We recently connected with Liz Long and have shared our conversation below.

Liz, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

The biggest challenge to profitability lately is definitely the constant rise in supply costs. It’s been hard to keep up with and I don’t like having to raise prices more than once a year, so I eat the risings costs most of the time. I assume this is probably an issue most businesses are facing right now, not necessarily just in my industry. When I first started making candles in 2016 a 50lb box of soy wax was $50. Now, a 45lb box is $112! Most of that increase happened within the last couple years so it has been a struggle to continue making a product at a price that the market can bear.

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 started making candles as a hobby, and then after my son was born, I decided to try to turn it into a business since my personal candle making posts on social media had got a lot of requests from friends and family. I thought that it could potentially turn into a way to provide for my family while also having more time with my son, and I am so glad I took the chance because I was right! I started off just focusing on wood wick candles and then from there started making wax melts, soap, room sprays, carpet fresheners, car diffusers, and more! All of my products are non-toxic with no phthalates or chemicals on California’s prop 65 list (chemicals known to be carcinogens). Surprisingly this is not super common in the candle industry, and a lot of candle supply companies sell oils that contain these harmful chemicals. I also use 100% US grown soy wax, as an alternative to paraffin which can be found in most big-name brands. I avoid paraffin for multiple reasons but the #1 concern I have is that it produces petro-soot when the candle burns. Who wants to breathe that in? I make my products with the highest quality ingredients on the market to ensure my customers get the best, safest products possible.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My social media following grew slowly and organically from the beginning, starting off mostly with friends, family, and local customers that got wind of my business by word of mouth. In 2020 I really started leaning into TikTok and making videos showing my process and that’s where I really started drawing attention from both potential customers and other creatives wanting to start a candle business. My TikTok became somewhat of a teaching platform where I would show tips and tricks of candle making and answer many, many questions from followers. I started doing the same thing on Instagram when they started introducing “reels” and this really blew my business up on Instagram. I found that people just really like seeing the hard work you put into your product by making a video showing all the steps it takes to get the final result. My advice to others trying to grow their following would be to show behind the scenes of your business and really let them know how much love you put into your product and your business! It’s refreshing for people to see that there really is a PERSON behind the brand putting in the work!

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

My business started completely self-funded. I started small and sold candles in order to buy more supplies. I really didn’t want to take out a loan since my plan was to start very small. I did work full time and so did my husband and that helped fund my business in the early years. Now if I need a little extra funding, I use Shopify capital which has been an AMAZING option for me. My website is through Shopify so that is how I discovered this option, and basically it is a funding option that allows you to automatically make payments on the loan through a percentage of the sales that you make on Shopify. So, for example, if I make $100 in sales, $10 of that will automatically go to paying back the Shopify capital loan and I don’t have to lift a finger or stress about remembering to make payments.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.woodsywicks.com
• Instagram: @woodsywicks
• Facebook: @woodsywicks
• Other: TikTok @woodsywicks

Image Credits
Images taken by Arla Marie Photography