We recently connected with Nikki Crum and have shared our conversation below.

Nikki, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I have always been a lover of old things, candlelight being no exception. Candles produce more than just light and aroma. Candles are a lifestyle. Among many things, they are poetic, responsible, sexy, mature, hopeful and timeless. Much like a well-fueled flame, candle-making is an evolutionary spirit that will never drown. It is a spirt that lives inside of a chandler, reserved to become the light in the dark.

That is where I was. I was in a dark place. I was experiencing post-partum depression after the pregnancy of my second child, in addition to my preexisting bipolar depression. I was grieving the sudden and unexpected loss of my father who I never had the chance to say goodbye to. I was adjusting to a new life at home after my husband accepted a job offer that took him on the road. I departed from my 5-year employer as I became unable to maintain my performance at work and I began undergoing intensive psychotherapy. It was a very lonely and dark time for me. Candlelight became my comfort zone. It sat and existed with me. It reminded me that I was not alone and that you need darkness to see light.

I recognized a problem in the candle world. The market was flooded with toxic wax, toxic wicking, and toxic fragrance that were not only harmful, but depleting earth of resources. There was also a lack of transparency regarding ingredients that would often mislead consumers. I become the solution to the problem I was experiencing. I began to make my own mindful candles from a renewable and sustainable source that offered my home a wax experience free of hazardous toxins. I did this by using only the best ingredients I could find, which include all-natural soy wax, fragrance oil that is free of harmful toxins, and metal free wicking.

I have always been the crafty type. As a small girl I would make arts and crafts and sell them door to door in my neighborhood. I began to put my passion for art into my candles. My family and friends were impressed and would ask me to make them candles. It did not take long for my creations to stand out. The friends and family of my family and friends began to ask how they could purchase my candle creations. I began to recognize a demand.

As a mother to a family who was struggling financially, I saw this as a possible way to replace a portion of the income our household lost due to the state of my mental health. My husband and I watched a video on how to generate $1,000 a month from candle sales. We sat around our kitchen counter daydreaming about that. That seemed to be unrealistic, however, if achievable it would be life changing for us.
It was then that I decided that if I was going to have to live life with a sick mind that often put me into dark places, I would use my sick mind to create something healthier here and become the light in the dark for others.

However, because of our financial situation, I did not have the means to start a company. We were poverty stricken. I may not have had the money, but I had the vision and the hope and that was enough to fuel the fire raging inside of me. I began to save coins. Little by little I would buy the supplies and equipment I needed. After a years’ time, and the demand for our candles growing, my mother decided to gift me the last $200 it would take for me to acquire the last bit of items I needed to launch my first “sail” aka sale. The holidays were right around the corner, and she believed I needed to be ready for them. She was right.
I had enough inventory to sell 24 candles and a handful of wax melts. I sold out. I couldn’t believe it. I took my earnings and flipped them back into the company to buy more inventory and better equipment to do it again. I have been doing that ever since. That is how Crum Canoe Candle Co. came to light and how The Crum Canoe SOYage began. It brings me immense joy hand pouring candles and creating functional art for not only my home, but for others.

The Crum Canoe SOYage is more than just a candle wax company, although I have and continue to invest a lot of time and effort to be able to say that I do that well, Crum Candle Candle Co. is a conscious lifestyle. Alongside our Sailors, aka our customers who become family, we amplify mental health awareness and lead the sail towards a healthier way of life. We tread together in the waters of hope, creating the light in the dark.

Nikki, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

It is an honor to be able to introduce myself, The Crum Canoe and my company, Crum Canoe Candle Co. to your readers. ⚓

My name is Nikki, and I am the anchor of The Crum Canoe. I am a mom to two beautiful children and have been sailing through life with my best friend and husband – The Captain – for the past 17 years. We are a canoe built by two who created two more and welcomed in a couple of sets of paws. Our canoe is treading the wavy waters of life, allowing our light to guide us, in hopes of finding the calm through every dark storm.

For those of you just discovering Crum Canoe Candle Co., we are a hand-poured soy wax candle company from The Poconos, PA. We use all-natural soy wax, fragrances free of harmful toxins and metal-free wicking. Crum Canoe Candle Co. came to light as a way for me to navigate and cope with my mental illness. It is a great outlet for me to live a healthier and more productive life as a mental health patient while bringing awareness and breaking stigmas. I always say that if I must have a sick mind, I will use this mind and my time here to create something healthy. That is exactly what The Crum Canoe SOYage has set out to do.

Our company values sustainability, responsibility, transparency, continuous improvement, and persistence. We make a non-toxic product that is of the quality you and your loved ones, our pets, our planet, and our marine life deserve and demand. Why do we do this? We truly care about all living beings and leaving a thriving planet behind that is fueled by sustainable resources. It is our passion that paddles our purpose forward. We analyze root problems, and we create solutions.
Our core values have greatly influenced where we put our time, focus and energy. It is especially important to our company that we create, become, and grow light alongside all of those facing dark times and hardships with an emphasis on the effects of mental illness. Our light is a reminder to others and to ourselves that we are not alone through our struggles nor our successes in this vast sea of life.

I feel very passionate about using candles as both a functional item and as home decor. Candles are a lifestyle. They are poetic, responsible, sexy, mature, hopeful, and timeless. The right candle can really create such an aesthetic experience in any space or photograph. My company has been blessed to have been used as props in staging multiple times for numerous public reviews. It’s an honor to witness my candles portrayed as the art that they are.

My candle wax has sailed to the homes of our sailors across the United States, and overseas. I have been included in collab boxes and subscription boxes. I have been purchased for small retail spaces. I have worked numerous events to create custom creations for weddings, baby showers, memorial services, bridal showers and more. It is a true honor to grow our light alongside our sailors – our sailors being all who choose to set sail along The Crum Canoe Candle Co. SOYage by supporting our small soy shop.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Bootstrapping. For those unfamiliar with the term, it means I used my own money. Before any of your readers who may be considering an Entrepreneurial path of their own get discouraged, I did not have any extra money to fund my venture. We were poverty stricken and I hadn’t established good credit. We lived paycheck to paycheck, barely surviving. However, lack of money stood in my way of many things in life, this was not going to be another one of them. I took control of that much.

I figured out the baseline cost of the equipment and supplies needed to create product to offer. I began to save coins, not dollars. I would put a little away here and there, buying very little at a time. An entire year went by of me dedicated to doing this. The holidays were drawing near, and my mom thought it would be a great time to offer some product. However, I did not have everything I needed, and it would take a couple more months of saving coins to gather it. After watching my dedication all year and her belief in what I had set out to do, my mom asked me how much more money it would take for me to launch product. She gifted me an early Christmas present of the $200 I still needed.

After my mom gifted the remaining $200 that I needed, I was able to gather everything to pour inventory. I poured two dozen candles and a few additional wax melts. It was not a lot of inventory. What I did do a lot of was talk about my company throughout the year. I made friends and family excited over what I was doing. They were patiently waiting for me to launch inventory so they could support me and have my products. When I finally launched, I quickly sold out.

So, you see, it took me an entire year of saving plus an early Christmas present from my mom to be able to do something that I now do in a day – create, offer, and fulfill two dozen candles and some wax melts. I have since then relied on the money I make from my sales to give back to my company. This allows me to buy better equipment, more supplies and is how I can fund the growth of Crum Canoe Candle Co. on my own, slow, and steady.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I just shared how long it took for me to fund my company to launch my first sale and what a success it was. What followed that initial success was a complete nightmare that tried to drown my canoe before it ever had a chance to really set sail.

I installed a reputable financial tool that allowed me to conduct online transactions safely and securely through my website. I wanted my customers to have peace of mind while shopping with me by offering an additional financial tool that they recognized and were comfortable with. The time quickly came to ship pending orders. I logged into my financial tool to access the money my company had made from its sell out sale. I was greeted with a message that my account was closed and that my funds were frozen.

I called the company that owned the financial tool, and I was told that it was an irreversible system decision. From my understanding, the system shut down my account due to being a brand-new account with a sudden spike of activity. It triggered their system into believing my account could be a fraudulent account. With customer protection being their number one priority, my account was closed, and my funds were being held for 180 days to ensure all my customers received their orders free of complaint. Only after 180 days would my funds be released. I was told by multiple representatives that there was no way to lift this system decision. This security measure that this financial tool has designed is great news for customers, but bad news for honest new accounts.

Keep in mind, I do not have any money at this point. It took me a long time to save for this sale. I needed the money from the sale to ship out orders and buy new supplies. That money was now frozen. What do I do? How do I overcome this obstacle and get my customers orders to them? How do I host another sale? How does Crum Canoe Candle Co. sail on? I felt defeated.

I did the only thing I could see as an immediate solution at that point in time, while protecting the reputation of my company. I took money our household didn’t have to spend. Money that was reserved for our bills that month. My husband was upset. We both felt it could be a reckless decision with terrible consequences, however, he supported the risk of taking it. I used the money to ship out all pending orders and to buy more supplies to quickly host another sale. I sold out again. I made all the money back that I had taken from our household before it was due, able to replace it without consequence, plus enough money left to buy more supplies to keep selling. It’s been much smoother sailing since then for Crum Canoe Candle Co. and for The Crum Canoe.

Since then, my company has not had to resort to taking as big a risk as this. I do not share this story to recommend or even encourage ever doing this, as it was a huge and almost irresponsible risk to take. My company and my household were both on the line. I had to make it worth the risk. It was and I recognize that it was my own luck, hope, faith, and determination that came from risking it all, that led the way to its success. Remember, the reason I saved coins all year was to avoid a reckless choice like putting my household at financial risk. I only share this risk with your readers to highlight a time in The Crum Canoe SOYage where my resilience shined through. I will make certain my company overcomes obstacles. My household relies on my resilience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.crumcanoecandleco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crumcanoecandleco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crumcanoecandleco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-crum-724699258/
• Other: Facebook Exclusive VIP Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/707560306592917

Image Credits
All images were taken by me.