How long did it take you guys to make your first marketable candle?

[GlowinWick]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the board and have been making candles for about 2 years. My husband and I recently registered for our EIN and Sales Tax ID # to start our Candle Business. I am still struggling with a marketable candle - We are working with Soy and Palm waxes and I was just wondering if any of you guys have any stories you would like to share about start-up frustrations & victories... Hopefully this will inspire me to keep pluggin' away!

Thank you,

GlowinWick

[JacquiO]

In addition to the Tax IDs the other thing you shoud do before you start is look into becoming an LLC or incorporating and purchase liability insurance. You will want to protect your personal assets. You can find a lot of information regarding both in the business side of things forum and it's also good to consult an accountant regarding incorporating and an insurance agent because laws vary by state. You could also consult a lawyer but now your talking big bucks. There are legal services online that can help you incorporate at a considerable savings.

Once that is done and if you've been at it for 2 years, have tested and feel confident in your candles I'd say go ahead and start selling.

[GlowinWick]

Thank you for responding to my thread, Jacquio. My husband and I are under a partnership (LLC) as of last month & I am getting quotes for Insurance. The problem is the product. You would think after making & testing many, many many (uncountable formulas and additives) that I would feel confident with at least one..... I felt that if I went through all the legal stuff and moving in the right direction, that my confidence would follow. How long did it take you to become confident in your finished marketable candle? Am I normal or tooo critical of myself?

[Carriegsxr6]

Almost a year and a half before i started selling to my co-workers and about 2 years until i started selling at craft shows

[tootie04]

Same here about 1.5 to 2 yrs...I have had to change waxes and now the confidence is GONE.....even though my few loyal customers LOVE the new mix I have formulated....:tiptoe:

tootie

[LPENDA]

Your time line sounds right to me and, more importantly, sounds like you've handled the business side as well. Do you have a business plan?

Concerning your formulation- Don't think anyone ever feels it is "perfect". We all tweak as prices/wax lots/scents change. R & D is constant. Sigh...

Getting your feet wet is hard sometimes if you're detail oriented. (I am!)

Dot the I's, cross the T's and jump... the water's fine. Trust me.

BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!!

P.S. Many of the folks here will gladly offer you an advice "float" if you feel you're sinking. They have my gratitude.

[GlowinWick]

I want to Thank everyone for making me feel that I am on the right track and I am not the only one in the boat.

Lpenda, I do not have a business plan. Unfortunately, I have tried a few times to create one, but I continue to make unrealistic dead lines. Then frustration sets in. So that is kind of on the back burner until I get my confidence back on track. The paper work end of it doesn't go so well for me. I have notes & formulas & price comparisons on every tablet I own and when I try to put everything together then the mind goes spinning.

You are absolutely right - I just need to Jump in.... Usually for me it's one toe at a time to get use to it, but that will take forever.

Thanks to everyone again for helping me get my focus back!

[JacquiO]

Thank you for responding to my thread, Jacquio. My husband and I are under a partnership (LLC) as of last month & I am getting quotes for Insurance. The problem is the product. You would think after making & testing many, many many (uncountable formulas and additives) that I would feel confident with at least one..... I felt that if I went through all the legal stuff and moving in the right direction, that my confidence would follow. How long did it take you to become confident in your finished marketable candle? Am I normal or tooo critical of myself?

I started making candles in 2000 with a friend. We intented to sell and quickly realized after investing quite a bit that we were not prepared for the work and testing involved. Then I stopped making candles when I got pregnant and didn't start making candles again until after my daughter was born in 2002.

It wasn't until 2005 that I really started a business and I started small with votives and tarts. Easy to test, easy to crank out and easy to sell. What surprised me the most when I started was that I sold more wickless products than candles. I think it's hard to sell just candles - especially retail. Wholesale may be a different story. Selling retail I far out sold bottled oils, incense, tarts and warmers compared to votives and jars. Reed diffusers are pretty big now too.

Personally I'm not that critical of myself. I jumped right in once I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do. Once you start selling the feedback you get from your customers will really be what determines what directions you should go in. You'll have special requests, you'll far out sell certain scents over others and discover the ones that sell the best will be the ones you like the least. In fact I found my personal taste was very different from what sells.

My advice is once you have your ducks in a row start selling. You are your worst critic but once you develop a customer base you'll be able to get a better idea of what works and what doesn't then just trying to make the "perfect" candle.

Good Luck,

J

[GlowinWick]

Thank you for sharing your journey of candle making and your advice. I feel focused & I am ready to take the next step.

I plan by next week to have yet another supply list & road trip to C&S and CW.....

Cheers to starting off the New Year right !

[MissMary]

I started selling a lot more quickly, but I was very lucky in the first size of container and wicking. VERY lucky, and I had a lot of time to burn when I first started. I spent a few hundred hours in less than a month and I'd almost hit on the right combo for my liking right away (I was a wick size off from the first one I put in). But my research here and everywhere led me to that size to begin with, so if you want to add that in, it was another bout of time too. I lurked here for a bit first. I started selling the first size candle I hit on about 3 months later. I never did hit perfect pillars. *another grumble for another time*

But I was very lucky and I'm a reading bug, in which I had a notebook filled before I ever started. I'd already settled on which wax I was going to use and which wick line, and a supplier for my first FO's.

I think as long as YOU are comfortable with your formulation - days and months don't matter - it's how much time you put in. A person like me who tested several hundred hours in a short span of time, could very well have more research and testing done than someone at it a year with only limited time.

After several months when I still wasn't happy with 16 oz. tins, I dumped them. I didn't feel I was making a safe candle. In my head when I thought about the next item out, I thought about how it would affect my children. Would I want to be responsible for the death of a baby simply because I was trying to turn a buck? Absolutely NOT.

[evesorto]

I started selling too quickly (not big quantity, though) about 2 years ago. I read about business license, insurance, etc and this frightened me so I pulled back. This was a good thing because I became more involved in testing (which is my favorite part of candle making).

I realize now that my first candles were good, but not great. I have learned so much. A few months back, I did get my license, insurance, tax id and sales tax collection certificate. I did very well throughout this holiday season and I did so with calm nerves because I know that I had set the business up in a professional manner. Now, I am equally confident about my candles as I am about my business structure. I just paid my first quarterly taxes.

I didn't get incorporated, but I may do this eventually, if I stick with candle making/selling. The quantity was a bit overwhelming this season and I don't want to fall out of love with my hobby. I guess time will tell. I imagine that things will slow down a bit and I can regroup/test/play....I am looking foward to the down time.

Eve

[TraciS]

I started selling within a few months. I had about 6 scents and did votives and 8oz canning jars only. I added scents and then decided to change jars and hit a long testing period. Then my paraffin was discontinued and I decided to change to soy and hit another long testing period. I started craft shows in my 2nd year as they are only in the fall around here and I just wasn't ready the first year. I did a ton of research online to help identify wicks and strong scents, etc which seemed to speed up the process. THEN I got paranoid and got my tax id and insurance. Looking back, I could definitely have done thing differently but I tend to jump and then look.

Good luck!