Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Booth.
Stephanie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started my business in my kitchen after buying a candle that I was dissatisfied with I went online (YouTube) and I learned how to make a Candle myself. I posted it on Facebook and the next morning I got over 800 likes. I had orders for a candle before I even had a business or business name. I perfected my candlemaking while I was working full-time. I did a lot of research a lot of trial and error. I burnt my stove down twice in my kitchen, and I really learned the science behind candlemaking after a year of making candles hand delivering orders, my business became overwhelming and so I quit my job of 15 years the state of Ohio, and I really buckled down to learn candle making I came up with the name The Candle Booth. My last name is Booth which is my maiden name and is my father‘s name and so that name became really near and dear to my heart so I did everything I could to honor that and so I really took everything serious and decided this is what I’m going to be doing I took some of my retirement money from my job and I paid up my rent for a shop on Parsons Avenue in old town East and then Covid hit and so I paid rent on the shop that I couldn’t open for six months and so I really got business savvy. I learned how to do my taxes. I learned how to do my branding. I learned how to do a lot of business aspects of the business. I learned how to apply for grants and money, and thank God I was able to take advantage of some of that, and so I did a soft opening and everybody loved the shop as I went on from day-to-day I created new ways developing new products and services and my business aspect created new ways of how I was able to serve my customers. I listened to my customers and they gave me ideas and that’s when create a candle became a thing. I was already doing how to make a candle, but I did catered parties of create a candle and that was a really exciting thing for the customers. It had already been done, but I had done it in the way where they could book The Candle Booth and have an intimate setting without the retail store being opened. and then I started doing private labels and I did private labels for Columbus museum of arts. I did private labels for Abercrombie and Fitch, I did private labels for a real estate company Search 2 Close and that really kept me afloat other than the retail side. I was able to provide them candles that were unique to their business and Had their names on the candles. I did an authors book cover, and she handed out the candles for her book launch, and that was very special near and dear to my heart because she contacted me and she could’ve contacted anybody, but I was so so excited to be a part of that and be a part of everyone who’s asked me to be a part of their business and to trust me to not only display their business But display my own and give them a little bit of what they do and what I do kind of behind the scenesand at first I kind of felt like oh I’m creating a candle that doesn’t have my name on it, but I had to learn how to take my emotions out of the business and that was really hard because it had my name attached to it and it really open the doors in terms of what products and what services I was able to provide and the editor of 614 magazine came into The Candle Booth on Parsons Avenue and she really liked what we were doing and asked me to do a two page spread in the magazine and I did that and after that magazine came out it’s really open doors for me that I didn’t even think that was possible and so I had to prepare myself for for the amount of business that was about to transpire and so I hired my first my first four or five employees my daughter was one of them and we really hit the door running. I mean we we opened a second Shop and Polaris Mall and we had the grand opening and like I said I I didn’t envision what was to come and when we opened the shop in Polaris mall the customers really liked how the shop was decorated, and so people started to buy the decorations in my shop so I started to. Buy antiques and things that I like to decorate with so in addition to candles candle, making create your own candle box. I was also able to sell furniture. I did a yelp interview where it was completely Skype with about 20-30 people and I did a tutorial on how to create a candle and they all purchased my create your own candle box and and that was a new product. I don’t think there’s anybody who had created something like that before because I mean you can buy a candle, but you can’t buy create your own candle box and so that was really proud of initiating that product. where I am today? I have since pulled back a little because of Covid kind of took a toll on the retail aspect of the business and I so I am online now I plan to open another shop 2026 October 2026 and I think it’ll be better than before I mean, there was a lot of Road blocks There was a lot of last minute do overs there was times where I had to re-create an order of 400 candles last minute because of some changes the customer didn’t want I mean there was a lot of trial and error not having a business background not having a sales background. I kinda went headfirst into the business and really I think my passion and I think my determination and my emotional attachment really allowed me to honor the business in every way I could in every way I can. I think that for the future I would like to again open several stores again again I have some new surprising candles and candle line coming out next year and I just can’t wait to really go into next year and display what I have to offer because it’s really going to change the game.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think that owning a business is never a smooth road, especially if you are new to business new to product making new to being a boss per se. I had many challenges. I had many upsets. I had many disappointments to where I had to sometimes reconstruct my business to be able to Supply and demand I had to really learn quickly how to recover because it’s really expensive to make 400 candles and have to remake them quickly and remake them with qualityI can resell them, but you can’t get that time back. I think that thats the best thing that happens to a business that has happened and that is going to continue to happen to my business is is The struggles the learning the day by day hurdles and also not getting too emotionally attached to when there are failures because failure is success on the other side to me I think that being resilient helps I think that knowing that you are providing a service helps and that I’m not only providing a service I’m creating a service that I’m providing so that in itself can be really hard when it doesn’t go well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a businesswoman a candlemaker I create candles for retail. I create candles for online. I create candles for private labels. I think the one thing that I’m mostly proud of is just doing it starting it and starting it quickly and whenever I had an idea to do things and to do things differently and outside of the box I did it I think that’s the one thing that I’m proud of is that even though I started a little later in life, I was in my 40s when I first started and it was a completely different career change for me And so I think the one thing that I’m proud of is that I hit the go button I went for it and I went full on what sets me apart is my creativity making candles that look like beer and wine and coffee have really wasn’t. It was looked at his niche before and I think that I made it Obtainable. I think I made getting something different obtainable in a way that you couldn’t do before other than something being online, I think I brought that niche to the retail aspect of it where you can just walk into a shop and get something different. It wasn’t something that you got on at see or anything like that. It was something that you could get right out of the store and I think that’s what sets me apart is my creativity and bringing my creativity to someone’s home
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I would like to share that it’s never too late to follow your dreams and follow your passion and start something new. Start something different and watching people’s joy in the look on their faces when you create a product or when you sell something that’s your own just inspires you to keep going and to not stop and to be proud of yourself in a way that is uplifting and that is life-changing when I started my business. A lot of people was so inspired that they were like they’re gonna quit their jobs and start a business or they’re gonna do things that they’ve been wanting to do and I’m just glad that I was able to inspire people of all ages to go after their dream.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Thecandlebooth
