Guess What?! We Failed!
…and we couldn’t be more excited.
We're taking a moment to deviate from our usual topics of conservation and natural living to chat about the business side of our great adventure. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes of Ignite Candle Co. (and any business) and one of those things is inevitable, repeated, failure. Ugh! What a terribly uncomfortable word. It makes us shiver. It tells us to take a precautionary step in the other direction, readying to bolt. It immediately ignites an internal monologue of proposed excuses, self doubt, discouragement, and a good dose of fear. But the truth is, nothing great was ever built on a mountain of pure success. Pushing boundaries means you are guaranteed to fail - many times - which is exactly what we have done. The journey to bring you beautiful, fragrant, natural candles has been absolutely riddled with failures, but we made a choice early on to befriend them. With each setback, we took a deep breath, laughed a little, and dove into figuring out how to fix it. This process has been the secret ingredient to more fragrant candles, further scent throw, improved containers, beautiful labeling, and so much more.
Our most recent (and infuriating) failure was our Mini Tumblers. They were achingly adorable, so we tried and tried to fix them, but the little things just wouldn’t throw scent like they should have. After two years of perfecting our recipe we figured it would be simple, yet these tiny troublesome tumblers couldn’t have cared less about our special formula. They confidently declared that all of the tricks and triumphs that got us this far simply didn’t apply to them. They are the classic second child of Ignite, and we had to learn new ways of working with them. So, thanks to a long road of frustration, a few adjustments, a bit of laughter, and some imagination, we have welcomed a beautiful 6oz Tin to our family of products in their place, and we are completely in love. These little guys are perfect for smaller rooms, great for traveling, come in a completely recyclable tin container, and at $15 they make fabulous gifts. They have exceeded what we set out to create and finally meet our brand standards, but we only discovered them through befriending our failure with patience, gratitude, and cooperation. DON’T RUN FROM YOUR FAILURES….USE THEM! And hear us when we tell you:
Your failures do not diminish your value.
There is no benefit to dwelling in shame.
Failing means you are PUSHING to be MORE.
Be PROUD of your bravery.
Be DETERMINED to find a new way.
BREATHE through it.
Ask for HELP, you don’t have to go it alone.
Find LEVITY.
And CELEBRATE when you make it out the other side.
According to NHL player Wayne Gretzky “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” So take the shot, learn from the misses, and celebrate every goal you make.
You’ve got this.
Your Candle Buddies,
Ashley & Jessica