We recently connected with Karla Cummings and have shared our conversation below.
Karla , appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
I have always been a creative person. I have worked with different mediums such as painting, warm glasswork, refurbishing furniture, and now making candles to name a few. I started making candles in 2016 when I was selling products as a glass artist. I started making candles in recycled wine/beer bottles. They were a big hit but it was a very time consuming process to get the bottles ready for candles to be in them. Because of having a full time job as a school counselor alongside doing my side business I needed to make my process easier. So I decided to switch to container candles. With the switch I knew I needed to have a niche in the market and come up with an idea that was original. I then started my book inspired candle line that has scents that play off of book titles (Sherlock’s Home, Pride and Peppermint, Tequila Mockingbird, Gone with the Wine, The Scarlet Lavendar, etc…). These candles have been mentioned in a New York Time Article entitled “Millennial, Book, and Candle”. With these candles I started an Etsy store and started selling them at craft fairs around our area. I then created our popular MN themed candle line to pay homage to our great state. Again being that I have a full time job and two children I had the idea of making a Minnesota themed line for a while before it actually became reality. I think it took me about a year to get that idea to execution as I needed to come up with a label design, creative sayings, creative scents, and a unique container to go with my candles. One of our small business goals early on was to sell our candles to all 50 states. We accomplished that a few years ago after we started our MN candle line. From there we gradually stopped doing craft fairs and slowly started to get into the wholesale market. I have a lot of other ideas brewing in my mind on what my next candle lines will be but being that this is a side business I also struggle with time management and how big I should try to grow my business. Being that I started this on my own with help from my husband and children, there have been a lot of trial and error along the way and things I would have changed from the beginning if I could go back however I also view it as a learning experience and have been blessed on how well our candles have done in the market.
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?
My husband and I have always loved to create and wanted a brand that was flexible enough to include what we both like to do. My husband actually came up with the name of Lostbirch as we live on a lake in northwestern Minnesota and there is a small walking path by our house that had a lone birch tree that looked lost. We liked the name lostbirch for the relaxing nature of our “lostbirch path” and it works well to represent the relaxing nature of candles. It also fit well with the woodworking projects that my husband has sold. Like I mentioned in the previous question I started my candle business with my book candle line after making candles in recycled wine/beer bottles that went along with selling our fused glass items. It became a time consuming process and I decided to then put my focus on my candles and making the process easier.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
When I started selling our candles we decided to start an Etsy store as well as doing craft fairs around Minnesota. I have had friends that have also started an Etsy store but have not had as great of success as we have. It is a hard market to start getting sales as there are so many other makers on the platform. It was a lot of trial and error on posting the right search words to get our candles seen. At the beginning of selling on Etsy there were many frustrating moments of wanting to give up but we kept trying different things to “get seen” on the site. I really believe our success on Etsy was that we offer a unique candle that is different from others. Being we are starting to get into the wholesale market I have also opened a shop on Faire and so far it has gone well for us. We also did a lot of craft fairs but decided to get out of that market as it just did not fit into our time schedule to do those anymore, however I have talked to so many artists that make a living doing the craft markets. We did well at them but not as well as we have done on Etsy and our wholesale market.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I would say at the beginning when we started selling on Etsy I developed some resilience for my business. I was not selling anything and was ready to quiet multiple times and often questioned why I am doing this. However, I did not give up and kept trying different things to be seen on Etsy and then they started selling. During the winter (holiday months are always our best time) of 2020 we had one week where we had over 700 orders on Etsy to fulfill. It was a stressful but exciting week that helped me determine how we needed to improve our production. Having a small business is filled with highs and lows, it has definitely felt like a rollercoaster ride at some points. I have had many thoughts of quitting along the way but I am a creative person that needs to see my ideas come to fruition…I think that is why I continue to do the business. We often have conversations about how fast we want the business to grow and right now I am very comfortable in our slow growth. At this point in my life I am focused on work-life balance. I have monthly goals as well as yearly goals that I have for myself and our business growth to help lead the way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lostbirch.com
- Instagram: lostbirchmn
- Facebook: lostbirch