July 23, 2025

What I Wish We Knew Before Starting Our Candle Business

43 minutes

#010 Building a successful candle business requires strategic planning and avoiding common pitfalls that can derail your progress before you reach success. We share five critical lessons learned from growing our business to over a million dollars in sales.

• Start with six well-chosen scents instead of ten or more to test market response without overwhelming yourself
• Focus on customer favorites: two citrus scents, one masculine/woodsy, one spa-like, one approachable floral, and one staple scent
• Wholesale success comes primarily from persistent personal outreach rather than marketplace listings
• Create organized systems for tracking potential stockists and following up consistently
• Focus wholesale pitches on how your products benefit their customers, not just your product features
• 80% of our wholesale accounts came from follow-up emails
• Understand your numbers early—pricing that works for markets won't sustain growth when scaling
• Be cautious about building your brand around vessels, waxes, or fragrances that might be discontinued
• Choose widely available vessels from multiple suppliers for your core collection
• Create seasonal scents by blending staple oils rather than relying on limited-edition fragrances
• Be selective about whose advice you follow in candle communities
• Seek guidance from people actively succeeding in the specific areas you want to improve

Join us next week for part two, where we'll share five more essential tips plus a bonus lesson for candle entrepreneurs.

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