Hey Misfits!

My favorite interview question to ask a candidate during a job interview is ‘Tell me about a time you made a mistake, the steps you took to correct it and what you learned from it?’
I ask it because it shows me who owns their screw-ups and who’s going to blame their coworker for a mistake.

Fun Fact: Those that can’t think of a time they made a mistake at work or blame someone else while they are telling the story, rarely get selected.

And since I’m currently hiring for the Candle Pouring Studio and have asked the question 6 times yesterday, I figured I should walk the walk!

So here’s mine.

I’ve been prepping for our Fall launch since mid-July.
Candles? Poured.
Cured.
Smells Amazing. 
I even created a purchase order for the labels for my new 2025 Fall candle scent, Maple & Bourbon a couple weeks ago.
Spoiler: It smells like warm flannel and a lumberjack who knows how to apologize.

Launch day was supposed to be today.

I coordinated with the team and they told me the Maple & Bourbon Labels have not arrived.

Impossible.

Naturally, I fired off a passive-aggressive email to my label supplier about how this lack of communication was throwing off my entire launch schedule.

Their reply?
"Hey Lacie, we never received a purchase order."

Again, impossible.

So I started digging, ready to forward with a ‘per my last email’ kind of note. And...there it was. Sitting in my drafts folder. The email I never sent.

Yep. That one’s on me.

Obviously, I had to eat some humble pie and apologize.

So now I was facing  two options.
Option 1: wait two and a half more weeks and launch dangerously close to Christmas scent release.
Option 2: launch today and offer you an $18 candle that just doesn’t have a top label.

I chose chaos. No top label.

Maple & Bourbon is officially live for $18. To further sweeten the deal, all Fall Labels in Pumpkin Spice Latte & Hay Meadow are $18.00 this weekend only! 

I mean…I will slap on a janky printed version from our office label printer. It’ll be crooked. It might smudge. It’ll definitely be one-of-a-kind.

I’ve never shipped a candle without a top label before, but hey, there’s a first time for everything.

I only did a small Fall batch this year.  Once they are gone, that’s it. (I promise this isn't just a sales tactic)

So if you love fall and also love a deeply relatable mistake story, grab one. Or five.

Stay human & Stay malicious.

Lacie