Kristy Miller’s entrepreneurial journey began a few years ago out of her kitchen in Guelph, Ontario.
Little did she know then how her simple fascination for scents and her eco-friendly candles would take off in popularity.
And from that simple idea, Miller has created a growing retail empire with some fascinating exposure along the way. In November 2022, Miller was on the hit CBC television show Dragon’s Den where she received offers from six of the dragons before accepting a deal with well-known entrepreneurs Arlene Dickson and Michele Romanow.
Then in May 2023, Miller was named Entrepreneur of the Year by CanadianSME Business Magazine.
“I got out of the shower one day and I looked up at my ceiling and I saw black soot all over it and I was thinking what are we breathing in, what kind of chemicals am I burning (with candles), are they safe and healthy around my young kids,” said Miller.
“So I really went into a rabbit hole of looking at what ingredients were in candles and then creating a candle I thought was great for myself and my home and some that was aesthetically pleasing in my home because I’m a woman who loves to decorate homes. I take pride in my home and I love to gift.
“I couldn’t really find anything on the market that I really loved the scent of and really loved the style of. So I started making candles on my kitchen stove in 2018 and then my friends and family started buying them and people were asking me for more. I thought maybe I have a little side hustle here that could be interesting. It very very quickly rolled from side hustle to oh my God I have my hands full as I was juggling two businesses.”
The other business she had was driving a coffee/food truck, showing up at places like factories where she would honk her horn on arrival and workers would come out to buy coffees. That business began in 2001.
“I very quickly purchased my own truck. It was just me and one truck driving. My husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, that truck would break down and he would fix it every night for me. And I would go to work in tears and did whatever I had to do but I grew that into a fleet of seven trucks. All women driven. It was called Dashing Diner,” said Miller.
“The Scented Market started growing so quickly that I had to take a handle on it. My son who was 14 at the time said he took a Shopify class at high school and I needed a Facebook page and Instagram. So I started going really hard on social media from the beginning and I just showed up every single day no matter what. For me, it was about building the community around the candle. So it wasn’t necessarily selling a product directly every day on social media but I was building the trust of my community. I was showing them how to decorate their homes. I was bringing them into my home life and showing them what life was like being an entrepreneur mom with kids and a busy life.
“In 2021, I ended up selling my first business – the entire corporation – and negotiated a successful exit so I could move full-time into The Scented Market.”
The Scented Market is a fast-growing Canadian business known for its self-care mission and soy wax candles, home decor, and body products.
There are four corporate stores today with hundreds of wholesalers across Canada with a huge push this year into the United States. The flagship store is in Guelph with a grand opening September 2020 during the pandemic. Another store was opened downtown Niagara on the Lake, followed by Fergus, Ontario, and then the most recent store last year in Blue Mountain, Ontario.
When she appeared on Dragon’s Den, during COVID, 75 per cent of the company’s sales were online and only 25 per cent were in-store. She was asked why she would want to shift away from that into a more physical presence in retail.
“I think the shift came because of the product. It was a product that needs to be touched and smelled,” said Miller. “The future of brick and mortar, although I’m not sure where it is now, we definitely are focusing more back online because that’s where we’re seeing the greatest growth still to this day. Online.
“I feel like brick and mortar has always been a location thing for me. If the right location pops up then I would definitely consider it but I won’t do anything less than the best location.”
For Miller, the Dragon’s Den experience was incredible. It forced her to sit down and look at her numbers. It forced her to make good decisions and hard decisions.
“It really set me up for a place of success moving the company forward into the future,” she said. “You know at that point, I still had been a small business and through the food truck business I hadn’t necessarily had CEO leadership skills. But it’s something I’m very proud to say I’m working on every single day and I’m really enjoying CEO life and the ups and downs that comes with it. That whole experience definitely set us up to go from a $2 million to a $10 million company.”
Miller said as leader she has surrounded herself with amazing people and with people who share the same values personally and professionally. She recognizes her strengths and in areas where she is not as strong she fills in the gaps with people who have strong skills in those areas. Miller loves to empower her team to make decisions and be creative and have strong team collaboration within the company.
Family and health are core values for her.
“I also really believe in creating a really positive atmosphere and creating a really great attitude in the office. I lead with a positive attitude every single day so I think that just leading by example goes a long way,” she said.
“I also think that maybe I differ a little bit because although negative things happen to me I don’t let them into my space until I flip it to a positive.
“I get underestimated every single day, especially by men unfortunately. So I’ve walked away from a lot of really good deals for The Scented Market because I was underestimated specifically by a man. So I think my superpower is letting people underestimate me and then showing them what I can do.”
Miller was born and raised in Guelph.
“I’m from the university of self-taught. After I graduated high school, my nonna (Italian grandmother) was a nurse. I completed my first year of university in the RN program at Conestoga College when it was still a university degree. At the end of that year I just really took a look at is this making me happy and honestly at the end of the day the answer was my heart was broken time after time through the nursing career. I was getting too attached to patients. I wasn’t coping with the side of career which had to be the emotionless side of the career.
“Interestingly enough, 20 years ago entrepreneurship was not cool. When I told my family I was dropping out of university I was frowned upon. I was like the black sheep of the family. I was told all kinds of things of negative things because it was looked down upon and how dare I leave this structured career with a university degree to be an entrepreneur. Surely I was going to fail that.
“I really used that negative tone as a fire in my belly to prove everybody wrong.”
She went right into the coffee/food truck business.
In a recent LinkedIn post, Miller talked about the invaluable lessons that have guided her professional growth and shaped her into the entrepreneur she is today. Miller said each of these lessons has been a stepping stone in her career journey, contributing to her development as a leader and a professional.
Here are three pivotal insights she’s gathered along the way, according to her post:
“1. Asking for Help is a Strength, Not a Weakness: Early in my career, I believed that seeking help would be seen as a sign of incompetence. However, I quickly learned that asking for help is a strategic advantage. It has allowed me to tap into the expertise of others, accelerate my learning curve, and foster collaborative relationships that have been instrumental in achieving my goals.
“2. Embrace Change for Continuous Growth: Change can be daunting, and the comfort of familiarity often holds us back. Yet, some of my most significant career advancements came when I embraced uncertainty and stepped out of my comfort zone. Change is not only inevitable but necessary for growth. Adapting to new challenges has been crucial in staying relevant and innovative in my field.
“3. Challenge Yourself Regularly: The moment you stop challenging yourself is the moment you stop growing. I’ve made it a practice to set increasingly ambitious goals, continuously pushing the boundaries of what I thought was possible. This habit has not only advanced my career but has also kept my daily work engaging and exciting.”
