Turning a hobby into a local business
2020 has not been the most successful year for many of us – lots of people have lost their jobs, most of the businesses had to start working online to avoid bankruptcy. However, there are some people who found 2020 both challenging and exciting as they have decided to try something new and turn their hobby into a serious online business.
Meet Weronika and Camilla – undergraduate students from Poland. Last year, when the pandemic has forced them to change their lifestyles to remote, those two motivated students decided to try something new and turn their love of books and movies into a small business. Both Weronika and Camilla admitted, that they were not so happy with the way life was playing out, they were both struggling to find a job during the virus outbreak and that is why they decided to start a business to avoid getting lost in a day-to-day routine, where everything was the same. Weronika said: “We found a video on YouTube where people were making their own scented candles and we felt inspired to try to make something on our own.”
It is not a surprise that starting a new business can become a real challenge, especially where the competition in the market is really big. “It was a really long process to come up with the idea of how to make our products stand out. We wanted to offer something special. Personally, we are in many fandoms, including k-pop fans and Potterheads [fans of Harry Potter books]. And we thought it would be a great idea to name our candles after something we are interested in, so musicians, books, movies.” So far, the girls came up with seven 235 ml scented candles inspired by a Korean boyband, BTS, and Harry Potter novels.
What makes Świeczuszkowo candles so special? The girls make bio candles, using soy wax and eco-friendly additional ingredients, including essential oils. The aim of each candle from the Harry Potter range is to take you to the wizarding world just as you were a Harry Potter character. You can choose from four different candles, including the bestseller “Butterbeer” with a scent of roasted caramel, gingerbread, and chocolate.
When it comes to the BTS range, there are 3 candles to choose from, all of them named after BTS songs from their newest album, BE. Their aim is to make you feel like you were taking a part in a boyband’s music videos. One of them is a dark green candle called “Dynamite”. The girls describe this one as an energetic candle with an intensive scent of pomegranate and green tea. Also, for every order, the girls add some extra gifts, including stickers and sweets. What also makes them stand out in this market is the fact, that clients can contact Świeczuszkowo and create their own scented candles, by choosing different essential oils, scents, and colours of the candle.
Nowadays, where many people are stuck at home and use social media platforms more often, the girls decided to sell their products using Facebook and Instagram business pages, Świeczuszkowo, where clients can see a photo of each candle along with the ingredients list. “Unfortunately, we did not have that much budget to start a professional website, but I think we proved that if you are passionate about what you do and motivated to work towards developing your business, you do not have to have a website”, admitted Camilla.
When asked about how the pandemic influenced their lives, the girls answered: “It all went so quickly – everything was closed and for us, as students, it was almost impossible to find a good job and earn enough to survive life at university and still be able to self-care and work on our mental health. But we finally came up with the idea of making our own business. In this case, I think the pandemic helped us a lot – the world slowed down and we had way more time to think about every aspect of running a business carefully at home.”
For now, Świeczuszkowo does not ship the products internationally. They also had to stop the distribution of the candles because of graduating from university. You can still visit both their Facebook and Instagram pages here:
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