When is it OK to copy another business? Please help

[candlebusinessidea]

I’d like to start making candles and make a business out of it hopefully , I’ve done some research and watched YouTube videos of how to make candles, there’s a few candle businesses on social media I like. I love their concept, one makes candles based on your memories.

AIBU to copy this concept? But everything else will be different, packaging, labels, candle holders etc?

I’m sitting here thinking, there are so many businesses doing the same thing. When is it OK to copy and when is it not? For example, Uber have competitors like Lyft ( America) Bolt etc, all offering the same thing.

What do you think? I don’t want to be accused of copying, but where is the line?

There are no new ideas, just new combinations. (Paraphrasing mark Twain).

Don't just copy paste an idea, take 2 or 3 ideas you like and mix them up. Do it a few times until one makes sense and is interesting. Then try that.

As a candle maker it really isn't that easy! Have you factored in refunds, breakages? Profits are tiny for a new business like this. A few YouTube videos doesn't give you years of experience. As regards copying an idea, it's a bit shit if you can't think of your own.

Why do so many women want to run these chintzy cottage industries? They’re just not viable business ideas.

Harsh but I agree. I think it’s partly because so many women have been brought up with a limited view of what they might actually achieve in career terms. Makes me a bit sad tbh.

It takes such a lot of work, effort, time, money and research to get businesses of this type to really blossom that nine times out of ten, the person would genuinely be better off training to do something less predictable.

The rare people who do make an actual living out of their own candles, soap, cupcakes or whatever often seem to be the ones who also happen to have done a business degree, or previously worked at a high level in some relevant role before going it alone.

@LemonJuiceFromConcentrate

Why do so many women want to run these chintzy cottage industries? They’re just not viable business ideas.

Harsh but I agree. I think it’s partly because so many women have been brought up with a limited view of what they might actually achieve in career terms. Makes me a bit sad tbh.

It takes such a lot of work, effort, time, money and research to get businesses of this type to really blossom that nine times out of ten, the person would genuinely be better off training to do something less predictable.

The rare people who do make an actual living out of their own candles, soap, cupcakes or whatever often seem to be the ones who also happen to have done a business degree, or previously worked at a high level in some relevant role before going it alone.

I suspect it's because a lot of them think it can be done from home, or around the school run, or in the evenings/at weekends.

Childcare is expensive and lots of people can't afford to pay for childcare, even when you factor in their partners' income. So starting a little business from home that you can do in the evenings/at weekends must hold a certain appeal for many.

@ChairCareOh. I blame Woman and Home magazine— in their new directions feature it’s nearly always about women doing chintzy stuff be it cakes or candles or Etsy type stuff— they rarely if ever focus on women who maybe have successful businesses in double glazing or logistics or plumbing or even entertainment industry (and I know lots of successful women in this) —

It’s really really hard to set up a new business especially one with such an overcrowded marketplace. You’ve got to be passionate about what you’re selling and forgive me but you don’t sound like you are. Don’t do it to yourself

What’s a memory candle? Like how does it work? Is it a certain shape or scent or has photos printed on it or something?

I think the issue is that you have to have some experience in actually making candles, making them well and peoole enjoying them before it ever makes you money.

Years ago I worked with Not on the high street. There are real success stories. The people who made personalised swings went from low ish paid jobs with their craft business one they worked out of their kitchen in their spare time, to jacking in their jobs and working round the clock.

They ended up employing 10 people, owning their home outright and putting kids through private school.

It is possible but incredibly rare. I'd hate to see ever entrepreneur being told to give up before they start.

I suspect it's because a lot of them think it can be done from home, or around the school run, or in the evenings/at weekends.

Childcare is expensive and lots of people can't afford to pay for childcare, even when you factor in their partners' income. So starting a little business from home that you can do in the evenings/at weekends must hold a certain appeal for many.

I agree, and I guess what I was thinking/meaning (although I didn’t make this at all clear) was that it’s frustrating and sad that so many women end up in a position of having so few and such weak options at that stage of life — which when you boil it down, must partly be about a lack of opportunities and encouragement for girls and young women to build really strong skill sets or achieve solid qualifications that they can fall back on later to earn well even if they do find themselves doing the bulk of school runs and childcare.

So it is understandable that there are so many women who are drawn to the dreaded MLM or starting, as you say, “a little business” making candles or whatever — but so many of those don’t take off.

I was in that exact position myself of needing my own flexible business that I could do from home after being made redundant when pregnant with dc2. Luckily I had a marketable skill relevant to my previous career, so that’s what I do now. I’m hardly coining it but I do okay, and I shudder to think how I would have fared if I didn’t have that skill plus the redundancy money to help me get established.

I saw a public information film from the sixties about this exact issue and it did cross my mind that a lot of people even when I was growing up, a generation later in the eighties/nineties, still didn’t really seem to have got the message that girls need careers just as much as boys do.

@LemonJuiceFromConcentrate

Why do so many women want to run these chintzy cottage industries? They’re just not viable business ideas.

Harsh but I agree. I think it’s partly because so many women have been brought up with a limited view of what they might actually achieve in career terms. Makes me a bit sad tbh.

It takes such a lot of work, effort, time, money and research to get businesses of this type to really blossom that nine times out of ten, the person would genuinely be better off training to do something less predictable.

The rare people who do make an actual living out of their own candles, soap, cupcakes or whatever often seem to be the ones who also happen to have done a business degree, or previously worked at a high level in some relevant role before going it alone.

Why does it make you sad? I run my own (small) business, and in year 3 I'm earning more than I did before in my career job. I love having the freedom to spend time with my kids, to be there for them, even little things like having lunch in the park or going for a long walk if I fancy during daytime. It's not always easy, but it is a valid business and a career for me and I'd rather do that than be stuck in an office working for someone else. Corporate life isn't the dream for everyone.

OP find your own USP like people said.

Here it is: “Jobs for Young Girls”:

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1964to1979/filmpage_jobs.htm

If you do this business idea as someone says it’ll have to be unique. I order candles from a very small unique company but I’m sure she has a 9-5 or part time job too.

It is extremely hard to make a profit in the handmade world if you are just copying others. This is the industry I am in and have been for over ten years, I have staff, it's my full time job, I don't work out of a spare room anymore etc. I started from nothing, don't have connections or money, but it was always a business not a hobby, and I have developed new products that others don't while I am the one then being copied repeatedly. I have seen people come and go in their hundreds over the years. You find if you are the copier, you are always at least one step behind your competitors who are already onto the next thing. With candles, you are a thousand steps behind.
If you cannot think of a new idea then don't bother. You will waste your time and money, and drive down prices for those who actually run businesses.

@ThatsNotMyMuffin I meant it makes me sad that you see the same type of business ideas again and again and again, even from people who clearly aren’t all that into them, because they feel like their options are limited. Rather than a wider range of ideas that really reflects a diverse landscape of women with different skills and abilities. I’m not suggesting everyone should do corporate work, far from it. I’m not corporate myself either.

Like so many pps have pointed out, there are a zillion candle companies. So the last thing that’s likely to succeed is another new one set up by someone with no background in making candles and no original idea.

If op was my friend I’d try to be positive for her, but my heart would be sinking a bit because it just doesn’t sound like a goer.

I should also add that I didn't start my business while juggling childcare (then toddler DS went to a childminder full time and I also had a very supportive partner), that would have been impossible and despite that, I made a loss in my first year and even full time, only a small profit in the second year. It was four years before I was earning the equivalent of minimum wage at 35 hours a week and I worked around 70.

You do not need to be unique. There are lots of people selling pizza, selling t-shirts, selling artwork, selling home furnishings. You just need to be good at what you do; providing products people want at a price they can afford with good customer service. You can copy any idea you like as long as it's not protected by either a patent or design rights ( highly unlikely with candles). Just get stuck into it and get your marketing right.

You can copy thier idea (making candles) but make it your own - be imaginative. Whatever you do. don't copy anyone else's 'copy' i.e. write your own website / selling site, never use the words that others have created.

Having a usp of “the same as them but cheaper” is unlikely to work for you because people aren’t deciding what handmade luxury to buy based on price.
Will you really have the enthusiasm to come up with new colors/ scents/ marketing shots/ seasonal promos etc over the longer term for a product that you e essentially copied from elsewhere? It just doesn’t sound like a recipe for success or happiness.
Is it unethical... well, of course it is, you’d not like it if someone did the same to you. How are you actually going to feel about having a not-particularly-profitable business based on someone else’s idea and other peoples’ information (YouTube videos)?

@candlebusinessidea

It's really hard to come up with new ideas that hasn't already been done.

I'm in the UK, they're abroad so don't think we'll have the same customers.

Regarding a USP, I was thinking of offering subscription down the line? they don't offer this.
But this is just an idea

There are thousands of small candle companies in the UK offering a subscription service. Have you done all the required testing, read the Food Imitation Act , The General Product Safety Directive? Do you know how to read a sds sheet? Do you know how to make sure your CLP labels are compliant? Have you sorted out insurance? Have you registered with the poisons centre and uploaded your fragrances? I'm guessing that most if the YouTube videos you've seen are American? There are very few UK ones on there and the legalities of making and selling candles in the UK are totally different to the USA.

@LikeABreathRipplingBy

You do not need to be unique. There are lots of people selling pizza, selling t-shirts, selling artwork, selling home furnishings. You just need to be good at what you do; providing products people want at a price they can afford with good customer service. You can copy any idea you like as long as it's not protected by either a patent or design rights ( highly unlikely with candles). Just get stuck into it and get your marketing right.

There are lots of candles and fragrances that are subject to copyright

If you're looking for ideas check out curtain making rather than candles.

Serious suggestion. They're not that difficult to make, there are some fabulous fabrics out there and everyone needs curtains.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking an existing concept and making it better, as businesses do this all of the time.

Cars had been done to death then Tesla came along and is now one of the biggest, most profitable companies in the world.

Go for it OP, you never know unless you try.