Join me!
Hi Everyone!
I am new to this Buried Treasure & just learning my way around but I noticed there were no groups to join for us who make bath & body products. Would you like to join me in spreading the word about how much fun it is in creating new items to pamper ourselves with? What is your favorite item to create? What is your best seller in your shop? How do you promote your products? How do you package your items? How far away do your items get shipped? Whatever is on your mind share it here!
My favorite to create changes with time, because that is my personality, but at the moment it is making the Bath Truffles & Roll on Perfumes. Please join me! And if you are just a user of the bath & body products & would love to comment on them, pleae feel free to join, we also welcome that here at our spot, because you are what makes us want to create more exciting products!
I am new to this Buried Treasure & just learning my way around but I noticed there were no groups to join for us who make bath & body products. Would you like to join me in spreading the word about how much fun it is in creating new items to pamper ourselves with? What is your favorite item to create? What is your best seller in your shop? How do you promote your products? How do you package your items? How far away do your items get shipped? Whatever is on your mind share it here!
My favorite to create changes with time, because that is my personality, but at the moment it is making the Bath Truffles & Roll on Perfumes. Please join me! And if you are just a user of the bath & body products & would love to comment on them, pleae feel free to join, we also welcome that here at our spot, because you are what makes us want to create more exciting products!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Patricia Morales on -
Hi Gabbriella,
I am also very new to Buried Treasure and learning my way around. It is nice to find someone with similar interests in the bath and body line of things.
Although I've toyed with lots of different things in the bath and body world, my mainstay is the cold process soaps. I've shipped my items halfway across the world to customers. Earlier this summer, my most popular item was a soap and solid stick combo with essential oils to keep bugs away. With all the floods that occurred out in the midwest, these two items were big hits and I've sold out all but 2 of my soaps.
At the moment, my sellers are a real hodge podge of items, nothing is really standing out as a "best seller" at the moment. Surprisingly, soaps with "pink" in them seem to be going better than any other items I have. I didn't think that pink was really the color of choice this season but my sales have shown otherwise. Plumeria fragrance has also been one of my best selling in my soap products too, which was another surprise I didn't expect. I had to go out buy more Plumeria before the summer has been over.
My teenage daughter has just loved the idea that her mom does all these bath and body products. She has her friends hooked on some of my items (and their moms as well). I don't typically get out among the public locally (arts and crafts fairs and farmer's markets) due to time constraints (job outside my crafting life) but the word has been spreading like wildfire by word of mouth and I do get a lot of local sales as a result.
Unless specifically requested, I do minimal packaging when sending out my items to customers by mail, usually wrapped in tissue paper with an ingredients card, special offer and business card. I want to keep my costs down as much as possible and pass that onto my clients. However, if they specifically request special packaging such as purchasing it to give as a gift, I package items up in a variety of fashions. I use brown kraft boxes with tissue paper inside, tied with raffia, handmade paper, corrugated box strips, brown paper bags...you name it. I try to keep it as eco-friendly as possible and still give it a special touch.
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Permalink Reply by Gabbriella on -
Patricia thank you so much for joining our group & thanks for letting me get to know you. We have very simialr taste as to how we treat our customers. Keep in touch & any great ideas you ever want to share or start a discussion on will always be welcomed.
Enjoy your evening
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Permalink Reply by jamie beck on -
Hi !
Many years ago I made parraffin candles only. My family grew I had to take a few years off from candles.. About 3 years ago I got back into the wax but worked mostly with soy.
Its a pain.. I got bored and frustrated and finally started in on handmade soaps..
That is now mostly what I do now because its more fun (than soy wax..IMHO..lol)
I am newly divcorced and now have many more friends who are men so I am trying to brainstorm about making more manly type toiletry line...
yes.. we creative types.. seem to let the creativity sriv eup in all (sometimes too) many directions..hahaha
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Permalink Reply by Gabbriella on
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Hi Jamie! thanks for joining the group :) I don't like doing candles either, I am sure there must be an easier way than I have found, but you are right ---soap making is more fun! Cute picture...is that your little one? She probably is a good little helper. That is how my mom started me out...very young & just let me be creative!
Enjoy your evening & do keep in touch with us....
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Permalink Reply by omshanti on
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I've shipped as far away as Malaysia -- and from Colorado that's pretty far! Recently I've been playing with soaps so I'll have a bunch of new ones out soon.
As for promotion -- I've been doing an article series on my blog:
http://omshantihandcrafts.wordpress.com
It's up to six and shows no signs of stopping.
Kate
Om Shanti Handcrafts
http://omshanti.etsy.com
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Permalink Reply by Gabbriella on
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Thanks Kate for your interesting note . I too work a full time job outside of the home & I know how hectic that can get. It keeps me out of trouble being a single woman again!! LOL Your products are just awesome looking! It is nice to have chatted with you...stop back with more exciting news!
Kathleen
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10 Self-Employment Myths
| Article: | 10 Myths About Self-Employment |
Since there are so many myths about self-employment (especially among lifelong employees), a good place to start would be to dispel some of those myths.
I started my first business right after graduating college and have been continuously self-employed since then. The only time I was ever an employee was during college, when I worked six months as a part-time retail sales associate.
MYTH: Self-employed people have to work really long hours.
Many self-employed people work longer hours than employees. Some enjoy their work so much they want to put in long hours. Some set up their businesses in such a way that their physical presence is necessary for income generation. So working long hours is largely a symptom of the type of business you create as well as your personal choice. If you don't like working long hours, you certainly don't have to.
MYTH: The only reason to build a business is to sell it.
While you can certainly build a business to sell or to take public, you can also build a business to keep. As a self-employed person, you're free to build whatever kind of business you want. You're the boss. If you want to build a business to sell, go for it. If you just want an income source that doesn't require you to get a job, that's fine too.
You can also run multiple businesses at the same time. Once you've been running a business for a decade or more, it's not that hard to repeat the process and spawn another one.
MYTH: Self-employment is much riskier than getting a job.
Security is a result of control, and self-employment gives you far more control over your income than you have with a regular job. When you're self-employed no one can fire you or lay you off. Which is more secure? Owning your income stream or leasing it? Ownership obviously.
If you need to make extra cash quickly, that's very tough to do as an employee. But as an owner who controls all the business assets, you have the ability to channel resources to increase income in a pinch. Having control makes a huge difference.
MYTH: Self-employment means putting all your eggs in one basket.
Ask yourself this: How many people would have to turn against you to shut off all your income? For employees the answer is usually one. If your boss fires you, your income gets turned off immediately. Now that's putting all your eggs in one basket.
With self-employment, you can more easily diversify your income streams and thereby reduce your risk. You have the control necessary to make this happen. Generating different types of income from thousands of customers is a lot more secure than receiving only one paycheck.
MYTH: Being self-employed is stressful.
What's stressful is not being able to make ends meet. Self-employment is less stressful because you enjoy more control. Not having control over your time and your life is stressful. Self-employment can be very low-stress if you decide to make it so. You can turn your office into a relaxing place to work and set your own hours. If you notice the onset of stress, you can take time off to relax.
MYTH: The customer is always right.
If you're self-employed, feel free to fire customers that cause you grief. Some customers just aren't worth having. when a customer becomes obnoxiously rude, insulting, or threatening, you have the choice to not work with them. If you're self-employed, there's no need to do business with people who think it's their privilege to treat you like dirt. You won't enjoy having such customers, and you won't enjoy the types of referrals they send you.
MYTH: Being self-employed is lonely.
Many employees think they enjoy a rich social life when all they do is hang out with their co-workers. That's fine for starters, but it can get pretty stale after a while. On the contrary it's easier for self-employed people to recognize the need for social activities outside their work. At the very least, this may be motivated by the desire to network and to learn from other business owners.
MYTH: Self-employed people have to do everything themselves.
Self-employed people may be responsible for making sure everything gets done, but it's usually foolish for them to do everything themselves. That would be way too much work. You don't have to design your own systems if you can leverage someone else's.
MYTH: Self-employment is too complicated.
Self-employment can seem complicated because there's a lot to learn in the beginning, such as accounting, taxes, payroll, legal issues, insurance, etc. It does take a while to learn the basics, but most of it isn't difficult. Get yourself a good book on the subject, and you'll be off to a great start. Don't let the initial learning curve get you down. You only need to learn this info once.
MYTH: You need lots of money to start a new business.
That depends on the business. You can start an online business for very little cash. You don't need to pour your life savings into your first business. You do, however, need an intelligent way to provide value to people. The nice thing about an online business is that you can create value for a fixed time investment, and technology can deliver that value millions of times over without costing you any extra time or money. You invest a little time in the initial value creation, but you get paid for the ongoing value delivery. Technology does most of the work for a cost that's virtually zero, but you get paid for its results.
Take back control of your personal and professional life! Try self-employment or a side line business for yourself!
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