If you’re interested to hear about how Teddy Eva Scents got started and a little bit of a “history” of the brand, then I guess this is the post you’ve been looking for. If you want a bit of “pre-history” then we also have a “Before Teddy Eva Scents.” I know, we like to write, don’t we!?
I’m one of those types of people that once I’ve made a decision to do something I can very easily get OBSESSED with it. Within days of deciding I wanted to start a wax melt business I had the name sorted, the website, the domain, the logo, and a whole host of ideas for things I wanted to do. Heck, we even had the social media accounts sorted. You can still actually watch “Day One” on the highlights on Instagram.
We then watched countless videos on how to actually make wax melts absorbing as much information as we could, and by the 11th of January - a mere 13 days after deciding to give it a go - we started pouring wax melts. Again, you can go back and watch it all on the highlights on Instagram called “First Batch.”
On the 8th of February 2020 Teddy Eva Scents officially started selling!
We actually had 131 orders on that opening night.
Side note: we actually still sell some of the EXACT same scents as we did back then.
Which as you might be able to guess, kinda blew us away.
I don’t know if you’ve ever sold stuff on eBay, Vinted, or anything like that before, but going from “sending the odd book on eBay” to “here’s 131 orders please send them quickly” was quite a wild jump.
To say it was VERY steep learning curve was an understatement. Especially given the fact we had to pack them all from the kitchen whilst having a two year old and a newborn baby.
Then Covid Happened
I’ll be honest with you, running your own business whilst also having young kids comes with a whole host of guilt. You naturally feel bad if you have to work because work almost always feels like it's a “choice” since you’re not contracted to anything, nor do you have a boss telling you to get to work.
So when Covid happened, it kinda took all of that guilt away.
At the end of the day, what else was there to do? You couldn’t even leave the house, so it’s not like we were depriving the kids of anything. Besides, I was a postman, so I literally HAD to go to work to deliver stuff, I may as well send some stuff too whilst I’m there.
Oh, and Rachel was on maternity leave - she used to be an A&E nurse.
So we just continued with the business to see what would happen…
I mean we didn’t really have a clue about how to run a business, we kinda just had to learn on the fly - something we still do today.
Roughly 7 months after we launched we had to get out of the house. We were doing around 350-400+ orders a month from home, which with two young kids was just too stressful. So we took a VERY big punt and signed a 5 year lease on a unit which would cost us £1000/month
I guess we never really sat there and thought about what that meant.
We just wanted to have some space and take it away from the house. We didn’t really think about the fact that a 5 year lease would essentially mean that we HAD to make this work, whether we wanted to or not.
It’s all really strange now when we look back. I mean we never really had any plans for any of this. I know some people have lofty dreams of success, or taking over the world, but for us, we’ve always just organically seen where the business would take us.
In February 2021 I quit Royal Mail due to Teddy Eva Scents requiring WAY too much of my time - we had grown quite a lot since taking on the unit and going to work for Royal Mail was just costing me my sanity.
People have asked me over the years when you know it's the right time to quit and go all-in on your own business. But trust me when I say this, when it’s time to make the jump you’ll know.
Rachel didn't actually quit until December 2022 - but that was mainly down to her being on maternity again with Teddy, our third child.
I mean you don’t really get maternity leave with your own business 😂 Rachel worked up the unit on the DAY she went into labour, and I’m 90% sure she was back up there two days later sending advent calendars.
If we have another, maybe we can have the birth up then unit 😂
To be honest, I think you just learn to crack on and go with it. I guess when you start a business working around the kids you kinda get used to it.
But it always felt like Rachel quitting was the biggest leap. At least having one of you in a safe job meant that we had some security should the worst happen.
But with BOTH of us in full time with the business, damn that felt like a big risk.
Even today we sometimes get worried about it.
I know Rachel had her doubts at times. After all, she did put a LOT into being a nurse, and it was never really her plan to make Teddy Eva Scents a thing. Neither was it mine in fairness, it all kinda just happened.
Despite her doubts, she’s actually really good at it. Don’t get me wrong, she’s terrible at doing a spreadsheet or handling accounts. No offence there, Rachel. But then I’ve never made a candle, reed diffuser, or room spray. If we split up then you can either have good products or organised spreadsheets. I’ll let you pick 😂
So when it comes to making stuff and staying organised she’s awesome. And we work pretty well as a team, if I do say so myself. I think we’d both be screwed - in a very non-literal sense - without each other.
Teddy Eva Scents today!
That's all of us here at Teddy Eva Scents - well, at least as of this writing, which is March 2024!
I could bore you to death - maybe I already have - with a detailed account of the years at the unit. The ups and downs of running a business through soaring interest rates, inflation, a cost of living crisis, making huge mistakes, learning to find balance, and all the other peaks and troughs we've had.
It’s a rough, whirlwind ride running your own business, but part of me loves the chaos.
All I can say is that the true ethos of Teddy Eva Scents is much the same today as it was when we started.
We want you to find your calm in the chaos!
I think part of the reason I resonate so much with that little tagline is because I think I’m trying to give people something that I struggle to find myself.
You know how they say that standup comedians often have some sort of history with depression, so they spend a great deal of time trying to bring happiness to others instead? Well I’m trying to bring calmness to you.
Artists craft beauty when they’ve been surrounded by darkness, caregivers provide comfort because they may have lacked it themselves, and I try to provide a sense of calm because my head feels like chaos.
That’s all we want to do.
So there we go. There's a brief story of how we started Teddy Eva Scents. I missed a million things off from this, but I don't want this to get any longer than it already is.
"That's what she said."
