When You’re Ready, The Perfect Idea “Falls in Your Lap”

Hello! I’m Lakia and my family and I own a business called 1133 Candles. We make scented soy candles and wax melts for home decor and Christian gifts. Before we started the business, I had no intention of making candles. After I graduated from college, I worked at a nonprofit for many years. Then, I transitioned into starting a home-based cupcake business that was in operation for 7 years. My husband works in finance, he's also a Pastor, and we have two wonderful children. Being a business owner and making creative products for my customers is such a joy. Entrepreneurship is a part of my family history and I want to keep that legacy alive. However, there was always this thought in the back of my mind about whether baking was God’s perfect plan for my life. I started the business hastily as a way to be home with my young children and express my creativity. But, it finally became clear to me that it was time for a change. 

It was a tough decision, but closing the baking business was the right choice. I cried because it was the first business I had owned and I had so many questions about what to do next. In the next few months, I spent a lot of time praying, recovering from feeling like a failure, resting, and nurturing my family. Although the idea never occurred to me to make candles, we've always loved candles as a part of our home decor. Every time we went to the store, I headed straight to the candle aisle and asked my family to smell the different scents until we found some we liked. But, after we burned them at home, they either didn't burn evenly or they triggered my husband’s allergies. We usually ended up throwing them away and going to the store to try another brand. Eventually, we stopped buying candles for a while because it was just a waste of money. 

Early one morning, I woke up to pray and during that time something shifted in me. I happened to look at the shelf area on our entertainment system (where I usually place candles) and it was empty. At that moment, God gave me the idea to start making my own natural candles. I wrote it down in my journal and asked for guidance because I had no idea how to start and what to do. So, I decided to trust Him. 

I talked to my husband about it and we purchased some supplies. At first, it felt like a fun hobby. Our kids enjoyed smelling the different scents and watching me make them. We posted a picture of our first candle tins on social media and immediately people asked if we were selling them. It was exciting to see such a great response but we didn't think of selling them right away. We still needed more time to research and test the candles.

I was surprised to see how much I enjoyed making candles. I woke up every day with a passion to learn more and perfect the craft. We were even able to burn the candles without my husband sneezing! So, we agreed to take this from a fun hobby to a successful family business. 

Starting the Business

We invested about $300 to start the business and we contacted local suppliers first because we wanted to support our community. But, we also purchased some of our ingredients from out of state as well. It's always been our desire to make all-natural soy candles with phthalate-free fragrance oils, cotton wicks, and high-quality containers. 

We handmade a small batch of candles to start with and wanted to share them with family and friends first. It took some time for us to come up with a name, get a license, business cards, set up our social media pages, etc. We wanted our name to be biblically based and one night while listening to a church service online, the minister stood up and read Luke 11:33. I got so excited and said, "That's it!" We registered our company name as 1133 Candles based on that scripture. 

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