Starting A Candle Business

Are you interested in starting a candle business? Making and selling your own soy candles could be the thing for you. Natural products is a booming market as more and more people become more aware and cautious of what they are putting on, in and around themselves and family. Soy wax is a natural, non toxic wax that burns cleaner and longer than paraffin wax.

There is a growing list of articles here to get you started on your candle business journey. I want to be able to show you how to get your candle business going from the ground up! Everyone loves candles, so if you love candles too and are looking for a wonderful business opportunity and are willing to put in the effort, then take a look around my site, get a few supplies and try making some candles to see how you like it and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions on what kind of info you'd like to see here!

Build Your Own Website for Your Candle Business-Part 1

February 19, 2015 by SoyCandleMakingTime 4 Comments

*Have some other business that’s not a candle business? This video series can still help you build your own website and get your business online!

I know many of you are thinking about starting a candle making business. I also know that having a web developer build your website for you probably isn’t in your budget!

And that’s ok, I’ve been there, and so I learned to build my own websites. The great thing is, you can build your own website for your business too, and I am going to do my very best to show you how. Of course, if you do have the funds to hire a web developer, that is certainly the easier and more efficient way to go to get your business online.

First, if you haven’t yet started your candle business, I encourage you to go to my Getting Started page and scroll down to the business section and read through those articles there.

Once you have gone through all the steps to get your candle business ready to roll, you’re serious about giving this business a go, and you’ve decided you want to build your own website and sell online, then come back to this video! 🙂

This first video is going to show you exactly how to set up your website through Bluehost (get a discount using this link). I have used Bluehost for my web hosting for over 8 years! I host this website and my other websites through them and in that time I have very rarely had any issues so I highly recommend this hosting company. Now, there are certainly other good hosting companies out there, but since I use Bluehost, I am going to show you how to set up your website through them.

*Now, just to be open and honest, the links to Bluehost that I provide, are affiliate links, meaning I do make a commission if you sign up with them using these links. If you do, I want to say a huge THANK YOU in advance for your support!

So, again, in this video you will see how to set up your website which includes going through the registration process with Bluehost, and then installing WordPress, picking a theme and writing your first blog post.

In the next video I will go through some important things to set up right off, and how to add pages.

Now, I know that it may seem like I’m going kind of slow with these, but I want anyone that wants to, to be able to understand and see exactly how to set up a website. I don’t want you to think you can’t get your business online just because you can’t afford a web developer!

What if I already have a website using WordPress?

Well, then you can probably skip this first video, and possibly the second, but after the second video, I will be getting into how to set up a fully functioning web store, adding a logo, a little on changing the design, adding plugins, adding products, setting up shipping, and everything you need to get your candle business ready for online customers.

I hope this video is helpful for you! Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any suggestions, comments or questions. I’m really excited to help you get your candle business online and growing your customer base!

Do I Need Insurance for My Candle Business?

December 8, 2014 by SoyCandleMakingTime 25 Comments

This is part 3 of the Starting Your Candle Business series. If you haven’t already, please be sure to read part 1 and 2!

You’re ready to kick off your candle business, but there’s one lingering question…..

Do I need insurance for my business?

The best answer is YES. Do you legally HAVE to have it in the United States? No. But, it is definitely recommended that you get some liability insurance just in case.

Can you imagine going along in your business, building it up, things are going great, candles are flying out the door, the money is rolling in. Then, someone starts a fire in their home while using one of your candles…..

Well, it’s their own fault, you say, and I had a warning label on the candle, you say.

That may be true, but they could still take you to court and even if the judge rules you are not at fault, you still have all those legal fees to pay for and that alone could cripple your business and even hurt your personal life!

Now imagine that were to happen when you are still trying to get your business off the ground and you aren’t making much money yet! Yikes!

So, really, it is very important to get some insurance for your business. I am hoping that by writing these articles on starting your candle business, that you will be able to get off to a great start and be able to pay for that insurance with the profits from your business fairly quickly.

What if you sell only tarts/wax melts or flameless candles?

From doing some research, I’ve come to the conclusion that wax melts, at least, could be looked at along the lines of soap, although maybe not quite the way soap is, since you are not using the melts on your skin. There is still the risk of someone’s child putting them in their mouth, or even someone getting a rash from handling the melts, who knows! There definitely is not the high risk like candles with a flame, but there is still risk, as with anything. You would need to decide whether you are comfortable taking that risk. You might find, however, that it could be easier to find business liability insurance for flameless, non skin care products such as melts, but that is something that each insurance company is probably going to differ on, and you’ll need to discuss with your agent and see if they can work something out.

How much is business insurance for my candle business going to cost?

I was able to contact a few insurance companies that actually will at least consider covering candle makers. The ballpark figure I got? $500-$1000 a year. Now, the cost is going to depend on lots of different factors about your personal business, so in order to get an accurate quote, you will need to contact an insurance agent yourself. That way they can look at your specific needs.

Apparently Farmers will cover candle makers, and I’m sure you can find an agent in your area since they are a very large insurer.

Here are the insurance companies/agents I contacted that do provide business insurance for candle makers. I may add to this list as I hear of others:

Agent: Andrew Core
Insurance and Financial Solutions Registered Rep
Farmers Insurance Group
541-359-4791 (Office)
541-221-1693 (Cell)
541-359-4797 (Fax)
acore1@farmersagent.com
http://www.farmersagent.com/acore1
260 E 15th Ave Suite D
Eugene, OR 97401

Agent: Lori Paul
Business Insurance Solutions
107 West Q Street
Springfield, Oregon 97477
(541)744-1806

Here are a couple other places that offer insurance specifically to crafters, soapmakers and candle makers:

Indie Business Network– Seems to be a good one from what I’ve heard from some other candle/craft makers. The insurance carrier is Great American Insurance Group and the broker is: Veracity Insurance Services, Inc.

Here is a price quote from the Indie Business Network website:

“$1,000,000 annual aggregate coverage is $398 per annum, or $2,000,000 annual aggregate coverage is $453 per annum. Additional premiums will apply for larger companies and for those requiring additional coverage. Product liability insurance is a benefit of membership in Indie Business Network, and the two items are separately prices. Membership is $150/year.”

Insureon The link takes you to a very informative article about the different types of insurance for crafters/candle makers. You can fill out a form online to get a quote too.

I hope this is enough info to get you started! I am hoping to do more research on insurance companies and maybe create a directory eventually. But what I would do, if I were you, is start with the companies above if you can, and get a solid quote. Also be sure to look up local brokers and see what they can do for you. Write down any questions you have ahead of time so you can be sure to ask them when talking to the insurance agent.

Be sure to shop around, take the time to get the best quote with a company you feel comfortable with!

Do you have liability insurance for your candle business? If so, I’m sure everyone would love to hear your experience and who you go through for insurance, so post about it in the comments!

How to Price Your Candles Part 1

Choosing a Business Name-Starting a Candle Business Part 2

October 20, 2014 by SoyCandleMakingTime 5 Comments

So in part 1 of this Starting Your Candle Business series, I talked about the very first steps you need to take before starting your candle business. If you haven’t read part 1 yet, you really should go on over and read it before moving on to part 2.

So, once you’ve gone through the steps in part 1-

Buying some supplies, or a soy candle making kit and making some candles
Testing your candles
Having friends and family try some candles and obtaining feedback
Deciding on whether to keep inventory or make to order
Deciding on what kind/sizes of candles and how many to start with
Thinking about how you can stand out, what makes you and your candles different?

Now you need to decide on your business name.

You’ve probably already been thinking about this, I’m sure, but now you need to really nail it down and set it in stone. Some things to think about when coming up with your business name:

Do you want to use your name in it such as “Sally’s Soy Scentsations” . Using your name in the title or not, really doesn’t matter as long as it flows nicely and stands out.
What do you want people to think and feel when they hear and see your business name?
Does your business name give people an idea of what your product is? For example, if you wanted to do a rustic themed candle line, and that’s what you plan on focusing your business around, then you might think about a business name that conveys that idea (“Country Candle Creations”). Same if you are wanting to do modern looking candles, or all natural candles. If you are going for a variety then of course use more of a general name, but still one that would stand out. A wonderful way to find some more unique way of saying a word like “Country” or “Rustic” or whatever else you might be thinking of for your business name, is to look up words in a Thesaurus. You can find all sorts of different ways to say the same thing that might sound more interesting or unique!
Also, you might think about the initials of your business name. Do you want the initials to form your logo? How would it look in that form? Think about the title “Work At Home Moms”, well, it is usually shortened to WAHM and most people know what that is when they see it, and it kind of has a cool sound to it. Another example, a big one, is DQ (Dairy Queen).
Try not to make your business name too long. Short and sweet is easier for people to remember.
Check out the competition and gleen ideas from those and of course make sure any ideas you have aren’t already taken.
Make it creative and unique and have fun.

Another important factor to check is if the .com domain of your name is available. This is something that many overlook and don’t consider. Even if you aren’t planning on doing business online today, you just never know if you might go that way later on.

I recommend, once you’ve chosen your business name and the .com version of it is available, go ahead and purchase the domain. It only costs, at most maybe $15.00 a year, but many times you can find domains cheaper than that.

If you want to go ahead and purchase web hosting then the domain name is usually included with your account. I personally use Bluehost for this website and some others that I have and I highly recommend them.

If possible, you want the website domain name to be the exact full name of your business. People are more likely to type www.sallyssoyscentsations.com if that’s the full business name, than www.ssscentsations.com or www.sallysscentsations.com etc… They know the business by it’s full name usually, so unless you are very well known by a shortened name, like DQ, then you want to use your full business name in your web address (domain).

There are lots of domain suffix’s out there now, so why is it that I should be so concerned with getting the .com version?

Why not .net or .me or .us? Well, think about it this way….What do you automatically think of when you go to type in a website address? Yep…. .com and possibly, just maybe .net, but that’s about it! If it’s a non profit organization, then you would probably think of .org, but you aren’t non profit, so don’t even use that one lol.

Anyway, even though there are now tons of domain suffix’s out there, .com is still the very best one to choose.

What if I have an established business name and the .com version is unavailable?

Well, that is exactly what happened when my brother wanted me to build a website for his espresso business a couple years ago. He had been in business for 12 years before getting a website done, and when I went to check the domain name availability, his business name was already taken (by someone that was just sitting on it and wanting hundreds of dollars for it…..but that’s beside the point). So we went with the .net version, which was, thankfully available.

Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. If he had the money, or even if I had had the money, I would have gone ahead and bought the .com version. I think it’s that important. I wonder how many people have typed in .com to find his website only to come upon a page that says “this domain is for sale”. Some of those potential customers probably just left and didn’t try to find the correct website. Many probably typed his business name into search or tried .net possibly, but still, that is a loss of some customers that we really don’t want to happen!

So back to choosing the business name.

It’s good to make a list and just jot down any ideas that pop into your head, even if they seem silly or off the wall at the time, just write down any ideas you can think of. Look up those ideas in a Thesaurus like I mentioned above and jot down any interesting words you find there. Then you might want to just sleep on it.

Take a couple days or more if you need to and just mull over that list to see what sounds the most attractive and interesting and what goes well together. Get the list down to 2 or 3 of your favorites and then ask friends and family to choose which one they like best. If you are on Facebook or some other social website, you could have your friends there vote on which they like best!

Of course, you can go with whatever you are most comfortable with, but having others give their opinion can give you some great insight so you can make a more informed decision. Once your business gets going, it’s not a good idea to change business names in mid-stream, so make sure you pick one that you are sure about.

I’ve got my business name, now what?

Well, a good thing to do is to register your business name with your state if you live in the US. Now, where I live, in Oregon, I believe at the time I registered mine, it was only $25 and that was good for a few years before having to renew. It’s going to be different from state to state so you’ll need to check with the business department in your area on that.

Business name…..Check!

Up Next: Do I Need Insurance for my Candle Business?

Anyone else have any great advice to give someone that is trying to choose a business name? How did you come up with yours? Share in the comments!

Candle Making Business Coaching and Community

Start a Candle Making Business-What First??

August 29, 2014 by SoyCandleMakingTime 24 Comments

Start Your Candle Making Business Right

CLICK HERE to get The Soy Candle Making Book Now!

I’ve written a few articles about starting a candle making business. However, I haven’t done one that actually goes through step by step what you need to do to get your candle making business started, from scratch, right from the beginning. In this post I am going to go through the first stages of starting your home candle business. Hopefully by the end of this post, you will have enough info to get your business going.

When I first started my soy candle making business, I just kind of jumped right in. I hadn’t done much testing of my candles. I just bought a kit off of eBay and I liked it, and within a month, I had my website up.

Now, it is good to have the attitude like I did and just go for it once you’re ready, but I would definitely do a few things differently if I were to start all over.

So let’s just jump right in to each step starting with step 1

Buy Supplies And Start Making Candles!

If you haven’t already tried making some soy candles, then you really need to buy some supplies and try making a few first to see how you like it. You definitely don’t want to spend the time planning your candle making business if you don’t even know if you’ll enjoy making the candles in the first place!

I would recommend going with a kit since it is usually more cost effective and you’ll get everything you need to start making your soy candles. I bought my first kit off of eBay and it turned out great but if the seller doesn’t specify on the listing what type/brand of soy wax, wicks and fragrance oil, then you should ask. Then, if it works really well for you, you will know what type of supplies you might want to look for when you start buying from a supplier.

I already mentioned eBay, but here are some links to suppliers that sell candle making kits:
http://www.candlesoylutions.com/closeup.asp?searchWord=kit&pid=340&offset=0
http://www.candlesoylutions.com/closeup.asp?searchWord=kit&pid=1165&offset=0
http://www.peakcandle.com/products/soy-container-candle-starter-kit__k1004.aspx
http://www.candlesandsupplies.net/Soy-Container-Candle-Making-Kit

You can use the recipes on my site, but remember that the container candle recipes are specifically for 100% soy container wax. There are other soy container waxes such as Ecosoya Xcel or Golden Brands 464 wax that may not work as well with pouring at 100 degrees F. So if you try one of those waxes, you should use their specific instructions for melting and pouring the wax first. I will eventually add information on this site about best heating and pouring temps for specific waxes once I have tested them all.

So, once you have made a few candles for yourself and done some testing to find the right recipe for your candles, go ahead and make some for friends and family and ask that they give you honest feedback about how they smell and burn. If that goes well, then move on to the next phase, otherwise fine tune your candles to fix any issues such as smoking, soot, wick mushrooming, weak fragrance throw, too much frost, etc. (don’t expect to get 100% soy candles frost free 100% of the time. You may just have to hit them up with the blow dryer or heat gun occasionally if you get some that don’t look quite as pretty! But don’t obsess about it if it isn’t that bad). See my FAQ section for answers to many of the issues above.

Ready to move on?

Inventory or Made to Order?

When I ran my soy candle making business, I usually made them to order. In fact, I kind of prided myself in doing that…..that is, until I started getting more and more orders. The thing is, is it really that important to make your candles totally fresh? Well, not really. Many times letting them sit longer can actually make for a stronger smelling candle. However, with soy wax, if you let them sit too long, they will eventually start to frost and the color possibly start to fade.

On a positive note to making your candles to order, you don’t have excess candles sitting around that aren’t selling. If you keep an inventory of candles, you could use those extra candles for promotions from time to time.

And of course, if you plan on doing home parties and craft fairs you will want to make a good amount of candles ahead of time.

If I were to start selling candles again, I would go the inventory route. I’d make several of each type of candle I want to sell and have a nice shelf for them to sit on, ready to be packed and shipped at a moments notice. I would set aside a day or two a week (give or take) just to make some inventory. Depending on how much I’m selling, that way I don’t have to worry about making candles every single time someone orders!

What Kind of Candles Should I Sell?

Next, you need to ask yourself what kind of candles do you want to start out with? Do you want to do container candles? If so, what type of containers? (Mason jars, regular canning jars, teacups, metal tins, coffee mugs, wine glasses, other decorative glasses, Libby jars/bowls/etc……….). Below is a list of soy candle ideas for you that you could use to start your product line:

Mason Jar candles are popular for rustic themes
Libbey glass containers. They have all sorts of styles. Can be great for more of a modern style
Status Jars
Apothacary jars
Metal tins
Teacups
Coffee mugs
Wine glasses
Votives
Tealights
Melts/tarts. You can do all sorts of shapes with these if you find some molds of the right size such as ice cube trays or jello molds, etc….. You can also do the standard tarts or use the the clamshell tart molds (similar to Scentsy bricks)
Sliceable Soy Wax Loaves – Find this recipe in my book (customer slices off pieces to use in their tart melter)
Candle loaves or pies (using pie tins or loaf tins you can get at the Dollar Tree and use multiple wicks)
Pillar candles (must use a soy pillar blend wax)

It would be best for your candle making business to start off small. So if you know you want to do more than just container candles, then start with container candles and votives or containers, votives and melts. If you are wanting to specialize in more decorative, unique candles, then I would focus on only those at first until you get a good system down. For example, Chunk Candles take quite a bit more time than just regular container candles. The same goes for Swirl candles, layered candles and if you’re using whipped wax toppings (all 3 of those recipes are in my soy candle making book)

Once you figure out what you want to specialize in first, you need to decide on what fragrances you want to start out with.

What Candle Fragrances Should I Start With?

Now candles are a very “seasonal” product, so you need to consider that when choosing your first few fragrances if you want to start out well. I would choose a couple tried and true “classics” such as good old Vanilla. Below is a list of some “classic” candle scents that do well year round:

Vanilla
Clean Cotton or similar scent
Coconut type scents
Apple Pie
Melon
Ocean type scents
Lavender

Those are some classic ones you see in stores pretty much year round. You will also want to find some for whatever season you are in.

For example, right now as I’m writing this, it is nearing the end of Summer. School is starting and people are beginning to think about Fall and Winter and all the holidays that fall into that. (Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.) So right now, I would want to start getting some of those types of fragrances into my lineup.

How Do I Know Which Fragrances Will Sell in My Area?

You can get a good idea of what’s popular at certain times of the year by going to stores in your area. Just take a look at what fragrance of candles they have on their shelves! Especially stores like Walmart or Fred Meyer, larger chains like that. You KNOW that they put a lot of thought and research into what people want and what sells. It would also be a good idea to do some research on the Yankee Candle website as well as Scentsy.

That doesn’t mean you have to sell exactly those types of fragrances. However, it might be a good idea to include a few of them or similar ones, especially at first. Maybe put your own spin on a popular fragrance this time of year such as Pumpkin Pie. I made some Pumpkin Nog candles one year and they did fairly well. Here’s what I did, I just mixed Pumpkin Pie fragrance oil with Eggnog fragrance oil and Whala! 🙂

So anyway, you just want to have as many fragrances as you can handle at first. Don’t try to be the one that has them all, like I did! You end up having someone order a fragrance that hardly ever sells. Then if you’re out of that fragrance oil, you have to order some from your supplier just for one customer!! That doesn’t work well with your profit margin. So, just don’t do it lol

Play it smart and get really good at marketing the few candles that you start with before gradually adding more.

How Many Fragrances Should I Start With?

So, now your going to ask “But how many fragrances should I start with?”. Well, that really depends, but if I were to give a number, I would say start with around 6 fragrances give or take a few. Use a couple classic fragrances, some seasonal and maybe one or two more unique fragrances.

The key to success in any business is to figure out what makes YOU and your product stand out from the rest and really work with that. Do a little research and take a look at different soy candle web stores. Think about what makes you different. It doesn’t have to be the candles themselves, except maybe the quality of them. When I had my candle making business growing, I really wasn’t selling any “special” kind of candles. Others were selling mason jar candles too, and probably a lot of the same scents. Now this was online. Offline, I had hardly any competition in my city/state. I had people in the area and friends and family as pretty regular customers.

You should also look at what the competition seems to be doing right and what seems to be working for them. Find some reviews from people, or comments people are making. For example,look on the companies’ Twitter page or Facebook page. Then you can get some excellent insight into what people like and don’t like. You can also find out what you can do to fulfill those needs and what not to do by learning from any negative feedback that company might have.

So before my next post on starting your candle making business, I want you to think about how you can stand out, and get started on the steps above if you haven’t already.

Starting a Candle Making Business- What Next?

Why You Need to Start Building Your Email List and How to Do It

August 26, 2014 by SoyCandleMakingTime Leave a Comment

Do you have a website for your candle business? Maybe you don’t have a website yet, but you have a Facebook page, or you sell your candles on Etsy, or maybe you only do offline sales.

You NEED to Have an Email List!

An email list is so important to building your business and building relationships with your customers. If you have people voluntarily signing up for updates and specials and promotions, you have a gold mine! Besides the fact that if your website goes down you still have your mailing list and you can communicate with your customers, letting them know what’s going on so they aren’t in the dark.

Your email list is so important and you really NEED to start one as soon as possible if you don’t have one going already.

When I was selling candles, I didn’t have a way for site visitors to sign up to a mailing list. Ooooh how I wish I did! When I started this site, I didn’t start my mailing list right away until I read about starting a list from a blogger that I follow (SmartPassiveIncome.com). He showed me the importance of having a way for people to sign up on your website. I had thought about it before, but I just never implemented it. Well, I started my list in March 2013 (just last year) and I now have a list of nearly 1000 subscribers! These are people that voluntarily want to hear about what I have to offer.

Now, I don’t normally “sell” to my list, but I did send a couple emails out recently with my book launch and guess what? I sold quite a few books and most of my buyers were from my mailing list! With a website where you are selling your candles, like many of you probably have or intend to have, your customers will be signing up with the expectation of receiving sales type emails, and as long as you aren’t bombarding them, you should get a very good response to your newsletters, specials, etc….

How Do You Start an Email List?

So, this part is pretty simple. You just need to sign up with someplace like Mailchimp (that’s who I use) which is free until you hit 2000 subscribers. And then there’s Aweber (affiliate link) which is highly recommended by many, but they do not have a free version. I am probably going to switch to Aweber soon and try them out because I have heard so many great things about them.

As far as I’ve seen, those are probably the top email marking sites. I really like the free version of Mailchimp although they definitely have some useful tools in the paid version that I would like to try out. I think Aweber may be more flexible in creating custom sign up forms though. I’ll do a review when I try them out.

So after you sign up, you’ll just follow their instructions to put a form on your website. You can see my newsletter sign up form over on the top right side of this page. That area works really well for me, as well as including a form at the bottom of my posts and even sometimes in the middle of content like on my home page and about page.

I will talk more in detail about the placement and style of your email list sign up form in another post, but this should get you on your way. I’ll also talk about how to include a mailing list sign up form on your Facebook page in another post as well.

So get that form up on your site if you don’t have one or make a way to collect your customers email addresses offline if you don’t have a website, or better yet, do both!

I hope you found this helpful and feel free to post a comment below if you have any questions or thoughts.