We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Riley Kidder. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Riley below.

Hi Riley, thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Hive To Home Candle Co started from a dream my mother and aunt who had. Stemming from an idea but wasn’t able to reach success and fizzled out. It wasn’t until months after operations stopped from the initial launch I realized I truly believed in the idea they came up with, saw a great potential, and wasn’t willing to passively watch it fade. I was in my Freshman year of my Bachelors in General Business from Davenport University and believed in the company they hoped for. Answering plainly that if I ran the company she would happily do it again, so I took my incomplete education to work and filed all the required paperwork to begin operating in Michigan. We compiled our savings of a few thousand total and bought the most basic necessary equipment and a starting stock of supplies. From then on the three of us worked tirelessly and for relatively no pay as almost everything had to be reinvested for us to expand our capabilities and afford the supplies for orders growing in volume. Working with large companies from the basement of our home until we were able to renovate our detached garage into a functional operation. Over 2 years while we are stilling in growing pains and my education is still incomplete, our time, diligence, and hard work was more than worthwhile.

Riley, 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?

The company is ran and operated by my mother and aunt, who are both single mother and me, a Senior in college. Hive To Home Candle Co produces a variety of scented beeswax candles that are made to gift, have meaning and support important causes like protecting the environment, a women’s right to choose, and civil rights, as well as traditional aesthetically pleasing candles to fill your home will fragrance. While we put our brand values at the forefront of our company to connect with likeminded consumers that care about the same causes that we do, an important part of our company is B2B commerce and large clients.

Since we do as much as possible in-house it allows us to have a lot more options, the ability to offer companies that share our values custom candles with low minimum order quantities quickly has opened us up to working with a large array of large and small businesses. Putting a focus on employee and client appreciating and corporate we have had the opportunity to do custom orders for a variety of meaningful events and occasions. While being able to work between tight deadlines and provide a unique handmade product.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When we began, we assumed that B2C would be the forefront of our company and the bulk of our revenue. Thinking of how popular candles are online and in-store through the fall and holiday season. While the season rush is important and B2C makes a crucial part of our company and who we are. We greatly underestimated the commercial demand of candles, what companies would be interested, and the array of occasions companies may want candles. When we started selling wholesale we expected to sell the candles we carried to stores and while many clients do, we found the desire for customized products for a store, an event, or gifts to employees were far greater. The expectation was that companies would love the uniqueness of a scented beeswax candle would be the selling point, when the ability to work with a graphic designer and customize their own candle was far more enticing. While many candle companies try to get companies to buy or sell their products, we offer the ability to give people and personalized experience in addition to a high-quality gift anyone can enjoy. Allowing our partners to work with us on a larger variety of projects than other candle companies.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I did not have a lot of money, neither did my working class family, or extended family. Nor do banks like giving young college students loans for starting a business, and the brand new company did not have the two years of tax returns needed for standard business lending. So the three of us compiled our savings or anything helpful we had and got to work, created a product and began selling at craft shows for quick cash for more supplies. While working our regular jobs to sustain ourselves and even give to the company. We began reaching out to boutiques and companies who might be interested in our products aiming to get higher revenue orders. Eventually, it worked and we started selling to stores. Unfortunately, starting from relatively no capital in the company, we couldn’t afford the supplies for larger companies interested in working with us. Turning down large partnerships due to our small size wasn’t something we were willing to do. So we would negotiate down payments as part of our customization process, use the revenue from smaller orders that were easier to complete, and a business credit card to gather the suppliers and fulfill the orders or larger companies. Repeating this to continue to work with more companies and handle growing quantities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hivetohomecandleco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hivetohomecandleco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hivetohomecandleco