What I Wish I Knew Before I Started My Candle Business

hey everyone welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is erica and i make videos all about making and selling candles if you're interested in checking out what my etsy shop looks like or if you want to see any of my merch designs go ahead and check out the first links in the description box below today's video is just a list that i've compiled together that is basically what i wish i would have known or i wish i would have done before i started my candle business and this list could be anything from candle making itself to the business side of things so i really hope that this helps any future candle makers out to know what i wish that i would have known when i was in your shoes the first thing i wish i would have known was make sure that you have proper ventilation when you are making candles it can be very overwhelming it can make your chest feel really heavy i know that it affects some people differently than others but for me i'm very sensitive not only emotionally but also physically with my skin my skin is just very very sensitive um so it would make sense that my lungs are also very sensitive as well so i can feel just kind of very tight and suffocated when i'm making candles until recently i got this and if you guys don't know what this is this is a respirator and the little pink things on the sides are just these little filters and i can't even tell you guys i will never make candles without this ever again it wasn't even that expensive i got it on amazon i think for 20 or something like that i'll link it in the description box if you guys want to check it out um i did get the filters from a local welding supply store though i didn't get the ones from amazon because the reviews were really strange um but this has helped me so much i can't even tell you guys how exhausted i would feel after making candles just because of how just insanely suffocated i felt on the inside just how tight my chest was afterwards and having this on i do not feel that at all the first day that i made candles with this i felt like i could make candles all day long and i haven't felt like that since the beginning of making candles i used to just feel very exhausted afterwards and very overwhelmed with you know a headache sometimes a stomachache just not feeling good at all so i'm very very thankful for this and yeah it's a little uncomfortable in the beginning you can't itch your nose um sometimes it can make your nose runny because you're like all you know you get a mask on but it is so worth it so so worth it so i highly recommend get proper ventilation open windows have fans going on get a respirator make sure you are taking care of your health because health always comes first the second thing i wish i would have done differently was i wish i would have gotten a presto pot earlier if you guys know that you are wanting to become a candle maker even just a hobbyist i still think that a presto pod is not a bad investment it's not in the grand scheme of things of starting a business or even just as a hobby it's not that much money to invest to make your life easier and more enjoyable with what you're doing with your hobby or with a future business there's many different presto pots i have three total right now two of them have a spout one of them is just uh without a spout and i use a ladle to get the wax out i love all three of them i wouldn't ever go back to just the double boiler method i am able to make candles so much faster and it took me nine months from the beginning of my candle making uh experience ever since i started making candles last september to get a presto pot and it actually took me two months from the start of being in business to actually get a presto pot and i would have gotten one way sooner had i known how much easier it would have made my life i just viewed it as i don't know if i want to spend the money on this right now i could spend the money on other things and i totally get that but trust me oh my gosh it is going to make your life so much easier and one of these days when i can get more space i'm going to get like those giant ones that you can get i've seen other people have those and i'm jealous because you can have so much wax in those but there's no way i have enough room for that i barely have enough room for my three presto pots that i have so uh one day i will definitely have a giant one the third thing that i wish i would have known or i wish i would have been more prepared for with my business when i started on etsy was when people wanted to gift wrap something or when they were sending it to another recipient so that was something that i should have looked into more i should have paid more attention to i had actually told a story months ago right after i started my etsy shop where i didn't see that somebody wanted something gift wrapped and they wanted to add a note and i never added the note to the order so this is something that you do have to be prepared for if you sell on etsy so you can either just print out the little etsy pre-made gift note or what i typically do is i will make a custom sticker and it's nothing fancy or anything but it is just kind of a cute little note instead of the way that etsy has it when you print it out onto just a regular sheet of paper i have done that before in the past though but that's definitely something that i wish i would have known more of i wish i would have known to pay attention more to when there is orders that are marked as gifts and be prepared to how you are going to include that note to the customer um and who they want to send that package to so definitely something to think about if you guys are planning to sell on etsy the next thing i wish i would have known or i wish i would have done differently was and i know i brought this up in other videos before i wish i would have had just a separate notebook for all of my testing scent testing wick testing everything testing for candles and i would have dated it and put different kinds of details in it so that i would know for the future that is something that i highly recommend for all of you guys to do have a separate notebook get some custom sheets for candle testing whatever you need to do make sure you are staying organized in your testing process you will thank yourself so much more later on down the line and i really wish i knew that that was something that i should have been more organized about from the very beginning and yeah i i did not form good habits so i'm still not very good at that i still pretty much put everything on sticky notes and i try to remember as best as i can or the notepad in my phone don't recommend that get yourself an organized notepad or whatever you need to do to organize all of your testing the next one is kind of a two-part one so basically i wish that i would have known that it's okay if you only have a few candles in stock at all times so what i mean by that is in the beginning i really thought that i needed to have 12 to 15 candles in each scent at all times in stock and it kind of it made me feel very overwhelmed until i started being okay with only having four to six candles in stock at all times or when i'm making batches of candles i will only make about four to six in each cent at once and i would rather have a wider range of scent options to choose from rather than having a smaller amount of scents to choose from but more candles in that scent it just made more sense to me and it made me feel a lot less anxious and the second part to this is i wish i would have played around with more custom blends before i opened up my shop i really just went with all of just the pre blends that you can buy from candle suppliers and that is mainly what most of my line consists of however i really really wish that i would have had pretty much all of my scents be custom blends it's not necessarily a regret but it's just something that moving forward that's kind of what i'm working towards the next one is something that i am personally so guilty of and that is make sure that you diversify your suppliers make sure that you have alternatives make sure that you have options because everybody that has started their business in 2020 knows that this has been the hardest year in terms of getting your supplies having things out of stock trying to figure out how to continue business when you can't get your supplies so if anything this year has taught us the hardest part about business with your supplies being out of stock so make sure that when you guys are looking into getting into business make sure you have multiple different suppliers that you can have you can purchase jars from you can purchase fragrance oil from wicks from whatever it is that you need for your business make sure that you guys are looking at all different kinds of suppliers because who knows there could be something else that could come up in the future that could possibly have something like this happen again in terms of the crisis of not having enough supplies we don't know so it's better to be prepared than unprepared so make sure that when you guys are looking to start your business look into other different suppliers don't just buy everything from one supplier like me make sure that you guys are looking into multiple different suppliers to get your supplies from the next one is i really really wish that i knew to add in fees to the cost of my candle on the platform that i'm using so for instance i really wish that i would have looked into etsy fees prior to getting on etsy and selling my candles because i should have figured out the cost of fees for etsy and put that into the cost of my candle but i did not do that and that is something that i really really wish i would have done in the beginning i am happy with the price of my candles right now and i have no regrets with that but that is definitely something that i would probably recommend to you guys is make sure that you guys are looking into the fees for the platform that you guys are going to be selling on and try to include that into the price of your candle uh just because i don't know just make sure that you're getting all your money for your candle and the last one that i wanted to talk about with you guys is i really really really wish that i would have sat down and talked to a cpa about everything all of my questions that needed to be answered for those of you who do not know i did used to be an ebay reseller so i do have a little bit of knowledge when it comes to filing taxes for business purposes and you know bookkeeping and all of that so i do understand a little bit of taxes however there have been a lot of things that need to be put together so i have a lot of different puzzle pieces but i'm missing some and i just need to have some questions answered and honestly that's on me i should have done this from the very beginning and i highly recommend everybody to get with a cpa have all of your questions answered on what you need to be doing and i actually have an appointment in a couple days to speak with a cpa and have all of my questions answered and i am so excited and i'm excited to be as educated as possible on the topic so that i could potentially possibly most likely make a video for you guys about bookkeeping taxes everything that you need to be prepared for in terms of starting a business to the best of my ability while still recommending that you guys speak with a local cpa because that will be your best bet but that is something that i really really wish that i would have done since the beginning because i feel like i would have been a lot more prepared because there have been some things that have come up and i'm like uh i don't know what to do i don't know what that means so i'm just excited to be more educated about it and bring that onto my channel to hopefully help all of you as well but anyways guys that is today's video i really hope that you guys enjoyed hearing what i wish that i would have known or what i wish i would have done prior to starting my candle business so um if you guys have any more questions go ahead and leave them in the comment section below and i realize halfway through this video that you guys can see brody's toy right there so it's a squeaker toy and he just started squeaking it through the video so i had to take it away for about 15 minutes but i'm gonna give it back to him don't worry um so i'm gonna end the video right here and i really hope you guys enjoyed the video if you did go ahead and leave it a thumbs up as well as subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and don't forget to follow me over on instagram memoryboxcanaco and i will see you guys in the next video bye guys i didn't need to try to have so many scents in stock and so many cents so i know that doesn't make any sense doesn't make any sense [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Memory Box Candle Co

Views: 299,178

Keywords: What I wish I knew before starting my candle business, Candle business, Candle business tips, Candle business advice, Etsy seller

Id: EtPxxGy8Bg0

Length: 13min 17sec (797 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 17 2020