ubure

Thanks for your input. I have decided yesterday not to do this job. My health is fragile enough and I don't think I could do it without further damaging my health. Too bad...

It is not 100 candles, it is about 500-1000 at a time, that's the problem.

Hi there, I have to make a decision for my business: take the chance to grow and sell more, much more than ever before, or let my business slowly fade out, so to say, as I had in mind. It is a hard decision as I surely need the money ( but we will somehow make it if I close business completely), but the bigger problem is: how can I manage this growing? I mean, at the moment it takes ages to make 100 candles as I need to wait until the wax is slurry enough to be poured without sinking in and leaving ugly tops. When that stage has arrived I can only pour about 9-10 candles because by then the wax is already too hard to pour. It is always a matter of a few seconds. That was never an issue as long as I only had to pour a few candles but now we are talking about a few thousands in 2-3 months. I cannot buy a machine (and I really don't know how a machine could manage all this temperature thing etc.), my only option is to get somebody to help me, but then I need to optimize my production as well. How do you handle those bigger orders? Do you have any advice for me? I want to stick with soy or rapeseed (which I have to re-test first). Thank you so much, ubure

That's great - congratulations!!!

Dear folks, some time has passed again and I have made a decision: my shop is closed now. I only do my wholesale stuff but no more candle supplies etc. And it IS such a relief. It never was something I did wholeheartedly and even though we could need the money it has to work some other way as well. Maybe or even probably it is because of my grown aversion against all this B2C business that I have attracted all those nitpickers (but I clearly have to say that I have lovely customers as well!), and of course I have made mistakes, that's for sure. Especially during the last few weeks, with long periods of illness, accumulated orders from my business holidays and the closing of the shop there were mistakes and I am fully aware of this. I obviously didn't work as attentive as I should have and that is nothing I am proud of. But almost everyday I get reminders of how good my decision of closing was: just today I had to spend almost an hour corresponding with a customer who had ordered wax and some wicks from me. She ordered right before my business holidays (from 24th Dec to 18th Jan), and I told her that I wasn't sure if I got the wicks in time because I had to order them in Australia (this wick size isn't available in the USA) - last time it took about 3 months - and she said that was okay, she had a plan B. Then I got ill, and I had to postpone so many things and the wicks didn't arrive. She wrote me a reminder and I promised to send the wicks which was my first mistaked because I was sure she had ordered another size which I had received just at that time. I noticed my mistake but forgot to email her about it. That was another three weeks ago. Inacceptable, absolutely! I would be mad as well. Today I sent her a refund and apologized for it all and I meant it. She wrote back and told me that she had payed more for the wicks that I had refunded and that she wanted double the amount of money for being treated like shit and that she had to vomit - - when she saw my email and refund this morning. I apologized again, told her that I could fully understand that she was really angry and that it was clearly my fault, but I also reminded her that I had her parcel shipped for a special price (she paid 8 bucks for shipping, I paid 21, so she got a discount of 13 Euros anyway - of course this discount wasn't for having to wait months for wicks) and that she didn't pay more for the wicks as I had sent her an invoice which clearly shows how much she had to pay for every item (we talk about € 14,23 which is about $ 13,- - I don't say that this is nothing, I know it is not nothing, but vomiting?). Again she wrote me how she had to vomit and being treated like shit and what a nightmare all this was.....by then I really was fed up. I simply told her that I apologized again, that is was clearly my fault and that I really felt bad about it all, that I'd gladly offered her a discount code if my shop was still open but that I was aware that she wants money and that I was not willing to pay the extra amount. And, sorry, I had to ask how she would react if something really serious happened in her life. I didn't sell her a life-saving organ which she didn't receive. That was probably not how I should have reacted but I am fed up with exaggerated stuff like this. Sure, it was her money, it was my fault, I apologized a hundred times, but I don't think I have to do anything in addition. You maybe see it differently and I accept that. I always appreciate your opinion because I appreciate you all very much. But I am so through with this shop and - I have to admit it - I feel a weight falling off my chest when not having to kiss everybody's ass. Puuuuh. Over. I guess she will write again but I won't answer anymore. I guess it was the right thing to close my shop - for my AND my customers. It just wasn't for me. I really like making candles, developping new lines, working out new designs, but this daily selling and email answering and packing and shipping all those little and big parcels....the perfumer I work with on my two big wholesale orders (he designed the perfumes for the candles, really astonishing stuff and we worked together to get the scent workable for candles) once said: it is like keeping tiny fleas in a bag which is your saying "to catch a tiger by the tail" (even if this doesn't express it as nicely as the German saying but you are getting it), and it is true. By the way: this guy with the leather FO never showed up again. Thank God. Have a nice evening (it is 7.30 p.m. here)!

Thank you Candybee! I know you are right and I will have my time off after Xmas. At this time of the year it would be no very wise to close business for a while, but I know what you mean. Wished I could be so disciplined as you are with your weight loss - would do me some good as well ! It's been a few days since my posting and I have felt energized since. I'm working for my business in the mornings, after the kids are off for school and I have taken the dog for a walk (which is a great beginning of the day for me as well - lots of refreshing air and scenery!), letting the chicken out and after my breakfast. But only after I have done some meditaiton or breating exercise (which is my cure-all). After lunch I bring my parcels to the post office (at least those haven't been able to finish until noon. This is where I need to start cooking lunch as kids return from school at 1 p.m. Then I do my housework. And every day I take some time for myself, sipping a cup of coffee, if possible in the sun, reading a bit etc. Today I have filled some orders because there are so many at the moment and also because tomorrow I'll have some more time for my big, big, most important wholesale order which I have enough time for (it's a fantastic company!). And you know what? I imagine some fantastic goal which I am working towards to: if I have enough money I will travel to Hawaii, meet Kelly Slater there and learn to surf . Doesn't matter if it ever happens, I can convince my mind of almost anything).

Sorry to keep this thread going on but I just have to tell somebody. Today I have not been thinking about that issue but I have been thinking about my whole business thing. To be brutally honest: my love for what I am doing is showing less and less since a few years. Cutsomers like this add to the problem but are not exclusively the cause. Yesterday I wrote that today I had the choice between cleaning the house and filling orders. I cleaned the house (or let's say part of it. It is a huge house.). And know what? I am so full of energy, I'm bursting with joy about my clean floors, the laundry and the dishes done, clean cupboards, clean working surfaces! It has been quite a while I had this feeling about candle makiing. Probably it is because of all those financial problems I had in the past because of my business (some big orders in which I had a lot of money and time and that didn't come about in the end), my health issues of the past (doctors telling me I had depressions and anxiety when in the end it was my thyroid and adrenal fatigue that was the cause - which I got diagnosed only a few months before - but hey, it is only my health, no big deal, you quacks!) that I feel not very much passion about my work. Also, I just don't seem to get both done properly: either household or candle business, never both. I need to read Flybaby again, I suppose! I always tell myself that I am lucky to be my own chef, to be able to decide when I do my work and be at home with the kids. I have to admit that I just cannot imagine anymore working 9-5. Those last two days where I was only running around getting things done had a clear negative effect on my thyroid again. I don't experience this when I only do my household, our garden with all those fruit and vegetables to care for, my chicken coop, my bees.....it makes me so satisfied! On the other hand we need the extra income from my business, it isn't as exhausting as a fulltime job would be (and I doubt I would be happier in such a job) and probably I only need more organization, stricter business times, not only for my customers but most important for myself (which means not checking emails in the weekend not to speak of answering them) and from time to time it is fun (should be more, I know, but I have to work with what I've got available). I certainly do my best when I work, only the joy has vanished somehow. Maybe I'm just weird. Feeling stuck, feeling trapped in a job I don't love and not being able to quit it. Okay, this is rather a soliloquy as I feel I need to get this clear in my head. Can't make a quick decision anyway, maybe I really should start re-organizing everything, re-thinking work routines and make everythign more efficiently. The more I write the clearer it gets...okay, I'll start this business makeover this week, after the orders are filled and I got my sample candles out to some new wholesalers. Have to make a timetable, I guess. Thanks for giving me space to get my head straight. I hope this is the solution or at least an improvement. or maybe I should just learn to be more frugal and be a housewife, gardener and chicken coop/ bee hive owner.

I don't think he's a con artist, it was only an order worth 8 dollars (with shipping 15 dollars). Here in Germany we have tons of self-proclaimed guardians of the law - we are a country of informers. They mastered the art of complaining, searching for faults in others, always convinced that they are conned by everyone. No wonder. Our TV programs are full of such "warning - scam alarm!" -shows where they categorically advise people not to pay any bills by craftsmen etc. but to look for flubs instead so they won't have to pay anything. My dad was such a craftsman, he was a master builder with his own small company. Guess how often he had to go to court to get his hard eraned money which he vera often didn't get because of completely insane court decisions. My dad was a hard working, honest, funny man, despite all this. But in the end all of it was too much, he became ill, depressed, and deeply wounded emotionally. He literally worked to death. Died with only 64 years. I miss him a lot. Internet is even worse: NOTHING but scammers. Mistrust and stupidity everywhere. I think I don't like the society we live in, but times have made us the way we are. It's not okay anyway and as I said, I don't like it.

Believe me, I had all of this in my mind. But it would make things only worse because he is probably waiting for another reason to kick my ass. I guess he reacted that way because he was twice informed about my holiday and my shipping times when he couldn't wait to get the parcel. He was simply higly pissed. I'm quite calm about it now. I'll see what happens and then I'll react on it.Talked to hubby about it (he hasn't been here the last two days) and he agreed to do something if he doesn't stop. I only hope I won't have to deal with this as I don't have the time, the money and the nerves to do so.

You are all so kind! Yes, I will wait and see. I really hope that was all from him but you never know. It would really be an alternative not to sell to end consumers anymore. bI have some decent wholesale accounts and one really fantastic, prestigious project going on, much more money for much less work (than filling tiny bottles with FO, I mean) and with the prospect of more projects like this.Okay, I'll keep that in my mind for later. For now it is keep calm and carry on or as we in Germany say: wait and have a cup of tea (which is strange because that sounds rather British imo), which is quite a good idea, I think. Okay, I had two really busy and terribly hectic days, my boys are both still ill (stomach flu) - I thought they were already fine again but today after my older son's soccer match he was white as a sheet ( no wonder, his circulatory system must be quite down still and in addition to this he is growing terribly fast, he is almost 1,80 m with only 14 years), we had to drive a long way home which was really curvy so at home he started vomiting again, little boy told me the same, couldn't finish his soccer training because he felt sick and nauseous. Great! Tomorrow is sunday and I have the choice between filling orders or cleaning the house (which is more than a mess) - maybe I'll do just nothing or only the most urgent things. I won't make the same mistake I did two years ago when I was gallopping through the days because of all the work and finally thought my heart would explode from beating ridiculously fast one night. Time out! Have a nice sunday, my friends!

Thanks for your support! I have no idea what happens or maybe not. Guess it depends on how mad he is. I'm pretty sure he won't let the bottle get tested, but you never know. Thank God I have all the necessary paperwork. But as I said, if he really wants to get me he will. There is always something you do wrong that can cost you. I've made the decision, in a way, to close the business if it gets to a court case or sth like that. It is just not worth it and who knows - maybe then I cannot afford to go on, financially. Vicky, I know - my chicken are a bunch of ladies from hell! Only my poor old rooster is really sweet and nice and handsome. But working in the garden, with my chicken and bees gives me much more satisfaction and peace than anything else. Only it doesn't bring money or at least not enough.

Just checked all the info I got fo this oil - comliant with each and every regulation imaginable, worldwide. The only thing he could make of it now is that the info on the bottle weren't sufficient (e.g. unfit for consumption, do not inhale....maybe I should add a large sheet of all the warnings imaginable.) I definitely have to change some things, as ridiculous as it seems.

Thanks Candybee for your advice! I had the same thought: he gets nauseous from sniffing and then gives the bottle to his daughter - what the hell? I guess I will have to wait if there will be another reaction from him. Maybe I'll ask a lawyer, have to sleep over this a night or two (it is the weekend so I won't reach anybody anyway). I had to pull up all my inner strength not to let this ruin my day and I was successful! Mindfulness and meditation are worth their money and I'm glad I have these tools for my sanity...

Hi there, please forgive me if I need to get something off my chest, because I'm highly excited (and not in the good way). Really, most of my customers are sweet as sugar, but some... A customer ordered a small amount of FO "Leather" from me, on the first day of my one-week vacation (not really vacation, I had to do so much office stuff, tax etc.). It was clearly announced in the shop that I would process any orders that arrived during my vacation right after the that week off. A few days after he had ordered he called me to ask when his order would arrive. I talked to him even though I didn't have to and explained once again all that what was clearly written on my homepage. One or two days after I've been back to business he emailed and called again, asking the same thing. I wrote back again, telling him that I was processing his order even though my shipping times are about 6-10 days from payment which is also clearly stated on my website. If you are in a hurry don't order or tell me. He wrote back again, saying he found my products on Amazon (I don't sell on Amazon) and that he didn't study my site and that there are too many frauds on the internet and that he wasn't able to recognize each and every fraud. Such a nice guy. Today I got an email from him again. He said he fetched the parcel and wanted to "try out" the FO right in the car (whatever that means) and that he immediately felt disgusted. He gave the bottle to his little daughter who "inhaled intensely" several times after which she threw up more than once and got a bad headache. His wife had to take her to hospital. He said he would send the bottle to the health authorities to get it tested because he doesn't know what I have send him but that he will know soon. He told me to send him what he has ordered ( ) otherwise he will turn to PayPal to get his money back. I wrote him that my FO are highly concentrated fragrance chemicals meant for using in wax, not for inhaling (it is all clearly written on my website because I know how stupid people can be). Of course I told him I was sorry for his daughter (but honestly, how stupid can you be? Does he give her the floor cleaner bottle for inhaling as well because it smells so nicely?), that he could freely let the oil get tested (which I cannot imagine he will do - they don't do it for free) and that I have the MSDS for the oil. It was absolutely fresh, got it from the US just a few days before he ordered. It is a good oil, like all of my oils, from reputable suppliers. I hate such things. Seems he's on a mission to get me. And I'm worried even though I know I did nothing wrong. Here in Germany you get sued for a missing word in your terms and conditions (I had to get it done by a lawyer, otherwise everybody has the right to send you a cease and desist letter by a lawyer which can cost you literally thousand of Euros - for a single missing word, or a sentence that isn't conform to German law). I have refunded his 12 Euros ( about $ 15) because he will want it back anyway. And I'm hoping he will stop now. It seems he wanted to make trouble anyway..all because he was too lazy to read anything on my website or for whatever reason. I'm pissed and I don't want to be pissed. Just let me do my business and leave me alone. With people like that and the danger they pose for merchants like me I really have to think over what I am doing. Maybe I should sell to professionals only, or maybe I should begin breeding chicken. Much more peaceful. Thanks for letting me rant and express my fear.

Vicky, that is an excellent point! You all have helped me a lot with this, thank you!!

Thanks for the input! I get everything supplied, only have to put the labels on the candles and put them in boxes.I guess I need two minutes per candle. How much do you charge for an hour of such work? I only every had fixed prices on my candles, but these are separate working steps.

Hi there, I have an order where I have to do the labeling and packing in boxes. These are custom made candles with their own labels and boxes and I get paid for doing that job. I have no idea however how much to charge for this (for 1000 candles). Any ideas? Thank you!!

Hi there, this made me laugh today: got an email from a customer, asking if she is doing something wrong because her daughter says that the melts she malkes smell a bit artificial compared to Patylite (I don't know if you know Partylite in the USA, it is as big as Yankee - probably bigger here in Germany - as the same system as Tupper, and as expensive). I'm using oils from companies like Candle Cocoon etc. so definitely no artificial smells here. I told her that I couldn't give any advice with only that kind of info and that I vouched for my supplies and that maybe it is something psychological like "Partylite is a big brand and it is expensive as well - it must be better than that homemade stuff" or that it is just that liking or not liking smells is subjective. And that her daughter, if she prefers Partylilte, is free to buy from Partylite. Everybody can do whatever he/she wants to do, I don't force anybody to buy my stuff. But such a question! Come on! Really, sometimes it is weird. Have a nice day, ubure

Thanks, Goldie, that would indeed be a good idea! I have to make my mind up how such a blog could look like.

Ok, I have read all you've written but still have questions in my head. Yesterday I have set up my facebook page again and launched an ad with facebook (which seems to be more successful than Google Adwords which killed me financially), got some likes and two orders (yeah, finally again after almost three weeks with zero sales). I also sent out a newsletter (I only have 74 people to send to, from my business), 16 opened so far, 6 clicked. No orders. It is obvious how many recipients you need in order to get sales from such a newsletter (and people are just fed up, even though I offer 20% on FO and 10% on wax for this weekend). I still ponder about blogging but still have no clue what could there be interesting to blog about. I'd love to blog about simple, sustainable, rural, frugal living which is my passion. I'd know what to blog about, each and every day. But with candle making? Maybe it's because it is just a means of earnign money for me, I have to admit that I have lost my passion for it the last years, even it is still fun sometimes and even more when sales are good. And even if I had a blog aboutn the simple life I'd write it in English just because I wouldn't want the people in our village to know what I am doing (you have to have a "serious" job, not candle making or blogging...) Trappeur, you said something important: the skill of marketing yourself. I have that skill, but only when my knowledge is asked for. I'm quite good at English history, literature etc. and I used to be a teacher for adults for that. I knwo ym stuff and I'm proud of it so I have no problems marketing myself. Not so with candles. I make high quality candles, my supplies are among the best in Europe (my FO's ARE the best in Europe, I know this for a fact) but still I have the wrong attitude. It is always like "I didn't study for doing this in the end". Absolutely silly, I know, but I can't get it out of my head somehow. But that's me. I'm that complicated in so many things, so I have to ignore it and just do my work. And maybe some blogging .

May I ask a question about blogging and FB? (Here in Europe Etsy is still really small. I do have an Etsy shop as well, but it is hardly existant so far as there are hardly any European customers on Etsy) I'm probably lacking imagination but what do you blog about with a candle business? I know you could do postings about how to make different candles, maybe a scent posting here and there, but is that enough? Is that interesting enough? Whenever I read a blog and see posting with about 20 lines of texts and about 15-20 pics per posting I always think I could never do that - alone that excessive photographing, and then pics should be high quality etc. I'm about building my FB page (is that a group if you have a business page? I'm such an idiot when it comes to social media - maybe not only then ) but I'm not sure how often you have to post there in order to be "in" or "hot" or whatever it is you call a good FB page. Now that sales are almost zero (well, they are zero since almost three weeks now.... ) I have time to think such things over but I'm hesitating...on the other hand I don't have any budget for advertising etc. Thanks for any input!

Have you been tested for autoimmunity? because you said you are sometimes hypo and sometimes hyper.... There are sooooo many symptoms for thyroid conditions, that's why so many doctors don't even think of it. All the best to you as well!

Hi there, I wanted to run a Xmas in July promotion before july is over, actually, but I'm soooo bad at marketing and having ideas for it. Any slogans or ideas for the newsletter? I want to give discount for several of my bestselling autumn/winter fos/candles, not for all of my scents. Thanks!!

Hi there, I'm reacting not as much as you do, but I am defnitely sensible to FOs. It wasn't that bad a few years ago but now I almost have to vo...when I smell some of the FOs and I can't stand having some FO on my clothes and smelling it. But I suppose it is my thyroid (always had symptoms, nobody ever tested it, now after 20 years I am supposed to have Hashimoto's. Fab.). It is a common symptom of a sick thyroid to be very sensible to fragrancesd, chemical odours etc. And of course the solvents and all the chemicals in the FOs are not what one would call healthy. So probably it is a very good idea to invest it that mask as Candybee recommended. Good luck with your business!!

TallTayl, such a gorgeous tin! I feel I have to come up with some new products this fall.....