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Sue Ellen

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    Greenville, SC

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  • Makes
    candles b&b
  • Location
    Greenville, SC
  • Occupation
    Small business owner; Paralegal
  • About You
    I have been employed as a paralegal for many years, but my boss will be retiring soon, so instead of looking for another paralegal job I have decided to develop a hobby that I absolutely love into a business. I have dreamed about doing this for a long time and I think the timing is finally right.

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  1. Yes Doglvr - I am sure he would say that I am challenging too. LOL. He was single for 15 years before we married. We are both the ones who didn't think we'd ever get married again - both of us had really bad experiences in our first marriages. But we happened to meet at a mutual friend's house and we both knew immediately - it was really strange and shocked the poop out of us. (It may have shocked our friends and families more.) You are absolutely correct. We have several marital issues that we are having to work through and are pretty much trying to tackle them a little at a time. There is an old saying about how to eat an elephant - one bite at a time. But I can definatley see that we have to be careful not to get stuck on one issue and allow the remaining issues to linger too long.
  2. I can so relate! Except that my bigest challenge is my husband. He is wonderful and I love him (here comes the but), but being married is hard. I am 47 and had been singles for 25 years when we got married a year and a half ago. I know it would be an adjustment, but I had no clue as to how much of an adjustment I was in for. After the marriage I have learned that he did present himself as one thing and then after the marriage I have learned who he really is. Not saying that he is horrible, but just that he is not exactly what I was expecting. I am extremely independent and thought he was too. I have learned that he requires a lot of my time and feels very neglected when I spend too much time away from him. I am hoping that as we get more time under our belts this will level out a bit and we will be able to find a balance, but in the meantime I feel like we are having this constant tug-of-war, and I just don't have enough time to do what I want to do.
  3. Moonshine - hope the other businesses get more profitable so you can hire someone for the office and get busy with the candles. Making candles is so much more fun than typing! justajesuschick - I am with you on the OCD thing. My studio is the one room that I do allow myself to have a mess though. It is very organized, but I am accumulating a layer of beeswax droppings on most everything. I think of the droppings as my personal artwork just for me and I enjoy remembering each spill/drip and what I should do differently in the future to not do that again.
  4. Oh, and good luck on the potential new client!!!!
  5. Hire help - oy! - that is one thing I do not want to even think about having to do. But I am very far away from that, so not going to worry about it just yet. You are right that things ebb and flow. Gotta save during the good times to live through the bad. When I was young I was self employed and hadn't learned that lesson yet. I remember a time when bologna was a major treat. I was so sick and tired of peanut butter sandwiches back then.
  6. Yes, I do have the steps planned out. I am a major planner. (My husband will agree with that. LOL). He realized I was serious about doing this when I told him I was going to turn our living room (which was never used because the "live" in the florida room) into my studio. I sold the furniture in the room last fall. It is a big room, and now it is completely taken over with my candle stuff. I am so sorry to hear about your business dropping so drastically! You are so right about things changing! Drastic change, that I didn't necessarily want to happen, has happened to me a few times. Do you still have your business and is that your only source of income?
  7. I am just in the process of moving from a hobby to a business. I have always loved anything “crafty”, I just love making stuff myself. For many years I have been a paralegal. The attorneys I work for will be retiring soon (one is 64 and the other is 74). There are 3 of us secretaries in the office and I was the last hired. We are all just waiting for the announcement of when they will retire and shut down the office. I don’t know how much of a “warning” there will be or if they will want me to go part-time for a while or really what to expect. I do absolutely know that I don’t want to start over at another law firm and keep doing this for the rest of my life. I am good at what I do, but I do mostly family court law and it is extremely depressing dealing with people going through divorces and fighting over kids every day. So I thought about what else I might want to do, did a lot of research, and had many talks with my husband. Prior to our marriage I had been single for 25 years and always supported myself, so working and making my own money is definitely something that I want to continue to do, but now that I am married and he has a good income, I have a little more flexibility. So, I’ve decided to go into business for myself making and selling items that I make. The first product that I am doing is beeswax candles. I have a lot of products in my mind and in different development stages, but I intend to add them one at a time. With the exception of a bit of tweaking I am ready to start going to markets to sell the candles and will begin doing that in May. I want to have plenty of time to go through the trial and error phase and at least begin to break even before I lose my day job. It is so much fun attempting to start up a business. I am nervous and excited at the same time. I get frustrated sometimes, but I still love it.
  8. Cool, Moderator. I think I get the picture of what you are explaining. I will give it a try Saturday and let you know how it works for me.
  9. Moderator, how can you level them while still in the mold? And by the way, I love your pic! Is that your cat? Sue Ellen
  10. thank you pcbrook, I will keep trying it, unless I come up with a better idea.
  11. I am just not happy with the bottoms of my pillar candles. Can anyone tell me how you get them nice and flat and straight? I currently use a hot pan to "spin" them on to flatten the bottoms, but they are not always level, sometimes they are at a slant and sometimes they are rounded. I have been told by a former roommate that I should never hang curtains because they were all crooked, so maybe my head is on crooked. But I need a better way of making the bottoms pretty. Thank you! Sue Ellen
  12. I have never ordered beeswax in pellets. The wax is processed more to make the pellets than it has when it is just filtered and molded into bricks (as I understand it). Because of this additional processing I have been told that pellet beeswax has very little or no natural honey scent to it. The lack of honey scent is one of the reasons why I don't buy it in pellet form. I've never heard of it smelling bad though. What country did the wax originate from, if you don't mind my asking? Sue Ellen
  13. I have just been reading info on this topic. I am in South Carolina, so not sure if your states would be different, but as I understand it you must charge sales tax to anyone you sell to who's shipping address is located in any state where your business has a location. So, (again as I understand it) yes, you should be charging sales tax to all persons with shipping addresses in Minnesota and in Wisconsin (and if those two states have a different sales tax rate, you should be sure to charge the correct rate). The part in my reading that I found interesting (and this really has nothing specific to do with your question), but the customers who buy from other states should list their purchases on their end of year taxes with their state so they will then pay a consumption tax. (This is only for states which have a consumption tax, and I understand that most all states who have a sales tax also have a consumption tax.) As a consumer who likes to purchase stuff online I never realized that I was to be keeping track of my out of state online purchases so I could report them at the end of the year and pay a consumption taxes. (I'm thinking this is a bit nuts for the average person and should only be applied to those who purchase large amounts - but nobody ever asked me my opinion. LOL) But I did also see that as the seller, it is not our responsibility to tell the consumer to be sure to keep track of their purchases for the end of year taxes. Sue Ellen
  14. What's your name? Sue Ellen - yep, that's my actual name, my dad named me, long story behind where the name came from, but it did not come from "Dallas" (the tv show). And no, there was not a Sue Ellen in the Walton's ,(there was a Mary Ellen), you'd be amazed how often I am asked that. There was a Sue Ellen in Gone With The Wind, (it amazes me how so few people remember Scarlett's little sisters). How old are you? 47 Where do you live? Greenville, South Carolina - I love it here! How long have you been making candles/soap/whatever? I've been crafting stuff since I was a kid, mostly sewing, started perfecting the candles to get ready to sell last year. How did you get started making candles/soap/whatever? I don't remember, just always loved doing all crafty stuff. Are you married? Any kids? Married 1.5 years ago. He has two grown children and four grandchildren. But most importantly we have 3 dogs; his (Ginger, 10 year old miniature beagle who rules the house), mine (Pepper, 16 year old chow/catahoula mix, she moves a lot slower than she used to, but she is still doing remarkably well for her age); and our newest baby (George, a 1.5 year old boxer, he is a total mess and completely lovable). If candle/Soap making isn't your primary job, what do you do? I have been a paralegal for over 15 years for attorneys who do mostly family court stuff. I am good at what I do and it pays the bills, but it is a depressing job, dealing with people while they go through a divorce is no fun at all. The attorneys I work for are getting on in age and have passed retirement ages. I am just waiting for the announcement of when their retirement dates will be, which will also be the date that I become unemployed. Having to start over at a new law firm and having to deal with more people going through divorce is just not what I want to do. So after much discussion with the husband, research, prayers, etc. I decided to do what I love and go in business for myself. So here I go. I'm just starting trying to sell my creations instead of just enjoying them myself and giving them for gifts. Anything else we should know? I love this forum, you people are very insperational for me, I love reading about your successes, failures, and questions, and I love reading that I'm not the only one who has tons of questions, heck, most any question I think of I can just do a search on here and somebody has already asked it and several somebody elses have already answered it. Thank you all!!!
  15. Good morning, I was going to go with Soap Guild, but then I read that to have insurance with them you have to make some soap. I do mostly candles and some other stuff, but no soap. I understand that the insurance offered by Indie Business Network is the same insurance that the Guild offers. (Without the soap requirement, which is a Guild requirement, not the insurance company's requirement.) You may want to check into them. Sue Ellen
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