We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michele Huff a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Michele, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
Believe it or not, taking a risk does not come naturally for me. I’m sure it doesn’t for most. But, once this business was created, I knew it was the only way to grow. I had to do the hard stuff and that meant asking for new customers to take a risk on us. It’s not always easy walking into a potential customer and asking them to take a chance on you (me), a new business owner and purchase my candles for their shop. But, I did. Over and over and over again. Don the power outfit, know what I want to say and even if I don’t feel totally confident, I am to find it deep inside of me. I believe in my brand, I know we have a great product and it will sell itself. I just had to be confident to be relatable, and kind and gracious. I believe that new customers want to do business with a brand that exudes confidence and shows warmth and a genuineness of character.
I would not have grown being a wallflower. Risks are inherent with success I believe. It’s always what grows you and your business. I have went after accounts, influencers that seemed out of my league, but acquired the relationships and much financial success followed that every single time.
Michele, 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?
Amber Vale Home was born from my idea of creating a non-toxic candle that was healthier for you. And not only that, but a candle that exhibited a scent/fragrance you couldn’t forget. We create candle scents that remind us of past memories and moments. For instance our best-seller, Tennessee Backroads, is a candle that nods to the treed forests of Tennessee and the evergreen and deciduous that are so plentiful in this area of the country. It absolutely will remind you of strolling by car or on foot of the “backroads” that is so prevalent in our beautiful country. Our Camping Trip candle will evoke memories around the campfire or that fun camping trip taken with your family last summer. With notes of bonfire and toasted marshmallow, it is the quintessential remembrance of all things smokey + sweet.
All of our candles are soy/coconut wax blend, phthalate-free with lead-free and zinc-free cotton wicks. We pride ourselves in creating a long-burning candle that lasts because of our attention to the right combination of waxes and fragrance load.
We sell our line of products online at ambervalehome.com as well as wholesale them to retail shops and small business across the country.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
I started my business with very little investment. I knew I wanted to pay for most everything on a cash basis – no loans. The only minor help was a small balance credit card of $5K that I used to begin purchasing supplies. I did not want to go into great debt as I knew this would be devastating if my company didn’t end up working out. So I was careful only buying items I knew I needed and only repurchasing in quantities that made sense fiscally. As money came in, I paid down my initial credit card and purchased with my revenue coming in. I truly feel the success of my business so far has been to only move forward when I have money to do it – everything is on a cash basis. If I don’t have the money, that idea or purchase won’t happen. Keep yourself extremely disciplined to hold tight and not overspend, unless there is almost certain profit on the other side of it.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
Yes, we sell on our website, ambervalehome.com – retail and wholesale.
We have decided against selling on other platforms as there are factors with each that don’t offer much freedom in how our product would be featured or promoted.
Contact Info:
- Website: ambervalehome.com
- Instagram: @ambervalehome
- Facebook: @ambervalehome