Welcome to my Shop! My shop is my life! Every minute I am not at my regular job, my time and mind are occupied with ways to grow and improve my shop.



On a Saturday in the summer of 2019, I remember thinking “there has to be more to life” while I sat on my sofa and watched TV. I worked a stable job Monday to Friday and vegetated on the weekends. I wasn’t feeling fulfilled. I found a local candle-making class in my pursuit to find a new hobby. In October 2019, I brought 9 other friends with me to this class to make a day out of it and IT WAS AN ABSOLUTE BLAST! That very night, I bought all the introductory candle-making equipment!



Since we were approaching the holiday season, I started making candles as gifts for friends and families. I posted a few pictures on my social media to share my new passion and a local female entrepreneur approached me and asked to sell my candles at her pop-up holiday shop. I had no intention at that time to sell my candles, but my candles were piling up and they needed a place to go. I only had about 10-15 candles at that time, and they ALL SOLD OUT at her shop.



That is when I realized that people were clearly interested in what I was making. Without putting much thought into it, I started my Etsy shop in January 2020. I had terrible photos and my candles at that time were not uniform appearing and didn’t have any professional labeling or anything! Needless to say, you guys know how this goes. Slowly but surely, me husband and I taught ourselves about business, marketing, inventory management, social media, etc., to get this business to where it is today. And of course, without our clients, we would be NO WHERE!



Now that you know how I started my shop, I want to share with you my goal for this shop. It was never about money for us. We both have good, stable jobs. We happened to open our shop in the midst of a period my husband and I were making personal lifestyle changes. We were trying to be more responsible consumers by minimizing waste-producing purchases, actively buying products to replace non-eco friendly stuff we had around the house, and trying to support our local economy more than major corporations.



From the getgo, we ensured that our business was going to align with our life mission to be better global citizens, it was not something we adopted after we got “big”. That being said, I really try to share how we emulate this mission on our Instagram Page (@SparknessCandleCo). I document a lot of the behind the scenes and methods we adopt to minimize waste. We reuse all our packaging material so rather than create paper and plastic waste to have a “cute look” in our packaging, we use 100% recycled USPS shipping boxes and package with recycled Kraft paper we got from our supply purchase shipments. We do not print out invoices because all of our clients can verify their purchases online. We use absolutely non-toxic fragrance oils to ensure that your home remains clean and toxin-free when you use our products. If we occasionally use plastic or styrofoam, it is only because we have it and would rather reuse it than throw it away after a single use. We currently use plastic tape, but trust me, I am even trying to find an economical alternative to that!



We are so blessed to have clients who love our products and our mission and continue to support us by purchasing our products and spreading the word! I think only another small business owner can understand the joy we feel with each sale we make. Each sale/message feels like a new friendship and it keeps to motivated to keep growing and improving :-)