Tracy Welsh

I would attribute my success mostly to the drive that my family put in me. All of my family, to be apparent, owns a business currently. My mom, even at a young age, had always instilled in us to try. You know what I mean? Like, don't think, oh, you see these big corporations, you see these big businesses, if it's something that you're interested in, go for it. If it fails, you try again. Try something else until it works. So, for me, it was constant drive, that constant push to keep going and not give up.

The best advice I received is that mental clarity creates strategic advantage. I was always told by one of my greatest professors that I still talk to today to eat change for dinner. Like, don't be afraid to change, remove fear from your appetite, and just constantly crave for that change. And if you change, you elevate. That advice has stuck with me because it taught me to embrace transformation rather than resist it.

Be open to learn. Just know that you're not gonna get everything right the first time, so challenge yourself. And always remember that failure is not the end. I always say that, even teaching the classes now, I'm like, you know, you might not get it right today, but as you continue to repeat yourself or repeat the process, you'll get it. So don't give up. Just keep trying until you get it right, or get it to where you want it to be. That's the advice I would give to anyone entering this field.

I think the biggest challenge for me right now would be seasonality. The reason why I say that is, you know, candles, although either you're a candle lover or you're a candle hater, there's no in-between, right? So for me, it is retention of that audience and always keeping or introducing new things to my customers to keep them coming back. Candles are seasonal. You're gonna do baskets on Mother's Day and baskets on holidays and things like that, but what do you do off-season? You have to be creative. But the opportunities for me are the biggest opportunities working with corporations now to be able to teach through team building, through work-life balance programs, through just workspaces and workshops. The reason I say that is because it allows me an opportunity to meet a wider audience, and in that audience, it has actually grown my company and my reach. Up to date, I think when I last checked it, it was like 13% up already for 2026, and that's just the beginning of the year. So we're doing pretty good as far as corporate connections.

The values that are important to me are honesty, consistency, and loyalty. These are values that I look for not only in business relationships but also in family. Just treating people as you would love to be treated is a value for me, because then you'll always get it back in return. Another thing that I think of when I think of value is respect. To me, it's respect and value. I always don't judge people by their, you know, I never judge people actually. I give everybody an opportunity to be able to express who they are, show who they are, and show up as their best selves. And that to me is a big, big value, because that's how I show up. I'm always authentic, and I show up as my authentic self all the time.