Prepping Materials + My Thoughts on Giveaways | Day in the Life of a Candle Maker
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- čas přidán 8. 10. 2023
- I've learned (the hard way) that setting time aside to intentionally prep materials is so valuable for my small candle business. That way, when it comes time to make candles, the process of creating and packing orders feels seamless and streamlined.
L E T ' S C O N N E C T
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O T H E R V I D E O S
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What YOU Should Consider for Your Business: bit.ly/3RDepDN
Small Candle Business Must-Haves 2023: bit.ly/44OjrRr
A B O U T M E
I'm Lacie and I am a Black + Queer entrepreneur juggling my small candle business, CZcams, social media, + everything in between. I make videos about life in my 30s + I enjoy creating content that others can learn from and relate to.
D I S C L A I M E R
This video is not sponsored. - Jak na to + styl
Thoughts on giveaways?? When you own your own business, you can obviously host giveaways for your own product whenever you feel like it. However, being asked to be part of a giveaway that someone else is hosting (although still fine) is feeling like a bit much for me lately.
I don’t think I could ever do free giveaways, it would have to be at wholesale price at least and also include some of my marketing material.
@@Magicguy33 I think that’s very wise!
I think what you said makes a lot of sense. They should have a budget to support the businesses they are using in their free giveaway. I honestly always thought that companies paid for the products at a wholesale or discount; never realized that they ask for them for free.
@@Khalia333 I never put much thought into it until people started getting aggressive with asking. One time a guy flooded my emails after I said I’d be interested and would 👏🏽 not 👏🏽 stop 👏🏽 this was before I realized I don’t need to respond to every request, and if someone is essentially spamming my email then we just… ✨block✨
Love how real you are about the business process! Free in our current economy sounds good for the person receiving but not on the givers end. I think donating would be good because it goes where you want it to go AND its for a good cause! 📸
And same about the packing orders things! I get pretty aggravated when I realize I don’t have any business cards or my packing materials need to be unpacked because I just ran out. I feel like no one else has ever talked about it before! You’re so transparent about things and it’s amazing to watch!
I learned the hard way when packing orders was taking me sooo long. Then it just clicked- MAKE the time to prepare! It’s been so much better now.
📸 I love your videos and how authentic you are as business owner.
Thank you! 🥰
The 10 minute incriminate thing is so real! That’s what I do to get through my cycling class!
Further proof that chunking of time or tasks helps our mentality so much!
A little trick my 9yo daughter taught me- dry erase markers can remove permanent marker. Just write over the permanent marker with dry erase and viola!! I was amazed when she taught me.
Sanitizer does that too 😅
📸Good for you Lacie, I think donating is much better than giveaways🌸.
Love the videos 📷
I only do a giveaway for Mother & Father's Day. That is the only time and g8ve them 4 Oz sizes with 2 different scents.
Loved watching this video Lacie!! 📸
Thank you! ❤️
I hope your interview went well!
📷 📸 📷 Thanks for the vlog, I was thinking of adding my website or logo on my shirts too but now I’m gonna rethink that haha
I think placement is super important. I’d do my logo again somewhere down the line, but I think I’d leave my website off of any shirt design in the future.
Thanks for the video. It’s always fun following along on your day to day! 📸
Thank you for watching ☺️
for the tea lights how I label them is I use a p-touch and bought a clear label for it (or you can use the regular white ones). it looks so nice and clean. I hope that helps.
That’s a good idea! I’ve seen so many different options, but I also don’t want to put a lot of money towards free samples. I’ve seen people add in a little piece of cardstock that tells the customer what their scent is, too.
@@laciej I knew you would say that lol but I get it. I only did it because I already had the p-touch from my other business. but the idea of the cardstock is also nice
@@GenyJulissa hahaha you know me so well! It’s definitely wise to use what you already have on hand. It’s actually one of the reasons why I’m not so quick to get rid of things if I discontinue a style or product (if I have the space to keep it)- never know when it will come in handy!
I’m new here and loving the videos. 📸
Re: the prep you do to help your future self - would you consider creating small "labels" for the tea light samples beforehand and just stick them on when ready? (Ex: using your shipping label so you don't have to use ink, and just print out a whole bunch of mini labels on the 4x6 label size and cut them out to have them all ready. Less handwriting for you, and especially on a small surface like that I imagine it may be tricky/annoying lol)
It IS tricky and annoying! 😂 I’ll likely pivot in the future when the dust has settled from switching my vessels again ❤️
@@laciej makes sense!
I enjoy watching your videos 📸
Thank you so much! ❤️
📷 good luck on your interview
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to you and yours 🍁 Thanks for sharing your feedback on giveaways. Wondered about that too. Raffling off the donations with a minimum price and the payment being donated to a good cause feels good. It also informs whether that event/agency/biz’s clients align with your product. 📸
Thank you!! ❤️ yes, it’s also so important to know who the audience is of the organization hosting the giveaway. If there’s little to no alignment, you’re gonna need to find someone else 🤷🏽♀️
📸 I'm with you 100% on the giveaways - they SUCK. i just ranted about this on IG. so i did it once and it made me feel gross and taken advantage of. i didn't see squat from donating and tbh, i think it's a lot to ask a small business owner to give their handmade items away for free. it's not just this economy it's the nature of being a small business owner. the cost of raw materials, our time, everything, we do it all... our profit margins aren't huge so it blows my mind that people want free items. i was ranting b/c a lot of the holiday markets this year are asking, sorry they're not asking they are requiring donations for giveaway bags and they want $75 wholesale total of product. girl. what? on top of the high vendor fee? i'm dead. so yeah, eff giveaways. ok i'm done. i obvi have very strong feelings about this! lmaoooo i hope the interview went well!
I welcome the strong feelings! Wow- that’s a big yikes asking for the donation bags. Honestly, it’s the audacity for me. And as long as small businesses accept that behavior, the market creators and organizers will keep acting out of pocket.
Exactly. I vote with my wallet. IMO folks do it because they’re afraid to say no or ruffle feathers or simply don’t know they can say no. We 👏🏻 Are 👏🏻 The 👏🏻 Boss 👏🏻
😊
Lacie, big fan! what wooden wick did you like best from Maksey for the concrete vessles? I make my own concrete candle vessles 3” tulip. I’m thinking .03/.625 or .04/.625 thoughts?
Giveaways are good! I love the tea lights idea but would have to pre plan those fragrances so it will always have in stock.
Thank you for your support! Unfortunately I have zero experience with wooden wicks. I’d love to try them some day, though!
I’m testing now. Will let you know. 💕
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I agree with you about the giveaways! If its for Pride month and they seek you out because you are in that community, then SUPPORT the people in that community!!! Why ask them for stuff for free. Share and highlight the business without them having to give you free products. Maybe even give a special discount code instead to give to their viewers/ follows/ customers ect.
👏🏽👏🏽 exactly! You want to support me, so in turn, you’re going to… take from me? In exchange for “exposure” 🙄
📸I agree on the large group giveaways, but I do offer solo giveaways on my own page for my community. I also occasionally do giveaways in collaboration with 1 other small business to help us both grow/give back. But overall, I just do my own, to be able to give back to my internet fam/supporters :)
I think it’s smart to just do it yourself. I’ve done it a few times and it feels better!
@@laciej SOO much better, and your people appreciate so much as well 🙌🏾
I wonder if saying I cannot do this for free but I CAN do this for wholesale pricing OR at the very least for cost, right? So your not losing anything and still getting the exposure
You’re right, I think if someone approaches me again and their company aligns with mine in some way, I’d offer a discount. Probably not wholesale, but 20% or so. Anything more than that takes my profit directly out of my pocket.
@@laciej yea it’s a tough balance for sure. Is your wholesale not profitable?
Who sings this song???
I had no idea businesses asked for free product for their giveaways, I always thought they just set a budget for themselves and bought the stuff for the giveaway or made themselves. I personally think that's disrespectful and agree that asking for free product is not it.
Agreed! And I find it strange how common it is to ask for product for free.
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