91探花

• Ava May Aromas was founded in 2018 by Hannah Chapman.
• The startup sells a number of home fragrance products, including wax melts, reed diffusers and room sprays.

The scented candle season is upon us, as many begin to cosy-up their homes with warm, festive smells counting down for Christmas. Getting in the festive scented spirit ourselves, 91探花 recently caught up with Ava May Aromas founder Hannah Chapman, discussing the inspiration behind her startup, the challenges faced along the way and plans for the future.

What inspired Ava May Aromas to start?

鈥淭he short answer is I wanted to work for myself. After coming out of university I started working for a marketing company. It was a job I just fell into post-uni, I still didn鈥檛 know what I wanted to do. I think there鈥檚 a lot of expectation when you come out of university about what you鈥檙e going to do next and I just didn鈥檛 know.鈥�

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 enjoying my job, and knew I was going to quit it, I needed to move on regardless of what I did next. My Dad has always been self-employed and was really encouraging, saying that this would be a really good opportunity to try and do something for myself.鈥�

鈥淚 think my Dad had other ideas about me going into self-employment. I think he thought maybe I鈥檇 set up my own agency, but when I went back to him and said I was going to make candles he wasn鈥檛 quite so convinced 鈥� but it turned out well in the end!鈥�

鈥淪o it really came from a desire to be self-employed, alongside my Dad鈥檚 encouragement.鈥�

Why candles 鈥� had you always made them?

鈥淚 think I鈥檝e always been a creative, I like making things and find it satisfying. I just loved the concept of selling something I made 鈥� this really appealed to me, a sort of challenge I guess. I hadn鈥檛 made candles before, but equally I鈥檓 definitely a girly girl 鈥� I like nice smelling things. But no, I鈥檇 never had a go at making a candle before, so I just bought a starter kit and started from there.鈥�

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鈥淢aking a candle is quite technical, there鈥檚 a lot more to it than people realise, and there was a lot more to it than I realised. I think it sort of went in my favour that I was quite na茂ve, that I didn鈥檛 realise how much there was involved, as that may have been slightly off-putting at the start!鈥�

Since starting up, how have you seen your business grow?

鈥淧retty quickly, the challenge has actually been trying to keep up with the business, and making sure that we鈥檙e not limiting it. Our biggest limiting factor right now is space. Even when I started up and the business began to grow it became a bit of a snowball effect. It was growing and growing on Instagram and taking over my family鈥檚 house where even then space was a restriction. Hence moving to our units on the commercial centre that we鈥檙e on now, and then we just acquired more and more units because space has just forever been a limiting factor. So in terms of growth it鈥檚 been exponential, but it鈥檚 actually been a struggle to keep up with it.鈥�

Have there been any other challenges you鈥檝e found whilst growing your business?

鈥淚t鈥檚 all just been a massive learning curve. I was 23 when I started and I鈥檝e been learning so much every day. I know a lot more now than I did at the start, I鈥檝e had to learn on the job, but I鈥檝e still got so much more to go. I鈥檓 lucky that my Dad has become my business partner. The fact he鈥檚 been self-employed and ran his own businesses in the past has helped massively because he had knowledge in areas that I don鈥檛.鈥�

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鈥淎nother challenge we鈥檝e had is learning how to manage cash flow. Candles are seasonal, and you have your peak from September to March. So you have a really intense 6-8 months this side of the year what with Christmas, Black Friday, Valentine鈥檚 Day, Mother鈥檚 Day etc.鈥�

鈥淧ost-March it starts to tale off a little bit, and typically you have a quieter summer. So the fact it鈥檚 seasonal is a challenge as well, you鈥檝e got to make sure that you essentially make hay while the sun shines, and you can鈥檛 just assume that you鈥檒l have an easy summer because you鈥檙e having a good winter. I had to realise very quickly that this is a seasonal business, and it鈥檚 all about learning how to manage that.鈥�

How has COVID effected business?

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a bit of a double-edged sword really, there鈥檚 been a positive and a negative to it. The positive is that we鈥檝e been very fortunate to be in ecommerce. I feel so awful for the retail services that have been effected so badly, and we鈥檙e just so lucky that we鈥檝e been able to continue trading. I suppose the benefit to us is that even in lockdown people are on their phones more and shopping online, so we haven鈥檛 suffered so much from a trading perspective. This has also meant we鈥檝e been able to retain people鈥檚 jobs and that鈥檚 been great.鈥�

鈥淥n the negative side, something that鈥檚 really hit us is deliveries with the supply chains being effected. It鈥檚 not so much the supply chain in itself, it鈥檚 the ports, and it鈥檚 not just us that鈥檚 suffering 鈥� it鈥檚 across the whole industry. For everybody, deliveries are just horrendous at the moment.鈥�

鈥淪o that鈥檚 really hit us now because by not having that stock, especially now during this season, it鈥檚 lost us sales. But ultimately it鈥檚 a bit of both, we haven鈥檛 got away scot-free, we鈥檝e seen some benefits from people being stuck at home on their phones, but equally we鈥檝e suffered as well.鈥�

Final thoughts and advice

鈥淚f people are considering starting up a business I鈥檇 just say to go for it! I鈥檓 a big advocate of social media, it鈥檚 amazing to anyone that wants to start up on their own because it鈥檚 free. Like when I started, I don鈥檛 come from money as a background, I didn鈥檛 have any budget and I just loved that social media sort of levelled the playing field 鈥� anybody can leverage it to make their business work.鈥�

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鈥淭here are so many people out there at the moment who have been made redundant or have lost their job and are probably looking for something else to do. And as much as it鈥檚 really scary, with a lot of horrible things happening at the moment, there鈥檚 so much opportunity as well. There鈥檚 always something that can be done. So I鈥檇 just like to encourage anyone who鈥檚 thinking about starting up their business venture to go for it. Because if I hadn鈥檛 taken that leap at the time I knew I would never have started this, you never know what could happen.鈥�