In June 2017, we prototyped The Growing Candle in our basement. Then we borrowed a modest $4,000 from our retirement account, bought supplies, and quit our jobs to begin selling candles at arts and craft fairs. In those early days, Monday-Friday was candle-making time. Then at 4:30 am every Saturday, we’d load up our 2004 Jeep Liberty and drive to Cleveland to meet new customers.

These first months seemed scary and reckless in hindsight, but we had so much fun, and with our background in direct sales, it didn’t feel risky. Entrepreneurship together had always been our goal, and (most) everyone was so supportive. Customers would say, “Omg, you should go on Shark Tank,” and “I know, I hate throwing away (glass) candles too!” It’s hard to believe back then, you couldn’t find a candle with a second use. Disposable glass jars were the norm. We learned so much during this time, and the feedback we received on our products and fragrances became the foundation of our success today. During our first December in business, we did over 30k in sales, and it was clear... we needed a loading dock.

Fast-forward to 2020, we were invited on Good Morning America for an “Earth Day” feature of eco-friendly small businesses. To participate, we committed to having 10,000 candles ready to ship and holy smokes, it seemed like a big number. Until then, our largest order was 300 candles. Our new studio was so small we knocked out a wall and were still bumping elbows with our team. When the Covid lockdown started, our anxieties rose to whole new levels. We were sitting on all that mountain of inventory, our staff was home, our GMA contract stated our segment could not-air in the event of breaking news (which was happening every day), and to top it all off, Cyndi was eight months pregnant with our baby.

Thankfully, when the time came, our segment aired as scheduled, and the response blew us away. Our products sold out within two short hours! Insert a huge sigh of relief here, and wow, are we grateful for everyone’s support that day. We were contractually obligated to ship every order within three business days of the segment. Thanks to all our wonderful family, friends, and team for masking up and helping get every order packaged and out the door. Good Morning America has invited us back another five times since then, and we can’t understate the positive effect they had on our business. The profits from these sales launched us forward, allowing us to build our own studio space and scale this website.