RamsdenDesigns

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

A video about a small group of women who are selling bath and body products.

Bring it on I say.

Day 65 - 67

I’ve had one of those exciting days, the kind that feels like EVERYTHING is perfect. Today I met with a marketing and consulting company who I’ll be working with to get my products out into the retail world. The meeting was with one of the owners, Fiona, who I liked immediately and feel that she totally gets my products and design philosophy.

We discussed marketing, distribution, pricing and where I want the business to go among other things. In my mind I’ve got a fairly clear idea of where I want to take the business, but absolutely no idea on how to get there and where to begin. My 110 Days Action Plan has changed slightly, I’m dropping the Lavish Collection to 9 soaps, for better display purposes, bath bombs and bubble bars will be cut in number as well. I’ll just stock the fragrances of those two that are the best sellers. I want to start just a bit smaller and build up as I go. Not because I don’t have the time but because by Christmas I’d like to have 12 products available and each product will have between 5 and 9 choices, so it’ll start to build up into a considerable collection just as an initial introduction to the products.

Fiona and I discussed how the business can move forward breaking the next 6 months into smaller goals that we both agree are achievable.

I’m going to have to sit down and cost the next few months so I know what I’m in for as well. And so I can get an idea of how long it will take me to pay the initial outlay back. We have no wealthy relatives who have nothing better to do than invest in my business so poor Big B will be paying for it all.

Also my semi final packaging design is finished for the Lavish Collection. I’m thrilled with how the soaps look together and am also happy with the names. Naming products is more difficult for me than thinking up new recipes and I struggle a lot with it.

The soaps hopefully have whimsical, naughty, modern names. That was the goal anyway. My Delight Collection soaps will be named after what they smell like, as well as having very different packaging to keep the collections separate.

So as I move into the last third of my plan I can see how it’s all coming together and how immediately afterward I’ll be moving into the next stage and the next list of goals I’ll want to reach.

Link Love

• This woman is so talented I’m green with envy, although I do believe she works VERY hard for her talent. We have one of her books which is read on a regular basis. Blow are 3 books she illustrated and very cleverly made to all work together.

• I spend a lot of time looking at market displays on the internet and I must admit, my display, when compared to the pro’s is seriously lacking. Indie Fixx did a small series on the Art Star 09 market and you can tell by the pics that some people really have a great eye for detail. Read it here, here and here.

Some favourites from the series include:

It’s the white shelves that get me…so simple but so effective.

If I ever get a van big enough to hold a shelving unit like this I’d totally go for it.

Look at the boxes behind! Love them.  

All images by Indie Fixx.

• Want to know what your chances are of making a success of your business? Then the Odds of Success Calculator is what you need. I’ve apparently got a 33% of making a success of my business, my weaknesses being lack of managerial experience, soap making experience and funds. I like that they tell you your weaknesses, gives you something to work on.
• Starting your own Home-Based Arts & Craft Business was interesting. It’s a nice article if you’re just starting out and have all those newbie questions which you hope don’t make you sound too naive.
• As is The 12 Secrets to Starting a Home-Based Craft Business. It’s up to secret 10 right now. They’re not really secrets, but are they are still good to read because they put you in a success frame of mind.

Day 14

Sunday was my most successful day ever at the Perth Markets. It was nice to be a bit busier than usual there. I definitely think improving my display helped a lot and if I hadn’t forgotten my camera I would have taken photos. It’ll be nice to visit the bank tomorrow and deposit my earnings.

During the quieter moments I managed to label a few more types of soaps and the new labels are a definite improvement. I also sold all of my bubble bars and am seriously low on bath bombs now too. Bath bombs are by far my most popular product. I sold 85 bath bombs just this weekend, once the kids smell how good they are and the parents see the price it’s usually a quick sale. I also met the gorgeous Sam and her daughter who stopped by to buy more soaps. Sam is a regular commenter on my blog which is appreciated more than she knows.

I’m definitely becoming obsessed with soap. Improving my display and making a perfect batch of soap is almost all I can think about. This coming week will be a busy one, I’ve got full days planned for the whole week.

Monday – Day off (kinda). It’s family day thanks to Little J having a student free day at school so we have outings planned. The only jobs I want to do are cleaning up the studio, doing another stock take after the weekend and finish labelling the soaps.

Tuesday – The most exciting thing Tuesday is a visit from Australia Post who will be giving me advice on all my shipping and postage needs. We’ll be discussing the best options for my business and how to get the cheapest postage rate so the customer is happy and saves money. This guy knows small business and selling over the internet so I’m really looking forward to it.

Also up for Tuesday is researching gift box options and bribing dad into making me a wire soap cutter. I really need a wire soap cutter, the traditional blade is not giving me the finish I want and all the professional soapers use wire because of the quality of the cut.

Wednesday – Will be spent ordering scents, making new bubble bar molds and making more salt bars which I had delayed doing until I got a wire soap cutter.

Thursday – I’ll be making bath bombs…lots of them. I plan on making at least 300 that day.

Friday – I’ll be trying out a new bubble bar recipe and whipping up my last kids toy soap (there is only one left after this weekend), another soap I put off until I got a wire cutter.

Saturday – Working on the website.

Sunday – Working on the website.

Gosh I need a lie down after looking at all I have planned.

Too Busy To Post

No really I have been. This past week has been one mad dash after another, visits to suppliers, hours spent making product and trying out new ideas. It feels like my soaping business has become a full time job and is consuming almost all of my day.

I’ve been so busy with work my littlest asked daddy who that strange lady in the office was.

I’m sure the kids are coping fine.

But after some lengthy business chats with my mum about where I want the business to go and how to get there I’ve decided on a strong new direction for my soaps. I’m taking my packaging and recipes to new level and will then be starting a campaign to get them into shops so the majority of my income comes from wholesale and the market side of things will be a way to test new ideas and meet customers.

So starting tomorrow I’m beginning a 100 Day Action Plan to get my soaps and bath products into shops. The inspiration comes from Rifferaffs own 100 day challenge. Interestingly she was doing prints and her own patterns before changing over to soaps at around the same time as me.

By the end of the 100 days I aim to:

• Develop and have ready to sell to shops – 10 luxury soaps, 7 bath bombs, 7 bubble bars and a collection of economy priced soaps.
• Have web shops up and running and fully stocked.
• Create a professional looking market display.

Yesterday I spent my spare time during the Perth Market writing out 6 pages of ideas, notes and plans to get to my goals. Some of these goals included:

• Contacting shops that have expressed interest in my products or shops people say would be a good match with my products.
• Decide on and design packaging for my products
• Create a luxury soap recipe
• Sorting out my office and studio and
• Finalising prices for wholesale, retail and market sales.

The next 100 days will be busy for sure but I’m hoping it will be the push I need to take things to the next level and by blogging about it will also bring added accountability. I certainly don’t want to let down my two readers…hi mum.

Moving in the Right Direction

I’ve learnt a lot about the business of crafting in the past year but still have a long way to go. How do I know I’m moving in the right direction? Is what I’m doing enough?

So I did a little soul searching and wrote out a list of goals that I could aspire to. I want to be successful in my little business and also my life but I had to decide what my definition of success was before I could make tracks to get there.

If you don’t know where you want your business to go you’ll never feel successful at it.

You’ll never really feel successful unless you have clear, achievable and specific goals in mind because every time you reach a turning point in your progress a new goal will loom up just out of reach making you feel like you’ll never get there. You need to acknowledge and celebrate each step you take along the way. That is how you feel successful, by setting short term goals and achieving them. Every day that you work towards your goals you’ll feel successful.

Decide for yourself what you would consider successful for the next month, 6 months, year and 5 years. If you’re new at this and it all seems really scary then break it down even further, one day, one week, and one month.

Start at the Beginning

1. 1.       What is your definition of success? Do you know? My definition of success has two sources; internal and external. Success for me internally is; creating work I am proud of, making enough money to contribute to the household finances and finding a balance between work and family. My external success definition is; having people love my work, being respected in my field of expertise and seeing my products in shops, magazines and on people.
2. 2.       With your definition of success in mind list all the things you want to do but haven’t. List all the things that other people have done that you want to do too. Include little things, like a new illustration or one doll quilt and big things like selling your products in Bloomingdales or employing 50 people and everything in between. Write it all down, be a little crazy, add something stupid and outrageous at first (itching for a personal appearance on Martha Stewart? Write it down for now, this is just the first step).
3. 3.       Reread your list; think about why you want these goals. If a particular reason stands out then write it down to remind you of why you listed those particular goals.
4. 4.       Ok, put the paper down and leave it for a while. A few days to a whole week if you need to. What you have written needs to find a home in your brain and settle in there before you can begin to work on making them a reality. Your mind also needs to work out for itself what’s a good idea and what’s not because whether you know it or not YOU know what you’re capable of. Sometimes that’s scary because we’re more capable than we realise but that little voice inside our head tells us otherwise.
5. 5.       Come back and read everything. Has anything changed since you wrote it? Do you feel any strong reactions?
6. 6.       Now get another piece of paper and divide it into your time frames. Right, time to cull. Cross off all the goals you’re not going to achieve within any of your time frames. Don’t be too critical though, don’t cross off an item because you think you’re too stupid to do it, rather look at a goal and decide whether you can reasonably achieve that. One of your goals may be to own a business that employs 50 people, but let’s face it if you only have a three year plan and your just starting out it could be unrealistic. However if you have a little voice inside you that says “you can do that, seriously!” then write it down. Trust your inner voice, it knows what you can do, listen to it.
7. 7.       Start looking at your list with a realistic eye. Put each goal into a time frame. For instance, my list has “have products in a brick and mortar shop”. I need to decisively look at this goal and decide when is a reasonable time frame to achieve that by. Six months? A year? I’d like to have some products in shops before Christmas because I think they’d do well then, so that goal will go in my 6-9 months goal list. Do this with all your goals.
8. 8.       Reread you goals, make changes if necessary. Are there any goals that can be broken down into smaller ones? Break them down and add the smaller goals to their relevant sections, this will help you achieve the bigger goals and they wont appear overwhelming.
9. 9.       Put your list up on the wall, right where you can see it every day.
10. 10.  Pick something on that list in the smallest time frame and start working on it today. Yes today! Even if all you do is think about it. Pay attention to your goals and the time frame you have given them and start working on achieving those goals. If you’ve set realistic and achievable goals you’ll know for certain that you can achieve them.
11. 11.  Now you’re living the successful life you dreamed of.

I asked for a trial separation

I’ve been really unhappy for a month or two and I just can’t see it getting any better. The demands on my time and the constant stress made me start to resent everything. I’ve been crying for no reason, getting moody and taking it out on everyone and not sleeping. It’s been pretty bad. So Big B and I have talked about it and we’ve decided the best thing is a 6 month break. Thankfully Big B is happy for me and looking forward to the time off.

No it’s not my relationship I’m writing about (honestly, Big B is stuck with me forever, he’ll never be rid of me), I love the guy to bits. It’s Uni I’m on about. Having a family and trying to do Uni have completely sucked the life out of me. So I’m taking 6 months off to focus on being a good mother and housewife and to mentally prepare myself for what will be a gruelling next year.

Lucky for me I can do the same assignment for next year in the unit I’m dropping this year so all the hard work won’t be wasted.

I’m kind of looking forward to the break, already my mood has lifted, the house is clean (and I didn’t have a breakdown cleaning it) and the kids are happier. And I can’t wait to get into some arty crafty fun now I have the time.

I’m really looking forward to the next 6 months.

Why did I start this blog?

I was with my mum at a craft fair and as we were leaving I wondered out loud to her about when I was finally going to start my own little craft business. Id half heartedly started before and never really got far, due to lack of funds, time or motivation, or all three. Mum agreed. I have the imagination and skill, I could do it, and I just never started. So Ive decided to try again. I love bags, I love illustration and I love my kids so lets see what I can come up with.