Ep. 8 | Confessions of a Tabletop RPG Candlemaker with Delve Candles

Cylinda woke one day inspired to create immersive tabletop gaming candles, then the hard work of building a small business began!

When you think about D&D and other tabletop games, many things come to mind. Minis. Dice. Books and maps. But Cylinda is out to add another dimension to her customers' games--scent. She creates immersive candles with scents that will be familiar to any D&D player. The Tavern. The Grand Archives. River Ruins. And many more. 

In this interview, we talk about how she started her business having never made candles before! And the very deliberate planning and choices she made along the way to build success.

Learn about it all in this episode, or check out a shortened transcript over at https://geekswhogetpaid.com.

If you liked this and want to support future episodes, consider checking out our Patreon for extra awesome Patron benefits! https://www.patreon.com/geekswhogetpaid

Follow Delve Candles:

• Website/Shop: https://delvecandles.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/delvecandles
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/delvecandles

Transcript

Ami: 0:10

Greetings Geekpreneurs! It's Ami from GeeksWhoGetPaid.com, and I'm coming back at you with a brand new interview. Now, we think about a lot of things when we think about tabletop RPGs, but one of them that you might not think about so readily is, candles. So, this week I'm talking to, Cylinda of Delve Candles. She makes immersive D&D, or tabletop gaming candles with scents like The Grand Archives, which smells like aged paper, old library, or The Tavern smells like whiskey and wood. Scents that are going to really be able to put you in the setting that you're in, in your tabletop RPG game. So, we're going to talk to her all about how she came up with the idea, how she actually makes the candles, and how she got those candles out into the world. So, you're in for a good one. I can't wait to get started. Let's check it out. Hi Cylinda. How's it going?

Cylinda: 1:11

It's going good. It's nice to see you.

Ami: 1:16

You too. I'm so excited to talk today. So, I have talked to a lot of tabletop RPG people. I think about a lot of things. When I think about tabletop RPGs and the one thing that I hadn't thought of until recently, was candles. Which is what you do, right?

Cylinda: 1:34

Yes, that's right. That's right.

Ami: 1:35

And, so, I want to talk all about that, but before we get into business, I just want to hear a little bit about you and what you do, what your nerdy hobbies are. Who is Cylinda, first?

Cylinda: 1:48

Yeah. So many nerdy hobbies to talk about. Well, yeah, no, so I'm Cylinda and I live in Decatur, GA. Which is a suburb of Atlanta. Been here about 20 years. I'm originally from Texas, actually. And grew up there and if you know anything about Texas, you know, you never quite leave it behind. You're always a Texan. So, I've been here for awhile. I'm 46 years old, which I mention because I feel like sometimes on the internet there's, like, an idea that anything over 40 or 30 or whatever is, like, way past your prime, and you can't do new things. I, you know, this is a very new venture for me. It took about a year to get started, but I feel like I want to advocate for people doing business no matter what your age is. So, just kind of want to put that out there that I am older, but still venturing into new areas. Let's see, hobbies. Yeah. D&D is a pretty big one, obviously, and tabletop RPGs in general. I've only been playing them for about three, maybe four years. So it's, it's a relatively new hobby, but I kind of jumped in with a lot of gusto, I guess. Once I started playing them, I just like loved them. You know, and I think that's pretty common experience and it just kind of really connected with me and sort of just, I have way too many dice and way too many games that I'll probably never play. And, you know, just kind of all the typical tabletop problems, I guess. But I do have other hobbies. I'm a beer geek and or beer nerd, however you want to say it. And, for a long time kind of like planned like trips around visiting breweries and I home brew, although it's been a while, like homebrew beer, not homebrew, you know, D&D content, but--

Ami: 3:24

It's funny that they both use the same word.

Cylinda: 3:26

Yeah, for sure. You know, I like to bake and I like to fish. And so some other kind of like various hobbies, but yeah. Quick overview.

Ami: 3:35

Two questions from that. What is your favorite beer and also, what is your favorite D&D character that you play?

Cylinda: 3:41

Gosh. Oh, okay. Favorite beer, you know, I, I love most kinds of beers. I have a real fondness in my heart for Belgian beers, like in Belgium. I've taken a numerous trips to Belgium and just there's, there's quite nothing like the Trappist monk breweries that they, the beers they have out there. Just a really nice, like, some of their dubbels or their quad ales that the monks brew, and just like the way they brew it there. Please don't get me-- I'll just, I'll go on a tangent and we'll never talk about candles. It'll be a beer podcast talking about the wild yeast brewing process and everything. But, like locally, we have some great breweries here in Decatur, like in, in Atlanta, it's just kind of exploding. You know and we, we have people doing like Belgian style beers here locally. And they're all really great. So like Wild Heaven is probably one of my, my favorite local ones. Are you also like a beer geek?

Ami: 4:38

I wouldn't call myself a beer geek, but I just, I feel like I just discovered that I love beer more than I thought I did. Like I, you know, I was always going for, you know, an evening drink or something like that, and I would drink wine and then I would try and get all fancy with mixed drinks. And then I got, it's a local brewery here called Lost Grove, and they make a, it's just like a session ale called Teddy Bear Picnic. And I drank it and it was just, I don't know, it just made me happy. I was like, maybe I'm a beer person.

Cylinda: 5:11

Yeah.

Ami: 5:11

I have to like, explore and just like, figure out...anyway.

Cylinda: 5:16

Welcome to the world of beer. And yeah, there's a lot to explore for sure. Yeah. Uh, favorite D&D character. So, I've only been playing, like I said, for three or four years. And I've only been playing in the same campaign for that time. I have a group I play with-- we're playing a homebrew campaign. Virtually all of us had like, never played before, and our DM was also pretty new to the game. She had played some, but-- and so I was still playing my first character, so I don't have a lot of, of characters to choose from. She's a tempest cleric. She's got a lot of trauma and issues going on in her life. She just wants to have a peaceful life, but it's just not working out, all kinds of drama. Of course. Wouldn't be D&D without that, uh, but, but I love her. I love the game. I love my group and, you know, it's so much fun. And, we found a way to continue playing through the pandemic and everything. So, yeah.

Ami: 6:09

That's great news.

Cylinda: 6:10

Yeah, for sure. So yeah.

Ami: 6:13

Well, I've got to hear about these candles then. So, for Delve Candles, let's start from the beginning. What started the idea? How did Delve Candles come to be?

Cylinda: 6:24

You know, it's, I think it's it's a little bit of a journey. And, I was trying to think about how to answer this question and, it's a little bit like it happened both very fast and it was also a very long process. And, so one night like in November of 2020, so in, in like the earlier days of the Covid lockdown and, and we've been pretty locked down here uh, in my house, but I woke up. I don't think I actually had a dream, but like I woke up with this idea that was like"Delve Candles" like where it was honestly just like I have this name. And it would be great for candles. And I had like this idea for the logo. And, I got up and I turned on my computer and I started making like my first label. And I started like writing down a list of, scents I would make, and I had, I don't know where this came from and I don't really know if, if it was just kind of like my pandemic brain sort of like, I need something to focus on or something, so that's the part that feels like it happened kind of like, it was like a flash of inspiration, but the longer answer is that once I started like researching candles and getting into candle making, there is something about the process of it that is very familiar to me and very like appealing. It is actually real similar to brewing beer, which as I've already said is like something I've done. It's similar in a lot of ways to baking and there's an aspect of it that, you're taking like these raw components and you're putting them together in creative ways and you're, you're creating something different and new out of it, but something that is really personal and you can like tinker with it and you can make all these adjustments. And it's, it's creative in a way that like speaks to me. And I had previous knowledge and experience. Like, I don't want to present myself as like I'm the person who came up with the idea of like immersive tabletop candles because, there's a lot of other companies out there doing it. I think it's, it's something in the hobby that's growing. And as people become aware of this the potential for like adding scent to your games more and more people are becoming consumers of these kinds of products, but also more people are interested in like making their own scents, right? And so I think there's been a great deal of growth in this kind of really niche market over the course of the last couple of years. And again, I, I feel like some of that might be related to the pandemic because I, you know, since I started I, I become immersed like in the candle making world, of course. And like just, there's just been an explosion, not just of like tabletop candles, but just like candle making in general. Like, it just kind of like took off which has led to some supply chain issues and other, other fun aspects of the business. And I'm sorry, this is kind of like a really long and winding answer to your question, but it's sort of like, I think I was kind of marinating on this idea that like I had experienced tabletop candles before and I thought, well, this is a really neat idea. I love D&D and I love playing these games and I love telling these stories and how cool would it be to kind of take that and do my own version of it? And create my own vision of what I would want, like The Tavern to smell like, or, you know, and, and kind of like take that, and run with it. And then I woke up with the name and the logo and I was like, oh, well I really need to do this.

Ami: 9:56

Yeah. It was a little bit like fate.

Cylinda: 10:00

A little bit. Yeah, no, I feel, and then once I actually started doing it, I was like, oh, I, I really agree with this. You know, it's like like I just, I found-- not like a calling. I, you know, it's not that, but like just, you know, like it's just something that I really enjoy. And I really enjoy talking to people about it and just kind of like adding that level of just like extra hint of immersion to people's games and like, just hearing the stories of like people using them and just kind of like bringing another aspect to, you know, a session or whatever.

Ami: 10:33

Yeah. I can imagine that's gotta be even more important for the people that are still playing remotely, or who were always playing remotely. Cause you can't, you're not, you know, at that table with the, you know, looking at the stuff on out like maps and your minis and stuff like that.

Cylinda: 10:50

Yeah. No one of my favorite stories actually was someone who bought, um, they ordered, I think it was like eight sample sets to give as Christmas presents to their whole group. But their group was dispersed like all over the country. And like, the idea was that when they played over Zoom or whatever they're using, they would all like burn the same scent. And so it would kind of like bring them together. And I was like, oh, that's really touching, like. Yeah, no you know sorta heartwarming. So that was it was nice to hear.

Ami: 11:25

Yeah, I love it.

Cylinda: 11:28

Yeah. It was just, you know like I said, just kind of like wanting to put my own spin on these things. And like I said, I keep kind of coming back to like brewing, but it's, you know, there's, there's not just like one brewery out there just making one kind of brown ale or one kind of, you know, a hoppy IPA. It's like everyone is doing their own thing. I think there's plenty of room for, you know, however many candle makers want to venture into this area.

Ami: 11:57

Absolutely there is. Did you make candles before you came up with the idea?

Cylinda: 12:03

I did not. I learned so that was November 2020. And that was, however many months, that's over a year, year and a half and a half ago? A little bit less than a year and a half. I know, right? So by December I, you know, I, I took a month and I started like gathering my supplies. I started doing research, like what, what goes into making candles. And then I think I, I ordered my first set of like supplies in December of 2020, and then it took me until October of 2021 to really nail down everything. And so, because there's a, there's a really big, pretty big learning curve. It seems like it would be simple to make candles. Maybe. I don't know if it does, but I think there's a lot more that goes into them to have them be successful than people may realize if you don't make them.

Ami: 12:55

I wouldn't even know where to start.

Cylinda: 12:57

Yeah. I, well, you know, it's the, the basic steps are, are pretty straightforward. You know, you've got your wax, and you're wick, and your scent, but it's just kind of, there's a lot of different variables that go into the final product. Yeah.

Ami: 13:11

Well, let's talk about it. I mean, maybe you can choose how much detail you want to go into, but I would love to hear a little bit about the process of coming up with the, creating the candle and coming up with the scent and all that.

Cylinda: 13:22

Right. Right. So like back in my brainstorming phase I came up with a list of--a ridiculously long list of like the scents I would want available to me as if I were playing D&D or DM-ing or whatever. And I still have that list and I, you know, I hope to add more scents to the line eventually. But basically, it was like 20- 25 different scents and I was like, well, I need to, I need to choose some to focus on. Right? So I narrowed it down to a handful and then it's, it's the same process. It's just sort of like, okay, so you have a scent in mind, and um, probably the first one I knew I wanted-- and it's a cliche, right? But like the Tavern, you know, I feel like you have to have a Tavern scent.

Ami: 14:07

It's where you meet.

Cylinda: 14:09

It's where you meet, it's where you meet! You don't have to meet at a tavern. There's a lot of ways that you can start an adventure, but it's classic for a reason. Right? And, and just like my love of beer, like, you know, I just sort of wanted, like, to combine these things. So you have the, the idea in mind and then it's kind of like dissecting what, in your opinion, goes into the scent of a tavern. And so, you know, I knew I wanted some kind of alcohol notes. I went with whiskey and then just kind of like the idea of smoke and tobacco and then I wanted to bring in like an element of wood for like the kind of like the environment. And so our, our Tavern has some red cedar in it. But it's sort of like thinking about the scent that you're trying to create and then breaking it down into components that you feel like you can actually find the raw scents for, and then and then you start just like experimenting with the blends, right? So all of our scents are custom blended because we're trying to replicate very specific environments or specific moods. And, and a lot of, I think most D&D candles are made that way, but like a lot of candles that you'll just buy at a market or whatever, they're single fragrance candles. Right? They don't blend together different ones. It's just like, you know, lavender or whatever. And so it's easier of a process to make. Right? So, so, you know, you come up with the idea for the scent you want, and then you, you sort of break it down into components and then there's a whole wide, wide world of fragrances out there that are specifically made for candles. I mean, there's just sort of a ludicrous number of different options out there. And so it's just a matter of time and resources and testing and just kind of like, well, is this whiskey note sort of what I want? Or is this, you know, whiskey note better, or maybe I don't want whiskey at all. Maybe I'd rather have like something that's more of like a rum base. So, you know, it's a lot of trial and error. It's a lot of smelling, smelling, little strips of paper. You sort of like blend them together. And then you know, I think the biggest thing about the process is it just takes a lot of time and patience because you never quite know as you're developing a scent. It was like, something can smell really good out of the bottle. And we have things like blotter papers and you mix together the blends and you kind of take a whiff of them and they might smell good there, but then you put it in an actual candle with the wax and it doesn't quite smell like you think it's going to. And then is it going to perform well when it's burning? Which is a whole other thing. So I'd say it's, I don't know. It's a process you can break down into its component parts, but it just takes patience is the key

Ami: 16:56

A whole year. That's not an insignificant amount of time. In business, like a year is-- you can expect to spend a year getting up and running, but still like that that's a labor of love.

Cylinda: 17:07

No, it is. It's, you know, it's we only launched with 7 scents. And I think, you know, some people launch with more than that. But it took a whole year to get those seven where I wanted them and, and to work and I didn't want to put out anything that I didn't, first of all, I didn't love and that I didn't think was as accurate as I could make it. And I understand like scent is, is really a relatively subjective thing, right? Like everyone likes different things and everyone smells things differently and they evoke different memories for different people based on your life experiences or whatever. So it's, it's not, it's not super cut and dry. And like what I think smells like a Tavern might not be what you think smells like a Tavern, but, you know, I just, I, I, I at least wanted to believe it, you know? And so it took a while to get there. But I'm, I'm happy with the results.

Ami: 18:01

Yeah. I, I can't believe, like I got my little sample set and I spent way too long, just like[inhales] like, that really does smell like damp earth! This was not just like some willy nilly kind of thing. It's quality.

Cylinda: 18:29

Yeah, no, thank you. And it's it's honestly and I'm, I'm, I'm sorry, I'm going a little bit off, off track of your, I think your question, but part of the challenges of selling candles primarily online is that people want to smell them. Right? And so it's, I've done a few events where I've been able to sell in person and it's just gratifying to see like people smell the test scents and be like, oh, this smell like a campfire. And I'm like, thank you. Thank you for validating that, you know? My, my, my opinion of what a campfire smells like or whatever. So yeah, but it's, it's definitely a challenge when, when I can't send the smells easily across the internet. Right. So.

Ami: 19:09

Yeah. I hadn't even thought about that. Yeah. So. Was the-- you know what I'm going to say that. I'm gonna go off track. Okay. So I had the, you know, I got my, my set and I, you know, I'm loving them. But honestly, one of the first things I noticed next to the fact that my package smelled really good was that your packaging is absolutely beautiful. So it seems like you obviously spent a long time in the candles, but that must have taken some time and thought too.

Cylinda: 19:48

It did. Yeah, no, thank you. I appreciate that. It did take some time and thought. Although, like I said, I woke up with the name and like I had this idea out of the blue and I, I I've made a rough representation of what I wanted and then kind of iterated that. Quite a lot to get, the final design which I, I did design and I don't have any training. But--early on in my life, my adult life, I worked for a publishing house. And I did kind of rudimentary graphics and page layout and stuff like that. So I had like a base knowledge, but it's not an education. And I'm not naturally artistic. I can't draw or anything like that, but I was able to like put together a logo I was really happy with and that I think it, it appealed to me in a lot of ways. And then just like coming up with the colors was kind of fun. And just kind of like the little part on the lids and but it was definitely a long process. Like it didn't happen overnight. And I'm still like tinkering with them. And I'm at the point now where I'm actually going to start hiring someone to do, I think, the art for like my future labels because it's, I would like to like actually have like a professional something at this point. But I was, I was happy that I could at least get it to this point, you know, kind of just using my resources.

Ami: 21:06

So are you-- with all the stickers and like the bag with the stamp and everything? Are you doing that at home or do you[inaudible].

Cylinda: 21:14

Well, the stickers I order, you know but with the bags. I make them at home. I have a stamp that I ordered and, you know, I stamp them. And, and that was a fun, I, you know, I, when that. It struck me that like, oh, I could put these in a little bag and put it like a little bag of holding. And so, you know I thought it was a fun idea and people seem to like them. And I, I like them. But yeah, no, I, I wanted-- and the website as well, like I wanted it to look as polished as possible, just like from a business perspective. And just sort of. Being cognizant of like the importance of branding and trying to make it as polished as I could. Even with the limited resources of, like, a start up business, which is always a challenge. Right? So so, but people have been really complimentary of, of kind of the branding. And so I'm thankful for that.

Ami: 22:07

Let's talk about that. I'd love to hear, you know, how the tabletop RPG community in general reacted to the idea, like what kind of feedback have you gotten?

Cylinda: 22:16

Oh, I, yeah, it's been really positive. And I've been so gratified by the response. And, and like I said, you know, it's, it's not like we're, we're brand new or this is like a brand new idea, but you know, there's like two. Two camps of people, right in the tabletop community, is people who already know like these kinds of products exist. But, but those folks have, have been very willing to give us a try. And like, have been very complimentary of like our, our products, even knowing that like there's other options out there, but there is a huge population of people without--gamers who have never heard of immersive candles. And I love talking to them because they they're always. Like their minds are always kind of blown when they think that, oh, scent is something I could add to my game session. This is an amazing idea. And it's, I mean, I remember thinking that the first time I heard about them. I was like, oh, this is a good idea. You know? So so yeah, I love and I, I mean, I honestly think like in the grand scheme of things, like there's way more people who have not heard of like this kind of product and then yeah. It's been fun, like meeting those people, especially like at the live in-person events that I've done and just talking to them about their characters and their campaigns and just kind of like, oh, this would be perfect for like, whatever session I have coming up or we're going to be going to a library or something like my players are going into an archive to research and this is gonna be great. So. So, yeah, the reception has been, been really, really warm and welcoming. So that's been nice.

Ami: 23:52

The tabletop community, tabletop RPG--[laughs]. Just"Tabletop." It's just a mouthful. It's seriously one of the best communities I've ever been a part of. It just, everyone's so supportive of each other and yeah, it's beautiful.

Cylinda: 24:07

No, it's been, it's been really great and, and I've been very happy because you know, it just partly just. It's just kind of nice to like find your people. You sorta, you know, I just, I love these games. Like I just, you know, just kind of the experience of playing them and just kind of being able to like geek out with other people. Like, it's just, it's fun.

Ami: 24:30

All right. So you mentioned doing some in-person events, but you also mentioned that you started your business in a pandemic. So let's talk marketing. How did you get the product out there in the first place and how are you kind of marketing it now?

Cylinda: 24:44

Yeah. Well, I'm still trying to figure out marketing. I think marketing is, is hard. And I, you know, I wish I had the resources to pay someone to do marketing for me. But I'm not there at the moment. But it was sort of you know, obviously social media has been a key to sort of. Like letting people know we exist. And that's, that's, I mean, that's the crux of any business, right. Is like finding your audience and finding your customers. Because like once, once you find them the selling the candle part is, is fairly easy. Like it's, you know, and, and it's especially apparent when you do live events and it's like, If, if you if I can get my candles in front of people at a live event, like it's like the selling is, is just, people get excited about the product, right? And they just, like, it's, it's often a pretty easy sell. But it's like finding those people on the internet is, is quite a bit more challenging. And so. You know, I developed the website. I decided I didn't want to go like the Etsy route, which is fairly common for this kind of product. And I think Etsy has a lot of positives in terms of finding an audience base and because it's, you know, search functions and whatever, and a lot of people just know to go there. But I wanted more control over the branding and the product. So I ultimately decided not to do that. Which comes with a downside of, you have to find your, your audience kind of, it's more laborious. But Twitter has been a big thing. You know, I don't have a real presence on Facebook at the moment. I'm trying to work on that. I'm trying to get into other avenues besides just Twitter. I'm trying to figure out Tik Tok, if you know, any secrets to figuring out what is going on on Tik Tok. I'm too old, you know, it's, it's kind of like--

Ami: 26:57

I'm 33 and I also feel too old for Tik Tok. I'm trying to figure it out myself.

Cylinda: 27:06

If you do figure it out, please let me know the secret. I would appreciate it. But you know, and, and again, it's not just like the tabletop role-playing community, but again, I, you know, kind of falling back into the candle community. It's the same for candlemakers everywhere, regardless of what your angle is. It's just sort of finding your audience and building that like consistent customer base. Who's gonna not just buy your candle for the first time, but keep coming back. And so I don't. I'm sorry. I don't know if I'm answering your question at all, but like marketing is hard. And is this something I'm still just trying to figure out. I've, I've done just in terms of we've launched in October and I, I mean, that was deliberate. I wish we could have launched a little earlier, but October was the latest I wanted to launch just because of it's the busiest, you know, the shopping season and the holidays. And it was like, I got to get it out by October to get in to the Christmas shopping season. And the reception was really great. And we were much more successful than I anticipated, which was nice. So but I think it's just-- The way I view it as it's just, I wasn't really expecting, like, I don't know if anyone ever expects overnight success and I don't even know how I would define that, but it's just like, I knew it as a long game. Like I'm just trying to create like, you know, a product that I'm proud of and like a loyal customer base who, you know, would be willing to come back for candles repeatedly. And so

Ami: 28:44

I love the idea of the sharing candle. So I'm, you know, I'm using them, for me because--but I'm bringing it to my DM so he can try it out because he's gonna love it. Yeah. So that, that was a really fun idea that.

Cylinda: 28:58

Yeah, no, I, I I thought, well, I, you know let me, let me just because it absolutely, I'm just trying to get them in as many people's hands as possible. I'm like, please share this. Or don't, you know, you can have an extra one, but, but I hope some people do share them and they have told me that they do, so.

Ami: 29:16

Yeah. So what are the in-person events?

Cylinda: 29:19

So I've I've done one convention and it was a local one here in Atlanta. It was, we have Momo Con. It's in the summer, and then they had like a winter thing for the first time right before Christmas. And so that was interesting. And that was you know, a geek convention and a lot of folks who played tabletop games and it was really great to talk to them. And just, like I said, get the candles in the hands of people and just kind of see their reactions. And that was, that was really nice to connect with, with a big, you know, geek population in that way. I also did some, some. Non-geek specific events that were actually very successful because geeks are everywhere, right. And geeks have family members who might not play D&D themselves. But like, especially during the Christmas season, I had a lot of people come up and say like, oh, my daughter plays the D&D or my son plays D&D or whoever. And it's like, I'm going to buy them a candle, you know? And so one thing I would say is like, you know, don't limit yourself to, to, to, you know, think outside of the box, because I actually, some of those shows were like wildly successful and it was just like an, a neighborhood artists market. Right. Or whatever. Just generic, but--

Ami: 30:32

No kidding? Okay, I wouldn't have guessed.

Cylinda: 30:35

I wouldn't have either. Right. Like, it was surprising to me, but in a good way. And so that'cause I think D&D particularly you know, and I, I, I love other tabletop RPGs too. Like I don't want to and I would eventually like to make candles for other games that are, are, you know, outside of the D&D realm, but it's just become such a phenomenon in the last few years that like, everyone knows someone who plays D&D at this point, you know, sort of, so. I'm trying not to like limit myself to just kind of geek spheres or whatever.

Ami: 31:12

And I mean, you try something new and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work,

Cylinda: 31:18

I'm all about trying things. And like, if they don't work, it's like, well, okay, that didn't work. Let's try something else. You know, and like giveaways have been pretty good in terms of marketing and that kind of thing. And just sort of engagement And you know, like I said, I'm just I just feel like this is like a long ramp up of, of, of building an audience and a customer base.

Ami: 31:39

It's a long game.

Cylinda: 31:41

It is a very long game. Yeah, no, for sure.

Ami: 31:45

Anecdotally that's been my biggest thing with past, like, side hustles and just like endeavors is that it's, you know, you go in there with this big idea and you're like,"Ah! It's going to explode! Everyone is going to love it!" Then you know that it's hard work. You have iterate, and think about it and like find your audience and try stuff and fail and.

Cylinda: 32:07

Yeah. You know, it's, it's absolutely. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know if it's possible any other way. I mean, maybe you know? And so, but, but I, I pretty much knew that going in, I was prepared to kind of give it a good amount of time to see if I can make this successful. So, and I'm still, still trying, but, you know, yeah. I've been happy so far with the experience.

Ami: 32:30

So I did notice on your website that you identify as a queer Latina woman. Yeah. So has that shaped your experience as a business owner at all, or, with this business specifically?

Cylinda: 32:43

I don't, I don't know if it's shaped the business. I mean, outside of just like, it shapes my life, you know, you know, like all of those identities but I think like, you know coming from a family who, who is not in the too distant past immigrated to the United States, like you know, this there's always like in general, like a lot of entrepreneurship with immigrant families and like, it's, it's definitely true in my family as well. And just kind of trying to kind of carve out your own little business or something that is yours. And so, so I think that kind of aspect of, at least like my Hispanic heritage you know, comes into play perhaps a bit. And it's important to me to put that like on the website and on my other social media profiles or whatever, just because I, you know, historically it seems like perhaps like the tabletop gaming space has not always been super inclusive or welcoming to other people. I think like queer folks or minorities have always played games, but perhaps they've been less visible or not welcomed by, by the majority of players, and so I just wanted to say like, well, I'm here. I, you know, this is, this is a queer owned business. It's a woman owned business. It's a Latina owned business, and we're here in this space taking up room and in, you know, being who we are. So so it was important. And like, I try to, when I can, support those kinds of businesses, myself with my dollars. And so if, if customers feel the same, I just sort of wanted them to know like who's behind this company. And obviously like, I want to make an inclusive product, you know, like it was kind of like our, our, the company ethos that goes into just wanting to make the tabletop gaming community as inclusive a space as it can be, and it should be. And so just like doing our tiny little part to help in that.

Ami: 34:54

So, putting a big old bow on this whole conversation that we had. I've got two big questions. What has been the biggest win you've had with Delve Candles and the biggest challenge that you've had with Delve Candles?

Cylinda: 35:08

Yeah. Honestly the biggest win, I think it was launching. And because it was a process, right? A year long in a pandemic I was just really proud because like you said, just kind of, you come in with an idea, you get really excited about it, and then you learn like the work that's involved in, like, and the expense that's involved. It's not, you know, there's, there's a lot that goes into making any business. Like I. People who had primary, primarily digital products have their own challenges and their own sort of expenses to deal with that they have to navigate. But, with selling physical products just kind of, it's not just the work, but it's like the capital, and the expense, and just sort of planning for all that. It took discipline and sort of foresight and planning. And it was just kind of, I felt proud of even kind of get it off the ground and then to have like a really positive reception was, was, felt, felt good, you know? Yeah. So that, that would be, I think what I would classify as the biggest win. I think the biggest challenge is marketing, like going to, you know, if we've already talked about that, but just I think when you, when you start a business like this, there's some things you can do yourself. You just don't do them as well as if you hired a professional. And, but there's, there's certain things that you just can't do yourself. Right? Like, I can't, I can't be my own wax supplier and I can't make candle tins. And I can't, you know, there's, there's certain business expenses I have to outsource. Right. But marketing is something, unfortunately that people sort of, can do themselves, even though it would be better off hiring someone, but it's, and I think the bigger picture is like prioritizing your financial resources and figuring out, you know, where to reinvest the income from the business. What makes more sense? And like right now I'm trying to develop a few new products. But I'm trying to, to understand what makes most sense from not just a business perspective, but like, what am I most excited about? Because I think. Me being excited. I'm the only, you know I do have the support of my family. They helped me out a ton. My, my wife and even my son have done a lot for me, but at the end of the day, it's just, it's just, it's my business. Right. And so like I have to be excited about the idea, but then I also have to be like, well, does this make business sense? Because if it, you know, it's becomes unsustainable. So yeah. So, yeah. It's a lot to think about. Yeah.

Ami: 38:01

Yeah. It's like, the business is the candles, but you have, all of these other, the marketing business, the packaging, the design business.

Cylinda: 38:11

No, no, all of it. The shipping business and then the fulfillment and the yeah. And the, yeah, it's, it's just a lot a lot of pieces go into it. But.

Ami: 38:21

But, it's worth it?

Cylinda: 38:23

Yes. No, absolutely. I've been having a great time most days. I just, you know it's it's great fun.

Ami: 38:31

Yeah. Well, I have loved hearing about this. And you know, obviously this whole conversation hearing about your businesses it's been educational to me. I hope that it says this as well. But what would you say is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone who maybe, maybe not specifically starting their own candle business, but if they wanna, you know, create a product and put it out there, what would your advice be?

Cylinda: 38:54

If they do want to start their own candle business, they would always be free to reach out to me. I would legitimately be happy to share what knowledge I could. You can, you can find me online. But just in terms of any business I think planning is super important and just sort of, of having a roadmap for the steps that you need to take to get from your starting place to where you want to be, and then break it down into as manageable of steps as you can. And just sort of accepting that it's going to take time, it's going to take patience and perseverance. And you know, there's going to be setbacks. There's going to be things you don't anticipate. And you just, but, but if you kind of go in knowing that it's going to happen, hopefully it doesn't take you too far out of the path, you know? And so that would probably be my, my best advice.

Ami: 39:49

Yeah. It's advice I need to take sometimes.

Cylinda: 39:51

I think we all need to hear it. It's really easy to just get excited. And then yeah, but just kind of go off on a detour that, that isn't where you necessarily want to go.

Ami: 40:09

Well, before we go would you like to plug where people can find you, your website?

Cylinda: 40:15

Yeah, it's delvecandles.com. And that's our, our website. On Twitter, I'm@delvecandles. Instagram, not very active there. I'm trying to get better. But also@delvecandles at Instagram. One day, I'll be on Tik Tok, maybe, maybe, I don't know.

Ami: 40:30

You can do it.

Cylinda: 40:32

It's going to be my next goal. And we are I'm trying to I get asked a lot. Are we going to have different sizes of candles? I'm working on making larger candles. As we speak I'm burning test large one out there in the back.

Ami: 40:46

Your house must smell so good.

Cylinda: 40:48

Well, some days, some days it smells strange. You can I don't know if, if my, my poor family has put up a lot of funky smells in the house for like a year. Some days it smells really nice. Some days, it's like, what are you doing? So I'm working on larger candles. I'm working on wax melts, which is another thing I get asked a lot about. And then testing out 3 scents. And I'm not sure how many of them might make it out into like our line, but I'm hoping at least a couple of them will it's just,

Ami: 41:21

Am I allowed to ask what they are?

Cylinda: 41:24

I'm not going to say. Not to be like coy or anything, but I'm not sure if they're gonna Exactly, exactly. Yeah. But you can, you can keep an eye on our social media and so hopefully they'll come out soonish.

Ami: 41:43

Well, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time.

Cylinda: 41:47

Thank you for your interest. I really appreciate it. And I hope it was educational. And my apologies if I rambled a bit, I tend to do that,

Ami: 41:54

Not at all, I was hooked the whole way through.

Cylinda: 41:58

Well, thank you so much.

Ami: 42:00

And there you have it. Thank you again to, Cylinda for taking the time to talk with us today, I learned so much and I hope you did too. If you like this and you want more where it came from, please, don't forget to like, and subscribe wherever you found us and visit us online at geekswhogetpaid.com where there are a lot more interviews, but also guides, tips, tricks, everything that'll help you start and grow your geekpreneurship ventures. So I will see you in the next one. Bye-bye