We recently connected with Tess Traynor and have shared our conversation below.

Tess, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I decided to start my company-Spellbinding because I love using my artist abilities to create, design, and make products to enhance others well-being. I was inspired by the increased demand for natural products, as I have been drawn to more natural products for my own well-being. At the time I was working for a small business that made skin care and dealt with essential oils, which was a big learning experience for me. I loved working with essential oils but, felt like the all natural market had become over saturated. I began to think of different ways to use essential oils and that is when Spellbinding became more about intentional products. Once I began to focus more on the intentional aspect of my products, I realized there lacked a market of handmade attractive natural products to assist with one’s well-being or to be used for one’s intentional purposes. I felt there was a lack of products that were visually pleasing as well as functional, therefore I wanted to create products that could also be used as decor.

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

My company, Spellbinding offers many different intentional wares for the modern person to use. Such as ritual candles, intentional candles, body sprays, ritual oils and more! The main goal has always been to make my products affordable and assessable to everyone. I believe Spellbinding separates its self from other brands because of the minimalist, modern look of the products. Each of Spellbinding’s products are created with my own blend of ingredients making every scent unique. Through the years, I have enjoyed hearing how my customers use my products in their daily lives for their own well-being. Many of my customers have a favorite scent that they repeatedly buy. My business has expanded over time. I am also a professional tarot reader, which is something I deeply enjoy because it can be extremely healing for others. You can book a reading with me online or follow my instagram for in person events. I have also just launched an online tarot course and am looking forward to providing a source of eduction for others to better understand tarot. I decided to do this because many of my customers and clients have discussed with me a desire to learn more about tarot. Most recently, I’ve launched a podcast called The Everyday Witch Podcast. The podcast’s goal is to be informative and build a community. Whether through my products, readings, courses or podcast I truly enjoy helping others, improve their well-being.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media is one of the greatest tools and worst tools for a business. I have been able to focus on social media a lot and gain a decent following because of that. The most important tip for social media is paying attention to the trends and focusing on one or two platforms. Whenever I would try to be on multiple platforms it became overwhelming. So, I now stick to where I get the most interaction. For me Instagram and Tik Tok have been the best platforms, especially with using reels on instagram. It’s also important to post specifically to your niche and not only personal posts. However, showing your face and being more authentic really helps build a following. I have found, it will help people feel like they’re buying from a person they know and not a brand. Gaining a following won’t happen overnight but social media can be very beneficial for multiple reasons.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I sell all my products, courses and even book tarot readings though my own site, which is hosted by Wix. I highly recomend Wix, I’ve been using them for 6 years and never had an issue. But it’s important to find what hosting site will work best for you and compare the prices of each site. I also use Faire and Abound for selling my products wholesale. Which is one of the reasons I don’t use amazon, as most wholesale sites will ask if you’re on amazon. I personally prefer not to be on another platform that may take more fees or commission, like Etsy. I like the freedom of having my own site and being able to expand and change my site whenever necessary. Research is one of the most important things you can do before choosing what platform to use and which option is best for you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shopspellbinding.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/spellbindingg
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/spellbindingg
• Other: https://anchor.fm/everyday-witch