We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anjannette Dreier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Anjannette , thanks for joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Question: Are you happy as a business owner? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to have a regular job?

I will start with the second part of the question first.
Picture it….March 1, 2018 Knoxville, TN. The day we launched our business online. We were both so nervous to start a business because we worked full time, have four kids but only three at home, and three dogs. Torrie was also doing her woodworking on the side and we had markets for that at the time. The Grand Online Opening was spectacular and excitement filled the house as orders came in. We had family and friends ordering and helping us package orders. It seemed like the candle business exploded. Everyday we had orders coming in and it felt amazing. The problem came when were pouring every single night and all weekend. We were tired. No, we were exhausted!
The woodworking had to stop because candles consumed our every waking moment. I’m not complaining by any means, but something had to give.
Torrie, who is the money guru, began the task of figuring out how we go from a two income family to one. After many talks, sacrifices, and sleepless nights, she gave me the go ahead in July 2019 to turn my notice in. I was going to be a stay at home bonus Mom, dog Mom, and work the business full time. This freed me up for delivering product to our wholesale accounts, dropping off samples to potential customers, picking up supplies, etc. Another important component was networking for the business and making connections that we wouldn’t have been able to make working full time in an office.

So, do I ever wonder what it would be like to work a regular job? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I may work harder now than I ever have before, but this is so much more rewarding. The flexibility with my schedule is probably the best part of it all.

Finally, the last question, “Are you happy as a business owner?” YES! I get to be creative, make my own hours, attend functions, socialize on a more personal level, mentor others, and the list goes on.
Leaving a steady paycheck might seem hard in the beginning, but the reward is far greater than that paycheck.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Anjannette Dreier and co-owner of 865 candle Company. After making candles as wedding favors for our wedding in October 2017, our friends and family wanted more. Many people inquired about buying our candles as gifts and to have in their homes. In the five months following our wedding, we couldn’t blow out this flickering idea of having our candles, made with a funky kind of love, burn in homes just like yours. We further confirmed this would be a mission worth taking on when we held an adoption fundraiser for our daughter & son-in-law. The candle fundraiser led to more interest and more voices telling us DO IT. Create a candlelit dream. Fast forward to March 2018, 865 Candle Company is established in Knoxville, TN. For those familiar with East TN, 865 is our area code and intentionally spells VOL. We love our local community and our volunteer spirit!

We offer ethically sourced soy candles, wax melts, car fresheners, incense cones, hand salve, room sprays, and aromatherapy inhalers. We also provide custom candles and white labeling for customers who want something with their own branding or a special gift. We offer wholesale as well.

I think that what sets us apart is that we do have the ability to offer retail, wholesale, graphic design work for private labeling, and overall customization whether that’s another business looking to carry candles or someone wanting a specific scent. We love building relationships with people and working collaboratively with them to get them the product they are wanting.

We are most proud of the customer base we have built and the relationships the have been developed since we started in 2018. We are “real” and we don’t hide from mistakes or present anything other than who we are and that is honestly a family full of love and craziness. We have highs and we have lows and lots of learning in between. We welcome you along on our journey as we grow and learn! We thrive on new connections and are careful to nourish our ongoing relationships with our customer base. We would love to have a conversation with anyone interested in what we do and how we can possibly help!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Building our social media audience has been trial and error. Each platform attracts different groups of people. We had to learn who are customers are and where would they be on social media. Once we figured that out, we had to change up the content or have another strategy to attract all people.
What is good for FB is not necessarily good for IG and then slyly add in TT and Twitter….all so overwhelming. We had to make sure we were and still are, posting to our biggest audience everyday. For us, that is IG and FB but TT is slowly on the build so, we will have to start adding more content for TT.
Words of Wisdom-video EVERYTHING you do because it can be content, even the bloopers. People want to see you doing the work whether it’s packaging, washing equipment, cleaning up, they want to watch it. I do voiceover’s because I am still learning how to navigate all the platforms out there.
Be consistent and give a clear picture of what you are trying to convey to people, engage them…..even if you get zero responses, keep doing it. Don’t forget your stories also….that’s a whole other beast.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Sit back and enjoy….it’s a Love story. Torrie and I met 20+ years ago at work. We became friends. We would meet up for lunch or run into each other outside of work. Eventually we started dating. We dated, I think, four to six months and that was it. I walked away and broke her heart.
Fast forward to 2014, she reached out on social media (we had remained friends but more like acquaintances) and she found some pictures of my Dad on her computer and she wanted to send them to me.
A few years go by and we started dating, married, and here we are…..my cofounder, my partner, my person.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.865candlecompany.com
• Instagram: 865CandleCompany
• Facebook: 865 Candle Company
• Twitter: 865candle
• Yelp: 865 Candle Company

Image Credits
Some of the images are by Brandi Fitzgerald