Side hustle supremo’s bespoke candle business booms into expansion

A woman has expanded her personalised candle side hustle into a growing small business.

Veena McCoole runs postcode pours, which provides personalised candles which feature labels with an area and postcode, such as ‘Kensington W8’.

She started the business as a charity project in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, selling the candles at East Putney Tube station.

But now the small business has a growing international customer base and some large companies have bought batches of the unique gifts.

Ms McCoole said: “I really enjoy it. Small businesses and entrepreneurship is a big passion of mine, so it doesn’t feel like a huge amount of work.

“It’s really a creative outlet for me outside of my job. I see it more as a chance to play with ideas and explore and learn from what I’m doing with it on a day to day basis, rather than feeling like it’s an obligation.”

She started out posting about her candle project in Facebook groups for her local area and soon people from further afield were sending in requests for them.

The team behind the company has expanded since early 2021, with various contractors helping the business with branding and social media, web design and photography and logistics.

Most of the income from the business is currently reinvested back into the enterprise, with the packaging currently being upgraded.

The entrepreneur, who also has a full-time job, said: “Part of the reason I founded the business was you’re always paying a premium for personalisation. This is my way of trying to make gifting in a thoughtful way more accessible.”

Several companies have approached the business who want to place bulk orders on a wholesale basis.

Previous customers include Boots No 7 who bought some candles to give away as gift bundles.

Designer brand Michael Kors bought a batch of the candles when they moved office to Fitzrovia in London, when they bought some ‘Fitzrovia WC1’ candles for all of their staff.

Ms McCoole runs the business mostly on her own but she currently has freelance contractors to help with administration, accounting and social media management.

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