How a Dedicated Mom Built a Thriving Candle Business

Hello, welcome back to the She's Crafted to Thrive show. I am so excited that you are here for this new conversation that I got to have with Annie from Natural Annie Essentials, which is a Black woman-owned and family-operated lifestyle soy candle company based out of Bridgeport, Connecticut. What I love about this story is that Annie started this business out of her home kitchen, trying to help her, her firstborn daughter, who was diagnosed with spina bifida. And her story is so inspirational on just the power of not giving up. And the other amazing thing about this is that I was introduced to Annie through the Handmaid's Cellar magazine, which this particular story goes a little bit deeper than what was featured in her magazine in the July 2020. So you'll be able to hear even more about Annie's journey and her story. And where she is now, and even how she fared in 2020 when the whole COVID happened. So I believe that this is going to be a great story for you to tap into hearing the things that we need to cultivate when we're feeling like giving up, or if you just know that what you're doing is something that you must and have to do, and how you can tap into that determination to continue to build a business that thrives. So of course, ladies, stay tuned. Welcome to She's Crafted to Thrive. I'm your host Nikita Williams, and this show is for all the ladies who are making and creating things that they love. You will hear conversations about the real everyday struggles of juggling life and business while trying to maintain passion and harmony. As women, we have the skill of getting things done, but sometimes we get in our own way. It's here where you'll see that you're You're not alone. You'll discover that success does not mean perfection. Fear and negative thoughts and challenges are all a part of the journey. And on this podcast, you'll find the inspiration and tools you need to have a life and business that thrives. So before we hop into this conversation with Annie, Annie and I are connected because of the wonderful collaboration we have with The Handmade Cellar magazine, where artists and entrepreneurs can go every month to read inspirational business stories from handmade sellers from around the world, ladies, and they can learn tips of the trade and get updated on the latest industry news and get fresh ideas for the next upcoming month.

Ooh, doesn't that sound amazing?

So if you would like to show some support to this amazing storytelling business, go ahead and visit HandmadeSeller.com and use the coupon code SHE'SCRAFTED to get 15% off. Now let's hop right in with Annie. Hello, Annie.

So I was trying— I was literally debating in my head which one to go with.

Whichever is easiest for you. I am good with either one.

Well, I am just really excited that you said yes about being on She's Crafted to Thrive. And I'm excited to talk more about your journey because one, I love candles. Like, love, love them.

Yes.

And I love that this is a Black woman-owned company. And not only that, the whole family's in on it. So please tell us who you are, what you do, and we'll just jump in real quick.

Well, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. My name is Annie. We'll go with Annie. That's what we'll work with Annie today. And I'm the owner and CEO of Natural Annie Essentials. We are a lifestyle candle company owned and operated by myself and my family, as you mentioned earlier. So it's everyone here from myself to my kids. Grandparents, you know, cousins, everybody's here. And we, we just have fun doing the work. And it's a pleasure and a joy being able to create something that we can send out into the world where others can get a piece of our family and just enjoy the vibe that we, that we have creating the candles here.

I love that. So I want to know the backstory because it wasn't always just the family, right?

Like, no, no.

So the, the There is a story that was written in The Handmade Seller Magazine. And I read it, and I was like, man, she's telling a lot of stuff. But I feel like there is some more nitty-gritty up in there that I need to get in on. Like, wait a minute. Wait a minute. So has this always been a candle business?

No, we did not start out selling candles at all, actually. The company started back in— well, the idea of the company started back in 2014 after the birth of my first daughter, Tiffany. And, you know, that was kind of where everything started. She was born with a condition called spina bifida and hydrocephalus. And after we got home from the hospital a few months later, her skin was breaking out because by now she was on a lot of medications. So as a first-time mom, I'm like, this thing is not going away. The medication isn't working. What do I do? Like, I felt hopeless. So I'm from Jamaica. And my grandparents that I grew up with, they were here with me at the time. And I'm like, what are we going to do? Like, it's not getting better. And we kind of just went back to what we were used to. So it was the shea butters, the olive oil, the essential oils, and we were just, you know, trying something. And at that point, that's where we kind of got a relief from for her skin, where it was finally starting to clear up. So I went hardcore into these products. I was just making everything. I started making everything. It got so— I got so deep into it that I actually went and got certified in aromatherapy because I was buying these oils, girl. I was going in. And it was so much that my household alone couldn't consume it all. So I started sharing the stuff I was making with, with my mom, my family, and my friends, and they were loving the products. And someone actually said, this is so good. It came to a point where I was making this face scrub at one point, and a friend of mine, she would order it every month. And I'm like, well, what are you doing? You're really using this stuff, aren't you? She said, yeah, it's really good. You should put a label on it. So I considered it because ever since I was coming up in high school, I always knew I wanted to do something for myself, but I never knew what it was. I tried selling Avon in high school. I ended up using more than I was selling.

That happens.

I feel like I had the girl boss drive since then, but that made it click to me when she kind of said it and I put it into action and I tried it and it took off. It took off. So we kind of moved forward with that. And a few years later, a few years in, we did a showdown in Brooklyn where customers were— and by now I should say, by now I wasn't just doing like the skin stuff. I was doing a whole facial line— the scrub, the shower gel, the, the moisturizers. And then I got into bath and body products, so that's a whole other thing.

So, okay, so wait, wait, we gotta back up a minute because you went like, like, okay, so, okay, so it started off as this something to help your daughter, right? And so I want to kind of first tell us Can you tell us what it is? Because I know people hear labels of what diagnoses are and they're like, I don't really understand what that means. So first tell us what spina bifida is and what that looks like for you and your daughter.

So spina bifida is the opening of the spine. So when she was born, there was literally a cut in the middle of her back. So her spine wasn't— fully formed. So they had to do an operation on that. And because of that, it led to the other condition that's called hydrocephalus, which is pretty much water on the brain. So because the spine wasn't fully connected, the fluids weren't flowing to her stomach as they should.

Right.

So that's what those are.

And that caused it— so you were saying, was it the medication or just the overall everything and how it, like, was coming out?

I felt like it was the medication because the surgeries had taken care of the opening that was on her body. So I'm pretty sure it was the medication.

OK. So I don't think I realized this before, like, while I was learning about you, that you were Jamaican. So I'm half Jamaican. My dad's from Jamaica.

Yeah.

And so I always joke around with people who are from Jamaica because I always get the things that only Jamaicans apparently get, like ganglion cysts and all these like weird nodules. And you're like, they're like, that's a Caribbean, specifically in Jamaica thing. And I'm like, great, thank you. So I'm totally familiar with like using like the essential oils. For me, it was tea tree oil was a huge thing that helped with a lot of that. So when you were going through like discovering all, like all of this world of essential oils and you know, If you ask my grandparents or my grandmother when she was alive, you know, they basically ate that stuff. Like, it was like— Everything. Everything, right? Was that something you had remembered from when you were younger, or is that something that you were like, oh, I need to, like, rebring this back into my life, or has it always been there?

Well, I grew up, and even then they didn't even call them essential oils. It was just oils. And they weren't, like, buying the little vials of essential oils either. They were literally picking the bush from the tree and probably have it soak for months, you know? And essentially, that's really kind of what it is. But I didn't always stay on the path where I was going to use what I grew up using. It wasn't until I had my daughter where suddenly the light bulb went off. Oh, your grandmother used to use this stuff. Maybe it will work.

That is awesome.

Yeah, so that was the moment that kind of took me back. To my roots.

So from there, you like were making all this stuff. So first of all, you said, I just started making all this stuff, but you didn't say what kind of— like, were you experimenting? I can just imagine you now, looking at you and like seeing you physically like in the kitchen with like jars and pots and stuff. Like, how was that like for you?

It was literally like that. So, so I— after I graduated, I signed up with this company called doTERRA, and they give a lot of education on essential oils. And they had this Bible, they call it the Essential Oils Bible. And it was everywhere. It was always either in my kitchen or my bathroom. So if I wanted to make this, so what's an alternative to soap that's on the shelves, I would flip through and get a recipe and try it. So it was literally just like that. And that's how I kind of cleaned up my house and replaced all the chemicals stuff with a more natural product. Okay.

Okay.

So I love that because that is one, if you really like doing that, like if you really like, once you get into that like space of like, oh, I'm going to try all— see, I'm, I'm the opposite. I think I feel like I like the idea of this. Like I like the idea of being like, oh, I'm going to make my own soap and my own candles and I'll do it once and I'll be like, mm, yeah, no. That was nice. Like, I don't think I want to do that again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or like, I might do it again, so I'll keep the stuff, and then if we move, it's like, you can just get rid of it. Like, you know, it's like one of those things. So for you, that was not the case at all. No, you're like, give me more.

Yes, it— I enjoyed it. And the fun part too about the, of the program that I did, they had a section of the course that was for specifically for formulation. So now that you've learned about the oils, you I know now how to apply it and how to make stuff with it. So yeah, I was in heaven.

So, okay, so now you're in this world of doing what you love that you didn't know you loved but now love, right? And your friends are like, girl, you should put a label on this. And you're like, hmm, were you thinking that before she said that though? Was there a little something in you like, maybe I could do this? But she just kind of gave you the permission almost like, oh yeah.

I felt like— so they, with the company doTERRA, so they have it where you can introduce the oil. It's like an MLM company. Yeah. So I was buying all these oils. I'm like, I wanted to teach somebody else probably how to use it. So I was doing classes. I was doing little classes and just informing people on how to go about using the oils and what oils may be good for what. They liked the classes, and I also did like make and take, little make and take events in my backyard. They loved that, but as soon as the product was done, they had zero intention of making it themselves.

They were me.

No, they, they were not into that part. So I felt like I enjoyed making it, so she telling me to try kind of put that light bulb off, or, or maybe give me that permission because I felt like, I like this, but what do I do with it? Kind of, you know. So I guess we could say permission to do it.

Yeah, I feel like you kind of like had like connected the dots. Maybe like it was like you were thinking on it, but maybe then something kind of like her saying that was like, oh duh, like maybe like in your head like, oh yeah, I could talk, yeah, I could do that.

Yeah, but it— I never had— because I mean, as much as I went to school for business, it never— I never kind of clicked to say, oh, maybe I could really start my own business, you know? So that gave me that push to look into that direction for, for what I was already creating.

That is so cool. So at this point, you were making all of the things, so you I thought you started off with body care, body line, or was it face?

Yeah, well, I was doing both just for me at home. Pretty much I was doing everything just for me at home. But the first product that I actually listed on Etsy was a body butter and a face— a face butter and a face scrub. So like within those three lines. Gotcha.

So when you decided— so when you decided you were going to do this, like, were you like nervous? Were you excited? Were you like, what am I doing? Like, how do I do this?

I was all those things because now I'm like, first of all, how the heck do I even start a business? Like, there's legal stuff. How do I do that? There was also, I have no idea what I'm doing because I am not making it just for me anymore. I'm pushing it out into the world. And then what happens if it burns somebody's soul? Skin or somebody's allergic to this. And, you know, so it was a lot of, a lot of questioning myself, but I was excited to kind of figure it out and see what it was all about. So, so that kind of helped.

That's good. So did you find that you had like resources to lean on or was this like a trial and error as you went?

So I did have the program to lean on with with the creation and like the formulation and the procedures to follow. So I did have some resources that I could use. That's pretty much what kind of helped me because I haven't been sued yet, thank goodness. So I followed the right procedure. So that kept us safe. That kept us safe. But that part did take a lot of research and testing, more than I was doing before.

Yeah, because that would make sense because it's like going out to the public, it's not going to your friends. It's like, look, like, you can't sue me because you didn't pay for this, so what you suing me for?

But now, like, if they start paying for it, totally makes sense that it's like, all right, yeah, you gotta step it up, you really gotta step it up before you put it out there.

So what made you decide to, to change it? Like, so, like, what made you decide to go from skincare, body care to candles? Like, that's such a— I know they like are in the same realm of things, but I feel like that is such a different lane, right? You go from personal care to like house care.

I don't know. Yeah.

Oh, right.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of like that, but for two main reasons. At the time when I was doing all this making, I was still working a corporate job. And I still had a young daughter. And it was a lot. The ingredients were a lot, the work was a lot, and it was just hard to keep up with. And the other part was the demand for the candles. So we did the show back in Brooklyn where we only had our skincare and our bath and body line. And we had a super, super amazing body wash that we carried. And everybody would come up and ask, "Do you have a candle in this body wash?" They weren't even buying the body wash. They weren't even buying the body wash. I'm like, this is some good stuff. They're like, yeah, but it smells good, but I would prefer to burn it. I'm like, okay.

I'm sorry, that cracks me up because I don't think I ever would have even thought to say that to somebody. Like, yeah, let me tell you, this body scrub needs to be a candle. Like, what?

Yeah, let me tell you, people like— people have no problem saying what they, they want to say. And when you go to these shows, you hear it all, trust me. So, and my husband was with me, um, at that show. So on our way back from Brooklyn, he was like, so everybody wanted candles, huh? Everybody wanted candles. Maybe we should try candles too. I'm like, who's going to make these candles? We're already making like a million products. Who's going to make these candles? But I was Googling it on our way back from the show and I'm like, you know what? We probably should try it. Why not? What are we going to lose? So that very night we purchased a candle making kit on Amazon and came in like 2 days and we were testing candles. So we tested it for a while and trust me, it wasn't an an easy kind of transition because candles, they look simple, but they take a whole lot.

They are not simple.

Let me tell you.

They're not simple at all.

We were testing. I mean, at one point we found the look that we wanted. That was easy. But then it was, okay, what wax are you going to use? What wick goes with this wax? What oils are you going to use? And it was a hot mess for the first couple of months. I'm like, well, this is way harder than I expected.

Yeah.

But after a lot of testing and trial and error, we kind of finally nailed it down to what scent throw we liked and to the, you know, the wax and the wicks that we were using.

Because that's really the thing, right? Like when you're DIYing this, like last year was the first time I made my own essential oils candles and I was so proud of myself. But then I was like, I don't smell a dang thing. Like, and not only that, I was mad because I had used so much essential oils. I was like, I don't understand, how is this not throwing any smell? Nope. And so, you know, that was, you know, that's one of those moments where you're like, yeah, that's why I'm just gonna buy it from somebody that makes it with the right ingredients, of course, because if you're worried about toxins and stuff like that, which you should be, people.

Yes, absolutely.

You know, yeah, so interesting.

Yeah, it took a lot, but we finally nailed it. And when we finally introduced it to our audience, they were loving it. And say, probably fast forward to a year after, that's kind of all we were selling.

Wow.

So I was at the crossroad where I was still at my day job. I was still working corporate full-time.

Were you doing full-time, like 40 hours?

Oh yeah, I was doing full-time and mom and mom and, and, and I would work at night. I would come home and like make stuff at night or on the weekends. It was, it was non-stop, but I was having a grand time because I love making the stuff. So I would come home, get my family together, do family time, and then once they're off to bed, I would head down to the basement and I was whipping away. I was whipping away.

That is amazing.

So we did that, but after they really took on to the candles and candles were all that we were doing, so I had to give one up. So now while I make, you know, my own products at home, I no longer carry the bath and body and skincare line. We're only focusing on the candles right now, but I've been getting a lot of knocks on the door to bring them back. So we're looking into it as long as we can, you know, have enough people here to cover all the things that we're doing. But I'm not really rushing into the finals of it yet. But it's on our radar to bring it back.

Well, first, I think it's just like amazing that you were able to like, one, formulate that because I can't— I mean, I know how it is like for a business that's not making a product, like just from an offer, like from a— I'm a coach. So for me, just trying to formulate, okay, what is the transformation that I am actually selling, if you will, for someone, that takes a lot of like time and words and you're pivoting, you're changing this, you're saying this, you're doing this. Your audience is saying this to you and you're like, oh, I thought you were going to get this, but you got that. You know, it's kind of like that. And I think you are expressing that too, as well as like a product, you know, just having that like, okay, but I really love doing this, but my, my audience is saying they love and they want this.

It's a lot of that. There's a lot of that that happens, you know.

Did you feel like it was like you were like abandoning a part of like what you love to do when you like switched over into the candles?

Absolutely. And I mean, financially, I know, or I knew I should have jumped to the other side way before I did, but I just couldn't let it go because it's, it's what got me started. It's what I had so much fun creating.

And now you're telling me you want candles, the thing that took forever to figure out.

Yeah, now you want candles inside. So I really had a difficult time parting ways with it. But I wasn't able to keep up and do both. So I had a coach who sat me down and she said, you know what, look at your numbers. What is working for you? What is it that's working for you? And I mean, I did enjoy making candles too, but it wasn't like, it wasn't my baby at the time, you know? So—

It wasn't the thing that you started off thinking you were going to be doing.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, but it has been good and the good part is I feel like we're still able to offer that comfort or that peace of mind or that aspect of self-care to our customers through these candles. So that settles my mind with that. That helps me out.

That's really— I love to hear you say that because I do think as I don't know. I don't think men have this issue too much. Like, no, I don't think they— like, I don't think they get that attached to their creations, if you will. I think it's a woman thing that we all kind of deal with. And especially if, you know, if— if— yeah, that's a— that's a whole— I'm not even gonna go there. I'm not even gonna go there. But for you, when you finally made that choice, so when you finally made the choice to go to like Candles, did you also see that the demand was enough that you could leave your full-time job? Like, when was that pivot of being like, you know what, this is going to be our thing? Like, this is going to be our family business?

Well, I actually, honestly, I actually never— I knew, I knew I wanted to leave my full-time job. That was no question. It was just a matter of when can I afford to leave it, right? And I was, I was blessed in 2018 when my company, they were relocating, and I got the option of, do you want to, you know, leave, or do you want to be relocated to Florida? And I'm like, uh-uh, you ain't getting me to go to Florida, no. So that, that was my way out, and they helped to push me towards, you know, working harder to my goals and what I wanted to do. So it wasn't easy, but my husband still had a full-time job at the time, so I— we still had that income while I figured out what I was doing in my basement. Yeah, so I pretty much just worked on the business and did as much as I could, whether it be marketing, doing pop-up shops. We did a lot of shows, so that really helped to kind of put our names out there and, and bring money in because you need that. Yeah, so that really helped.

So what was the time frame? So I, I always like to like have this cut, like have people share this because I feel like if you're just starting, especially with products, I think when you start off with products you think, oh, you just need to find that one crowd and it just happens. And it's like, nah baby, like, no baby, that's not how that works. So how long, especially once you did the change with the candles? Because that's a completely different audience that probably was larger than where you were serving. Like, how long did you feel like it took you to finally get consistent sales?

Sales?

I think up until even last year, we weren't having extremely consistent sales. There were weeks I've gone without any sales. And I remember I was in a mastermind And I would go in some weeks and I would just look like I got hit by a truck. They were like, "What's wrong with you?" I'm like, "I'm not making any sales. Everybody loves it, but there are no sales." But it took a lot of those weeks to kind of— that I used to build, because most of the work happens behind the scenes. Most of the work work is you finding your customers out there wherever they are, whether it be social media. It's in the marketing. It's you trying to, you know, pitch yourself to whether it's press or however you can get your name out there. It's you building your SEO on that website so people can find you. So I did a whole lot of that, and I feel like that's kind of what set me up for the traffic when it did come. So it's For me, it was nowhere near overnight, nowhere near it.

There's something you just said that I get goosebumps like a crazy person these days. I am so emotional. Like, I don't even know. Like, I was just telling this to my husband. I'm like, I love the work that I've done on myself, but man, I could use without being like crying and getting emotional about stuff. There's something you just said that I think is like— I think people need to say it more. It takes time to find your people, like the people that are your people that are going to tell their people that you're their people, right? And I think also the other part of that is the work. Like we always dismiss the work that we're doing before we see like the results, right? I feel like this could be an island thing or something. Like my grandmother used to say, you can work and work and you can dig, but sometimes you don't see the results of your fruitage until years later, right? And so I think we have— and I think it's just because of social media and everything. We think everything just happens like that. But for any business, it just takes time. And I think that's what you're saying. Like, yeah, I felt like I was failing. But when it got to that point where I saw— I was starting to see what I needed to see, I had done all the work.

It makes sense at that point.

You were able to stand it up, right?

Yeah, at that point it makes sense. So when someone say right now to you like, oh my God, you're so big, or you're so popular, or you're famous, or you're making all these sales, and they probably just found you at that point in your journey. But they could care less. Like, this is it. This is how you got here. I'm like, yeah, no, no, honey, not at all.

She's like, no, no, baby, uh-uh, I'm sorry, sweetie.

Yeah.

Were there any times while you were going through this where you were like, should I just do this for— just stop? Should I just quit? Should I just— or was this like, no, I'm going to keep going?

Yeah, I never felt like quitting. I never felt like quitting. I had a really bad period. That point where I, I felt like I was actually literally depressed, as if nothing's happening. I've done everything that I know how to do, but nothing's happening. And I felt like I shut down at that point, but I was able to somehow get out of it and, and continue. I've taken— I don't think I've taken breaks. I've just tried everything. Like, you could recommend this one thing to me, girl, try I'mma try it. Something— because in the back of my mind, I love doing this, so something has to work. So I don't know. I just keep going. I keep going.

I love—

oh, that's going to be a quotable right there. It's something— I love doing this, and I know something is going to work. Like, there wasn't a question. It's just like, what is it?

Yeah, yeah. Something had to happen. Something had to happen. So throughout, determined to make it happen.

I love that. I, I totally love that. And I think sometimes a lot of us get lost in the, like, it's not happening right now. Like, it's like we get stuck in that.

Yeah.

So were there any things, like, from a, like, personal development place? Because I know you mentioned, like, you were in a mastermind, and it's like, like, were there things that you feel like helped you to really keep you going even like in that like, like pulling you out, like to kind of keep you like, okay, I just have to keep being consistent. I just have to keep going. Were there things that helped you that you invested in for yourself even though it might have felt like, yeah, I ain't got no money for that, but I gotta do it?

My mastermind helps a lot. It helped a lot. My family also helped a lot. They know how hard I go and they could tell when something's up with me because I'll just shut down. But they're always, you know, trying to rally around me, trying to have me do stuff that will kind of take my mind off of work for a little bit. But so that has been help. I really do have a strong support system here. And yeah, my mastermind has been like my number one go-to. Like, if I am— whatever question I had, that's where I went. And I also had this, this book that also kind of have like a worksheet and reminders and stuff like that that I've used. So that, you know, those were kind of my— always my go-to whenever I felt like it wasn't happening.

So what or who inspires you?

I pull inspiration from a lot of weird places. So my family and my kids inspire me a lot. 'Cause at the end of the day, I'm not just doing what I'm doing now for me, but it's for them. I have to leave something for them. So I get a lot of inspiration from my family and my kids. And also dancehall music inspires me a lot. It's weird.

Dancehall music?

Yes. I feel like it's— how do I put it? I don't know if it's the way they kind of— the way they work or the structure of the business and like collabs that they do. I see, I'll see artists sometimes do some collabs and I'm like, okay, maybe that could be a candle collab of some sort.

I don't know.

My brain works in weird ways, but music inspires me a lot. My family and also I have like two Instagram accounts that I follow a lot that I do get a lot of, say, encouragement from and inspiration. So that kind of keeps me going. So yeah, the weirdness.

You know, I keep telling— I'm like, I know you might say— like, saying out loud to you might feel weird, but someone else is probably listening to me like, I thought I was the only one. Like, I thought I was the only one.

So I love it. It just makes me want to create stuff right now.

I feel that way about music. I love music. Like, music just, man, like music is just awesome, right? It's just, it's the thing. I feel like it's, it's a gift from God for sure. Like music is just something that automatically makes people feel good and elevated and excited. And so I think definitely I do not feel like that's weird. I think it's like, oh, I want, like, I'm actually more curious. I'm like, okay, what kind of inspiration is making you think of a candle?

Like My life also, and the whole journey too, helps me with like the creation of candles. Say for instance, I have a quotes collection and it's very much based on like my feelings and how I was feeling during whatever I was kind of doing in a particular day. And I tell people all the time, I'm like, it is what it is. That's how I felt. People think you always have it together. I'm like, that's not how it works. That is not how it works. So some of the quotes in, in the, in the candle line is like, one is like, get shit done. As girl bosses, you know, sometimes we feel like we're gonna get it all done, right? Another one is, I have no idea what I'm doing. Another one, uh, currently overthinking. So it's just things that I feel like I've I've been there, I've done that. And it's funny to me. It's funny to me. So I don't take myself too serious.

So hey, I think that's the best advice that we all can take as entrepreneurs is like, because we don't— this is the thing, right? People think that you get to a certain place like you just somehow have known, you know everything. And I'm like, the beautiful thing that I have learned just having this podcast is that I've had women who are just starting to women who are like in the top 2% of their industry of whatever, and they're like, I don't know, I'm just figuring this out. And you're like sitting on the— I'll be on the, on the, you know, on the camera like, yeah, we all just figuring it out, right?

That's all we're doing. And some days you hit it, some days you don't. Yeah, you know, but hey, on to the next one. Yeah.

So I have one question for you, like Fun question. What is the most fun part of your day while you're working with your family? Because I know you love making stuff. So like, we already know that. But like, with your family.

Oh, they're a wild bunch. So my mom heads up our production team. And so, and she and her along with one of her friends and my cousin and my husband also kind of helped them out in that area. One day, so with our quotes collection, my— and it's just crazy and funny to me, the conversations that I'll just walk in on and I'm like, what is going on here? So they were pouring, and I think it was— oh, I Have No Idea What I'm Doing, that's the candle they were pouring. So my mom's pouring, and Miss Sherry is the lady that labels for us. So she's asking her, "Tamar, what is this?" Because it didn't have the label at the time, so she wanted to know what candle had she poured. So my mom goes, "I have no idea." She's like, "How you mean you don't have no idea if you're pouring it?" So my mom said, "I have no idea." So I walked in on like the second 'I have no idea' and figured out what was going on, and I'm dying. And she's still trying to figure out what scent it is, and my mom keeps saying 'I have no idea.' So I'm like, no, she's pouring the candle that says 'I have no idea.' That's the link. That's the label. And it was just wild. Everybody was cracking up. Oh my God, my team.

Oh, I, I love that. Oh my goodness.

It's true. If, if we were able to capture some of the things that kind of goes on behind the scenes back here, it would— they could make a movie.

I was gonna say, that sounds like that would be a good movie, a good YouTube channel. Like, it would be a good IGTV stories. Like, oh no, it would be a good Facebook series, right? It totally would be.

I'm like, oh my goodness. I'm like, somebody couldn't have captured this moment. And when she finally realized what was going on, she was dying. She's like, all this time, all this time. But it was funny. So just, just the, the conversations that I had and, and everyone kind of helping everyone else out on the floor. It's not like, oh, I'm pouring candles, I can't make a box. It's the whole community and the drive that we have that I really enjoy. I wouldn't have changed it for anything else.

That's like refreshing to hear because working with family, I know, has its ups and downs. But I think it's beautiful if you can actually sustainably do that, right? Yeah. Because not everybody can sustainably do that.

No, no.— it doesn't always work out. But the good thing is we've always been— thankfully, we've always been very close. So it's really— and we've been home together a lot. So it's just like, OK, I guess we're going to go to work together now too. Yeah, yeah. So it's been good.

So I did want to— I said one question. I did want to ask a question. So obviously, in 2020, COVID happened.

Yeah.

So how did the face of your business, like, shift and change? Like, was there anything that you're like, oh goodness, I'm so glad we were doing this before, you know, now? Or the fact that you guys are a family working together, were there some things or pivots you had to do in order to— because you're supporting a whole family, a whole community, so I can imagine the stress of that.

So yeah, so up until— when was that, like June of last year, like the mid of COVID was when our business finally got, I felt like, that big break. That's when we got really hit. We thought that's when people started to see us. I mean, we've been on Instagram forever, but that's when we started getting a lot of eyeballs with the Black Lives Matter movement and just everything that was happening. We literally blew up in June of last year. And at that point, we were still working out of my home. It was the— We had a room in the house that I used for my office, my basement, my entire basement, and actually, and also my garage that we used for the production of the candles. So yeah, so around mid-June, I was out there and we were— we've never poured like that before. Because usually it would just be me, you know, trying to do everything by myself. My parents would help me out if I— and my husband, if we had extra stuff that I needed help with. But at that point, they really had to step in and they were pouring and they were helping me just get stuff out to a point where we had to— or like our first pallet of jars and wax, this huge trailer just pulled up to the— in our street and hauled it into our garage. So my mom goes, "Where are you gonna put these?" I'm like, "I don't know." I don't know. So it was literally COVID and all that was happening that pushed us out of the garage into where we are now, to our new studio space.

Wow. Yeah. Yeah, talk about—

It changed everything for us.

You know, here I go getting goosebumps again. I have heard a lot of those stories. Like, I've heard a lot of people say— and I experienced the same thing. Last year was my best year in my business ever.

Yeah.

And I mean, and I've been coaching for 8 years and I've been in the online space like ever, like ever, ever, like before, even like before coaching Nikita Williams, like ever, ever. And I was telling my husband, I was like, man, that is some crazy stuff. And for you to be able to kind of like manage that because you kind of set up your foundation to be stable enough for you to do that, like that's a really big I don't think people appreciate how important that is, right? Because we hear a lot of people who get success like that and they're like, mm-hmm, I can't sustain it and then I'm done. Like the business is closed, it goes down. And so I do think there were more of a lot of those stories where a lot of people saw that kind of shift in their life and their business. Their life might have felt like it was falling apart. And obviously a lot of us had a hard time last year, but I feel like a lot of businesses felt like they learned a lot, or they pivoted a lot. They did things that they said, I would never do, and then they did it, and they're like, why did I say I would never do that?

What happened there?

What happened, right? So I, I really appreciate you sharing that because I do think we all sometimes need to be woke, right? The lack of better words.

Absolutely, absolutely. And nothing happens. My grandmother always tell me nothing happens before the time because I don't know if I would have been able to handle it the way I did last year if it had happened before. So yeah, patience is really a virtue at the end of the day. Don't feel like it when you're going through it.

Yes, I feel you on that. True. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for coming on. It's been a pleasure.

Thank you.

Tell us where we can find you online in all the places.

You can find me on my website. It is naturalannieessentials.com. I'm also on Instagram. I'm on Instagram a lot, @naturalannieessentials, where I share a lot of the behind the scenes, the crazy things that's happening in our studio, the fun stuff. So yeah, Instagram. I'm also on Facebook at naturalannieessentials.com. Awesome.

All right, ladies, that's a wrap. I so enjoyed this conversation with Annie, and I am so thankful to The Handmade Seller Magazine for giving us this amazing collaboration series so that I get to meet even more women that are killing the game and doing what they love and crafting a life that they love. If you want to know and connect with her outside of this podcast, you definitely want to go to our website, As She's Crafted, to check out our show notes because she's given us a little gift. A coupon code for 10% off of anything inside of Natural Annie Essentials. So in the meantime, like always, my friends and ladies, remember that yes, you are crafted to thrive.