We recently connected with Meg Prewitt and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Meg , thanks for joining us today. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

I was at home with a new baby, and it was COVID lockdown. Clearly, we all probably watched a lot of tv during this time. One afternoon, I saw Howie Mandel on tv promoting his small business contest “Sold Out” to help small businesses during COVID. I thought, “Why not?” I had my creative husband help me stage and create my audition video and a few days later found out that out of thousands of entries I was selected to participate in Howie’s contest. Each contestant would talk live with Howie online during a streaming show on Talk Shop Live. You are also selling in real time and whatever business sold the most, wins! During my live stream, I won! Thus in turn led to a candle partnership with Kym Douglas and opened many doors for my small business!

Meg , 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 background is in media, marketing, and tv hosting, never would I think my true passion would be found in owning a business and creating quality fragrances for people’s homes.

I burned a lot of candles, and around ten years ago there was an obvious leading brand. They were not cheap, but when I burned them… I noticed a ton of black soot and a lot of tunneled wasted wax. My husband and I decided to give making candles a try just to see if we could. After purchasing a candle craft kit, we quickly discovered it was no easy task. Making a quality candle was not going to happen overnight. Our first candles were fails! Ha
After much testing of wicks, waxes, containers oils etc, we finally had a decent recipe. Fast forward over a decade later and I am fully confident in a clean burning, minimal soot, health conscious quality candle. Our candles are also preferred by those scent sensitive. It’s our scent oil to wax ratio (special secret recipe). I took over the business and it has been a passion. What started as a fun craft with my husband has turned into a full fledged brand these days. We ship nationwide, have had several celebrity collabs with our giveback mission and are carried in many locations. We donate a portion of all proceeds each month back into the community to non profits and organizations.

Our motto is “Smells like home.” Our mission is “Smell good. Do good.” We are more than a candle company.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Honestly, just letting them try a product. If there’s a boutique or shop I think we’d be a good fit in, I’ll take a full size candle for them to burn. I’m so confident in our fragrance experience that 9 times out of 10 they end up stocking our products.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

My background is marketing, sales and media, so the fact this hobby turned full time still baffles me! My husband and I bought a candle making kit and decided to try and make our own. Well, we quickly learned there was A LOT more to it! Every Thursday was candle night in our kitchen. After a year or so of testing waxes, wix, jars, I felt confident enough to gift to friends and family. They encouraged me to try and get in some local shops. A lot of hard work, some huge open doors later, we ship nationwide, have aligned with A- list celebrities in Smell good. Do good. And today it’s my full time gig.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.familytreecandlecompany.com
• Instagram: @familytreecandles
• Facebook: Family Tree Candle Company
• Linkedin: Meg Whitney Prewitt

Image Credits

Erika Bentley of Evolve Creative Knoxville TN

(Myself) Meg Prewitt