I'm sort of in the same boat as you are. My "job" right now is researching, researching, testing, testing, rinse/repeat a couple thousand times. But of course at this point, all my savings are very quickly going into the spent files so I'll have to look for a "paid" job very soon. The getting-ready-to-open-shop stages are taking much much longer than I had expected. I'm also quite painfully shy by nature. But I think as you get better at making candles, the passion you have when you talk about them will come out naturally. Although I'm sure it would feel great to have my candles sitting in a shop, once I'm ready I will start with friends and family. Word of mouth is THE best and fastest advertising you can get, and it's free. And you don't even have to worry about marketing because the friends of friends of friends will come from all walks of life. There must be some components of crack in FO's. You buy 1 (or 40 as in my case), smell it, wax n wick it up and burn it. Before you know it, you're on your computer looking for the next fix. I know all too well the dangers of wanting to play more. At first I thought packaging was going to be a nuisance. But when I go shopping as a consumer, there are so many products I won't even pick up because of packaging. Either too much, too little or it just looks cheap. Once I get to packaging stage, maybe I'll sell my mattress. Yoga mats are like 10 bucks, no? Radellaf, as long as you love making candles, just keep at it. One day you'll be able to quit your day job. The best career you can have is one you love to do.