We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nicole Vaz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nicole , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
The era that was covid and lock-down. In the midst of a crisis there can be a ray of light if you can take that advantage and my business was born. Working from home posed a lot of stress and complication, computer freezes and network issues, needless to say I was stressed so I would always burn a candle to help alleviate it a bit. I burned through all my candles at home so I took a trip to Walmart and to my surprise the shelves were half empty which meant alot more people were doing what I was doing – burning candles all day! Based on the very little scents that were left I decided since I have the time I should make my own candles. So I bought a candle making kit on Amazon. Spent most of my nights up late making different scents, merging scents and creating new fragances. The name kinda hit me 1 night, like can you handle this/me but candle handle me… Ha there was my brand! I took to the internet to create my LLC and secure that name right away!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
As a candle brand I make all my candles myself, by hand, down to the label. What I offer I believe sets me apart from other candles makers is that I personalize candles for any occasion, offering favors for whatever the celebration. I am most proud for not giving up and that I kept going whilst still having a 9-5 as a Paralegal and part time real estate agent. I want to share my candles with the world with so many other candle businesses I believe I have a good knack for scents that set my candles a part from the others.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Believing and betting on yourself is not easy no one else can see the dream as good as you and so all my capital for my business came from my own pocket. I have a supportive family and friends that helped in purchasing and spreading the word to get me more business. As income coming in gets poured right back into the business. I am very grateful for that as word of mouth is 1 of the best ways to get more business.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
Ecommerce is on a boom and I am still a newbie I am on Etsy for now however working to be on TikTok shop , Amazon and Shopify. I also have a website-www.CandleHandleMe.com . I bought the domain name as soon as I came up with the brand. I would absolutely recommend doing that ASAP even if you don’t plan on going live anytime soon. But much like securing/creating the entity having a website of the same name is important so I highly recommend.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.CandleHandleMe.com
- Instagram: CandleHandleMe
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CandleHandleMeUS?ele=shop_open