We were lucky to catch up with Lindsey Keeley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lindsey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

Skinny Dip Candle was founded in 2004 by the original creator and mastermind, Karen Porter. When her health began failing her, she put the business up for sale. At the time, I was a sophomore in college and very interested, but at the end of the day, I passed. I wanted to finish my schooling and couldn’t justify the debt the purchase would be. After the second owner, Patty Hagglund, decided to retire from candlemaking, she put it up for sale again. Still very interested, I took the opportunity!

Upon taking over the business in 2020, I found it was very out of date. This included the logo, website, payment system, labels, scents, basically all of it. In my excitement, I jumped straight into rebranding. I leaned into the “Skinny Dip” aspect and asked an artist to create a colorful label for me with a pin-up style woman showing half her booty. I wanted to become a “cheeky” brand that was very open about sexuality. I spent a lot of money (in addition to the business purchase) to get this new logo, create a new website, take new product photos, all of it.

A year in, I just wasn’t feeling it. I was having a nearly impossible time creating my captions or website verbiage and the “voice” just didn’t feel like me. The image made it hard to tell what the product was and, surprisingly enough, I had quite a few retailers who didn’t want to carry the candles because of the booty.

About this time, I was also about 6 months pregnant and digging deep into what would make me and my family happy. If I was going to keep up this business, it had to represent ME. So I did a lot of journaling and worked with a business coach to develop my current business identity, which has become much more focused on self care, intimacy (both physical and emotional) and community. I have a new logo/packaging that I adore and the content is finally flowing (and people have noticed)!

Long story short, what would I change if I were to start over? First and most important, I would take time to look into myself and find my “why.” I would learn about my current customers and research them as well as my ideal customers (if they’re different). And when I finally figured out the purpose of my business, THEN I would consider the branding. Don’t get me wrong, it’s ok to rebrand! And a small business will evolve many times. But, I can attest that it’s ideal to avoid the extra costs of branding/explaining the change in branding twice in two years because you didn’t do the personal work upfront.

Lindsey, 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 have been interested in natural remedies and skincare since my early college days. And I’ve been interested in crafting and making things with my hands since I can remember. When Skinny Dip was first brought to my attention in college, I was instantly excited by the idea. A craft (candles) that was ALSO beneficial to your skin?! Yes please! When I had to pass it up that time, it felt like a missed opportunity. I thought about the business fairly often over the next several years, imagining the scents and new products I would come up with. So when it presented itself again in 2020, I knew I had to make it work.

It turns out, that time in which I thought I’d missed out was much needed for me to grow as a person and really understand my purpose and what I need in my daily work to make me happy. And what I learned was that I wanted freedom to express myself through creation, to live healthier and with minimal impact to the earth, and to help bring joy to other people. What I’ve also learned since taking over Skinny Dip is the value of community. Missoula is truly a haven for makers. Everyone supports each other and loves to connect and I’ve met so many astounding people through this business.

I strive to bring all these things into Skinny Dip – expression with a wide variety of scents, eco-conscious ingredients, joy through self confidence, and support of other makers and my local community.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I’ve managed to get my candles into a number of stores and other makers often ask me how I did that, expecting a very complex answer. But the short of it is: ask!

If I’m in a store, or see one online that I think would be a good fit for my products, I’ll either stop at the front desk or send an email saying who I am, a brief note on my products and why I think they would be a good fit for their particular store.

My special notes would be:

– Bring business cards wherever you go! You never know when you’ll meet someone or go somewhere that you’d like to remember you.

– If you know you’re going to be seeing a potential client in person and you have physical products, bring a sample.

– Be as personalized as possible. If you’re sending an email, try to find the right person to send it to and give reasons why your products fit into THEIR aesthetic.

– Ideally, have a PDF or web page with more details that you can link (or have a QR code) to. You want to keep your initial messaging short and sweet, but if you can provide testimonials and answers to FAQs in an easy-to-find way, those busy folks are more likely to take a look.

Lastly, you’re going to get some no’s. It’s going to hurt sometimes, especially when you thought it would have been a perfect fit, but it’ll happen. Take the no’s with a grain of salt. Often, it has nothing to do with you! But if you’re getting a whole lot of no’s, then you may want to start asking why or take a step back to see if you’re either reaching out to the wrong people or if something in your branding is off.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

I manufacture my candles from my home. I didn’t really know how to make the lotion candles when I purchased the business. I mean, almost everyone as a kid has poured wax into some vessel and stuck a wick in it, but there’s a lot more science to it than that! I was given a few lessons from the previous owner before I took over and, since then, I’ve done quite a bit of research.

You wouldn’t believe how much goes into making a good candle, let alone one that’s also safe for your skin! I’ve learned about different types of waxes, different types of wicks and SIZES of wicks (who knew?!). I’ve learned that fragrance oils are only safe in certain percentages and that some will perform differently than others, that glass vessels can explode and that you can’t just stick a candle into any vessel and have it work, that the temperature you pour or put your fragrance in matters, and so much more.

I was lucky enough to have a formula already in place when I purchased, but I have refined my preferred ingredient suppliers and have made choices since to create the best possible product.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://skinnydipcandle.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skinnydipcandlemt
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkinnyDipCandleMT/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR5dH3tgn9nr6YKbGtxtfig
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/skinnydipcandles/_saved/

Image Credits
Erika Spaulding: Inspired by Montana Photography Tami Pettigrew: Tami Renae Photography