TinyTam Posted November 7, 2020 Share Posted November 7, 2020 Hi! I just joined, I live in New Jersey and I'm thinking of starting a candle Business! My question is: How should I start, and what are the main things I should know before doing anything? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 23 hours ago, TinyTam said: Hi! I just joined, I live in New Jersey and I'm thinking of starting a candle Business! My question is: How should I start, and what are the main things I should know before doing anything? Welcome. I would start by deciding what type of wax I like to work with, and read up on the advantages and pitfalls. every type and blend of wax plays by a different set of rules. There is no “one way” every candle should burn, if that makes sense. Once you master that wax, decide if You even like it well enough to make into a business. Sometimes making for yourself is exciting and fun. That fun erodes when it becomes a J.O.B. Plan to take several months to learn and test your craft, and several seasons to understand how your product evolves with the seasonal changes. right now with Covid still having a major impact on every country in The world, supply chain issues have dominated our conversations. We learn to make a lovely safe candle, then the vessels, wax, wicks and/or fragrance is no longer available or has changed too much to work as expected. The more you learn about making candles, the easier it will be to overcome these normal supply issues that are magnified so greatly this year, the different candle forums here have specific threads about, for instance, soy wax, and types/blends/brands of soy wax, along with all other paraffin blends, beeswax, etc to help you decide what you would like to learn first. get comfy. This forum is the oldest in existence, and has pretty much everything possible already in the threads and archives. Before the last system archive we were over 1 million active posts! The CraftServer community is made up of a wonderful group of people ranging from little experience through masterminds and gurus happy to share advice from their own experiences. The one hard fast belief is that we are here to make a safe product, everything else is secondary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusyBee Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Your question is most straight forward smart question by a new start up. Ask a lot of questions! That's one thing you will need to do before starting any business including asking yourself "What made me thinking about starting a candle business?". You will need to build a strong foundation first before you start any business. Below are some of things you will need to learn to build your foundation. 1. Learn candle vocabulary & abbreviations: You will need to know the language spoken in candle industry in order to understand them. 2. Learn different types of candles 3. Study history of candles 4. Basic fundamentals of candle (1) Candle Flame: This is most important part of candle design, and pay attention to Conduction, Convection & Radiation (2) Wick (3) Fuel: What is difference between oil & wax? (4) Additives including oil & wax (5) When is oil or wax are main part of fuel or work as additive? (6) Fragrance Next step you will need to take is to write a business plan with lots of questions. Here are some examples and this is only about 20% of my full questionnaire. I. Learn About Candles What kind of candles are there? What kind of candles are in strong trend? How is the candle trend changing? II. Candle Ingredients & Supplies What types of waxes are there? What are the pros/cons of each wax? Which is better for my business? Who are the wax manufacturers & their suppliers? Which fragrance oils should I use for start? How many different kinds? Who are the fragrance oil manufacturers & their suppliers? What kind of wicks are there? Who are the wick manufacturers & their suppliers? What kind of candle containers are there? Who are the container manufacturers & their suppliers? Who are the packaging manufacturers & suppliers? How am I going to do labels? Who are the label companies? Do I make my own labels or use others? What kind of label printers & programs are available? What is the best choice of label material? Who has the best ingredients & supplies at best price including shipping cost? Have I researched enough to locate the best ingredients? Can they provide constant supplies without disturbance? What is my back up plan if supplies are disturbed? III. Market Research Who are the consumers of candles? What makes consumer buying a certain brand or type of candle? What is the candle market trends? What is the fragrance market trends? IV. Competitions Who are other candle companies? Who are the top 50 in the world? Who are the top 50 in U.S.? Who are the dominating players in certain markets? Who are the dominating players in my region? What made them successful? What was the reason for failed candle companies? Is any of these candle companies related? Who are the parent company if applicable? Can I do better than them? Build a strong foundation, Plan smart & big, Execute! Candle business is very fun & profitable, but it is not as easy as many people would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.