Year round scent collection

[00:00:00] Hey besties. Welcome to the Midwest Makers Podcast. I'm Kenna. I'm the co-founder of Midwest Fragrance Company, and I've spent the last six years building maker businesses, starting with our very own candle company that we grew from a hobby into a six figure business. so I know what it's like to be in your shoes.

I see you, you work so hard and you are so amazing, I just wanna support you however I can to share all of the lessons I've learned along the way that maybe it can just make it a little tiny bit easier for you. Today we are gonna talk about a product strategy that I used in that very candle business that I figured out over the years that really helped me to do what this podcast is all about, what I just shared.

To build a maker business that lasts and that's sustainable and that doesn't cost you your sanity. So before we get into it, I also just wanna tell you that there is no right or wrong way to build a business and to build a handmade maker product business. There are so many [00:01:00] different ways to do it.

There's so many different strategies. There's no one strategy fits all. It is really about what works for you and what works for your customers and just honestly, your sanity. And so I just wanna share some concepts and ideas to help you get thinking, but I really want you to take that pressure off that this doesn't mean you have to change everything, if you're doing things differently, maybe it'll just make you think a little differently, and that's my goal. So I just wanna share that with you before we get into things. So the strategy that I really wanna talk to you about is building a core collection of year-round scents and how important that is, in my opinion, to a scalable, sustainable maker business.

So before I implemented this strategy, here is what things looked like in my business... I had random scents that I would create small batches of. I ended up with 18,562 different scents, and it was really hard to manage. It was all over the place. I had customers who were upset because they found a scent that they [00:02:00] absolutely fell in love with, and then they were never able to get it again... because I only made one little run of it. I would end up losing customers and it just didn't set me up for a scalable business. So it was constantly having to test out different scents or make different labels. It was just this huge time suck.

And because I didn't really have a strategy around the scents that I was choosing, I ended up picking things that only I loved which equated to a whole bunch of different bakery scents and basically nothing else. So gourmand girly here.

Raise your hand in the comments because that is my jam.

It was honestly just super overwhelming, and I just really needed a different way of moving. So I came up with this concept of building out a classics collection. That's what I called it. But really what it was is this core year round, every day scent collection that my customers could count on to be available all year round. So in this I had 10 to 15 total scents, and these were tried and true bestsellers that I had created and figured out [00:03:00] over the course of being in business. The key here was I wanted to have variety, and so if you are interested in implementing this strategy, that's what I want you to lean into.

Variety. Not all of your favorite scents are going to be what your customers love... so you wanna have something for everyone. And scent is so subjective, so that can be really hard. I kind of look at things in terms of scent categories, not really individual scents. So I wanna share with you some recommendations that I have for different categories to kind of help you,

if you are interested in creating this, so I would, if I was you and I was interested, I would have clean scents that are more fresh, refreshing. I would do some florals. I would do fruity scents, masculine, outdoorsy, sweet, elegant feminine scents. And then obviously you've gotta have your gourmand or bakery scents.

So those would be the categories that I would be looking at, and then I would choose my scents to fit within those. So I have a couple of each of those [00:04:00] options. After I implemented this in our business, I started to see customers coming back time and time again for their favorites, our sales increased. Our customers knew that they could count on us to have these.

I was able to systemize our labels and our recipes to save a ton of time. And when I was going to order with different vendors, it made it so much easier to keep track of everything. And what I ended up doing was creating that foundation of a scalable business. If you are like, sign me up, bestie. I need this in my life... don't worry. I have got you. So what I did was I created two ounce scent sample bundles for you that fit these different categories for you to take some of the guesswork out because I picked out our tried and true bestsellers.... so that these are the perfect starting point for you to start exploring and testing and trying to see if you can find scents that will work for you and your business.

So I'm gonna put the link in the description, so if you're interested, you can check that out. Okay. [00:05:00] Ps we are gonna be launching six new fragrances very soon, and this whole concept was really inspired by this year-round bestseller idea... so stick around to the end because I'm gonna share some insider bestie scoop with you.

Okay, so something else I really wanna share with you are some strategies for seasonal collections for our candle company. On top of the classic line, I also had seasonal collections and limited edition scent drops that I would do to keep things fun and new and exciting.

By having these two parts of our business with the limited scent collections and the seasonal collections, it started to create a system that we could easily replicate and it took so much pressure off.

So we launched four seasonal collections each year that we planned for, and this was around five to seven scents for each of those collections. And we had multiple limited addition drops.... holidays... just because, these were just really super fun and giftable candles. I want to do another episode where I talk all about this strategy because [00:06:00] I feel like so many of you could pull this into your business and really have so much success.

So comment and tell me if that's something that you're interested in. Another side tangent that I need to go off on, which is naming. Naming is so important and naming these scents, I would almost say is equally- ish important than the scents themselves, especially if you're selling online where people can't smell things.

Or honestly, even if you're in person doing markets or maybe you have a popup or a shop, you really want scents that are going to be named, that stand out and really gonna make people get hooked and be like, oh my gosh, what does that smell like? I think, and a great example is like the scent Butt Naked.

It's like I am immediately like interested in that because I'm like, what the heck does that smell like? You know what I mean? I have to know.

So if you need some help renaming, because I know it can be a struggle, we have a really great resource on our website. I'm gonna link that below for you as well because I need to give you all the resources to help you and also comment and tell me if a whole entire episode talking about naming is [00:07:00] something that would help you.

' cause I know so many people struggle with it. All right. Yet another thing I have to share with you, because honestly, I feel like I would be remiss if I did not do this. It's a strategy that we tried last year in our candle company, and it worked really, really, really well.

I have to set the scene a little bit for you. So it was January of last year, and I had been already feeling the tension over our launches for the upcoming year. The year before, instead of doing a typical spring collection, I did a wellness themed scent launch and it performed so much better than any traditional spring launch I'd ever done before, which springtime is just a notorious slow time of year anyways.

So it got me thinking and then.

To add to that, our summer collection that year was just kind of meh. So like I said, all of this started getting me thinking, what if the issue wasn't the scents, but how I was positioning it? What if it was the structure? So I tried an experiment. Huh? Crazy, right? Are you sensing a theme? Experimenting [00:08:00] is the way to go in business.

So instead of doing what we had always done, I scrapped our traditional spring and summer launches completely, which was crazy. And I decided that I wanted to do a year round collection launch and my theme around this and what I positioned it as was a timeless collection. So these were scents that felt good in any season, and they were really inspired by

everyday life moments. I wanna share with you a few of the scent names so that you can kind of get the vibe. But I had scents called Sunday Morning, Fresh Start. Evening Calm, Happy Place, Golden Hour.

When I was naming these, I was really trying to go for this year round concept because I had a secret agenda, which was I wanted to test which of these scents would naturally just rise to the top without the pressure of having this like limited time seasonal launch and see if there was any that I could add to our year round classics collection.

This core collection that we had. So we sold these for six [00:09:00] months straight. I replaced both of our seasonal launches and during that time it just gave me so much clarity. Not only did it free up all this time and energy to invest in other parts of our business, but it also showed us very clearly which ones were the top sellers.

And I wanna share the bestseller with you... Happy Place. Literal bestseller of like almost all of our candles. I could not keep it in stock, consistently rose to the top.

And it ended up becoming a part of that core year-round lineup. And I just love this example so much because it reminds me that you don't have to keep doing the things that you've always done the way that you've always done them. You're allowed to do that experimentation. You're allowed to test things.

You're allowed to reinvent parts of your business as you learn. And I really hope that this just sparks maybe some ideas for you on how you might do that for your own business. And maybe it's not even related to scent at all. But I want this to give you just permission to try something different. And again, going with my whole theme for this year, you don't need to have the perfect plan.

You can just start wherever you are. Okay, besties. I [00:10:00] need to share some insider scoop with you. We're launching new fragrances with this very strategy in mind.

I wanted to put a collection together of your next bestsellers. I wanted to take the hard guesswork out for you and create amazing year-round scents that I hope are gonna fly off of your shelves and ours. And that is what we are all about here at Midwest. When you win, when you succeed, we do too.

That's what we believe. So I want to share this with you. I'm literally so freaking excited. We have six scents, we have three originals and three dupes with endless possibilities. Are you ready? Ah, okay. I'm sorry if that was like very loud in your ear, but I am so excited. Okay. I'm gonna pick three to sneak peek to you.

So the first one is called Blueberry Lychee + Sugar Milk. This is a Midwest original, my friends, it's sweet, it's upscale, it has this mood boosting feel. It's unique. I feel like there's so many blueberry scents out there, but they're always super gourmand.

It's so [00:11:00] good. I think you're gonna love it. I'm envisioning so many different ways of using this. If you wanna keep to the traditional spring summer, I think this is gonna be perfect. I think this is also going to be a year round amazing scent that you're gonna be able to do so many different things with.

I wanna create a whole episode where I talk about like all of these ideas that I have, because they're just straight up all in my head. I wanna make them come to life for you so that you can kind of just be inspired by this. And that's really how we wanna start moving. At Midwest, we wanna inspire you.

We want to just make you be able to see all of these different possibilities that you can create. Okay, another one, Vanilla Waffle cone Sundae. Stop right now. I am picturing a freaking beautiful soap or candle, and I want you to call it Sundae Funday, like spelled sundae, S-U-N-D-A-E. Stop it. It's inspired by Sugared Vanilla Waffle Cone, but it is not the same.

It has more of these sundae vibes, so it has some strawberry drizzle, some marshmallow, waffle cone. Oh my gosh, you guys, it is so good. It really follows the [00:12:00] gourmand indulgence trend that we are seeing all the way across the scent industry, but also I think it's gonna be a tried and true for you and not just, oh, this is trending right now.

This is good. Okay, another one. Are you ready? The Perfect Man. Okay. Think sexy man. Oh my goodness. Confident, I'm fanning myself right now. Like so good. It is inspired by the Bleu De Chanel scent and masculine scents are just

so good. And they are just so trending and not only trending, but just classic at the same time, and this scent is just gonna hit the mark for that. I'm gonna share another one with you because I cannot handle it. The last one I wanna share with you is called Sweet Grace ( type). This is a peaceful and comforting scent.

It's super unique and it is a dupe from Bridgewater Candle Company. Oh my goodness gracious. You guys have been asking for that scent for so long. All of the dupes that we have in this launch are things we have heard from our community. We are listening, my friends, and we are [00:13:00] delivering.

If you are listening in and you are like, sign me up for these new scents, don't worry, bestie, I've got you. I'm gonna link all of the details in the description for you to be able to start exploring all six of these before they launch. I have scent notes, inspiration ideas, product testing, notes for candles, soaps, and more.

We are advertising that these are gonna be launching on February 4th at 8:00 AM CST. But if you are listening in, friend, my insider scoop is that you should definitely make sure to sign up for our email list because we will be launching these sooner than that for our VIPs. You did not hear it from me. I hope that you are as excited as I am about these new fragrances. Please go ahead and leave me some comments. Let me know are you having any thoughts or plans or ideas or ways that you're seeing them come to life already? I need to know. All right. That's it for today, besties. If anything in this episode resonated with you, I would love to hear about it in the comments, and if it didn't apply, let it fly.

Just a little reminder for [00:14:00] you, you're not behind your building. Thanks so much for spending time with me, and we're cheering you on every single step of your maker journey. Okay, love you. Bye.