We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lindsay Thompson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lindsay below.
Hi Lindsay, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I’ve always been a dreamer and doer- usually to a fault. There’s always an idea (a thousand) swirling through my brain at any given moment and my hyper focus and lack of a need for much sleep keep me going. After college I went into management at a massive retailer. I was a workaholic who loved my job and I was good at it; however, after having my first child, I knew I couldn’t continue on that career path and raise him the way I wanted to. I quit my job and was immediately pregnant with my second child. Quitting my job was incredibly hard. I was good at what I did and it gave me a purpose and sense of being. Being at home made me feel like I wasn’t doing anything, yet I also felt like there wasn’t a break. Such a strange difference in working and staying home. Meanwhile my husband continued to work to provide. I always felt like I needed to do more, like I needed to help. I tried all kinds of small businesses- string art, painting, photography, woodwork, even a couple MLM’s- all while being a mother to the four children we had in a span of 5.5 years. Nothing ever proved successful, The problem wasn’t that I didn’t want it or didn’t have abilities, but starting and running a small business is incredibly time consuming.
Fast forward to my fourth child ending up paralyzed and hospitalized at ten months old with the best specialists Dallas had to offer stumped. We had no idea what was going on. All tests said she was healthy- except she wasn’t. We spent six weeks at Children’s and Our Children’s House, their inpatient therapy facility. We left with a one year old who couldn’t sit up and no answers other than a virus must have done it. However, ten months later she got the flu with her siblings and over the course of a couple days she was immobile and sick again. Another six weeks, all the same tests and scans. This time she was intubated in ICU while they tried figuring things out and made sure her lungs didn’t weaken.
Almost two years later, thanks to our incredible neuromuscular specialists tenacity, we got an answer: our daughter has an extremely rare genetic condition called Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood caused by the ATP 1a3 gene.
Therapies and specialists are a part of our life. They won’t stop. And they are expensive, as most medical things tend to be (like those 12 weeks of hospitalization).
I was advised to take her off private insurance and try Medicaid, which I refused. We tried getting supplemental Medicaid and it was denied (three times). I sat on a binder full of bills.
One night I sat wishing I had a candle that I used to buy at a shop in the College Station mall when visiting my best friend Nicole called “Leather and Lace”. I started thinking about candles I could make and the country music names I could give them: “Johnny and June” (leather and vanilla), “Chicken Fried” (pecan pie), “Hello Dolly” for Dolly Parton. Then I thought “What if I could make enough money making and selling candles that I could pay off these medical bills and keep up with the accruing yearly costs?”. I decided to research candle making and off down the rabbit hole I went.
After I did some research I brought the idea to two people that I trusted to tell me the truth. I am a homeschooling mother to four children and more than one has a special need. We have multiple therapies, activities and so much going on and I am known for piling things onto my plate when I don’t have the capacity. This time, however, these honest confidants agreed that this business venture might actually be a way for me to make the money we needed to pay constant medical bills without straining my personal life, and could be started without debt or large amounts of money.
I spent two months researching, watching videos and learning. Anyone who knows me knows that isn’t normal AT ALL, i hate research. I’ll do it, but i want it to go fast. And I’m impatient. I’ll dive headfirst into a new idea faster than anyone you’ve ever seen once i get excited. (Clues as to why other businesses probably didn’t work well). I even spent a month just practicing and trying various products, wicks, oils and methods. I gave samples to friends. None of these are normal things for me, but I was determined that if I started this, I was going to do it.
I used my graphics and art knowledge (college major before business) to create marketing material and all of my packaging and labeling. One of the things that kept me going was my best friend Nicole Sosebee with Edens Lilly Dairy. I graduated with a business degree so I was well aware of the five years mark it takes most small businesses to really start seeing a profit. Nicole had spent years building her businesses and she had so much advice and help I needed (and still need). I had been there through all of her ideas and trials and failures and I was there every time she stood back up and tried again. She was there to look over and make suggestions and tell me the best place to order everything from.
I launched Chanan’s Candles in the summer of 2020. Family and friends carried me off the ground and continue to be the reason I am still in business. There will never be enough words to thank people for trusting me and supporting me. I launched with a five candle line along with a seasonal fall candle. I had no website or social media. I was purely selling to my Facebook feed. Over the last two years I have built a website, added Instagram, made changes to scents, created new scents, created custom scents for two people and have been forced to change the vessels numerous times due to supply issues. I continue to try creating things people love, while reminding myself that I am not anyone else. Comparison can be the thief of joy, so I try to stay away from watching other successful candle makers in any capacity other than to learn from them. The candle community is incredibly generous and helpful if you are willing to learn from each other!
Candles are everywhere. People can buy them from any store and a thousand Etsy and online shops. What makes us different?
When I started, it was Chanan’s story. And for the most part, it still is. Lately, I’ve been trying to ensure our story doesn’t become a business who’s only marketing is at the expense of my daughters privacy and life as we grow. I aim to maintain the healthy balance of why we do this while also sharing more about the mom behind it all, to make sure we aren’t creating a pity agenda. I don’t want that. I want to build a business of products people love because they are GOOD. I want people to buy candles because they want to support us and they love the story behind it, but then continue purchasing because what we offer has value for their life.
I am still learning and pushing forward. I am currently making more changes to move towards wholesale accounts and a more seamless classicappearance. The little things matter. The handwritten thank you’s, the packaging being pretty, all those happy little things that make you feel seen as a buyer. I want people to not only enjoy supporting our cause, but also thoroughly enjoy everything about what they’ve purchased.
My dream is to eventually have wholesale accounts and be able to employ two friends to make candles, with another to do the technical things I am not great at managing. Being able to make something for myself is only made better when it can be shared.
We are working on becoming a 501c3 in the hopes that with our growth we can begin to also help other special needs families with bills and costs they have.
I have wanted to give up so many times along this journey, especially in the times when I haven’t sold enough. But I know that I didn’t start this just to quit, and all of those family and friends who got me started and continue to support me haven’t quit. If they haven’t thrown in the towel neither will I. And then there’s Chanan. I pray my work will not only cover her now, but be able to provide for her in the future. Her spirit, tenacity and determination is enough to keep us pressing on.
Lindsay, 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?
My name is Lindsay and I am a homeschooling mother to four children that I was crazy enough to have in six years. When my youngest was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition I knew I needed to find something to help cover the mountain of medical bills that felt never ending (and might actually be!). Creating and pouring candles was not on my radar, until one evening I began to think of an old candle I loved and couldn’t find anymore. Hence, Chanan’s Candles was born. I create and hand pour every single candle in my home kitchen. My family has given up their family dinners at the table to rows of candles, and the upside is my house smells amazing when it’s candle day (unless by chance I test a smell we hate, which has definitely happened). I know that people can purchase candles anywhere. There is no lack of candles from department stores, retail stores, Etsy, Instagram influencers and more. My goal has always been to produce candles that people love so much that they keep coming back. I aim to make scents that people can’t find everywhere else, and to make candles that bring joy to the person who smells it. Creating new scents and finding ways to produce candles someone would actually choose to purchase is an incredible thing. I am proud of the fact that I have made it two years with this small business. We aren’t a huge operation. I am still a one woman show, but I am proud that I have kept pushing forward. I wouldn’t trade the knowledge I’ve gained and the people who’ve helped me along the way. Anyone interested in purchasing candles from Chanan’s Candles should know that you are purchasing something created by a mom who loves her kids and wants the best for them and their future. This business’ entire purpose is to pay for the care my special needs children have, and eventually, Lord willing, grow enough that I can begin to help other families of special needs kids who don’t have the funds for necessary equipment and care. The world of special needs is vast, complicated and expensive. If I can grow and help alleviate the struggles of others it would be a dream come true.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
I’m the beginning I thought the only candle I could sell was soy. The idea behind it and the popularity made me think it was the only way to go and i spent a month working with the wax, pouring differently, giving samples to friends and family and making adjustments. No matter how many times and ways I tried, I just didn’t enjoy working with it and it never gave me a product I loved. I began researching the idea behind paraffin wax. After reading articles from candle supply companies to scientific reviews, I began to feel maybe giving it a try would be worth it. It was a decision that has worked well for me. I love working with the wax and it has provided a great candle. Due to supply chain issues I have had to change the type of vessel my candles are in several times. It’s a part of this that I dislike, as I always feel consistency and uniformity are key to building a brand. However, you don’t have much choice when the thing you need just doesn’t exist right now. Those buying candles from me have never complained though! It is what makes doing this so much easier. I realized almost a year ago that my candles were producing too much smoke. One thing you never want when you run a small business is to sell a product that you think could even remotely be harmful or dangerous to your customer. I got to work changing wick sizes and testing different oil ratios. Candles smoke naturally if not cared for properly but should never produce it when they are. I figured out which wicks and oil ratios to use to rectify the problem. It’s a never ending game of problem solving. There is always something new to try or figure out, but the willingness to keep trying when something doesn’t quite work is the only way you’ll make it.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Jonah Berger said “Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 percent to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions.” From my experience, he is absolutely correct. I started this business simply announcing things to my family and friends on Facebook- people who were there through both hospitalizations and were watching the journey our family was on. As I began to sell candles I would get messages from people telling me a friend had sent them to me for candles. That first year I sold bulk candles to various people for Christmas gifts and employee appreciations to people I had never met, but had been sent by someone who knew me. I am currently at the point of my small business where I will begin to push marketing in a greater way. For me, that will come in the form of paying other people to do things I am not the most gifted at (mostly consistent social media). I truly believe that if you refuse to ask for help when you need it you will fail. We are only human and our time is both precious and limited. Being able to recognize the areas of our weakness is necessary. Over the next twelve months I hope to grow wholesale accounts and begin gaining clients in a wider area. For now, my current market is incredible and the customers who continue to return and share our candles with others make a huge difference.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.chananscandles.com
- Instagram: Chanans Candles
Image Credits
Angela Jackson