One year ago, Jennifer Eakley decided to craft her passion for making candles into a full-time business, and she has experienced nothing but success.
“Starting a candle company during the middle of the pandemic has been quite the experience,” Eakley chuckled.
The 43-year-old started her business, Jennifer Lee Candle Co. last October after developing what she calls a "candle addiction."
“It started with me making candles for myself, and then I started passing along some of my products to friends, and it kind of kept building from there," she explained..
Eakley sets up her display every Saturday morning at the Orillia Farmers' Market where she sells candles, scented wax, cards and bookmarks.
“I’m just a candle worm who threw myself into the fire. I studied, learned about wax, and it keeps on spiraling,” she said.
For Eakley, mastering a wax, candle, scent, or a wick is like a chef perfecting a recipe.
“I have to have the ratios perfect," she explained, noting the temperature has to be just right or you won't create a good candle.
“People think you just melt some wax, throw some scent into it, and there you go. But that couldn’t be further from the truth," she said. "It actually takes a lot of skill. It can also be a very expensive hobby to get into because you are going to make a million mistakes.”
Eakley has become obsessed with getting to know every in and out of the candle industry, saying it’s a puzzle-like challenge for her.
On top of her new business, Eakley works the night shift, full-time, at a local hotel.
“It can be challenging working full-time and trying to run a whole company where I do literally everything from making the product to packaging the product, and even marketing the product,” she said.
“It’s a lot, and this has been a very eye-opening experience for me. However, I’m a nerd at heart and for me, it’s been fun.”
Another challenge Eakley faces on a daily basis is social anxiety, which she feels her passion for candles helps with.
“At first, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to interact with people and deliver good customer service. But my candle company has given me more confidence, and now I’m someone who is on Instagram and TikTok. I never in a million years even thought that was something I could even dream of doing,” she said.
The biggest key to Eakley’s early success has been the Orillia Farmers' Market.
“I have honestly built up quite a little following. I have people show up every single week that ask me what I have that’s new, and they buy every single week,” she said.
“There is a great sense of community at the market, the vendors and organizers are so supportive and helpful," Eakley says of the popular weekly market adjacent to the Orillia Public Library.
"I could be spending more time making online sales, but every opportunity that I have I try to get people to come see me at the market instead because it brings more people to the other vendors," she said.
Eakley says Jennifer Lee Candle Co. wouldn’t be possible without the help she receives from her three daughters and her husband.
“They all pitch in, they all help. I always have one of them with me at the market every weekend, and my husband hauls all the boxes,” she explained.
“It’s become a family business that has brought us all closer together. It’s a fun thing that we are all getting really into.”
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