MilosCandles

This is 100% true.. The one company I order from their Fed-ex rates are almost 35% cheaper than UPS. Every once in a awhile it comes UPS.. The only reason they do this is because UPS is probably cheaper anyway. I do not care as long as I get the packages. Many times we pay the retail rate while they pay a discounted rate. It took me a few vendors to figure out who was the cheapest to get wax from, when I 1st started i did not think shipping made that much of a difference. Now I buy from place that the wax price is a little higher but the shipping is much cheaper. I have debated driving to buy a big lot but just can not justify the cost. a 50lb box of wax is always 50lbs. LOL

I have a slight flaw in one of my ideas. I put a 1 inch sticker with the scent on the right side of the beer label. I do this for ALL of them. When a right handed person picks up the candle the natural thing to do is to look on the left side of the candle. I told myself 3 years ago to change this. Not a huge deal, but similar to the card.

It is not easy. You will never have it figured out. When I started I said I am only making candles in glass beer bottles. I went to a gift shop and she asked. Can you do tins? Sure I said, and she kept buying more. Then i discovered how to use beer cans. But they were so boring. can't see the light through the can, I was not interested, until people kept asking for them. Now half if not more is in beer cans. Scents get added and removed as they sell and don't sell. Never wanted to do Melts, now I do. Interact with people at shows, listen to what they ask for. Listen to what they like and want. You will find things that sell and things people want. Need to accommodate. Husband is right to a degree, make some stuff and go from there. See what others are doing at the shows that are similar to you. See what their pricing is, look at how they display. Look at other displays and see what they sell, how they sell and display. Some people stand in front some people stand behind. Make some money at the shows and re-invest.

3 full years of shows and I am still evolving. Not as much as I did in the past, it is slowing down some as I have figured many things out. BUT always exploring slightly. The biggest thing I changed last year was changing my name from Milo's Candles (Milo was our dog) to 716 Candle Co. (716 is the area code of Buffalo, NY) Which made me update the entire Branding. It was an amazing exercise that really made me rethink of everything. When I do something I like to think I am not trying to make this for 1, but rather 1000. Meaning how easily can I scale what I am doing, with out increasing my labor costs too much. I hope the time and cost of making 1 vs 10 vs 100 is no proportional equal. Meaning If 1 takes me 1 minute, I hope 10 takes my 7 minutes and 100 takes me 50 minutes. Like @TallTaylI use to have 3 different sized tins of my candles I would take to shows. (Small, Medium, and Large) I wanted to try and accommodate EVERYONE. Well smalls quickly went away. Then I realized no one was really buying larges. So I started to bring double/triple the Medium size, and then ran a promotion when you buy 3. I started selling WAY more all of a sudden. I just got through my 4th xmas and I finally feel like I have things somewhat in order. I am not content, but feel good. I use to do 40+ shows a year, and I think this year I will do about 15-20. AND probably make about the same amount of money and profit as when I was doing 40. Dropped a few shows from last year, trying some new ones this year. I do like to look back at some of my early pictures and ways I was doing stuff. Makes me laugh. And I hope in another 3-4 years I look at at how I am doing things now and laugh again. I think the biggest single piece of advice is to never be content. Always look and try to improve. Whether it is with your process or your product.

Any of you watch the show "The Profit" on CNBC. It is amazing from a business side of things. It is in its 6th season. I have watched all of them. I think almost every episode I learn something. I think the thing I learned the most is how stubborn owners can be, which is usually why they are failing. https://www.cnbc.com/the-profit/ In one of the seasons Marcus saves a candle business.

Crap happens in 3's. Your done now.. Everything will be back to normal.

I switched from 464 to 444 a few years ago. In the summer heat (Buffalo, NY) 85-90+ degrees I found the 464 would break down some and start getting too soft sell.

For me I love the business side of it. I really could be doing anything / selling anything, I love the business side, growing it, pushing the limits. Finding new was to accomplish tasks, looking for efficiencies, and coming up with new ideas. Selling candles allows me to do other things that I enjoy. I am sure for many of you your passion is candles and selling them allows you to do more of it. For me selling candles allows me to do things associated with the logistics of a business. I am very creative, but not artistic at all. That is by far my biggest struggle. I am sure many of you have seen some of the things I created over the years, pics I posted.

Sheet labels I use - https://laserinkjetlabels.com/

Found this site also http://promotionalmatches.com/matchbooks/20-strike-color-on-white-matchbooks/

Has anyone had Match Books made up for promotional item? Some one on here back in 2016 mentioned asking your insurance company about giving them out also. I found this place. http://www.fatratpress.com/matches/ No idea though

The version I have been working on is one that you just go to bed and when you wake up in the morning everything is all done. LOL

I do all jars in all scents for my wholesale accounts. For my retail I limit the Jars/Scents

This seems like a BIG RED FLAG. If it is not it might be too much of a hassle to deal with. 1st I would google his name/email address and phone number and see if you find anything. I would ask him who and where his freight forward is, I doubt they will come pick up from you. See how big of an order he wants. Name and address of his store. Tell him you want to advertise that your candles are there. Maybe you just start out with a small order to see how the process is and if it easy, worthwhile and not a scam.

I raised prices last year, and i just raised them again this year. USPS shipping is crazy now, almost 10% sometimes.

Candlewic gets them from Allstate - http://allstatecan.com/seamless-tins

I get mine from Candlewic https://www.candlewic.com/store/category.aspx?q=c72&title=Candle-Tins

@earthfriendly There was another topic that someone was asking about rubber stamps

@Quentin Maybe? https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/large-dome-cover.html They are a little more expensive but maybe shipping is cheaper?

@Trappeuruses Zazzle to create great labels. I have a really nice label printer and do not want to pay to have my labels made for me. I would rather design a label or image and then print the label myself. Does anyone use/do anything like this? I love the templates on zazzle. I found some similiar ones like https://www.canva.com/ https://www.picmonkey.com/home/ Anyone use those? Anyone use something else.

@Trappeur Yes these only fit 1 size. Not good for some one that makes various containers. Do you have 100 candles curing at 1 time? Usually the most I have curing at 1 time is 50-80, and usually by time I get to the end I can take off the holders from the 1st ones.

Anything special? Anything to avoid? What did you end up doing?

The difference is those are done with Plastic Injection Molding. Pay $10,000 for the mold, and then fractions of pennies afterward for each. It will be interesting to see if there are some common sizes or more popular sizes that can be done that way.

Just made my 1st samples for @CorgiCaper I have no idea how I am going to price these yet and not 100% ready to sell. Maybe like $5 for 1, $25 for 10 ($2.50ea), $50 for 25 ($2ea), $87.50 for 50 ($1.75ea), $125 for 100 ($1.25ea) all with Free Shipping. Thoughts? If anyone else is interested contact me. I am still looking for input on them and for some people to try them. Just need to ship me you jar/tin and wick so I can measure and size them. The ones I made for myself... OMG I can not believe how nice it is to NOT worry about if the wicks are centered after I pour. The way I designed the tab that hold the wick allows for a little tension to be applied also to keep it nice and straight.

I have only used GB. I will say the throw was better with 464, but hard to sell candles that the tops is starting to melt. LOL