Beyond the Wick: Crafting Wealth Your Way "Built from scratch. Crafted for greatness
This isn’t your average business podcast.
Not Just Candle Talk is the unapologetic, unfiltered audio home for ambitious entrepreneurs, creatives, and side-hustlers ready to do business on their own terms — no fluff, no fake motivation.
Founded on real experience and raw truth, this podcast dives into the real-life challenges behind the candle business and beyond. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling your empire, every episode is packed with lessons, strategies, and mindset shifts to help you build a business and a life you don’t need to escape from.
Hey, I’m Toni, and I know what it’s like to start from scratch.
When I launched my candle business, I had big dreams but limited resources — no investors, no fancy marketing team, just grit, Google, and a lot of trial and error. I built my brand from the ground up, burned out more times than I can count, and learned to pivot, scale, and get smart about what really makes money in this game.
Not Just Candle Talk was born out of my journey — the highs, the hustle, the hard lessons — and the deep desire to have conversations no one else is having in entrepreneurship. The stuff beyond the surface. The why behind the work.
This Podcast Is For You If…
- You’re tired of overnight success stories with no receipts.
- You want to make real money while staying true to yourself.
- You believe business can be both profitable and purposeful.
- You’re building your brand while managing your real life.
Beyond the Wick: Crafting Wealth Your Way "Built from scratch. Crafted for greatness
The Rise of One-Person Empires: Navigating the Solopreneurship Revolution
The workplace revolution is here, and solopreneurship stands at its center. Forty percent of workers now choose flexibility over traditional employment, representing a shift I've seen building for years—even as corporations began paying lip service to "work-life balance" a decade ago.
Solopreneurship isn't just about working alone; it's about mastering the art of running an entire business through systems, automation, and technology. Unlike traditional entrepreneurs who build teams, solopreneurs create lean, self-sustaining operations where they maintain complete control. From freelancers and consultants to content creators and e-commerce store owners, these independent business operators are redefining success on their own terms.
The advantages are compelling: lower costs, higher profit margins, total decision-making authority, and the freedom to work from anywhere on your own schedule. Yet the challenges are equally real—potential burnout from handling every aspect of your business, slower growth without a team, and the stark reality that when you don't work, you don't earn. Success in this realm demands strategic use of artificial intelligence, automation tools, e-commerce platforms, and careful boundary-setting to prevent exhaustion.
Before diving into solopreneurship, honest self-assessment is crucial. Are you self-motivated and disciplined? Do you prefer independence over collaboration? Can you handle multiple business functions? Are you patient enough for gradual growth? Even committed solopreneurs can eventually incorporate contract workers to maintain freedom while expanding capacity. The path begins with identifying your natural strengths, focusing on solving specific problems, and sharing your journey to connect with like-minded individuals.
This isn't about becoming a multi-millionaire mogul—it's about providing value, generating sustainable income, and building a life that works for you. As we move through 2025 and beyond, solopreneurship won't just be an alternative path—it may become the primary way people create livelihoods and meaning in their work. What could you build on your own?
Hello world, welcome back to Not Just Candle Talk. Today's episode is going to be about solopreneurship. What is it, why is it different from traditional entrepreneurship, and also how to thrive as a one person business person business. More than ever right now, people are starting one person businesses using things like automation, online platforms, digital tools. Okay, by this year alone, 40% of the will choose flexibility over a traditional job. That's interesting and I see I've seen it coming for a long time. I was talking about this, oh, maybe five, 10 years ago, when they you know a lot of companies, corporations were talking about work-life balance when they started throwing that one around. You know it was a change coming, because that is not the case in most corporate jobs. Okay, so, anyway, let's get back to the topic at hand. By definition, solopreneurship is a business owner who runs everything alone no employees, just systems okay, systems and technology to support them, and how it differs from entrepreneurship entrepreneurs they build teams, right, whereas the solopreneur focuses on lean, self-sustaining businesses. Okay, and some examples of those is freelancing, of course, things like graphic design writers, one-person business, consultants can be a one person business. We see it every day with content creators. Most of them are one person businesses. They're bloggers, youtubers, and then you have your people who create online courses, write eBooks, writers who write eBooks, or just someone who writes eBooks, creative person, and then you got your e-commerce owners right, that can be ran solo and through automation as well.
Speaker 1:Let's get into some of the pros and cons. Okay, so, a pro uh, for a solo business uh, it's low cost, right, there's no need for office space or um, or employees for that matter. Um, you got total control, um, without outside influences. I mean, you don't have to. So that means you have to, you have to live by your, your standards, right? Um, and then, and that's okay, so you know, if you're going to do that, live by your, your, your standards. We're not living by your standards, but run your business by your standards. Uh, standards, well, not live by your standards, but run your business by your standards. All decisions, you have to be final, right, so, and that's not a bad thing, right? I mean, that's what you want, because you're, that's what you want, trust me, that's what you want.
Speaker 1:Flexibility, you can work from anywhere, you can set your own schedule. And no, there's no payroll to run and no overhead costs, right, when you're solo, you don't have, you don't have to incur those fees with running a payroll. Quick story I just got rid of my payroll system. It was just too costly. Once I went back and reviewed things papers and stuff I'm like this is just too much, too much money, that just is not necessary. So, um, and that caught that. That's that that's helpful for a higher profit margin, right?
Speaker 1:Um, some of the cons uh, if you don't want to work, you don't earn, so it's all on you again, right, you don't work, you don't earn and you have no one to blame but yourself. That's a con. Um, growth is slower, you know, without a team, of course, right. So you have to go into it with that mindset. Burnout, you can get some burnout. Handling everything, right, the sales, your finances, the operation, day-to-day offer, operations that can be overwhelming. Um, so you can't you? You, uh, it's a higher risk for burnout, of course that's a con. Um, there is no delegation to a team, so everything is on your shoulder, of course, all right.
Speaker 1:So let's, let's break away from that for a minute. Let's get into some how to succeed as a solo business owner, solopreneur, you can have everything automated, right, automated right. With the help of AI, you can run your website or a lot of your platform information through AI and, just you know, have your virtual assistant. And not only that, but you can incorporate different avenues of income. When you have everything on automation and you can combine, you know, like digital products, services and even affiliated marketing, you can incorporate that stuff into your website or your platform if you're using one for your business. Some leverages, again AI. Ai is probably the best friend of a person that runs their own business right now. That's definitely something to look into. And then you have your e-commerce platforms that could help as well.
Speaker 1:I won't name a few of them. I won't do that, but there's a lot out there. I won't name them because I don't have a favorite. I wouldn't recommend nothing. If I name something, that means I'm recommended. I'm not going to do that.
Speaker 1:So you can set boundaries and you can stick to a schedule, of course, and you could take breaks right, and get some self-care going on, step away and get some rest and cause. That's important when you're, when you're a solo business owner. Rest, self-care is important and to avoid exhaustion right as much as possible. So let's let's discuss is it, is it right for you, is it, is it the best thing. So so for people who who want to be, uh, a solopreneur, um, ask yourself these questions Um, are you self-motivated and disciplined?
Speaker 1:Do you prefer working independently? Um, do you want to full? You want full control over the business. Are you okay with slow, steady growth over fast scaling? Um, and then you know, ask, ask those questions first before you consider, um, just running everything by yourself. And then there you know the cause there, because there are signs that you might not be right, and those signs are if you prefer collaborating with somebody or you prefer teamwork and you want the, you want the company to build. I mean, you want to build a company and run it without you being there. Would that be something? Would that be something you might like? You're not comfortable with handling, like multiple business tasks or business roles. It might not be right for you to go into business as a solopreneur, ok, but even so, I mean some, some solopreneurs. They eventually hire a small team and it's not saying that you can't. You know eventually you can and use contract workers. You want to scale While keeping your financial freedom or your freedom to do what you want. You can always hire contract workers, and I think a lot of people are going into contract work, more so than ever now as well, anyway. So that would definitely be an extension for the solopreneur, for sure. You know.
Speaker 1:Again, we're going to, you know, do a little recap. So solopreneurship is about freedom, flexibility, okay, self-reliance, but it comes with challenges, right, I just named a few of the challenges, but it's doable, okay. So you know, with this type of thing, could you and would you would be the main question, and I, I uh, got to have a list of um, I have a list of how to become a solopreneur, okay. So one of the ways you can become one, or think about, is identify where you're good at. Okay, if you want to become a one-person business, identify what you're good at right, without putting too much thought. You know immediately what you're good at right. Everybody has something that they're like. It's easy flow for them. Something that I talked about hobbies before on our episode, a previous episode. It's something that you're obsessed with, right, and you wouldn't mind making an income through it. So embrace that right, embrace that thing that it's like I'm good at this, it's effortless, you know, I don't have to overthink it, uh, and then master it right. Master it and blend it in with uh, with with extra skills like learning you know, uh, how to operate your um website or um, learning that the graphic design stuff, just you know. Master a little bit more skills. Add on to what you already know effortlessly. What else? Share what you learn from it with the public, you know. Identify with other people, with, like, like-minded people. That's always a good, a good motive. Stay motivated. That's a good way to stay motivated and inspired, right when you find your people and share, share what you're doing with the public, and that will attract your community.
Speaker 1:Your people Look for problems to solve Okay, people Look for problems to solve okay, a lot of people that run their own business. Most of the time, they're good at solving problems. More often than not, they have more solutions than they have problems, and that's always a good thing. And have your answers to every solution I mean, I'm sorry, to every problem. Have the answers ready, right. So if you stick with your niche I really don't like the niche thing, but if you stick with the thing that you like the most and you can, and if it's a problem that arises and you can and you can solve it, there you go and you can incorporate how to make money with it.
Speaker 1:Doing it, ah, keys, um, and then um, sell you know, sell your knowledge, sell your, if you, if you, if you're one of those people who have knowledge, who has knowledge or something, and and, uh, just, you know, this is the opening to becoming a one person mogul to sell your knowledge, right? Um, and I think I think with a lot of people, they say entrepreneurship, they throw it around, cause I have it plastered on everything myself and I am definitely I'm in between. I'm in between both. There's some days I'm an entrepreneur and some days I'm a solopreneur. So I identify with both.
Speaker 1:That's what I wanted to bring this, this episode on, because I think this is where we're at. This is it? This is it from here on out, from 2025, beyond this, we're going to see more and more, but we have been seeing it. We just never put a name on it, or maybe we have, I'm not sure, but I believe this is the gateway to um, the gateway to how income is going to be made, on, on, on all levels. You know um, again, I, and I know people.
Speaker 1:I it's crazy, cause I know people who run solo businesses. You know, we don't sometimes, we, we see things and we don't put names to it, we just see it and that's and that's how it is Right. But I actually know a few people and and they make you know it's not even about making a, becoming this mogul multi-millionaire, it's not that. But if you can provide and and provide for yourself and make a good income, why not Right? At the end of the day, why not Um? So yeah, I'm going to end this um right now. I would love for um, of course, always and forever, to do a part two of this as more information about uh, solopreneurship comes in Again. If I learn some more things about it, I will definitely come on and share. I am pro solopreneurship, for sure. If anyone wants to come on and talk about their journey as a one person business owner, I would be more than happy to talk about it with you. Again, thank you for listening and we're going to stop it for now. Thank you, bye.