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OUR STORY
Built Through Testing, Patience, and Persistence
Fire Mountain Candles didn’t begin with a grand plan to build a brand. It began with an idea, a willingness to learn, and my usual inability to leave something alone until I understood how to do it right.
What started with candles became hundreds of test burns, more trial and error than I care to count, and eventually evolved into something much bigger than I first imagined. Along the way, it also became something I no longer think of as mine alone.
That’s the story behind Fire Mountain.
THE FIRE MOUNTAIN STORY
I’ve Always Had a Hard Time Leaving Things Alone
Candles weren’t an obvious next chapter for me.
Over the years I’ve driven trucks, owned businesses, taught Taekwondo, learned to fly, built websites, learned graphic design and screen printing, and even wrote a novel. Most of those things started the same way. Something caught my interest, I wanted to understand it, and before long I was buried in learning everything I could about it.
Fire Mountain wasn’t much different.
What began as an idea for a candle business quickly became a lesson in wax, fragrance, wicks, vessels, temperatures and burn testing. One question usually led to three more. I wasn’t interested in simply learning how to make a candle that burned. I wanted to understand why it burned the way it did—and what I could do to make it better.
Somewhere along the way, making candles turned into building Fire Mountain.
CRAFTSMANSHIP & TESTING
I Wanted to Get Them Right
There are easier ways to learn how to make a candle than burning through hundreds of them.
But every test taught me something. A different wick. A different fragrance load. A different vessel. Sometimes a candle performed beautifully. Sometimes it didn’t. And sometimes something that looked perfect at first taught me a completely different lesson halfway through the jar.
Testing eventually spread into as many as seven places at once, with results recorded throughout each burn. Every candle that passed also had to make it through an extended power burn. And when I finally thought I had one right, I burned another from beginning to end just to make sure the first one hadn’t been a fluke.
By the time I stopped that original marathon, I had burned more than 400 test candles and gone through roughly 200 pounds of wax. That’s far more testing than I ever imagined when this started—and certainly not a process I’m eager to repeat from scratch.
I wasn’t trying to make the most candles.
I wanted to get them right.
400+
Test Candles
200+
Pounds of Wax
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Some Things Matter More Than Making More
I learned a lot while building Fire Mountain, and not all of it was about candles.
I learned that a product should earn its place. That doing something well matters more than doing a lot of it. And that if I’m going to ask someone to bring something we’ve made into their home, I want to feel good about what we’re handing them.
But I learned something else along the way, too.
There was a point when my determination to get everything right became determination to get everything done. I pushed myself hard, and sometimes the people working beside me got pulled into that pace as well. Eventually I had to recognize something that should have been obvious: building something worthwhile isn’t worth much if the process consumes the people building it.
So this time, we’re doing things a little differently.
I’ll never stop tinkering, testing, learning, or trying to make something better. That’s just part of who I am. But Fire Mountain doesn’t need to become the biggest candle company. It needs to be a company we’re proud of—one that makes good products, treats people well, and remembers why we started doing this in the first place.
Quality over quantity. People before pressure. And enough balance to enjoy the mountain while we’re climbing it.
MEET THE FIRE MOUNTAIN CREW
The People Behind the Mountain
Fire Mountain has never really been a one-person operation. Melinda and Maryann got pulled into the testing, markets, late nights, big ideas and occasional chaos that came with building it. They have believed in what we’re doing, worked harder than I ever had a right to ask, and helped turn something I started into something that belongs to all of us.
And then there’s Peanut.
His contributions are more difficult to quantify.
Bobby
Founder & Chief Tinkerer
If something catches Bobby’s interest, leaving it alone usually isn’t an option. Fire Mountain grew out of that curiosity and his stubborn determination to understand why things work—not just whether they work. He still drives a truck for a living, still tinkers with just about everything, and is apparently incapable of having a small idea.
Melinda
The Muse & The Real Boss
Melinda is Bobby’s muse, sounding board, and the person most likely to tell him exactly what she thinks—which is one of the reasons her opinion matters so much. She was a little stunned when she discovered just how far one of Bobby’s “ideas” could go, but she climbed aboard anyway. She has worked, encouraged, questioned, believed, and occasionally reminded the Chief Tinkerer that there are other people on the mountain with him.
Maryann
Chief Supporter & Get-It-Done Department
Maryann is Fire Mountain’s biggest fan, and she has never been very good at standing on the sidelines. If something needs doing, she wants to know what it is and how she can help. She has worked, encouraged, hauled, painted, packed, and given more of herself to Fire Mountain than anyone could reasonably ask. At 66, she still seems determined to prove to Bobby that she can keep up. What she apparently hasn’t figured out yet is that she stopped needing to prove anything a long time ago.
We’re already proud of her. We just try not to tell her too often—it might slow her down.
Peanut
Chief Morale Officer & Master of Bug Detection
Peanut’s official responsibilities remain somewhat unclear. He contributes very little to the bottom line and is frequently found sleeping on the job.
What Peanut does best happens away from the shop. He’s there at the end of a long day to listen to the stories, pull Bobby’s attention away from whatever problem is still rattling around in his head, and remind him that sometimes the best thing to do is simply stop for a while.
He’s Bobby’s best friend, his other partner, and a much-loved member of the Fire Mountain family.
His compensation package remains excessive.
COME TO THE MOUNTAIN
Come See What We’re Building
Fire Mountain is still growing, still changing, and probably always will be. We’ll keep sharing what we’re working on, what we’re learning, and the occasional story from behind the scenes.
If you’d like to follow along, pull up a chair. There’s always room around the fire.