10/08/2021
As a business owner you are often asked why you started your business. The truth is my story isn't as elaborate and grand as some. In fact, like most people the biggest reason I decided to go into business is for my family. Growing up I watched my dad raise my special needs sister and I on his own. I watched as he gave up work he loved for work he hated and I seen the toll that took on him, both mentally and physically. More than witnessing his struggle to put food on the table and keep a roof over our head, I watched as he threw away his own dreams and talents because he simply just wasn’t able to follow both paths in life. I remember being as old as eight or nine realizing what he had given up for us. As a kid I also remember realizing that one day when I found something I was good at, that I owed it to my dad to put everything I had into it. I think that realization still drives me to wake up and work hard on my business to this day. It keeps me focused and reminds me that as long as I love what I do the rest will fall into place.
When I think of my "why" I also often think of my Memaw Nancy. I think of spending my summers with her learning how to sew and paint. Learning how to make candles and scrapbooks. It didn't matter how big the mess or how much of her materials we wasted or even how we would get glitter in literally every inch of her carpet as long as we were having fun and creating something beautiful. She taught me if you are going to create something, to put everything you have into it, and that many times the value of happiness outweighs any other materialistic thing that you can own. Those are lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
Every detail of my business reflects the love I have for my family. From using the Nickname we gave my childhood dog, "Old Hickory'' in the name of my business down to handpicking scents that reminded me of the most important people in my life; like Papaw's Strawberry Patch, to represent the times I would pick fresh strawberries out of my Papaws garden. Family is in everything that I do in my business, and it is my hope that when you get a candle from Hickory Wick Candle Company, that you are taken back to memories of spending time with your own family. Because after all, family is the reason I began my business to begin with.