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Your startup costs?


Testing123

What were your startup costs?  

7 members have voted

  1. 1. What were your startup costs?

    • $1-$500
      0
    • $500-$1000
      0
    • $1000-$2000
      4
    • $2000-$4000
      2
    • $4000+
      1


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Whoever said candle making was cheap lied...lol...Well it is, but starting a business ain't. I initially budgeted for $500, what was I thinking.

 

I'm currently at the $1300 mark and I have yet to launch and sell a candle 😮 I still havemore stuff to buy. Yikes.

 

What were your startup costs? Including testing, samples etc

 

In full disclosure, this isn't my first business venture...I'm a serial entrepreneur; so I have a healthy appetite for risk and reward😏

 

The super positive side is that I've gotten good feedback from friends and family. Just letting word of mouth spread; building up my base and generating interest. Launch day is 30 days away...

Edited by Testing123
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Geez just business registration in IL and insurance added up to at least $1k before even making a single thing. 

 

Started with soap, which was actually easier. When learning candles another $500-1k initially to create safe candles with FO I already had, then way more than that when soy went to crap. The test candle graveyard is massive. 

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It cost couple thousand I'm sure.   Just supplies, then insurance, equipment, tents, tables etc......then the 1 1/2 years of making and testing.   I don't do candles though.  I makes soap and other B&B.  I have supplies to play with melts but not sure I'll ever get around to it. Fragrance Oils are my black hole.  

Edited by Shari
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@Sharigood points.  Depending on where you intend to sell, that’s another set of costs. I forgot about the tables, displays, transport boxes, etc. and ez up. Then there was the banner, business cards, table coverings, etc. I change or update custom displays pretty much every season as I learn new things. ETA and booth fees, taxes, etc.

 

For an an online presence, you need a web host, domain, web site, etc. 

etsy is much less spendy to start, but with more competition.

 

as that old saying goes, it takes money to make money. Depending on your business model there can surely be easier points of entry and variances in start up costs.

 

one of my wholesalers got into it pretty cheap. She slaps a label on my stuff and calls it hers. She still complains about the per unit costs, but then she had zero dollars sunk into research, development, etc. she buys and resells. She’s more profitable than I am per unit sold. 

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8 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

 

 

one of my wholesalers got into it pretty cheap. She slaps a label on my stuff and calls it hers. She still complains about the per unit costs, but then she had zero dollars sunk into research, development, etc. she buys and resells. She’s more profitable than I am per unit sold. 

I have one customer like this and it's pretty bad.   She is damn lucky she has someone like me who caters to her whims and woas.....with private labeling, etc.    I dread every time I deliver her orders weekly as I know I'm going to hear more BS about nothing.   She would never get away with the crap she puts me through with any other candle company.....fini...If it wasn't for the fact that she orders so much from me, I would have ended our business relationship 3 years ago when she first opened her store.  But...but one of these days she is going to say another wrong thing to me at the wrong time and I'm really going to let go and let her have it and tell her to take this last order of candles and shove them where the sun don't shine...and I will proudly walk away from this account with no regrets, easily....

 

Trappeur

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I voted between $2k-$4k, but would have to go back and look - it's been over 20 years since I started making, and I did get my business license and all insurance in place that first year, even though I don't think I started selling for almost 3 years after making my very first ever candle. And I was constantly adding costs due to testing and all the different things I'd try, yearly insurance, licensing and other expenses, etc.,  

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I just started out in June and I've already spent over $1,000 without even selling anything. I've made a ton of mistakes already but it's all a part of the learning process. 

Obviously I have a long road of testing ahead. But considering that candles are sold on perceived value, I am prepared to spend thousands if necessary on branding, marketing, packaging, and the website. 

 

 

 

 

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Well, I went about it a little differently....bought an already established business.  Purchase price was $3500.  That included recipes, wholesale accounts, equipment and supplies (no premade product)  I did not ever think about it, but it sounds like I got a bargain, lol.  Course I did and still do lay out more money on new product testing and equipment upgrades, and insurance is a major, ongoing expense.

Edited by franu61
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I've been doing this for too many years to even remember at my age, but this is really hard to say.  If you mean just the business portion, that's different.  But if you're talking supplies included, really hard  because some of us will have started minimal and some dove in and bought a ton right away.  I'm responding based on cost to start the business alone, no supplies.

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