From Farmers Market To Global Orders

What does it take to turn a weekend candle hobby into a fast-growing brand that ships across the country and overseas? We sit down with Josh Velasquez, founder of Dark Wick Candle Co, to unpack the leap from farmers markets to wholesale orders, the messy middle of supply snafus, and the surprising truth that men might love candles more than you think. Josh shares how he built a masculine, place-driven brand rooted in Farmington’s identity and why scent is the most powerful way to make a place unforgettable.

We dig into the craft and the science: how wax type, wick size, vessel shape, dye, and fragrance load interact to create a safe, consistent burn and a strong hot throw. Josh opens up about building a bench-top “lab,” blending base, heart, and top notes, and testing until the melt pool and performance are right. From candles to wax melts, diffuser oils, room sprays, and early perfume work, he shows how product lines can evolve when you listen to real customer data instead of ego. Along the way, we talk about marketing as an introvert’s superpower, balancing inventory with awareness, and the discipline it takes to say no to cheap shortcuts.

Community is the backbone of Dark Wick’s momentum, and Josh treats every share, critique, and sourcing tip as support. That mindset helped him weather wrong-size wicks, learn import rules for an Australian order, and set a vision for longevity: a brand that serves people, not just shelves. If you’re building a product company, you’ll hear practical strategies for data-driven decisions, resilient operations, and scaling without losing your soul.

If this conversation sparked ideas, follow, subscribe, and leave a review. Share the episode with a friend who loves great scent or great brand-building, and tell us the fragrance you’d design for your hometown.

Be sure to follow or subscribe!  And, if you're a local business owner who'd like to be featured - or know someone whose story should be told - get in touch at Ken@StrategicHorizonsConsulting.com

This show is brought to you by Strategic Horizons Consulting (a division of Ken Collins Marketing).

Transcript

Meet Josh And Darkwick

SPEAKER_02 1:05

I am here with Josh Velazquez, the owner of Darkwick Candle Company. So tell us a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Um like you said, my name is Josh. I'm um locally from Farmington, uh born and raised. I started my candle company about eight eight or nine months ago. Um and it's been very fast-paced ever since then.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

So brand new. Brand new company. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Brand new.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

So some of this won't really apply to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Because you're kind of in startup mode right now.

From Hobby To Wholesale Reality

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Yeah, and I wasn't really like, so I I think like at the stage that I'm in now, I really wasn't expecting to be where I'm at now this early on, truthfully. Yeah. So it's yeah, it's been kind of crazy. It's kind of exciting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

So when did this stop being an idea for you and start being real?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Um when I started having retailers reach out to me for wholesale. I think that's when I kind of was like, okay, this is probably not a hobby anymore. So yeah, it's it's been interesting. Nice. It's been fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Was was there was there uh that's probably the moment when you thought, okay, this might actually work, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah. Yeah, because I mean initially when I first started out, it was just kind of something, you know, to do fun on the weekends. You know, I was doing farmers markets and um not really that focused on pushing it. Um then I discovered social media and and branding and you know, down that whole rabbit hole, and I just found it interesting and started pushing in that direction, and I think the more I the more I went down the rabbit hole, the like bigger and bigger it started to to become. Yeah. So yeah, it's kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

So how did you get started in making candles? Because I don't like gender norms, but the norm is not for men to do this sort of thing, right?

Branding, Identity, And Place

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Right. And actually, so it's funny that you say that because so yeah, dealing dealing with that, like you know, it's not not the norm. Typically, everybody thinks, oh, it's women that you know are into the candle thing. But since I've been doing this, I've kind of found to be the opposite. A lot of men are actually more into candles than women, surprisingly. Yeah. Um so but anyway, so how I how I got started was I just kind of have always been not I don't want to say picky, but I like scent has always been like a thing that I've been focused on. Like, you know, you go to somebody's house, and if it smells funny, like that's something you remember, right? Definitely, or like you know, you go to your grandma's house, or you know, somebody's house that always smells like cookies or pies, like you remember those things, right? So I think for me that's kind of what it's always been about. Like I always associate a smell with like a place. Yeah. So yeah, candles just kind of seem to fit nice with that.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

And you've got a particular brand. I mean, you've kind of worked that out. Maybe you're still working it out, but but it looks good right now, it's very masculine, and I know it's just it's just a cool looking brand.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yeah, I've I've tried to kind of make it different, and then I think the biggest thing for me is there wasn't anything really that represented us here, you know. Like, you know, you go to Albuquerque or you go to Santa Fe and they have you know Rio Grande or the Bosque that, you know, and like it's same with Santa Fe, you know, they they have kind of like their own area specific branded stuff, but you come up here and it's like nobody Farmington but you know, nobody knows anything about our area, right? So I kind of wanted to uh put some focus on that too, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Yeah, that's a little bit of a challenging thing because I've been involved with Farmington development in several areas, and I think in general, Farmington kind of struggles to define an identity, you know? Um you can hit pockets of people that they're like, oh yeah, we're the Connie Mac town, or we're the outdoor recreation town, or we're the this or we're the that, but those are all pockets of people and not all of them agree. And so it's not like this this identity with some other cities like you've mentioned Santa Fe or or Durango is even one of them, where you know you're in Durango, you know you're in Santa Fe, right? You know, and so I think trying to come up with your version of an identity for Farmington can be challenging.

Support, Confidence, And Community

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Yeah, it's yeah, it it definitely will be and has been, but I feel like Farmington, our area in specific, we kind of lag a little bit further behind, you know, the rest of the country with with marketing and stuff like that. But I I feel like we're kind of in in a spot right now where we're like discovering that and kind of yeah, you know what I mean, modernizing.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

I haven't seen that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Yeah. Um, and that's just something that I've noticed, you know, with working with other, you know, rich retailers and seeing what they're what they're doing and and how they're approaching, you know, getting the community involved and recognizing their brand and stuff like that. So it's it's been interesting, yeah. Cool. For sure. Like I said, a rabbit hole that I've been down the last couple of weeks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

So who was the first person that um that really believed in what you were doing, besides you?

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Um, I I don't I don't know. I feel like everybody thought I was crazy, really, to begin with.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

That's not uncommon for a new business.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Right. Um, my family, I you know, my family's been very supportive of it, my mom. Um but then you know, truthfully, the community has as well, honestly. Yeah. Um and and I didn't think that it would be that way. I you know, I was kind of nervous. I mean, I'm a shy person anyway, so I was, you know, didn't know how I was gonna be received. But um there's been a lot of other local businesses and just the community in general that have been super, super supportive. I would say that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Yeah. Right on. So what what part of what you do is is the most meaningful to you, like even on hard days? Your kind of go-to thing.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Um I guess I well I don't agree. I guess I don't understand what you're asking me. What is the most meaningful thing?

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Like of everything that you do involving your business, what what's the thing, maybe like your favorite thing? Like that'll be your core, like on a stressful day, you'll go to that.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

I think my the the thing that I like doing the most is is probably which is weird because I am shy and I'm quiet, is the marketing piece. Like yeah, figuring out, you know, how to make my website work and and how to you know get seen online, things like that. I think that's probably the thing that I like the most.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

It's not uncommon for for uh a somewhat shy person because um it's digital nowadays, right? Right, yeah. So you're sitting at a computer, yeah, like running through numbers and running through trends and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

And you're not having to deal with a a person.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Right.

Marketing As A Superpower

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Where a lot of people they're too people oriented and they don't really understand or want to even understand what you're doing. Like that whole thing of how the marketing works, how the numbers work, and how to tweak this to get a better result here or there. So that's that's kind of a superpower, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Yeah, it's it's proven pretty helpful for sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Yeah, nice. And um, what's something that that your business has given you that you didn't expect?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

I would say connection for sure. Um and bringing me out of out of my shell. Um I I guess helping helping me to to come out of my shell and to you know make connection with people, you know, meet people, things like that. Um I tend to be an introvert, so I'm just you know, historically, I I just want to you know do my thing and I don't want to talk to nobody, like just you know, let me do my thing. But um yeah, it's definitely taught me to be more engaging with people for sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Yeah, yeah, and that's hard for an introvert. I mean, I get it, I'm an introvert as well. Yeah, it's you're in the host of a podcast telling you I'm an introvert.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Right. It's it's super uh yeah, it's hard.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

How's it changed you as a person, when I miss? Besides like bringing you out of your show, is there anything else?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Um sure it has changed me in ways I I don't realize. Um I I would say I probably think about things a little bit more less, I don't know how you say it, like more long term instead of short term, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 11:39

More strategic.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Right. Yeah, I try to think about you know what I'm doing today, how that's gonna affect me, you know, six months down the road or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Yeah, that's a good skill to have.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Yeah, yeah, just kind of trying to trying to pre-plan because I mean you know, at first it kind of just started out as a hobby for me, and once it kind of started you know, growing and scaling up a little bit, um I I think it'll be something fun for me to do. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Yeah. There's that old really super corny saying, like, do what you love and you'll never work a day again. But I mean there is some truth to that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Yeah, there yeah, there really is.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

It makes it a lot easier to work when you actually really like what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Exactly, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Is there um, let's see. What's um I know like again, some of this won't will be hard for you to answer because you're so new in it.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

But is there like a small decision that you've made that ended up having a big impact?

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Well, I would say, yeah, a lot a lot of decisions. Basically, just I mean, sometimes you know, going back to being an introvert and being kind of shy, sometimes things are scary, but you know, if you don't put yourself out there and take the leap, you'll you'll never know.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yeah.

Stretching Beyond Comfort Zones

SPEAKER_00 13:13

So I think you know, those decisions like that that I've had to make, you know, putting myself out there, you know, going to meet with somebody, um those have been some pretty big tough decisions that have you know made it happen. Yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Yeah. So just getting out of the house and like, okay, I'm gonna go meet this person.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

I'm gonna go sit in a coffee shop and talk to this dude I've never met.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Pretty much. I mean, yeah, that's that's where it starts, right? I mean, like you have to sometimes you have to get outside of your your comfort zone and just you know, make it happen.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Yeah, right on. So is there something that that you do that um people just assume is easy in your business, but it definitely isn't?

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Um I think so. I've I've listened to a couple of your of your podcasts, and I think I would have to agree with some of the stuff that others have said. You know, I when you're trying, when you're starting a company or you're running a company, either one, you wear so many hats, and I think a lot of um, you know, from the outside looking in it, it sometimes it looks easy and it's really not.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

And and even the even the you know, person doing it or owning the business or running the business, uh sometimes they don't even realize it either, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Um yeah, you get caught up in it, and you're just like, I gotta do this, and I gotta do this, and I gotta do this.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Yeah, yeah, so it's I I think that's a uh overlooked uh issue, I think.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Is that kind of a massive eye-opener for you when you jumped into this as more of a hobby but m but a business thing?

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Yeah, because I mean you have to learn, you know, you have to learn the marketing, you have to learn, you know, all of the taxes, you know, financial side of it, legal stuff. Um it's yeah, it's a whole it's a whole thing that you have to know, you know. And so it's like people are like, oh, what do you do? Oh well you make candles. Oh that sounds easy and fun. Yeah, making the candles is, yeah. But all the other stuff that you know goes with it, not so much.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

I'm also a merchandiser and a marketing person and a lawyer and an accountant and uh yeah, it's yeah, it's a whole it's a whole and then this retail thing is like a it's a whole new beast. I started um well, I recently just got um some of my stuff shipped overseas to Australia. So that was a learning curve, you know, to have to deal with that import taxes and all of that, and then so it's that's that's kind of what I'm working on now is you know learning how to the merchandising and and doing the retailing and stuff outside of just you know selling them here in farming to the right.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Right, right. Is there something that just kind of like one day just clicked for you? Or like, oh, you know, maybe you were trying to do some things or whatever, and then all of a sudden you had that like light bulb moment. Like to start my business, or just any anything involved with it, like even with just make the process of making candles or like all the things we were just going through, like all the stuff that no one talks about of actually running a business.

Wearing Every Hat

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Um I think it happens quite often, honestly. Uh you know, I mean I I started out selling them at a farmer's market, and then you know, oh well you should get a website. So here, you know, here I am trying to figure out a website, and yeah, you know, then retailing comes up, you know, hey, you should sell them here, you should sell them there. And so I yeah, it happens quite often where I'm like you know, going down different rabbit holes and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Okay. Um, what's the hardest lesson that the business taught you that you're now grateful for?

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Um you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

I probably will know in the next couple months, but I think it's still so new that I yeah, I mean, every day, you know, I I learn something new. So um yeah, I don't I don't know, I don't know how to answer that one yet.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Okay. It's yeah, I mean it's all pretty new right now. So everything's kind of still in discovery stage.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

So yeah, pretty much. Um but yeah, it's it's going.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Is there is there an obstacle that that you've gone past that you didn't expect to face?

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Um yeah, I mean I I've had some supplier issues and stuff, which you know, for somebody small but my size, um it's like the end of the world type of stuff, but I mean really you just kind of pick back up and keep going. Um I had an order of uh wicks, candle wicks that I got shipped um that were the incorrect size, so as you can imagine that turned into a whole fiasco. So I thought I'd like to never live that one down, but got past it and I guess especially if they're too short, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

For what you're trying to do. Yeah. It's like what are we supposed to do with these? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Is there is there something that that um is there one thing that you thought would be a problem but but turned out not to be?

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Um having the support um and having people to buy my product, actually, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Yeah, I I thought, you know, that it would be kind of slow for a while. And I mean, you know, don't get me wrong, it's not you know all sunshine and daisies all the time, but you know, it's I I I didn't expect it to be as um supportive as it has been for sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Right on. Yeah. So you're surprised at your own sales numbers. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

So it's it's been good.

Lightbulb Moments And Pivots

SPEAKER_02 19:50

I mean that's a good thing, right? You go into a healthy, like, well, I'm gonna own the candle market, you know. That's not a healthy attitude, stepping day one into a business.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

But uh so it kind of had more realistic view, and that's been exceeded, it sounds like so.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Yeah, definitely. And it's almost, you know, kind of like oh, I have all of this going on. Like, how am I gonna how am I gonna meet all these goals? How am I gonna accomplish this? And then some way, how or another, you know, I just get it together. Yeah. Yeah. So it's nice. It's been cool.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Is there somewhere where you feel like your stretch the thinnest right now?

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Probably being able to keep up with um well, I say that, but you know, it's kind of like ebbs and flows. So some days, you know, I feel like I'm only one person and I can't do enough, and then on you know, other days I have plenty of time, so it's kind of in that you know, middle ground of not being enough, but being too much, you know what I mean? Sure. For one person. Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Yeah, switching hats off over. Tiles.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Can get tiles.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Yeah, definitely for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Is there something that you're working on now that that customers will definitely notice later?

SPEAKER_00 21:18

I think it's it's constant for me and you know, kind of what I'm doing, it's it's constant learning. Um I mean candles that I was putting out when I first started eight months ago are you know completely different than the ones now, you know, and I'm sure they'll be different a year from now. Um just yeah, constant quality improvements, learning. Um you know, it especially in the with making candles, and something I didn't realize it's you have to become like a scientist, pretty much. You know, wick sizes and oils and and waxes and how they all interact with each other. It's all you know, it's all different. So um it's it's a process for sure.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Do you have a lab set up?

SPEAKER_00 22:16

I feel like it, yeah, pretty much. Pretty much. It's it's a lot of a lot of testing, um you know, certain oils with the wax, take a different wick size, and you know, vice versa. And then if you you know add candle dye to it and start dyeing your candles different colors, then it that changes it. Um the vessel size, you know, if it's a tall vessel or a short and wide vessel. I mean, yeah, it's a whole yeah, it's a whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

It's changing how it melts and the whole thing. I guess I never thought of that with coloration.

unknown 22:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

So that's gonna change the whole chemistry of everything in there.

Supply Snags And Resilience

SPEAKER_00 22:53

So especially too, like with, you know, um, so I I only do two vessels right now, Matt Black and Matt White, and you know, even those are different, you know, um versus like a clear vessel, or it's yeah. Yeah, so there's a lot that goes into it.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Um please tell me you you have some semblance of a lab and a lab coat. I just want to picture you in a lab coat, just like tinkering with with beakers of fragrances and and wax consistency. I do do that.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

I do I do have that for the for the fragrance oils. So I I I kinda I mix and match like my own oils to come up with my own scents. Um I don't have a lab coat though. No lab coat. Dang it! I want a lab coat! But uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Oh my god. Um let's see, if you could remove like one responsibility from your plate right now, what would that be? Or what would that free you up to do? Not necessarily what would it, what would the thing be, but what would that free you up to do? Like if there's is there's something that you'd like to do, but you just can't because you've got to do this other stuff?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

The marketing. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, like I said, I I enjoy it and it's you know fun. Um but I the marketing is it's almost like it's half and half, you know, because you know, if you're not making your product, you don't have anything to sell, but also if you're not pushing it and building awareness, people aren't gonna buy it either. So it's like you know, you gotta kind of have both. Yeah. So yeah.

Demand Surprises And Pace

SPEAKER_02 24:40

In the digital end of marketing, I know from personal experience, can become a bit of a crutch where um it can be a comfort zone because you're there, you're involved in the numbers, you're tweaking stuff, it's kind of exciting. But no work is getting done. Like you're trying to market to something that isn't getting done, is what's happening.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

So I think I kind of struggled with that a little bit early on. I was hyper focused on marketing. So I mean, I you know had a pretty good awareness campaign going on. Um and I, you know, would let my stock drop, so I'd be, you know, having to panic produce basically. Yeah. Um so that's you know, one of the things that I learned kind of early on is to balance both of them.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

Yeah. So I know you're still early in this, but do you have a vision of success? Like what does success look like for you now, maybe as opposed to when you started just a few months ago?

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Um I'm just kind of seeing what happens.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

I mean, you know, I would I would like to definitely expand, you know. I think that's anybody's goal, you know, is make your uh make your part-time hustle your full-time hustle, right? Yes. Um, so I think that's you know my end goal, essentially. Um just kind of seeing seeing where what happens and where it takes me for sure.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

So it's all kind of just a journey of discovery at this point still.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Yeah, um for the most part. I mean, I I definitely you know want to have something that's long-lasting and durable. Um I I don't want to, you know, be a kind of in and out type of type of business. You know, I I want to have definitely have something durable and that can be here for the future.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Pass it on to kids or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Nice. So what's one thing that you hope your business is known for like five years from now?

Constant Quality Improvement

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Um being involved, um being a part of the community. I think um sometimes people can get focused on you know building a business and building a brand for you know many reasons. Everybody has their own reasons, but I think um one of the things you know that I think gets overlooked is uh the community aspect of it, you know, because it's it takes the community to build these brands and build these companies. I mean, you know, there's people behind them that are building them, but you know, it's the community that really supports an uplift. Right. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Yeah, I mean if they don't support you, then it doesn't last and the whole thing. So you're you're you want to be known for like integration with the community at some level. Yeah. And uh while you were saying that, I was thinking because you you mentioned that you wanted to kind of build something that defines this area, and I I thought of the worst tagline potentially ever. The smell of farmington.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Uh yeah, that might not be that might not be a good tagline.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

So let's just forget we even said that. You're coming up with the synth of Farmington and you want to be integrated in it. So man. So is is there something still early on here, but is there something this community has done for you that you'll never forget so far?

SPEAKER_00 28:44

I mean, like I said, just the support. I mean and and I don't mean support by you know people just buying from me. I mean support can mean anything, you know, sharing something online, um, you know, giving me feedback on you know something that they liked or didn't like, or um pointing me in the right direction of you know sourcing something. Yeah. Um you know, all of all of that is is support for sure.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Um it's good that I don't want to pass that by. Um it's good that you mentioned that what people like and don't like, so you're taking that feedback, and even somebody says, I don't like this thing, or this part of this thing, or this aspect of this thing, you're taking that in and you're calling it support, which is exactly what it is. That's exactly what it is. That's a really healthy way to look at that.

The Candle Science Lab

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Well, and I think you know, sometimes people can feel a little bit awkward or feel like you know it's not acceptable uh to give that kind of a feed that kind of feedback. But really, you know, without if if you don't give that type of feedback, a business doesn't grow, they can't grow.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Um and the only way you know we know about it is if people tell us about it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Um if you don't tell me you don't like this, I'm gonna keep doing that.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Because no one's telling me you don't like it.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Right. Yeah. So it's it's super, super important uh to get that type of feedback, you know. That they don't like it or you know, this is working, that's not working, whatever it may be, it's you know, any feedback is good feedback. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

That's why I didn't want to just glaze over that because that's really important that that you called it right, that is support, and and uh because more often, the majority of people that say don't like something, um, they'll just to themselves or within their small group of friends, like, nah, that that sucks. I don't want anything to do with that. And the business owner never knows that that's how you felt. Yeah, and so they didn't provide the business owner with any kind of support in that. Just buying the thing and saying it sucks and tossing it into garbage is not supporting. Right. I mean, that's you know, right, it's not helpful at all.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

So yeah, exactly. So that's you know, one of the things that you know I've been super thankful for is you know, people have said, hey, you know, that's probably not gonna do very well, or we don't really care for that. Um and that's kind of helped me to navigate, you know, to what is what's you know gonna be more viable for sure.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Do you have kind of a process of because you'll also always have like outlier naysayers, right? So the outlier is not necessarily what the uh community wants. Um so do you have some kind of process to kind of filter those and figure that out, or or is it just kind of a testing process right now?

SPEAKER_00 31:50

I would say for right now, it's probably more so just a testing process. I I'm I kind of keep track of what people are saying, like, hey, do you have this scent or do you have that scent, or are you gonna make this in a bigger one or you know whatever it may be? Um I kind of I keep track of that and how many people you know bring that specific item up. Yeah. Um, and that's kind of how I figure out, you know, hey, I need to, you know, do something different with this product or you know, do something different with that product, kind of like with my perfumes and stuff. You know, I had gotten quite a few people saying, hey, this would smell really good as a perfume, and so then I started you know doing perfume bombs and perfumes. So kind of keeping track of it.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

Yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

You already are on the right path. You're you're like gathering data, you're analyzing the data, and you're making decisions based on it.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

I think that's that's that guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

I'm gonna keep doing this.

Balancing Production And Marketing

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Yeah, no, that's I mean, you have to listen to what people are saying and what the data is saying. I mean, just because I like something doesn't necessarily mean that everybody's gonna like something, you know. Right. Um but really it, you know, it just boils back down to listen listening to what people are saying, what they're telling you. Because people will tell you, you know, you just gotta listen to what they're saying.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

Yeah.

unknown 33:19

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

And that's good of you to do so uh uh a good portion of business owners got into business because they figured they knew a better way, right? And so so they started that, and um a lot of times it takes a certain type of personality to actually be in business and do and make that leap, and you know it's a it's a risk on all kinds of different levels, and so it takes a certain kind of person to be able to pop that line and do that. So sometimes that certain kind of person is not the type of person who's gonna listen to naysayers.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

Right.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Like, forget that guy, man. He doesn't know what he's talking about. They don't know what they're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

I know what I'm doing, yeah. You don't ever get it, let's say you do it then, you know? Right.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

But so yeah, so it's really healthy the way you're looking at and approaching this. It's really good.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Um let's see, if your business were a person, how would you describe its personality?

SPEAKER_00 34:24

Needy.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Very needy. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

Um yeah, there's there's always always something, it seems like.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

It's a baby. I mean, yeah you kinda if you think about it, you've just gone through a reverse term pregnancy where where because it had to be born, so it was born, but now you're nine months in, and yeah, and there's a lot of developments in a pregnancy during nine months. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, we're in bottle feeding right now. You're like, again?

SPEAKER_00 35:05

Yeah, bottle feeding, diaper changing, crawling, yeah. We're all of those right now.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Oh man. So is there um I know you're still kind of working things out and testing things, but is there like a tradition, a ritual, or a value, or anything that keeps you grounded in this?

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Um you know, there's there's a there's a saying, and I I can't for the life of me think of it right now, but um essentially, you know, I don't I don't want to do anything cheap because it's not gonna be good. So that's kind of what I'm I'm sticking with right now in my business for sure. Yeah.

Defining Success And Longevity

SPEAKER_02 35:57

Just staying true to your idea of what you want this to be. Right. Not the cheapest candle you can find, right? But like the best.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Right.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

At least for this area.

unknown 36:08

Right.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Known start and branch out. Maybe you will be best in the country at some point.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

Yeah, who knows? Um, yeah, that's that's pretty much, you know, it's not a not a dollar store thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

Yeah, yeah. So is there a belief that you had maybe going into this that that you'd no longer hold?

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Um I don't know that I really had a specific belief. No. Um I I don't know that I really even had a belief to begin with, because like I said, it when I first you know started it, it was just something fun for me to do on the weekends, go to farmers markets and kind of help, you know, put myself out there and work through my being shy and being an introvert, and then it just kind of you know kept uh growing.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

It's been fun.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Is there um is there a piece of advice that you've gotten that that actually turned out to be true? Because I'm sure you've gotten like a ton of people. It usually comes from your friends and family first, right? Dude, you should do this, you should do that. So is there like one of those that was actually true?

Community Integration And Feedback

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Um well, besides the you know, don't give up, don't stop, those, those types of things. Um I get probably a crazy amount of um you need to make this scent, you need to make that sense. Yeah. No, I don't need to make that sin, I'm sorry. Um yeah, I just probably just you know, don't don't give up. Um when you're getting in business or launching a business, it's it's a struggle. It's it takes a lot, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Um just keep pushing on. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Um if you had this is gonna sound because I'm getting a feel for who you are and how you're thinking about things. So if you had a piece of advice for other business owners right now, in this stage of your business world.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

I would say you know, kind of like we were talking earlier.

SPEAKER_02 38:43

I think to your point, a lot of businesses tend to focus, they they tend to like trying to say it without yeah, um they tend to stay in only one lane and not, you know, with the television of I know what I'm doing, I know what I want to do, or I do it better than other people, this is what I'm doing, I'm doing this, right? And stay there.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

Right. I I think to me, I think I think that's the biggest piece of advice I would give is you know, broaden your horizons, listen to your people, um, and don't be afraid to have people that are quote unquote better than you or smarter than you because it's only gonna make you better. Yeah. Um yeah, I I think that's that's what I would see. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Yeah, it doesn't make a person weak to take advice from other people. Right. That makes you stronger.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

Right. It it only is gonna help you succeed for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

Yeah, that's awesome. Is there anything that you're celebrating in the business right now, big or small?

SPEAKER_00 39:54

Um branching out and having other retail locations um outside of Farmington. Like I said, I you know uh sent that um order to Australia, so that was pretty cool. It's massive, man. Um yeah, that's that's pretty wild. Um and then you know, places like Santa Fe, Santa Rosa, Albuquerque. I mean, I didn't think eight months ago that you know some guy from Farmington would be sending candles over the country.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

So it's been to go from setting up a table at the farmers market to I'm shipping this to Australia and Santa Fe and locations.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

It's so crazy. I mean, uh even you know, now to think about it and say it, it's yeah, it's so crazy. I'm I'm definitely blessed.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

I hope you're taking, like that's part of the reason for that question. I hope you're taking the time sometimes to look around and think, dude, seriously, I'm doing this, man. This is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

Yeah. So sometimes, you know, I I don't. Um sometimes I just get so focused on pushing and you know, doing more. How can I be better? How can I do more? So yeah, sometimes I I forget to stop and look at like, hey, what's this you know what all you have going on already? Be thankful for that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

So so um because we didn't we didn't really expand on that when we first started this. Um tell us more about like what is it you're doing? Obviously candles, but you've mixed in perfume and so what are what do you do? Like tell us about your stuff here. So we know.

Data-Driven Product Decisions

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Yeah, so I I initially started out in candles only, um, and then I went into wax melts. Um yeah, I went from candles to wax melts, um, and then I discovered um diffuser oils, so you know the waterless diffusers that people use. Um so I started making diffuser oils, um, room sprays, of course, because that's a you know a byproduct of the diffuser oils. And then um as I kind of started adding scents and different fragrances and stuff, that's when you know it started being brought up. Hey, this this would make a good perfume, that would make a good cologne, you should, you know, make this and so and I started playing around with trying to figure out how to be a perfumer, which is a whole thing in itself. So yeah, that's what all I got going on.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

So, how do you how do you um like dream up sense? You know what I mean? Like you just get an idea or you smell something somewhere, and like, ooh, I think I can make something kind of like that, and then just start kind of go to the lab and please tell me you throw in a lab coat. I just want to picture that. Throw in the lab coat, I'll take it the goggles.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

I will I will buy a lab coat just for you. Um, so well, I mean, yeah, a lot of it is like trial and error, but there's you know, there's this whole pyramid of how fragrance works. Um, you know, you have florals, you have earth, earth tones, and it's and they pair differently. Yeah, it's a whole you'd probably need a three-hour podcast for me to explain all that.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

I saw something one time, because there's like base, there's a base, and then there's there's like three levels at least or something in that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

Yeah, because you have different fragrances that are that you'll smell right off the bat. Um, and then you have ones that are more layered in, kind of like you know, your vanillas and your amber's, those kind of like ground, ground ear sense. Right. Um so that's kind of where it where it all starts. Um yeah, it's it's it's complicated. It's awesome, man. Um but yeah, it's it's interesting for sure. Definitely interesting.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

So for anybody like the hobbyist thinking, oh I could do this, and just run and grab some essential oils and start dumping it in wax. It's really it's really not that's not how it works. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

No, I mean you can go to Walmart and buy them. I'm just they're not they're probably gonna turn out the way you want them to turn out. I'm just saying. Um but yeah, no, it's yeah, there's a whole process to it. It's really fairly easy, I will say. Um it just takes time to sit down and actually learn.

Personality Of A New Business

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Like anything else, you gotta have the the knowledge base to the want to actually figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Yeah, yeah, sure. Very cool. Yeah. Well, awesome, man. You're a really cool dude. I'm glad I met you. So it wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. I thought I was gonna be way more nervous. Strapped me to the rack, yeah, shine a bright light in your face, talk. Yeah, surprisingly, I I talked, I think, more today than I have the last year. So right on. Yeah, perfect.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

Well, thanks for coming on the show, man. And uh how do people get a hold of you or find you?

SPEAKER_00 45:32

Um I'm on Facebook everywhere. Um if you Google Dark Wick, it'll come up anywhere in the country. Cool. Um yeah, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. Um, I go live on TikTok, make candles on there, nice, make room sprays. Um cool?

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

Well, thanks a lot, man, and good luck. I mean, we'll have to maybe check in with you again to see where I'm at in a year. Like a year from now and see how how it's changed.

SPEAKER_00 46:05

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'll still be here making candles.

SPEAKER_02 46:09

Setting up locations in Europe or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

I hope.