Starting a Candle Making Business

Ever wondered what would be involved in starting a candle making business?

Typical Services

Candle makers produce and supply custom made or specialty candles. The business owner can either market their candles themselves online, through craft markets or by party plan. Or they can sell their goods to other businesses, like specialty craft retailers or new age stores.

Some candle makers place their goods with retailers on a consignment basis, where the retailer sells on their behalf for a small commission.

The style of candle can vary in terms of the type of wax used, shape, fragrance, color, or texture. In this business you are only limited by your imagination!

Qualifications?

You do not need any formal qualifications to start this kind of business, but you do need imagination and a sense of color and style.

The equipment you need includes a large stock pot (for melting and mixing the wax) and moulds for each shape and size you want to make.

The cost for the equipment will range between $100 - $500 depending on the number of moulds you want to use.

Setup Costs?

The first thing you will need to stock up on is your raw materials for making your candles. Your shopping list will include several different types of wax, fragrant oils, wicks, and dyes. If you want to experiment with different textures, you might also want to stock up on some bits and pieces like dried flower petals.

If you are selling online or using a party plan model you will also need to think about packaging the candles so that they will not be damaged during delivery.

If you want to look very professional you could have gift small cards made to be attached to each candle with information about that particular candle (what it is made of etc) and including safety information (do not leave a lighted candle unattended etc).

If you intend to sell your candle online, you will have to organize a domain name, arrange hosting and design the website. The cost for a website can range anywhere from $300 per year if you do it all your self to many $000's if you hire a web designer to create it for you.

Excluding the equipment discussed above and the cost of setting up a website, your setup costs will range from $300 - $1,000.

Potential Income?

The income for this type of business can range anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 depending on how many candles you can make and which marketing strategy you follow.

Using a craft market or party plan strategy will probably generate a smaller income than using an online strategy and you make the sale personally (i.e. you have to be there!)

Additional Resources

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