Soap Queen

Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more

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5 Tips to Take Soaping from Hobby to Business

Filed Under: Business Musings

Soap making is a hobby that brings joy to those who make it, and those who buy or receive the luxurious product. It’s no wonder that many soapers are able to turn their hobby into a business! But, making the transition from hobbyist into small business owner can be a little intimidating.

Here are 5 tips to help take your hobby to the next step; simply click through the slides below! The presentation is via a site called SlideShare. SlideShare enables users to share information in the form of slides, making the content easy to read and interact with. Have you used Slideshare before?

 If you enjoy SlideShare, a few of my favorite presentation’s include Bob Pritchett’s “How to Quite College and Get Away with It”, “50 Powerful Statistics About Tech Mega Trends Affecting Every Business,” by Vala Afshar and “The Undeniable Authority of the Social Customer,” by Desk. I’m a visual person, so reading information in slide format works well for me.

Are you a soaper considering starting a small business? I would love to hear about what is holding you back, so I can offer more tips. Also, if you are a small business owner, please share your tips for those just starting out =)

7 Steps for Managing Change, pt. 2

Filed Under: Business Musings

This is the last part of a series on managing changes in life, whether the changes are small (adding more veggies to your diet) or large (opening up a new soapmaking business!). This is adapted from a speech I gave at a recent Leaders Engage to Exchange Ideas, or LEXI conference, in Seattle. Click here to read the first half of the speech.

4. Get buy in

Whatever transition you’re planning to make, even if it’s just the leap to cut all your hair off and go short for summer, it’s going to affect other people. And these are people you care about. And when you care about someone, you communicate. Plus, blatant self-interest means that you do want people cheering you and supporting you. And quite frankly, if you didn’t let them in on the plans ahead of time, that’s a lot less likely.

Let the people who matter in your life know about big changes.

So, if you’re starting a new business or a new work out regiment, and you’re checking out of the house a lot more, those household duties will fall more into your spouses’ and children’s laps than before. It’s important that they understand the trade-offs and what you’re actually asking of them.

If your dream is to start a soapmaking business, remember that things happens one step (or one bar of soap!) at a time.

In your case, it might be that someone needs to do the morning dog walking because you’re hitting a new Cross Fit class or you don’t have a family yet and have decided this is the perfect time to travel. Talk it over with the people that it will affect. It saves resentment, and relationships, in the end.

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Bramble Business Series: Navigating Pinterest

Filed Under: Business Musings

Within the past few years, photo-sharing website Pinterest has emerged as a haven for DIY-enthusiasts. With so many beautiful images and fun tutorials, it’s easy to spend an entire afternoon browsing. It’s no wonder then that is has also emerged as a full-blown way to successfully market and sell homemade bath & body products. We’re continuing our Bramble Business Series today with an overview of Pinterest and how to use it to your advantage.

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