8 lessons we've learnt over the last 8 years in business
Hannah & Oliver Goundry
23rd February 2026
The Home County Co. is officially 8!
And whilst we still can't decide if it feels like the last 8 years have lasted a lifetime or gone in a flash, all we know is that we've come a long way since we first ever ordered that make-your-own-candle-kit from Amazon and doubled down on our dreams.
On reflection this week we've come to realise that, actually, most of the important lessons we've learnt about business have come from the things that didn't go to plan, as opposed to our successes.
So, let's get into it - here are 8 lessons we've learnt whilst growing our candle business over the last 8 years...
1) In-person interaction is so important
Starting right at the beginning with a lesson we learnt on day one of building the Home County Co.: in person interaction is more important than you can ever know. In those early days where all we had was our first batch of candles and an empty bank account, it was the only resource we really had, so we used it to our advantage and would literally carry our little tray of candles into our local gift shops, ask to speak to the owner and proceed to ask the owner if he or she would like to stock our county candles.
Surprisingly? Our success rate was really pretty good! It's too easy to miss or delete an email, tell someone on the other end of the phone you're too busy to take their call, or throw a letter in the bin. But when presented with beautiful smelling candles, a totally unique county candle concept, and a couple in their 20s with a dream, independent retailers throughout Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire became our very first stockists, and we're so proud to still work with many of them today, including Raindrops on Roses, St Albans.
Whilst the business has now grown and we find ourselves with less and less time to knock on doors, we're determined in 2026 and beyond to do much, much more of this again. So, when an existing stockist reorders, we'll try to hand-deliver to them more often. When a new retailers reaches out to request samples and trade information? We'll take them to them, because now more than ever, in-person interactions are so important for building long-lasting relationships.
2) Shows are a good place to start
Now, don't get me wrong, being on the 'show circuit' is exhausting and, at times, soul destroying. In the early years of growing the Home County Co., you'd have found Oli and I in a different shopping marquee at various county shows, flower festivals and Christmas market every single weekend, all over the home counties. Shows can be expensive, time-intensive and the return on investment isn't guaranteed by any means (mainly thanks to the great British weather!), but I would advise any product based business to get their products in front of real potential and existing customers as much as they possibly can, especially in the early days.
Not only is the feedback instant, the conversations with real customers are invaluable in shaping your future marketing and product development, and you often do come away having made enough money to go again the following weekend! It's also worth saying that many of our most loyal website customers today met us in person as these shows and Christmas markets, thanks to that in-person interaction above.
3) Seeing print in real life can save costly mistakes
This might sound like an obvious one, but another lesson we learnt early on was to take just a little bit more time to make a decision before committing to a full print run of packaging. It might sound obvious, but trust us, when you see beautiful designs on a computer screen, it can be all too easy to rush it off to the printers. We discovered this at our very first trade show, Spring Fair 2019. We worked with the most amazing graphic designers (who we still work with today) to completely revamp our packaging - creating a beautiful illustration for each of our candle packaging sleeves.
We loved them, but as soon as we saw them displayed on our trade show stand, we both couldn't help but feel that we'd missed a trick by not including colour, as each was completely black and white. We briefed this in, and couldn't have been happier with the new, more colourful results. We worked our way through the existing stock of black and white candle sleeves, but we did naturally end up with some wastage when we eventually had to make the switch to the colourful versions all at once.
4) Sticking to your guns (and your brand values) will always pay off
Over the years you're constantly faced with opportunities that might seem bright and shiny, but which don't align with the long-term vision of your brand. We've had retailers tell us they'd prefer if, for example, we swapped the scents of Dorset and Hampshire, because their part of Dorset isn't coastal, it's woody. Or, tell us they could sell hundreds of candles, instead of the county. But, really, we are the original county candle company - we've scoured the length and breadth of the United Kingdom to create our range of 41 unique home fragrances, inspired by the stories that best represent the counties they are named after. If we were to add any old fragrance oil to one of our county candles, regardless of whether it made sense for that county or not, what would that make us?
Similarly, if we were to dip into candles named after towns, wouldn't we end up having to make candles for thousands of different towns, when we haven't even completed the 100 counties of the UK yet? We're proud to have always stood our ground when it comes to 'opportunities' like this, because we know that our brand has something special - and the squeals of excitement from customers in our shops when they stumble upon their own home county candle help to reinforce that for us all the time.
5) Risks won't always pay off, and you have to be OK with that
12 months ago we took our biggest risk to date: paying a 5-figure deposit on our second bricks and mortar retail space on King's Parade in the heart of Cambridge City Centre. When we viewed the shop we couldn't believe it was even available - the street outside was bustling, the view from the window was the iconic King's College and the sun was even shining. Holding our hands up, we went on gut feeling over strategic decision making, and we almost emptied our bank account paying for the deposit.
That meant there was NO room for it not to work, instantly. But the problem was, the rent, business rates and staffing costs were just too high. Whilst international tourists loved our brand, we would hear time and again how little room they had in their suitcases, and the other 40% of the Cambridge population were students, who just aren't our typical target customer. Had we given ourselves a little more breathing room from the off, maybe we could have made it work, but for reasons I don't think we'll ever fully understand, Cambridge wasn't the place for us, and so we were lucky enough to surrender the lease early, and we'll be forever grateful to our landlords for understanding and allowing us to do that.
6) Focus is so important
Over the last 8 years, we've sold our products direct-to-consumer via this website, to trade customers all over the UK, as well as the US and Canada, opened two candle shops, exhibited at shows all over the UK and manufactured for brands such as Buckingham Palace, English Heritage and countless others. What an adventure doing all that has been! But also what a headache at times - spinning too many plates, juggling too many balls and not having the time or resource to do every single thing perfectly. That's why, for reasons throughout this blog post, which have taught us these lessons the hard way, we're actually grateful to be refocusing on the channels that we feel we can give our absolute all to.
We'll focus on telling the stories of Britain's most beautiful places to our customers throughout the UK via our social media channels, website, and - who knows - maybe the odd in-person show or two; we'll continue to work with our wonderful retail partners, and hopefully lots of new ones in every corner of the UK and we'll continue to manufacture beautiful white label products for brands who align with our values too.
7) You learn more from your failures that your successes (unfortunately!)
Life would be a lot easier if this wasn't true, but sometimes you do have to fail in order to refocus and rebuild better. And, actually, as painful as it is, failing hard just means you learn more quickly. Take our Cambridge shop for example - if the losses has been manageable, but still losses, we may have died a slow death. Instead, they were stark, and impossible to ignore. What was probably the most difficult 6 months of running the Homw County Co. because our biggest lesson yet - if something isn't working, try your hardest to fix it, and if it's still not working, cut it, learn from it and move on.
8) You have to keep going
Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor, and nothing worth having ever came easy, so you just have to keep going, because longevity counts for something. Over the last 8 years we've navigated a pandemic, a seemingly never-ending cost of living crisis and a global political landscape that has never felt so volatile. However, we've also enjoyed a world cup summer of 2018 when things felt optimistic, and the King's Coronation where the entire nation seemed to come together to celebrate their favourite British brands. If we dwelled too much on the knock backs we'd never get out of bed in the morning, so instead it's important to take each day as it comes and tackle each and every problem (because there will always be problems) as best you can with what you have.