June 25, 2025 • 21 mins
#006 I share our journey of starting a candle business while working full-time jobs, detailing strategies to prioritize tasks, manage time effectively, and stay motivated through the process.
• Finding 5-10 hours weekly to work ON your business (not just making candles) is essential for growth
• Track your time usage and identify areas where you can reclaim hours from activities like social media
• Implement time blocking by grouping similar tasks rather than maintaining never-ending to-do lists
• Focus on high-impact tasks first: product development and branding before perfecting logos
• Choose 1-2 social media platforms where your target customers actually spend time
• Don't compare your progress to full-time makers or others with different circumstances
• Build in rest periods and continue activities you enjoy to prevent burnout
• Celebrate micro-wins along the way to stay motivated during the building process
Leave a comment below letting me know what you're prioritizing in your business and what you're intentionally putting on the back burner until you're ready to tackle it. I'd love to hear about your time-blocking strategies!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Running a candle business while working a
full-time job.
We've been there pouringcandles on the weekends while
everyone else is relaxing,packing orders late at night and
trying to squeeze in socialmedia posts during our lunch
break.
Now, in this episode, I'm gonnashare exactly how to make it
work without burning out andwhat to focus on when time is
limited but your goals aren't.
So.
(00:21):
When Chad and I started ourcandle business, we were both
working full-time jobs.
So the goal was, from the verybeginning, to replace Chad's
nine to five job with a candlebusiness.
That was our goal, but we wereboth working full-time.
So we had to find time aroundour busy schedule to squeeze in
candle making and squeeze in thebusiness side.
(00:41):
We took our time going throughthe candle making phase.
We could have sped that up ifwe had the right direction.
That's something that we coveroften in our candle making
course.
Or if someone takes ourbootcamp is we promise you can
go from a complete beginner toknowing how to make candles and
(01:01):
understanding the candle makingside in and out in 28 days, in a
month.
And that's because we're givingdirection.
But when we started withoutdirection.
We're watching all differentYouTube videos.
We are in all different kindsof Facebook groups.
We're following all differentmakers on different social media
platforms, and that's alltotally fine, but everyone's
going to do it a littledifferently, right?
(01:22):
So if you don't have ablueprint to go from A to Z,
you're going to get off course alittle bit, and that's part of
learning anything.
You can listen to podcasts, youcan read books, you can watch
YouTube videos.
There's so many different wayspeople learn, and then we pick
up advice from different peoplealong the way.
So I'm not saying that if ittakes someone more than a month
(01:43):
to understand candle making,that they're doing it wrong.
We just created our candlemaking course to get people from
A to Z as quick as possible,with showing the way that we do
it right.
So we've documented everything.
We turn it into that.
So once you're past the candlemaking that's what we're talking
about today is the turning itinto a business, right?
So whether it takes you a monthor six months or a year to get
(02:07):
the candle making side down,after that we got turned to a
business, and that's reallywhere a lot of the work comes in
, because now we, with withcandle making, you are getting
progress with every single pour,every single blend.
Every time you make a candle,you're actually able to see the
progress and that keeps usmoving and that keeps us
(02:29):
motivated.
But when we're turning into abusiness, you're gonna be doing
things that you're not gettingresults right away.
Right, when you are posting onsocial media, it's not gonna get
you a result necessarily rightaway.
When you are building out yourwebsite, you're not gonna be
getting sales right away.
When you are building out yourwebsite, you're not going to be
getting sales right away.
When you are starting to reachout to businesses to do
fundraisers, you're not going toget emails back right away.
(02:51):
All these different ways thatyou're going to have to work on
growing your business.
When you don't get resultsright away, that's often when
people start to give up.
So today I want to talk abouthow do we find time to do all of
this stuff?
So, realistically, you're goingto need 5, 10, 15 hours a week
to work on your business not inyour business, not making
(03:14):
candles, but on your business.
Right, to get things in place,you have to build a website.
You have to get your brandingdown.
You have to start thinkingabout how you're going to reach
out to different organizationsIf you're going to want to do a
fundraiser, or if you're goingto want to apply to do markets.
All of these things are goingto take time.
(03:35):
So let's talk about some of theways that we look at our
availability.
So with us, I like my socialmedia not as much now as I used
to, but I found that I wasspending a lot of time on social
media, in fact, with my, withiPhone.
I don't know what phone you areusing, but with any of them
they can track how much timeyou're using on different
(03:57):
applications, and every Sunday Iget an update and it says you
spent this amount of time in theemail, this amount of time on
social media, this amount oftime on search engines like on
Google, and so it breaks it alldown.
How much time was I wasactually on the phone, I was in
messages, all of that stuff.
So, looking at that, thatshowed me a lot of areas that I
(04:21):
could cut back on getting off ofmy phone and focusing on the
business.
I cut out a lot of social mediawhile could cut back on getting
off of my phone and focusing onthe business.
I cut out a lot of social mediawhile I was focusing on the
business.
When we are first starting ourbusiness, it's a matter of
finding time, because a lot ofus, we're all busy, we don't
have a lot of time, so we wouldget up an hour early and just
(04:42):
focus on the business.
I was focused on the websitebuild.
Chad was focused on redesigningour labels.
We went through a lot ofreiterations when we first
started, so he would focus onthat.
I would focus on the websiteand building that out.
On lunch breaks it's focusingon photo editing, and then in
(05:04):
the evenings we're pouringcandles, and so we would have
this cycle that we were goingthrough.
And so, really, it's how muchtime can you free up?
Because if you can't find thatfive hours, that 10 hours a week
, it's going to be really toughto get your business off the
ground.
So we can't just, you know,romanticize that we have all
(05:25):
this extra time on the weekendsthat we can start now dedicating
to our candle business.
You have to really decide.
Are you going to do that?
Are you going to be able tocommit that amount of time to
your business?
Are you willing to give upsocial media?
Or I tell Chad he enjoys goingto the grocery store, because
(05:47):
when he goes to the grocerystore.
He's gone for like three hours.
So I'm like Chad, can you makethat an hour-long trip instead
of three hours?
Where can we get time back inour life because we're all so
busy?
Where can you get time back?
So, once you have figured out,okay, yes, I can do 10 hours a
week into my candle business.
All right, great, we have thetime.
(06:14):
Let's figure out how to usethat the most effective for our
business.
All right.
So we have to prioritize thosehigh impact tasks.
That's going to be focusing onyour product development, your
branding, creating a strongpresentation of your products.
So those are all going to bethe high, high level tasks that
we want to work on first.
Those things that are must.
Now, something that we can skipfor now is going to be your
(06:35):
logo, your logo design.
You're going to go round andround for a long time designing
your logo.
Don't let that be the priorityover your branding.
Creating that strong offer andyour product development.
Those are the things that aregoing to be the most important.
Your logo can evolve over time.
Another area is going to besocial media platforms.
(06:57):
Do not try to be on everysocial media platform when you
first start.
So for us, our focus isFacebook and Instagram.
That is where our customerslive.
So we we prioritized those highimpact items, one of those
being what is your niche?
Who is your target audience?
So once you know your niche andtarget audience, you need to go
(07:18):
to where they're at.
So for our customer, they aregoing to be Facebook and
Instagram users More Facebook,actually, than Instagram.
They're a little olderdemographic.
They're not on TikTok, they'renot on Twitter or X or Blue Sky.
You have to decide where are mycustomers and then put all of
your energy into that socialmedia platform.
(07:39):
I would start out with a maximumof two.
I don't know Pinterest.
Pinterest, I know some peoplehave a lot of great success with
that.
I imagine some of our customerswould be on there.
So that would be a route that Iwould look at going down.
But again, it's a matter oftime and I know for a fact that
our customers are on Facebookand Instagram, so we spend a lot
of time there, so don't try tobe on everything at once.
(08:01):
So now we have to ask ourselveswhat is going to move our
(08:26):
business forward.
For us, it is our social mediaplanner.
So on a Monday night for threehours, we are just cranking out
all the social media posts thatwe need to have for the next
couple weeks.
So that is a Monday night thingthat we still do.
Now, if we don't have socialmedia done, we know on Monday
nights we're going to do that sowe can be watching TV, trying
(08:47):
to enjoy some family time butalso getting that knocked out.
So even though now that we'vegrown, we have three stores and
we have team members but they'renot managing our social media
for us, we're still doing all ofthat.
So that's something that we, ifwe can get it done while we're
at the shop, if we're coveringthe floor sure that's fantastic.
(09:13):
What usually will happen is,while we're at the shop, we'll
be taking a lot of photos or,for you, maybe, whenever you're
producing, take a lot of photoswhile you're doing that, while
you're waiting for those itemsto cure, start getting all of
those assets together and thenjust spend one block of time
sitting on the couch relaxing,trying to still enjoy those
other areas that I'm saying pulltime from, still do those
things, but at the same time youcan be creating the social
media posts that you're going toneed over the next few weeks.
(09:34):
So that's one of the thingsthat we will do.
Another thing is we would, whenwe're first starting out, we
would have one day that was justpouring, so generally that's
going to be a weekend day wherewe had more hours.
Or if you have an evening whereyou have a good three or four
hours of a time block, that'swide open, use that for your
pouring, because getting intopouring, heating the wax pouring
(09:54):
just takes longer than otheraspects of the business.
One day we are pouring ourcandles and then the next day
we're doing all the packaging.
So we're trimming the wicks, weare putting the labels on the
front, we're putting the warninglabels on the bottom, we're
putting them in a box.
If it comes with a box, we'regetting them basically a box.
If it comes with a box, we'regetting them basically shelf
ready.
And then, one day that we havea time block available, we are
doing all the admin stuff, allthe backend stuff, making
(10:15):
adjustments to our Shopify.
So we like to, rather than havea to-do list that's always
ongoing, we would have timeblocks and we like to group
similar tasks together.
That really helped us to stayfocused and not feel so
scattered.
Another great thing about doingtime blocks rather than doing a
(10:39):
to-do list.
Your to-do list is never goingto end, in fact.
I mean, I have a to-do listgoing that is so long it's never
ending, right, and it can beexhausting.
But if you have time blockswhere you break up your business
into different categories andduring those time blocks you
focus just on that category, solet's go back to let's have a
(11:01):
category for production and thenlet's have a category for
packaging.
Let's have a category forsocial media and photography.
Let's have a category forsocial media and photography.
Let's have a category forwebsite build.
Only doing those specificcategory tasks during that time
will allow us to get so muchmore done without getting that
(11:22):
like mental drain of you know,producing a candle and then
taking photos of that candle andthen going and scheduling that
one post on social media andthen going and uploading it to
our website and going in thatcircle.
It can get really exhausting.
So I recommend trying to buildout repeatable weekly rhythms
(11:49):
versus like trying to scrambledaily.
If you can look at your scheduleahead and find those areas,
whether that's going to be alittle bit of time before your
workday begins or possibly rightwhen you get home before
dinnertime.
That's what I like to,personally, that's what I like
to get stuff done, because onceI eat, I'm full, the dogs are
(12:13):
rowdy, we've got some trash TVon like that we're enjoying, you
know, and it's like, oh, Idon't want to go into the office
and get stuff done.
But if I get home from the shopand it's like, okay, I have to
get these things done because wehave a launch coming, you know,
whatever the task is that hasto get done, if I get it done
right after work before I startto relax a little bit, I find
(12:38):
that that is going to be themost productive time for me.
Everyone's gonna be a littlebit different.
I used to like to sleep in onthe weekends.
When we started our candlebusiness, it was getting up
early because we still hadresponsibilities on the weekend.
We still enjoyed going to thefarmer's market.
We enjoyed going and gettingthe grocery shopping done.
Well, chad did, not necessarilyme.
I enjoyed walking the dogs,things like that.
(12:58):
We didn't have extra time, sowe had to build more time.
So that was okay.
I got to get out of bed earlier, or maybe I got to stay up a
little later.
I'm going to be super honest.
I like to be in bed by 9.30every night.
I work really long days.
I think I work really long days.
I'm sure many of you probablywork even harder than I do, but
I feel like I wake up 7, 7.30.
(13:19):
I've started, I'm at thecomputer or I'm at the shop by 8
o'clock, even though the shopdoesn't open until 10.
I'm getting stuff done and I'malso working within Kennel
Business Pro.
We have our membership and I'mdedicated to our members.
So I have questions to answer.
We do office hours every week,so I have to make sure that the
time I have is used very wisely.
(13:40):
Or I'm going to drop the ballsomewhere and that's something I
certainly don't want to do,especially for our members in
our inner circle and doingthings like this where I'm
recording episodes for otherpeople.
I have to do this on a specificday and time or it's not going
to get done in time becauseeverything has to get edited and
then it has to get uploaded.
If I drop the ball on the frontend, it's a domino effect and
(14:05):
things aren't going to happenproperly.
So I would get up early on theweekends so that I didn't mess
with the routine that we alreadyhad.
Circling back to what I talkedabout at the beginning, you
don't want to burn yourself out,so trying to move some of those
enjoyments that you do have inlife, we do enjoy our TV time
together in the evening for anhour or possibly an hour and a
(14:28):
half, and we enjoy that timetogether as a family.
So we want to keep that.
I don't want to work too much.
I have seen just in ourpersonal getting personal here
where I will be working too muchand then I'm letting my spouse
down, I'm not giving my dogs theattention I'm not messaging
(14:50):
with my mom through text or I'mnot making those phone calls to
family members things that wewould do.
You want to make sure thatyou're not forgetting about the
obligations that we have and Iget to that point sometimes
where work takes over and I needto kind of step back and
reevaluate where I'm putting alot of my attention.
So trying to find some openavailability is tough, but it is
(15:14):
there.
Whether that's going to be thatfive hours or that 10 hours,
it's there.
We just might have to move somethings around.
I like to move them around towhere they're in blocks so I can
do these different categoriesthat I just went over and do
them all at the same time.
We do have a.
If you are in our inner circle,we have actually a time block
chart that I use every weekstill, that you can download.
(15:34):
That's under the resourcesthere if you're a part of that.
If not, we would love to haveyou inside the inner circle.
Come check us out at.
You can see the link in theshow notes below.
Okay, so to start the wrap uphere, I want to share a couple
of tips with you.
Don't compare your progress tofull-time makers.
If you are just starting outand you are comparing yourself
(15:59):
to me or to another candle makeror another candle business,
you're not going to get anybenefits out of that.
Don't compare your progress tosomeone else.
Your life and my life andsomeone else's are all different
and we all have differentamounts of time.
We all have differentexperiences, we all have
different backgrounds and we allhave different obligations in
(16:21):
life.
So just stay focused on gettingto the next step and don't even
though I do promote a lot,especially like with Arcano
Making that you can go from A toZ in 30 days, 28 days a month,
and then you can open up abusiness within a month.
That's because of the amount oftime that I have available to
(16:42):
put into it.
If you don't have that amountof time, if it's taking you
longer than that, that iscompletely okay.
Oftentimes, especially whenwe're doing these new businesses
and we're trying out new things, it's a hobby, but then we fall
in love with it and we want tosee if we can make it into a
business.
There's a lot of things that wehave to learn that aren't
necessarily business specific.
(17:04):
Some people don't know how touse certain social media
platforms.
That's probably one of thereasons why I don't do TikTok is
because I don't know it.
It seems like it's changing allthe time, like I don't get it.
But you know, if that's wheremy customer was, then I would
have to learn that, and that'sgoing to delay some of the areas
(17:24):
of my business, but it'ssomething that I have to learn.
If you don't know the ins andouts of some of the basic
bookkeeping, it's something thatyou're going to want to know.
If you don't know how to priceyour candles, that's something
that you're going to have tolearn.
So all of these things aregoing to take time.
So don't think that becausesomeone else even if they
started at the same time as youand you see them in six months
(17:47):
from now and they're selling andthey're doing a lot of
wholesale and they seem to bedoing really well but you're
still like struggling with yourbranding it's okay.
Don't get down on yourself.
Remember.
We have to keep the positivitythat we enjoy doing this.
If you start to compareyourself and you start to feel
(18:07):
like you're a failure becauseyou're not where someone else is
, you're going to not want to dothis anymore and then you're
going to want to give up.
If you've already gottenthrough the candle making and
you're wanting to make this intoa business, you're already so
far ahead compared to so manypeople, so keep going with it.
So don't give up and don'tcompare yourself to others.
Another thing is you've got tobuild in rest.
(18:28):
You've got to.
We've talked about trying tosqueeze in time in this episode,
but you do have to rest.
You do have to keep doing thosethings that you enjoy, so you
don't start to resent this.
If you like to watch trash TV,like I do, I've watched every
Housewife episode just about onevery season of every city.
I enjoy doing that.
I don't want to give it up.
(18:49):
That's kind of our family time.
That's kind of we sit there andwe are just like, oh my gosh,
is this?
Is this real life for thesepeople?
We have fun with it, it'smindless.
We don't have to put a lot ofeffort into watching it.
You know we don't have to pausethe television whenever we
leave the room, you know, so wedon't miss something.
So make sure that you stillenjoy the things in life that
(19:13):
you enjoy.
Okay, so make sure that youdon't go overboard with going
all in on the business andcelebrate your micro-wind along
the way.
Every little thing that you doin your business, every step
that you take in the rightdirection, celebrate that,
because it's a big deal.
If you spend tonight buildingout your Facebook business page,
(19:36):
it's a big deal.
If you take photos of yourcandle, that's a huge deal.
Actually, taking photos can beso tough that, like, once you
get past taking photos, like,celebrate that.
You know.
Reward yourself.
Whatever that, whatever ways ofrewarding yourself that you
might do.
I like to go get ice cream.
I'm a big ice cream person.
I'll do that.
Or I'll just take an eveningoff.
(19:58):
Sometimes it's like you knowwhat it's five o'clock.
I'm done for the day Because,realistically, I'm working on
our business just about everyday, every night.
So I will get to a point wherewe have hit a milestone.
For instance, last night wewrapped up our bootcamp for this
month that we did with NewCandlemakers.
So we just wrapped up our lastZoom call last night.
So I enjoy doing those so much.
(20:19):
But that's another obligationthat is on our calendar for
every week while the bootcamp ishappening.
So after I get this podcastepisode done, I am going to go
and enjoy the rest of this daythat I am calling my day off,
even though I've now beenworking for several hours.
But just you know, make surethat you're celebrating those
micro wins, taking your time offfor yourself.
(20:41):
I want to thank you for takingthis time to spend with me today
to talk about some of the waysthat we are going to move our
business forward, and I believethat time blocking and managing
your time and your priorities isa really, really big deal.
(21:02):
Think, you know.
Create a list of 10 things thathave to get done in your
business Now.
Prioritize those top four items.
Don't think about those bottomsix items until those top four
are completely done.
So, whether that's photography,that's building out your
website, that's building outyour social media, only
(21:24):
prioritize those top items andonly focus on them for now.
Once you get those done, moveon to the next block of items to
do.
So I think that will reallyhelp you to keep focused on
where you're going.
And just remember, it's notabout doing it all.
It's about doing what mattersthe most with the time that you
(21:46):
have.
If you're juggling a lot,you're not behind.
You're building something thesmart way.
Take the time that you need toget your business to where you
want to go.
Make sure that you are enjoyingit along the way.
So thank you so much forspending time with me today.
Do me a favor.
Leave a comment below.
Let me know what you're doingto prioritize your business.
What's the most important thingfor you in your business?
(22:07):
Of course, there's no wronganswer there.
We all have differentpriorities and things that we're
focusing on.
Let me know what you'refocusing on and then also let me
know what's kind of on the backburner that you are saying.
You know what that can waituntil I'm ready to get there.
So I would love to have aconversation in the comments
about what's working well foryou when it comes to time
blocking or if you haven't doneany time.
Running a candle business while working a
full-time job.
We've been there pouringcandles on the weekends while
everyone else is relaxing,packing orders late at night and
trying to squeeze in socialmedia posts during our lunch
break.
Now, in this episode, I'm gonnashare exactly how to make it
work without burning out andwhat to focus on when time is
limited but your goals aren't.
So.
(00:21):
When Chad and I started ourcandle business, we were both
working full-time jobs.
So the goal was, from the verybeginning, to replace Chad's
nine to five job with a candlebusiness.
That was our goal, but we wereboth working full-time.
So we had to find time aroundour busy schedule to squeeze in
candle making and squeeze in thebusiness side.
(00:41):
We took our time going throughthe candle making phase.
We could have sped that up ifwe had the right direction.
That's something that we coveroften in our candle making
course.
Or if someone takes ourbootcamp is we promise you can
go from a complete beginner toknowing how to make candles and
(01:01):
understanding the candle makingside in and out in 28 days, in a
month.
And that's because we're givingdirection.
But when we started withoutdirection.
We're watching all differentYouTube videos.
We are in all different kindsof Facebook groups.
We're following all differentmakers on different social media
platforms, and that's alltotally fine, but everyone's
going to do it a littledifferently, right?
(01:22):
So if you don't have ablueprint to go from A to Z,
you're going to get off course alittle bit, and that's part of
learning anything.
You can listen to podcasts, youcan read books, you can watch
YouTube videos.
There's so many different wayspeople learn, and then we pick
up advice from different peoplealong the way.
So I'm not saying that if ittakes someone more than a month
(01:43):
to understand candle making,that they're doing it wrong.
We just created our candlemaking course to get people from
A to Z as quick as possible,with showing the way that we do
it right.
So we've documented everything.
We turn it into that.
So once you're past the candlemaking that's what we're talking
about today is the turning itinto a business, right?
So whether it takes you a monthor six months or a year to get
(02:07):
the candle making side down,after that we got turned to a
business, and that's reallywhere a lot of the work comes in
, because now we, with withcandle making, you are getting
progress with every single pour,every single blend.
Every time you make a candle,you're actually able to see the
progress and that keeps usmoving and that keeps us
(02:29):
motivated.
But when we're turning into abusiness, you're gonna be doing
things that you're not gettingresults right away.
Right, when you are posting onsocial media, it's not gonna get
you a result necessarily rightaway.
When you are building out yourwebsite, you're not gonna be
getting sales right away.
When you are building out yourwebsite, you're not going to be
getting sales right away.
When you are starting to reachout to businesses to do
fundraisers, you're not going toget emails back right away.
(02:51):
All these different ways thatyou're going to have to work on
growing your business.
When you don't get resultsright away, that's often when
people start to give up.
So today I want to talk abouthow do we find time to do all of
this stuff?
So, realistically, you're goingto need 5, 10, 15 hours a week
to work on your business not inyour business, not making
(03:14):
candles, but on your business.
Right, to get things in place,you have to build a website.
You have to get your brandingdown.
You have to start thinkingabout how you're going to reach
out to different organizationsIf you're going to want to do a
fundraiser, or if you're goingto want to apply to do markets.
All of these things are goingto take time.
(03:35):
So let's talk about some of theways that we look at our
availability.
So with us, I like my socialmedia not as much now as I used
to, but I found that I wasspending a lot of time on social
media, in fact, with my, withiPhone.
I don't know what phone you areusing, but with any of them
they can track how much timeyou're using on different
(03:57):
applications, and every Sunday Iget an update and it says you
spent this amount of time in theemail, this amount of time on
social media, this amount oftime on search engines like on
Google, and so it breaks it alldown.
How much time was I wasactually on the phone, I was in
messages, all of that stuff.
So, looking at that, thatshowed me a lot of areas that I
(04:21):
could cut back on getting off ofmy phone and focusing on the
business.
I cut out a lot of social mediawhile could cut back on getting
off of my phone and focusing onthe business.
I cut out a lot of social mediawhile I was focusing on the
business.
When we are first starting ourbusiness, it's a matter of
finding time, because a lot ofus, we're all busy, we don't
have a lot of time, so we wouldget up an hour early and just
(04:42):
focus on the business.
I was focused on the websitebuild.
Chad was focused on redesigningour labels.
We went through a lot ofreiterations when we first
started, so he would focus onthat.
I would focus on the websiteand building that out.
On lunch breaks it's focusingon photo editing, and then in
(05:04):
the evenings we're pouringcandles, and so we would have
this cycle that we were goingthrough.
And so, really, it's how muchtime can you free up?
Because if you can't find thatfive hours, that 10 hours a week
, it's going to be really toughto get your business off the
ground.
So we can't just, you know,romanticize that we have all
(05:25):
this extra time on the weekendsthat we can start now dedicating
to our candle business.
You have to really decide.
Are you going to do that?
Are you going to be able tocommit that amount of time to
your business?
Are you willing to give upsocial media?
Or I tell Chad he enjoys goingto the grocery store, because
(05:47):
when he goes to the grocerystore.
He's gone for like three hours.
So I'm like Chad, can you makethat an hour-long trip instead
of three hours?
Where can we get time back inour life because we're all so
busy?
Where can you get time back?
So, once you have figured out,okay, yes, I can do 10 hours a
week into my candle business.
All right, great, we have thetime.
(06:14):
Let's figure out how to usethat the most effective for our
business.
All right.
So we have to prioritize thosehigh impact tasks.
That's going to be focusing onyour product development, your
branding, creating a strongpresentation of your products.
So those are all going to bethe high, high level tasks that
we want to work on first.
Those things that are must.
Now, something that we can skipfor now is going to be your
(06:35):
logo, your logo design.
You're going to go round andround for a long time designing
your logo.
Don't let that be the priorityover your branding.
Creating that strong offer andyour product development.
Those are the things that aregoing to be the most important.
Your logo can evolve over time.
Another area is going to besocial media platforms.
(06:57):
Do not try to be on everysocial media platform when you
first start.
So for us, our focus isFacebook and Instagram.
That is where our customerslive.
So we we prioritized those highimpact items, one of those
being what is your niche?
Who is your target audience?
So once you know your niche andtarget audience, you need to go
(07:18):
to where they're at.
So for our customer, they aregoing to be Facebook and
Instagram users More Facebook,actually, than Instagram.
They're a little olderdemographic.
They're not on TikTok, they'renot on Twitter or X or Blue Sky.
You have to decide where are mycustomers and then put all of
your energy into that socialmedia platform.
(07:39):
I would start out with a maximumof two.
I don't know Pinterest.
Pinterest, I know some peoplehave a lot of great success with
that.
I imagine some of our customerswould be on there.
So that would be a route that Iwould look at going down.
But again, it's a matter oftime and I know for a fact that
our customers are on Facebookand Instagram, so we spend a lot
of time there, so don't try tobe on everything at once.
(08:01):
So now we have to ask ourselveswhat is going to move our
(08:26):
business forward.
For us, it is our social mediaplanner.
So on a Monday night for threehours, we are just cranking out
all the social media posts thatwe need to have for the next
couple weeks.
So that is a Monday night thingthat we still do.
Now, if we don't have socialmedia done, we know on Monday
nights we're going to do that sowe can be watching TV, trying
(08:47):
to enjoy some family time butalso getting that knocked out.
So even though now that we'vegrown, we have three stores and
we have team members but they'renot managing our social media
for us, we're still doing all ofthat.
So that's something that we, ifwe can get it done while we're
at the shop, if we're coveringthe floor sure that's fantastic.
(09:13):
What usually will happen is,while we're at the shop, we'll
be taking a lot of photos or,for you, maybe, whenever you're
producing, take a lot of photoswhile you're doing that, while
you're waiting for those itemsto cure, start getting all of
those assets together and thenjust spend one block of time
sitting on the couch relaxing,trying to still enjoy those
other areas that I'm saying pulltime from, still do those
things, but at the same time youcan be creating the social
media posts that you're going toneed over the next few weeks.
(09:34):
So that's one of the thingsthat we will do.
Another thing is we would, whenwe're first starting out, we
would have one day that was justpouring, so generally that's
going to be a weekend day wherewe had more hours.
Or if you have an evening whereyou have a good three or four
hours of a time block, that'swide open, use that for your
pouring, because getting intopouring, heating the wax pouring
(09:54):
just takes longer than otheraspects of the business.
One day we are pouring ourcandles and then the next day
we're doing all the packaging.
So we're trimming the wicks, weare putting the labels on the
front, we're putting the warninglabels on the bottom, we're
putting them in a box.
If it comes with a box, we'regetting them basically a box.
If it comes with a box, we'regetting them basically shelf
ready.
And then, one day that we havea time block available, we are
doing all the admin stuff, allthe backend stuff, making
(10:15):
adjustments to our Shopify.
So we like to, rather than havea to-do list that's always
ongoing, we would have timeblocks and we like to group
similar tasks together.
That really helped us to stayfocused and not feel so
scattered.
Another great thing about doingtime blocks rather than doing a
(10:39):
to-do list.
Your to-do list is never goingto end, in fact.
I mean, I have a to-do listgoing that is so long it's never
ending, right, and it can beexhausting.
But if you have time blockswhere you break up your business
into different categories andduring those time blocks you
focus just on that category, solet's go back to let's have a
(11:01):
category for production and thenlet's have a category for
packaging.
Let's have a category forsocial media and photography.
Let's have a category forsocial media and photography.
Let's have a category forwebsite build.
Only doing those specificcategory tasks during that time
will allow us to get so muchmore done without getting that
(11:22):
like mental drain of you know,producing a candle and then
taking photos of that candle andthen going and scheduling that
one post on social media andthen going and uploading it to
our website and going in thatcircle.
It can get really exhausting.
So I recommend trying to buildout repeatable weekly rhythms
(11:49):
versus like trying to scrambledaily.
If you can look at your scheduleahead and find those areas,
whether that's going to be alittle bit of time before your
workday begins or possibly rightwhen you get home before
dinnertime.
That's what I like to,personally, that's what I like
to get stuff done, because onceI eat, I'm full, the dogs are
(12:13):
rowdy, we've got some trash TVon like that we're enjoying, you
know, and it's like, oh, Idon't want to go into the office
and get stuff done.
But if I get home from the shopand it's like, okay, I have to
get these things done because wehave a launch coming, you know,
whatever the task is that hasto get done, if I get it done
right after work before I startto relax a little bit, I find
(12:38):
that that is going to be themost productive time for me.
Everyone's gonna be a littlebit different.
I used to like to sleep in onthe weekends.
When we started our candlebusiness, it was getting up
early because we still hadresponsibilities on the weekend.
We still enjoyed going to thefarmer's market.
We enjoyed going and gettingthe grocery shopping done.
Well, chad did, not necessarilyme.
I enjoyed walking the dogs,things like that.
(12:58):
We didn't have extra time, sowe had to build more time.
So that was okay.
I got to get out of bed earlier, or maybe I got to stay up a
little later.
I'm going to be super honest.
I like to be in bed by 9.30every night.
I work really long days.
I think I work really long days.
I'm sure many of you probablywork even harder than I do, but
I feel like I wake up 7, 7.30.
(13:19):
I've started, I'm at thecomputer or I'm at the shop by 8
o'clock, even though the shopdoesn't open until 10.
I'm getting stuff done and I'malso working within Kennel
Business Pro.
We have our membership and I'mdedicated to our members.
So I have questions to answer.
We do office hours every week,so I have to make sure that the
time I have is used very wisely.
(13:40):
Or I'm going to drop the ballsomewhere and that's something I
certainly don't want to do,especially for our members in
our inner circle and doingthings like this where I'm
recording episodes for otherpeople.
I have to do this on a specificday and time or it's not going
to get done in time becauseeverything has to get edited and
then it has to get uploaded.
If I drop the ball on the frontend, it's a domino effect and
(14:05):
things aren't going to happenproperly.
So I would get up early on theweekends so that I didn't mess
with the routine that we alreadyhad.
Circling back to what I talkedabout at the beginning, you
don't want to burn yourself out,so trying to move some of those
enjoyments that you do have inlife, we do enjoy our TV time
together in the evening for anhour or possibly an hour and a
(14:28):
half, and we enjoy that timetogether as a family.
So we want to keep that.
I don't want to work too much.
I have seen just in ourpersonal getting personal here
where I will be working too muchand then I'm letting my spouse
down, I'm not giving my dogs theattention I'm not messaging
(14:50):
with my mom through text or I'mnot making those phone calls to
family members things that wewould do.
You want to make sure thatyou're not forgetting about the
obligations that we have and Iget to that point sometimes
where work takes over and I needto kind of step back and
reevaluate where I'm putting alot of my attention.
So trying to find some openavailability is tough, but it is
(15:14):
there.
Whether that's going to be thatfive hours or that 10 hours,
it's there.
We just might have to move somethings around.
I like to move them around towhere they're in blocks so I can
do these different categoriesthat I just went over and do
them all at the same time.
We do have a.
If you are in our inner circle,we have actually a time block
chart that I use every weekstill, that you can download.
(15:34):
That's under the resourcesthere if you're a part of that.
If not, we would love to haveyou inside the inner circle.
Come check us out at.
You can see the link in theshow notes below.
Okay, so to start the wrap uphere, I want to share a couple
of tips with you.
Don't compare your progress tofull-time makers.
If you are just starting outand you are comparing yourself
(15:59):
to me or to another candle makeror another candle business,
you're not going to get anybenefits out of that.
Don't compare your progress tosomeone else.
Your life and my life andsomeone else's are all different
and we all have differentamounts of time.
We all have differentexperiences, we all have
different backgrounds and we allhave different obligations in
(16:21):
life.
So just stay focused on gettingto the next step and don't even
though I do promote a lot,especially like with Arcano
Making that you can go from A toZ in 30 days, 28 days a month,
and then you can open up abusiness within a month.
That's because of the amount oftime that I have available to
(16:42):
put into it.
If you don't have that amountof time, if it's taking you
longer than that, that iscompletely okay.
Oftentimes, especially whenwe're doing these new businesses
and we're trying out new things, it's a hobby, but then we fall
in love with it and we want tosee if we can make it into a
business.
There's a lot of things that wehave to learn that aren't
necessarily business specific.
(17:04):
Some people don't know how touse certain social media
platforms.
That's probably one of thereasons why I don't do TikTok is
because I don't know it.
It seems like it's changing allthe time, like I don't get it.
But you know, if that's wheremy customer was, then I would
have to learn that, and that'sgoing to delay some of the areas
(17:24):
of my business, but it'ssomething that I have to learn.
If you don't know the ins andouts of some of the basic
bookkeeping, it's something thatyou're going to want to know.
If you don't know how to priceyour candles, that's something
that you're going to have tolearn.
So all of these things aregoing to take time.
So don't think that becausesomeone else even if they
started at the same time as youand you see them in six months
(17:47):
from now and they're selling andthey're doing a lot of
wholesale and they seem to bedoing really well but you're
still like struggling with yourbranding it's okay.
Don't get down on yourself.
Remember.
We have to keep the positivitythat we enjoy doing this.
If you start to compareyourself and you start to feel
(18:07):
like you're a failure becauseyou're not where someone else is
, you're going to not want to dothis anymore and then you're
going to want to give up.
If you've already gottenthrough the candle making and
you're wanting to make this intoa business, you're already so
far ahead compared to so manypeople, so keep going with it.
So don't give up and don'tcompare yourself to others.
Another thing is you've got tobuild in rest.
(18:28):
You've got to.
We've talked about trying tosqueeze in time in this episode,
but you do have to rest.
You do have to keep doing thosethings that you enjoy, so you
don't start to resent this.
If you like to watch trash TV,like I do, I've watched every
Housewife episode just about onevery season of every city.
I enjoy doing that.
I don't want to give it up.
(18:49):
That's kind of our family time.
That's kind of we sit there andwe are just like, oh my gosh,
is this?
Is this real life for thesepeople?
We have fun with it, it'smindless.
We don't have to put a lot ofeffort into watching it.
You know we don't have to pausethe television whenever we
leave the room, you know, so wedon't miss something.
So make sure that you stillenjoy the things in life that
(19:13):
you enjoy.
Okay, so make sure that youdon't go overboard with going
all in on the business andcelebrate your micro-wind along
the way.
Every little thing that you doin your business, every step
that you take in the rightdirection, celebrate that,
because it's a big deal.
If you spend tonight buildingout your Facebook business page,
(19:36):
it's a big deal.
If you take photos of yourcandle, that's a huge deal.
Actually, taking photos can beso tough that, like, once you
get past taking photos, like,celebrate that.
You know.
Reward yourself.
Whatever that, whatever ways ofrewarding yourself that you
might do.
I like to go get ice cream.
I'm a big ice cream person.
I'll do that.
Or I'll just take an eveningoff.
(19:58):
Sometimes it's like you knowwhat it's five o'clock.
I'm done for the day Because,realistically, I'm working on
our business just about everyday, every night.
So I will get to a point wherewe have hit a milestone.
For instance, last night wewrapped up our bootcamp for this
month that we did with NewCandlemakers.
So we just wrapped up our lastZoom call last night.
So I enjoy doing those so much.
(20:19):
But that's another obligationthat is on our calendar for
every week while the bootcamp ishappening.
So after I get this podcastepisode done, I am going to go
and enjoy the rest of this daythat I am calling my day off,
even though I've now beenworking for several hours.
But just you know, make surethat you're celebrating those
micro wins, taking your time offfor yourself.
(20:41):
I want to thank you for takingthis time to spend with me today
to talk about some of the waysthat we are going to move our
business forward, and I believethat time blocking and managing
your time and your priorities isa really, really big deal.
(21:02):
Think, you know.
Create a list of 10 things thathave to get done in your
business Now.
Prioritize those top four items.
Don't think about those bottomsix items until those top four
are completely done.
So, whether that's photography,that's building out your
website, that's building outyour social media, only
(21:24):
prioritize those top items andonly focus on them for now.
Once you get those done, moveon to the next block of items to
do.
So I think that will reallyhelp you to keep focused on
where you're going.
And just remember, it's notabout doing it all.
It's about doing what mattersthe most with the time that you
(21:46):
have.
If you're juggling a lot,you're not behind.
You're building something thesmart way.
Take the time that you need toget your business to where you
want to go.
Make sure that you are enjoyingit along the way.
So thank you so much forspending time with me today.
Do me a favor.
Leave a comment below.
Let me know what you're doingto prioritize your business.
What's the most important thingfor you in your business?
(22:07):
Of course, there's no wronganswer there.
We all have differentpriorities and things that we're
focusing on.
Let me know what you'refocusing on and then also let me
know what's kind of on the backburner that you are saying.
You know what that can waituntil I'm ready to get there.
So I would love to have aconversation in the comments
about what's working well foryou when it comes to time
blocking or if you haven't doneany time.
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