Jana Chaffin never planned on owning her own business…it just sorta happened. This delightfully warm, bubbly woman has a passion for health and using her gifts to help others, but the road to her current life has not always been a straight path.
“It’s always been God guiding me to the next step.”
In 2001, Jana and her husband adopted two adorable children from Kazakhstan, Grace & Jake, and she wanted to spend more time with them at home enjoying being a mom.
So, she quit her job. As a mother, Jana obviously wanted to make sure all her children (she also has an older daughter, Janafer) were as healthy as possible.
“I like natural. When I found out what they put in soap, as well as what they put in soap that they don’t have to tell you about, I didn’t want my family using it. “
So she began making her own, super enriched with pure Shea Butter. As she treated family and friends to her super moisturizing and highly fragranced soap, word quickly spread. Soon she was making and selling the soap out of her home.
Requests then came in for other products including candles. What had started as a quest to keep her kids healthy was now a booming business.
“More and more people wanted it. The higher the demand, the more I made. Then people wanted candles but I didn’t want to make candles” She smiles, “Now it’s my biggest selling item.”
And she made a conscious choice not to scrimp when it came to ingredients.
“My candles are double wicked and 100% soy so they last 3 times longer. They are not part petroleum. And I use super high quality fragrances and they’re triple scented. I just really want it to smell good.”
To Jana, integrity was far more important than the bottom line, “I could make something that would be cheaper but instead of profit, I’d rather feel good about it.”
In 2003, she officially branded her business, Nature’s Providence, and her hard work quickly paid off. She had numerous retail stores selling her homemade products and even had sales reps working for her across Indiana, but something was missing. She found herself spending more time working than being a mom, so her family put the brakes on their lives in Indianapolis and moved out to Mahomet in 2010.
“We moved to Mahomet because in Indianapolis I was just working all the time. The small town, slower life is what we wanted for our kids. They’re some really neat people here…hardworking, amazing people.”
And she loves that her new lifestyle lets her spend more time with her family. “The best part of my day is anytime my kids are home. At dinnertime, we all sit around the table and share. That’s a neat time.”
I was lucky enough to be invited into her home where I got the opportunity to smell, test and experience her products as well as have a private tour in her basement production facility to see where the magic really happens.
Being in her home store was a bit like hanging out with Willy Wonka at The Chocolate Factory. Her products are amazing! They smell so good and really are naturally hydrating. What truly blew me away was the purity of the scents. The blueberry candle actually smells like a real blueberry, the birthday cake really smells like a home baked cake and the snozeberries…oh. Well, you get the idea.
Plus, they’re very reasonably priced. She charges only $15 for the 13oz candles and $5 for the soaps. I especially loved the Black Cherry Bomb candle and Sweet Carmel lip balm. Yum!
Her daughter Grace has also become an entrepreneur and now creates Scented Sachets perfect for stocking stuffers at 3 for $7.95. They make unique and inexpensive little gifts and come in a variety of scents.
Jana is constantly creating new smells. “I like to make everything, I always have new fragrances” She currently has over 200 fragrances, “It becomes like an addiction, you just want the next scent.”
But as much as she enjoys creating new products and building her business she feels her true mission is to heal others.
Jana loves to build personal relationships with people and figure out the best way to help them. “I’m not a doctor but I enjoy finding the most useful products to help people heal” she reveals. She also researches the most beneficial natural remedies and then creates products around them.
The Tea Tree, Neem & Lemongrass soap is great for kids with acne and her Organic Coffee and Clove soap is perfect for exfoliating skin and getting pesky smells off hands.
Her Shea Soufflé is truly amazing for healing really dry, cracked skin. “There was a little boy in Indy whose feet bleed so badly his mom had to wrap them in Saran Wrap. They had tried everything but nothing worked. They tried my Shea Soufflé and his feet were completely healed; now they swear by it.”
In addition to running her company and spending time with her family, Jana is also involved with several charities and is a mentor for ‘In His Hands-Single Mom Ministry’ at The Vineyard Church. “I don’t think a lot of people realize that I was a single mom before and I think it’s the hardest job in the world. I really want to see single moms succeed.”
As she gears up for the holidays she admits, “It’s a big season.”
Her holiday best sellers include: Glowing Spice, Crème Brule, Fraser Fur, Spiced Cranberry and Grandma’s Apple Pie. If you place an order, she’ll even have it gift wrapped for no extra charge in pretty cello and ready to go for pick up.
Jana firmly believes that, “You have to be responsible for your own health.” She feels blessed to be able to use her talent for healing to help others and is thrilled that it has turned into a thriving business. After all, moms really do know best.
But as much as I loved her products, after spending some time with her, I think I was even more impressed with her beautiful spirit. Jana reminds me of this famous quote, “She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness and her glow has warmed the world. “ And Jana is determined to do just that by warming Mahomet…one delicious scented candle at a time.
You can find Nature’s Providence locally at The IGA, Gramby’s, The Daily Grind and The Coffee House. You can also find her products at the store she runs out of her home or at The Flower Shop in Arthur.
For more information about Jana and Nature’s Providence be sure to like her on Facebook at Nature’s Providence Handcrafted.
Lydia O’Neil is a professional writer, producer & comedian who has recently relocated to Champaign. Her credits include; A&E’s Biography, Whose Line Is It Anyway? The People’s Choice Awards & Big Brother, among others. She will be teaching a comedy class at Parkland College in the spring (Register now!) and she’s grateful you took the time to read this story. You can follow her on Twitter @RealLydiaONeil or on Facebook at Lydia ONeil.
