CHC - Year 6 ♡

Happy Birthday, Collective Harmony!

2019 - The founding year

My journey to owning a business began before the culmination of Collective Harmony. My first candle was poured in the fall of 2017, however shortly later I got engaged and wedding planning took over. After getting married in the winter of 2018, I entered 2019 with goals to get back to candle making and my business. I officially register my business in May 2019, changing my business name from "Crafted Harmony" to "Collective Harmony". I had goals of adding more than just candles and wanted a "collective" of good smells to offer - hence "collective harmony" being born. Here's a look at what 2019 brought.

 

2020 - The "let's do this" year

I began 2020 with a goal of attending one of my biggest markets to date: Markets for Makers. The world seemed to have other plans as we were all sent into isolation in March of 2020 and my markets for foreseeable future were postponed or cancelled. Shortly after this I was let go from my corporate job (along with most of the company). I decided it was the universe's way of telling me to go all in on my business. I spent most of 2020 trying new products, changing our labels, refining our mission and growing our wholesale and stockists. I saw so much growth this year and thought "oh my gosh, I could really do this!"

2021 - How do I do this sustainable with a baby?

This year started off with a bang! My husband and I bought our first house and shortly later were pregnant with our first. Entering into parenthood I wanted to create a more sustainable branding for my business instead of just piecing things together like I had been doing. In July of 2021 we unveiled the version of Collective Harmony (CHC) you see today. There was a lot of behind the scenes work going on this year as we prepared for the biggest change of our lives (adding a baby) and I really honed in on Collective Harmony going the distance.

2022 - The Adjustment Year

At the end of 2021 I introduced macrame into our products. Macrame seamlessly fit into the branding and mission of Collective Harmony (see boho vibes) and allowed me to still work while resting and preparing for a baby. I knew heading into 2022 that having this as a new addition for my business would be as easy way to work too, since It's not really feasible to make candles with a newborn. Most of this year was focused on adjusting to our new reality, but by the fall I was back to market season and the itch to work more "in" the business than on the business. 

2023 - Growth + more growth

Arguably the turning point for the focus of my business. This year Collective Harmony saw close to a 30% increase on sales! After getting our son into daycare at the start of the year, I was able to focus more on Collective Harmony and really propeal it forward. If you're catching on, I love to change things up and keep them fresh, so we painted the studio the summer of 2023 and gave it some new life! It's also the year we took Collective Harmony on the road for the first time and headed to Nashville, TN! A lot of lessons were learned this year and I knew that there were some big pivots coming.

2024 - Let's Pivot

Coming off of a huge year of growth, I decided to jump in head first and do some things that really scared me. I signed up for my biggest market, the One of a Kind Show in Chicago. This market scared me and seemed too out of my league, but in order to keep growing CHC I needed to do this. I also really had the itch to switch some things up and offer some new products. The big markets I did this year were a lot of work, so fun and a little underwhelming if I'm being honest. But I'm proud that I took the risk and did something that scared me. That's the only way you can grow. This year also saw changes to our products slightly with new candle vessels, updated labels and new scents.

2025 Outlook

2025 started off with a bang! I've had the desire for a bigger studio space for about 2 years, and I finally pulled the metaphorical trigger. In February construction began in our basement to build out a new studio space. It's easily double the size of our old studio and has been a game changer for product, order fulfilment and my sanity!

But, per usual, it's time to switch some things up again! The core of Collective Harmony isn't changing, but some things will be changing within CHC this year. Over the next few months we'll be changing how our perfume samples are offered (arguably our best seller), offering product packaging and retiring some scents. I always hate retiring scents, because what if that's your favorite!? But, the numbers don't lie and unfortunately some scents will be retiring this year once I run out of fragrance oil. More on that later - promise.

First up though, at the end of this month our sample mists will no longer be sold individually. They will only be offered in our new discovery kits that are launching next month (or whenever our shipment arrives!) We've also added a new perfume size - our travel perfume mists. I heard your feedback load and clear and a larger smaller size was highly requested. These new travel perfume mists are now available and starting next month, or whenever our packaging shipment arrives, will be sold in a stylish box as well. Our perfume bottles will also be sold in boxes as well next month.

As I wrap up this extremely  long blog post I need to thank you. Thank you for supporting this dream of mine. Whether you've been here since day one, recently or somewhere in between - your support is the backbone of what keeps CHC going. Every sale. Every review. All the kind words from you at markets. The emails about your favorite scents. Our wholesale customers continually coming back for more. Every share, like, comment, etc. YOU. You are the reason we're here + I'll always be grateful that this is what I get to do with my life. When I switched majors from Teaching to Business in college I never could have dreamed that THIS is what I was setting myself up for. I'm forever grateful.