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It's Your Business with Michael Aikens is brought to you by WCTE PBS, and the Tennessee Tech Center for Rural Innovation, with funding provided by the Rural Reimagine Grand Challenge and the Tennessee Rural Development Fund.

Small business is the backbone of any economy, so it's always exciting to see new small businesses starting up right here in the Upper Cumberland.

And that is why we like to bring valuable tips and information from entrepreneurs in our area, to encourage those with a dream of owning their own business, to seriously consider taking that big step into the world of entrepreneurship.

We have so many resources in our area that help small businesses, and we want to connect the dreamers to those that can make their dreams come true.

♪upbeat music♪ When you can turn a hobby that you love into a business, going into work becomes a much more enjoyable experience.

And when your office is your home, well, that's just the icing on the cake.

And that's what happened for Lindsee and Sean Campbell as they begin making natural, nontoxic candles for friends and family.

When word got out about their unique candles, there became such a large demand that they started a full time business right out of their home with the Mountaintop Candle Shop.

♪ We're here in Cookeville, Tennessee, talking with Lindsee and Sean Campbell, owners of Mountain Top Candle Shop.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

We're excited to be here.

We're really excited to have you all on the show.

So let's start with the basics.

What is your business?

Tell us about it.

Well, we're a candle company.

We make all natural, nontoxic candles, scented with only essential oils.

So I could talk all day about essential oils.

And so you also do plants, too?

We do!

So we've always loved plants.

And we have two greenhouses, one in the front and one of the back.

And we got to thinking about how plants sell really well at the beginning of, you know, in the spring and in the summer.

And that's right, when candle season is kind of slow, people love candles in the fall, in winter.

So we, we thought, there's maybe an idea there.

And we just like the idea of being a wellness brand, self-care, all the happy things.

Well, happy things certainly are a good thing.

And obviously you all are happy with your small business.

Let's talk about your history.

How did you get to this point?

What made you think I want to start this business?

We had this.

We lived in a nice area and a nice outdoor space, and we were, you know, using citronella candles from like Walmart.

We were sprinkling essential oils around our patio.

And we try to be, you know, pet friendly with our dogs.

And so our experimenting with making citronella candles for ourselves and we got pretty good at that.

And then holidays were coming and then we're like, let's make candles for friends and family for the holidays, you know?

And so we made it for them and they really liked them and they shared on social media.

And then it sort of just kind of grew from there.

So like other friends of family wanted, like, how can we get some of those and just slow, slow grew and that's basically how we became candle makers.

And so you took that better way and now you're giving it to the masses.

So yes, you're doing this small business right here in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Now, formerly when we were talking before the interview, you're an elementary school teacher.

You were into some branding.

Yeah.

You're an Army veteran.

Thank you for your service.

So how do you get from what you all were doing to a business now, and what really prepared you to be where you're at right now?

Well, for me, I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit in me.

But I love teaching.

And so I was a teacher for a few years.

And that was great and fun, but I knew there was more.

I wanted something more.

And so I actually tried a few different jobs.

I lived in New York City.

Chicago kind of found my way around there.

I love Cookeville, so yeah, I knew there was more.

I, I worked with a laundry company.

I did a ton of branding with them just from the ground up, with no training or anything.

And that's where I found a love of really branding and more about business.

And so it's grown into.

Hey, I can I can maybe do this on my own.

And I have a great partner to help me.

Definitely.

Well, speaking of the partnership, literally and figuratively.

You know, you came from, Coast Guard first and Army, you know, tell me a little bit about how maybe that prepared you for the business.

Well, just, you know, skills.

Good.

Work ethics.

And basically what it really how it all happens when I, when I retired, I had an opportunity to explore all these different hobbies because we were in the military.

Don't have, like, the luxury of time to explore.

That's really where, candle making just was like one of those interests I had.

And, it's like, come on, go ahead and try to figure this out, you know, and make something.

And then it just just grew from there.

Yeah.

A man of many hobbies.

He always has to have a few hobbies.

I said, honey, you got to stick with candles now.

There you go.

You can have another, right?

Yes.

So your husband and wife team running this business together.

I'm willing to guess.

You've got different backgrounds.

You probably have different skill sets.

Walk us through a little bit about how each of you all divide and conquer.

Well, you are, I would say he's the doer.

He's the executer.

And I'm more of like a vision person.

I see, all the potential and I love the business side.

But he could make candles all day.

He's the one in the scent lab mixing all the things and making the candles.

So, yeah, I really enjoy the, like the science, the numbers and the nitty gritty, the hands on stuff.

And she's really good at all.

The other stuff.

The social media, the, the computer stuff.

She's more savvy with that.

So I gotta ask Sean, you all are making your own candles.

You're literally making this from scratch.

Can you tell us a little bit about the process of actually making a candle?

Yeah.

So it's it's actually pretty simple.

The candle making aspect itself, the difficult part is creating your own fragrances.

And that's the part I actually like.

And also it keeps me really more mentally engaged.

And enjoy of it.

It's just the, the challenge of creating my own fragrances, you know, typical of candle making.

You would buy a off the shelf fragrance oil.

It's very pre blended, like cookies and cream or apple pie y sit there and I have to like mix, you know, vanilla sandalwood, cinnamon.

You the right ratio like a 3 to 1 or 2 to 2.

Because some are more overpowering than other oils.

But create my own, my own blends.

And so I like to challenge because I have a lot of, retailers like, hey, Kim MC smells like Plant Daddy, you know, for a plant shop or Crossville Comfort, you know, like a fragrance that fits that name.

And so I like that challenge.

So not only are you making your own sense, you're making them specifically for businesses.

How cool is it to have an old factory brand?

You know, we think about brands.

We know colors and logos and all those things.

But that's a very unique take on actually having a specific marketed branded scent.

It's true.

But think about it.

You're 100 times more likely to remember something you smell over something.

You see, we've all had that happen where a scent will just snap you right back to a moment in time and so utilizing that scent broadens the experience you want your shoppers to have, you know, a very unique experience in your shop.

Come back and shop there again.

And so you all had this idea, and recently you participated in a pitch competition with the Biz Foundry and actually place.

Tell us about it.

We did.

We got third place.

I just love the Biz Foundry.

We've lived in a lot of places with the military, and we have just the community in general.

We've never experienced such small business support.

The whole community rallies around these small businesses and makes them successful.

I mean, we could not do what we do without the community support, and Biz Foundry is part of that, a huge part of that.

You know, when we first started, we met with them.

They have, a program, I believe it's called Start Here, where you meet with them and they tell you about different resources.

So they tell you about the things you wouldn't think about as a business owner, like accounting.

You know, there's you're going to have to consider this with accounting.

Maybe you need legal services.

So there's all those things that, they bring to your mind like, hey, these are part of being a small business to and giving you those resources so you can do what you're good at.

And Biz Foundry will help you sort of find those other things, give you resources to do that.

Well, they always say they like to help you work on your business, not in your business.

So in thinking of that phrase, you all started your business.

What are some of the challenges that you all faced and how did you overcome them?

Well, let's think about the challenge.

We faced zero challenges, right?

It was perfect the whole way.

Let me think like I had a full time job.

That was a challenge.

And that recently I was able to transition to full time candle and plant lady.

When we started, it was never the intent was never to be like a business.

It was just be a hobby.

And then the hobby became a little more sustainable.

We have friends of family kind of reaching out, and once they were, you know, selling them.

I mean, so it just sort of just evolved naturally.

Well, speaking of, you had a full time job at what point did you realize I can do this business and not do the full time job?

And what was that like?

Being so involved in that business really helped me find my voice in, you know, being a business owner.

It prepared me, you know, for what we're doing.

And they were, you know, there was just a moment in time where I felt like, maybe this is a time to make that leap.

And it's hard, but, once you decide it, you just go for it and you work your butt off and you hope it works for the best.

So there are other people that are watching the show.

They're thinking, maybe I could do a small business too, but they really haven't done that for whatever reason.

At your stage in your business, in your life right now, what advice would you give to them?

I am a huge advocate for small businesses.

Like I said before, I, I've never been in a community that is so supportive and I love when people do what they love and find a way to make money doing it.

So I just advocate for that.

When I have a friend or someone I know that, has a great idea, I love to talk about it, and I tell them about the Biz Foundry and all the resources.

And get them plugged into those because I think, you know, if I could do it, anybody can do it.

Definitely utilizing resources and networking, like I tend to Biz Foundry, the Chamber, we all, put on a lot of different networking events.

And clearly we have so much support here.

You know, you talked a lot about the Biz Foundry.

How did you actually find them and really get involved with them?

Well, we were really lucky.

We were in a newspaper article and then after that, Tiffany from the Biz Foundry, she found us from that newspaper article, and she told us about the Biz Foundry, which we didn't know it was there.

And, she still checks in with us, so it's nice, just to have that ongoing mentorship and support.

Yeah, absolutely.

They did great work at the Biz Foundry Small Business Development Center.

Can't say enough about them, and that's why we love to feature them on the show, too.

And, you know, really help our small business owners understand there is that support network.

I mean, you all are champions of this and showing it does work.

It is accessible.

Yes, plug in, plug in to those resources and utilize them.

I mean, you have a great idea.

You're good at something.

Find a way to make money doing it.

Thinking back to when it all started to where you're at right now, what do you wish you knew then that you know now?

I don't know, because actually the way we learned it along the way was actually helpful.

So I think, I think I wouldn't have done anything differently.

I really think the way that it happened naturally.

And I think that, you know, goes back to the resources.

If you start with those strong resources, then you can learn as you go, and then you can plug back into those things, when you're ready to grow even further.

So the future of Mountain Top Candle Shop, where do you see it?

Well, I'm really excited about our new venture with the plants.

So during the spring we're really going to go all out with the plants will be mountain top, candle and plant shop.

We're just looking forward to adding a new product to what we offer and taking it one step at a time, one step at a time.

Lindsee, Sean, thank you so much for being on the show.

Thank you for having us.

This is great.

♪ 265 00:13:07,052 --> 00:13:10,623 Inspiration for starting a business can come from many different avenues, but for Javier Ortiz, his inspiration came much closer to home.

The memories of spending time with his grandfather inspired Javier to create a place where people can get together, watch the big game and just enjoy being around friends and family.

He also found inspiration for the name of his pub from the year his grandfather was born.

1938 social.

♪ We're here in Sparta, Tennessee, talking with Javier better known as Javier Ortiz, owner and founder of 1938 Social.

Javier What is 1938 social?

1938 Social is your neighborhood pub , bar We have bar bites here.

It's a place where, you know, you come hang out, enjoy yourself, watch TV.

I got local beers.

I'm a local guy, 1938, pretty much as the year my grandfather was born.

And, you know, me and him had a good relationship.

And, he passed away about two years ago, so I pretty much did this to remember him.

And, you know, he was into American history and America.

He's originally from Cuba.

My grandfather was, like, was only about family and keeping everybody together.

So it's kind of the same thing.

You know, I build my own little family here in my county.

Tell us about what gave you the vision and the idea to open a bar right here in Sparta.

So I've always had a passion for the food and beverage, kind of.

When I graduated high school, I started from the very bottom to delivery boy and busser.

I love to talk to people, so I was in the right industry.

I could talk anybody's ear off.

So I just grew and grew into the business, and I got into bar management in downtown Miami.

General management assistant, got my feet wet in every area you can imagine, from cooking to hostess to bartending to bar back.

I had family here opening up a sports bar in my county, and I reached out.

They reached out and we opened up a sports bar called Frank's.

It still operated very good place, and I had a different vision, and I decided to take my own route in my life.

And you know, risk it because, you know, every every business is a risk.

And, you know, I have my fiance believes in me, though, my regulars, everybody in my county, my family.

So I started my life outside the comfort zone.

I've always worked with somebody, always had help.

So I kind of I've had a lot of help along the way, but I kind of just, you know, push myself to do something and live outside my comfort zone.

And.

Yeah, and so here you are, about to open your own bar.

We're out here on Bockman Way.

Very, very busy now, as you were thinking about.

I'm going to open this bar.

You actually had a few ideas that were different than a bar before that.

Tell us about it.

So originally, I wanted to turn this into a laundromat.

I was looking for an investment.

I felt like it was a demand here.

I try to go that route, but it was a little bit more pricey than I expected.

Then I was in denial.

I wanted to turn it into a cigar lounge, and then I was like, well, if it's a cigar lounge is not going to be profitable to be a hobby for me.

And my buddies prayed on it, woke up in the morning and God told me to have a bar named after my grandfather.

Now I'm here with you, interviewing.

Well, you know, obviously your grandfather's played a very important role in your life.

And you had mentioned earlier that this bar is all about American history.

He loved American history.

Tell us a little bit about the integration of history with this bar.

So it's 1938 Social and everything on this side of the bar, pretty much.

It's all, like I said, all based about American history.

I got the most famous movie in 1938, which was Citizen Kane.

A lot of people know about it because their grandparents or their parents watched it.

And then I got that sign there from a factory in the 50s here.

That's part of Tennessee, and I have a bunch of pictures of like, the history of how the town looked at 1938, the first time politicians got here to Rock Island.

First down, Sparta was one vote away from being the capital here in Tennessee, Lester Flatt, which is an icon here, big bluegrass singer.

They have a street named after him.

So clearly you had the vision for the bar.

You opened it up.

Now you've got to build it and you've built it literally yourself with your hands.

Tell us about that.

Well, I don't want to take too much credit, because if you know me, I'm not that handy.

But I did have a vision.

This would have not been done without, without 2 or 3 of my buddies that, you know, they really helped me out.

But, yeah, they did have a vision.

And between my friends and I, we put it into reality.

This bar was not here.

Made it from scratch.

They had all these little details over here.

Edging.

This is white pine.

I actually burned it myself.

And we put the poxy was, it was an adventure.

And yeah, it was from scratch.

We build the frame, built the bar top put on the poxy, sanded it down, did then poxyed again.

So moving forward, you've got the bar.

At the time of filming, you're just about to open.

Where do you really see yourself in the next 5 to 10 years with this bar?

Well, hopefully expanding.

I hope that everybody there's a place where everybody could come and enjoy themselves laid out, you know, get away from the, from the distractions that everybody has.

I'm I hope it's something that everybody can enjoy and they talk a about and add something that, you know, that I can be happy that you know that I opened up.

But yeah, expanding.

Hopefully right now I'm only serving beer.

So, expanding to, perhaps getting liquor and just opening more seating, an outdoor area for everybody.

So above and beyond building the bar, I'm guessing there's probably a lot of regulations and hoops that you've had to jump through.

Talk to us a little bit about what it's like to actually start a bar.

Yeah, there were some obstacles because when I first decided to open up, I, you know, I had a bigger menu.

I expected to have liquor in here off the bat.

And then obviously, I'm, I'm a by the book guy.

So we had codes, regulations that I had to go by, which I threw me a big curveball opening this up.

It really did.

I'm always five steps ahead.

So you're not two steps behind kind of thing?

I would say so I made a curveball.

I rearranged my kitchen area because I originally was going to have my kitchen back there with a dartboard entertainment area is right now.

Changed my menu and I kind of downsized, which actually benefited me.

Minimizing my kitchen actually gave me more opportunity to have more people in here and to have dartboards and stuff like that.

Thinking about opening a bar right here in Sparta versus somewhere more urban, like Nashville, where you might have more people.

What does it mean to you?

And also why?

Why here and not somewhere else?

The difference between here and Nashville is I know I have good people at my bar supporting me versus, yeah, Nashville.

You might make some more money, but you don't know who's coming in there, you know?

You know what I mean?

So that's the difference.

And this is more homey for me, even though I'm from the city.

But yeah, I want to be a neighborhood guy.

So pretty much it's hard to be a neighborhood guy in a in Nashville, you know, but just getting culture, you know, talking to people from the small town, you know, grew up in a small town.

You know, they've been here for generations.

You know, I'm talking to third or fourth generation White County people.

And I think that's awesome.

Yeah.

There's so many people moving in here to the small town from all over the world, pretty much all over the United States.

So it's cool, you know, talking to people from up north, down south on the West Coast and I like it.

They learn something from me and I learn something from them.

Everybody here knows how to say 'Uno mas, por favor' [laughter] Which as a bar.owner That's important.

That's.

Yes, sir.

Yes it is very.

Yeah.

Everybody knows how to say 'Uno mas, por favor' So I know you haven't completely opened yet.

You got your soft opening coming up very, very soon.

But, you know, thinking back to when you first had the idea, you decided, I woke up.

I'm going to do this bar.

Thinking back to that point, to where you're at right now, what do you wish you knew then that you know now?

I wish I knew about pricing.

I wish I knew more about numbers, food costs.

So there's a lot of things that unfortunately, you don't know off the bat.

I have the confidence in myself.

That was another thing I wish I had.

Now I've built more confidence here.

So numbers and food prices.

How did you go about actually finding those things out and learning about it?

Trial and error.

Meeting with our food vendors, you know, talking about profits.

I actually got really into it in 2019, 2020 when, food costs skyrocketed.

That's when I really was like, well, you know, the whole world had to make adjustments.

But that's when I really got into, you know, how much is this cost?

This is where you need to sell it at in order to make money, you know, because, you know, you got overhead, you got food costs, you got all these other stuff, taxes.

So, that's one thing I learned just, you know, every day working, you know, working the numbers.

You know, how much, you know, money we made in food.

You always want to progress every year.

So that's another thing like, hey, this is where we're at.

This is the gap of where I need to be.

What can we do if it's promotions, if it's this, grab this item because it's not profitable to there's, you know, something that the the customers want to demand.

You got to hear your customers because those are the people that keep you in business and the people that take their time to come in and hang out with you.

So.

Well, Javier, this has been a great conversation Best of luck to you and your new venture.

Thank you so much for being on the show.

Thank you for having me, Michael.

♪ Hi, I'm Tiffany Anton, founder and creator with Powered By Her.

Power By Her was an initiative that we started about five years ago when we saw a need for inspiration and community with women in the Upper Cumberland.

We started by having a podcast.

We were approached by a local radio station, and they said, hey, we kind of have this idea, what do you think about this and can you host it?

And I was very, very excited to be able to help tell the stories of women of the Upper Cumberland.

And so we started launching that about four and a half, five years ago.

We're about to celebrate our 100th episode coming up soon.

Pretty excited about that.

In the last couple months, we started releasing weekly podcast episodes, and so you can find those wherever you stream podcasts.

The purpose of the podcast is really to tell stories, to connect with women business owners and really feel like you're not so alone.

And so with the podcast and putting out content that we felt was valuable for women in the area, we also thought having an in-person meet up would be really, really important and valuable.

So we started a monthly lunch and learn event.

And so every second Thursday of the month here in Cookeville, you can come for a free lunch sponsored by Kelly Sullivan and the businesses that she's run along the way.

And so we just have speakers or we have open discussion, and it's just a chance for women to come together, take an hour out of their month to sit down and have a meal together.

Whether you learn something or make a connection with someone new, it's just a very valuable experience.

We also in this year we're able to launch Powered by Her in Livingston, and so we were able to have monthly lunches in Livingston as well.

And we look forward to that community growing and how we can actually impact even more of the Upper Cumberland along with what we've been doing over the past 4 or 5 years.

This year we are launching Powered By Her Kenya.

We know that in order to be the best women entrepreneurs possible, giving back and supporting others is part of that.

And so a lot of women I see are supporting their next door neighbors or the businesses across the street, or promoting others on social media.

I have a heart for service, and I was able to travel to Kenya in February and I connected with the people of Kenya.

I cried many, many times and I connected with many business owners and one in particular.

My friend Joyce, just had this heart for mentoring and serving and making an impact using the Powered By Her name and brand.

And so we have started fundraising efforts to start a mentoring program in Kenya with girls that are ages 13 to 20.

A year long program, and how we can have the impact of what we're doing here in the Upper Cumberland as a part of what they're doing in Kenya.

And I'm so, so, so excited.

It just fills my heart to be able to impact these other women.

I actually get to talk to them weekly.

They video chat me and it's like all their little faces around the screen.

And I just love what we're able to do.

And I love being able to connect to these people.

I hope that you can connect with what we're doing with Powered By Her, whether it's listening to the podcast, streaming wherever you listen to podcast, or connecting with us at a lunch, come to any of our free lunches or checking out what we're doing in Kenya, you can head over to Powered ByHercommunity..com to find out all the things that we're involved with.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We hope that you've learned that entrepreneurship doesn't have to be a scary venture when you have the necessary resources for success at your fingertips.

If you'd like more information on today's topics, please visit the WCTE website.

To learn more about free small business resources and expert assistance, visit the Business Resource Collective website.

Until next time, I'm Michael Aikens, ♪ It's Your Business with Michael Aikens is brought to you by WCTE PBS, and the Tennessee Tech Center for Rural Innovation, with funding provided by the Rural Reimagine Grand Challenge and the Tennessee Rural Development Fund.

This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.