Curious to know...

[Breanna]

yeppers, this is my official 7 day a week job with no acutal weekly paychecks, no holidays off, no paid sick days, no vacation time whatsoever. however, I do get to work til 2 or 3 a.m. daily and don't have to get up til 10 or 11 a.m., don't have a boss and I can work in my pj's with no makeup on!! LOL

Ditto to that!!!!!:highfive:

[Candle Man]

I have a question for those of you who are full time - How many of you make enough to pay the bills ???..... I know some of you do it full time but have someone working another job in the house hold. Just curious

Mine is full time and a store front. I can say it pays all the bills ( I have low overhead compared to other locations in my area and I have a morgage on the store, I don't rent). Everything in the store (candle supplies, balloon supplies, floral supplies, shelves, computer etc.) is paid for but I still don't get a check. It all goes back in the store, for now. I'll have to work on my marketing to sell more, so some day I will be able to get a check.

[lindsaycb]

Hmmm...this & my three kids. But it seems I have candles & soap going 24/7. At least the kids sleep.

[Lorrie]

I actually work full time in an office.

I also sell candle supplies and other gift items along with my candles on a website. I work out because I have to stay busy. Plus it is always nice to have the extra income.

[HeavenScentU]

Candles are my full-time business. After dreaming of owning my own candle business forever I was finally able to make it happen by cashing in all my stock options given to me by my previous employer and selling all my real estate. I bought and flipped 8 houses in 7 years and decided to stop last year because my hubby couldn't remember which home we lived in and we were both burned out from living in fixer uppers....

[katy]

Jeff,

Try the makeup thing, we would all like to see that one. lol If you get a raise let me know so that I can make my DH wear some. lol

[mommy2xp]

Do I count my stay at home mom gig as a job? If so, I'm workin' two jobs.

[MommaD]

I have never done it full time. I at one time was doing a website, but couldn't do it and be with my kids at the same time. I just couldn't work on my product, do marketing, shipping, all of it, and deal with two very small chidlren, one of which is extremely high needs. I work part time for Educate Online, and I SAHM with my two kids. We are also getting back into farming. I do the candles PT, and really am DYING to start making homemade soaps.

My husband and I am are also building a two car garage, and fencing in part of the yard. We also garden, I have flowers, and many other things. SO, I feel like I have about 20 part time jobs. My love of Candles and BB has had to go by the wayside for now.

I have big dreams of opening up a shop in this town, some day. We'll see.

[soapmom25]

our biz is not only "my only" source of income, but DH also quit his job in Jan. 2005 to join me. I gave him the choice of me hiring hire, or him quitting, and he chose to quit and join the madness! Our parents about died, but it's been nearly 18 mos. now and although we're far from "rolling in it" ~ we're at least making ends meet. Not spending any money on daycare, work clothes, and eating out lunches helps a bunch!

I would encourage everyone to GO FOR IT if you can!

[Deliciously Wicked]

Its been a slow process but this is my only job except for the being a parent one. That one provides a lot of joy but no pay.

[BruceCarvesWax]

Lots of people on the poll list this as a full time job, but it would be more interesting to know if their candle sales are the total income for the whole family? Would have to be only a few that answer this yes since most on here are women and hubby would have a "regular" job also. Bruce

[soapmom25]

Lots of people on the poll list this as a full time job, but it would be more interesting to know if their candle sales are the total income for the whole family? Would have to be only a few that answer this yes since most on here are women and hubby would have a "regular" job also. Bruce

we don't have a candle biz, we have a soap biz, but yes, that's our only income. My income/sales grew to be larger than DH's earnings working full time, so we had to either hire employees so I could still do my full time work of taking care of kids and home, or he had to quit and help ~ he decided he could help the biz grow by also working at it full time.

We now operate our business, a daycare (aka take the kids to work with us at our shop), and a taxi service (aka run kids to ball practices, clubs, camps, etc.) ~ LOL. We work some weird hours sometimes, but feel it's totally worth it because we never miss the important stuff for the kids, and they grow up too fast! We both know we can go back to "real jobs" when they're older if we want to, but for now it's priceless to be available at the drop of a hat if somebody is sick at school (no boss to gripe at you for leaving), and to be able to plan fun stuff in the middle of the week when things aren't quite so busy!

[TerriWV]

Hmmm...I don't wear makeup even at my other job. Maybe that's been the problem. If I try it, do you think I'll get a raise?

Never know til you try lol:D

[Bev]

I'd love this to be my main source of income, but I am fairly new to sellng so this is definitely not my meal ticket. (I'm a legal assistant by day.) I never thought that what started out as a hobby could be so rewarding (mainly emotionally rewarding at this stage ... hopefully monetarily rewarding in the future). Right now, I only do a show or two a year and sell to friends and family. This year I changed names, had a new logo created, and have been working on a website, so I have been busier with that aspect of the business than I have with the sales. Next year I plan to really pump up the advertising and marketing!

[Noodle]

I have made a nice living in the bath and body business for over six years now. I am a stay at home mom of 3 young kids and was determined to have the best of both worlds- motherhood and a career. I work around 6 "scattered" hours a day. My husband often says that he is floored that I make such a nice paycheck.

[Fire and Ice]

Well, I have a job when I'm not laid off, which I have been for the past seven months, so thus far this year, it been my only sorce of income. However, it VERY tight paying my bills and trying to buy candle supplies on top of it. I hope they call me back to work soon though!

I'm in a heavy rotation of shows now and that makes all of the differencee forr my income!

But I can't Honestly say it's my Sole income although I'm not married so I have no husband helping out with anything. But I also don't have kids either.:lipsrseal

[Janette]

My candle business has been my sole income for 9 years now. No other job, and no husband paying the bills. Janette

[KristinesShower]

If I wanted to work my butt off and not have 5 employees, my business would be the sole bill payer in my family. I choose the I work when I want and do whatever I want to do while others do the job now ever since I got pregnant. I used to work at the store sometimes and really put in a good day's work until I found out about my baby. I still work every day though, but not ½ as hard as I did last year.

My husband chose to stay at work (even after I gave him the option of working with me) because he really likes his 401K plan, insurance and his job too. I'm glad we don't work together though - we've done that before and it killed us lol

Now I am very happy taking in a paycheck that rivals my husbands. We are very happy with making the extra money so we can put more into our house. This year we just got a pool (was an easy arguement to win because of the baby lol), we are doing some really nice landscaping and residing our house.

When I first started in 2002, if someone told me that I would move into a beautiful home and have what I have now I would have laughed in their face, but now I am making that dream a reality

[thecandlespastore]

I make body products and I am also a trading consultant for a few local high end boutiques, just because I love fashion and love to be in the middle of it. And it gives me time to get away from the house, otherwise I would not know what daylight looks like. One day hopefully the body products will be my main thing and I will own a boutique of my own. I started out wanting to be a doctor, got the biology and chemistry degrees and then had one kid, then another 2 years later. So had to find something to do from home so I could be with my kids. It started out as a candle business, then it turned into people requesting solid perfumes, rare fragrances, etc. And now I carry anything from whipped shea to dry perfume oil, and now soap.

Its a rewarding feeling to be my own boss. I would love to have one of those buildings where we lived upstairs and our store was downstairs. There are some really nice properties here in Laudy that are like that. Maybe by next year I can buy one of them.

[Guest EMercier]

I would love to call this my "job". I would love to roll out of bed and make candles while watching Maury.