We were lucky to catch up with Abbie Zanzucchi recently and have shared our conversation below.
Abbie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
My final year of college is what really started everything. I realized That I was so focused on my short-term goals ( rent, food, living expenses, studying) that I didn’t plan for what laid ahead of me. I would no longer be a ‘Student’ and I didn’t know what I could do. I started journaling a list of what made me happy, my needs, and my wants for the next 5 years. I then did the same thing for 10 years. I listed potential jobs, what they entailed, and how hard I needed to work to get where I wanted to be. NOTHING felt right, Entrapernuer kept popping up on my list so I went down the rabbit hole, my first question to myself was “What am I good at?” Unfortunately, being a professional anime-watcher is not a very profitable venture so I looked to my other hobbies. At the time I was making my own candles, plant hangers, and taking care of my house plants ( plant moms for the win!). I was originally thinking about selling my own plants but living in student living in a small single-bedroom is not the best place to grow a plant empire. I was extremely hesitant about stepping into the candle maker realm, I felt intimidated by the competition and didn’t feel like I had a fighting chance. During that time I was in a professional selling class and one of the lessons was standing out in an oversaturated market. I took that lesson to heart. I looked at the market and thought, how can I create a product that can stand out above the rest? Many candle companies have low-cost, soy wax candles. what can I do? My answer was making bright colorful candles in unique glass vessels found in thrift stores that could be reused. This changed to canning jars with a few thrifted vessels after a few months (it was hard to make these candles in bulk). My product takes a bit of time to curate, it’s not a one-pour, single-color candle. It’s a highly scented multi-colored candle that smells divine.
Over the next few weeks, I thought about what my business name should be, what my Logo would look like,I read about how to open a business and what I needed to do on the legal side of things. I added up the starting costs. ( excel was my best friend) Then calculated how much it would cost me to make 1 single candle, making sure I included everything. Thankfully since I was already making candles I had a basic setup but I needed to scale it to make bulk candles. This process took a few months to get my desired candles but by October I was invited to a pop-up night market. I was terrified but excited at the same time. I continued to go to markets as my main source of advertising but I am tried to save to reopen my online store.
after a few markets I realized I needed to do more than just candles, I needed more reach to a wider audience. An easy switch was to wax melts I had extra wax so after a bit of trial and error I have been able to really roll out some awesome wax melts that are very well scented. I have even made some wax melts that look like cakes.
After wax melts I created room sprays for the people who are unable to have a live flame and don’t want to wait for a wax melt to permeate a room.
after a year I created lotion and lip balms something that hydrates the skin without breaking the bank or adding toxins in your bloodstream. I really want to make products that are luxury grade but you don’t have to save for 3 weeks to afford it.
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?
My name is Abbie I started out as a candle maker but then my business has grown into kind of a home hearth (yes like the fireplace) business. I create candles wax melts, room sprays, lip balms,lotions macrame plant hangers, and now plants! I got into the candle business because my cat started developing a breathing problem to the candles and incense I was burning ( yes I kept the windows open for proper airflow). I spoke with my vet and they said the candles I burn are made from paraffin and the incense I am burning has even worse chemicals in it. Don’t do this. If you are going to burn any make sure it is a natural candle that is in a well-ventilated area. I started looking for these candles and the price of them are through the roof. I have always been a DIYer so I decided to make my own. I researched the different types of fragrances ( essential oil and candle-safe fragrances) and chose my wax. I started the trial and error faze till I created a candle I felt was worth gifting to and started giving them to my friends. It wasn’t till my teacher said during our promotional selling class that if you have something that makes you happy and you this is sellable, what are you doing!? Sell it, just do it. So I did, It is/ was difficult but I got a groove and I have been making candles and expanding ever sense.
The problems I solve for clients would be That I have a little something for anyone who loves a variety of unique flavors, that are all-natural and within your budget. I’m not going to sit here and say that times are great, we are all struggling in some form and I want people to splurge a little without breaking the bank.
I absolutely love all my products but I have been really loving the versatility of my room sprays. I have recently had to downsize so the room sprays help a lot to keep the room smelling fresh without the burning flame with all my pets around.
The main thing I want people to know about my company is that I want people to feel the warmth and love that I put into my product. I want people to walk into their home take a deep breath in and say “oh! im glad to be home it smells great!” The scent of a room really changes the atmosphere and vibe and I want people to find their perfect fit.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
This is actually a really recent story in my personal life. Both me and my partner almost bought a house. Our lease was running out and we thought hey let’s get out of the renting game and finally settle down. So we started looking for a relator and we ended up finding one. She was really friendly sent us a ton of listings and we set up for viewing I think it was the next day, it all went super fast. On our first house, she had nice things to say, pointed out errors in the house that needed to be fixed we got comfortable. On the 2nd house about halfway through my fiance and I realized that that house was not for us either. She said she had a perfect house for us. So we went to the house and she was right. The outside of the house was beautiful, it was in a culdesac, had a huge back yard, the rooms were just as big and had the potential to be even better too. We loved everything about it. We got home and talked about it saying it felt too good to be true that this house had minimal damages and the inspector they brought in said there was nothing wrong with the house it was ready to sell. My MIL suggested we get a 2nd opinion with a 3rd party inspector. We got the inspection done and that’s when everything was revealed. There were leaking floors, mold growing under carpets, wood rotting, uneven floors, we needed to dig up the back yard to keep the house from flooding, and the flat roof was not replaced with standing water in it. Oh and of course it was in a HOA. At the mortgage we had there was no way we could fix any of this and not be in debt. So we pivoted. We had to make a rough decision to move in with his mom. It was a really hard decision to make but we knew if we wanted to have a better chance at getting an amazing home we needed to pivot and save so here we are just finished unpacking and working overtime.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Consistency, Consistency, Consistency. I can say it again for the people in the back lol. I understand that it is way easier said than done but what has helped me so so much is staying consistent. Especially at markets I usually have a 3ish try rule. Some markets you just know are not the vibe so I would not waste and keep going back. But if you get into a flea market or a “first friday of..” or 2nd Saturday of..,” those types of markets that are consistent during the season. Keep going to those a lot of the time people only shop at the vendors they know, so if you show your consistency they will slowly but surely come and try your products.
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