Northants, Leics &amp; Rutland


<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/05/Carlys-Candles-Headshots-22-31-1-scaled-e1716459813309.jpg" alt="Carly's Candle Company" class="wp-image-162241" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Carly Parkins</figcaption></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hi-carly-you-ve-built-up-an-impressive-brand-under-your-name-tell-me-a-few-surprising-facts-about-yourself">Hi Carly, you’ve built up an impressive brand under your name. Tell me a few surprising facts about yourself…</h3>



<p>Well, I can’t relax. I try and try, but for some reason, I can’t ever completely switch off. The only time my brain stops is if I am doing some crazy adrenaline-fuelled activity or exercising so hard I can hardly breathe, let alone think. My absolute favourite type of exercise is something that gets my adrenaline pumping and clears my head. To name a few, I’ve skydived over Queenstown in New Zealand, I have been caving and white-water rafting, I love to snowboard, and I gained my PADI scuba-diving certificate.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sounds-energising-did-you-start-a-candle-company-to-help-yourself-relax">Sounds energising! Did you start a candle company to help yourself relax?</h3>



<p>Taking time out for yourself is important in our hectic modern world. But I actually first started thinking about my business after I had a silent miscarriage in 2017. It made me very conscious of the toxins I had in my home – for example, the chemicals released by cleaning products.</p>



<p>Once my eldest son Leo was born in 2019, I started making my own vegan candles, pouring wax and fragrance oil into containers at my kitchen table. I used some of my maternity pay to buy the raw materials, containers and packaging and the business grew from there. I only use sustainably sourced British-made soya wax and FSC-certified crackling wood wicks. The fragrance oils are free from nasty toxins like parabens.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/05/Snapinsta.app_437129189_2117061015316037_7780401740449284087_n_1080-1000x1000.jpg" alt="Carly's Candle Company" class="wp-image-162222" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-did-you-build-up-your-kitchen-table-start-up">How did you build up your kitchen table start-up?</h3>



<p>I went to a Christmas craft fair in Wolverton in 2019. I paid about £15 for a stall and took along five or six of my different scents to sell, including my Christmassy gingerbread candles. I took a lot of orders for candles and was encouraged by the response, so I decided to keep going. At the time, I was due to go back to work after maternity leave to my job as a business support assistant at a special needs school.</p>



<p>But then Covid hit, and I ended up taking an extended maternity leave due to childcare issues. This gave me more time to focus on my candle company, so I opened an online shop on Etsy and my products sold so well, I started shipping all over the country. During the pandemic I also hand-delivered the candles to local customers and let them do socially distanced ‘doorstep sniffs’ to try out new fragrances. Eventually, it got to the point where I could make my candle business my main job. I officially became self-employed in February 2024.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/05/Snapinsta.app_349914454_171350169236153_4735517819548316842_n_1080-1000x1000.jpg" alt="Carly's Candle Company" class="wp-image-162219" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-do-you-juggle-running-a-business-with-being-a-hands-on-mum-to-your-little-ones">How do you juggle running a business with being a hands-on mum to your little ones?</h3>



<p>My five-year-old son Leo is at school and his little sister Rose is at home, so I have to be pretty adaptable in terms of how I get things done. It helps to set a to-do list for the week, so I know what I need to prioritise. Once the morning school rush is done and Rose is having a nap, I answer emails from customers and suppliers. I might then need to place orders for raw materials and packaging or do some email marketing. As a small business owner, I do everything myself. I have two main times during the day when I can focus on my company – in the morning and then again in the evening, once the children are asleep.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-you-prefer-being-self-employed">Do you prefer being self-employed?</h3>



<p>It’s hard but I love what I do, and I have a really supportive husband backing me. There is also a really lovely community of small business owners locally so I have a great group of people I can chat to for support and advice. I like the self-employed balance of being able to run my own business and look after the children, but I have never been cash rich. Provided I’ve made enough money to cover what I would have earned in my staff job, I reinvest everything else back into the business.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/05/thumbnail_Carly-C-23-RETAKE-5.jpg" alt="Carly's Candle Company" class="wp-image-162135" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-which-are-your-favourite-candle-fragrances">Which are your favourite candle fragrances?</h3>



<p>I have a couple of personal favourites. The Sea Salt scent is a lovely relaxing scent that was actually chosen as fragrance for the Brain Tumour research candles earlier this year. It reminds me of being on the beach with the breeze in your hair or, oddly, being at the top of a mountain. I like lighting this when I feel sad or thoughtful in particular, to help transport me back to the beach or the mountain.</p>



<p>I also have a beautiful Lime &amp; Mango scent that really uplifts me. I have a diffuser by my front door and love getting a whiff of it as I walk in. This scent always reminds me of a beach resort on an island in Vietnam called Phou Quoc. I went there on a girls’ backpacking trip with a friend and at the end of the trip we treated ourselves to a beach bungalow. We drank a lot of mango and other fruity cocktails with our toes in the sand. It was our last trip before we married our now-husbands.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I am always looking for new scents to introduce as limited-edition options, and there are so many more places I would like to see, both in the UK and far-flung destinations. I’m sure my further travels will inspire future scents.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-else-has-your-love-of-travel-inspired-you">How else has your love of travel inspired you?</h3>



<p>Spending time living in the mountains and backpacking to beautiful tropical beaches showed me why it’s so important to make sustainable products that are kind to the planet. I don’t want our world to become a dumping ground so I’m really keen on zero waste and I’m against the fast fashion, throwaway mentality. The idea behind my candles’ plantable labels (the seeds are embedded in the paper) is to inspire children to get outdoors and appreciate nature while learning that we don’t throw everything away. The flowers that grow from my plantable labels are all native to the UK and bee-friendly.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/05/out-side-3058737_1280-1000x667.jpg" alt="Vietnam beach " class="wp-image-162218" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-should-we-all-make-time-in-our-lives-to-light-a-candle">Why should we all make time in our lives to light a candle?</h3>



<p>You might simply want to light a candle to make your house smell nice, but for me the wellbeing element is key. We live in such a busy world that a candle can represent a moment of calm in your busy day (for example while doing yoga, practising meditation, or reading a good book), or it can be a signal that your working day is done, and you can take time out for a breather and reset.</p>



<p>On a personal note, I had a tough time recently when my dad had terminal lung cancer. I was grieving for a long time – both pre-grieving and once he passed away in 2022. I realised I was in survival mode and that I really needed to make time for myself so now I really try to take that time out.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-you-ve-recently-supported-cancer-research-too">You’ve recently supported cancer research too…</h3>



<p>Since I know what it is to lose a loved one, earlier this year I made 100 charity candles for the Shine a Light campaign to raise awareness for brain tumour research. They’ve been lit by the celebrities supporting the campaign including&nbsp;American record producer Nile Rodgers, actor Craig Russell (from the Netflix series Cleopatra) and pop bands McFly and Scouting for Girls. I also sold candles for the charity. Almost 500 went out in the UK and US and £2 of the proceeds from each candle went to charity.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/05/Snapinsta.app_427458470_3656342947974347_7619788794839355184_n_1080-1000x1000.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-162220" /></figure>


Bright spark: Meet candle entrepreneur Carly Parkins

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