We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Arpy Semerdjian a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Arpy, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
Nearly fifteen years ago, I accompanied my mother to a local candle supply store for centerpiece decorations. While there, a large apothecary jar caught my eye. I didn’t have purpose for it – the shape and style just spoke to me and so I bought it. It sat on a shelf in my bedroom for the next five years, the pleasing aesthetic crying out for some sort of purpose.
One day, I recalled where the jar had been purchased – and with the realization of its intended purpose, I became intent on making a candle for it! I had never made a candle before. Undeterred, I set out researching the basics of candle making. The more I learned, the more excited I became. The technical aspects of candle making appealed to me: creating a fragrance, weighing and measuring the ingredients and stirring them into a bubbling pot – all to end up with something uniquely and completely mine. When I lit my first candle in that beautiful apothecary jar, a spark was also lit in my spirit: Why buy candles when it is so much more fun to MAKE THEM.
For the next ten years, I honed and perfected my craft, making candles for family, friends and myself. I learned that the high priced designer candles that currently flood the market are largely made from synthetic ingredients and then sold far above their cost. I knew that I could create candles that were more unique and higher in quality. I did my homework on types of wax, which burned cleaner, lasted longer and how each fared in ambient weather vs while being burned. And I went deep on fragrances – I established relationships with quality fragrance vendors, and learned how to combine scents to cultivate something that was unique and completely my own. And because it is my passion to share my creations with others – I knew I could do it at a price affordable to everyone.
I needed some help launching the “business side” of the business – and so I turned to my partner, Susan, who is organized and has a head for paperwork. She handled the more mundane aspects of starting the business: federal forms, state and city requirements, seller’s permits, etc., which gave me the freedom to concentrate on creating the brand. I worked with my brother, who is a talented artist, on creation of our logo and label design. Once we had quality product, with labeling and packaging we were proud of and our proper business paperwork in place, it was a matter of finding a way to reach our customers.
We started out with a “soft launch” to family and friends. This served as automatic feedback on which scents were favored and what size/type of candles people were interested in. This soft launch informed what our initial line of candles would look like. From there, we launched our website and booked ourselves out at a variety of open air markets in the Los Angeles area. In our first year, we handled creating wedding favors and partnered with a local sports team for fan appreciation. We continue to work in this way – placing emphasis on creating local connections with our products.
In subsequent years, we’ve expanded our line to include wax melts and soaps. Every year has meant something exciting and new – and we relish each new opportunity to grow!
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
We are a woman-owned and operated small business, based in North Hollywood, CA. Our product is sold online and in-person at local open-air markets in the Los Angeles area.
We sell uniquely crafted, small batch candles and soaps. Our candle scents revolve around seasonal celebrations and our soap scents are created with the specific homeopathic intentions of the selected herbs and fragrances. In either case, our customers find only unique products – you won’t find anything that you’ve “smelled before” at a chain establishment. This is why we have repeat customers – once someone uses our products, nothing else seems good enough!
In addition to the uniqueness of our scents, we are most proud of the QUALITY of our product. We cut no corners, and we do not become complacent with what’s been used before. We are always interested in working with new blends, waxes and oils to create the safest, cleanest and more earth (and people!) friendly products.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Our business is entirely self-funded. My partner, Susan, and I decided on an amount we would each be comfortable contributing (on a 50/50 basis) as start-up capital. That amount obviously created the structure of budget and we continue to re-invest in our company with our profits on an on-going basis. Our business is still less than five years old. We knew going in that the start-up capital was going to be a long-term investment; but it’s been thrilling to see how quickly it’s becoming self-sustainable.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Early on, my partner and I had made an agreement that we would stick with a limited product selection for the first year or two – to give ourselves the space to learn the business without making a lot of expensive mistakes in the process. However, early success with our initial line got us excited and my creative juices started flowing! Soon, we invested in larger vessels, seasonal vessels and molds for novelty waxes. We went from having a small, limited product line to having a fairly large one almost overnight.
Unfortunately, many of the novelty items weren’t as popular as we thought they would be, and the larger vessels didn’t sell nearly as well as the smaller ones had. Suddenly, we had a lot of product that wasn’t moving. What WAS still selling very well was the original product line.
We had to humbly remember our original agreement with each other on not growing faster than we understood the business. We had to scale back down, refocus on the product that was popular, and let go of what wasn’t working. We could have saved ourselves some disappointment and a lot of money if we had not let our excitement about our growth carrying us away from our original business plan.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cauldronaffairs.com
- Instagram: @cauldronaffairs
- Twitter: @cauldronaffairs
Image Credits
Arpy Semerdjian