Hard times.....but I'm not going anywhere!

Its been a while since I've made a blog post, at times things are that crazy busy I even forget I have a blog spot lol. I've kind of had some thing's on mind that I didn't want to address but  now am at the stage I will. 

Lots has been happening in the world at the moment... we've gone from fires to covid19, then from floods to now OMG War! My heart just breaks for all the sadness around. 

Obviously within all these hard times small business have been struggling. We struggle to maintain our material supplies, we struggle with the MASSIVE continuously rising prices of these materials, we struggle and even at times absorb these increases to keep our prices fair for YOU the customer. And this unfortunately is not just within the Chandler industry - its wide spread!

But here lays the added extra problem the Chandler industry now has, and me on a personal level as well.

Within our industry now we have what everyone is calling CCP (Covid Candle Pop-up's), in short terms these are people that thought candles would be a quick and easy money maker...….. guess what? It most certainly isn't! 

Now please don't get me wrong here, I mean by all means start up but actually put in the time, learning, testing and money that most of us have done prior to to just pouring wax and selling it. This is a dangerous business, its a flammable product. How do we tell they haven't? Its in the questions they ask, its the lack of knowledge on the simplest of things. Its by fact they start the questions on forums with things like… "I just started selling candles, and why is my wick flames so high" or "I've just started selling candles...how much oil do I need for this jar". So we have the CCP's now lets hope they are all serious about it and are covered hey! 

Then you know that saying.... "Copying is highest form of flattery", yeah well after a while its does get a bit much! From products, themes, posts, adverts to every step.... its a bit much of a muchness. What happened to people being unique? I love that some customers and even "friends/family" have looked to me for inspiration and are trying to start their own candle ventures, WELL DONE! But please be true to yourself and be unique you'll get further. Remember guys when I was first in Canberra with Gems in Candles, but like how many are there now lol, oh and Laundry Crystals even hahahaha, anyway!

Then we have those structured chandlers that used to be unique and true to themselves but then saw how awesome some things or places were working well for other chandlers and then they jumped upon the flattery train too, and even try to go out of their way to take down others. At the end of the day you need to believe in yourself, in your product and in your customers and it should all pan out the way its meant to be.  What ever happened small businesses being supportive of one another?

I started my venture nearly 7yrs ago with 2 small children, it was to give them the extras in life whilst still being able to spend time with them when they were young. They've grown quite a bit now just like my venture has and the great thing about that is I can now lay down more time for Liv's Creations. 

End game I wont be going anywhere, I wont back down and the flattery train also drives me harder, so thank you to everyone my absolutely amazing customers you keep my heart warmed and thanks to the CCP's and the Flattery Train you keep me strong! 

Be sure to check out the NEW BUBBLE BATH and ZODIAC CANDLES before you leave! 

Liv

XXX