Today we’d like to introduce you to Amara Dawson.
Amara, please share your story with us.
I’ve wanted to own my own business and do my own thing since childhood. Starting up a business ended up coming naturally. The tough part was figuring out what owning businesses really meant. That took some time.
We moved to Kansas for Joshua’s job and ended up staying for 2 years. While we were there, I worked at 2 different places and was taking classes online. In our first year there, we ended up adopting a puppy (Charlie) our friends back in Houston found and I wanted to spend more time with him so I quit one of my jobs. During the second year, we adopted another puppy (Bean) a friend found there in Kansas. We really wanted Charlie to have a friend while we were both at work during the day.
During the summer between classes, my schedule opened up a bit. I’m the kind of person that needs to stay busy and so I took to Pinterest! I was absolutely fascinated by cutting bottles and turning them into candles so I learned how to do just that. I started getting wine and liquor bottles from a local farm to table restaurant and spent days practicing cutting glass.
After a while, I went to a local consignment boutique to try and get them to sell the candles I was making and they agreed, but they also wanted something more uniform. I spent some time looking into different styles and ended up favoring mason jars. I spent time making candles between shifts and puppy playtime and sold them at the local shop. I started going to a small farmers market in town on Saturdays and soon after the job, I was at started to add Saturdays to my schedule. I was constantly requesting Saturdays off, so I could go to the market and I was constantly denied. After a few months of that, we were about to head back home to Texas and I wanted to sell at the local market so I quit my job. Soon after, we came back home!
After coming back, I wanted to continue making and selling candles but Houston was a whole other ballgame than the town of 16,000 people we were in. I put a half-baked plan together and put all of my savings towards it. I started consigning them at local boutiques. The year after that, we added markets and really learned what people want from a candle so we also started adding different sizes and wax melts to our line.
After starting our business May 19th, 2016 we have grown a tremendous amount, personally and business wise! I did not realize we are about to hit our 2-year mark until I wanted to put our start date in this. Now, we are working on expanding and creating the business I have been working towards my entire life.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I can’t really say anything has a smooth road. For us, our biggest challenge is keeping up with demand. Everything we do, we only do it with the money we make. I started this business with my savings and never took a loan. That will probably change when we want to open up a brick-and-mortar but I have always felt strongly about accomplishing as much as possible on my own. Everything we’ve accomplished so is thanks to our hard work and our amazing customers and the support of friends and family.
Nomadic Home + Co. – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We’re Nomadic Home + Co. and you can call us NoHoCo. Right now, we are known for our candles and soon we want to be known for so much more.
We embody the passionate woman, the adventurous girl and all who accompanies them on this great adventure we call life. NoHoCo is a homegrown, decor + lifestyle store focused on the outdoors, grand adventures and everything in between! To keep things focused on our goals, our Founder, Amara along with her Partner Joshua and their two dogs, hand paws everything we sell. We will always put an emphasis on items are either the USA made, handmade, environmentally friendly, fair trade or some great gear!
With a focus on empowering women as well as protecting the outdoors, NoHoCo is geared towards women and will also have a well-picked selection of men’s, children’s and pets items for those who are standing by the adventuress in their life. We hope to inspire and push boundaries with everyone we cross paths with.
At our core are the sense of community and our love for the planet. We want everyone to feel like they are apart of something bigger because, in the end, we are! With that in mind, part of our mission is to support others.
With that in mind, we are donating a 3% of our profits to local, national and international groups and organizations every year.
This year (2018):
– 1% for the planet
– 1% to Outdoor Women’s Alliance
– 1% to Access Fund
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment has been the entire month of April. In March, we re-branded from The Paisley Robin to Nomadic Home + Co. and the response has been incredible. I bought a desk which was a huge step for me. It makes me feel so official. Here I am, at my desk making plans for the future and doing things. I feel awesome.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nohococandles.com
- Email: info@nomadichomeco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nomadichomeco/
- Other: www.nomadichomeco.com
Image Credit:
Jacqueline Andrade, Lauren Sevilla
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