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

Shelby, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I think the first step to being successful is to understand that every persons idea of success is not the same. Have your goals in sight, and never compare your journey to another persons. What I have found to be important for me personally to be successful, was to not allow my fear of failure to navigate my journey. I have come to learn that failure is a vital part of the process to success. It shows me which parts of my business needs strengthening. Instead of having this negative view of failure, I think it can be used as a constructive tool to grow as an individual and as a business.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Shelby, owner/chandler of Oak Wick Candle Co. in Eau Claire, WI. I have been making candles for several years, and have recently decided to try it as a business. If I could emphasize one thing about Oak Wick, is my commitment to being a greener business. Providing quality eco-friendly products that a customer can feel confident is safe for their home and themselves, is a top priority. I take great pride in offering candles that are: plant based, carcinogen free, paraben free, phthalate free, and sustainable.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

An issue I have faced, that everyone can relate to is fluctuating prices. Since I have started my business, I have seen material prices steadily increase. Apart of Oak Wicks commitment to being an eco friendly business, we want to offer our products at an affordable price. With material prices increasing, it’s definitely one of our biggest challenges. To ensure the future of Oak Wick, sometimes increasing the price of my products is necessary. When this does occur, I have found the best way to navigate this is to be open and honest with my customers about why it’s necessary, and still work behind the scenes to continue to offer a fair price. Honesty and transparency with your clients and customers is vital.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

This circles back to what my idea of success is. When I first started Oak Wick, my fear of failure really skewed what I thought success was. To say it was scary to invest time and money into this new business in the beginning, is an understatement. I had to learn that failure is an important part of the process to succeeding. I’ve had products that I invested time and money into, that just really didn’t take off at first, and that was challenging. I had to learn to take a good hard look at what I was doing, and study what was and what was not working for this particular product. Its all a learning process, and with the right mindset, you construct your failures to be your path to success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.oakwickcandle.Etsy.com
• Instagram: @oakwickcandle
• Facebook: @oakwickcandleco