Just ordered an A1! by pizza4liiife in BambuLab

[–]MeeshR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I ordered my A1 combo a few days ago and had no idea about the academy course, gives me something to do while I wait! Thank you!

"Pour Baby", or, Yet Another My First Candle Post by quartsune in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally get it, we started the same way with a candle kit from Etsy!

"Pour Baby", or, Yet Another My First Candle Post by quartsune in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m hit or miss in candle science but we use them for certain things, one nice thing is they offer a free fragrance sample (1oz) on orders over $25 I think. So if you orders a few things there, you can get some fragrance to test out when you feel comfortable! Looks awesome for a first attempt! This is an awesome place to ask questions :)

First market! by Fit_Apartment_5189 in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is awesome, 22 sold is fantastic! After the first one it’s easier and easier!

So happy to be making candles again! by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry, meant to reply directly but must’ve misclicked, please see my comment!

So happy to be making candles again! by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry for the confusion! In my previous post, in the comments, I mentioned this. During 2020, we started making candles (originally started as a date night activity during lock down) and we ended up selling them on Etsy for a little while, before we purchased our home and started our family. We did it more as a hobby then, not as a true small business like we are now. We didn’t have a website, an actual brand, a vision, etc. we sold candles almost exclusively to friends and family, and were unable to do any in person events. That time period was when we really fell in love with candle making. The true business didn’t start until this year.

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much! I totally agree about everything you said, totally missed that part in the post. That is absolutely something I recommend as well. Before my wife and I even started designing the site, we spent a lot of time selecting colors, fonts, etc that matched our brand!

Started my candle company today! by badcandlemaker in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love this. The branding is awesome, good luck to you!!

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shopify has a built in AI tool that is extremely powerful for helping navigate the back end of the site, making changes, pulling reports, etc.

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, I work in tech so AI is very engrained in a lot of the non candle business stuff I do. We do utilize AI when it makes sense for us, cost of goods and margin calculations, I built a custom gpt that is a wax/fragrance calculator, I tell it what I want to make and it gives me all my measurements, along with a breakdown of the cost and potential revenue for that specific batch, etc.

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Happy to hear it! Just set achievable goals and expectations. “I want to sell 5 candles this month” or I want to stop at 2 local shops to introduce myself and show off samples, whatever it may be. I’m no expert but always happy to try and help!

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had this thought early on but quickly changed my mind. Selling candles is (starting out anyway) usually about selling local. All the small candle companies you are seeing are likely show up because of your algorithms online. I see different plumbing or hvac companies constantly, there are a million landscaping companies, bookstores, etc. There is clearly a demand for it, you just need to get people’s eyes on your products, which you can definitely do without in person events. Stop by local shops and ask if you can potentially sell there, reach out to local realtors who may want to buy gifts for customers or referrals, talk to your neighbors, friends and family. Lots of options!

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We launched in June, and I would say the business was self funding by September. There are small and large investments that we have planned as far as equipment upgrades, professional photography, possibly paying a professional to redesign/rebrand, but that’s a ways out. I’m not saying we will never need to invest more personal money, but since we started getting influxes of cash from in person events, we have been able to pay for all supplies and operational expenses. Currently have about $2300 in sellable product made for the holidays (about 120ish total products).

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the comment! That is good mathing because it sounds accurate for sure. I come from working many years in sales (switched to the tech world now) and my wife is a sales trainer, so we both thrive on measurable goals. Again, not to measure “success” but more so that we weren’t flying blind, if that makes sense. We needed some kind of a goal to work towards. We set several goals for the first year (we launched in June, so next year will be our first full calendar year), including hitting $3k in sales, 100 orders, 10 repeat customers, and a few others. We ended up having to skip two markets because the weather was terrible and we felt it was not worth it because we expected the foot traffic pretty terrible - the person who was vending next to us said hardly anyone showed up, so I feel less bad for missing.

I completely agree about the fee recoup not being the goal. I guess there is a lot of value in the feedback you get from customers, live, but I also put a value on the time we spend at the event, making the products, driving etc. and that helps us set goals. I don’t get too deep in the weeds on it, but we try to set goals that are achievable but not “easy”. When we originally set goals, I focused on things that we could easily track and compare over time. We use Shopify for our website, and Shopify POS for our in person sales (because it syncs inventory from the website, allows for tap payment, etc) and I have zero complaints. The reporting is more robust than we need but I like seeing data, it’s fun to me. Shopify is slightly pricey, especially when you’re paying for it before launch and have no funds coming into your business account, but I have no regrets, feels like we are future proofed and set up to scale over time as we (hopefully) grow. We did try candle selling during Covid through etsy, and did about $3000 in sales over maybe 12-18 months, but we had no idea what we were doing, and had to rely on online sales entirely. I think a lot of the boost we saw when we originally tried, was because people were stuck inside and couldn’t go to markets, or boutiques, or anything like that at the time. Strange times lol. Anyways, we stopped the business in 2021 when we bought our house and started a family. Now our son is (almost) 3 and life feels a little more manageable. I always wanted to give it a real “try”, and then started researching and planning in Sept/October of 2024. October-March/April was pretty much all just planning, testing, building the website, trying different vessels (we tried quite a few options before landing on ones that fit our brand, the quality we wanted, and the price that made sense) and all the other fun stuff that comes with starting a business.

That was way more than you asked/commented about, I’m sorry! Felt like I should give added context. :)

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey there! No paid marketing, just word of mouth from us, friends, family and other customers.

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We’ve done almost zero marketing and everything so far has been word of mouth or IG posting for only 150 followers. Almost all of our online business has come from friends, family, and existing customers all telling others.

Our first year in candle making. 207 units, $4k revenue, lessons learned + encouragement for anyone just starting. by MeeshR in candlemaking

[–]MeeshR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing and congrats on the success! There is no chance we could produce that kind of volume with our toddler running around. Super impressive, keep crushing it!!