We were lucky to catch up with Erin Bell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Erin, thanks for joining 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?
ISO Candles stands for “In Search Of” Candles. As someone who lives with the challenges (and super powers!) of ADHD, I feel like I am ALWAYS on the move! Always “in search of” the next thing to try or activity to go on. Growing up, and even leading up to turning what was just a way to give holiday and birthday gifts that I created myself into a side business, I was always trying out new hobbies or exploring different skills to try and develop (looking at you embroidery machine that I bought off of Ebay with my first bonus and quickly gave up on after the first sewing needle broke..) When I started exploring the idea of making candles at home following trying out a class when on vacation, I immediately was hooked by learning something new, and all of the intricacies of making candles that I had no idea about – how do I select which scents to use? what type/size of jar am I exploring? and how does that impact other factors such as wick size? It quickly filled this curiosity and drive to continue exploring that I always work to balance, having ADHD. After a few nudges (some a bit harder than I expected) from friends and family, I decided to take the leap and turn this fun hobby into a business. When it came to the name, I was also in a mini phase of trying to learn about photography. While starting to explore this other hobby, I was learning about the various camera settings, including ISO. While I knew the term “ISO” from “in search of”, it quickly clicked that this was going to be the new name of my business- ISO Candles. Representing the way in which I am always on the move, always trying to find something new, with the unintended humor of also being “ISO” the camera setting…a hobby I didn’t quite follow through on! ISO Candles represents my personal life as well as my goal of feeding into the search for the next candle and scent that will elicit some happy memory or create a positive mood and vibe for wherever one may burn their candles.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
So who am I? My name is Erin and I am a Tar Heel living in Del Ray, Alexandria with my dapper husband, Taylor.
My entire candle-obsession story started in the spring of 2015 when my sweetheart, Taylor, and I were in Charleston, SC for a College of Charleston alumni celebration. As with all of our trips to the Holy City, we were walking along King Street when we started walking down a side street and saw the most incredible storefront. At this time I was still in a bit of a shell (shout out to Taylor for finally breaking me out of it after a few years of trying) so I had zero desire to try something new, even as simple as walking into a new store that was just absolutely stunning from the street. With one simple question of if I wanted to go in the store, Taylor, unknowingly, created this new path for me and an incredible passion. We walked into this store that was really a sea of incredible candles and handmade home decor. I was delighted to learn that the didn’t just sell candles, they also offered candle making workshops. I immediately signed up for a class and the rest is history (well, kinda)!
I decided to actually put the concept of ISO out into the world!
Each time I was on vacation I would take a class, and I even bought a candle making kit! Finally, after much practice the concept for ISO Candles was born. A year after making my first homemade candle, reading countless books, and making a few hundred (holy smokes!) candles- I decided to actually put the concept of ISO out into the world! I spent a year making candles for holidays, birthdays, and “just because” sundries for my friends and family, and every time I made and gave a candle, it was such a rewarding feeling. The final push was actually from a dear friend, and she didn’t even know it. She forwarded a handful (5 to be exact) emails that she had gotten from a blogger about taking the leap to sell one’s handmade goodies.
It took some time to come up with “ISO Candles” but I wanted to make sure I created a name that really encompassed my passions and who this business would represent. “ISO” has a two-fold meaning: first, “ISO” is a camera setting, representing my love for photography; and second, “ISO” stands for “In Search Of”, representing my continual drive to search for new adventures in life!
The feeling it brings me to make and give candles is one that I don’t even know how to put into words. Candles are something that I think, and feel, are so close to the heart because it’s something that I believe really makes a home feel like a home. Not just the scent, but the aroma, the warmth (literally and figuratively), that a candle gives just makes one feel comfortable and at ease.
ISO Candles also feeds a part of my soul that has been there for years. Growing up in a family that always prioritized making positive contributions to the community and supporting organizations that work to create a better world, I want to ensure I am leaving things better than when I found them. Immediately upon recognizing this side hobby was going to turn into a business, I knew I wanted to use ISO Candles as a way to further contribute to organizations that I am passionate about and help our communities. Since starting in August of 2017, I’ve been able to support dozens of organizations and programs through over $6,400 in donations. I regularly support ZERO-The End of Prostate Cancer and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center in memory and honor of my grandfather and grandmother, and am constantly exploring local organizations that address a range of issues including social injustice, education, mental health, and housing and human services. I am honored to have the support of countless customers and followers over the years and am grateful to have the ability to give back to organizations and programs that are making such important impacts on our community.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
At the start of ISO Candles I would estimate that 90% of sales were at in person holiday markets/craft fairs, 9% would be from friends/family, and that last 1% would be someone who may have heard from a friend about ISO Candles or came back from a holiday market. Soon after starting out, my (now) husband proposed so nearly all of the attention shifted to wedding planning, while still doing those seasonal events. Not long after the busyness of wedding planning ended, the pandemic began and my husband and I bought our home in a new neighborhood. It was the perfect setup for ISO Candles to simply fade into the background amidst all of the real world and personal world changes/challenges. I never expected things to go so opposite of what I was quietly anticipating. While we only moved a few miles away, we moved to the best small town neighborhood that we could’ve imagined. We live just outside of Washington, D.C. where your neighbors are seemingly constantly changing and folks have established friend groups from years past. It turned out, our new neighborhood was going to be a pit more perfect than we could’ve drawn up. I quickly became connected with others through Facebook groups, met members of the local business association, connected with the boutique on our “Main Street”, and was creating relationships (both personal and professional) that my introverted self was not expecting. Quickly, I learned how incredible our neighborhood was and began being known as the “ISO Candles gal”. Taking the leap to put myself out there in an entirely new community while still having not a ton of experience was scary but beyond rewarding. Every time I go to an event or have a pop-up I have multiple folks say either “I heard about you from the Facebook group”, “I bought your candles at the boutique and love them!”, or “A friend gave me your candle and I need more!” and every time I’m overwhelmed by how impactful each interaction is. Becoming part of the community and showing up, whether it’s at an event to sell your product, in support of another business, or just to be part of a community activity goes further than you know!
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
I started making candles as a hobby after taking a “sip and pour” style DIY class while on vacation. My (now) husband nudged my introverted self to sign up for a class by myself and boy has it paid off! After one class I was fascinated with the ability to create something with my hands. I have the absolute worst handwriting (imagine a 3rd grade boy and then take it down several levels of readability) and cannot draw a stick figure, but find such joy (and dopamine release!) from doing things with my hands. Soon after the class I bought an at home DIY kit, checked out COUNTLESS books from the library about candle making and starting a business (though that wasn’t really on the horizon yet), and just started playing! I learned very quickly about the differences in wicks, and not so quickly about the balance of oil and wax (please imagine sitting at your WFH desk with a candle and then wondering why your eyes would only burn when you had a candle going…). I experimented with many jars, wick styles, and oils and after many months had at least what the initial start of ISO Candles would look like. Over the years the packaging, labeling, and “vibe” of ISO Candles has evolved, but the hand pouring of each candle, and the writing of each label by my husband has not. While I fully recognize it would be less time consuming to have the dozens and dozens of scents pre-printed on the labels, I feel the look of the handwritten labels not only highlights how each candle is hand poured but underscores the passion and heart that goes into ISO Candles.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.isocandles.com
- Instagram: @iso.candles
- Facebook: ISO.Candles
Image Credits
Product photos – McKinzie Jefferson Photography