Weekly Featured Etsy Seller--College Soap Company!

So my weekly features are back from a 2 week hiatus!  Thanks Rhiannon for being such a wonderful feature!

This week's featured Artisan and Etsy seller is a mother and 2 sister team, Christine, Shay, and Sydney of College Soap Company.  These 3 lovely ladies started their Etsy shop selling soap and other bath and body products to help fund Shay and Sydney's college educations.  Isn't that awesome?  I love to see 2 young women so dedicated to their futures!

Orange Ginger Sugar Scrub

I have yet to try their soaps and lotions, but I have heard they are amazing! These ladies are so talented in what they do they can offer a huge variety of products, from the traditional soap bar to sugar scrubs to facial clay to laundry soap.  And their photos make their products look so yummy!  Honestly I feel none of my words can do their shop justice, so I'm going to let them and their photos speak for themselves!

Erika with a K:  Before I begin my interview I would love to commend you on your beautiful shop!  And this brings me to my first burning question:  Who does your photography?  It is gorgeous!

Christine- I take all of the pictures of our products for the Etsy site. It has been such a learning curve for me. I looked at lots of other shops and their pictures, played around a lot, took hundreds of bad pictures and then finally I rounded some sort of corner and started taking better pictures. I downloaded a photo editing app called Aviary and that helped tremendously.

Gift Card and Soap Sampler

Erika with a K:  So when and how did you begin to make soap?   Was it before or after the girls needed to make money for college?

Christine- We are a family of 4 kids so basically we needed to start college savings when each of them was born...lol. But we actually started this particular college savings when the girls were 10 and 12 quite a few years ago.

Erika with a K:  How does a typical order go for you?  Is the soap made ahead of time or are they done to order? 

Sugared Pink Grapefruit Scrub

Shay- A typical order for us can either be a breeze or a nightmare. Sometimes we are like a little perfect shop and have everything we need and are able to ship the package that day. There are other times however when it seems like everything is working against us. If we don't have a certain product it's not really that awful because we can always make another rather quickly, if the product we are out of is soap, that's when we start to panic. We panic because our soap takes about 2 to 3 weeks to neutralize or cure. However we always get the order out, and hopefully our customers love the product as much as we do.

Erika with a K:  How do you come up with new scents and products?

Sydney- We create new scents and products by following trends and what the big corporations are doing. However we do like to go our own way too. Shay and I are a great team together because I really like testing out new scent combinations and Shay is always thinking of new product ideas. We mesh so well, like I could bring her a scent combination I was working on and she would smell it and say how perfect it would work in a scrub or something else she was working on. We also try and keep in mind holidays and seasons too.

Erika with a K:  Can each of you tell us a little more about yourselves?  

Super Fizzy Bath Bombs

Christine- I am the mother of four kids, two girls and two younger boys. I am also a registered nurse and work full time as the clinical coordinator of the obstetrical unit of our local hospital. I have always felt this need to be creative and found a great outlet for that in our soap business.

Shay- I am a high school student, and a full time employee of the College Soap Company. I am an Internet shopaholic so I have a summer job in addition to the CSC to satisfy my shopping needs.

Sydney- I am a middle school student( soon to be a freshman). Right now I like to spend time with my friends and have as much fun as possible before all the high school homework keeps me home.

Erika with a K:  Where do each of you plan on going for college, and what do you want to study?

Shay- I love to read so I would love to go to a college with a great liberal arts program. I haven't picked out a certain school yet but I am still looking. I hope to get a job in the publishing industry so I can write the college soap story. LOL

UnderCarriage Soap for Men

Sydney- To be honest I don't really have a clear cut plan on what I want to d when I grow up or where I want to go to school. I do plan on continuing to help the College Soap Company grow and develop.

Erika with a K:  What goals are you trying to reach with your shop? 

Christine- One of our ongoing goals is to produce the best natural products we can. A short term goal is to generate a sale every day. We have strings of days where that happens but followed by a lull of a few days. A long term goal is to open a small retail space. We are also working on our goal of putting together a small scholarship for a local high school student who demonstrates an entrepreneurial spirit.

Erika with a K:  Do you sell anywhere else besides Etsy?

Christine- We do most of our sales locally through word of mouth, we also sell on Ebay and do occasional craft fairs. This year we started doing in home soap parties, modeled after pampered chef. Those are our favorite as we do a whole fun presentation that gets people to start really looking into the ingredients in the products they buy and we help to sort out safe from potentially dangerous ingredients. People always leave the party having learned a great deal and toting some of our products as well.

Erika with a K:  What advice can you give us about the business end of selling on Etsy  and other hand made venues? 

Soothing Milk Bath Tea

Christine- I mainly run the Internet side of the girls business and I have learned quite a bit. When we first opened our Etsy site, I sat back, checked it every day and couldn't understand why nothing was happening. I learned that for Etsy and other similar sites to work you need to work them. So I joined teams, promoted other shops, made treasuries etc. I also learned that the pictures are your most important front line. The customer can't pick up your product, feel it, smell it so your picture needs to convey more than just an image. Of course you need good solid products behind the picture as well. We all have also learned about the importance of community. People really are so generous and want to see us do well, people like yourself have offered us so many opportunities to promote and sell our products. So in the end our three point advice would be take great photos, promote till you can't promote anymore and be an important part of your community, whether its an online community or your hometown community or both!

Christine, Shay, Sydney- We would just like to thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity!

Thank you Christine, Shay, and Sydney!   I wish you the best of luck!  

And remember, all photos are copyrighted to Christine at the College Soap Company.   Please do not use them without her permission! 

Craft Fair Tips from My Experience April 27 and 28

This weekend I participated in The Flea on Saturday and the Artisan's Market on Sunday, both at the Railyard in Santa Fe, NM.  So far I have not had good luck at any of these I participate in, including this weekend, but at least I have always made my money back.  And I have never regretted doing them.  I had been asking for abundance heavily in the last week or so, but I failed to specify financial abundance, so I received this in other ways, like knowledge and connection to others, which I have to say are better than money!

The first day was at the Flea so I could sell things that are not hand made.  I had my vintage jewelry and china out with my hand made jewelry.  A word of advice...when selling at flea markets and craft fairs, don't clutter up your table!  People need to see exactly what you are selling from a distance.  And the customers at flea markets are much different from art or craft fairs.  The former tends to be only looking for a bargain while the latter has much more appreciation for the work you put into your art.  But that doesn't mean I don't recommend flea markets!  It really depends on the city, the day, and the particular venue.

Also, being friendly is a huge way to gain traffic and sales!   You don't have to think of yourself as a "salesperson",  just be yourself!  Say "Hi" to anyone walking by and give compliments.  Starting a conversation with someone will bring them closer to your booth for longer.  I had a prime example of this on  Saturday at The Flea.  A very lovely girl walked close to my booth, and I said "Hi" and complimented her on the flowers she was wearing in her hair.  Because of this, she stepped closer.  After looking she gasped, and had to buy a vintage glass with an orange slice motif (one I bought last week at Goodwill...didn't even have a chance to shoot it!  The matching carafe is pictured here).  This had been an item she broke recently,  an event that was a really "emotional experience" for her.  And whats crazy is she was just telling the man she was with about it that morning!  It felt amazing to make someone so happy!

Chalkboard for displaying necklaces

On Sunday I had an even better day!  My booth was set up beautifully, and I met lots of wonderful people, including 2 sisters who talked with us for about a half hour and took our cards.   And I had another example of being friendly leading to a sale.  A young man walked past wearing an Invader Zim T-shirt, which I HAD to comment on because I love that cartoon.  The guy then walked up to my booth, looked at everything, and told his mom to come look which lead to a sale!  So I cannot stress enough just how important it is to be engaged and friendly with customers.  Don't just sit and read a book the whole time.

 Different displays

If you missed me at the craft fairs this weekend don't worry...most of my stuff (and more!) is available in my Etsy shop...https://www.etsy.com/shop/ErikawithaKDesigns?ref=seller_info 

Set up different display areas for different items or styles of items. See how the bead embroidery is separated from the other types of  jewelry with the black cloth?

So in addition to having a fun weekend with my friends and meeting new people, I had my second celebrity encounter ever in the span of 2 weeks!  This time Giovanni Ribisi (probably most famously from Avatar) was just walking around, and since my good, and very outgoing, friend Diane was there she drug me over to him to say hello and take a picture.  I was so embarrassed, but now I have a memory to last a lifetime!  He's pretty cute isn't he?  For anyone here in Santa Fe who wants a sighting, he is here filming "A Million Ways to Die in the West". 

Me and Giovanni Ribisi...I LOVE Santa Fe!

Hallelujah!

Yay!  I had my first sale last night to someone other than a friend or relative!  I have read on many of the Etsy forums that on average it takes about 1-2 months to get your first sale, and I have had 2 in my first 2 weeks!  I guess I attribute it to my total dedication to my business and my good photos.  I wasn't always that way though.  I have actually started my Etsy shop and different blogs at least 4 times before, but always gave up after a short time of not seeing "success".  For those of you out there who have not made a sale, just stick with it and always keep learning.  Take it one step at a time, and celebrate each small success.  And probably most important, make sure you are passionate about what you are doing.  As long as you keep at it, you will start seeing your sales go up!

Blogging Tip #1

After you have set up your blog, sign up for Google Analytics to track your visitors and views.  Here is a great website that will help you get it set up on your blog!  Seer Interactive.com

What did I get myself into?!

Yoo-hoo, is anyone out there?  :)

So I'm a week or 2 into this "make-my-jewelry-making-my-business-and-blog-about-it" idea, and I'm starting to feel the pressure of the momentous task ahead of me...learning SEO (search engine optimization), promoting, blogging everyday, learning something new everyday, etc, etc.  And it can be a bit disheartening to work your butt off, turn out things you're very proud of (like my photography tutorials!), while having little traffic, no sales or blog comments and knowing you cannot even expect them regularly for quite some time (what!? you mean I possibly won't even make a dollar for another year!?).  And also realizing that in the competitive worlds of jewelry-making and blogging, so much of it has already been done before!  So why bother, right?

But honestly?  I'm loving (almost) every minute of this!  I truly enjoy every step from making the jewelry through to promoting it and writing blog posts.  I'm not sure if it directly correlates, but I have been so much happier since I started than I have been in years.  I guess that is a good sign and means I'm already past probably the hardest part of having this type of business...maintaining your momentum. 

Business Tip #1

The 1st thing that I did when I started selling my jewelry was to make a Facebook page.  These are free to make and can be great advertising for your product and/or other websites.  And what is really great about making a page is that shortly after you do, Facebook will send you an offer for $50 worth of free advertising.  After you have your page completely set up with all your photos loaded and links to other websites, use this offer by setting a budget of $10 a day for 5 days, that way you don't go over the free amount while still getting the maximum benefit.  Also make sure when making the advertising campaign that you extensively fill out the "Choose Your Audience" section so you target only the people who would be interested in your product.  This is key! 

I'm now legitimate!

Yay!  My new business cards have arrived!  Hooray for Vista Print!  I designed these on their website.  The swirly images were a template, but I designed my text logo myself.  I added an image on the back so they can act as price tags at craft fairs and such.  Of course after ordering I start my Etsy shop and my blog, so I need to add those URLs, but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.    My scanner I guess sucks so the colors are a little off.

 Front: 

Back: 

Oh the joys of being a beginner...

Maybe this is why I'm always switching to something new.  And maybe, just maybe, this is why I've started my Etsy store over 3 times and made 3 other blogs that went nowhere (this one is going to stay I promise!).  Maybe, I don't know.  But I do know that I really like the beginning stages of these things when each and every view, each and every favorited item, each and every *gasp* sale is a triumph.  Or maybe I'm just lazy, not sure yet. 

Scheduling my unemployed life...

Ok, so I find that I am dreadfully unorganized and have a really hard time with schedules, but everything I read about being self employed says in order to be successful I will need to work like I have a "real" job.  So I have written down a tentative schedule for myself that hopefully I can uphold.  I'll keep you posted on how I do.  Also, this is all keeping in mind that I have a dog and a 6-month-old baby (who I am nursing) and am going to school.  Homework will have to be scheduled for the weekends and evenings.  Uggg!  I don't know if I can do this.....

My new schedule for my work day:

                    Mon.                         Tues.                   Wed.                Thurs.               Fri.

6:50-8:00     Wake Up                    Same                   Same                Same                 Same
                    Take Son to School
                    Get Ready

                  
8-10:00       Blog/Misc.                   Blog/Misc.           Blog/Misc.        School              Blog/Misc.                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                           

10-12:00     Thrift Store Shopping   Photo and List     CareNet           School               Photo and List
                   **until done                 Thrift Finds                                                            New Jewelry

12-1:00       Lunch                          Lunch                  Lunch               School/Lunch     Lunch


1-3:00         Finish Thrifting/Misc.    Make Jewelry     Make Jewelry    Make Jewelry    Make Jewelry