TRAVERSE CITY -- Some business owners hone their entrepreneurial talents in a family business. Others spend years at college earning a business degree.
Sarah Jane Bye launched her successful business, By Candlelight Amish Furnishings, in 1996 as the result of a chance conversation while living in an Amish community in Rosebush.
"I worked nearly every job available to an Amish girl," said Bye.
These included working in a bakery, a furniture repair shop, a bulk food store, as a house cleaner, a substitute teacher and child day care provider. After about three years, her parents offered her a loan to open her own business. Her plan was to sell products made by Amish women such as quilts, rugs, jams and candles -- items the women made while working by candlelight.
She was driven to an auction where she hoped to buy a loom, as she prepared to launch her business.
"I told the driver about the new store, and he suggested I consider selling Amish furniture," recalled Bye. "Since I come from a family of furniture makers, and my parents always filled our home with fine furniture, the idea intrigued me. The driver provided me with the name of a man he knew in Ohio who made furniture, and my father and I set off to Holmes County, Ohio, the largest Amish community in the country."
That artisan had never sold to an Amish girl before but he agreed to do it and even gave Bye another contact. In fact, in just one day, Bye had all of her first contacts. "I had a well-rounded collection of workshops, including a bedroom furniture builder, a table builder, a chair builder, " said Bye, who now does business with hundreds of Amish families.
By Candlelight began in a farm house near Rosebush, then moved to a store closer to Mt. Pleasant. Four years ago Sarah Jane married and moved the store to Traverse City. She found a location downtown, between Front and State Streets behind the City Opera House. Two years ago, she moved to a 5,000-square-foot Front Street building that had housed the Great Lakes Children's Museum.
The store's inventory is impressive and includes furniture for kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and offices. There are also living room accessories, wall decor and items made of painted pine.
"We offer six different woods and 13 different stains to create a piece that is unique to our customers," she said. "We're like a local furniture artisan, except our artisans are in Ohio. It's custom furniture, but people should know that 'custom' doesn't mean expensive."
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