Makes Goods That Tell a Story

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Daniel Mitchell, founder of Farmer's Son Co., located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Hey there, I'm Dan, the owner of Farmer's Son Co., a candle and lifestyle brand based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which I established in 2016.
I grew up on a small family farm and knew early on that I wasn't cut out to be a farmer, so I somehow fell into making soy candles and turning them into a thriving business - which I still find kind of wild.

I'm a bootleg perfumer, spending the better part of the past decade exploring scent. What really sets Farmer's Son Co. apart in a competitive industry is the fact I develop every scent that we offer. I'm passionate about fragrance and product design and really take my time ensuring that not only does a candle smell good, but that I'm going to do everything I can to make it look good, but most importantly, that the fragrance will tell a story. Storytelling is key to everything I do - we don't just custom blend fragrances. We layer scent notes to tell a story. Be it a memory from childhood, a scent that takes you back to a family member's farm or cabin, that someone special. The scent is such a personal thing, and I love being able to tap into people relate to it.

On top of the importance of telling stories through fragrance, I love product design and work with amazing workshops and design studios around the world to craft custom candle vessels and create home goods and objects that I love and find interesting.

We're a niche studio (I love, I don't want to be big) and focus our energies on creating a fragrance for a devoted clientele who truly have an appreciation for fragrance, for artisan brands, and for brands that they feel they can relate to. I've really tried to engage my clientele from the beginning - letting them be a part of our business journey, sharing bits and pieces of myself along the way. They're extremely devoted and the best part of what I do.

Tell us about yourself

I spent a decade working as a retail buyer and product developer in corporate environments where there was a lot of nepotism, where colleagues would work their asses off in their roles and then see an executive's kid get advanced quicker or step in without any experience and suddenly be their boss. The whole idea of the ol' boy's club where it was about who played golf with who, or whose dad worked for who and had connections to get their kid a gig.

I'd kind of just stalled out in what I was doing and hated the environment. I'd been thrown into a buying role that I wasn't interested in without any qualifications and that I or my skillset weren't being respected. I just needed an out. It was to the point where I'd just go sit in my car at lunch. Either cry, do everything I could to keep from repeatedly banging my head against the steering wheel, or just I'd pull out a notebook and just start writing down ideas. Something. Anything. Any way out. I had a few different ideas, but somehow (and unexpectedly), I settled on candles. I was making them as a hobby. It was an excuse to explore fragrance (one of my favourite things to do) while creating something that smelled nicer and burnt better than what you'd find at your local big-box store.

I made an Instagram handle for the line and started to post a few pics, thinking maybe I'd make a few extra bucks so that I could pay for some travel. Within a month of starting out, we were in nine local retailers. After 11 months of working on the brand every minute that I wasn't in my office, I pulled the pin on my corporate gig and have never looked back. I find motivation and excitement in so many different areas. I like waking up each morning knowing that my challenges are mine to fix and that my wins are mine to celebrate. I love the problem-solving that comes with owning a business having the ability to shape and change what I do. I love consistently finding ways to improve on what I'm doing. I don't have all the answers - but it's fun figuring them out.

Also, we import coffee from a roaster in Colombia and sell it via our website. Knowing that I get to roll outta bed and make myself of a great coffee that I found and have been able to share with folks? Reason enough to be motivated and want to get going on each day.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I don't come from a family with money and didn't want to take a loan out to start my business, so I decided that whatever I was going to do, I would bootstrap it, which is what I've done. I don't think about it a lot because I'm too busy with the day-to-day of what I do, but I took a $100 investment in candle-making supplies and have just kept reinvesting my earnings over the past five years.

My husband and I lived lean those first few years. We knew that we were onto something, and we just kept putting money back into the brand, product development, and building grassroots awareness, a strong social media following, along with a network of retail partners across Western Canada.

We don't share numbers, but we're in a position where we have salaried team members with full benefits and the potential to diversify their skillset and grow their earning potential with the products that they develop and design, the freedom to really shape the business and now grow at a pace that we're comfortable with.

Years of markets every weekend, doors slammed in the face, 18 hour days, pouring tens of thousands of candles by myself, showing up on social media when I wasn't feeling - doing whatever I could to keep going so that I wouldn't have to go back to an office and toxic environment. Knowing that I did what I did and that it's opened up the doors where I'm at - it's pretty dang cool.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Burnout is real. I'm the poster child of that. I pigeonholed myself into the whole "I'm a maker" box because I thought it was expected of me for the first four years of my business. Part of that was me trying to figure out what I wanted the company to be. Part of it was me being stubborn and part of it was me wondering if people would still buy my product and appreciate it in the same way if my hands didn't touch every single piece.

It's important to find balance in your business, which can look really different for everyone. I love being busy and thriving under healthy stress. Still, there's a difference between being busy and letting your business completely consume every waking moment of the day. Boundaries can be hard to establish, but it's important to figure them out (whatever they are) so that you don't get trampled on and wake up five years later regretting missing out on your life outside of your work.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Make NO your favourite word. Don't be a pushover who tries to do everything and gets burnt in the process. It's important to get your name out there, and sometimes you'll take on projects for the cash over the creativity (it's a balancing act), but hold true. Don't bend to a retailer if you're not comfortable with terms. Don't take on collaborations or private-label projects if they cheapen your aesthetic or if the partners' values are different than your own.
Focus your energies on what you're good at. In my case, I love the creative side of my business - fragrance development, art direction, teaching myself graphic design, shooting all of the photography, etc. I'm not great on the bookkeeping side - so I hired an accountant. You don't need to know how to do everything, and you shouldn't feel the need to understand how to do everything. It's important for me to know my numbers - but I'm happy to pay someone to ensure they're correct vs. beating my head against a desk trying to navigate accounting software.
Don't let yourself get stale. People get bored easily and quickly. It's important to make sure you have a product (in the case of a product-based business) that your clients will keep coming back to, but don't be afraid to shake it up. For me, that means refreshed branding or different candle vessels, new scents. I bored easily, and as my knowledge and understanding of fragrance grows, I want to share what I'm learning and currently having with my clientele. I don't want to keep offering an okay product that's been in my collection for the past five years when I can take the resources required to create/market that piece and use them to develop something new and fun.

It's so important that you really take that time to find the sweet spot for your business. Do you really need to be the biggest and go multi-national? Do you really need to sell your product in 1000+ stores and lose that personal touch? Do you need to try to get your stuff into award show bags so that d-list celebs can have your stuff for free?

It's taken a long time, but I think I've figured it out - finding the spot where I'm successful, where my team and I can manage the workflow (I mean, there's always more that we want to do, but sometimes it's good to pump the brakes), where we have a special and personal bond with our devoted clientele and where we're small and agile enough to take on new clients or projects has been the best. I just want to design and make cool stuff and not worry about acquiring venture capital or trying to land a national retailer whose going will make my life hell with terms and conditions. I'm more interested in trying to develop a partnership with a glassblower in Mexico than trying to get onto Shark Tank. If I can make a decent living and, in turn, allow my team to grow their skillsets and to earn their potential so that we all come out ahead, I think I'm doing okay.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.farmerssonco.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farmerssoncocanada
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmerssonco/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmerssonco

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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