« Side Hustle School

#301 - Oklahoman Spreads Light, Sells Candles, and Shares Profits

2017-10-28

A project manager for an oil & gas company burns the midnight oil and makes eco-conscious candles for profit *and* charity. 

Side Hustle School features a new story EVERY DAY of someone who started a hustle without quitting their job. You’ll learn how they got the idea, how they overcame challenges along the way, and what the results are. You need a hustle! Share: #SideHustleSchoolShow notes: SideHustleSchool.comTwitter: @chrisguillebeauInstagram: @193countries

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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Greetings, hello and welcome, or should I second morning, good afternoon or good evening. Deepening our you are in when you're listening wherever it is welcome to side also school uncritical about it. I've gotta for you about someone who learned to sell candles has a social good on it in which she is making money and also doing good with it long time You may know that. I believe you can do about those things and on the side of a book, I've been telling a story, that's very popular at this. Of Mark Gascons in South Carolina Mark has created this candle brand called meeting in market, which leave, is based on a famous intersection areas, hometown weed let us before, but the short version is that one day he's vacation, I think it's in Austin Texas walks into an expensive store and sees a candle for sale for eighty dollars and, of course, he thinks that rejection eighty dollars for a candle- and he also thinks like good side us their word. Can I sell those I want so expensive,
and was to sell Marcos home and why It is in videos on Youtube learns to make candles watching videos on the internet and creates a little brand. Like I said, it's been a popular story on. I would mention it in several of my talks from city to city. While today we have it. Front story of someone selling candles. It seems that candles are agreed physical product, at least for some people, and in this episode will how this person ties it into supporting various charities and fun, racers because the societal school is not only a charity project. She makes money too. So it's just have a good thing all around. That's why in just a moment after this quick shot out to our sponsor support for this podcast comes from progressive saving. Money on your car insurance is easy with progressive. It's an average savings of seven hundred ninety six dollars for customers who switch and save. In fact, customers can qualify for an average of six discounts on their auto policy with programmes,
save including discounts just for starting a quota, mine or owning multiple vehicles, get your quote online at progressive dot com and see how much you could be saving national average annual car insurance savings by new customer surveyed who saved with progressive in twenty nineteen discounts very and are not available in all states and situations. Today, story comes from Nicole nickels and more Oklahoma. My day, she's upset. Manager at an oil and gas brokerage, but in her spirit, she's burning the midnight oil running her social, good, handcrafted candle company lux alone. It start when one of Nicole's cosmos was working on raising money for an AIDS orphanage in South Africa. They realize appeal. More generally more likely to give when they get something in return. It's not a bad thing, it's just human nature, some other time, think of something they could offer for donations, Nicole Remit that she knew how to make candles
candles were also something that they could easily make an book. It seem like about everybody liked them so Nicole supplies from a variety of vendors and began testing. It isn't easy, but to get started in just like our friend who learned candles by watching Youtube, but to get it right requires a delicate balancing act with lots of different variables. Mccall tested out candle options from the comfort of her own dining room and part of her kitchen. After a lot of trial and error and hot wax, she felt that she finally had a batch of candles. She was comfortable selling these were a hundred per cent soy wax candles with cotton, Braided wicks fragrances that were infused with natural, essential oils perfect for the eco conscious they did a fundraiser the orphanage in sold out of fifty candles earning six hundred dollars. She that she was able to make a difference in this way and sought fun, razors and charity events that she could share her light with, for example, to A star wars day made a fourth be with you Nicole part the popular freelance artist to create a candle box at called made a flame, be with you that box at cost. Fifty dollars
included in art, print and eight hours, light Sabre candle called come to the dark side and for six light sabert sober candle, tens, they don't it five dollars of every box at they sought to make a wish foundation. Has a lot of kids like STAR wars, their surprise. They sought out faster than you could say. These are not the droids you're looking for China to everyone gets that reference these days and cause expanded or offerings to include candles that are not affiliated with any particular organization, but she remained the look out for more fun, razors and causes to partner with LUX Aluminum The internet ranks in twenty sixteen when she launched a retail shop using shop if and created a kid, Subscription Box, using crate joy, where they now have a hundred and fifteen monthly subscribers. Of course, I will link up cry join shop, a fine all that stuff in the show. Now it's for you call, Subscription box came about completely by accident after putting some new candle sense implants blends her sister mention that one of them reminded her of the Disneyland ride the pirates of the Caribbean. The sisters had spent a lot of time. It doesnt kindest children, they figure. This would be something
Others will be interested in two so that a couple of stayed written down a bunch of Disney sense. They loved and call started, creating the alone brings in twenty five hundred dollars a month, but there are significant costs about nine hundred hours of that is for shipping postage and supplies about nine hundred and fifty dollars, so as mental Profit on their subscription boxes, the real profit comes from wholesome orders and individual candle sales for wholesale orders net about thirty five hundred dollars, ecologists her prices and is getting into the busy holiday season or she hopes to make another two thousand dollars in pure profit cheese upgrading the website, improving the product, packaging and thinking of ways to level out the current experience for customers so what's her advice per year, while she suggests tried a perfect one product and then slowly expand she decided to offer all the sense that her vendors and suppliers do she'd have well over a thousand to choose from guess what it's a bad idea to try to sell a thousand different items at once. In her case, We recommend, starting with ten cents and expanding from there as a quick
don't I might actually recommend fewer than that. Maybe something we're like three to five. She so suggest starting small with the resources that you already have. Recital school principle. To this day, Nicole uses her front entryway as a shipping station and her spare bedroom as an office holding inventory reprocess it making. This is pretty basic. She melt a large batch of wax thirty five pound melter is it into small batches adds fragrance and enforce that into the containers. Of course, they're still ought. Work that goes into all of that, the pouring the adding grants in curing is all based on certain temperatures being met. If you mess it up, you dont have a candle and colleagues for a great sent and a good finish on a topic candles now listen upside hustlers, we her how she such herself, apart when candles or sold pretty much everywhere and guess what she said you said she tries really hard to not worry about whether companies are doing because she'd go crazy. If she did, she focuses her brow lux alarm on being the best it can while still donating many of her profits to charity and supporting many causes. Looking to the few
Nicole is hoping to gradually expand her range, while cell More candles and supporting more causes- and you know I think I think her future- looks pretty bright all right. Thank you. No call for sharing that story with us. I'm wanna keep hammering in certain messages. Candles are the ultimate trade market? are everywhere yet for some reason people keep buying them. So there's probably room for me, to keep making them in her case that sir worse theme is really find and, of course, it so great ass, she is able to support, charities and fun razors with the project. So I love what she's doing It just goes to show if you're, too, to figure out what your site also is. Maybe there's a pretty obvious answer: If you been trying for a while and your stocking, you like. What's my idea, maybe looking to heart, maybe relation just look within yourself and ask hey what What is it that already not do? What do I know about? What scale do I have? What our people, asking me for and in due course case nobody
asking her to make candles, but she encountered this problem of trying to increase your friends on raising efforts. Realising that they could probably more successful if they had some kind of incentive. Ever I don't. It went along with that and then she thought hard work, be wait. I know how to make candles. Let's try that doesn't mean that this crush, always gonna be successful, But once again, another principle that I like to emphasise is the cost of failure. What you say, the cost of it not working out are pretty low like weeds. This whole story and after the first few sentences the candle selling it was actually nobody about the candles, then maybe would have been out a small amount of money for those supplies, but then they could have moved on. Try something else they would have known whether of work unless they tried it, which in this case, of course, she Look. What you did courage meant for you today from afar. Wherever you are in the world. Inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. Every episode of a show has a show notes, page where you can access. Neither resources mentioned that
website, sometimes our social media. We want to learn more about them and you can access the page for two days. At school dot com slashed three zero. Why that's represents three one: you'll? Never guess what two miles gonna bring episode? Three hundred- and I know it's a shocker Thank you is always for listening. You are awesome, uncritical about for side, hustle score.
Transcript generated on 2020-08-06.