Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Craft Show Tips

May 15, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

On the Yahoo SoapNuts group list, someone asked for tips on doing a craft show. Since craft show season is officially upon us, here’s my take on craft show tips:

Smile, smile, smile! Drink a lot of coffee, all day, to stay on your toes.

Have quick easy elevator answers prepared for the following questions and
comments. Click on the links to see some suggested answers:

1. Wow! $4.50 for a bar of soap!? Why so much!?

2. Cool! How is this stuff made!?

3. Cool! Can you teach me how to make this stuff?

4. Cool! I want product for free for my VERY GOOD CAUSE! Can you donate?

5. Cool! Where do you buy all your supplies?

6. I only use DOVE! It’s over half moisturizers. How is yours on my face?

Have your business cards or contact information at the ready. Consider throwing up an Etsy store quickly with a few products just so people have a place to re-order. Have a sign up list for emails and phone calls. Have an option for a customized product order. Make sure there’s a “Show Special” so people feel the urgency to buy right now.

Just remember to smile, wear a professional outfit but comfortable shoes, and literally, stand upall day! Don’t be afraid to wheel and deal with trading other vendors – sometimes those are the best days ever.

Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcake

May 14, 2008 Filed Under: Soap Queen Cuisine

chocolate chai spice cupcake

I worked out today …. I’m allowed to look, right?

You can find the recipe hereto make your own delicious little morsel.

Gel Phase

May 14, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

This 30 second video is a great example of gel phase in cold process soapmaking.

Remember, if you get this blog emailed to you daily, the video won’t appear in your email. You need to click through to the blog to watch it.

Aw, thanks!

May 14, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Just a quick shout-out to Tami from Tami’s SoapWorks. She sent me a care package yesterday with a book (The Deception of the Emerald Ring) and two bars of soap (including the Blue Sky soap pictured on the right). What a great pick-me-up! I can’t wait to start reading the book and lathering up …. perhaps a bath is in order?

CakeSpy does Cards!

May 14, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

I’m a big fan of cupcakes, cards and CakeSpy’s art. I even own two Jessie Oleson originals (ooh ahh). Though my staff has forbidden me to buy any more cards until my embarrassingly full card drawer has space to fit more, I couldn’t resist this 10 pack of notecards from CakeSpy.

Buy your own set here and spread a little sweetness to everyone in your life.

Soapy Advertising

May 13, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

Thank you Crunchy Chicken for the post about this um, unique way to work with soap.

Flogos is a company out of Alabama that make logos, out of a soap-like material that float through the air.

Quoting from their site:

Flogos are synthesized from proprietary surfactant (soap) based foam formulations and lighter than air gases such as helium. Flogos are designed to last for as long as their visual impact is needed. Specific formulations are available to provide a life expectancy of a few minutes to an hour or so. This also greatly depends on amospheric conditions such as wind direction and speed.

I can’t decide if this is the coolest thing since airplanes started dragging big huge “Will You Marry Me?” signs or an intrusive form of advertising. Still, it does use soap so that’s a plus in its favor.

Make this Cute Knitting Soap

May 13, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

These amazing soaps were made by Nicole in Customer Service with our Flexible Knitting Mold ($14.85, made out of a flexible silicone and lasts forever).Nicole used our white house brand soap as a base and colored the entire batch with the Super Pearl White Mica to add the shimmery look to the soaps. The different colors of string were made with Cornflower Blue Mica, Yellow Mica, Rose Pearl Mica and Aqua Pearl Mica.

These make up the first layer poured into the mold using a dropper. She then used Black Mica for the coloring of the knitting needles. This was the second layer also put into the mold using a dropper. The final pour for the background of the soap is White House Soap Base colored with the Super Pearly White Mica.

"Saipua"- The Finnish word for "soap"

May 12, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Saipua is a small family owned business located in Hudson Valley, NY. Dedicated to small business, they have continued to produce small batches of olive oil based soap since 1999 to assure quality and sustainability. You will gasp when you check out their nicely designed site. Look how fresh and creative this display is; I’ll take ’em all!

These soaps have a vintage touch that I adore. Their packaging is the whimsical, each stamped and wrapped to perfection. Check out these adorable Travel Soaps that come in their own little travel pouch. As woman on the go, I don’t think I can live with out these. I’ll take one of these too please.

When I saw the packaging with a cute little chick on it, my first reaction was “Awww” but then I read the ingredients for this Mango Butter Soap and I melted. Here’s the description: “Mango butter, silk protein, sweet almond oil and shea butter make for an intensely rich soap that produces a creamy fine lather.” Sold! Put me down for two!

Conclusion? Well designed packaging, clean and easy to navigate site and some decadent recipes make this soapmaking company stand out from the pack.

Hi Mom!

May 11, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

(card design by MaybeYouShouddie)

Jelly Roll Pride

May 11, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Big kudos go to Christina in Customer Service for making this adorable Jelly Roll soap. Some of her layers are separating because she waited too long in between layers but the soap is still very cute and stays together well in the shower.

She used Dark Rich Chocolate for the dark brown, Carmel lip flavor in the gold and White Tea & Ginger in the white layer. Christina had fun with Cappuccino Mica (brown), Sparkle Gold (gold) and Super Pearly White (white) for her layering and wisely colored the layer that had Dark Rich Chocolate a brown color. Why was this such a good idea? Because the Dark Rich Chocolate color naturally turns brown so Christina incorporated this brown into her design.

If you missed how to make Jelly Rolls, the multiple part tutorial is located here.

Nobody Loves Your Baby…

May 9, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

My friend Bob Pritchett wrote a great book called, “Fire Someone Today.” It’s a must-readfor new businessess. One of my favorite chapters is entitled, “Nobody Loves your Baby Like You Do!”

As any mother can attest, her baby is always the most smart, the cutest, the most athletic and the happiest baby… ever! Luckily for my Mother of course, this really was true in the case of me. As the photo proves, not so much for my brother … (ha ha. I’m kidding. Of course. ELF, as he is affectionately known, was a close second in the looks, athleticism and smarts category.)

Nobody can take care of a baby like its own mother. That’s the way it is with our businesses. You created your business, you stayed up long nights ensuring its health and you worry constantly about the long term future of your business. It’s up to you as the business owner to take care of your business, to design your long term strategy and to stay up long nights worrying about payroll.

Recently, I was at an evening networking event and chatting with three smart, outgoing sales reps. I was impressed that they were at the event on their own time and asked them about it. It turns out that their boss pays for them to go and network for the company. When I quipped, “Well, you better go get some more business cards then,” they hemmed and hawed about why it wasn’t necessary for them to actually do the work that their boss was paying them for.

Instead, they were content to sip their free drinks and have a nice social night on the town – all while being paid by the hour.

No one loves promoting and building your business like you do. There isn’t anyone on this planet that will work harder to ensure that your business is a success and there isn’t anyone who can replace you, the owner, at networking events, at conferences or just at staff meetings.

Yes, you can (and should) delegate. There are too many things for you to do at once. But when you delegate, it is vital that you lay out action plans for success. An action plan for success in the above example might look like clear goals and guidelines before the event (example: meet 10 people and have extended conversations with 3 companies that might use our services). This plan should be followed up with a meeting the next day to go over the expected outcomes from the social networking event. Delegating to the right people and ensuring that they have a plan to be successful goes a long ways towards augmenting the owner’s skills. But, it doesn’t replace you or your need to be the driver of your business.

What does this mean for you and your small business? It means you can never take anything for granted. It means that you’ll consistently appear to be micromanaging your staff. It means that you will not only stay up nights worrying about the company but you will think of strategy, review the week, and plan for the next month on your off-time. It means that the big heavy lifting, the “Where do we go from here? How can we increase our business?” is on your shoulders. No one knows your business the way you do. No one can gut-feel your industry like you do. Nobody can sell your business and your products as well as you do.

As my friend Bobsaid, “Nobody loves your baby like you do.”