We recently connected with Elizabeth Decker and have shared our conversation below.

Elizabeth , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I absolutely wish I had started earlier. I lived in France from 2016-2018, and as soon as I moved back to the States, my mind would just reel with entrepreneurial ideas. I don’t think I really had.tgr confidence to step out and do something like that though. The imposter syndrome was REAL, but the ideas I had never left my mind. What those years of NOT taking action did provide though was a lot of research, which actually ended up being so helpful later. Probably helped prevent at least a few mistakes. Jackabee candles came to be after my husband and I got married, and he really encouraged me to try it. Now, 2 and a half years later, this is both of our full time job.

Elizabeth , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

When Lee (my husband) and I were planning our wedding, I kept looking into a lot of DIY things because we were just trying to stay on a budget. In that process, I somehow stumbled upon videos of people making candles. I started to do a lot of research and was fascinated by the process and the science of if. About 4-5 months after we got married, Lee encouraged me to order a starter kit and just try it out. I ended up making dozens of candles that I gave away to friends, family, and coworkers. They LOVED them. So we made more. Then we built a website. Then we were doing our first market. And before we knew it, Jackabee Candles was born! We now offer other fragrance products, like wax melts, room sprays, Reed diffusers, etc. The other component of our business is that all of our ingredients are considered “clean burning”, meaning they don’t contain anything that causes respiratory issues, hormone disrupters, potentially cancer-causing toxins, or any dangerous flammable inclusions like flower petals, pine cones, coffee beans and such that keep getting added to candles these days. I used to get headaches whenever I would burn candles from the regular store, and thankfully, our candles don’t give me any headaches!

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I was working as a registered behavior technician and then as a preschool teacher for the few years before Jackabee candles actually become my full time job. When my teaching contract was up for renewal, Lee and I sat down and looked at what it might look like to shift my career focus to Jackabee Candles. We decided to take the leap. And then it took off! So much so that just 4 months later, I was needing some help to continue to grow, so then it became Lee’s full time job as well. That leap is terrifying no matter how much prep you do, but it has been so worth it. It’s great that our business earns a loving for us, but it also gives us the flexibility to pour into other passions like serving at our church and having more time to spend with friends, family, and each other. We’re our own bosses, so we don’t have to request PTO. We can take impromptu trips in the middle of the week if we want. It has increased our quality of life significantly!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We aim to just make really high quality products. We want to serve our customers, which means doing whatever we can to give them the best product and experience we can. We started to have requests for candle classes, so we just started offering those. We are also increasing our wholesale footprint, which we love, because we love forming those relationships with other business owners. It’s so fun to see our products on shelves at stores, or to partner with other business and make something custom that they’re excited to sell in their boutiques or shops.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jackabeecandles.com
• Instagram: @jadkabeecandlecompany
• Facebook: @jackabeecandlecompany
• Other: Retail locations aside from wholesale: Home & Seasons in Acworth, Georgia Made Mercantile in Woodstock, Georgia

Image Credits
Three of the photos were taken by @nutakesphotos