We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carrie Robertson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carrie below.

Carrie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start on the operational side – do you spend more of your time/focus/energy on growing revenue or cutting costs?

Growing revenue and cutting costs walk hand-in-hand; they have a symbiotic relationship in business.
As the owner of a small candle company in an over-saturated industry, my ability to offer high quality products at very competitive prices to my customers is what has carried this young business through its infancy, and through weird and uncertain economic times. Cutting costs is also an integral part of what has helped to propel this small business to its current level of growth and success.

Sourcing out the best pricing on raw materials does extract a lot of time from an already busy one-woman schedule. Also, taking advantage of low pricing on bulk buys always requires a significant capital investment on the front end, which can be scary, especially for a young business; however, careful cost accounting and bulk buys in the infancy of this business allowed me to enter the local market (also heavily saturated) and hit the ground running. Cutting costs in order TO grow revenue was absolutely a part of the young business strategy for Carrie Robertson and Peanut City Candle Co., and it has served us well.

What did I learn from employing this strategy? When you are a new and unproven business, potential customers who have options are looking first at one thing: your math. By keeping my prices at, or slightly below the market averages for same or similar products, it means I fit budgets. It means that I am putting my product into more hands because I have an attractive price point to go along with my attractive product,

The results: customers make their initial purchase and are satisfied all-around with the product, so we experience a high customer return rate, excellent product reviews, and word-of-mouth recommendations that lead new customers to our brand, consistently.
Price points bring the customers in, and then quality retains them. As such, this method has also allowed PCCC to introduce higher-priced, luxury items to our product line up that have greater profit margins, so we experience revenue growth by keeping costs down on our flagship products.

In short, when a top-tier consumable product is coupled with attractive, consistent branding and competitive pricing achieved through careful cost-cutting and cost-accounting, revenue growth becomes automatic.

Carrie , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Peanut City Candle Company is lovingly referred to as an accidental business. A hobby gone wrong, but also very right.

I spent many years and many dollars supporting “big candle.” I was candle obsessed, but had zero clue or concern about what they were made from or how they were manufactured. One fateful day, I read a scholarly article written by a veterinarian. Apparently, all that paraffin wax is horrendously unhealthy for really anyone, especially animals. Pearls, immediately clutched. I spent several hours researching the best waxes for use around pets. Then I went to bed.

The next day, I was a little wine drunk while internet shopping, click-bait got me, and a soy wax candle making kit was purchased. The rest is history. What started out as a fun hobby making candles in my kitchen that were safe for my dog turned into a small business, and here we are…

My goal was, is, and will always be, simply stated: create the healthiest, most fragrant wax products possible. For this reason, Peanut City Candle Co. uses only 100% USA-grown soy wax, clean burning wicks made from natural materials, and fragrances that are guaranteed phthalate-free. All products are dye- and additive-free, as well. No weird stuff here. The candlemaker is weird enough.

A hallmark of Peanut City Candle Co. is our commitment to rigorous and continuous product testing and an intimate knowledge of the products we offer. Quality, safety, and consumer education are our top priorities.
I call my workshop ‘the lab’ for a reason. Testing, research, and development takes place there almost daily.

Prior to becoming a full-time candle queen, I worked in the physical testing lab for America’s largest steel manufacturer as a quality control tech. I tested the steel used for naval ships and submarines, rail cars, roller coasters, bridges, tankers… things that we don’t want to fail, things that require precise and stringent testing.

I was very good at my job. I learned a lot about quality, safety, testing and accountability in the years I spent in the mill, and I believe that transferring that possessed knowledge and applying it to what I do as a candlemaker is what sets me apart from, well, everyone.

As both a candlemaker and as a human, I am constantly learning and ever-evolving my craft and myself. My greatest achievement, aside from perfecting the soy wax candle and creating a successful business out of thin air, is the creation of my four original scents; a true feather in the cap of a woman that has had a long-standing love affair with fine fragrance. It is my hope that I will have the opportunity to share my original fragrances with as many people in this wide world as possible.

Producing a safe and quality product that provides a good value for my customers is my number one concern as a candlemaker. Every candle I pour, every wax product that leaves my hands IS an extension of me and my capabilities, so perfection is the only option. I am a craftsman. I make light that I get to share with the world around me, which to me is the definition of staying LIT.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I funded my business through hard work, with a splash of risk. That sounds like a generic and prideful answer, but it is true. My business started as an overgrown hobby. I was working full-time at a steel mill, four-on, four-off, rotating twelve hour shifts. It was a soul-crushing job with a difficult schedule, but extremely lucrative.

In the early stages of the business, I self-funded with money that I would have otherwise spent on extras like vacations, clothing, handbags, etc. That was fine and good, but about a year into my “hobby” business, I knew that if I wanted to see it grow to its full potential, I needed to quit my job and make Peanut City Candle Co. my full-time gig. That meant no more steel mill paychecks. So, I did what any normal human would do. I quit my high-paying job, cashed out my 401k, and turned my work and my retirement plan into a small candle company, and I’ve never once looked back or regretted this decision.

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

Boots on the ground. Shaking hands and kissing babies. Persistence. Showing up. Posting genuinely. Posting regularly.

I started my social media accounts at the same time I started my business, and interestingly enough, my social media presence before the business was ZERO. I was as green at social media as the grass in the yard. I still consider myself to be a newcomer to the digital world.

There has never been a tactic to my socials. I am me, and I am my business, and I enjoy to just be my genuine self on social media. It turns out, people really enjoy that. I was obsessed early on with the numbers. It always felt like a high follower count meant something, but what I’ve learned is that is not the case. I know, or have met, nearly everyone that follows my social media accounts, and that has proven to be effective in both marketing and engagement via socials.

So, my best advice is don’t try too hard. Promote your business well on social, be genuine, post what makes you happy, and encourage customers to follow your brand by making your profiles known to them. If you’ve got a good thing going, people will naturally want to follow your moves.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.peanutcitycandleco.com
• Instagram: @peanutcitycandleco
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/peanutcitycandleco

Image Credits
Nick Major (Blackened Whiskey Candle photo only) and Lauren Patel