Selling you products

[HookieBear]

I know I am now where near selling anything I make but I wanted to know what made you decide to sell the things you make? Do you do it just as a side business and spare time or is it a full time job/income? I'm 33 and that's my goal. To turn this new hobby in to possibly something more. Tell me your story. I am addicted to this board and have been reading posts all day! LOL, there is one other one like this I go to. I get so much information !!!!

[SparkysCandles]

I started out making candles just as a hobby. Something to do in my spare time. I didn't get it at first. My candles failed miserably. Sink holes, wicks that did not perform AT ALL.And so on. I almost gave up. But I continued to research, bought some books, researched better supplies and started giving my candles to friends and family who came back with wonderful comments. My candles still needed a lot of tweeking. I worked full time at WalMart in the meantime. And then it just grew from there. Even now I probably could take one of my candles and tweek it some more ( different wick, container, FO) and get a whole new candle. That's part of the addiction. The other part, offering candles that retail store don't have. let's face it. There are thousands of scents and variations that aren't offered at retail store or if they are the candles are over priced. So I opened a business. It's a side business for now. I have a website and small shop. Just paid for advertising in our local paper, Maybe one day before I'm too old to remember what i was doing at any given minute, it will turn in to full time. One very important thing I learned is... do not ever think this is a "cheap" investment. It's not. I took out a business loan well over $1000 just for supplies, advertising and the shop. And that money is strictly for candles. if I didn't have it there would be no shop. So I guess I am lucky I was this dedicated. Keep it up though. You'll get there. I am to the point now if I'm not making candles, or other scented goodies I am bored to death! Good Luck

[blacktieaffair]

That's an "easy" one for me.

I had to stop working in my chosen profession because (1) my new husband at the time had never had a stay at home wife and I wanted to please him and (2) my back was getting to the point I couldn't do it anymore so...... I got to thinking about what I could do in order to not go stir crazy : You can only clean house so much.

I started thinking.. I need something I can do so I can rest when I need to, if my back goes out, I'm not going to get fired, I can make stuff up in advance and have it ready for orders when I am " down " , and then I looked around the house and saw the immense amount of candles and room sprays I had ( I keep a very clean house, but I'm a scent F R E A K ! I love love love all types of different scents around me all the time ).

I added up just how much I was spending on candles and sprays a month, then a year, and I was shocked !!!!!! So one day I did a Google search on how to make candles, read about 2 articles that sounded stupid even to someone like me who had no clue about them, then I ran across the candle board at BitterCreek. I was on it for years, learning everything I could, before I ever bought my first supply. I figured out quickly from reading the trials of others, candles was NOT something I had the patience to test and learn, so I started looking for other things I could do in this industry that was original. This was at a time when there was a MASSIVE influx of new candle makers every single day, and the competition was insane. Not something I wanted to deal with either. I wanted to be different ! So, I went the "scented home decor" , bath and body (to a small degree) route.

And that's how and why I started. Unlike most, I started it to stave off being bored, and to save money. I went into as a business first, and quickly fell in love with it, instead of being in love with the crafty-ness of it, and then turning it into a business.

[jeanie353]

I started out with the intention of selling as well as filling a need to do a crafting hobby. Got up and selling in a little over a year using EZ Soy (415) in decorated 16 oz mason jars in prim style. Sold strictly on eBay, had one wholesale account and all was going quite well.

I then decided to try gel candles. Eventually added them to my line with foodie type candles and pies. That went over very well.

Then I decided I wanted more HT than soy was giving. I stopped selling and went on a search for the perfect paraffin or parasoy blend. I'm still there and its been almost 3 years.