Her Niche Candle Biz Earned $126K in Year 1

A Colorado candle maker posts on Reddit…

In July 2025 I started a candle business in my laundry room.

While working a very demanding corporate job. I spent every spare second working on my business and every weekend selling candles at any farmers market or artisan market I could get into.

She put $800 into it, quit her corporate job on Christmas Eve, 5 months in, and did $126K in her first year 🤑

A $28 candle costs her about $3 to produce, before booth fees and her own time.

Candles are a crowded market, so what made hers sell?

Her answer…

It’s really important to pick a niche and mine is very niche.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I might be the only one strictly pouring for my niche. I thought women would gravitate to my candles more, but it’s actually men. Men make up about 70% of my sales.

Her earlier posts give the niche away: food-scented candles, sold from a bakery-themed booth 👀

Before her first market she spent weeks testing wax, wicks and fragrance oils, fighting frosted tops and rusting tins.

That first market barely covered her booth fee, and she worked long hours around her corporate job.

If you want to try this yourself, start small: pour test batches until your candles burn cleanly, then book one weekend market and see what sells 👍

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