We were lucky to catch up with Elliott Smith recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Elliott, thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Candles have always been my favorite thing to buy for my home. I loved watching candles burn just to get lost in the flame that danced around as the aroma from the flame filled my nose. This led me to begin making my own candles as a hobby. Making candles is my outlet to get lost in my own world and relax. As I began gifting my candles to loved ones and getting great feedback, I got inspired to turn my hobby into a business venture. It was exciting to know that others enjoyed something that I made.

I began brainstorming ideas for a business name. I wanted to come up with a name that would include the words like “aroma”, “aroma therapy”, or something that incorporated “flame” and “fire”. I kept scrambling with names until I was exhausted and needed a break from the brainstorming. After a break from thinking, I just stared at my candle in a daze. Then, it finally hit me, “Roma Burn by Bron”. Roma Burn by Bron was catchy, unique, and also represents me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Roma Burn by Bron is a luxurious candle company that provides all natural coconut-apricot creme wax candles and wax melts. After listing to my customers, I have extended my product line to include Body Wash, Organic Soap, Beard Oil, Lotion, Room Sprays and face scrub for men.

I started making candles because I always loved buying them to make my home smell good. I began wondering how they were made and how I could make scents that were unique to me. After doing my own research, I decided to finally buy supplies to make my own unique scents. This is where my hobby of making candles started. It was exciting testing different ingredients like fragrance oils, waxes, etc. I loved making candles so much that I began gifting them to family and friends. After getting a lot great feedback I decided to take it more seriously and turn my hobby into a business.

I started doing more research about the candle industry and realized that while there’s many options for candles, there’s not really many options for men. Something that smelled masculine and really set the mood in homes of men like me who had their own spaces. This is what would set me a part from a lot of others in my industry.

I am really proud of the amount of success my business has received so far this year. I’m especially proud of my support from my community, family, and friends. The main thing that I want people to know about me is that I will always be grateful to have the opportunity to present my creations. Roma Burns mission is to provide quality aroma to ease the mind, body, and spirit within. Knowing that everything is made by Bron.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I’ve had to unlearn was the hotels sales strategy that I learned work with independently owned hotels. In that field, I use to use strategies such as adjusting prices of rooms to control sales. This meant that a lot of times I would decrease the price of the rooms in order to sale more rooms. This is something that I had to unlearn when I started my business because I use to discount my candles just to make more sales.

I started taking a start-up business course that the City of Chattanooga has called LAUNCH. This class helped me realize that I was losing out on profits by underselling my candle just to get a sale. Now that I know the quality of my work, time, and effort put into it,

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Funding my business has been challenging being that my 9-5 is the funding source of my business during my startup phase. As i grow, I have had the ability to have crowd funding from friends and family. Their help has provided me with the chance to buy more equipment for my business and meet my customer needs. Although this is my first year in business, the help and support that i have been receiving has been filled with gratitude beyond measures. Thank you to all those that continue to support me as me and my business grow for better.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.RomaBurn.co
• Instagram: @RomaBurn_ByBron
• Facebook: @Roma423
• Other: TikTok: @RomaBurnByBron