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
Breaking Free From Your 9-5: The Uncomfortable Truth About Entrepreneurship in 2025
Ever scrolled through those "quit your job and make six figures from your laptop" posts and wondered if they're selling a dream or reality? This raw, unfiltered discussion tears down the glamorous façade of entrepreneurship to reveal what's really waiting on the other side of your resignation letter in 2025.
Behind every entrepreneur flaunting success on social media, a hundred others are silently drowning in credit card debt, struggling to sell their online courses, or working around the clock with minimal income to show for it. The hard truth? Quitting your job isn't the beginning of freedom—it's the moment you take on more responsibility than you've likely ever had before.
We dive deep into the red flags that signal you should keep your day job (like having less than six months of living expenses saved or no validated business model), and the green lights that suggest you might be ready to bet on yourself (consistent side income, emotional preparedness for slow seasons). Beyond the basics, we explore what the successful 2025 entrepreneur's toolkit must include: AI tools that enhance rather than replace your voice, content that both educates and sells, and the resilience to weather inevitable storms. The myth of passive income has fooled too many—what you really want is leveraged income, where strategic effort pays dividends over time. Leave with practical wisdom, a free downloadable checklist, and the clarity to make your next career move with confidence rather than wishful thinking.
Hello world, welcome back to Not Just Candle Talk the space where side hustles become businesses and dreams get the strategies they need to grow. On today's episode, it might just save someone from quitting their job too soon, or it might inspire someone else to finally take the leap the right way. All right, so, with that being said, should you quit your nine to five? The brutal truth about entrepreneurship in 2025. All right, let's get into it. We've all seen the TikToks quit your job, travel the world, make six figures just from your laptop. Sounds great, right, but here's the truth for everyone. Success story. There are a hundred people silently drowning in credit card debt, struggling to sell their online courses or working 16-hour days with zero income. Quitting your job isn't the start of freedom. It really isn't. It's the start of responsibility. Okay, that's a big one. Let me repeat that Quitting your job isn't the start of freedom. It's the start of responsibility. In 2025,. Entrepreneurship isn't just about selling products or services. It's about adapting to AI, understanding content, marketing, knowing your numbers and building trust online. If you're not treating this like a real business, you're building a hobby with overhead. Recession fears are real and people are spending differently. Being visible doesn't equal being profitable? Not at all. Let me repeat that. One being visible doesn't equal being profitable. Not everybody is doing it big like it's portrayed.
Speaker 1:I want to get into a few red flags when you should not quit your job. Number one if you have less than six months of living expenses saved. Number two you don't have a business plan or a working prototype. Number three you're quitting your job because you've burnt. You're burnt out, not because you're called to build. Okay, now everybody is called to build. Number four you haven't validated your offer or made $1 yet. If that's, you stay. Build your business while getting paid. Okay, that's how smart entrepreneurs make moves. Okay, and that's the best way to do it Build as you go, okay, that was just a couple of red flags. Let's get into some some green flags. When you should bet on yourself OK, number one, you've been making consistent side income.
Speaker 1:Number two you've tested your offer with strangers, not just your friends. Ok, get outside your comfort zone. Number three you have a clear customer and you know how to reach them. Okay, you identify with your people. Um, number four, you're emotionally prepared for slow seasons. If that's you, you don't need permission. You need a blueprint, okay, uh, starting the business is Peaks and valleys, especially in the beginning, because you're in the learning stages, right. So it's going to be those down times. Do you have that emotional maturity To stay in, stick it out when it's slow? Okay, there's no such thing as true Passive income.
Speaker 1:Okay, passive income is not what you think, especially at the beginning. Ok, what you want is to leverage income. Ok, as much as you can. You work hard once and get paid multiple times. That's how you leverage your income. But it takes time, it takes effort, it takes strategy and to implement systems.
Speaker 1:The myth of easy money has fooled too many people already. You see it online all the time and you ask yourself is that true? Is that? Is that? Can you really do that to make money around here? We don't play them games. We don't. We don't't. We don't go and get into the myth. Uh, or the easy money Uh, we're not on an easy money train, not over here.
Speaker 1:Okay, so right now, I'm going to go into the, the 2025 entrepreneur toolkit. Okay, um, what it takes to win into 2025 and beyond OK, you need AI tools that automates without removing your voice. Ok, you need to create content that educates and sells. Ok, I'm big on education. I don't know if anybody else is, but if you can relate, that's incredible. You need a brand, not just a product. I repeat, you need a brand, not just a product. I repeat, you need a brand, not just a product. Everybody's selling products, right, and above all, you need resilience, because this journey is not. It's not cute, it's not fun, but it's worth it, right, right, if you get the right toolkit. And those are just a few. And so the question at the end of the day is should you quit? Your nine to five Maybe? Okay, but only if you're ready. Sure, I've made another free, downloadable checklist 10 signs you're not ready to quit yet, so you can make the smartest move, next move for your future. Okay, and what I'm going to do is, if you felt this episode, do me a favor and subscribe, leave me a review or, better yet, share this with someone who's thinking about quitting their job right now and going into their journey of starting a small business. And going into their journey of starting a small business. What I'm going to do is, when I upload the PDF free checklist I'm going to, it's going to be under the subscribe tab. You can just download it and use it as a reference guide. So I'm going to wrap this up.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to touch on this, touch on this subject real quick because I think it needs to be said, it needs to be heard over and over. I actually did an episode like this a few months back. I had a guest on and it was titled nine to five versus entrepreneurship and it was titled Nine to Five versus Entrepreneurship and my guest was really adamant about her beliefs in this. She's a nine to fiver no-transcript, and if you're not ready to take that role and wearing many hats, to build something for your future, staying at your 95 would probably be the wisest decision, especially now with everything that's going on with the economy and all. Sometimes it's just best to stay, or stay and build. You know that's even better.
Speaker 1:But that episode it was a good one. It was a good one. It was worth listening to and just to hear someone's real raw opinions on why they stay at their nine to five Again, go check that episode out, and right now I'm going to, I'm going to end this podcast. I really wanted to touch on it. I might do a part two and do some more research if I can find some, and I think this topic is worthy of another episode. So again, if you enjoyed this one, subscribe to the podcast and give it a listen, and thank you for your time, as always, and I'll see you on the next episode. Bye.