Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Crum
Hi Nikki, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
WHO IS THE CRUM CANOE?
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 few sets of paws. Our canoe is treading the wavy waters of life, allowing our light to guide us, in hopes of finding the still waters we know are true.
For those of you just discovering Crum Canoe Candle Co., we are a hand-poured soy wax candle company from The Poconos, PA. We create a mindful candlewax experience free of harmful toxins, while amplifying mental health and over-all well-being. 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.
HOW THE CRUM CANOE SET SAIL
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.
During this time, it was also recommended to me by my therapist at the time that I start using my voice to amplify mental health awareness. As a mental health patient, I understand the dangers in the silence of being mentally ill in a society that stigmatizes it. It was in all of this 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.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
My wax sits in a home of at least one Sailor in every state of the United States, and even overseas. However, The Crum Canoe SOYage is more than just a wax company. Crum Canoe Candle Co. is a mindful lifestyle. Alongside our Sailors, aka our customers who become family, we amplify mental health and lead the sail towards a healthier way of life. We tread together in the waters of hope, creating the light in the dark.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As a mental health patient who has lived the majority of my life in poverty with limited resources, I have faced a number of challenges that I suspect will continue to arise. However, it is in the learning to navigate those obstacles and finding solutions that I am able to grow as an individual, and a business owner. One big obstacle that stands out from the rest has been how much dedication and focus I had to put into launching Crum Canoe Candle Co.
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 raging fire 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.
This is the main challenge I would like to share in hopes to encourage others with no resources to take control. I am a bootstrapper. For those unfamiliar with the term, it means I use my own money to fund my business and sculpt a more stable life for myself. If you are a reader considering an Entrepreneurial path of your own but lack resources, please do not get discouraged, Money stands in the way of many things, however, don’t let your future stability be one of them. Allow me to be the proof you need to believe in yourself.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I feel very passionate about using candlewax as both a functional item and as home decor. Candles are a lifestyle. The right candle can really create such an aesthetic 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 double as
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.crumcanoecandleco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crumcanoecandleco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crumcanoecandleco
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/707560306592917
