To Your Retail Success!!

What Do Prosperous Retail Stores Have That You Don't?

2010-03-23T08:28:00.012-04:00

Prosperous retail stores have a synergy at work that creates their success that includes the following:

Location
Marketing and Advertising Plan
Great Products
Appealing Displays and Atmosphere

Now having a great location is very important but if you don't then success can be achieved if your other elements take up the slack.

Not enough money for marketing or advertising then you might get away with that if you use the dollars you have creatively and also if your location is great.

Products, you need what the customer wants and plenty of it, you can't get by with less.

The most important element to this synergy is display and atmosphere. You could have a great location, lots of advertising dollars, wonderful products but if your place has an unpleasant look then your customer isn't moved to buy nor come back.

How does your store measure up? Is synergy working or is there a disconnect at one or two of the important elements?

Lets talk again and next time I'll focus on the importance of creating a story (atmosphere) in your store that encourages your customers to buy and come back to visit.

Life Is An Adventure

2009-11-17T10:39:00.012-05:00

Meet Linda Kick one of my customers from down the Keys. I met her via phone when she placed her first order with me. I love meeting new people and am always intrigued on where they live and how they got there. Someone living in the Keys sounded so wonderful and I asked how long she lived there etc. Well I loved her story so much I asked if she would write it down so I could put it on my blog. Here's her story in her words.

After 25 years in San Diego, CA. (which by the way is an amazing place and so beautiful) I decided to shake things up a bit. I tell people everyday to go for their dreams, take risks, and live life to the fullest. Upon reflection I discovered I was pretty complacent and so I decided, on a whim, to move to the other coast. Remember, the hardest part of any action is making the decision. Once the decision is made, then you just put one foot in front of the other and take action! So in a period of 4 weeks, I sold or gave away most everything I had.

If it didn't fit in my convertible mustang, it didn't travel with me. That in itself was a major task. Talk about releasing the past! lol. I had 25 years of stuff to go through. It took 4.5 days to drive across the country to the East Coast. I landed in the Florida Keys December 19th, called for an apartment, moved in. It was an amazing feeling to have reached my goal and to know I was beginning a new adventure.

At first I played at being retired or what ever you want to call it...I wasn't working! lol. Lots of sightseeing and getting to know my neighborhood. Then I realized I wasn't growing in any direction so I answered a small ad in the local paper and began working in an art gallery. What fun. Now I am stimulated by beautiful things all day long inside and out. It was not long (about 2 months) when I decided to open my own shop. A 9x12 storage space in the Rain Barrel at Islamorada, Fl. I had a new dream and a new project and I was giving birth to a new journey once again. It seems like once I made the first decision to change my life, the rest began to fall into place. It was so exciting.

Now, with my new shop, Tropical Zen, open only two months, I had an opportunity to grow by taking on a much larger space. Square footage was about 4 times bigger! Yikes. That was scary Would I be able to make the additional rent? Would I be able to afford the additional inventory needed to fill the space? Would I be successful? Let me tell you....On the other side of FEAR is everything I could ever want. If you remember that one thought, you will be brave enough to step through that FEAR and accept all the greatness that is yours. It was my dream, I made the decision to make it real. How would I do it all? That was not a concern, I knew from experience that it would all come together in its own time. And it did!

I started out with an order from First In Line Soaps. Then was able to add aroma therapy soy candles. Inspirational signs followed along with Chi Energy bells and positively green greeting cards. I've recently added some easy fit clothing that flows nicely with the Keys Island life. The store continues to grow along with my income. A dream come true for me.

Now, let me explain a bit about myself. I am not a young entrepreneur. I am now 58 years old, a mother to a grown woman, and a grandmother to a 6th grader. I have been divorced and struggling on my own for some years now. Everyone, and I mean everyone I knew thought I was absolutely crazy to uproot myself from family and friends. My new friends here in Florida couldn't believe I would open a shop during these hard times, especially when they knew I was dumpster diving for old furniture pieces others didn't want just to furnish my apartment! I just want to tell you, it is never too late to make a decision to move forward in your life. Until the day you stop breathing, you have the ability to make wonderful things happen. Just make the decision and take action. Believe in yourself and know you have unlimited potential.

$22 A Loaf Soaps

2009-11-10T06:05:00.005-05:00

Jumble Bubble loafs came about due to overage of soap when we make our regular line of soaps. We started them out as a free loaf for the purchase of 5 loafs. Why did we do that? Well to tell the truth with the economy scare and retail stores struggling we thought that this was a good marketing idea to hopefully get more customers to our site, try our products etc and help the retail stores. The customer didn't get to see what we were giving away free till they opened their order. So now in hind-site I can see that there had to be a bit of trust on the customers part to know that we would send off something that looked good, smelled good and would of course sell for them. So what I thought was a good idea really had some flaws. So we shelved that idea for the above reasons which really was that it wasn't doing what we wanted it to do.

So then like all ideas another one came to mind. The customers didn't like the idea that they couldn't see what they were getting, which now makes perfect sense. So I decided to offer our Jumble Bubble soaps again for a price $22.00 which is considerably less than our regular line of soap but this time I'll show them what they are getting. The one pictured here is a Pumpkin Crunch loaf that smells soo good. It's also very pretty looking mixing the colors of chocolate brown with a pearlized orange. As you cut into the loaf no two slices will look the same. There are only 3 loafs of Pumpkin Crunch available and when they are gone they are gone. You can see this loaf and the others we have available here

It's been about two weeks since we put the loafs on our site and with little or no fanfare it's working. So for me when an idea is working I start thinking about how I can enhance it even more.

So in the next week we will slowly be adding new swirl designs at $22. a loaf in the following fragrances.

Green Tea
Pearberry
Sugar Blossom
Think Green
Sweet Grass
Jasmine
Chamomile

Undertaking My Web Site! And New Men's Soaps

2009-10-30T06:53:00.004-04:00

I've been working on our wholesale web site trying to get it posted and up. Previously my son has done it but with his full time job and working on our retail site www.soapier.com I think he has enough on his plate to do. Besides I like doing the web site.

Here's the problem, I don't know html but the site was made from a Frontpage friendly template. So you would think all would be easy, with a WYSIWYG type of program it would be just insert the changes and viola!! Wrong, but it's not all bad. I'm really enjoying learning it. Microsoft has a wonderful community discussion board that when things go wrong I can just go and ask. Unfortunately sometimes they are speaking in a language I don't know. Thus a trip to the library for Html for Dummies.

So with trying to get orders out and getting soaps made I'm squeezing in some time to learn and get this up and running.

But for now here's a preview of some new soaps we have

We did a new line of men's soaps

Healthy Competition!

2009-10-19T11:54:00.010-04:00

I had an incident happen to me recently. I created a soap with a very popular smell (very unsoap like fragrance) due to many requests from my retail customers. The idea of the fragrance got my creative juices going and I came up with a pretty funky bar. Now because I do google alerts I had done one on that soap and low and behold another soap lady was making the same thing, with a different take on the design. If I hadn't had a google alert on that soap I would never of heard of her or her soap company. Anyway, then a week later I notice I got an order from her for one bar of that soap.

What?????

Now the only reason she would want to buy one bar of my soap is to compare. So I called her on it and spoke with her on the phone and told her I knew who she was and why did you need one of my bars when she had her own? She said she just wanted to smell it. Right! Well I had a choice of refunding her money or sending it out and I figured if I refunded the money she would get someone else to buy it for her so off it went to her.

So now she's claiming she has the best, she was the first etc etc.

I knew what she was doing when she ordered the soap, something that a lot of business experts tell you to do. Check out your competition, order their products, see how they do it etc etc.

Now I'm talking to you small business owners like myself whether you have a gift shop, do craft fairs, or sell on-line.

I'm not an expert but I think it's WRONG!!

Don't do it because what you are doing is being desperate and trying to take away their customers to be yours. Somehow that just doesn't sit right with me. Why would I want to take your customers? Would I think your customers will be better than the ones I develop myself?

Now I do believe there is plenty of business for all of us but and here's the big BUT you must be creative. You really don't have to steal away any customers from your competition, just give your customers what they want. Don't tell me they want what your competition is selling cause that's not true. They might be buying that but is that the only thing they will ever buy?

What do your customers want? They want to walk into a store or your booth and feel good. They want to see creative things, things that make them smile. Today they want items with a fair value price. They want to see things done creatively that they don't think they can do themselves. They want to see displays done up that tells a story.

Now, tell the truth, do you try and get the same products that your competition has to sell in your store? You think that they are selling a ton of it and you want some of that action. That's a no no.

Think creatively and find different products that sets you apart from the rest. "but Linda there is just so many products out there" Well that might be true, but if they go to the Atlanta show to do there shopping then you go to New York. Not enough different stuff in New York then go to LA. Also you have tons of different artists on line at Etsy.com or wholesalecrafts.com that are looking for wholesale buyers and they aren't at any trade shows. Find some new and different stuff and bring your style into your store and then you will have designed a store that no one can copy. Put your stamp of design on it. Give your customers good customer service, wonderful products and forget about what the other guy is selling and doing. Do your own thing!

"But Linda I'm not creative" Not true, everyone is creative, maybe not in the same ways but we all are. God created the world, we are in his image thus we are creative.

We all work hard at our businesses, we all deserve to be successful, leave your fellow store owner, business owner alone, concentrate on you, not them.

In regards to my business I also had an email from another soapmaker who loved my designs hope she could one day do the same quality of work and to her I gave her my phone # and told her to call me any time, I was willing to help her on her journey.

New Policies

2009-10-17T07:13:00.008-04:00

Sometimes we have to take a hard look at the numbers and do the right thing for the business. My hope has always been that those who buy from me wholesale would be able to make a nice profit from selling my soap. I still have that desire, but a visit with the accountant, a hard look at the numbers has forced me to reconsider some of our policies. New policies will take effect on Monday October 19, 09

Minimum orders
I have always had a minimum order requirement posted on our site and for the last few years it's been $150 for new accounts and $100 for reorders. Many times I've received orders for less than and just let them go thru, we won't be able to do that in the future.

I always thought that volume selling was the way for First In Line Soap to make money and so I created a program that allowed our customers (you) to get a free loaf with every 5 loafs ordered. Plus my fear for the retail stores in this economy and how I could help was also what prompted the Customer's Come First Program. The program was a success but did not generate enough sales for us to continue with it , so it's being discontinued.

One of the things I'm most proud of is our offer to you of our signs, labels and wrapping paper. I believe that these help you market the soaps. I think we are unusual in this offer and of course I think our label and sign designs are definitely creative. So I had a choice of either increasing our prices for the loafs or start charging for the extras. I thought hard about this and decided that keeping the cost of the loafs the same at $29. was in your best interest for your profit margin. So on the shopping cart you will have the ability to buy the labels, signs and wrappers.

Private Labeling On our web site you will be given the choice for private labeling with an additional cost above the price of our regular labels.

Jumble Bubble loafs, with each loaf we make there is always some extra soap left over that needs a home and that was the intention of the Jumble Bubble. For these loafs we have to pick a fragrance and come up with a design that would be appealing to your customers and you make a tidy profit. Well these loafs are getting to be more work than our regular line of soaps. Time is money so they say and with that we have to increase the price of them to $22. each. My goal is to make them before hand, have pictures of them and then once someone buys it it's gone and then we make more. When you buy the one pictured that's what you will get.

Turn Around Time
Please order with consideration to our turnaround time. We have a two week turnaround time and during the holiday season it can be up to 3 weeks.

Time Management!

2009-10-14T08:38:00.016-04:00

What a waste of time!

Searching for items, spending minutes, hours looking for them. Repeating the same things over and over again when you can do it just once. Running errands without a list to find out you forgot something and have to go out again. How much time do you waste? I'm afraid to even know.

Time wasting costs time... but it can also cost money. Being organized... THAT saves you time to do the things that are productive, and it can also make you money!

Time is like your bank account filled with money (I wish) and you get to choose how you will spend it. So lets say you have lots of money and decide to go out and buy an expensive steak dinner. Once you've spent that money it's gone. Now you could have gone to the store bought a great steak, cooked it for you and your friends and spent way less money. You have that choice. The same is true about time.

Your time bank account has lots of resources, but if you are like me you might be spending it foolishly.

I forgot a valuable lesson about this that I learned along time ago when my kids were little.

The moment came for my son (he's the oldest) to start to learn how to tie his own shoes. The thought of teaching him to tie his shoes would arise when we were ready to go out. I had a choice on those occasions to teach him to tie his own shoes or just do it myself. I opted to do it myself because I rationalized that it would take less time. That was true for that particular moment but then I realized if I added up all my shoe tying for him it was a heck of lot more effort than teaching him how to.

That experience happened about 33 years ago and last night I remembered that lesson and realized I was doing the same thing again with my meds. Time wasting.

Each morning and evening I open the bottles and pick out the pills and re-close the bottles and then look at each pill in my hand to make sure I got them all and then I swallow. This happens twice a day 7 days a week. Once I have the bottle opened it would take a bit more time to pick out seven pills drop them in a seven day pill box and then close bottle and repeat till I was done for the whole week. My estimation is it would take me maybe 5 minutes more on one morning of the seven days. Then all I would have to do each of those other 6 days is open the one marked for the day and swallow.

The above example is just one illustration about my time wasting.

So what to do? I have made many attempts to organize my life with to do lists. I love them, love making them, love crossing off what I've done. There are some problems with this though. I usually use a small note book that I thought would be helpful if I carried it around with me in my pocketbook. My goal was to do the list each morning (I'm too tired at night to think straight) The problem with this was half the time I couldn't find the notebook, ( a time waster). The other problem was if I didn't accomplish what I set out to do I gave up.

So I was stuck, wasting time. Well after realizing how I was wasting time on my pill intakes I decided I needed to analysis my other time wasters. I needed to come up with a type of system that would:

keep me on track for goals
figure out how to be a better time spender

So my little to do list page for my 6 day work week (God rested on the 7th day) will be on a clip board in my workroom that stays put so I don't loose it. On it I list the to do's and then what did I do. I call this The Boss. You know that guy who looks over your shoulder making sure he's getting his money worth out of you, the paper has now become my boss, the one I have to answer to.

What will this do?

My hope is that I can see what I've accomplished (hooray) and what I haven't (boo hoo). For the not done I'll ask myself the important questions of why? What happened that kept me from doing all that I wanted to do. I might not be doing things (like soap wrapping) in a productive way and then I can search out better ways to do it.

My purpose in this is not to beat myself up for not getting things done but to improve my life and how I function. I'm excited and really looking forward to being the best I can be.

My worksheet is crude but feel free to use it if you are so inclined to go on the journey of reducing time wasting. You can see it here

Of course keep in mind you and I also have to be realistic in what we can and can't do, you understand that, right? I'm not asking of myself to have a to do list that would take a great time spender a week to accomplish but I want to do it in one day.

So What's The Plan!

2009-10-10T19:24:00.021-04:00

We all have plans, for our business, our home, our marriage, our children, our life. But the secret to the success of the plan is sticking to it. Now I'm not saying that you can't change your mind when you realize that one plan isn't working so you opt to go to plan b but what I am talking about is the creative mind needing to be reined in and put on focus. Creative minds love to create and that includes new and exciting ideas for our life, our businesses. But as interesting and exciting as these new ideas may be they are keeping us (some times) from sticking to the plan.

I have proof that my personality has a problem sticking to the plans. "The Path, Creating Your Mission Statement For Work And For Life" By Laurie Beth Jones (1998) has an exercise in the book that asks you to close your eyes and picture if you were an object what would that be? Me.... I saw a compass with a magnet real close to it. You know what happens to the arrow when it's close to the magnet, the arrow can't stay pointed in one spot. That object I envisioned was spot on for me. So then she asks what would you like the object to be and I want to be the arrow pointed in one direction. Now I keep the image of that arrow in the forefront of my mind to help me stay focused on my plan, sometimes it works then other times my creative mind wins.

I believe creative minds have problems staying focused. We love to create, whether it's a piece of decorative soap, collages, art, screenplays, jewelry, store displays, fancy dinners, a beautiful home or even drama in our lives, we love to create and are always looking to do that. So when the impulse to create comes up that urge in me is so strong that the plan goes out the window. Until I realize that I got off track.

Creative minds see a problem (mine, lack of enough funds) and then create a possible solution to that. I did that this past weekend. I signed up for a flea market to sell my soaps. This is not in my plan for my business. It might of been 10 years ago but today it's not in my plan. But I did it anyway. Did diverting from my plan work out? Did I make money? Did I have fun? Was I happy with my decision? The answer to all 5 questions was no. I was signed up for Saturday and Sunday and on Saturday it dawned on me that the flea market was never in my plan so I didn't return back on Sunday. What I realized what happened is that all used energy, time and money for the flea market took me away from working on my plan to grow my business.

The plans for my business:

To learn all there is in becoming an on-line presence for both my retail and wholesale web sites and through that media the company becomes profitable.

To grow the business so it can afford to give me a comfortable salary which will allow me to do the things I love to do.

The business will continue to satisfy my craving for creating as soap making does.

What my plan does not include is;

Craft Fairs

Flea Markets

Trade Shows

Home Parties

Direct Mail
Peddling in the streets (just kidding)

My point in this is.....if I don't focus on the plan I get easily distracted and drawn into other things that aren't moving me and my business forward. Like the flea market. Fears well up money isn't coming in and I think I've got to do something. I don't think" lets keep working on the site and getting us known on the web", no I think flea market. Cost $10 for the booth it can't hurt. The cost was way more than $10 considering all things.

How do I keep that focus. Well I'm printing a picture of an arrow that I can put on my bathroom mirror, my refrigerator,use as bookmark and anywhere else I can think of to help me reign in my creative mind. Focus minds are successful and that's my goal so I'll keep you up to date on my progress.

Positive Thinking And Owning A Business

2009-10-08T07:14:00.010-04:00

Your life is about what your thoughts say about you and that is true of your business. Have you ever heard of the idea that if you have a dog, it's behavior is a reflection of who you are? That's so true also of your business. So when things start to go bad I can very well blame the economy (thus thinking I'm powerless over the forces that be) but I choose not to do that. Yeah the economy is horrible, yes sales are way down, yes I get very depressed over the whole money issue but there are businesses surviving and doing well even in this economy.

Problem solving is a great tool. It's looking at the solution and not the problem and I do believe that all problems have the perfect solution. I started my problem solving with my business with myself and my attitude towards who I am and what that means for my business.

One of the main issues with failing businesses in my opinion is the attitude of the owner. We need to ask ourselves what does our belief systems say about us and our business and success. If you have a healthy belief system in who you are and in your abilities to run a business, deal with success, people and money then you should very well be on your way to a profitable business. I know that's a blanket statement and I'm assuming you have done your homework and know that the product or products you sell has a market and your pricing is right.

I bring to my business my ideas of who I am and my capabilities as a person and business owner. Here's where my business starts to reflect who I am, it can't help itself to do that because of what I believe to be true about myself.

I can think up all positive thinking affirmations but my belief system says "NO, that's a lie, this is the truth" But actually most times our belief systems are the lie especially if it's a negative thought pattern about who you are. In my opinion no amount of forcing positive thinking affirmations will take root unless the lying belief system is uncovered and eradicated.

Are you struggling with your business? If so then ask yourself the hard question what do you believe about you and your business. Be honest with yourself, write it down, journal about it. Then if you realize there are some thoughts that need to be changed I recommend reading Norman Vincent Peales books. He has a common sense approach to this problem.

Here's some beliefs that might be hindering your success.

You're not good enough
You're stupid
You're lazy
You're not good with numbers
No one in your family did well in business
You don't have the time
The economy's bad
You're too young
You're too old

You get the idea. With a paper and pen find a quiet place, close your eyes and just ask yourself "what do I believe about myself and my business" then start writing.

Would love to hear back from you! You can email me at Linda@firstinlinesoap.com

Creating Success In This Economy!

2009-06-04T08:53:00.008-04:00

My purpose for this post is not so much that you should know some of our important financial decisions here at Firstinlinesoap.com, but as encouragement for us all to do whatever it takes to stay in business in this economy.

It's been awhile since I've posted and things have changed here at First In Line Soap. In April I made the decision to close our retail store, our direct selling portion of Soapier and to regroup.

We've moved our manufacturing back to an at home business again (that's how we started out) and we've also taken some very hard looks at some of our expenses.

Here's a list of expenses we were able to cut.

Rent for the store which was not only a small retail space but most of it was dedicated to manufacturing.

Electric.

Cable/phone I've maintained a cable internet for my home and then one at the store. Now I'll just use the one from my home. I'll use my cell phone as my contact phone number.

Web site shopping cart for all of our web sites. Previously I used a service for three of our sites that cost $60 a month. We decided to go with Mal's Shopping Cart which you can get for free. You can click here for their web site. This is a basic secure shopping cart which is all that we need.

We've stopped our daily pick up with UPS. That cost was anywhere from $8.00-$16.00 per week just for them to pick up. Now we'll use FedEx and drive your purchases over to a FedEx drop off.

I've also discontinued my relationship with our credit card company thru Quickbooks and have decided to use Paypal exclusively This allows us to save the monthly statement fees and the percentage rate and cost per transaction is almost the same.

With the above changes I anticipate a saving of $12,000 each year

This economy has me looking over where I can save whether it's for my personally or business finances and if you are not doing this now then you should be, it could make the difference in whether you can stay in business or fold.

Linda Nigro
www.firstinlinesoap.com

Valentine's Day and Heart Soaps

2009-01-22T10:24:00.004-05:00

My Heart To You

This is one of our newest soaps that we are marketing to the retail stores at $12.00 a dozen. Hearts come in assorted colors and fragrances. Plus for each dozen of soaps you get 4 organza bags so you can package them up as little gifts.

Each of these soaps weigh in about 1.5 ozs and they smell wonderful.

GUEST BAR SAMPLERS

2008-10-29T07:32:00.007-04:00

This was our old packaging of our Guest Bar Samplers. It's nice and they do well but I wanted something different.

So this holiday season we created 3 different samplers with different packaging.

Free the Elves, with the fragrances peppermint candy, Christmas Wreath and Sparkling Snowflakes.

Kozy Up To Winter, (pictured)with the fragrances Gingerbread, Cinnabun and Hazelnut

Boston Tea Party, with fragrances green tea, chamomile and mango sage.

15% Off Sale

2008-10-26T13:27:00.004-04:00

Are your minds on the state of the economy, or the election and who is going to be our next president and can he get us out of this mess?

I believe those of us in business are holding our breath waiting till it's safe to breath a sigh of relief.

So what do we do? I'm not going to let a bad economy drive my business into the ground nor should you.

Stratagize with other store owners, create some kind of events to attract customers. Also be aware today's customer wants a sale, wants to know that they are saving money. That's what we have to do to keep going.

And this is the reason for the post. I offered a 15% off on orders of $200 or more at the beginning of the month and this sale ends on Halloween. Now this can put extra money in your pocket or it could give you the opportunity to have a sale.

A $29.00 loaf at 15% off brings the cost of the loaf to $24.65 and if you cut 1" slices then each slice costs you $2.05 each. At this cost you can do a sale of 3 bars for $15. and still make a nice profit.

Anyway I hope you all are doing well, keeping up.

Next new item we are coming out with is a guest bar sampler. There will be The Boston Tea Party, Free the Elves and Come Home for Kozy. I should have pictures for you next week.

Till next time

LOAF SOAPS AREN'T JUST FOR SLICING

2008-10-20T05:00:00.003-04:00

Our loaf soaps are sold by the slice usually for that individuals use. Now that the holidays are fast approaching I thought I might offer some suggestions on other ways to sell our loafs.

Pictured here is a half a loaf of soap. You could also just cut your loafs into thirds. The slice was cut for the sake of the picture. Added a ribbon and a bath brush viola you have a great gift set. Outlet stores usually have great deals on bath accessories. Another idea is go to an outlet store like T.J. Max and look for bamboo cutting boards. Add your half or third of a loaf to the board, with a dinner knife. (I like going to salvation army and getting the more fancier silver knifes) Wrap it all up in cellophane and you have a great gift idea. This will look so special on someone's bathroom sink.

Another great place to find some inexpensive bathroom accessories is the dollar store. You can get bathroom holders and scrubbies and more there. Use your imagination to come up with some great ideas combining things to make it a great gift.

What I might add to the loaf would be

Loofah (dollar store has them)

nylon scrubbie

cutting board

soap dish

bath brush

pretty wash cloth or hand towel.

If you should decide to do this wrap your loaf up with some cellophane or saron wrap then attach your item.

GUEST SOAPS SETS SPECIAL $5.00

2008-10-20T04:33:00.009-04:00

In the course of making our soaps there is always left overs. So not to be wasteful we make these little guest bars (they are actually bigger than a guest bar weighing in at least 3 oz). Pictured you see a really nice set of black and white.

For a very limited time we are offering 5 sets to our wholesale customers for $5, that's a $1. per set. You can easily retail each gift set for $5.

What you will get is 10 different soaps and 5 organza bags. The soaps will be assorted and so will the bags. Each soap will come shrink wrapped and a label will be attached. We would not be able to identify the fragrance, but customers love sniffing and smelling. Soaps and bags will coordinate to create a nice package. Ribbon is not included. We are sorry but we can't accommodate any color or fragrance requests.

These will not be put up on the wholesale site so email me if you are interested in these.

NEW LOAF SOAPS FOR CHRISTMAS

2008-10-09T11:17:00.020-04:00

Our loaf soaps are a big hit with customers and we added 3 more to our product line to celebrate the holiday season. Each loaf weighs 4 lbs and yields 12 1" slices. Each slice weighs at least 5 ozs and we recommend at least a $6. retail price.

SANTA'S NOG SOAP LOAF
Using striking copper and red showcased in a pale yellow bar we've created what we think Santa's perfect drink would look like. We specially blended scents to create a cinnamonny egg noggy scent that will have you singing Merry Christmas. I promise the scent will just fill the room.

GIVE A GIFT SOAP LOAF
Green and gold are popular colors for the season and we took advantage of that to create this wonderful soap. This fragrance is a combination of Christmas trees, peppermint, spearmint and vanilla. It's a nice warm winter night type of fragrance.

UNDER THE TREE SOAP LOAF
Christmas morning everyone hopes that under the tree is a big bright red present wrapped in a bow. Here it is and we fragranced this soap with a peppermint candy scent. One whiff of this wonderful fragrance will make you think of Christmas and gift giving.

We so enjoy creating new and different designs. With this process we decide what the bar should look like and then come up with just the right fragrance. We love our work and we hope you will love our designs as much as we do. Our hope is that you and your customers will love them as much as we do.

Linda Nigro

You can see these and all of our other wholesale products at http://www.firstinlinesoap.com/holiday_specials.htm

NEW PRODUCT "MUD MASKS" ON SALE

2008-10-02T06:48:00.015-04:00

NEW PRODUCT

ANNOUNCEMENT

AND SALE!!

We are introducing to our wholesale line our collection of masks, Dead Sea, Anti-Oxidant and Chocolate Mud Slide. For a limited time buy 10 get 2 free. You are encourage to mix and match offering your customers some choices. Use coupon code mud at checkout.

Dead Sea Mud Mask
Ingredients in our mud masque make it an ideal product for those with troubled skin. The dead sea clay with brine helps tighten pores and stimulate circulation. The addition of Shea Butter helps protect the skin. Bentonite clay and Aussie Black Clay help pull the oils and toxin from the skin and sea kelp and glycerin are added for their moisturizing benefits.

Anti-Oxidant Mask

This mask is filled with clay, butter, aloe and fruit extracts. It is perfect for those with sensitive skin. The French Pink Clay is very gentle and does not draw oils from the skin. Avocado butter is a very rich moisturizer, as is Aloe .The red raspberry extract is a natural astringent, antiseptic and anti-bacterial product. Cranberry extract helps restore radiance to all skin types. 4oz

Chocolate Mud Slide

This masque is a quality dark chocolate masque without the clays or muds. Chocolate is rich in iron, magnesium and has softening properties along with a high anti-oxidant properties.
Shealoe is a blend of aloe gel and shea created to soothe dry and irritated skin. Rice bran oil is also moisturizing. Along with this is Tarmind Seed Extract (wonderful cosmetic ingredient) that helps increase moisture to the skin.

Stop by our web site at http://www.firstinlinesoap.com/mud_masks.htm for our mud masks.

THIS THAT AND HALLOWEEN

2008-09-11T07:12:00.011-04:00

I'm one of those people that refuse to give up. Now before you think wow what a great attribute let me tell you it really could be a curse.

I've sort of reinvented myself or business to just keep it going. If I find something doesn't work right away I go on to the next thing. Such as Ebay, man for the life of me I can't sell a thing on there. Others that I know personally are doing okay making some money and others are doing really well. Me I don't know if it's the product (you can't smell soap on-line) or what. So my thought was back to the drawing board. You do realize that all these ideas are to generate money so I can make a nice living doing what I love to do.

So then I said to myself, myself, how about trying craft shows again. Okay cause the money could be good. On the Sponge Docks for Labor Day weekend there was a craft show so I took $150 of our earned money and applied. I got accepted and was promised a spot near the entrance to the mall where my store is in. They honored that request.

Saturday the first day of the show was brutally hot and ugly humid. My son was complaining about the heat as he trucked our tent, tables, soaps etc. Because of my age the sweat was pouring off of me. It's pretty disgusting to be a sweating senior citizen. By the time I got the booth looking some what decent I was soaked thru and thru down to you know what. Plus on top of that the others (my daughter and son deserted me) well not really I told them to retreat to air conditioning.

So we are set up and the heat is still unbearable standing still. I'd be shaking my head thinking, what was I thinking. Well the relief finally came in the form of a storm. Yup rains came, customers left, even though I only made about $20 during the heat. So we shut down early fearful that our tent would fly away and that would increase our costs to the application fee plus a new tent with a $20 day.

Next day was worse. Oh the weather was better but the rain was threatening again, (weather bureau said more of same for Sunday) and the wind was so bad that one of us had to hold the tent down as we watched people walk by our booth.

Okay I came away from that experience to never do it again, yup I decided to ditch the idea of craft shows. Just way too much work that I don't enjoy.

So are you wondering yet what's my new idea.

Teaching Soapmaking Classes.

I think I'm good at this soapmaking and I've had people ask me if I have classes. Will I be giving away trade secrets, maybe but I think it would be okay. If you read up on marketing and all of that stuff you'll read about how you should show yourself as an expert. This will do that for our company and hopefully they'll come and buy our products when they see the time, love, enthusiasm we put into our products.

I'll be holding soapmaking classes starting in October. I've designed some new Halloween type of soaps (pictured here) and I thought it might be fun for others to learn how to do it. If you are in Tarpon Springs come sigh up!

Jumble Bubbles Reinvented

2008-08-23T14:29:00.013-04:00

What's New and What's Old

Selling on ebay didn't prove to be as successful as I had hoped for. It's summer and I know that on ebay that's a slow time for sales, It's on to plan B

So my scrap soaps (that's really not a good name for it) the parts that make my Jubble Bubble soaps is still growing. So when business is bad (ebay) I then try to think of another solution. I do sell these loaf slice bars at the store for a great price but I love to move things quickly. So I decided to do a craft show at the Sponge Docks for the Labor Day Weekend.

This might prove to be doubly good. Sell my Jumble Bubbles and direct them to my store with a coupon. So I have a plan, another plan.

So as I was getting to make these Jumble Bubbles (originally in loafs) I came across some old food molds that I had used years ago. Now in soapmaking anything resembling food seems to be a hit, so I thought it might be nice to create these loaf cakes (sort of bundt like) with my leftover soap. Well I got so into it that I decided to create my entire craft show event around the theme Soap Desserts. My creative juices were so happy!

Some look like cakes others look like jello and then some look like petit fours. They are all adorable and might just have to be added to my regular line.

These were so much fun to make and doing the drizzle was the best. I'm trying to master doing a pour of soap that resembles confectionary sugar icing that is solid on the top and drizzles down the bottom. It's about the temp of the soap I'm thinking.

After all these years doing soapmaking I realized that if I can't bring new creative ideas of soaps into the line I'm not happy and Linda wants to be happy.

Let me know what you think of the soaps. I'll try to remember to post some pictures of the display at the show. My idea for the display is to look like a bakery with each sliced cake (soap) on a clear glass plate on a pedestal.

I'm also going to be offering a 2 lb loaf cake wholesale (not using scraps) for a great price ($12.50)to my wholesale customers. I've come up with about 10 different fragranes, all food related. I'll keep you posted. The Petit Fours might also be available I just have to work out the pricing. These guys are about 3 ozs of soap and would make a perfect favor.

Thanks for stopping by

Linda

The Decision To Sell On Ebay!

2008-07-13T11:33:00.006-04:00

Most soapmakers have this problem of leftover soaps and the dilemma of what to do with them. With my style of soapmaking you just can't always judge how much soap you are going to need so it happens that you have leftovers.

While we concentrated on our wholesale orders and keeping our store supplied our scrap soaps grew and grew to a point of it taking over our studio. Now I'm not one to keep everything, I do pretty well with throwing things out, but these leftover scraps of soap represent dollars to me.

So I decided to make some loaf soaps with the scraps and call them Jumble Bubbles. I realized that because they were a jumble of different soaps I couldn't sell them for the same price as my other loafs so I had to come up with a price that would benefit both the consumer and me. We put them in our store for $3.00 each or 4 for $10 and they did very well. Only problem was I didn't think we were selling them fast enough. I like to move product quickly.

Then I thought I should try selling on ebay at a starting bid of $14.95. I was targeting companies looking to resell so they could also sell these at the $3.00 price. At this price I was breaking even but I would be getting my money on soap that was just sitting there doing nothing.

I jumped in with both feet, listed the loafs and waited and waited. About every hour I would check and see if there were bids and if not see how many people looked at my listing. Each hour that passed I got more and more discouraged. My initial reaction was that I'm unlucky and just don't have what it takes to sell on Ebay. But I realized that the successful powersellers just have knowledge that I don't have and I'm out to find out what that is.

I've done some searching about selling on Ebay and found useful info and will be making changes this week. I'll just keep building on new knowledge that I get.

When design season comes around for us we end up with loafs that just don't make the grade, like the one pictured. So again not to waste them we decided to offer these also on ebay.

Anyway if you are in the market for great soap at even greater price check out my listings. Click here to see my listings on ebay

What's New For Fall!

2008-07-02T19:08:00.006-04:00

It's the beginning of July and we may be a bit late in creating our fall and winter soaps. We focused that last couple of days talking about what we wanted them to look like. Today was the day we put those ideas into soap. We created one Works of Art Soap called Fall of Colors (picture to the left) During the colder months the warmer scents become very popular like our Oatmeal Milk and Honey soap during the winter we can't keep it in stock, now it's just sitting on the shelf. So creating soaps for the fall and winter is not only about the look to emphasize those months but about the scents. So we decided to do a smores soap, now that might remind you of the summer, Barbequing but the scents we used to create it is totally warm winter. We used a hazelnut for the graham crackers, marshmallow for the marshmallow and chocolate fudge for the chocolate. Yummy! We haven't cut into the loaf yet but will post a picture tomorrow. I do know that the soap smells great.

It wouldn't be fall without a pumkin so we created one to add to our line of loaf soaps. With creating soaps especially loaf soaps what you think might be a really great design doesn't translate once you make the soap. This is what happened with our pumkin soap. We did make two different designs and this picture is our second try and I'm not 100% happy with it. I love the colors I love the abstract interpetation of a pumkin but I think the pumkin might need to be a bit darker. Tomorrow we'll do the tweaking.

Designing new soaps is what I love the most but I have to tell you that it takes a lot of energy and at the end of the day I'm pretty tired.

Soapier product reviews!

2008-06-30T20:00:00.003-04:00

Here are three sites (with more to come) that reviewed our products!

Laura Williams Musings has a wonderful blog and gave us a great review!

Scribbit is a fascinating blog about motherhood in Alaska. We sponsored Michelle's June contest with a $50 gift certificate. We had given her samples before hand and LOVED our Luscious Body Lotions.

Mummy Product Reviews gave us a GLOWING review of our products, and we couldn't be happier!

We also just signed up with two PR firms. We're very excited. We've already gotten a nice response from our first press release! We'll keep you posted!

John @ FILS/Soapier

Our re-designed store!

2008-06-30T19:58:00.000-04:00

So! It's been a while since I've been here, and the site deserves an update. So, here goes:

First off, we've gotten a very nice response from the PR firm press releases we sent out. 15 different magazines, news stations and newspapers across the country are interested in seeing samples.

Now, let me put this into a bit of perspective, because I think it's important.

The release we sent out, we were told to expect about .5 to 1% response. We got less than that.

BUT. Prior to our sending out the release, we had ZERO exposure to these venues. So, we're all very excited.

Getting the Soapier brand out is what's important. We have another release going out in two weeks... we feel things are moving in a great direction.

I also wanted to post some images of our store, so people can check out what we're trying to accomplish here in Tarpon Springs.

You can kind of get an idea of what the store looked like a few months ago, here. It was good for our soft opening, but it wasn't enough. Here are some more shots.

We had the back wall orange, the side walls a kind of light orange. Couple months later, my mom wasn't too pleased with the colors, she said they weren't inviting enough.

The right side of the shop, the shelves, while inventive, weren't economic enough when showing product. The left side, the stained wood shelves, we all liked those. We liked the height of them for customers, and how clean they looked.

So, we changed the paint, changed the center display, added some great signs, changed the back wall display and the right side displays to this:

If you look at this picture, the top right, you'll see that empty shelf on the top. I put some more product out, so that they were straight, and shot this.

Looks better, right? Isn't that crazy?

Here's the outside of our shop:

We're kind of tucked away in the corner, but we get some very decent traffic during the season.

This is just a little display sign outside we use to get people to come in. It's two sided. The other side says "SOAPIER - SALE"

Redesigning the store window is next. Right now it's kind of functional, but plain.

We recently hired someone to work Monday - Thursday at the store, to free up my time so I can help at the shop, which needs cleaning and organizing. Then I'll start to work on more PR, the website, our fledgling myspace page and more.

Thanks for visiting, let me know what you think of the new shop!

John

displaying products

2008-05-10T13:16:00.003-04:00

My son, who works at our retail store, wrote this article on displaying products in small retail stores. He used our own soaps as examples. Here it is!

------------

Displaying product ideas for small stores

This is going to be one of those posts that will be in the "I know that" column for some, and the "Neat ideas" column for others.

What I want to talk about is how to display retail products properly. Now, this isn't an article on how to display items in a chain store where the home office gives strict guidelines on how to display and market product.

This is for small boutique shops that sell product they don't manufacture. Gift shops, salons, soap and spa product stores, etc. I'll be using our products to demonstrate... since we sell our products exclusively ;)

Promoting products in store

One of the things we wanted to help solve for our customers was promoting our line in their stores.

First In Line Soap, as a wholesale loaf soap seller, is trying to make the in-store marketing of our products as easy as possible. What we do is provide each loaf soap we sell with decorative signs, wrapping paper for individual slices, and decorative labels for each fragrance/design.

What this does is provide customers with an easy to read sign on the name and fragrance of the product. Wrapping a slice of soap and putting our decorative label on it does a few things. One, it reminds people of the product name they purchased and, two, sends them home with a little gift to open.

One of the things we've noticed at First In Line Soap is that our customers buy small quantities. Space might be the issue. We completely understand. Having our own retail shop forces us to not only make compromises with purchasing product, but also allows us to be creative in our displaying ideas.

Let's use our loaf soaps, which are our best sellers, as an example of customers making smaller purchases due to limited space issues.

Space issues

Customer A has ordered two loafs of soap.

2 loafs of soap (and a slicer) would cost $83, plus shipping. We have a $75 minimum for first time buyers.

We recognize that space is always going to be a factor when it comes to displaying product. Most small business owners will tell you that they never have enough space.

Regardless of size, the fact is that a full store always looks better than an empty one.

What if you want to introduce a new product, but you only have a small space?

The first thing you're going to have to do is get some specifications. It would be a shame to buy a new product line and find out that not only is the space too small... but now you're stuck with all this new product, and you can't properly display it!

First In Line Soap loafs are 1-foot long, 4-inches wide and yield 12 1-inch slices.

On a 5-foot wide table that is 2-foot deep... that's a pretty impressive presence of soap you've got there! You could have a display similar to what we have at our Soapier retail store.

Now, maybe you have that 3-foot table. We're a new product for you and you want to see how things sell. So you buy two loafs.

What you're going to get is a pretty empty table with two great smelling soaps on it... but nothing that is going to catch your customers eye.

I recognize that this might be a bit of an exaggeration, but from our experience, we get so many customers that purchase only two to three loafs of soap, and not even multiple loafs of each! While there is no break in price for purchasing multiple loafs, we're all consumers. We all know that going into a store and seeing a rack of similar items triggers something in our brain that entices us to buy. Repetition, in all of its many forms, works to get people's attention.

Having a large selection of product (from one brand or multiple) can never really hurt you. But, having a range of products from a single brand you trust (and have experience with) will give the product a more impressive presence in your store, and will certainly catch your customers eye.

In our store we have a large set-up in the middle of the shop where most of our loaf soaps are. We also have our soap slice cutter there, so customers can watch us cut fresh slices for them.

We know most stores can't afford to give up that much space. But if you are opening up a new store (or looking to re-design your shop), you might want to consider displaying your strongest items (whether it be soap or stuffed animals or chocolate) like we have.

Let's take a look at two of our smaller soap products, our Soapier Accent Soaps and our Loofah Boats when it comes to displaying.

Soapier Accent Soaps are about 3.5-inches wide by 1.5-inches high and come in six fragrances.

Here's what you get when display 4 of our Kitchen Soaps. We get these kinds of orders all the time.

As a consumer, I would look at that and not be interested. The sign is nice enough, but there's nothing to hold my attention except for a bunch of white space. Put this in a store corner, and it will either get hidden or dismissed pretty quickly.

Here's what we did at our retail store. And while we know that space defines product quantities, you can be inventive on how you'd display 8-12 of these bars.

We used clear glass plates and stacked soaps all over, like they were spilling off the plate. The colors are such that that Kitchen Soap is striking, a contrast between the Chamomile, Clay and Seaweed, Jasmine and Orange Soaps. It almost serves as an anchor. And when customers get a whiff of chocolate and coffee soap... well, they always comment on it.

Don't have this much space? No problem! Get a large platter and stack the soaps that way. They are all very distinctive, people won't have a problem distinguishing between them.

Our Loofah Boats are a great combination of glycerin soap and loofah. They come in four great fragrances and are a hit with men and women looking for a soap and exfoliant in one. There are some people who are partial exclusively to loofahs, and they love this produce.

Here's an example of displaying them when purchasing a small handful.

When Soapier first opened, we didn't have signs up for our products. The store is so small, we figured that if people wanted to ask a question about a product, they would just ask. This is hardly ever the case.

Most customers don't want to be bothered with asking questions. They can see what the product is. They want to know the price and move on.

So we started making signs up for our products, and using a simple clear plastic bowl you can buy at K-Mart for $15, we displayed them like this:

Huge impact, nice sign, colorful, fragrant... makes a statement, right? Not a lonely box shoved in a corner, but a display that will attract customers. The ones you WANT to target.

The last example I'm going to give you is with our sugar scrubs. Sugar scrubs are not a cheap spa product. Super high end brands can sell for $40, minimum. It's not something retailers want to take a chance with because six of each fragrance from some of these companies will end up costing you an enormous outlay.

First In Line Soap respects its wholesale customers. And, frankly, in this economy, purchasing a new product can be quite scary. We deal with it every day as we try and stock our retail store with more and more bath accessories. What will work, what won't, what we won't be able to give away... we know the drill.

But just like everything else, if you're ready to take that step in purchasing a new product like our Sweet Sugar Scrubs, presence is key.

Our Sweet Sugar Scrubs come in a number of fragrances. 8 to be exact. You are going to want to offer your customers a choice of them, naturally. Perhaps not all 8, but 4 at the minimum.

Sugar scrubs look GREAT when stacked together. We suggest 6 of each fragrance. Take a look at how nice and vibrant our Sweet Sugar Scrub selection looks:

At our store, customers go right to it. All those colors, all those possible fragrances... they love it.

One of the things we suggest (though sometimes it's not possible) is to offer sugar scrub demonstrations for your customers. We have ours set up like this.

Basically, if someone is interested, you ask them what fragrance they'd like. Once they've chosen, you use the pitcher of water to wet their hands. Use a small spatula or spoon and spoon some of the sugar scrub into their hands. They rub their hands with it (make sure you tell them to get the backs!) and then use the pitcher to clean off the sugar scrub, all the while toting the sugar scrubs wonderful properties and selling points.

Give them a clean washcloth to dry their hands and viola.

The Sugar Scrub Hand Spa Treatment has been enormously successful in our retail shop.

Soap as a new product

This question is the rub, right? To try a new product or not to try.

I don't think anyone can really answer this question for you. And if they try and answer the question for you, chances are they're the salesman.

In regards to our products, the only thing you can do is the research and feel your customers out. Are you getting requests for soaps? Do you have space to market, display and sell a new product correctly?

There are very few products that sell themselves.

First In Line Soap prides itself on selling quality products, colorful, fragrant and unique, at good price points for our wholesale customers. We want you to make money, and we want your customers to like our products.

In the end you have to trust your own instincts. Because at the end of the day you have to look at your store and be proud of it. You have to look at your daily report and be happy, or figure out how to improve your business. You have to be happy with your decisions and stay positive.

It's hard, but we're not giving up. And neither should you!

Thanks,

John Painz
VP Marketing
Soapier.com
First In Line Soap.com

Cash Flow And Being Thrifty!

2008-03-28T07:07:00.002-04:00

I was brought up with the notion that you when you buy something you go for the best price, even if it's a bit more than you need right now you know down the line that you'll use it. I now realize this isn't a good way of doing business in regards to cash flow problems.

What I (we) need to do is not bring my (our) personal spending styles to my (our) business. When faced with a buying decision we should mentally review and calculate what is the best business decision to make in regards to cash flow.

Now ABC company has a great item you want to bring into your store. You think it will be well received and your customers will buy it. Now minimum order is $100 but if you spend $500 you get free shipping. Click there goes that thrifty mindset on getting something of value for free.

But it's really not free because you've just invested $500 in merchandise that you are not sure will do well in your store. The $100 order would make a nice display and if they sell of course you'll make a bit less profit because shipping isn't free but it's a much safer investment for your money to just order the small amount and not get caught up in bargains. If it goes really well then do the bigger order.

I love sales and bargains and they just seem to find me and because I have an impulsive nature it's a problem. Hopefully I've learned my lesson after getting rid of about $300 worth of inexpensive jewelry for free to a friend who has a store that might do better selling it than I did. I tried everything to sell that stuff from ebay to garage sales to flea markets, but I realized that I was wasting my energy and time (especially when the flea market yeilded me $0.00 for 7 hours of work. )

So this morning I was up early and thinking about this and how I'm just moved to buy more because shipping is less. Now there's inventory to think about how to move it out and that's not a smart business move.

Now I'm not saying to keep your store empty with just a small amount of stuff, that's not my point. I'm saying that when you are purchasing an item don't make the decision to buy more because there is a sale.

Cash flow is king in the business world, not saving dollars and cents. Think cash flow first before making a buying decision.

Linda

Linda

Soap Has New Companions!

2008-03-09T08:06:00.002-04:00

Well, Firstinlinesoap.com has launched it's new line of body wash, lotion and massage oil. I'm extremely proud of them. You can see them at our website (link above).

I love color and all of my soaps reflect that. I think that bright, happy colors can put a smile on anyones face and that's my intention. So when we developed our bath gel line I was adamant on them also having great color appeal and I'm pretty sure we have accomplished that. Now the lotion... I opted to keep that in it's natural color.

Same with the massage oil. But John our in-house graphic designer made sure that the labels were colorful but simple.

All three products have been tested in my store and my direct selling division and they all do very well. I wouldn't launch a product wholesale unless I knew it would do well for my retail customers. I feel very confident that a store can bring these products in and do well with them, also. Of course there are ways that it won't do well and I'll discuss that later.

The body wash has lots of color, some pumice and bamboo in it for exfoliating, plus lots and lots of suds. Use this wash with a favorite scrubby or wash cloth and it will last a long time.

The milk and honey lotion is sooo rich and thick that just a bit goes a long way. Now, I've tested many formulas and I'm pretty particular about what I want. I hate a lotion that you rub on and it creates a drag feeling as you are rubbing it in. That was one of my criterias for a good lotion (lack of drag) and, of course, the other was that it not feel greasy. When customers are sampling our lotions they are amazed how little they need.

Massage oil is my favorite. This is one of my morning rituals of getting out of the shower and applying the massage oil to my damp skin. The oil soaks right in and does not feel greasy. Massage therapists will love it also because it doesn't stain sheets.

Each of the products are in a very good price range, retail price of both the lotion and bath wash is $12 and the massage oil is $9.

To sell soap products successfully you need to have impact. If you decide to sell my bath gel, lotion and massage oil and order only 3 of each you are setting yourself up for failure. Sitting only 3 of each on a shelf will make the customer think it's the bottom of the barrel and it's merchandise that's been sitting around for awhile. You need a bit of impact and think about how a test of 6 bottle sets (preferable all the same scent), would look as opposed to just 3. It will draw your customers attention and create possible a sale every time.

Think about how these new products will fit in your store and how you'll be displaying them. All important things to keep in mind when you want a product to do well in your store and, of course, make you money.

In our retail store in Tarpon Springs our bath gel and lotion sit on a shelf with the matching soaps and massage oils. We keep the bath gels and lotions together (about 9 of each), a loaf soap, and then the massage oils this is for one scent.

It took some tweaking in our new store to get it right and we knew when we were on to something when groups of the same fragrant products started selling.

I would love to discuss with you your display dilemmas. Feel free to send comments and questions about your own display problems and solutions!

Linda

Location Location and Location!!

2008-03-02T08:11:00.002-05:00

Well I bit the bullet and moved my store.

I always wanted to have a store in an out of the way place and have it become a very popular place to visit. That's what my goal was for Soapier when I opened my store in Tarpon Springs in 2006 at it's location on Safford Ave.

Safford Ave is in the historical district of Tarpon off the main thoroughfare of Tarpon Ave. I know many many businesses have become successful even when they are off the main path of shoppers, I thought I could do that also.

Maybe I could have, but my focus wasn't just on retail. I have a web site (actually 2) and a wholesale business that needed my attention. The retail store took up time but to make Soapier a brand name and a place customers hunted for (and returned to) took up more time and resources than I had.

Plus, having the manufacturing in the same store (and with some rush orders) it never failed that product that was to be shipped always spilled over in to the retail portion of the store making for a less than pristine looking retail space. So we battled with keeping the store looking good while rushing to manufacture for our wholesale customers.

The Sponge Docks of Tarpon Springs is a wonderful place to visit and I'm told it gets 1 to 2 million visitors a year.

Hmmm... lots of foot traffic!

So I met a fellow store owner down there and he recommended I see his landlord for a space in The Sponge Exchange Mall.

To make a long story short (too late), I did that and I got a space for a reasonable rent with more than enough square footage to merchandise my products.

Now "the season" ends in 6 weeks and I was determined not to miss a day of it. (The season is during the cold months up north when the snow birds come to stay for the winter in Florida)

Our lease started on March 1st and the other tenant moved out on the evening of February 28th so we (myself, my daughter and son) took leap year day to paint, clean and move in ready for opening on March 1st.

Are you wondering if we did it? We did and the store looks good. It is a work in progress but our sales for yesterday surpassed anything we did on a normal Saturday at the old store. I'll post our pictures of before, during, and after.

So now I'm convinced if you are going to open a store do it in a good location and pay the additional rent... it's usually worth it. The fighting for customers on an off-the-beaten-track location is an uphill battle depleting energy and monetary resources that you might have been able to use in a more productive way in a better location.

Our old location will still be ours but it will only be our manufacturing plant. We did need more space for that so the new store helped us out in that way also.

It was fun but very tiring and I'll be taking my vitamins just to get some energy back.

One of my philosophies is don't give up. Try to think of new and different ways to get business back on track.

Linda

Networking Is Important

2008-02-08T19:18:00.000-05:00

Hi,

Now, I've heard about this networking for years and just thought it was only for those professional type people. I have a store and wholesale business and just didn't feel like it was important for me to make the time to attend any of these events. Plus, when you are a small business you are wearing way too many hats and the networking hat just didn't seem to fit.

Today I've totally changed my mind. How this happened was I had a Valentine's Party at my store. The reason was to sell product, and I wanted it to be an event that those attending would have fun. Major advertising went through a Tarpon Springs chamber blitz. This is email and faxes to all the businesses in the area. Plus we sent out invites to other customers.

9 people showed up and most of them were my friends. I hate selling products to my friends. It was something I was taught not to do as a kid, but anyway, I was so disappointed. Sales were great but attendance was very poor. Now I worked very hard for this event and to have so few show up was very disappointing but I said I have to step back and take a look at this and figure out why. My fragile ego wanted to jump right in and say "no one likes you, Linda," but I knew that wasn't true. So I thought and thought and then had my 'ah ha!' moment.

It's not that they don't like me, they don't know me.

So with that I decided it was important to go to the networking events and form relationships with other business people.

The first event coming up was a Tarpon Springs Chamber event that's called Coffee With Class. It's held at the Tarpon Springs Yacht Club and breakfast is served from Panera Bread. So I was determined to go and start meeting and getting to know other business people from the area.

The one thing that I hate at these events is the 30 second elevator speech. For 30 seconds all eyes are on you and you speak about your business and who you are. Usually as I start to speak my brain goes dead, I'm frantic in my head searching for where all of my thoughts went. The best is the red face that always happens when attention is on me. I feel the blood slowly rising up my neck and reaching my chin area then my cheeks then all the way up to the forhead. An Italian, 58 year old woman isn't pretty with a beet red face. All this is going on as I'm searching for those words that decided to hide from me.

Sometimes you just have to do things outside your comfort zone. This is one of them.

So off I went and did my little elevator speech, mine was probably 20 seconds long, that's how long I've determined the blood takes to get to the top of the head.

But success was achieved

One meeting and I met two woman who want to introduce my products into their spa.

One meeting and a sale at the store.

One meeting and another wholesale customer.

If you have a store, you just might feel like I did, that networking isn't an avenue for you. Let me now, after my revelation, say 'uh uh,' because it is.

First off it's free!!! Free advertising for your business. The only thing it costs is your time. (I know that's valuable)

If you have a gift shop, think of all the people you meet that need to buy gifts and when the time comes for that gift, after developing a relationship with you, they'll think of your store, plus they'll recommend your store to others.

Now on the otherside of this is meeting people who you develop relationships with who can be of service to you. I know I'd much rather do business with people who I know and trust.

There is a new business that opened up in Tarpon called Liberty Tax.

http://www.libertytax.com/income-tax-preparation-locations/14843.html

The owner and the employees are all high energy full-of-life people. For the grand opening they were standing in costumes such as the Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam on the street waving to all passers. But my reason for mentioning this is I met them at the event and they are such nice knowledgeable tax people and I would love to have my taxes done by them if I didn't already had an accountant. The next person they meet at a networking event probably won't have an accountant...

So I'm still struggling with the going out and meeting people through networking but I'll just keep on stretching my comfort zone and doing it. I'll report back later on my experiences.

Standing still is boring. I just have to keep on growing.

Linda Nigro

Focus Focus Focus

2008-01-29T08:16:00.000-05:00

I have a problem with not being able to focus on my goals. This is an issue with me because I see opportunities in everything. Now, I kinda like that about me, but I do forget I have limits.

So this year (and part of last year) I decided to identify my goals and commit to them. Actually, it's really one goal broken down into smaller ones.

Acceptance is almost the whole battle when it comes to making character corrections, and I had and have accepted the fact that I get distracted but it hasn't helped. I'm tempted every day and there are times I'm off in left field and it might take me 3 or 4 days to realize I'm off course.

Who do I blame? Beause I really want to blame someone. Is it the internet? Is it the guys out there selling get rich quick stuff? Is it the wizard telling you to follow the yellow brick road?

This day and age of over-load information can wreck havoc on our thoughts. Everyday I get bombarded daily with new ideas on marketing, selling, making some cash with affiliates etc. I can't help myself falling into a trance shaking my head yes and it ends up that I look like the bobbing figurine on the back of some of those cars.

Today was no exception. I'm reading marketing ideas from a really great email and I'm tempted to buy his book (you know the books always seems to be the answer) but I got pinched from someone (I live alone) and I realized WAIT... is this going to help me accomplish my goal? Huh... what's my goal again? Yup, I was drunk with promises of riches and glories!

Okay, back to square one. My goal, yes I have to remember. It's not internet marketing guru's goal... it's my goal.

My goal, then, has to be broken down into steps to achieve it. So if I'm off on the internet highway, tempted by the goodies others are promoting, I've strayed the path.

Today I'm once again writing my goal. Then I'm going to break it down into steps, then each and everyday I'm going to work hard on those steps.

I'd like to believe that I'm not the only one who suffers from this malady. You know, now that I think about it, the internet isn't really to blame... it's the get rich quick schemes that come across the highway, tempting us with their falsehoods.

Okay, so what I want you to do today is write down your goals for the year. Then pick the one that will have the most impact on your life. For me it's my business. I eat, sleep, dream (etc) my business. Then, break down that goal into steps that you need to do to make it. This exercise comes from the author Brian Tracy who has helped me with my business tremendously.

One of the things today I was thinking about is Disney World. I was just recently there and, because I'm a soap maker, I was curious about the different soaps they sell in Epcot. Well I found some and I have to tell you they were almost ugly. The wrapping were terrible and the designs were amateurish. So this got me to thinking. "How great would it be to have MY soaps in Disney World" So my very imaginative brain was conjuring up all the details on how I would get my soaps into Disney.

What was that you asked? Is this one of my goals? Well it might seem on the surface to be with my goals (I do sell wholesale soaps) but it's not. Every part of our goals takes time, energy, planning and working and building on each other. It's like creating a firm foundation. One day I will sell to Disney but it's not today. Today I'm working on what I've decided is important for my business and chasing Disney today might just be a waste of time and energy. Disney is in the future. If I really want to get that account I have to do the other things first. Understand?

Someone once told me that most creative people are like me, (did they mean distracted, unfocused, scatterbrain, ditzy?) and I puffed up and strutted around because of the evidence that I'm creative. I love being told I'm creative. Being creative is what I love to do and be, but it's no excuse for not being disciplined in my goals. More than being creative I want to be successful. So with my plan in hand, I'm off to conquer my goals and my distractions. You do the same. You can, you know!

Buying Trip For My Retail Store

2008-01-20T17:48:00.000-05:00

How many of you went to the Atlanta's Americasmart Gift Show? I was there for 3 days and invested $1000 to get there for myself and my partner. It was a hefty investment that was alot for me but I felt it was needed.

When money is tight as this economy is creating you think is this a wise way to spend my money? I think it was, because I got to see things that will help my business.

If you want your customers to keep coming back to you then you have to show them new and different things. Is there another way then going to the shows to find different items to purchase for your customers? You might be answer yes I can see things in the trade magazine and your right but not everyone advertises and the ability to see in person is invaluable. Your customers are expecting that you will go out and purchase items for them to purchase that they will love and probably not the thing they loved yesterday.

You might ask should it just be Atlanta's show, well that's a good place to start but I have a theory that those on the east coast should go west and the west coast should go east. Why you might ask, well new companies are going to start out where they are located and there's a good chance you just might find a new company with a great product that your competitor doesn't know about.

Big shows, small shows, craft shows go to as many as you can. This will familiarize you to what is out there and I promise you that when you come across something new and exciting it will get your creative juices going.

Another great source for products is the craft shows. I found a company at a craft show that sells a sugar scrub to die for who was willing to wholesale it to me and that was 2 years ago and we still are selling a bunch of her product. No one else around me has that product.

Retail today is tough but it can also be looked at as an opportunity for change and for growth both for the store and owner.

Oh one more tip, if it's a new product for you don't order at the show, go home sleep on it, talk about it, think about it, etc and then if it still feels right, order. Impulse buying is a curse, ask me how I know :-)

Go out there and get em!!

A Different Type Of Advertising!

2008-01-12T18:33:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about my first store I had in the 80's. I remember being able to sell the thing I loved first before anything else. This kept happening and it impressed me. I think I realized then that because I liked an item my talk of it would show my excitement. My excitement would then excite my customer and then a sale! So with this I felt that my opinion on items in my store were regarded as important by my customers.

So I was thinking about this today while I was showering using our Loofah Boat soap. Now the Loofah Boat soap is my favorite. I love this soap! Here is a soap that makes you feel great. I lvoe this bar because the loofah when you use it on your skin makes you feel awake and alive. I used that first bar till the very end. Now when a customer comes in looking for something I'll be sure to tell them about how much I love the Loofah Bar. I'm sure that I'll sell quite a bit of Loofah Boat. Now you know how thoughts travel and build into other areas. So I realized that my wholesale customers should be offering a sample bar of soap to their sales team. Get them to try the soaps. Let them have from first hand experience of this and then this way they actually know what this soap is like. Now they may really love it (and I think they will) and then they can't help but to tell your customers. We love to sell what we love.

Now I can hear you saying thatit's just another expense that you can't afford, but I think it's not an expense but an investment, a marketing advertising investment. This is a marketing idea that will increase sales.

Try this with one salesperson and keep track of the amount of sales that person has with the soap.

The Distaste Of The Dishwasher

2008-01-08T18:48:00.000-05:00

What does the dishwasher have to do with wholesale and retail soap? Well actually nothing except you do use soap to wash the dishes but not the kind I sell.

This is a confession blog entry about my love hate relationship with the dishwasher. This is an almost daily struggle.

I love the diswasher and how it cleans my dishes, the silverware well that can use some help.
I love the dishwasher because I can just dump them (dirty dishes) into the dishwasher and viola my kitchen is clean. The dishwasher is amazing and I wouldn't be without it.

But here's the problem, I hate to empty it. I really do and I avoid it like the plaque. Now this is really serious because I can look at that dishwasher with it's clean dishes and know it has to be emptied and I start to make promises to it and me that I'll get to it. Hmm when?

So at night I'm tired and I know that the dishwasher wants to be done but I'm tired and I just promise myself that tomorrow morning I'll do it cause I'm a morning person. So that night's dinner dishes sit in the sink waiting patiently to be put into the dishwasher.

Morning comes my energy level is high, I eat breakfast, drink coffee, walk the dog but decide that I'll just empty the dishwasher when I get home cause I really want to get to my business and that's way too important. So in the sink goes my breakfast dishes.

Nighttime boy am I beat I worked a good long day and I deserve this glass of wine and in a whisper I hear the dishwasher calling me. Especially when I see how dirty looking the kitchen looks with all those dirty dishes. "Dishwasher please I have had such a busy day, I promise tomorrow morning" On the counter goes the dinner dishes (cause the sink is full) with an I owe you to the dishwasher.

Morning comes with a resolve that I won't leave till the kitchen is clean. I keep that promise but first before I clean the kitchen I have to empty the dishwasher. I open the door with an ugh under my breath and just dig in. Not 5 minutes has passed when the dishwasher is done, cleaned out, empty, ready for the new batch. 5 minutes and that ain't no lie. All that promising and procrastinating for what? To get away without doing 5 minutes of work and it's really not work it's just putting dishes away I never broke a sweat or got achy joints or muscles from it.

I really can't figure out why I feel this way, so you might ask do I procrastinate putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher? Absolutely not I'm always ready to put in the dishwasher dishes that are dirty though except if the dishwasher has to be emptied.

So there is no rthyme or reason to this madness, I guess I'm just a bit crazy and have a phobia about emptying the dishwasher. How does that sound? You don't buy it, hmm me either.

Till next time

Linda

Who Knew I Could Do Gift Baskets!

2008-01-07T07:13:00.000-05:00

Being in the soapmaking business for the last.....8 years people would always ask me "why don't you do baskets". Then my mind would start wandering to all the attempts I made to come up with a good looking basket. I was willing to settle for good not great. But I have to tell you all attempts were horrible. Why you ask?

Well for one I HATE shrinkwrapped baskets. They look so cheesy and cheap so anytime I did one and did the shrinkwrap covering it was ugh. Plus have you ever felt that stuff? You know we are affected by all of our senses and feel is one of them and touching that shrinkwrap after it's be shrunk feels like brittle saron wrap now what kind of impression in your mind would that conjure up?

Okay so no shrinkwrap, NEXT I went on to cello on a roll from the local craft store. Have you ever tried to cut that stuff? Dear Cello On A Roll has a mind of it's own and hates the scissor. When you finally get it cut to fit, you gather it all up around the basket with products, add the ribbon and with all that work what does it look like? Folds and folds of cello and if you look really close you can see the product. Nope I hated that almost as much as the shrinkwrap.

Ohhh one day I came across some netting at Walmart for $1.00 a yard. Bought all they had went back to the store and did up some more baskets because I was convinced this was the way. Well this was getting better but I just wasn't happy, I didn't feel that zing when I'm totally happy with what I've done. These baskets reminded me of bridal or baby shower gifts and they weren't.

One thing I did forget to mention in my quest for the good looking basket was I wasn't placing my merchandise high enough in the basket. Actually all of the stuff should be up as high as the rim of the basket. Did anyone think to start a Gift Basket University for us people who need alot of help making baskets. This would save the trial and error period.

Gift basket creating is an art, and I didn't think I had it, which was depressing. With realizing one aspect of a good looking basket was to position the items way up and also using glue dots I was starting to get a bit hopeful that I might just get it yet. I wanted to create a basket that someone would be happy to give as a gift.

So for our Valentine push we decided to order some very cute stuffed animals from http://www.burtonandburton.com/. Even at my age (58) I still love stuffed animals. Now Burton and Burton is geared towards gift basket companies and they have some cello bags in sizes big enough for gift baskets. So I decided to try them. I am so happy that I did that I'm doing a happy dance. Now each bag costs about .20 each but they are so worth it. There are no folds that your merchandise is hiding behind. The quality of the cello is such that it's a crisp and clean look (remember creating for all senses) and most of all my merchandise looks fabulous darling.

Oh yeah and the stuff animals holding my product in the gift basket doesn't hurt either. I'll post some pictures as soon as they are done this week.

So if you haven't thought about doing gift baskets in your store do try it and if you have and were like me and had problems with them just keep plugging away and if I can help please feel free to email me at Linda@firstinlinesoap.com

New Year's And My Take On It

2007-12-31T12:27:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to all

I just recently read a note on-line from a woman business owner on her take on the New Year. It seems she always got excited crossing borders or having one foot in one room and one in another. I can see how that could be exciting but for me it doesn't do it. Her analogy was for the coming New Year and the possibilities it presents.

But for me the New Year is like a blank notebook. I love notebooks and it's very hard to not buy them whenever I'm in a store. A blank notebook holds so many promises, it could be a best selling novel, or possible some artwork good enough to be in a museum, maybe it will be the journal book that my ramblings in finally let me get it. So you see I love notebooks for their potential and that's how I see the New Year.

2008 holds fresh beginnings, a new accounting year with bigger and better profits, a new year for new relationships of friends and lovers. A new year where that new book actually shows me the way. A new year with more love from and to my family.

Now I always respected the beginings of the year but never did much celebrating. In fact I can only remember going to one big New Year's Eve bash and I must of been 19 years old at the time. I'm a home body at heart and just love to stay there. I also don't stay up to the midnight hour cause sleep always is calling and I just succumb.

New Year's resolutions, I stopped those many years ago cause I realized that it wouldn't be a week before I'd fall off the wagon so to speak. But this year I promise myself to write each day in my journal, bear my sole open up and see, inspect, dissect what's inside. It should be an interesting journey.

So Happy New Year to all of you who read my posts. Thank you!!

I'm A Wanna Be!

2007-12-30T08:13:00.000-05:00

I'm a wanna be collage artist. I love this form of art. I became conscious of it about 2 years ago from a collage artist on line and I just knew I wanted to do it. This woman was holding classes to teach collage but the only problem was she was in California and I was in Florida. I wrote her and she just said to do a collage journal and just get started sort of teaching myself. Hmmmmm didn't work because I always want to go from here to perfect without anything in between. Yup that's a pretty good description of me. So my first project was a large canvas and it was suppose to be a self portrait. In it would be the depressing beginnings of my life onto my growth etc etc. You know it didn't work and the 1/3 finished piece is sitting in my closet as a reminder that perfection doesn't just happen.

So I kept looking at that piece wondering what is wrong with it and I came up with a few things that I could of done differently plus my son the art college graduate also helped me see what some of the problems were. So because of that piece and it's failure (my description) I became stuck and look for inspiration from all my collage books. I love the work of the artists in these books but I just didn't feel a personal connection to creating collage like them. So feeling this way I just thought I didn't have it. Hmmmm that was a bit upsetting. So because my first piece didn't come out right I went off in a direction that really wasn't what I'm inspired to do with collage. I learned that now.

So I looked on line at other collage artists and finally came across a woman who's art inspired me to just do my collage my way. I was so focused on doing it like the others that it didn't feel right. I want to do pieces that are totally obstract and that maybe someone would stand in front of it and want to try to understand what I'm saying.

Here's the link to the artist I found.http://thisjoyofart.blogspot.com/

So I still don't want to do collage journal work I want to go right to canvas and I'll just play around with it till I get where I like what I've done.

Till next time

Linda

It's Finally Over!!

2007-12-26T15:22:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks,
Christmas 2007 is behind us and we can start thinking of other things like Valentines Day.

I'm getting ready!! To redo my window of course for Valentine's Day. My goal is to create a fun funky place to shop. I want fun I want people to come into the store to love what they see and smile and be happy. Isn't it wonderful when someone says to you "you have such a great store, I love it" That really makes my day and it keeps me going to make it even better.

Because most of my Valentine soap products will revolve around chocolate I'm doing a brown and pink color scheme especially for the window. Brown and pink is popular right now and I think it will draw passer-by's eye. A visit to Joann Fabric yielded me the perfect fabric to do the back drop, brown. Which will hang from the ceiling. I haven't done this before for the window. It will block you being able to look into the store but I think that might be good, you know curiousity!! So as the brown not to look drab and depressing in front of that will be some type of curtain of hearts. (hearts on strings or ribbons)

www.orientaltrading.com and www.funexpress.com have some great things but still I'm not sure.

So I have till January 2 (that's decorating day) to come up with my idea for Valentine's day decoration. Something a bit more than just hearts and flowers.

Mail just came in and with it my www.burtonandburton.com catalog. They aren't just a balloon company and they have some cute things I might use for my decorations.

Well till next time and would love to hear your ideas!

Linda

Location Location Location

2007-12-17T13:54:00.000-05:00

Christmas is almost upon us and the holiday season will just be a thing of the past. I'm in a tourist section of Florida so we don't experience much Christmas shoppers.

I wrote before about my Christmas decorations and I finally got some pictures to show you.
This one has Santa in the tub surrounded in bubbles. The actual construction of lthe wreath was made with nylon scrubbies opened and threaded thru a wire wreath. So now I've decided that Valentine will be so much fun to decorate for. I'm not one for decorations for my home but for the store I think it's great fun. www.orientaltrading.com will have some of my money this month. They have many cute and inexpensive things for Valentines that will create that Valentine feeling in the store. Can you imagine the store all decorated and then CD's playing of all romantic songs. The mood is set and customers are entertained.

Stay tuned for more details about decorating for Valentine's Day, plus my Valentine Party info

Linda

What I Learned From This Season!

2007-12-07T17:15:00.000-05:00

What I learned this season for retailing is the importance of a well dressed window.

I've done my windows before , well barely, but this season a very good friend of mine decided I need some help. So armed with ribbons, ornaments, snow blankets, train set and trees she came and conquered the window. After about 7 hours we had developed a Christmas window that would give Macy's a run for it's money. Oh what fun it was!

Previously the window decoration were just a little of this and a little of that. This Christmas the window is full and you get to look at so many things.

So now the Christmas window is done and it's bringing in customers, a very creative window is the invitation into the store. Customers think creative window, creative store!! I hadn't realized that before and I left the window for the last thing I thought about and it showed. Plus I always thought about spending unnecessary money. Well I didn't realize the money spent for that window already paid for itself with new customers drawn in by that window. I calculate that the cost for that great window was maybe $50.

So with the success of our Christmas window I'm looking forward to doing our next window VALENTINE'S DAY Oh the ideas I have for that one.

So if you are like me and think the window of the store doesn't matter, think again.

If You Can Beat Them Join Them!!

2007-09-07T10:46:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted and I really don't know why cause I love doing this, maybe I'm just too busy?

Well my store is in a town that is very strict about sidewalk signs, they have to be a certain size and positioned only in front of your store by so many feet. Now this is okay if your store is on the main drag, but for those of us who are on the side streets, this can be a problem. We've tried our best to convince the town and it's police department why we need our signs up on the corner but they didn't think we had valid reasons (livelyhood isn't a good enough reason) so they took our signs away. Yup, the strong arm of the law did that. Anyway as I get older I find that getting angry is a waste of valuable energy and that energy could be better used to thinking outside the box.

So for Labor Day weekend I wanted to have a sale get customers into the store and spend zero dollars advertising it. (I'm cheap) Now I already knew I couldn't put up a sign on the sidewalk on the main drag and anyway I wasn't into causing trouble.

So the first thing I did was make up 2 big signs for my window advertising the event. Remember I'm on a side street and so the only ones that got to see it is the banking customers across the street. Next I put some ads in Craigs list and another local on-line classified ad and advertised my big sale event.

Now here is the if you can't beat them join them idea. I create two large posters using neon color poster boards. Created the wording on my computer taped it to the board. Got to my store real early and parked on the main drag on the corner and hooked those signs on to the front and back of my car. I'm pretty sure I wasn't breaking the law. The posters on my car were a bit unsightly compared to maybe a sign on the corner but hey........ So each morning I got to the store early to get the good parking spot and hooked my posters up on my car.

So what happened? Well I had a banner weekend in sales, the best I've ever done. People were coming in to the store and I would ask "how did you hear about the sale" it was always the car. I did get one customer who said they came from Craigslist and thaatwas disappointing.

Armed with my success I've now gotten the two other stores next to me to do a combined event for Columbus Day weekend. One of them is a restaurant that will have a lunch special for the weekend and my friend will hold a flea market and then myself where I'll have some closeout sale. This time we'll do a bit more and have our outside of our stores decorated with balloons and flowers. Cost to do this will be maybe $10 for each store.

The other important thing I did during this sale was get rid of stuff that was just sitting around my store for quite awhile. First off I hate seeing the same stuff day in day out. I would love to turn my products around every 90 days but I don't have that kind of traffic but I don't want the same stuff in my store for over a year. So I cleared out all this stuff at very reduced rates and I got money to buy different things. It's important for customers to see new things and that was my goal for having this big sale. It went so well I got rid of almost everything.

Take a look at your store and if you see items that have been in your store for over a year have a sale and get some of your investment back to put towards the items your customers really want. Don't become attached to it.

I'll keep you posted on how things are doing.

The Spa Party At My Store

2007-07-28T12:04:00.000-04:00

Well this past Thursday night I held a spa party at my store. This event was to announce the new venture of mine of marketing my products thru a home party events. I sort of did it at the store to give myself experience doing a spa event and also of course to generate sales.

To get people to know about the event I did 3 things. I mailed invites, I advertised in a local paper and did an e-mail and fax blitz thru my chamber.

I've been very lax in accumulating customers names and addresses but I did have a few so I mailed them out with an rsvp, The ad in the local paper cost me $57 (it was an 1/8 of a page) and then spent another $50 to have our chamber do an e-mail and fax blitz.

So first to the advertising dollars spent. Almost all that came, came from the chamber e-mail and fax. No one mentioned the flyer or no one rsvp'd from the mailed invites. The $50 for the chamber was well spent and I'd do it again in a heart beat. I never did that type of advertising before with the chamber. Most of those who came from the chamber probably thought this would be another place to network which is okay they also got to see my store and see what I do.

Even though I don't think anyone came from my mailing I will still collect names, addresses and e-mail addresses. But doing it just seems to get tucked away somewhere in the back of my brain, and it surfaces after the fact. Which means I didn't collect names of those who attended. I'll have to do some investigating to find out who was who and send off some thank you cards and to remind them of my new direction.

I'm Italian and I was brought up with the importance of food and when we entertain we always worry that we don't have enough food. We could have enough food to feed a small army and only expect to entertain 10 we'd still worry. It's just a given that is what we do. I'm sure other nationalities have the same issue. So I knew the day of the event we were going to have alot of people and my worries starting surfacing. We don't have enough food, we won't have enough punch, oh my!! So I worried alone and then brought my daughter into it and then she worried too. So we figured we'd double the recipe for the punch and then we bought some chips and salsa and prayed that all would be okay.

Not once did I worry about my presentation, demonstration, not once, just worried about the food. So time came and the people poured in and we dished out food and drinks and then I was confused and stumped about what to do. So I jumped right into doing hand spa treatments and I had most of their attention. My focus was on them having a good time, they did but I didn't sell product. I just wanted them to have a good time. Half way into the hand spa treatments I realized that I wasn't doing any sellling so I started telling them prices. That was a half hearted attempt to correct a situation I created.

So the place started to clear out, my daughter had been doing the register and I asked her okay how'd we do. "Not good" she said. "What????" I said How could that be since the party at my home with far less people had generated such good sales.

Nothing should be a mistake that you go home and beat yourself up over. It should just be a learning process. I made a major mistake for this show but my friends who were still at my store discussed what went wrong.

What went wrong was I never discussed our products sitting so pretty on the shelves and tables. They were sitting there waiting for me to describe all their glorious details. So how were people to know that these were things that they probably shouldn't live without if I didn't tell them. That was my biggest mistake of the night. Plus there were other smaller details that I need to correct.

At the beginning I did have their undivided attention but I didn't have a script, I didn't know where I was going. I knew I had to feed them and I worried about that. I knew I had to offer them drinks and I worried about that, but the real purpose to sell them on my store and products I didn't do anything about that. I should of set up a structured detailed outline of what to do. I now know that I should of approached this with a goal in mind and feeding and offering drinks wasn't it. So when you know the end result you can kind of work backwards and set up a program to achieve your goal. This is how it will go next time. Stop back again I'll keep you posted on how upcoming events are going.

Retail Sales And How to Increase Them

2007-06-30T16:38:00.000-04:00

You know prior to getting into soapmaking I would make attempts to start a business and then would just give up when I felt it wasn't successful. Of course I'm talking about a very small business adventure on the scale of a lemonade stand but done by an adult (me) Each venture was started with such enthusiam, like the time I made Angel dolls out of muslin. This was a sewing project that I loved to do and at the time I was charging $20 for each angel doll. My first craft show I was so hopeful standing there looking at the potential customers hoping they would love my angels. Some did and some bought but then I thought I was spenting way too much time making those angels and not enough money was made to conpensate for that time. Now I realize I didn't give myself the opportunity to learn, grow and build that craft. I let this happen to me repeatedly. I had the wrong idea about being in a business for myself. Years later I would label myself as a quitter, you know when the going gets rough I QUIT. So back in "99" when I started my soapmaking business I vowed (of course I was 50 at the time and somewhat wiser) that I wouldn't be a quitter in this business. Well it's 8 years later and I'm still at it and there were many times that quitting would of been an easy option but I stuck to my guns. Now I tried different things to market my soapmaking the first being craft shows. That's a lot of work. Then I went to wholesaling which is also a very hard nut to crack.

Then I moved to Florida and I thought I'd take my business into the retail arena with a store. I had very little experience in retail but hey how hard could it be? Well retail is hard and especially in todays economic climate. I also made the mistake of renting a store just a bit off the beaten path. The bit off is enough to limit the amount of customers I get. So between the economy, the problems that Florida is facing now and my location my thinking of quitting is surfacing again. You know that old saying when the going gets rough the tough keep going. Plus I have a new saying that for every problem there is a solution and it isn't quitting. Time to think outside the box.

I'm not a big fan of advertising in the newspaper. I don't believe it's effective. at least for my type of store. I did put an ad in a local tourist type of magazine and even that I'm not sure if it's getting me any attention. I know I have a very cute store. People love my soap products so with those things going for me I had to come up with another way to get people to my store and also generate sales. Well this past week I held a spa party at my home. I invited about 30 people thinking that maybe half would show up. Some of those were my good friends who I knew I could count on to come. Had a postcard printed at VistaPrint for practically nothing and gave them out. 11 woman showed up for the party. I had a large amount of my products displayed on my table. I served a tropical punch that was to die for (I'll gladly share the recipe) along with chicken wings, cheese and crackers. The last guests left at 11:30 and all couldn't stop telling me how much fun they had. My friends were so supportive of my venture and all in all it was a wonderful time. Plus I sold more product at my home then I did all month at the store. Days after these woman would come up to me (most of those who came were from my complex) and rave about my products. These woman will be customers of mine for a long time.

So I'm on to doing my second home party at my store where I'll advertise the Home Spa Event in a local small publication called the Flyer (it's sort of like a Pennysaver from up north)

Sometimes we just can't lay down and play dead, we have to rethink things and stop spending money on advertising that isn't working and putting those dollars to use somewhere else. Ebay is another area that I'll be exploring for both my retail and wholesale business. I've done a few auctions in the past, didn't really get anything out of it and again I quit. I realize that I was approaching Ebay with the wrong attitude ( my younger years philosophy of giving up)

So I encourage all you store owners to brain storm and come up with something new and different to seperate you from the rest. It can be done and only quitters say it can't.

What Creativity Created

2007-06-23T11:15:00.000-04:00

I belong to a wonderful woman's group called S.H.E. Support Her Endeavors and at one of those meetings a fellow member spoke of wanting a life size mermaid for her store. My friend who's also a member. after doing some decoupage work and finding she loved it said "I can do that" She had no real experience in sculpturing with chicken wire and doing any kind of paper mache work but felt that she could create a life size mermaid. I was skeptical!!

Well each day as she progressed in creating this life size mermaid she would call me over to show me her progress. I knew she was going to be able to do it after I saw how she sculptured the face, it was amazing. Then the project seemed to take on a life of it's own. Solutions to questions on the creativity of this mermaid were always answered in some unconventional way. It was exciting to watch it just happen.

Being creative is a gift and each and everyone of us has it in us. You see you never know what you can do unless you are willing to try it. It took my friend several weeks to complete this masterpiece. I am extremely proud of her.

This mermaid is now in it's new home at a store in Tarpon Springs standing at 7' long .

It's New

2007-06-16T15:25:00.001-04:00

Well I'm convinced that blogging is here to stay so I might as well join the club. Hopefully this will serve as a spot to journal my experience in both the retail and wholesale business of soap selling.

I have a retail store in Tarpon Springs Florida that I love. I love retail and the best part for me is doing up displays. Recently we had to cut our store down to half it's size due to needing more production for our handcrafted soaps. It was a challenge to put all of our merchandise in less space but I think the store looks so cute now.

One thing I love about displaying is getting the store to look like a fun place to visit. A place that will make you smile. So I do chairs on the walls and furniture painted in fun colors, use louver doors for shelving and hollow doors as room dividers.

You can see from the picture below that I've taken doors and made a divider out of them that blocks off the productions area. I also hung some sheer fabric in a yellow gold color that isn't visable from the picture. This color yellow gold matches our yellow ceiling. The doors acts as another display area that I've hung some cute sea shell wreaths. I also used some old louver shutter closet doors as a shelving unit. These were so much fun to do and so inexpensive. Because they were used they already had a white paint on them and that saved the step of painting them (louver doors are one of the worst paint jobs) I just wasn't 100% happy with a stark white look so I washed them with some yellow paint thined with water, that took me no time. One set of doors cost me $15 and the shelving unit in the picture has 2 sets of doors plus 1/2 set for the back.

I love to go to thrift stores, salvage yards and garage sales looking for something different to use as a display piece. Chairs have become my new favorite thing to buy. Right now I have 4 chairs as display pieces set up very high in the store. So this one in the picture has some loofahs in a metal tin bucket and because the merchandise on these chairs isn't reachable for the customer I make sure I have more of that merchandise on the selling floor. Customers never fail to comment on the chairs and they think it's neat. I think it's important to do something different in a store that a customer would enjoy seeing. Because I love old chairs I'm trying to incorporate more of them in my design of my store. I have some made up as planters that sit outside my store and then I'll do some more shelving looks with some others that I have waiting to be done up.

One thing I've noticed about picture taking is that it tells the truth. Seems to me after viewing this picture that I need more chairs on the walls. LOL I'll be happy about doing up more of them.