June 4, 2025 • 23 mins
#001 Part 1 of 3 of How to Build a Successful Candle Business.
Sabastian Garsnett shares the remarkable journey of transforming a pandemic hobby into Garsnett Beacon Candle Company, a million-dollar business with three storefronts and over 140 wholesale accounts. The challenges of early candle making experiments ultimately led to a simplified approach that became the foundation of their entire business model.
• Starting with the basics is essential – one vessel, one wick, one wax, one fragrance oil
• Their most profitable product uses this simple formula rather than complex combinations
• Choose suppliers carefully, especially for foundational elements like wax and wicks
• Create a brand name and identity that connects with target customers rather than just using your personal name
• Understanding your niche market helps determine everything from pricing to packaging
• Women's boutiques became their target retail environment, influencing their entire brand design
• Share your candle making journey publicly to build an audience before launching
• Transparency about struggles and small victories creates invested customers
• Their first weekend brought $3,000 in sales from people who followed their development
• Different sales channels include Shopify, Etsy, markets, fundraisers, wholesale, and retail stores
Head over to candlebusinesspro.com to explore our free resources, courses and community. We're here to help you go pro.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sabastian (00:02):
We didn't set out to build a million dollar candle
business.
In fact, we were just lookingfor a creative outlet that we
hoped could potentially replaceone of our salaries.
But what started as a fewcandle experiments in our
kitchen turned into somethingbigger than we could have ever
imagined, and if you've everwondered if it's possible for
you to start from scratch, it is.
In this episode, I'm walkingyou through the exact steps we
(00:23):
took to go from burnout tobuilding a brand, one candle at
a time.
So let's rewind a few years andwalk through exactly how it all
(00:45):
began the mistakes, thelearning curves and the turning
points that laid the foundationfor everything we've built.
So, to get started, I want tointroduce myself.
I'm Sabastian Garsnett, theco-founder of Garsnett Beacon
Candle Company, alongside myhusband, Chad, and the founder
of Candle Business Pro.
So how did we even get intocandle making?
So let's go back to 2021, 2022,that time of our lives and
(01:06):
probably of your lives.
That is kind of a blur.
We're all living at home fulltime, not leaving the house for
anything, but maybe somegroceries here and there, and
most of us were also workingfrom home.
We were both working from home,doing our nine to five jobs.
I was working, actually, for apodcast network in Indianapolis
and Chad was working for a titlecompany doing numbers
(01:27):
processing things like that.
Now you'll get to know Chad asyou go through the podcast or if
you've seen any of our videoson YouTube or if you're inside
of our inner circle.
You may know Chad a little bitmore and realize that he's not
necessarily the one crunchingthe numbers, doing the marketing
and all of that.
He's the creative mind behindour brand.
He's the one that loves to dothe scent blending.
(01:49):
He's the one that has a visionfor our labeling.
That is how his mind works.
I like to focus on growing thebusiness.
So we do have a benefit thatboth of us are in the business
now, but that's not how itstarted are in the business now,
but that's not how it started.
This started as a creativeoutlet for Chad that he needed
to stay sane during a time ofthe world where we didn't know
(02:13):
what was going on.
So he discovered candle makingduring that time by buying a
simple candle making kit onlineI'm sure that you have probably
seen those.
They're less than $100.
They're going to come with apitcher, a candy thermometer, a
little bit of wax, a little bitof oil and some very basic
(02:34):
instructions of how you're goingto use your stove to melt that
wax.
When you're going to add thatoil into that, they're going to
give you a few wicks.
You're going to make thiscandle and our assumption is
going to be that we are nowcandle makers.
Obviously, that's not how itends up working out.
(02:54):
Those first candles werehorrible.
Those first candles, thetesting phase of those, were
exhausting.
We started doing all kinds ofthings to try to make it work
because we were determined tofigure out why our candles did
not turn out like those candlesthat we buy from the store.
So when those first candles didnot turn out, I think we went
(03:15):
down every single rabbit holepossible.
We watched every YouTube video.
We read every article, everyblog.
We looked for podcasts, everyarticle, every blog.
We looked for podcasts.
We were looking for answers ofwhy our candles weren't turning
out the way that we imaginedthey would, and I think we did.
What many people do was startbuying all kinds of different
(03:37):
supplies changing your wax,changing your wick, soaking your
wick in olive oil I rememberwas a thing for your wooden
wicks using multiple wicksinstead of just one and then
going back down to one.
We tried everything.
We were blending our own waxestogether.
That's how determined we wereto figure out what was wrong
(04:00):
when in reality the problem waswe weren't just sticking to the
basics when we first started.
That's what I would encourageevery maker out there to do is
get the basics down and then youcan start adding in all the
variables.
For us and what we teach insidenow our Candle Business Pro
(04:23):
Candle Making course is theleast amount of variables the
better.
One vessel, one wick, one wax,one oil Make that candle safe.
Have a great hot throw andsomething that you would be
proud to sell.
Then start adding in thoseother variables.
(04:47):
Start getting into the differenttypes of wax.
Start blending your own scentcreations.
Start doing larger two-wickcandles or three-wick candles,
things like that.
Getting into the wooden wicksis another thing that you can
start doing then.
But when you're first startingout, stick to the basics.
We have made the most money inour candle shop with a candle
(05:13):
that is one wax, one wick andone oil.
That is what we built our brandon.
Chad loves to scent blend, sowe do.
The majority of our candles arescent blended, not just a
repurposed oil out of the bottle.
But when you're first startingout, that oil out of the bottle
(05:33):
is just fine, smells fantasticfrom the supplier and your
customers do not know that ifyour supplier blended that, if
you blended that, and they don'tcare.
There's no less value in thatcandle from you not creating
your own custom blend.
So just keep that in mind.
So, when you're first startingout, I highly, highly recommend
(05:56):
sticking to the basics and youcan build a million dollar
business.
Now, when it comes to choosing asupplier to get the majority of
your supplies from, you'regonna have a lot of options.
There are so many differentcandle making suppliers out
there.
What I would recommend is, whenit comes to your oils,
certainly you're gonna have alot more opportunity out there.
(06:17):
There are so many smallbusinesses that you can support
when it comes to those oils aswell.
That's fantastic If you findsomething that you think is
going to really work with yourcustomer that you had in mind
that you're going to be makingthese candles for.
But when it comes to your waxesand your wicks, I would be
cautious with buying what I calllike designer products, right,
(06:39):
like a new product that justcame onto the scene and we don't
really know much about it, butthere's a lot of hype about it.
There's a lot of marketingbehind this one specific wax or
this special new wick, somethinglike that that comes out.
I would be a little cautiousabout that.
The reason is is oftentimesbusinesses just fail and new
(06:59):
product lines just fail.
That's just the reality of abusiness and I want to build my
brand on at least thefoundational things wax and
wicks that I know.
If this supplier ends uprunning out or a short supply or
they just go out of businessaltogether, it's not going to
(07:19):
stop my business from operating.
That I will be able to pivotvery quickly.
When it comes to oils, we'realways that with the season,
oils are changing right, and soyou're going to see oils go out
and leave, even from theselarger suppliers that may be
doing fantastic with that oilnow, at some point they're going
to cycle through.
That's just the reality of it.
(07:40):
You can usually find othersuppliers that are going to
carry something, if not exactlythe same, very similar, or you
can even work to get that oilthat you loved replicated.
So that's something that we cando and in fact we actually do
that.
There is a supplier that we gotan oil from that we loved.
They stopped carrying that.
(08:00):
So we went to a manufacturer ofoils and they make that for us,
but you're buying that in alarger quantity.
I think we have to buy thatlike 15 pounds of that one oil
when you've got hundreds of oils.
You know that's not ideal butit is okay and it works for us.
Ideal but it is okay and itworks for us.
(08:23):
But if our wax supplier stoppedcarrying that wax and there was
no other wax supplier with thatwax, we would have to literally
rebuild out our business becauseour business is based on.
We've got that single wax thatwe're using and then we're
adding these other variables toit and it's based on that wax.
Because every wax witcombination is going to be
different.
We will have to go back andretest all of our candles.
(08:45):
We are up to 78 candles now inour brain with the different
collections that we have.
I can't.
I don't want to think about theprocess of going back and
retesting every single one ofthose waxes, of going back and
retesting every single one ofthose waxes.
What I like to do is have asolid wax that multiple
suppliers have.
It gives us the confidence thatthat manufacturer of that wax
(09:07):
is going to be around Now.
Very well, there are plenty ofbig businesses in the world that
go out and go out of businessas well.
Where things change, theychange formulas and we have to
adjust to it.
Just think about like Coca-Colathey have made Coca-Cola for I
don't know hundreds of years andthey've changed the formula
over time.
That could possibly happen withthe wax that we are using, but
(09:30):
I hope not.
So I would have a higher rateof confidence in a supplier that
is carrying a product thatyou'll be able to get multiple
places.
But when it comes to fragranceoils, have fun, select from
different suppliers, supportsmall business.
We love supporting smallbusiness.
So we actually don't limit whowe get our oils from.
I think we have like sevendifferent suppliers of our oils.
(09:52):
In fact, in the show notes youcan get a checklist of every
single supply that we use, fromour vessels to our wax, to our
oils, to our wicks, to ourscales, our hot gun, all that
stuff.
We have a free list and you candownload it right on our
website.
So see that in the show notesto link out to that and that
actually will have the updatedsupply list of who we use for
(10:13):
our brand, as well as all thetools, and you can get that
completely free.
So, all right, enough of thesupplies.
Let's talk about the earlystages of Garz and Beacon candle
company and how it was born.
So Garz and it's our last name.
Um, me and Chad's last name isGarz and it and Beacon.
It was kind of a play on wordsand we were doing a lot of
(10:35):
searching around to find it.
So we were in Indianapolis andwe were going to be moving up to
Michigan, or that was the goalthat was.
The dream we had was to move uphere and live in one of these
little coastal towns.
So I wanted something that waskind of more Michigan water
themed.
So the beacon is on thelighthouses.
We didn't know that Michiganactually has the most
(10:55):
lighthouses of any state in thecountry.
I just would have assumed itwould have been on the East
coast somewhere, but I wouldhave been wrong to assume that
it is.
In fact Michigan has the mostlighthouses of any state.
So with the lighthouse likeGarcinet lighthouse, things like
that didn't work.
But Beacon kind of worked, andit also went along with Chad's
(11:16):
desire to make our business agive back business where we are
putting giving back to ourcommunity at the top of our
priorities.
And so he liked the idea ofbeing a beacon in the community
and being that light in thedarkness for some communities.
And so that is what we, or howwe came up with Garznit Beacon
(11:41):
and then Candle Company at theend of it.
So that's where we got our namefrom.
People ask us all the time howwe got that and if we recommend
other people using their names.
It's really tough for me to saythis because we use our name in
our brand, but I wouldn't justcreate a brand that's, you know,
sebastian's candle company oreven just Garznick candle
(12:01):
company.
I wouldn't have done that.
There's nothing relatable to itto someone that doesn't know us
or doesn't know our story,right.
So if my candles are just onthe line, someone discovers it
and it was like Sebastian'scandle company they're not going
to know me.
Do they want my name in theirhouse?
Like it's too personal, I think, when it comes to um trying to
(12:24):
expand your business.
So I wouldn't want to do likeSebastian and Chad's crafts or I
wouldn't want to do anythingthat, um, no one can understand.
With Garcinet beacon, our logois a lighthouse with that beacon
shining, so that really playsinto it.
So naming of your candle brandis going to be something that
(12:47):
you're going to want to reallythink about and think about who
your customer is.
And that really ties into mynext point here about your
branding.
When you start your candlebusiness, it's going to be
crucial to your brand making itthat you really understand who
(13:11):
you're making candles for.
Now, while we're just at hometesting and just trying to
figure out the basics, we'rejust trying to figure out if we
can get a wick to burn correctly.
I understand we're not thinkingabout our customers necessarily
at that point.
But once you start getting intobranding and coming up with a
name for your company and a logofor your company and what kind
of vessels that you're going towant to make your candles in
(13:34):
long term things like that youreally have to have your
customer in mind, and it'sbroken into two different things
.
You're gonna have a niche andyou're gonna have a target
audience.
So let's think of your niche asthe category, the category that
your candles are going to fitin.
So do you wanna make candlesthat have labels of all
different exotic cities in theworld that famous people travel
(13:56):
to.
Is that gonna be your niche?
Or do you want them to be hotelinspired and have all of these
scents of these differentlocations that people will stay
in whenever they travel to thesenice places?
Do you want to have your nichetheme park right, theme park
themed of all these differentlocations and things that are
going to inspire or remindpeople of those locations?
(14:20):
That is what your niche isgoing to be.
Another niche would be yourfarmhouse cottage, you know.
Are you going to have them inmason jars or some twine around
the lids and a hang tag?
Are you wanting to go with aluxury candle?
Are you going to be havingelevated ingredients in them at
a lot more higher end cost?
What is your niche?
Just making a candle, puttingyour name on the front of it and
(14:43):
just throwing it out there tothe world and then just hoping
people are going to one locatedwhen they're looking for
something and then buy it fromyou?
It's going to be tough.
You need to have a niche sothat you can understand and
drive the direction that all ofyour branding around your candle
line is how it's going to bemade so from not only your logo,
(15:07):
but also in the social mediaposts that you make, in the
graphics that you include, withthe emails that you're going to
be sending out to people, thecommunication that your
customers expect from you.
This is all determined by whatyour niche is, and so you've got
to have that kind of figuredout, and what I recommend is
(15:28):
just stick with something basic.
Stick to something that you'rea part of.
What are the things that you dothat you could easily relate to
a customer that would be buyingfrom that?
Are you a mother of lots ofkids and you are in these mom
groups and you get together andyou understand their struggles
(15:50):
in life, how they just need sometime to themselves.
Are you a world traveler?
That is, you know, jet settingfor work all the time.
You're staying in hotels everysingle night.
If you understand how that lifeis, you can make a candle brand
around that and you'llunderstand how to communicate
(16:13):
with those people, becauseyou're one of those people.
Right?
We love to shop small indowntown versus going to big box
malls stores like that, right?
So we understand the kinds ofproducts that are sold in these
downtown shopping districts.
We understand the price pointsthat are going to be in them.
So we understand the candlesthat are in those type of stores
(16:35):
and that's where we want ourcandles to be.
So we built our candle linearound those customers.
So we went and shopped all thesedifferent stores, specifically
women boutiques, because womendo dominate the market when it
comes to buying of candles andenjoying candles.
So that's, of course, somethingthat we aren't part of.
(16:56):
But we wanted to understandmore.
So we're going into all ofthese stores, we're picking up
candles, we're smelling themwhere we're seeing what types of
scents are really gravitatingtowards that customer in that
niche.
We understand the price pointfor the certain sizes of candles
right.
So a lot of these womenboutiques, they're not going to
(17:16):
have a mason jar in there.
They're also not going to havea hundred dollar plus candles
and they're not going to havecandles less than $20.
When we shopped all of thesestores for the kind of the niche
that we wanted to be in, wenoticed it was 25 to $38 for
those candles.
They were roughly between eightand 12 ounces.
(17:37):
They were in a in a nice,usually pretty simplistic vessel
with labeling.
What we did to hopefully standout was a lot of the labeling on
these candles in these women'sboutiques were all pretty
minimalistic.
They have the nice scriptwriting on there Um, it's really
popular, but we wanted to stickout.
(17:57):
So if you check out our website, garzabeaconcom, you'll see all
of our candle labels are bright, colorful, but they still fit
the rest of that niche, which isgoing to be the right size and
the right price point.
So we knew that down the road,when we decided to start
reaching out to stores topotentially carry our products,
we would know what stores to goafter.
(18:21):
Once we had our niche dialed in,we had to figure out more
information about who ourcustomers.
Who is that person that's goinginto those stores where we want
our candles to be, and how dowe communicate with them so that
they want to buy our candles?
And that's what your brandingis all about understanding who
they are, their lifestyle, theirincome brackets.
(18:41):
Do they have kids?
Do they not have kids?
All of those types of thingswill help you zero in on who
your target audience is, andthen you build your brand around
that target customer.
From the communication, fromthe social media posts to the
price point, every single thingthat goes into your candle brand
, you have to have that customerin mind.
What are they spending?
(19:02):
You know, can I afford tocharge more?
Do I have to reduce my priceseven though my cost of goods are
not moving along with that?
All of those things have tocome into consideration, but you
have to have that end goal inmind of who is going to buy
those candles.
So that is niche and targetaudience.
We will get much more into that.
(19:22):
We actually have an entirebranding workshop that we'll
definitely be sharing.
Some of the tips from thatworkshop is inside of our inner
circle currently, but I'lldefinitely be pulling from that
to share with you here.
Let's talk about how we firstgot Garcin and Beacon Candle
Company out into the world, theway we did it, and I would
(19:45):
highly recommend you all doingthis same process.
When you know that you aregoing to make and build a candle
brand, start talking about it.
Do not be what I call anundercover candle maker.
(20:05):
Don't just show up on Facebookor Instagram or TikTok one day
and say, hey, friends and family, I have a candle brand, please
buy my candles, because you'regoing to be disappointed in the
results.
If that's the method that youtake.
What you're going to want to dois let those potential
(20:28):
customers go on the journey withyou.
So when you know, hey, I'mgoing to make this into
something, okay, great.
So now create a Facebookbusiness page or an Instagram
page or a TikTok, wherever yourcustomer is.
Keep that in mind.
You don't have to be on all theplatforms at once.
Go to where your customer is,start talking about your brand.
(20:49):
Let them go on the journey withyou.
Let them see the struggles, bevulnerable with your followers.
Let them see the messes thatyou make, how imperfect your
candle making space is, howyou're making it in just this
little office, that during theday you're working your nine to
five and it's a computer andmonitors and a keyboard, and at
(21:12):
night it becomes a candle studio.
Let them see what it takes sothey can go on that journey with
you, because then they're partof your story.
So in a few months, when youare ready to start selling and
you finally have that finishedproduct, you're going to have
those people lined up to supportyou and you're going to have a
(21:32):
really successful launch.
When we launched our candlebrand, we had like a $3,000
weekend, and this is friends andfamily.
We didn't know people in thecommunity yet because we had
just moved here to Michigan.
So these are people that weallow to watch us, for over two
months, go on this journey offrustration and small wins and
(21:53):
finding you know, whenever wegot our logo done, we were able
to share that with them, and sowe had these people cheering us
on so once they could actuallybuy something from us, a lot of
those people did so.
That was a fantastic weekend,really a week Like it was.
It was so much.
I'm sure we'll share photos,but after that initial week when
(22:15):
all of those people that havegone on a journey with us have
purchased from us and supportedus, that's when the real work
starts.
That's when you now need toshift gears from making your
product and figuring all of thatout to now selling your product
and understanding how to getyour product into potential
(22:37):
buyers' hands, whether that'sgoing to be through Shopify,
etsy, doing markets, doingfundraisers.
Do you want to open a brick andmortar store?
We've done all of those.
We now have three brick andmortar stores.
We've got 140 plus wholesaleaccounts.
You want to do that yourselfwith the wholesale route?
There's so many different waysto go.
We're going to cover all ofthose on this podcast.
(23:04):
So just to recap today.
Starting a candle businessisn't about getting everything
perfect.
In fact, we're four years intoit and we're not even close to
perfect.
It's all about starting with apurpose.
You got to test, simplify andbuild with your customer in mind
.
Now, in episode two, we'll talkabout how we began selling,
from online to markets towholesale to, eventually, our
first storefront.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Candle Business Pro
(23:26):
podcast.
If you found this episodehelpful, we would love it if
you'd leave us a rating and areview.
It really helps us reach moremakers like you.
And if you're ready to take thenext step in your candle
business journey, head over tocandlebusinessprocom to explore
our free resources, our coursesand our community.
We're here to help you go pro.
Thank you so much for listening.
(23:48):
Have a great day.
We didn't set out to build a million dollar candle
business.
In fact, we were just lookingfor a creative outlet that we
hoped could potentially replaceone of our salaries.
But what started as a fewcandle experiments in our
kitchen turned into somethingbigger than we could have ever
imagined, and if you've everwondered if it's possible for
you to start from scratch, it is.
In this episode, I'm walkingyou through the exact steps we
(00:23):
took to go from burnout tobuilding a brand, one candle at
a time.
So let's rewind a few years andwalk through exactly how it all
(00:45):
began the mistakes, thelearning curves and the turning
points that laid the foundationfor everything we've built.
So, to get started, I want tointroduce myself.
I'm Sabastian Garsnett, theco-founder of Garsnett Beacon
Candle Company, alongside myhusband, Chad, and the founder
of Candle Business Pro.
So how did we even get intocandle making?
So let's go back to 2021, 2022,that time of our lives and
(01:06):
probably of your lives.
That is kind of a blur.
We're all living at home fulltime, not leaving the house for
anything, but maybe somegroceries here and there, and
most of us were also workingfrom home.
We were both working from home,doing our nine to five jobs.
I was working, actually, for apodcast network in Indianapolis
and Chad was working for a titlecompany doing numbers
(01:27):
processing things like that.
Now you'll get to know Chad asyou go through the podcast or if
you've seen any of our videoson YouTube or if you're inside
of our inner circle.
You may know Chad a little bitmore and realize that he's not
necessarily the one crunchingthe numbers, doing the marketing
and all of that.
He's the creative mind behindour brand.
He's the one that loves to dothe scent blending.
(01:49):
He's the one that has a visionfor our labeling.
That is how his mind works.
I like to focus on growing thebusiness.
So we do have a benefit thatboth of us are in the business
now, but that's not how itstarted are in the business now,
but that's not how it started.
This started as a creativeoutlet for Chad that he needed
to stay sane during a time ofthe world where we didn't know
(02:13):
what was going on.
So he discovered candle makingduring that time by buying a
simple candle making kit onlineI'm sure that you have probably
seen those.
They're less than $100.
They're going to come with apitcher, a candy thermometer, a
little bit of wax, a little bitof oil and some very basic
(02:34):
instructions of how you're goingto use your stove to melt that
wax.
When you're going to add thatoil into that, they're going to
give you a few wicks.
You're going to make thiscandle and our assumption is
going to be that we are nowcandle makers.
Obviously, that's not how itends up working out.
(02:54):
Those first candles werehorrible.
Those first candles, thetesting phase of those, were
exhausting.
We started doing all kinds ofthings to try to make it work
because we were determined tofigure out why our candles did
not turn out like those candlesthat we buy from the store.
So when those first candles didnot turn out, I think we went
(03:15):
down every single rabbit holepossible.
We watched every YouTube video.
We read every article, everyblog.
We looked for podcasts, everyarticle, every blog.
We looked for podcasts.
We were looking for answers ofwhy our candles weren't turning
out the way that we imaginedthey would, and I think we did.
What many people do was startbuying all kinds of different
(03:37):
supplies changing your wax,changing your wick, soaking your
wick in olive oil I rememberwas a thing for your wooden
wicks using multiple wicksinstead of just one and then
going back down to one.
We tried everything.
We were blending our own waxestogether.
That's how determined we wereto figure out what was wrong
(04:00):
when in reality the problem waswe weren't just sticking to the
basics when we first started.
That's what I would encourageevery maker out there to do is
get the basics down and then youcan start adding in all the
variables.
For us and what we teach insidenow our Candle Business Pro
(04:23):
Candle Making course is theleast amount of variables the
better.
One vessel, one wick, one wax,one oil Make that candle safe.
Have a great hot throw andsomething that you would be
proud to sell.
Then start adding in thoseother variables.
(04:47):
Start getting into the differenttypes of wax.
Start blending your own scentcreations.
Start doing larger two-wickcandles or three-wick candles,
things like that.
Getting into the wooden wicksis another thing that you can
start doing then.
But when you're first startingout, stick to the basics.
We have made the most money inour candle shop with a candle
(05:13):
that is one wax, one wick andone oil.
That is what we built our brandon.
Chad loves to scent blend, sowe do.
The majority of our candles arescent blended, not just a
repurposed oil out of the bottle.
But when you're first startingout, that oil out of the bottle
(05:33):
is just fine, smells fantasticfrom the supplier and your
customers do not know that ifyour supplier blended that, if
you blended that, and they don'tcare.
There's no less value in thatcandle from you not creating
your own custom blend.
So just keep that in mind.
So, when you're first startingout, I highly, highly recommend
(05:56):
sticking to the basics and youcan build a million dollar
business.
Now, when it comes to choosing asupplier to get the majority of
your supplies from, you'regonna have a lot of options.
There are so many differentcandle making suppliers out
there.
What I would recommend is, whenit comes to your oils,
certainly you're gonna have alot more opportunity out there.
(06:17):
There are so many smallbusinesses that you can support
when it comes to those oils aswell.
That's fantastic If you findsomething that you think is
going to really work with yourcustomer that you had in mind
that you're going to be makingthese candles for.
But when it comes to your waxesand your wicks, I would be
cautious with buying what I calllike designer products, right,
(06:39):
like a new product that justcame onto the scene and we don't
really know much about it, butthere's a lot of hype about it.
There's a lot of marketingbehind this one specific wax or
this special new wick, somethinglike that that comes out.
I would be a little cautiousabout that.
The reason is is oftentimesbusinesses just fail and new
(06:59):
product lines just fail.
That's just the reality of abusiness and I want to build my
brand on at least thefoundational things wax and
wicks that I know.
If this supplier ends uprunning out or a short supply or
they just go out of businessaltogether, it's not going to
(07:19):
stop my business from operating.
That I will be able to pivotvery quickly.
When it comes to oils, we'realways that with the season,
oils are changing right, and soyou're going to see oils go out
and leave, even from theselarger suppliers that may be
doing fantastic with that oilnow, at some point they're going
to cycle through.
That's just the reality of it.
(07:40):
You can usually find othersuppliers that are going to
carry something, if not exactlythe same, very similar, or you
can even work to get that oilthat you loved replicated.
So that's something that we cando and in fact we actually do
that.
There is a supplier that we gotan oil from that we loved.
They stopped carrying that.
(08:00):
So we went to a manufacturer ofoils and they make that for us,
but you're buying that in alarger quantity.
I think we have to buy thatlike 15 pounds of that one oil
when you've got hundreds of oils.
You know that's not ideal butit is okay and it works for us.
Ideal but it is okay and itworks for us.
(08:23):
But if our wax supplier stoppedcarrying that wax and there was
no other wax supplier with thatwax, we would have to literally
rebuild out our business becauseour business is based on.
We've got that single wax thatwe're using and then we're
adding these other variables toit and it's based on that wax.
Because every wax witcombination is going to be
different.
We will have to go back andretest all of our candles.
(08:45):
We are up to 78 candles now inour brain with the different
collections that we have.
I can't.
I don't want to think about theprocess of going back and
retesting every single one ofthose waxes, of going back and
retesting every single one ofthose waxes.
What I like to do is have asolid wax that multiple
suppliers have.
It gives us the confidence thatthat manufacturer of that wax
(09:07):
is going to be around Now.
Very well, there are plenty ofbig businesses in the world that
go out and go out of businessas well.
Where things change, theychange formulas and we have to
adjust to it.
Just think about like Coca-Colathey have made Coca-Cola for I
don't know hundreds of years andthey've changed the formula
over time.
That could possibly happen withthe wax that we are using, but
(09:30):
I hope not.
So I would have a higher rateof confidence in a supplier that
is carrying a product thatyou'll be able to get multiple
places.
But when it comes to fragranceoils, have fun, select from
different suppliers, supportsmall business.
We love supporting smallbusiness.
So we actually don't limit whowe get our oils from.
I think we have like sevendifferent suppliers of our oils.
(09:52):
In fact, in the show notes youcan get a checklist of every
single supply that we use, fromour vessels to our wax, to our
oils, to our wicks, to ourscales, our hot gun, all that
stuff.
We have a free list and you candownload it right on our
website.
So see that in the show notesto link out to that and that
actually will have the updatedsupply list of who we use for
(10:13):
our brand, as well as all thetools, and you can get that
completely free.
So, all right, enough of thesupplies.
Let's talk about the earlystages of Garz and Beacon candle
company and how it was born.
So Garz and it's our last name.
Um, me and Chad's last name isGarz and it and Beacon.
It was kind of a play on wordsand we were doing a lot of
(10:35):
searching around to find it.
So we were in Indianapolis andwe were going to be moving up to
Michigan, or that was the goalthat was.
The dream we had was to move uphere and live in one of these
little coastal towns.
So I wanted something that waskind of more Michigan water
themed.
So the beacon is on thelighthouses.
We didn't know that Michiganactually has the most
(10:55):
lighthouses of any state in thecountry.
I just would have assumed itwould have been on the East
coast somewhere, but I wouldhave been wrong to assume that
it is.
In fact Michigan has the mostlighthouses of any state.
So with the lighthouse likeGarcinet lighthouse, things like
that didn't work.
But Beacon kind of worked, andit also went along with Chad's
(11:16):
desire to make our business agive back business where we are
putting giving back to ourcommunity at the top of our
priorities.
And so he liked the idea ofbeing a beacon in the community
and being that light in thedarkness for some communities.
And so that is what we, or howwe came up with Garznit Beacon
(11:41):
and then Candle Company at theend of it.
So that's where we got our namefrom.
People ask us all the time howwe got that and if we recommend
other people using their names.
It's really tough for me to saythis because we use our name in
our brand, but I wouldn't justcreate a brand that's, you know,
sebastian's candle company oreven just Garznick candle
(12:01):
company.
I wouldn't have done that.
There's nothing relatable to itto someone that doesn't know us
or doesn't know our story,right.
So if my candles are just onthe line, someone discovers it
and it was like Sebastian'scandle company they're not going
to know me.
Do they want my name in theirhouse?
Like it's too personal, I think, when it comes to um trying to
(12:24):
expand your business.
So I wouldn't want to do likeSebastian and Chad's crafts or I
wouldn't want to do anythingthat, um, no one can understand.
With Garcinet beacon, our logois a lighthouse with that beacon
shining, so that really playsinto it.
So naming of your candle brandis going to be something that
(12:47):
you're going to want to reallythink about and think about who
your customer is.
And that really ties into mynext point here about your
branding.
When you start your candlebusiness, it's going to be
crucial to your brand making itthat you really understand who
(13:11):
you're making candles for.
Now, while we're just at hometesting and just trying to
figure out the basics, we'rejust trying to figure out if we
can get a wick to burn correctly.
I understand we're not thinkingabout our customers necessarily
at that point.
But once you start getting intobranding and coming up with a
name for your company and a logofor your company and what kind
of vessels that you're going towant to make your candles in
(13:34):
long term things like that youreally have to have your
customer in mind, and it'sbroken into two different things
.
You're gonna have a niche andyou're gonna have a target
audience.
So let's think of your niche asthe category, the category that
your candles are going to fitin.
So do you wanna make candlesthat have labels of all
different exotic cities in theworld that famous people travel
(13:56):
to.
Is that gonna be your niche?
Or do you want them to be hotelinspired and have all of these
scents of these differentlocations that people will stay
in whenever they travel to thesenice places?
Do you want to have your nichetheme park right, theme park
themed of all these differentlocations and things that are
going to inspire or remindpeople of those locations?
(14:20):
That is what your niche isgoing to be.
Another niche would be yourfarmhouse cottage, you know.
Are you going to have them inmason jars or some twine around
the lids and a hang tag?
Are you wanting to go with aluxury candle?
Are you going to be havingelevated ingredients in them at
a lot more higher end cost?
What is your niche?
Just making a candle, puttingyour name on the front of it and
(14:43):
just throwing it out there tothe world and then just hoping
people are going to one locatedwhen they're looking for
something and then buy it fromyou?
It's going to be tough.
You need to have a niche sothat you can understand and
drive the direction that all ofyour branding around your candle
line is how it's going to bemade so from not only your logo,
(15:07):
but also in the social mediaposts that you make, in the
graphics that you include, withthe emails that you're going to
be sending out to people, thecommunication that your
customers expect from you.
This is all determined by whatyour niche is, and so you've got
to have that kind of figuredout, and what I recommend is
(15:28):
just stick with something basic.
Stick to something that you'rea part of.
What are the things that you dothat you could easily relate to
a customer that would be buyingfrom that?
Are you a mother of lots ofkids and you are in these mom
groups and you get together andyou understand their struggles
(15:50):
in life, how they just need sometime to themselves.
Are you a world traveler?
That is, you know, jet settingfor work all the time.
You're staying in hotels everysingle night.
If you understand how that lifeis, you can make a candle brand
around that and you'llunderstand how to communicate
(16:13):
with those people, becauseyou're one of those people.
Right?
We love to shop small indowntown versus going to big box
malls stores like that, right?
So we understand the kinds ofproducts that are sold in these
downtown shopping districts.
We understand the price pointsthat are going to be in them.
So we understand the candlesthat are in those type of stores
(16:35):
and that's where we want ourcandles to be.
So we built our candle linearound those customers.
So we went and shopped all thesedifferent stores, specifically
women boutiques, because womendo dominate the market when it
comes to buying of candles andenjoying candles.
So that's, of course, somethingthat we aren't part of.
(16:56):
But we wanted to understandmore.
So we're going into all ofthese stores, we're picking up
candles, we're smelling themwhere we're seeing what types of
scents are really gravitatingtowards that customer in that
niche.
We understand the price pointfor the certain sizes of candles
right.
So a lot of these womenboutiques, they're not going to
(17:16):
have a mason jar in there.
They're also not going to havea hundred dollar plus candles
and they're not going to havecandles less than $20.
When we shopped all of thesestores for the kind of the niche
that we wanted to be in, wenoticed it was 25 to $38 for
those candles.
They were roughly between eightand 12 ounces.
(17:37):
They were in a in a nice,usually pretty simplistic vessel
with labeling.
What we did to hopefully standout was a lot of the labeling on
these candles in these women'sboutiques were all pretty
minimalistic.
They have the nice scriptwriting on there Um, it's really
popular, but we wanted to stickout.
(17:57):
So if you check out our website, garzabeaconcom, you'll see all
of our candle labels are bright, colorful, but they still fit
the rest of that niche, which isgoing to be the right size and
the right price point.
So we knew that down the road,when we decided to start
reaching out to stores topotentially carry our products,
we would know what stores to goafter.
(18:21):
Once we had our niche dialed in,we had to figure out more
information about who ourcustomers.
Who is that person that's goinginto those stores where we want
our candles to be, and how dowe communicate with them so that
they want to buy our candles?
And that's what your brandingis all about understanding who
they are, their lifestyle, theirincome brackets.
(18:41):
Do they have kids?
Do they not have kids?
All of those types of thingswill help you zero in on who
your target audience is, andthen you build your brand around
that target customer.
From the communication, fromthe social media posts to the
price point, every single thingthat goes into your candle brand
, you have to have that customerin mind.
What are they spending?
(19:02):
You know, can I afford tocharge more?
Do I have to reduce my priceseven though my cost of goods are
not moving along with that?
All of those things have tocome into consideration, but you
have to have that end goal inmind of who is going to buy
those candles.
So that is niche and targetaudience.
We will get much more into that.
(19:22):
We actually have an entirebranding workshop that we'll
definitely be sharing.
Some of the tips from thatworkshop is inside of our inner
circle currently, but I'lldefinitely be pulling from that
to share with you here.
Let's talk about how we firstgot Garcin and Beacon Candle
Company out into the world, theway we did it, and I would
(19:45):
highly recommend you all doingthis same process.
When you know that you aregoing to make and build a candle
brand, start talking about it.
Do not be what I call anundercover candle maker.
(20:05):
Don't just show up on Facebookor Instagram or TikTok one day
and say, hey, friends and family, I have a candle brand, please
buy my candles, because you'regoing to be disappointed in the
results.
If that's the method that youtake.
What you're going to want to dois let those potential
(20:28):
customers go on the journey withyou.
So when you know, hey, I'mgoing to make this into
something, okay, great.
So now create a Facebookbusiness page or an Instagram
page or a TikTok, wherever yourcustomer is.
Keep that in mind.
You don't have to be on all theplatforms at once.
Go to where your customer is,start talking about your brand.
(20:49):
Let them go on the journey withyou.
Let them see the struggles, bevulnerable with your followers.
Let them see the messes thatyou make, how imperfect your
candle making space is, howyou're making it in just this
little office, that during theday you're working your nine to
five and it's a computer andmonitors and a keyboard, and at
(21:12):
night it becomes a candle studio.
Let them see what it takes sothey can go on that journey with
you, because then they're partof your story.
So in a few months, when youare ready to start selling and
you finally have that finishedproduct, you're going to have
those people lined up to supportyou and you're going to have a
(21:32):
really successful launch.
When we launched our candlebrand, we had like a $3,000
weekend, and this is friends andfamily.
We didn't know people in thecommunity yet because we had
just moved here to Michigan.
So these are people that weallow to watch us, for over two
months, go on this journey offrustration and small wins and
(21:53):
finding you know, whenever wegot our logo done, we were able
to share that with them, and sowe had these people cheering us
on so once they could actuallybuy something from us, a lot of
those people did so.
That was a fantastic weekend,really a week Like it was.
It was so much.
I'm sure we'll share photos,but after that initial week when
(22:15):
all of those people that havegone on a journey with us have
purchased from us and supportedus, that's when the real work
starts.
That's when you now need toshift gears from making your
product and figuring all of thatout to now selling your product
and understanding how to getyour product into potential
(22:37):
buyers' hands, whether that'sgoing to be through Shopify,
etsy, doing markets, doingfundraisers.
Do you want to open a brick andmortar store?
We've done all of those.
We now have three brick andmortar stores.
We've got 140 plus wholesaleaccounts.
You want to do that yourselfwith the wholesale route?
There's so many different waysto go.
We're going to cover all ofthose on this podcast.
(23:04):
So just to recap today.
Starting a candle businessisn't about getting everything
perfect.
In fact, we're four years intoit and we're not even close to
perfect.
It's all about starting with apurpose.
You got to test, simplify andbuild with your customer in mind
.
Now, in episode two, we'll talkabout how we began selling,
from online to markets towholesale to, eventually, our
first storefront.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Candle Business Pro
(23:26):
podcast.
If you found this episodehelpful, we would love it if
you'd leave us a rating and areview.
It really helps us reach moremakers like you.
And if you're ready to take thenext step in your candle
business journey, head over tocandlebusinessprocom to explore
our free resources, our coursesand our community.
We're here to help you go pro.
Thank you so much for listening.
(23:48):
Have a great day.
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