How I Lit the Way: My First 3 Months as a Young Candle Entrepreneur

Three years ago, I embarked on an exciting yet challenging journey of starting my own candle business. In this post, I'll share how the first three months of my adventure went.

I came to my mom asking to start a business after reading a book called How to Make Money for Kids. She agreed and I started a candle business. First, my cousin sent me a candle making kit and told us all the good brands to use. I started watching a bunch of candle making tutorial videos. Then, I made an Instagram page and took my initial orders via Instagram direct messages. I eventually grew out of the direct messaging and, with the help of my mom's friend, I was able to create a google form that was connected to an intricate google sheet to track and manage my orders. Months later, a website grew from it.

My family and mom’s friends were some of the first people to purchase my candles. I will never forget when I received my first large order, I was so excited that someone was interested in my candles. My first outdoor selling experience was at the 2020 Juneteenth festival in Oakland, California. I have come a very long way since then. It started with two buckets, a poster board, cooking trays, and hand sanitizer. I remember it was me, my mom, and my grandma. My grandma helped make a sign that said to check out my business and then we got our first customer. I walked away from that experience feeling proud, like an entrepreneur, and glad to make people happy with my business.

I learned many lessons and skills during the first three months of my business such as money management, customer service, and leadership. Opening up my first savings account helped me learn money management. I had to learn when to spend money on myself versus on my business. Texting, direct messaging, and talking in person with customers built my customer service skills. To lead my business I had to make decisions. Some of these decisions included choosing jars, picking out scents, and determining colors.

Juju’s Candles has grown significantly since those early days, and we just rebranded. Stay tuned and check out my future blogs here on jujuscandles.com to learn more about my journey. Thank you to everyone that has supported me through my amazing adventure. If you're curious to see new candles, take a peek at my collection here.