We recently connected with Audrey Paice and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Audrey, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I blame my grandma for my obsession with fragrance. She gave me my first perfume when I was 11 years old, and I have been hooked ever since. Perfumes, flowers, lotions & potions – I couldn’t get enough of the delight I experienced when smelling something beautifully aromatic. This addiction is what then led me to my deepest passion – candles. The power a candle has to lift a mood or elevate a space is, in my opinion, unmatched. Growing up I would scour the candle-clearance-section to be able to store up a stockpile of candles. I wanted to make sure I had enough to steadily keep my room smelling amazing. I took this habit with me into adulthood, where it only grew out of control because more rooms to fill meant more candles to buy. I had been burning candles in our house for a good eight years before my husband noticed a layer of black soot covering all our walls. My passion had been unknowingly pumping chemicals into our home. I was faced with a dilemma at that point: either cut out my devotion to strongly scented, flickering candles completely – or create a solution.
This need for a solution is how my business was born. I researched, trialed, then perfected the process for creating clean, burn-without-soot candles so that my fragrance-obsession can remain strong. Because my candles are made with clean wax and ingredients, I love being able to share the experience of a room being transformed by fragrance & flickering, but nothing else.

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?

Originally my craft began as a hobby in response to needing a solution for clean-burning candles. As I progressed in the process, I started to become more familiar with the science behind candle-making and the products I created evolved into better quality gifts. I was scared to turn my hobby into a business though, because, in my mind, creating a gift was less pressure than creating a product to be purchased. I resisted friend’s suggestions to turn my hobby into a business for years, until a shift in our family created the chance for me to be brave. We hit a season where I needed to be home with my children, so my husband suggested I finally turn my hobby into a business and overcome my fear. While I was still hesitating, he went online to purchase my first domain & website – and I was thrown into making it happen! It was one of the best nudges (shoves) into action that I’ve ever had.
Because of my passion for candles, I care more than most people do about what goes into them, how they look, and most importantly (to me) – how they smell. This care is what has allowed me to create a product that I not only get to be proud of but other people seem to adore as well. Every aspect of my candles has been purposefully considered, and I only make what I love. Getting to share what I enjoy with others is what has made this business so worthwhile.

Have you ever had to pivot?

One of my favorite aspects of making candles is that there is so much variety when it comes to the look, smell and design of them. Because there are so many options, making custom candles for people is one of the best things I get to do. I love working with people to figure out their signature scent and ideal composition for their unique candles. A friend recommended me to a local winery for (what I thought was) a custom-candle project which seemed like a match made in Heaven (candles + wine!) However, when we talked the owner asked me nothing about custom candles, and instead asked all about the *workshops* I offered. I had never even considered candle workshops before! Her questions completely blindsided me. But as we talked, I felt like it was probably something I should look into so I made the commitment to host a candle workshop for her winery.
We chatted about a few details, organized a date for the event, then as soon as we hung up I began doing research. I had two months to learn how to conduct a workshop, gather the supplies, and organize the event. I checked out other workshops that similar businesses had done in the past, mentally walked through the process about twenty times in my head so that I could then gather a supply list for others to be able to do what I had only ever done myself. I improvised my first-ever candle workshop in conjunction with a wine-tasting and, thankfully, the event was a huge success.
Since then, candle-workshops have not only become a consistent service of my business, they’ve actually become one of my favorite events to host!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Being a full-time employee for most of my life, social media was always viewed as an unnecessary distraction from work. It was something to be avoided because to be on Instagram or Facebook meant that my time was distracted away from my *real* responsibilities and clearly my attention should be directed instead to more important avenues. When I launched my business, I knew I probably needed a social media account but I still viewed Instagram & Facebook as distractions that needed to be limited. I put out the bare minimum amount of content so that I wasn’t wasting time on less-worthy business initiatives.
For the first few months, I focused the bulk of my efforts on crafting emails, visiting stores, and connecting with markets to try to get my new business out in the world. I’d limit my social media posts to once a week – careful to make sure my attention wasn’t too caught up in the online world.
It took those first few months of minimal leads and dead ends before I finally realized that most of the interaction I was receiving about my business was taking place on Instagram & Facebook. As I gradually increased my presence online, more people were drawn to my candles because I was able to show them visually what my products helped create in their own world. Eventually stores, markets and individuals started tracking ME down through Instagram & Facebook to be able to work together.
Social media has become the one instrument that has connected me with more opportunities for my business than any other initiative I’ve tried. No longer a distraction, I now view it as the necessary tool it is.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.flickeringcandleco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flickeringcandleco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flickeringcandleco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-paice-68262044/