Overcoming Fear: Standing Out in a Crowded Market

Cathy Blachowski shares her journey into the competitive world of candle making, highlighting her fear of blending in with numerous vendors on platforms like Etsy. She emphasizes the importance of differentiation and staying true to her unique product, targeting individuals who truly appreciate her craftsmanship. Cathy’s courage to face failure head-on is central to her approach, enabling her to take bold steps in her business without the fear of setbacks. Her story is an inspiring testament to the resilience needed to carve out a niche in a crowded market. Join us to hear more about her path to creating a standout candle business.

 

Contact Cathy

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-blachowski-39736355/

Website - www.yellowleafcandlecompany.com

Email - [e-mail]

 

Special Thank you to our Sponsors – Genhead – www.genhead.com and Sales Rescue – www.rescuemysales.com

Robb Conlon – Intro and outro – Westport Studio - https://www.westportstudiosllc.com/

The Brave Ones – Instrumental Version Song by Jan Sanejko - https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/the-brave-ones/119489

 

Leighann Lovely: Welcome to another episode of love your sales. I am so thrilled today. I am joined by Cathy Blachowski.

She is an entrepreneur and owner of Yellow Leaf Candle Company, an e commerce store. And I would love, you know, Kathy, for you to tell us a little bit more about, , you know, what Yellow Leaf Candle Company is and does.

Cathy Blachowski: Yeah, so basically I created this company last year, um, based on my own health history.

So for years I've been suffering [00:02:00] from, chronic migraines, uh, severe sinus pressure, allergies, asthma, and was no longer able to breathe. Burn store-bought candles in my house. So I started making them myself for about five years and then realized that there are a lot of people out there that have the same sensitivities and struggles I do.

So I decided to bring them to the world in 2023, and now I am out there on the website, um, and I'm going out to fairs and craft. Any kind of expo I can get my hands on to share, , these clean burning eco friendly candles that don't irritate all the things, , that I've got going on with myself.

Leighann Lovely: Wow. So explain how that, how, cause I suffer from horrible allergies year round.

So explain to me how these candles work. don't affect, [00:03:00] you know, us who have the hose, those irritants, especially in the house. And, you know, we all bring these things into the home. We're like, Oh, it's, it smells great. It, it's awesome. But yeah, that's a real thing.

Cathy Blachowski: Yeah. So I realized that there's a bunch of candles that big box stores sell and they use the cheapest kind of wax that they can find.

So they can mass produce it. And the wax burns very fast. And the scent goes almost away immediately. And not only are you not getting the full effect of that candle, but you're not getting the full effect of how it burns to like the wicks that they use are cheap wicks. Um, I've noticed when you move furniture around, after you've lit a candle for years, that there's soot on your walls, there's soot on your ceilings and just think about what you're breathing in.

Like that. What's on your walls is in your lungs, and no wonder I was having asthma attacks every [00:04:00] single time. Um, it's, it's one of those things where you just don't realize what's the cause until you stop doing it. And then you're like, wow, like there is a better way that you can do this. So I did a ton of research on what is the cleanest, most combination of a burning candle that you can get.

So I fo