.

He’s currently looking for high school graduates that are creatives, and have a positive attitude to join his team.

According to Levert, TikTok taught him the skills he needed to grow his business.

“It’s a lot of valuable information on TikTok,” said Levert.

The Making of A Salesman

Levert has worked multiple 9-5’s where he became an excellent seller of products, which made the transition into a business owner easier. He said the difficult part to business, like many owners experience, is attaining funding, so he had to find different sources like vending.

Pain Cups was a vendor at the second annual Invest Fest 2022 where he was surrounded by thousands of potential customers and investors.

Brooklyn Roots

Levert is originally from Rochester, New York but moved to Georgia to elevate.

“I wanted to be a big fish in an ocean,” he said.

Aside from running his business, Levert has a passion for helping others which he gets from his parents.

“That’s just always been me. I always care about other people,” said Levert. “I genuinely want to see people win.”

Levert is looking to pivot his business model to have businesses use Pain Cups to promote their brands.

“Stay positive [and] be better than the next day,” he said.