We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kim Hills a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Allora organically grew from my hobby of making my own clean products for my family and my love of gift giving. A year or so before I decided to make a business if it I made my first small batch of candles and gave them as gifts to my family, friends and neighbors. I realized they were a gift that I could give to anyone without feeling it was too much or too little- it was simply a candle- but a special candle because of the attention that went into its creation. My first batch was a random kit I got on Amazon and while I enjoyed the process I didn’t love the fragrance oil that was included and when the candle burned a thick black smoke would rise from the wick. This sent me down a wormhole online finding out about clean burning oils and waxes. As I went through the process of trial and error I would gift anything I made that I felt was worthy of being burned. Eventually a friend asked for a couple custom ones then another friend asked for a dozen to give to her clients. I was hesitant to take their money but the cost of products was adding up-then realized oh my gosh this could be a business.
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?
I’m a single mom of two kids, a devoted yogi, a nature lover, a musician and a creative thinker. For me, Allora is an extension of all these things, whether it’s being inspired by the scent of the ocean or showing my children what it looks like to make a mistake and grow better from it. There is something magical in handmade goods that a mass produced product made by a machine simply can’t compete with. Much like we can taste love in a home cooked meal my hope is the little light burning from one of my candles not only smells good but feels good. Every step of the process from melting the soy wax to mixing a high quality fragrance to labeling the jar is sacred to me and I believe that resonates in every candle.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Getting involved in my community has been a valuable source of new clients for me. When I first started Allora I said yes to every local market, I always donate candles to local charity functions and gift them to teachers and neighbors. The support from Laguna Beach is really what helped my company grow from a hobby into a source of income.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When I first got the urge to make a company I stayed up at night worrying about the image and the branding- thinking I would suddenly solve it all like a math problem and I would emerge from my thoughts with a perfectly polished product. I was confident and proud of the time I had put into perfecting the basic qualities of each candle (the scents, the wick, the wax etc) but it was things like the logo and colors for a website that really haunted me. I’d always learned measure twice, cut once and was applying that lesson to the branding of my product but in doing so was completely paralyzed. I eventually got so annoyed with my thinking that I said I’m just going to do this and work out the kinks as I go. It has been a long process to really get a feel for what Allora “looks” like. I’m currently changing my logo and doing a rebranding of sorts but I only have the tools to do so because I made a cut one day and then another and another and each time I get a clearer vision as it reveals itself.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.alloracandles.com