Hello everyone, thank you for visiting the Candles By Whitney Blog. This blog will be updated weekly with candle care tips, candle facts, business tips & news about the company. For this first post, lets talk about why Candles By Whitney was started. To do that, we have to rewind to March of 2020. I know, no one wants to go back there, but it was a monumental time for me and a lot of other people. I was not an essential worker, I was fortunate enough to be able to work from home and keep my job. I lived with my fiancee and a roommate and they were both essential workers through the pandemic. Therefore, I had to spend a lot of time alone. At first, I didn’t mind, but as the months rolled by and there was no indication that the pandemic would be over soon, the lonliness really set in for me. Since I was a teenager, I have struggled with anxiety and in my early 20’s I was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and PTSD. My OCD/PTSD presented itself in fits of cleaning, checking light switches and checking to see if my door was locked hundreds of times per day. The only time that my anxiety would calm down and the obsessive behaviors would slow is when I was engaged in something and had no time to worry about things. The way that I tried to keep my mind busy was to work long hours and I was a full-time grad student as well. My plate was and still is full, but I found something that kept my mind calm, that was burning candles. Weird right? I didn’t understand why I loved candles so much, but looking back, I see that candles create a calming atmosphere and that worked for me. For months I would spend large amounts of money on candles because I have a picky sense of smell and I enjoy high quality scents. After a while, I thought about how beneficial it would be to make my own candles. I would save money and be able to make awesome gifts for people. Well, candle-making is more complex than you might think. I always say that I feel like a scientist when I am making a new blend or trying new formulas. Then, it clicked, I found something that keeps me calm, something that I enjoy, and something that I could potentially make a living doing. Over the next few weeks, I started giving my candles to friends and family. Soon after, people were asking where they could buy these candles. In January of 2021, I began to make candles for sale. By February, I had my first successful market and I began to put more and more time into the business. I knew that I wanted to make high quality candles that were different from all the rest but I also wanted to make sure that I kept the prices low. I want my candles to be accessible to everyone. Here we are in October, and people ask me all the time why I haven’t raised my prices because the would sell for higher. My answer to that is: That’s not why I started this business. I started this business with people like me in mind. I wanted to create something meaningful that everyone can enjoy. Okay, that’s all for this week. Next week we will talk about some of the things I did in order to offer my products for affordable prices and the importance of math as a business owner!
-Talk soon,
Whit