Behind the Scenes: A Stormy Sunday at Harbor Morning Co.

Today was supposed to be an event day.

The weather had other plans.

With our event cancelled, I suddenly had a few unexpected hours at home. So I did what every small-business owner does when handed surprise free time: opened the laptop and started working on the website we've been meaning to give a little more attention.

Of course, "quiet work time" is relative around here.

The kids went from fighting to playing the piano together. My youngest daughter was a few doors down at a friend's house. One dog decided the piano needed vocals, another slept peacefully through everything, and our younger, storm-scared dog planted himself firmly at my feet — essentially becoming a warm pair of massage socks.

Outside, the storm rolled on.

Inside, I started thinking about fall.

Those Little Hearts Mean Something

Our seasonal Storybook Wax Melt Sets have been getting quite a bit of attention lately.

Views are climbing. People are favoriting them. Some of our seasonal candles are getting the same treatment.

The funny thing is… it's not really "season" yet.

Normally, a favorite doesn't necessarily mean much by itself. Someone may love something and never come back for it.

But we've been watching.

During the summer, roughly 75% of the products customers favorited eventually turned into sales.

Suddenly, hundreds of favorites on seasonal products look a little different.

They start looking like a forecast.

And that's where one of the less glamorous parts of running a small candle company begins.

How Much Do We Make?

Do we order more wax now?

More fragrance oil?

More jars, lids, wicks and packaging?

Do we start building a bigger shelf of fall candles and wax melts before the season really begins?

Or do we wait?

There's a balancing act here that customers don't usually get to see.

Every jar sitting on our shelf represents money we've already spent. So does every bottle of fragrance, every pound of wax and every box waiting to be filled.

We want to have your favorites ready when you're ready for them.

But we're also a small business working with a carefully limited budget. We can't simply fill a warehouse based on what we think might happen.

There isn't a purchasing department making these decisions.

It's us.

Watching what you're looking at. Watching what you're saving. Looking at what sold before. And deciding where to make the next small bet.

Then Mother Nature Made the Decision to Stop the Meeting

I was sitting in the dark office, listening to the piano, the dogs and the storm while proofreading the post about all of this.

Then—

BOOM.

Lightning hit the transformer outside.

Power out.

Apparently Mother Nature had been following along and decided the story needed a stronger ending.

So the website work came to a rather abrupt stop.

The inventory question, however, remains.

Fall is coming. Judging by all those little hearts, quite a few of you are already thinking about it.

So yes, we're getting ready.

Carefully.

One candle, one wax melt, and apparently one thunderstorm at a time.

Coastal Life, Pure & Simple.