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

Kherwin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think to be successful you must first define what success means to you personally. After defining what level of success you would like to attain and what that looks like to you, it then requires determination. Each day should contain small wins that ultimately add up to bring you closer to the level of success that you want. For me personally I measure my success based on where I want to be or the end goal that I have for myself. Working backwards from the legacy and impact I would like to leave and impact I would like to make, I break each area of success into quantifiable goals that I can work towards day by day. I think the important part is creating actionable and measurable milestones, so that you don’t become overwhelmed or give up. By relating success on an individual level you are able to take into account your personal circumstances which is often overlooked when comparing yourself to another person’s version of success, something that I struggled with early in my career and journey. Lastly to be successful you have to be able to adapt and keep growing both in your craft and as a person.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve been in the Digital Marketing space for many years and enjoy being able to do what I love everyday. After many successful marketing campaigns, helping grow and scale many clients businesses through digital marketing, I wanted to create something again. Having started many businesses before I wanted this one to be different. I wanted to build something that would also solve a problem. Aurescents was born out of a desire to introduce more men to candles and scents. During the pandemic there was a big emphasis on creating more inviting spaces as we spent the majority of our time indoors. This new way of life caused many people to take inventory of things in our homes. I first saw that many men, like myself, enjoyed candles but did not like the scents that were presently available or couldn’t find any that represented them. So, I set out to create a company that exemplifies having a space that reflected their mood, vibe, how it should smell, while also aesthetically fitting their spaces.

The first challenge which is usually a difficult one when you are one of the first to do anything, was finding a way to educate our customers on something which there previously wasn’t much information on. I also wanted to incorporate culture into it. I figured out the best way to do this, was to name each of our scents after moments of culture which would also describe the smell of the vibe or space. This would help our customers choose the right product for their vibe whether they were a beginner or a seasoned connoisseur.

This was incredibly hard to do at first since it required months of research to combine different fragrances to create the vibe. I also wanted customers to feel the vibe or name of that scent in addition to smelling it. After perfecting the first and our best-selling fragrance “Mancave,” my next biggest challenge was sourcing. All of our candles and aroma sprays are handmade, but finding suppliers for jars, wooden wicks, and lids proved to be a difficult challenge. I went through countless manufacturers testing samples, designing labels, packaging, and ingredients to create the vision that we have now. I wanted our products to feel like a luxurious experience and also fit the spaces that they are in as a statement piece even after they’re empty. This required me finding the highest quality materials that aesthetically looked great as well. There were many lessons learned along the way, but the biggest takeaway is to never compromise on your end vision no matter how many times you have to try to get there.

The vision for Aurescents is to be the pioneers and leaders in the space by continuing the provide scents for every vibe and for the culture.

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

Starting Aurescents was truly like no other business I’ve started or been a part of before. From the start we received so much support and positive feedback. Initially the business started as a test and our first customers loved it so much when the first round of candles went out of stock, which were only meant to be a test, those customers contacted me as soon as their candles were finished and wanted more. Not only were they consistently wanting more but they began buying them as gifts, sharing it with friends and family. In addition during in person events the feedback would be “I’ve never smelled these scents before.” Having worked with clients throughout my career to capture existing and potential customer’s interest, I knew I was on to something when customers began reaching out to ask for more before I did. From the start we were funded by customers, the community, and 100% of sales having been reinvested to continue to grow the brand.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

All of our products are handmade and manufactured by us. The creation of Aurescents was a full circle moment for me personally. I spent years working as a lab assistant in the cosmetic industry during college and shadowed many chemists. Through this experience I got to learn how different cosmetic and personal care products were made from the ingredients, to the safety precautions, and how formulas were created. After I was more experienced I was in charge of creating numerous prototypes for tradeshows and various events, which lead to project management. Learning how to scale create and adjust formulas was an invaluable experience which I did not yet know would be part of my story. In addition I also discovered from one of the chemists that I had an unusually heightened sense of smell who suggested I should consider working with perfumes for a career. This came full circle years later as I created Aurescents. All of these skills became useful as I was able to create formulas, new products, scale batches, and invent new scents easily.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://aurescents.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aurescents/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Aurescents/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/aurescents
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aurescents