Photo by Hampton Moments
Today we’d like to introduce you to Alison Stringfellow.
Hi Alison, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Whew, The Journey is just that. I started out on a dream with a couple dollars and took off down a winding road…
Where that road would lead we could have never dreamed up. My amazing husband, Tony Stringfellow believed in me, and I am ever so thankful he did. He is my biggest fan and an active part of this entire operation.
The beginning- as stated this was a drean built on a few dollars. We didn’t have any big backing or funding. We started SMALL doing trade shows. Every show you could find, we did and evolved. Every single piece of advice, knowledge & penny received went right back into to make what is today Rusty Water Revival.
The Journey- After doing trade shows and events every weekend for 2 years straight we landed at First Monday in Canton TX. We called First Monday home for a year. Meanwhile, I watched a storefront in the tiny town of Van, TX have businesses come and go. I dreamed of having this little shop in a quaint little town. But the time never felt right. One day, driving through Van, I noticed the shop being emptied. I began asking who owned this building, reached out, and was immediately told no, this will only be rented as an office space by a sweet voice on the other end of the line. She explained businesses come and go and just fail in this location. There is no foot traffic, and it just isn’t seen. I replied to her, please give me a chance. I explained I had built a customer base that didn’t require foot traffic but that I could bring foot traffic in. I told her if she would just trust me, I would make it work. So, off I went to meet with Mrs. Victoria Tankersely.
She gave me the chance; she saw the fire in my eyes and wild in my spirit and rented this little shop to me. We offered candles; wax melts, shirts & more. It was slow at first, but oh mercy we gave it life. We outgrew the shop quickly, but there is not much available in a small town, so we just made it work.
I was never happy with our candle line. Refer to that wild spirit, I went to my husband and told him I wanted to redo this line… but then I hit him with the BIG part of that. I wanted to hand-pour our own vessels (jars) for the candles to go in. And I wanted to do it RIGHT NOW (I had already purchased everything to try this crazy idea out) he obliged, and we poured them.
They were beautiful & exactly what my vision was. Off to the candle shop; I went with them once we sealed them up. I poured 2 candles. No dyes in them, no harmful sealer, wooden crackling wicks. They were everything I wanted and perfection. I had to test and do reports and keep records before I could release them, but I was soooo excited. The time came, I took 12 of these beautiful candles to my little, tiny shop. Bam, sold! Whattttt!!! I poured more and gave one to my best friend who took it her corporate office. I had no idea what would happen next… They loved my candle. Everyone in her office did. Fast forward a bit, and we were signing paperwork to be in their over 100 stores!!! Who would have ever thought this would happen to little ole me? To us? We certainly didn’t. The rest is kinda history.
My husband and I still hand-pour every single candle & every wax melt by hand. I have an amazing guy, Heath, that pours all of our jars by hand. My husband then seals each one. They are labeled & footed by my 16-year-old son. Then the kiddo, myself & the hubs package them up, and finally my husband and I do the final shipping. We have not lost our roots. I mix every room spray, beard oil & hand soap myself.
We gave up our precious little shop in Van TX for a larger shop more tailored to our needs in Ben Wheeler, TX (an even smaller town) where we currently have a storefront that I am still active within.
My mornings are spent at the store and my afternoons are spent in the candle shop!
We provide candles, wax melts & room sprays to over 150 stores including private labeling to a large Ranch. We are in multiple smaller shops as well. We love all of our customers regardless of the size of their operation and are always open to adding more amazing accounts.
This is what dreams are made of. We couldn’t be more thankful for all of the support along the way. Without each and every little part this dream would never have been a reality.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road less traveled always yields the largest rewards. In this case, I took the non-paved winding dirt road.
Building a customer base is by far the most difficult thing to do. You can have a great product, but without customers, it does you no good. I still struggle with this aspect.
Driving traffic to my website is definitely the hardest of all.
Just juggling life, in general, is hard. No one tells you when you own a business you wear every hat. You do not get a day off; you can’t call in sick, and you will rarely see your friends or family anymore if you want to be successful.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We are most successful with our home line. From our hand-poured concrete candles and wood-carved dough bowls to the wax melts, room sprays, and body line. This keeps us the busiest.
We pride ourselves on our dye-free, highly scented waxes. Our candles provide a beautiful crackling sound as they slowly burn for hours of enjoyment.
We, unlike a lot of companies these days, do not outsource our products. We legitimately hand-curate everything down to the jar itself. I personally design every single label myself. Each little foot on the bottle of your candle is attached by hand (by my 16-year-old son to be exact), and each candle is then inspected before it is packaged. We indeed do it all ourselves.
Our shirts are another big line of business for us, not nearly what our candles are but they are a big part of business. Each shirt is designed by a real human. I do a lot of our design work, and I have a few small business-owning friends that do some of them as well. Each design is carefully selected to go on its respective shirt.
I shouldn’t fail to mention freeze-dried candy as we do sell a ton of it!!! Guess who freeze-dries it all? Thats me. I told you I wore many hats.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Most people probably have no idea that we do everything ourselves. I am sure they think to themselves, no way.
But here is the most fun part. Our candle pour shop is an old-school bus! Yes, we have a warehouse, and yes, we have a concrete pouring shop for the vessels, but every candle is poured in an old school bus that has been converted inside to a candle shop. Yes, runs & drives!
You may ask why? Well, it is our roots. It all started there, and it works!
Okay, it is small. I could use about 6x the space, but I enjoy my yellow bus.
Pricing:
- Jar candles $20
- Wax Melts $6
- Beard Oil & Balm is $12
- Freeze Dried Candy is all $4
- Tees start at $20
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rustywaterrevival.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/rustywaterrevival
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/rustywaterrevival
