When we started Garsnett Beacon Candle Co. at our kitchen table during the pandemic, I never pictured myself standing in front of a room full of people teaching them how to pour a candle. We were just trying to sell enough to cover the next fragrance oil order. But a few years and 160 plus wholesale...

When we started Garsnett Beacon Candle Co. at our kitchen table during the pandemic, our "packaging" was a candle, a strip of bubble wrap we saved from an Amazon box, and a prayer that it would survive the mail. Some did. Some showed up with cracked jars and wax smeared across the tissue paper. Ever...

Everybody wants to talk about wax, wicks, and pretty labels. Nobody wants to talk about the paperwork. I get it. When we started Garsnett Beacon Candle Co. at our kitchen table in Holland, Michigan during the pandemic, the last thing I wanted to think about was an LLC or a sales tax license. I wante...

People ask me all the time what tools we use to run our candle business. Not the fun stuff like fragrance oils and pretty vessels, but the boring back office stuff that actually keeps the lights on. The scale on the pouring table. The software that tells me if we are making money. The shipping accou...

Most stories about how to start a candle business skip the boring parts and the scary parts. You see the finished storefront, the pretty flat lays, the "we did six figures" headline, and none of the nights spent pouring wax at the kitchen table wondering if any of it was going to work. So I want to ...

Color is one of those things nobody warns you about when you first start making candles. You get your wax, you get your wicks, you nail your first good scent throw, and then you pour a candle that looks a little plain sitting on the table. So you think, "I'll just add some color." That is where a lo...

When we started Garsnett Beacon Candle Co. at our kitchen table during the pandemic, I thought getting into stores would be the hardest part of the whole thing. Turns out it was one of the most learnable. Today we have more than 160 wholesale accounts and a couple of brick and mortar stores here in ...

When people think about candle making, they think about wax and fragrance first. The vessel is usually an afterthought. I get it. We did the same thing when we started Garsnett Beacon Candle Co. at our kitchen table during the pandemic. But here is the truth I learned after pouring tens of thousands...

If you are learning how to start a candle business, choosing fragrance oils is one of the first decisions that will quietly make or break you. I know that sounds dramatic. But when my wife and I started Garsnett Beacon Candle Co. at our kitchen table during the pandemic, we wasted more money on the ...

Everybody wants to talk about getting new customers. New followers, new craft fair faces, new wholesale accounts. And yes, you need new people coming in the door. But I will tell you the thing that quietly built Garsnett Beacon Candle Co. from a kitchen table operation during the pandemic into a bra...

I still remember the night I sat at the kitchen table with a calculator, a stack of packing slips, and a knot in my stomach. We had started making candles at that same table during the pandemic, and now the little business we built for fun was quietly asking a much bigger question: was it time to le...