Do You Profit?

[botanica]

I decided to put together this poll to gauge the economic climate vs. our biz. I know that many people on here probably won't respond out of proprietary reasons, but if you do, thanks!

Edited January 25, 2010 by botanica

[Lorrie]

I will respond. Yes, I turn a profit. Not a huge one but it's there. But last year I had to work a lot harder than normal because of the economy and fuel prices and the cost of everything rising.

I am sure others will say the same thing. I had to be a lot smarter with my spending.

[evesorto]

I, too, turn a profit but when I compare it to my regular job (Chemist with Dept of Health), it is less. If I were to work out what I make per hour doing each job, I do better at my full time job. I don't do horribly with candles (I set an acceptable minimum that I would accept per/hour and I did exceed that). I love candles so I have accepted that I make less per hour than I do during my regular work week.

I'd like to keep it at such a level that I could turn a profit (an hourly wage that is acceptable to me) and continue to love candles. If my hourly wage was too low, I would continue to make candles for myself and friends, but I would most likely stop the craft shows, parties, etc. I do not allow the candles to take over my life and I have turned down certain opportunities that I thought might lead to being inundated with orders that I could not fill. I do not desire a store, having employees or things of that nature, atleast, not now. I don't want to fall out of love with candles.

Eve

[jenscandles]

I marked Don't Know Yet. When I first started making candles several years ago I did not. But I did learn what does / does not work for me; what I enjoy doing and what to not waste money on. My "business brain" has also developed a bit more over the few years I took off.

This is my first year selling again and if I make a profit this year it will likely be small.

[NaturallyTru]

I made candles from 2000-2004. I made a profit the final year; but had to stop due to health issues. I am just getting back into candle making this year. I, too, learn a lot from before. My goal is to manage the new business better so hopefully I can have a little profit to tuck away to pay for Christmas this next year. If that goes as planned, I will try to slowly build up each year. That's teh goal...time will tell if it is successful.

Trudi

[KoalaGirl]

Im with Evesorto. Although Ive only been doing this for a bit over a year, I keep good records of what goes out and what comes in. I love doing candles/melts but I wont do them to sell, if its costing me money in the long run. Cash in, to date is about %30 above cash out but the cash out has included a lot of set up one off costs. I also have a lot of 'stock on hand' which would bring in a lot of money, even if I never outlayed another cent.

As far as my labour for making them? I havent factored that in since at this stage, its still a hobby as such because I love doing it. I work a regular job and do this in my 'spare time'. Its very relaxing and I would prefer to make candles than sit down after dinner and watch tv or do ironing!

Increasingly I am having to find more and more 'spare time' to build up stock and fill orders but as yet, that hasnt become such a problem that I feel I need to include my hourly rate of labour in the price of my products. I am learning to become more organised and that helps a lot! I havent persued a lot of avenues for sales, simply because I dont want to be stressed to the max with a full time job AND candle making. Word of mouth and repeat sales keep me as busy as Im comfortable with at this time.

Right now, Im happy knowing that if I do 'retire' from work, I'll have a very enjoyable and profitable 'hobby' to keep me out of mischief. Cant wait!!

[RichardLOZ]

Well we are actrually making a profit. I have not however included in that the initial load of money put into testing etc. Lets face it, if you want to go and get trained in something you have to pay, so I look at the testing as an investment in the product, well the initial investment anyway.

Now that we have the 4 wholesale accounts as well as markets and fairs, we are not doing too badly at all. Not enough to give up the day job as yet, but keeping our heads above water. generally the wholesale accounts pay for the materials with some left over, and the markets is just cream on the top.

Like Koala, we have plenty of stock on hand, not to mention jars, scents, colours, wicks etc etc etc. I guess all in all we would have to have quite a few thousand tied up in made stock and materials.

We are at the point now though where we probably cant take on too much more without spending on equipment such as commercial melters etc. We have found the melting phase and the shrink wrapping phase to be the bottles neks that we need to solve. Hopefully mid year the melters might be a reality. The shrink wrapping system is going to have to wait for a bit I think, but at least the kids are prepared to work cheaply

[evesorto]

Koalagirl - just to let you know, it will be pretty simple to figure out what you are making per/hour since you already know in/outlay. What I did last year, along with keeping records of what I spent/earned, is I kept track of all of the time I made product, spent at parties/fairs (as well as my travelling time to/fro), spent with people who came to my house to buy, etc. The one thing I did not do last year (but I will this year) is keep track of all of the candles/tarts, etc that I gave away as gifts/tips (money earned would be greater if I gave these a value).

Eve

Edited January 26, 2010 by evesorto

[botanica]

Thanks for all your responses! I love hearing what does/doesn't work for people. We all do things differently, and are all selling in different markets, but it's nice to see that people are profiting despite the economy. It seems that it's because of frugality and good biz practices that people are turning a profit. Keep it coming!

Edited January 28, 2010 by botanica

[Maggie]

Yes...but like Lorrie not a huge profit but enough to vote yes.

I've been selling since 2001 and make a profit every year...but I am not big time by any means.

One of the best things that I did in 2009 was...trim my expenses. I only ordered supplies that I HAD to have. I had been such a fragrance ho...always ordering tons of samples and then stocking lbs. and lbs. of fragrance oils. I added a few new scents in late fall...and they sold really well.

I was doing a Christmas Open House...with another person at her house...for 4 years. 3 years ago I decided to go solo at my house...for several reasons. I have made more money at my house than I did with both my customers and her customers combined. I will say that my 2009 Christmas Open House was the best one...I surpassed my goal by almost $400.

[Wildcrafter]

I just paid my taxes for 2009, did my income/expenses and yep, I kept the roof over our head while my husband has been laid off work since April.

Product sales were down most of the year, but teaching workshops were way up and made all the difference. So far this year, workshops are filling, online orders are coming in, I'm delivering products locally.

Praise Jesus for that!

By the way, when I'm figuring out cost for products, I figure in $25 per hour for my labor.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Wildcrafter