We recently connected with Trenna Garoutte and have shared our conversation below.

Trenna, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I always knew I didn’t want a standard 9-5 desk job and loved being more in tune with my creative side. As a young woman, I had many hobbies and often wondered how to turn one into a business. After graduating high school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, and took a few courses at a local community college while working in retail. A few years later, my husband and I met, and soon after, we started a family. After our first child was born, I knew I couldn’t work a normal career and be away from my son. My husband and I had a long discussion and decided I would quit my job to become a stay-at-home mom. Being a mom has been the most challenging and rewarding thing I have ever faced. As our children started getting older, my husband would often ask what I wanted to do when the kids enrolled in school. Six years of focusing on being the best mom I could be left me without an identity of my own. I hadn’t thought about what life looked like after they went to school. After giving it some thought in 2015, unsure of what I wanted to pursue, I started working on general education courses and enrolled back in college.
I completed my AA in 2020 and soon after I started dreaming about opening my own business. While walking one day and listening to a podcast, I came up with the idea of starting a candle business. I had no prior knowledge of making candles, but it would be a great creative project and could be a great business. I started researching candles and discovered how toxic some can be for our health. At that point, I became determined to make clean, burning candles that were eco-friendly. I ordered supplies to pour my first candles and was excited to get started! After the supplies arrived, my husband and I poured our very first candles. We couldn’t have been happier; however, they were a complete failure. We calculated wrong, and the candles never set. While they smelled amazing, they couldn’t be used. We tried again……and again they were a failure. The second batch would burn but had virtually no scent throw when burning. I realized that starting a candle business would be harder than I thought. I started reading all that I could about the type of wax we were using and realized that the soy wax needed to cure after being poured for several weeks. On to our third testing batch! After a long 14-day wait, we were able to test our candles, and they were amazing! However, with covid and three kids now homeschooling, life started getting really busy, and I put starting a business on the back burner while we focused on our kids.
In 2021, our priorities shifted when my husband was diagnosed with leukemia. We realized life was too short not to work towards the things that bring you joy. Our children and their activities brought me so much happiness, but I knew there was more I wanted to do. We pulled out the candle-making supplies and went back to work. It took time to research and decide on what vessels to use and the wicks we liked best. Shortly after, we got to ordering more supplies. However, 2021 brought horrible supply chain issues. We had vessels arrive broken or dented. One set we loved leaked terribly when the candles burned. After searching for new vessels, I finally found the ones I loved! I ordered them and waited anxiously for them to arrive. You can imagine how heartbroken I was when the next day I received an email that said, “Oops, we made a mistake”. The company didn’t have them in stock. I was devastated; I spent hours finding exactly the right vessels for my vision to have yet another failure. I started questioning if I could even make this business work. I took a step back for a few days and started wondering if we could make our own vessels. Going back into research mode, I discovered that with the right type of cement, pigment, and sealer, I could make it work! I ordered the supplies, poured the first vessels, and immediately fell in love! Now that we had the vessels, it was time to do extensive wick testing. It took several different types and sizes of wicks to find the right one for our candles, while maintaining our core value of creating clean burning candles, free from harmful chemicals. Once we could created a product we truly loved, it was time to bring our creation to the world! In August of 2022 we were officially able to launch Wildflower Soul!

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

I have been married to the love of my life for 16 amazing years and we have three amazing children. They are 15, 14, and 9 and keep us busy with various sports and activities.
I started Wildflower Soul LLC in 2022 after nearly two years of research, trial, and error. I love being creative and pouring candles is such a rewarding and creative process. My vision was always to address the chemicals poured into so many off the shelf candles. Im so proud that our candles are all hand-poured, clean burning, free of harsh chemicals, using high-quality soy wax and all-natural wooden wicks. All our vessels are also handmade with cement and sealed with a water-based eco-friendly sealant.
It broke my heart talking to so many people who shared stories of how they stopped burning candles as they would get headaches, itchy eyes, and brain fog. So many of those people have been reunited with their love for candles through Wildflower Soul, and I couldn’t be happier to be part of that journey with them!

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

The biggest pivot for Wildflower Soul LLC was when we decided to make our own vessels. Initially, it was because of supply chain issues. I couldn’t find a reliable source for quality vessels that fit the image I had for our brand. Now, it’s something that sets us apart from other candle businesses. Our vessels are unique and a great talking point when we meet new customers.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

We have gone through so much trial and error when bringing our candles to the world! Initially, we tried to grow the business through our online presence and social media. We quickly realized our product is something people want to smell before purchasing. We learned that the more in-person events we were able to go to, the more quickly the brand grew! Once we got our candles in people’s hands, we created customers for life!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wildflowersoulllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildflower.soul.llc/?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildflowersoulllc?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@wildflowersoulllc?_t=8oF7GnIB2Sc&_r=1

Image Credits

Trenna Garoutte