Lads who quit their jobs to turn candle making hobby into a business now make £74,000 a year
Ashley Cook and Kristian Matthews from Croydon started selling their candles online and after two years made enough money to open a shop
IMAGINE turning your hobby into a thriving business that turns over £74,000 a year - enough to open a shop.
Well that's exactly what pals - and former partners - Ashley Cooke, 28, and Kristian Matthews, 24, did, with the lads now expecting their growing Cozy Glow candle business to turnover a tidy £120,000 in 2018.
The online business hasn't changed too much from when it started four years ago. The candles are still made by hand in their kitchen, with help from Kristian's grandparents.
It's still early days - they pay themselves a "low wage" so they can keep ploughing their profits back into the business - but they've earned enough to open a shop in Coulsdon, South London without needing to take out a loan.
The lads, who are from Croydon, were dating at the time and enjoyed a shared love for candles, filling their home with scented ones.
But after reading about the chemicals that are added to some of their favourite ones, they decided it was time to take matters into their own hands.
"Have you seen the black stuff that's left on the sides of the jars on some of the leading candles? That's because of all the chemicals added are being burned off," explained one half of , Ashley, when we caught up with him.
"Candles are something we loved so I looked into how you can make your own. I probably paid about £50 for those first ingredients from and we made blueberry muffin scented tealights.
"They didn't look that great but we enjoyed the process so much that we kept making them ourselves. We use soy wax which means they burn longer and essential oil for the scents."
Making the jump from a small business to a medium-size one
ASHLEY says the hardest thing the company has faced so far is trying to make the leap from a small business to a medium-sized one.
He said: "It's great that we've got a shop and we love being part of the community in Caulsdon, but it's our online sales that keep us in business.
"Being on the high street isn't enough. We can't just rely on the footfall and over 50 per cent of the business is online.
"We're still in the early stages really, and at the moment it's just the two of us although we'd love to take on more people.
"We're trying to expand into spaces in shopping centres but it's hard not only because of the rent prices but centres like that would rather choose a bigger brand, than take a chance and rent it out to a newcomer."
After a few months of trial and error, they finally perfected a handful of scents - and they were a hit with family and friends.
They decided to try their luck and see if they could make some money out of their hobby, so spent a few hundred pounds on ingredients and signed up for a stall at the Cow Pie Country Show in Surrey, about 20 minutes from their home.
When they sold out of stock and after making their money back and some, they ploughed the funds back into the business and signed up to more weekend shows.
They lads worked hard and a few weeks later, they set up the website and began flogging the organic goods online, whilst continuing with their online store on , which supports small businesses who sell handcrafted goods.
Burning the candle at both ends, all of their free time was dedicated to fulfilling the orders.
By now, Kristian was in full time employment having graduated from a degree in computer science and animation.
Ashley trained as a commercial pilot which meant he was away a lot and tied to shift work which didn't mean he was guaranteed the weekend off.
"We sold them anywhere we could - at country shows, Amazon, you name it. We were flat out selling candles," said Ashley.
"It was very difficult balancing our jobs. We took all of our annual leave to make sure we had our weekends free to sell the stock."
While the business was doing well, their relationship was taking its toll and after seven years together, the men split up.
And although things had romantically turned sour for them, Ashley insists there's no animosity between them.
If anything, the pair ended up quitting their jobs and spending between £30,000 and £40,000 to open a shop.
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The business is still young and having a shop means that they can store stock at work rather than in their living room.
Kristian's grandparents Austin and Carol Parry, both in their 60s, still help them make the candles from the kitchen, whilst Ashley has taken on more of the marketing side.
"We did have to take a pay cut when we quit our jobs but because of the way we've scaled the business, we've never made a loss," Ashley claims.
"It was very nerve-wracking because neither of us had any experience in retail.
"But we jumped in at the deep end because we knew we could do it and we enjoyed it."
New research has found that eight out of 10 start-ups begin life with friends or relatives being roped in to help out, like Kristian and Ashley.
Small businesses will get an £80million boost to help support apprentices entering the world of work, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the Spring Statement.
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