We were lucky to catch up with Eda Boss recently and have shared our conversation below.

Eda, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I’ve always been a lover of candles. In early 2019, I began learning to make them buy reading DIY books and watching tutorial videos. During this process discovered a way to turn the melted wax into skin-safe massage oil. I began giving them as gifts to family and friends. Everyone loved the fragrances and was blown away by the fact the melted wax was skin safe and could be used as a moisturizer.

During my journey I realized that so many people loved candles, although there’s so many great companies to choose from, I take pride in knowing that I’ve creating my own lane in the candle industry by offering a product that not only smells amazing but takes it a step above the rest by introducing a skin safe massage oil candle that’s great for self-care or to enhance those intimate moments.

Eda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve always been a lover of candles. In early 2019, I began learning to make them buy reading DIY books and watching tutorial videos. During this process discovered a way to turn the melted wax into skin-safe massage oil. I began giving them as gifts to family and friends. Everyone loved the fragrances and was blown away by the fact the melted wax was skin safe and could be used as a moisturizer.

I decided to take my passion for candles a step further and made it a business, November 11, 2019, MCXI (Roman numerals for 1111) Candles was born. During the process of developing MCXI Candles, the pandemic struck, and COVID began running ramp.

Businesses were shutting down, including market nights and pop-ups. This was definitely a huge setback for my business, not being able to showcase my candles in person, being that consumers generally want to smell candles before purchasing them.

I knew I had to get creative in order to make the launch of MCXI Candles successful and capture the attention of potential buyers. I built the website (www.MCXICandles.com) to sell my candles online and began giving my candles wild names such as “Grip the sheets”, “Long Kiss goodnight”, and “Juicy Cherry” to pique customers’ interest.

MCXI Candles has grown into a one-stop shop for relaxation and romance, as we not only carry massage oil candles but also offer lingerie and intimacy accessories. MCXI Candles began receiving recognition for its amazing fragrances and wild titles by social media influencers and celebrities such as Talk show Host, Jerry Springer, Rapper and reality TV star, Trina; member of iconic R&B group, TLC’s T-Boz, West coast Radio Icon Big Boy and many others.

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

The first thing I did was create the website www.MCXICandles.com; I knew online sales would be the only way my new business had any chance of surviving during the pandemic, marketing and advertising is just as vital as having a great product. You can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about you or your product it won’t matter, and your product will collect dust. In my experience, one of the first things people ask when you tell them you own a business is, do you have a website? Then usually, right after that, they ask are you Instagram or Facebook. I started sharing my website link and photos of my products on all social media platforms. I also started seeking out friends and associates with large followings to help spread the word. I even took my chances with sliding into so celebrities DMs and offered them samples of my candle collection and was successful a several times. when you find the right celebrities and influencers to help you spread the word about your brand it could impact your sells instantly. I’ve had moments where I’ve had over 100 sells within an hour of an influencer sharing my products and brand, which also increased my followers. Maintaining your presence on multiple platforms is almost a fulltime job, but it pays off when you have a strategic plan of action.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I was blessed to have a career that allowed me to make extra money, so I worked a lot an stacked the money I needed to fund the start-up cost. I was always tired and missed a lot of “fun times” but I was focused, and it paid off. I avoided having to take out loans or searching for business investors. I paid myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.MCXICandles.com
• Instagram: @MCXI_Candles
• Facebook: @mcxicandles
• Twitter: @ManMCXI
• Youtube: MCXI Lit TV

Image Credits
Eda Boss