Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh

From Million-Mile Executive to Candle Entrepreneur featuring Sherry Owens-Thompson

• Grant McGaugh CEO 5 STAR BDM • Season 3 • Episode 34

Share episode

Send us a text

What happens when a million-mile corporate traveler trades global supply chains for hand-poured candles? Sherry Owens-Thompson's remarkable transformation from retail VP to founder of Wild Orchid Candle Company reveals how decades of strategic business experience can ignite an entrepreneurial flame.

After years of feeling like "just another asset" in corporate America, Sherry embraced her passion for candle-making—discovering that creating the perfect candle requires a delicate dance between science and art. She explains the crucial differences between mass-market candles that burn black, sooty smoke and her premium, sustainable creations using coconut, apricot, and soy waxes that burn cleaner and last longer. 

Beyond building a thriving business with impressive customer retention, Sherry's story illuminates how entrepreneurship enables purpose-driven work. Through her WOW Academy, she brings STEAM education to young people, teaching emotional regulation and mindfulness alongside candle science. Her private labeling services help fellow small businesses create memorable branded products that outlast traditional promotional items.

The conversation delves into the intersection of business strategy and social impact, offering practical wisdom for anyone considering their entrepreneurial journey. As Sherry says, "You truly are the master of your own destiny," emphasizing the importance of surrounding yourself with people who help you level up rather than hold you back.

Ready to explore how your skills might fuel an unexpected business opportunity? Visit wildorchidcandles.com to discover how science, sustainability, and strategy come together in perfect harmony.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!

Speaker 2:

I am black business, from the moment I wake until the time I sleep. Yes, I am black business, I am black business. Tell me, are you black business? I am black business. Tell me, are you black business? I am black business. Do you support black businesses? Listen, I support black business because I am black business. Black Business Expo One of the largest business showcases in the history of black business in the world, the world. Sign up today at wwwblackbusinessexpousacom or call 919-308-9090. I am Black Business.

Speaker 1:

Hello, hello, hello everyone and welcome to the Black Business Network. My name is Grant McGaugh, ceo of Five Star BDM and host of the award-winning Follow Brand podcast and TV series, and I am your business moderator for this session on the Black Business Network. The Black Business Network is a 24-hour business network showcasing Black businesses, business owners, entrepreneurs and thought leaders worldwide, and we have speakers from North Carolina, london, singapore, africa, japan and cities all over the United States. The Black Business Network is a global community sharing business knowledge to empower, inspire and educate businesses about business, and with me today is Sherry Owens-Thompson.

Speaker 1:

She is a dynamic product development leader, global sourcing expert and founder of Wild Orchid Candle Company LLC. And with a proven track record in retail strategy and supply chain optimization. She has led global sourcing and private label programs for top brands, while championing cost efficiency and innovation. And, through Wild Orchid and the Wow Academy, sherry merges scent science and mindfulness to create STEAM that's S-T-E-A-M STEAM-based learning experiences for youth. And Sherry thrives at the intersection of strategy and social impact, whether building scalable product ecosystems or designing programs to foster emotional intelligence. And her leadership reflects a deep commitment to innovation, education and purpose-driven growth. And she is empowering our next generation as she supports our community through organizations like Dress for Success, pace Center for Girls and a lot of different local schools, so I'd like to bring her to the stage. Ms Sherry Owen Thompson, how are you today?

Speaker 3:

Good morning Grant. How are you?

Speaker 1:

You know I'm doing wonderful. It's always good to see you. You are a good friend of mine. I've known you for I'm not even going to say how many years, but it's been maybe a couple of decades or so. But I'm very proud of you and how you've made so many successful pivots in your own life. And we're going to talk about some of those pivots because each pivot for you has had a purpose. So, as we talk about pivot and purpose, I want to know why you walked away from your corporate success to go on this entrepreneurial journey.

Speaker 3:

Oftentimes I think about that myself, you know, but I think the main reason that I decided to well, the opportunity presented itself. Actually, I mean, I've been in corporate America from the day that I graduated college. I was out of school for maybe less than 30 days. I moved to South Florida and I have been working ever since. And so throughout that time period I'm not going to throw any dates in right Because I don't want to date myself, but it was quite a long time period. I'm not going to throw any dates in right Because I don't want to date myself, but it was quite a long time ago and I was able to really successfully build my career.

Speaker 3:

And it's interesting how things kind of fell into place, you know, selecting a major and then really not knowing whether or not that major would take me to where I ultimately ended up, and there was definitely divine intervention from God because everything worked itself out. And after so many years of travel, I think I was a million miler on every airline. I was always out of the country. I have, as you know, two adult children and I missed a lot of quality time with them because I was always gone. You know, I was traveling wherever and after watching what was happening in corporate America, where, in the beginning, companies used to have training programs and you really felt like the organization was invested in the employee.

Speaker 3:

You just weren't an asset, you know, and by the time I decided to make this transition, I felt as if I might as well have been a file cabinet, because I was another asset and you could be easily replaced and the work just wasn't enjoyable anymore you know, I truly enjoy interacting with people, being strategic, making really competent decisions, and near the end, I just felt that the organization that I was with at that time we were just making knee-jerk reactions to what was happening in the marketplace, and it was time for me to transition, and so the opportunity presented itself to take a package, and I took the package happily, and I used that time and money to invest in my entrepreneurial dreams.

Speaker 1:

This is wonderful. I want the audience to understand. In the corporate world you had ascended to a VP level. Yes, from. You came from Wisconsin down to South Florida. I mean you're traveling all over the world in the retail space, supply chain space. You had a very, very successful career for a number of years and now you can focus on your passion. The kids are in school. Out of school, you're like you know what it's sharing time. That's what I got, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Oh, most again, most definitely. That's what I get. Yeah, oh, most again, most definitely. You know, when you're building your career, you really sometimes you don't know what path opportunities may take you down, but I was able to really. You know, I started off in retail buying, so I had an opportunity to really understand the supply chain from the purchaser's perspective. When I left retail buying, I segued into product development and global sourcing, and so I saw it from the manufacturer's side. While I was doing that, I was also selling back to retailers, being an interface between the retailers and the factories themselves, and that really gave me a really unique perspective on the whole.

Speaker 3:

People talk about supply chain is a big thing now. People didn't really think about it until COVID. You know people would naturally just assume that when retailers buy byproduct it just shows up on the shelf. It's a very intricate process from beginning to end, and so is the product development process, and so my career really allowed me to see all these different segments, and as I ascended I developed stronger skill sets. I was able to become much more strategic and really show empathy within the workplace, because, having been on both the buying side and the supply side, I could feel for both of those entities and oftentimes in organizations. If you're only on the buying side, you don't care about the supplier, you just want your product here now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And you're not going to pay any more for it, right, and I was able to really experience that and I think it. I felt that it really allowed me to better understand both sides and to serve both of those customers better, you know.

Speaker 1:

Well, you did that and then now you said I'm going to take that knowledge and that experience and that skill set and put it into wild orgy. And you've been doing this for a little bit. I want you to explain to the clients, potential clients, potential customers, our audience, about what is wild orgy. What is that all about? Why did you?

Speaker 3:

decide to do that what is that all about? Why did you decide to do that? Okay, so, while working candle company started initially, like most people, as a hobbyist, right? Um, my son one year, like over five years ago, uh, gifted me a candle making set. Because I'm the ultimate diy, there's not a project I won't take on, right, and I love candles. My husband loves candles, he just perfumes all of that. And I said to myself, well, how hard can this be to make a candle, right? You know all these candles in the stores and I think for a good year I made the most horrific candles because they would not burn. They smell good but they wouldn't burn. And I came to realize that there's a fine science that goes behind the actual making of a candle, you know. And so I really kind of leaned into that because, even though I was working in business, my background academically also was science. I was designing science, you designing science and marketing. I decided you know what?

Speaker 2:

I can monetize this as opposed to just making candles and giving them all the way.

Speaker 3:

Let's see if I can do something with this. Everybody in the late 2000s had a side hustle. I was still working my corporate job when I would come home extremely stressed, things like that. I would come home extremely stressed, you know things like that. I would just say, okay, I'm going to make a candle, it smells good, it's relaxing and it really allowed me to focus. It's almost like cooking. You know all the right ingredients to make the perfect candle.

Speaker 3:

And once I set up the business structure and I got serious about it you know, because with my background in business, I understand everything that's involved the marketing, the supply chain, just really being strategic about who my customers are going to be and so basically I made a roadmap for myself, but I still have that as part of my business plan and it's a graphic where I kind of drew on a scrap piece of paper all my various stages of what I was going to get into, and over the past five years I've experimented with that as well.

Speaker 3:

I started off online. I still have an online presence. My background was in product development and private label, so I definitely wanted to be able to offer small businesses who wanted to extend their brand into home accessories such as candles, and so I have a lot of clients that are real estate brokers, other small businesses, online clothing stores that I make their candles for them under their brand, and so it allowed me to really draw on all of my experience and it's just been extremely rewarding. You know, being able to basically bet on myself. You know, because, as you know, being an entrepreneur, it's not, it's not easy. You wear all of the hats. You know because, as you know, being an entrepreneur, it's not, it's not easy.

Speaker 3:

You wear all of the hats you know, and the biggest struggle is being able to prioritize. What am I going to work on today? What one thing will make me feel successful today? That one day it may be getting my state taxes filed, you know, the next day it may be writing up a proposal for a customer, and so I've been extremely disciplined in how I approach this. But the thing that I love the most is that if I want to try out an idea and I decide to pivot, I can do that with little objection. You know so, but I really really enjoy that.

Speaker 3:

So, while Oregon has really allowed me to become a good corporate citizen, in that, I truly believe in giving back to the community in which you serve, and so for many years you probably remember this when my children were young I was a Girl Scout leader for over 10 years, and being able to work with young women and young girls has always been a true passion of mine, being able to be a role model and to share with them, because in this world, particularly the social media, age is not easy. It's not easy for kids in general to really make their way, and so through my candle program, I'm really able to share with them. I do this particular exercise that's called. For adults it's called Wiccan Sip and for children it's breathe and it's a moment to share with them the art of candle making. But I teach them about families, how it plays an important role in your emotion being able to emotionally regulate yourself.

Speaker 3:

And it works really well because by the time the girls work their way through the session, really well, because by the time the girls work their way through the session, they've already identified, you know, what scents bring back happy memories, what scents trigger them, and they're able to really experience mindfulness Once you've made that candle. I encourage them to journal. You know, create a ritual. When you're feeling a little stressed and you want to detach, get your journal out. You write about your feelings, you write about a moment of gratitude, you use your candle to kind of set, you know. So I teach them these various techniques, you know, and and I've been able to do that because I decided I wanted to have a program that specifically geared itself toward young people so that they can get off the electronic devices and make something with their hands, and it's been very rewarding. I'm very happy with that program.

Speaker 1:

Well, is that part of your WOW Academy, because I know you go out to school and I really love this about you that you get involved, you make yourself visible to especially young people so they can see you, they can touch you and they're like, hey, okay, she was operating in this business environment. Now she's, you know, obviously she can help me as well on my journey, as you said, I think it is as a look back. I think it's harder for this next generation to get their footing and find out where they can because it's so expensive, you know it's just so expensive.

Speaker 1:

I remember I couldn't wait to go out and get me a car, get you an apartment and just let and I think the a basic job. You know you didn't have to have some you know ridiculous job in order to just have basic life, um, uh, um, things that that that you, we take for granted. I have a place to live and a place to work and a place to drive. All these things are just super expensive. And then how do you, how do you, attain these types of things? And then you're showing them.

Speaker 1:

Hey, if you can be creative and you can be creative in your zone of genius and what you're passionate about you can start making your own way and not be so dependent on what someone else is willing to pay you. That's one thing I learned in life. Company is only going to pay you as much as they can afford to pay you. Where's one thing I learned in life A company is only going to pay you as much as they can afford to pay you, where you can then develop your own creativity and afford to pay yourself as much as possible in the market that you're penetrating.

Speaker 1:

Talk to us about some of those community services that you do, that you get out there and do this and get these kids involved and really get their creativity working.

Speaker 3:

Yeah Well, thank God that I was blessed with a lot of energy. So I'm very energetic and you know, even when I was working, when I was a VP and I was working, you know, basically out of the country all the time.

Speaker 3:

I still had my growth out troop, you know I was. I would be in Hong Kong and get a call right and I would still manage it. And so being able to manage multiple activities is just something that I do right Family activities, et cetera. And so with the WOW Academy and WOW, the WOW Academy and WOW Orchid, I've been able to. I have a seat on the board of Pace Center for Girls, West Palm Beach, and Pace is an alternative school for girls that are at risk and I hate using the word at risk because there's opportunity for them if they are given the resources to get them back on track. Oftentimes the young ladies that attend that school, they've been subjected to various types of abuses, et cetera, and they're funded by the Department of Juvenile Justice to keep the kids out of the system. And so I got involved with them. When I was working my corporate job, I was the lead on my ARG as a community investment person, and once I left I was asked to join the board and I jumped at the opportunity because I really got to get behind the scenes and see what was going on and how I could really assist this organization, and so one of the big responsibilities of being on the board is fiduciary, you know, being able to help raise funds. And so if you see me out there promoting Pace Center for Girls, all of our various activities that we have, we have two big fundraisers during the year. I'm out there and I'm selling tickets for tables and things like that. But I love being able to see the success stories of the young ladies that are in the program. Some of these girls come in, they're like almost nonverbal sometimes, and by the time they leave Pace's program they're at the top of their class, they're graduating, they're going to college, you know. So it's worth that, because you never really know what type of interaction you'll have with particularly a young person and you plan a seat, you know. So I love doing that. Um, then I am a vendor partner with Park Lakes Elementary School, which is located in Lauderhill, and I participate in fundraisers for them as well as various activities they have at school. I go, I read books during the national book reading. I'll go and I'll read to some of the you know, the younger students. It's just great.

Speaker 3:

I just love being involved, because even when my kids were in school. I was involved and I think it's just important that you know, with all the blessings that I've had in my life, that I'd be able to share whatever that is. You know, and I remember when my kids were in school, particularly my daughter, her little friends in school couldn't wait for me to show up. They always knew I had little treats, little goodies for them, you know. But I just think it's important to be able to show kids that you know, yes, you can work, you can have a successful career and you can have a family and you can be involved in your community. You know, there's so many ways. Some people decide to go the political route. I'm not so much political in that regard, but I do believe in support you know, and being able to give of my time.

Speaker 3:

I'm involved in my church as well, so I try to stay present, relevant and just show people that I genuinely care, you know, and it just it fills me, keeps me calm.

Speaker 1:

No, and I appreciate that. It's the giving back and I encourage a lot of people. Sometimes you know, you realize the skill sets that you and through experience that you've acquired, that are valuable to somebody else. Right, you know, because they're going along that journey so you can share. You said something earlier. See, there's STEM, science, technology. What does the E stand for? Again, Engineering.

Speaker 1:

Engineering and math right, that's your S and you have a science background. I didn't even know that. Now you share that with me, like, oh wow, she's a science program, but then there's steam, which is science, technology, engineering, art, arts right, yeah, and you do both of those right, yeah, yeah, because with the, with the candle, I'll just give a quick lesson.

Speaker 3:

So candles may seem like a very benign item. It's wax in a jar, right? Well, there's various types of waxes I tend to use. I'm a tree hugger. I tend to use sustainable type waxes, not paraffin, which is a petroleum distillate. I use coconut, apricot, soy, and then you have the vessels. You have the vessel, you have the wax, you have the fragrance and you have the wick. It could be wooden or it could be a. The wooden is the burning wooden wicks that crack a little piece of slender wood, or the cotton wicks. And so in order for a candle to burn perfectly, there's a dance between all four of those, and for every candle that you make it has to be tested the fragrance ratio, the size of the vessel. And so, with the kids, I break that down to them. And so in the program that I developed, I based the curriculum, the field trip, on the national and the state standards for the math and science of that particular grade level. So the kids are actually learning, even though they're having fun.

Speaker 3:

So the kids are actually learning, even though they're having fun, right, and so you just kind of introduce fun little antidotes into it and the next thing, you know, they're like, they know everything there is about. You present kids in a creative way of learning important learning the math, the ratios of how much wax, how much oil, based on the volume of the candle. Yeah, it can be very powerful. So I always kind of joke, you know, you know I am, you know, trying to encourage the next generation of potential engineers.

Speaker 3:

But that's not so much a joke. It could be true, because kids, if you make the connection between the most basic things, you know they will ultimately absorb that information and turn it into something that's really tangible and use it, you know, and then building their career. Like, my daughter had decided to go to school for biomedical engineering and a lot of that came from our tinkering that we had done together when she was a kid, you know so you never know where it's going to come from. Was a kid, you know. So you never know where it's going to come from.

Speaker 1:

That is so wonderful, that is so great that you share in that capacity. Now there's a difference I want the audience to understand. Like you know, you go into a grocery store or Walmart or something like that. You buy a candy, take it home you think that's what you know Wild Orchid is all about but you have a premium brand, something that you just can't go into your everyday retail and then walk out with this type of candle. What makes your candles different?

Speaker 3:

So when I think about okay, people will make that comparison you can go to HomeGoods, tj Maxx, marshalls and you can buy a candle for $12.99, $14.99. There was a point in time that I bought those and I was spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on candles, that I would burn them and they wouldn't fully burn. They would what they call a tunnel. The wick just goes straight down. They don't burn the whole candle and they were made out of cheap candles products and so the difference is that I look at it. If you're willing to, you know you can go. If you're a whiskey drinker, a scotch drinker, you can buy the bottom shelf or you can buy the top shelf. You smoke cigars.

Speaker 3:

You can buy one of those black and red mild, whatever they're called, or you can buy a really nice cigar, right, I think it's all. For me, it's all about the ingredients and what the customer's expectations are, and so when I make my candles, they're all hand poured by me, they're done in small batches, that I use the finest ingredients, they're sustainable, and so it's just to me. It's as if you, if I'm making a candle for you, I am your personal candler. You want a candle that's going to last, and I have yet to have a dissatisfied customer. You know, because I tell people to be brutally honest. You know I can take it, and when I look at the metrics on my business, my account, I have like a 54 percent customer retention rate.

Speaker 3:

My customers come back, and my customers tend to be more mature as well. You know, my daughter is young, so you know, of course she and her friends are customers. But my customers tend to have their own home. They drive nice cars and they want nice things, and so I tend to make home decor pieces. So you'll have a piece on your end table. That's kind of a conversation hey, where did you get that from? You didn't buy it. From Anthropologie. You didn't buy it from HomeGoods. You know it's unique, you know, and so that's one of the strategies that I use is to create unique products that customers can be proud of. You know, and it burns clean. It burns as clean as it can in your home, and so over the years, I've extended my line. So, outside of candles, I do room sprays now, and the room sprays can be for home car linen, as well as body sprays and massage bars, because it's all about fragrances so now you?

Speaker 1:

you didn't. This is what sold me on what you're doing. You said all right, grant, because I didn't say be honest with me, right? I said okay. She said all right, what candles do you got? I said well, I got a candle here. He said all right, go ahead and light it up. I said okay, and she said no, is it burning black? I'm like what do you mean burning black? She is it burning black? I'm like what do you mean burning black? He said look up on my ceiling. He said do you see black smoke up there? It's now getting in your house. He said this is what you're ingesting. You're breathing this in.

Speaker 1:

You don't even realize that this is a petroleum and this is a big deal. So now, because I have one of your uh canvases that go in and light mine, so I like that and I said now, look at it, it's bright, it's, it's clear. Obviously, the fragrance is awesome. It burns slower, so you're not sitting there, you know, and it's burning up, you know. With it, you know, whatever it still lasts for a long time. And I was like you know, these are things you don't think about. It's like, wow, yeah, it's like being near a fire, you're ingesting all that smoke. So I said this is actually environmentally, you know, safe. Did I describe that correctly or am I wrong?

Speaker 3:

safe. Did I describe that correctly or am I wrong? No, you're right. All candles are going to what they call VOC volatile components but you have minimal smoke. If you burn a candle and the perimeter of the glass is all black and sooty, that means it's the wrong wick inside of there. It should be a low-control flame, but then some things go back to user error.

Speaker 3:

Most people honestly don't know how to burn a candle.

Speaker 3:

They put it under the AC vent which pulls up a draft, they put it over a fan which whips around the flame, and so I try to educate people on how to use candles properly as well.

Speaker 3:

So that's part of the whole process of when I do the Wiccan Sips for adults, which is more of a social occasion where, if someone I think last year I did a Mother's Day event where I went to a client's home in Boynton Beach and I set up a very nice visual for 10 of her family members and I took them through the whole candle making process. So it was a bonding, and so that same process is done on a corporate level for team building as well. So I just managed to look at all of the different avenues that I could use this candle as a vehicle to educate and to entertain people, and it's just worked out, you know. And so I find myself because I'm very much a thinker and strategic about things other avenues that I can go down, and so that's how the WOW Academy came about, and so I'm always looking to transition and do something else with the skill set that I have. So I still have so much more in me to share, and so I'm looking to do other things still.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I'm glad. First, like I said, you're very educated in what you're doing, you're knowledgeable and you understand it and you're looking to scale've. You know who your ideal client is right, you know so, someone that really appreciates a good candle but it also fits in their decor one of the things I know that you do as well. But you do some customized branding. You know, further, like one of our mutual friends, you know, runs a cigar, uh, business r r. And he said, hey, sherry, can you, you know, come out with a, a line of candles like white labeling. You know, just for me, which was a fantastic way of promoting that type of business so you can do that through while. Or like, hey, look, you got a business like we're in the black business network. A lot of people out here have small businesses and they're looking to scale and grow and differentiate themselves. Just talk to us a little bit more about your white labeling service.

Speaker 3:

Right. So what's really great about that is that it is an opportunity for me to you know, share and work with other small businesses, and work with other small businesses because in that particular situation, he really wanted to do his own brand of candle, but what they call the MOQ the minimum order quantities to work with a national manufacturer. You'll never meet it, because the quantities are in the literally thousands and the majority of the candles that you get from national retailers are made out of the country and they're mass produced, vietnam being one of the big places that candles come from, and so I'm able to sit with the small business owner and talk about, you know, what their vision is for their particular line extension and sometimes, if I don't think it makes sense, I'll share with that. But part of the service that I do is that, because of my business background, is that once we've had our session, I do a marketing plan for them. You know I do a marketing plan. I basically lay out.

Speaker 3:

You know the items that I think that would work in the line. You know the items that I think that would work in the line, ways to go about properly promoting it and in that particular case, because it was cigars, ideally you wanted a scent that cigar smokers would appreciate, and using a slight smoky tobacco vanilla scent happened to be what we came up with, and we did that for a few years, you know, and it worked out really well. And so even with my real estate customers they sell multi-million dollar homes, they do, of course, you know the champagne and the gift baskets, but then they decided to do. They wanted custom gift sets where there was room sprays and candles and the gift set that they gave to their customers, and sometimes we would personalize it with the agent's name on it, other times we would do it with the client's name on it, and they just love that personal touch.

Speaker 3:

And so there's various ways to be able to do this, but the part I love the most is just being able to work with other small businesses, and so recently I met with a woman I met at the Broward and Beyond Conference and she has a med spa in Pembroke Pines and beyond conference and she has a med spa in Pembroke Pines and so as a natural line extension because she already has her own creams and um um lotions, you know, for body and skin she wants candles and room sprays and so I'm putting together a proposal for her, you know, for her particular business.

Speaker 3:

And so any business business can utilize just as easily as you can make a pin with your brand on it. You know, and I think everyone has kind of grown tired of the swag where it's just a pin, it's a little inexpensive pins, because at my corporate job we used to make those by the millions for different organizations who would want to buy, you know like 5 million pins and they would pass them. Buy you know like 5 million pens and they would pass them out, you know, globally or whatever. And so being able to give a customer a nice little personalized, you know two ounce candle with your company's name on it, that's kind of lasting because that candle will hang around until it's gone.

Speaker 1:

You know type of deal.

Speaker 3:

And so, yeah, there's many ways to be able to support small businesses, and I just love being able to network and meet these businesses and share with them how we can possibly you know collaborate.

Speaker 1:

I tell you I learned something in what you just said is that you know, some people want to think of white labeling. All they're going to do is, you know what, I'll just take my wild orchid label label off and I'll slap your label on and there you go, this white label. But you just said to me that you actually customize and create a formula, a particular scent you know, just for that business. So that is completely branded, from soup to nuts.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly so. Oftentimes people will confuse white label with private label. In my background, the 30 plus years is private label. All of the national retailers and drug chains and dollar stores as well, the companies that I have worked for. I have been instrumental in the various programs that they've had for their private label. There's not a drugstore or retailer I walk into where I don't see remnants of what I've done or programs that we started years ago in their stores. And so White Label is basically taking the candles that I already have made. Instead of putting my name on them, I put your name on them. Private Label is the customization. No one else can get that particular special blend, that particular look, unless they get it from you, and that is what makes it unique. And in that particular instances isn't it worth what it may cost to get that specialization? Because if you're willing to spend I don't know $75 on a cigar, $2,000 on a purse is a $50 candle too much.

Speaker 1:

No, and what you just said. You can make them for certain occasions it could be Mother's Day, it could be Memorial Day, it could be Labor Day.

Speaker 3:

The holidays are coming up day, corporate order from a company and they're going to a trade show in two weeks, so it's a rush order for over 250 promotional candles with their name on it. You know so now.

Speaker 1:

You love what you're doing and we've only got a couple minutes left. We've got to definitely know how to contact you, but before give me two minutes, if you had. You know, as you look back now and what you've done is not true. Lessons learned. What did you learn through this journey so far?

Speaker 3:

Well, I I reflect on that often. I reflect on that often. What I've really learned, you know, is that you truly are the master of your own destiny. You know, if you look back and think about all the things that you've done in your career, you've done a lot and oftentimes we don't think about all the things that we've done. You know, and you draw on that experience and you have the confidence to kind of move forward and act on it. You're bound to be successful. Sometimes it can be kind of confusing which way do I go, my friends, my family, my husband believing in my mission and encouraging me.

Speaker 3:

You need that village to be able to support you in all that you do and I would say that anytime you decide to step out on your own, you have the right people backing you, not the naysayers, because sometimes people are afraid of you having success, being successful because you may leave them behind. You know those aren't really your friends. You want people that are going to help you level up and to move up. You know, and that is what I've always sought, you know throughout my life and career. You know, so believe in yourself and build that network, build that support system.

Speaker 1:

Oh man, say that again, say it loud, say it proud, because it's so, so important. If they're looking to purchase some of your products and get involved and just have a conversation with you, what's the best way to get in contact with?

Speaker 3:

them www. Wildorchidcandlescom. Believe it or not, there's been a company who's actually, um, chose my name. They're on the part, they're on the other part of the country, you know, but it's not worth pursuing at this point, you know cause I'm doing my thing and, um, people who know me, they know me. But, yeah, you know, and you can always reach out. My phone number is on there as well. I'm on Instagram and Facebook as well and I would love to be able to collaborate with small businesses, not just within Florida, the States, you know but I'm open to shipping internationally as well.

Speaker 1:

No, I'm glad you said that we are on the Black Business Network. It is a global community and the fact that they say, hey, wow, you know what. That's an idea I can. This is a differential. You got to look at ways. How do you differentiate yourself? You just gave us a great example of doing that and, as you stated, you want to be present in the mind of your ideal client and you've got a really good candle. It's a talking piece, right. Somebody's like, wow, would you get that? I mean it just goes into so many different areas. A lot of people don't think about that when they're looking at different things that they can use for marketing. That is an excellent tool. I know you brought your expertise to bear, so I want to thank you again for being on the Black Business Network. The Black Business Olympics this has been wonderful. Genius is coming and I will see you on the other side.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much, grant, you're welcome.