Open for Business

If you’re like me, you were probably thinking that this would never happen. Guess what? The day is finally here!!

The Mister and I talked about starting a soap business about a year ago. We talked and talked and talked. Then, the Mister and I started doing TONS of research into starting a home based business and how to make cold process soap. Then we started buying supplies and ingredients.

After experimenting with a few recipes, we came up with three that we really liked and sent our baby bars out into the world to be tried out by friends and family. We got mainly positive reviews and used that feedback to refine those three recipes and create one more. Now, we have four varieties of soap that are FOR SALE as of today.

For the longest time we procrastinated about getting our business off the ground. The largest obstacle wasn’t capital or ideas but fear. Fear of failure and fear of success if you can believe that. On the one hand we were afraid that we’d open shop and completely bomb. On the other, we were afraid that people would like our stuff and then not be able to keep up with the demand. I spoke to an actual life coach about this (Not professionally. She’s someone I know from work.). Laurie told me that I have a glass half empty mentality and that I needed to stop using various excuses (we kept saying that the website wasn’t ready, lol) and own up to the fear and GET OVER IT. She said that the holiday season is here and that we needed to get our virtual doors open. So, I hired someone to finish up the website and now we’re officially OPEN! And what’s more, we have our first order! Gosh! It’s exciting, lol.

We still have the fear but it’s not overpowering like it was in the beginning. After all, life is about taking chances, right?

Head on over to Coastal Natural Soap and check us out. The site is not 100% (there’s tasks that I need to take care of still) but the important part is there:  the shopping cart, heheh. We’re only able to accept PayPal at the moment unless I know you IRL. PLEASE use the contact form and leave me feedback. We’re still tweaking stuff so if something doesn’t work, is confusing, is just plain ugly, TELL ME. I want to hear it and I actually mean that.

I’m going to be running a contest sometime this week and will be giving away a sample pack of all four soaps to a lucky winner! Stay tuned and follow me on Twitter @trishaj or follow the business on Twitter @soapmakers or subscribe to my feed here or our feed on www.coastalnaturalsoap.com for more info!! 

 

Today is the Day

I’m wondering how observant my readers are. I updated my blogger profile so that it better reflects what I’m all about these days. Did anyone notice a very interesting (at least I think it is) addition? Take a look to the left and pay special attention to the “running a soap business” part. Yup. The Mister and I are starting up a handmade, all natural soap making business. It’s been in the works for some time and it’s been really hard keeping it a secret, lol. We wanted to wait until we were just about ready to open shop before we said anything. I didn’t want to jinx it.

Last night we popped out our first bit of inventory out of our soap mold. It was a very exciting moment. We’ve been experimenting with recipes, additives, scents, etc., for a while so it wasn’t our first batch but it is our first batch that is sellable. It still has to cure for four weeks so we’re not “open for business” just yet. But we’re SO CLOSE!! Jennifer S. is going in on our business with us because she has a lot of experience operating a business and buying and selling. She’s going to distribute our soap out on the west coast. She also has a lot of great ideas.

I’ve reserved our blog space, both on Blogger and on WordPress, and I’ve also reserved our domain space and e-mail address. Our company’s name, Coastal Natural Soap was born out of the search for an available domain name, lol. Plus, “Coastal” is a good word considering that we live on the coast and so does Jennifer (basically). Coming up with the name was, by far, the hardest part. In the beginning, I was afraid of working with the sodium hydroxide, which is necessary to make lye. Turns out, that was easier than figuring out what to call ourselves, heheh.

Anyway, other than a very select few people that are closest to us, you guys are the first to know. We’ll be giving out samples once the soap has cured. Just a heads up. ;) Everything in our soap is all natural including scents, colorants, and all additives. We’ll be using everything from cocoa powder to kelp and algae to color our soap and we only use essential oils for scents.

Our blog addresses are:

http://coastalnaturalsoaps.blogspot.com/

http://coastalnaturalsoaps.wordpress.com/

Our website is www.coastalnaturalsoap.com

There isn’t anything at any of these sites, YET, except for “coming soon” messages but you should bookmark them and subscribe to our RSS feeds so you can be kept up to date.

It’s been really fun and exciting getting to this point and I hope you will all read along and be a part of our newest adventure. Hopefully, you’ll also become loyal customers, heheh!

More Business Tips

I’ve been cold-calling plumbers, cleaners, and property management companies trying to get some help with the house in Vermont. I’m using a two year old phone book and you wouldn’t believe the amount of businesses that are no longer in business. It’s really sad.

Anyway, these types of businesses are often sole proprietorships or partnerships and/or they are run out of the home. That’s great. I do that myself. I can relate. These are the things that I have learned and what has been bugging me the last couple of days. It’s just my opinion but I also think it’s a lot of common sense.

1. If you run your business out of the home, don’t talk to your children (or anyone else for that matter) while on a business call. I understand that it’s sometimes impossible to do, but don’t play games with them either. I had a woman do that on the phone yesterday while I was forced to sit and listen. And not just for a couple seconds either. That is very unprofessional and I made up my mind before I even heard their prices that they weren’t getting my business.
2. A landline is great, but if you’re often out of your office on business, have a cell phone. A missed phone call during business hours is probably going to end up being a missed business opportunity if they are anything like me. I hang up and move on to the next name in the book.
3. While we’re on the subject of phones, HAVE AN ANSWERING SERVICE OF SOME KIND!!! Nowadays, voicemail is a way of life. Use it. Also make sure that your outgoing message CONTAINS YOUR BUSINESS NAME. I can’t tell you how many people’s outgoing message was one of those distorted, automated voice things with no freaking name. How am I to know that I dialed the right number or that the number wasn’t changed?
4. Still on phones…When you answer your business line, don’t answer, “Hello?” HELLO!! Say your name and the name of your business. It sounds so much more professional when you introduce your business plus it lets the person know they called the correct number.
5. If you’re listed online in any capacity, have a website to go with that listing. It’s not hard and if you use Blogger or WordPress, it’s freaking FREE!! All you would need is the name of your business, a contact name and number, a mailing address, and possibly an e-mail address (which is also free and easy to set up), plus a description of the services that you offer. A few lines and you’re done. Hell, I’ll do it for you if you’d like. Of course, I don’t work for free, heheh.
6. Oh. And another thing about phone calls, return messages. Do you want to make money or not? I don’t understand businesses that don’t return messages from customers seeking their services.
7. Don’t miss appointments and if you do, don’t blame your customer. I had an appointment set up with a property management company while we still lived in Vermont. They missed their appointment and then told me that I should have called them to remind them. Huh? What? Excuse me? Am I your secretary?? How was I supposed to trust someone with my property when they couldn’t even manage to show up for the interview?
8. In general, be a professional. Just because you are a small business and/or you run your business out of your home does not mean you are not a professional business person. Act like it. Use professional language, speak clearly, answer your phone correctly, keep appointments, and appreciate that your customer is trusting you with their business.