We recently connected with Sarah Davis Allen and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Often the greatest growth and the biggest wins come right after a defeat. Other times the failure serves as a lesson that’s helpful later in your journey. We’d appreciate if you could open up about a time you’ve failed.
FAILURE SUCKS! Haha! But, it’s true that failures & mistakes can teach a lot! And I have made plenty over the last 5 years.
The one failure/huge mistake that taught me a HUGE lesson happened in year 1 of our candle business. I was so excited and wanted to get my candles out in the world and start selling. I had a few “candle subscription” companies reach out to me during that first year to see about purchasing my candles for their subscriber’s. I thought that would be great to get my candles in front of people that “subscribed to candles”! A couple of those subscription companies I partnered with were fabulous and I have continued to work with them each year. However, there was one company on the other side of the country that sounded and was too good to be true.
It was year 1 as I mentioned and it was going to be my biggest order for the year. Long story short:
The company paid me half of their order up front and said they would pay the other half after the order was received. The owner of the company reached out to me saying that he needed this order in two days shipped to the other side of the country. He told me to just pay for it and for me to send a receipt after and he would reimburse with my other payment. I lost over $2500 in shipping and never got the other payment for the order they made. HUGE mistake on my part but one I will never forget! After that, I get payments up front from any customer!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Hi ya’ll! We are family owned and operated out of Aledo, TX. Our soy wood wick candles are hand poured with care in small batches, making each one unique and different. That also means they aren’t always perfect but we sure try. :-)
Leather was our first scented candle created in 2018 and has been a best seller ever since.
The smell of leather has always tugged at my heart. Childhood memories of 4H, the smell of saddles, western boots, tack stores, the smell of the HLSR arena. It was always fun hearing past Rodeo stories from my Papa, Mom, and two of my Uncles.
That is the inspiration behind our “Leather Scented” candle. Leather is a “Timeless Scent” that will never be forgotten.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
A few years ago, I had my largest candle order from a big retailer. It was a big deal and exciting but I realized a few days before the order needed to ship, that I needed help! I was in panic mode and even called my parents who live out of town to please come help. With the help of my husband, my parents, and myself we got the order completed and shipped.
I learned another big lesson from that! Don’t over promise if you can’t deliver! Luckily, I had a few people that helped in this situation but I don’t recommend it. :)
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
I have sold on a few different platforms including Etsy, Amazon, Wayfair, Abound, and my website. Those are the main ones I have used but currently I sell on Etsy ,Amazon , and my website.
Since launching in 2018, I have been on Etsy and it’s a great platform for handmade sellers. Their fees are reasonable and if you use Etsy Ads, it makes your listings more prominent on the site. Something, I don’t like about Etsy is the amount of sellers they have allowed to sell on Etsy that aren’t “handmade” . Etsy started as a handmade marketplace but isn’t completely the case now.
Amazon has a seller brand registry program which offers many benefits. This year I started selling on Amazon again being a registered brand and look forward to learning and hopefully growing on their platform.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leathercandle.com/
- Instagram: @76008candleco
- Facebook: @76008candleco