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
Profit Killers: 10 Entrepreneurial Mistakes to Avoid in 2025
Every entrepreneur dreams of building a profitable business, but many find themselves stuck in a cycle of zero returns despite their best efforts. What separates successful business owners from those who struggle isn't just hard work—it's avoiding the critical mistakes that silently sabotage your progress.
Throughout this eye-opening episode, we unpack ten entrepreneurial pitfalls that consistently derail business growth and profitability. The journey begins with the perfectionism trap that prevents many from even launching, as we emphasize that "perfection is the enemy of progress." From there, we explore how inadequate self-investment, neglected branding, and poor pricing strategies create invisible barriers to success.
Drawing from personal experiences in the candle business, we share candid stories about underpricing products at pop-up shops and the importance of adapting to changing customer preferences. The conversation digs into why trying to do everything yourself leads to inevitable burnout, and why understanding your financial numbers isn't just bookkeeping—it's the lifeblood of business sustainability. Perhaps most valuable is our examination of time management, which many entrepreneurs identify as their greatest challenge.
The episode concludes with a bonus strategy on building multiple income streams for greater stability and a special gift for listeners—a free downloadable checklist to serve as your reference guide whenever your entrepreneurial journey feels overwhelming. Whether you're just starting out or looking to break through a growth plateau, these insights provide the clarity needed to stop the profit-killing mistakes holding you back. What business blindspot might be costing you everything? Listen now to find out.
Subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share with fellow entrepreneurs who might benefit from these hard-earned lessons. Your business success story starts with avoiding these common mistakes!
Hello world, welcome back to Not Just Candle Talk, the podcast where we dive into the real strategies, struggles and successes of entrepreneurs and small business owners. Today's topic we're going to get into 10 entrepreneurial mistakes you must avoid in 2025. Going from zero to profit all right, whether you're just starting your business or you've been hustling for years. We're just going to break down the 10 biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make that keep them stuck at zero profit or, worse, losing money, and, most importantly, how to avoid them so you can start seeing real progress. Ok, so let's, let's, let's jump right into it, let's get into it. So the first mistake is his mindset the all of the all of nothing mindset, the all of nothing mindset. Many entrepreneurs believe they have to get everything perfect before launching. In reality, perfection is the enemy of progress. Let me repeat that Perfection is the enemy of progress. Don't wait until everything is flawless. You got to launch it. Learn and improve as you go, all right, uh. So, like I said, uh, perfection is the enemy of progress. Uh, learn as you go. If you, if, if you can, um, that's. That's key to to a lot of um, to a lot of mistakes people make when they're first starting off. Everything will not be perfect. It's going to be peaks and valleys all the time. Mistake number two not investing in yourself. Trying to do everything for free or cheap will just hold you back. So, instead of doing that, invest in education, tools and resources. Resources are critical. Okay, the right courses you can do, mentorship or you can get some software can help you level up way faster than trial and error. So always be open to educating yourself, ok.
Speaker 1:Mistake number three neglecting branding and marketing. If your audience doesn't know who you are, they can't buy from you. Invest time in building a strong brand presence, both online and off. Consistent visuals, messaging, storytelling are essential. I've done a lot of marketing offline, going to networking events, pop-up shops, a lot of marketing and getting my brand out there. In that regard, and let me tell you, it helps. You know, there's nothing, there's nothing like a face-to-face interaction.
Speaker 1:All right, so let's go into number four poor pricing strategy. Okay, underpricing your product or services may attract customers okay, it might, but it won't keep you profitable. Evaluate your costs, your value and market to set price that reflects your worth. Okay. So again, I'm going to go back to like doing a pop-up shop In the beginning, when I was doing my candles in the beginning, I would try to get that sale right. So sometimes I would bring down the price of the candle just so I can get that sale. And I knew it wasn't right because I went in starting the event me and my partner starting the event with inventory. So you know, by the end of the event, the inventory did not match the dollar amount. So it's a lesson learned.
Speaker 1:Let's get into mistake number five Ignoring your audience feedback. Okay, listen to your customers. Okay, their feedback is gold. Ignoring them means missing opportunities to improve and grow With this one um. Listening to your customers is key. They'll let you know what's good, what's hot, you know what's not. They will guide you through your business and always check back with them. And you have to be open to Constructive criticism. Okay, you have to. When you're an entrepreneur you entrepreneur, you can't live without feedback from your audience. All right.
Speaker 1:So mistake number six moving right along, trying to do everything yourself. Okay, being a one-person show is a recipe for burnout. You can delegate tasks, you can automate processes and you can focus on what truly moves the needle about solopreneurship, a couple of weeks ago, and about, yeah, a couple of weeks ago. And emphasize virtual assistance using the automated systems. Or you can hire. Hire people, right, but trying to do everything for yourself by yourself, it will burn you out. So you know, use the tools that are available to you, okay, mistake number seven poor time management.
Speaker 1:Oh, big one, this is a big one. Entrepreneurs who don't plan their day often find themselves busy but not productive. Implement systems, okay, schedule your days and stick to it. I'm big on this one. This is one this is probably on the top of my list right now. It's time management. Um, the day can really get away from you if you're not um managing your time correctly. Okay, this is to me, this is probably one of the most important mistakes people make Um important mistakes people make um time management. Um, let's go to number eight sticking to sticking to outdated strategies. Okay, what worked last year may not work Um now. Stay current with trends, tools and technologies that are changing the game. Okay, I believe that. I believe that is a big mistake Because, just for instance, the candle business, what, since products really stood out one year, uh, stand out at all the following year?
Speaker 1:I always keep it innovative, I always keep it fresh. Um, that's. That was the goal all the time, um, for us, we, we have over 200 cents and and that's not you know, 200 cents were 200 cents and that's not you know. 200 cents with a small candle business is a lot, and that was our goal to keep it fresh, keep it innovative and keep it moving. Let's go to mistake number nine failing to adapt to change in customer behavior. Oh, that's a good one too. Keep your finger on the pulse of what your customers need and how they prefer to interact with you. Asking people you know what, what's their scent, what's their go-to, what's their go-to fragrance, what's their go-to product with a with a candle business, um, and how can we cater to that customer? Um, that that's, that was one of our goals and it still is, is always catered to our customers, all right.
Speaker 1:So, number 10, mistake number 10, the final mistake is not understanding your numbers. Oh, this is not big. This gotta be this, this has to be. Uh, yeah, this is. This is huge too. So revenue is great, right, but profit is what truly matters. Track your expenses, your revenue and profit margins closely and, again, there's tools to help you. Uh, do these things.
Speaker 1:If you are, are not, um, uh, equipped to do it yourself, especially when you're starting out. Right, there's a ton of software out here or you can you know if someone you know is good at the books, so to speak, employ them. But understanding what's coming in and going out really will let you know if your business is worthy or not, right? Um, yeah, so that's definitely One you don't really pay attention to when you're starting out, but if you are lucky enough to be in business three to five years, it's definitely time to tighten up the books and see where your money is going.
Speaker 1:Very important, ok, so those were the top 10 mistakes entrepreneurs make, and they can be corrected. Right, all mistakes can be corrected if you're paying attention to your business. Okay, so I have a bonus tip, a bonus tip right now, and that is to build multiple streams of income. Okay, and however you do it, you know, whatever you're comfortable with um, make that your go-to um, because that will help your bottom line and that's and that's the purpose of being in in business or um running a business. So let's see what else Different things you can do is digital products. Of course, you can go through partnerships. Just diversify your revenue. It can provide stability and growth absolutely. Well, there you have it the 10 biggest entrepreneurial mistakes that people hold back from making money. That will hold you back from making money. Avoiding these pitfalls. It up right now.
Speaker 1:If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a review or share it with fellow entrepreneurs, because I think this is a big one, because sometimes we might lose ourselves. I think I will provide a checklist, a downloadable PDF checklist, under the subscribe tab, for entrepreneurs to go back as a reference. It's a free download, but just a nice reference to have If you ever get lost in your journey. Alright, so thank you, I'm going to wrap it up right now and thank you for listening to my podcast and I will talk to you guys later. Keep hustling and stay inspired. Thank you, bye.