BILLINGS — Starting in 2019, Veronica Zimmerman only hoped her candle business would grow to the extent it has in three years and now enjoys being able to give back to her shoppers with discounts and giveaways during the holiday season.
“I get orders from like Florida, Massachusetts and West Virginia. Like, people that I don’t even know and I’m just like, it’s so mind-blowing to me still,” Zimmerman said Sunday.
The 24 year old is going to school to major in graphic design, works a part-time job and is a full-time business owner of Veronica Candle Co., and she does it all herself. Working from start to finish with the production of the candles, running the website and packaging to ship them off.
“I do everything. So, I do like label design. I do my instagram content. I literally do everything,” she said.
Zimmerman said a busy shopping weekend of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday is a little nerve wracking but worth it.
“It’s a lot to prepare because you never really know what your sales are going to be, like what the turnouts going to be. So, it’s a lot but it pays off in the end,” she said.
Her Black Friday deal of 40% off all products lead her to 35 sales and 300 website views. On Cyber Monday she will run another deal of buy two candles, get one free.
“I remember my first year, my first two years, I was only able to give like maybe 25% off on my website. So, now that I’m able to give bigger discounts like 40% and buy two, get one free like, it’s a really good feeling,” Zimmerman said.
Her candles are also located at Roots Garden Center in Billings.
“Buying candles online has to be kind of tricky. So, that’s why I’m glad that they’re in Roots and hopefully I can get them into a few different places,” she said.
However, every order she receives online still lights up her mood like it did in the very beginning.
“I’ll get an order on my phone and it’s like, the notification is still so exciting, as it was like the very first time,” she said.
Zimmerman will also be selling her candles at the Yellowstone Art Museum's WinterFair on Dec. 2 and 3.
