Your Number One Job

Online Stock Trades - Sell or Buy
Originally uploaded by lastnychero

Are you self employed? Your number one job for your company is sales - creating revenue. Sales is a full time job and when you’re the owner, the buck always stops with you. Even if you have sales people, your number one goal and job is creating cash for your company.

I think the number one quality that make a small business owner successful at prospecting and sales is PERSISTENCE. You can’t take the first ‘no’ for an answer. You just say, “Golly gee, that’s more information than I had before and every no leads me closer to the yes.” Then, you move on to the next prospect and keep working your way through your list.

The next quality that is important is FOLLOW-THROUGH. That first prospect that said “No”? Make sure you contact them again in 6 weeks – not with a sales pitch necessarily, just with a simple message of “Hi, hello, here’s something I found interesting” and make that ‘interesting’ thing something they really would find interesting. If it’s a blog post, an industry magazine article or even a new product debut in a category you’re not in – just something that keeps you top of mind in their head AND gets them to identify you as helpful (not always pitching and wanting something).

The final quality for making sales as an entrepreneur is CURIOSITY. Why didn’t you get that sale? You genuinely want to know (and not in a salesy-sales way – you really really are curious). The phrase “Under what circumstances would you put my soap in your shop?” must become your friend. There is no way around it – you’ve got to ask the tough questions, “Why didn’t I get the sale? How can I improve? And, under what circumstances would you consider giving me the sale?”

What's holding YOU back from creating the company of your dreams, with revenue flowing in from multiple stores and sources? Get honest with yourself and make a plan to overcome your fear of selling. Your company can't succeed without YOU out there selling every single day.

You Are Awesome

You are awesome, originally uploaded by valentinadesign.

I just bought a bunch of prints from this artist - all positive, happy sayings. I am going to frame them and put them up one by one in our hallway. They will look great in a row - and hopefully inspire everyone that walks by. If you have mental blocks you'd like to overcome ("I just can't sell my products wholesale, I am too scared!"), replacing those negative thought patterns with a positive one ("I am easily walking into stores with samples and they love my products!") takes frequent repetition, work and energy. These little sayings on my walls will help  with my 'repetition' part.

Check out Valentina Ramos if you're looking for affordable prints that inspire you every day.

Sizzlin' Hot Summer Orders

Sending and receiving products in the Summer Sun!

It was a Facebook post last week that inspired the issue. It's summer time, people, which means many packages will be sitting in hot warehouses and metal trucks. How will this affect your handmade soaps and soapmaking supplies? Here are some tips to keep in mind...

• 2 Day Air shipping will keep your boxes from sitting in hot trucks for days.

• If your order ships on a Thursday or a Friday, your box most likely be sitting in a hot warehouse or truck for 2 whole days over the weekend.

• Even if your products arrive melted or soft, the products are still safe to use. Just get them inside and out of the sun as soon as possible.

• Have your products delivered to your work so the package is not sitting out in the sun while you're not home.

• If you're shipping your products USPS, you can have the post office stamp "perishable" on the box. It's not a guarantee, but it might be handled with a little more care.

• Write a note to the Mail Man: "Do not leave package in a metal mail box", "Do not leave in the sun" or "Deliver to the front door"

• Facebook fan, Soap Addicts, also suggested Cool Shield Bubble packaging.

What are your summer shipping tricks? Please share!

I think many will benefit from your suggestions! 

Soapylove Tutorial - I Heart Soap

Have you seen the new Soapylove molds?  I'm so excited about them!  There's an adorable Rainbow and this one is the I Heart Soap. 

Here's a neat way to show off the mold's raised details without much fussiness.  In fact, the print makes the heart seem extra 3-D which is neat!  It's really simple.  Here's how it's done...

Supplies (makes 2 bars of the flowery print design):
2 ounces Naturally Clear soap base
6 ounces Bright White soap base
Candy Jar fragrance oil set
I Heart Soap mold
Water Soluble Paper
Non-Bleeding Red liquid colorant

Instructions:

Have a cute design printed on the water soluble paper using a laser printer.  I bought some pretty printable scrapbooking paper designs from Tracy Ann Digital Art on Etsy.  Make a template by tracing the heart from the mold onto a scrap paper then cut out.  Trace this onto your printed paper and cut.

Melt the clear soap base then fill just the heart area.  Place your design face down into the clear soap and allow to harden.

Meanwhile, add a few drops of red colorant to the remaining soap base.  Make sure the soap is nice and hot (130ish), spray the heart area with alcohol, and pour a thin layer into the mold so all the details are filled and you  have a very thin layer otherwise.  Allow to harden.

Melt the white soap base, add fragrance of your choice (1/2 - 1 teaspoon), and let cool to 120 degrees.  Spray the red soap with alcohol and fill mold with white soap, making the stream of soap hit the back of the heart (this will hide any thin areas that might happen if you poured on a different spot).  Allow to harden and unmold!

To make the pearly version, I just used pearly mica instead of red colorant and colored the white soap with a bit of the red colorant to make a pretty pink.

Have fun!

Red, White and Soap at Otion

Last week, I was supremely lucky to spend almost two full days at Otion with a private soapmaking student. Diane visted us from Watsonville, California to learn more about soapmaking and how we run Otion. She and I spent one full day exploring Cold Process soap. First we designed three key recipes for her based on her personal preferences around what a 'good' soap makes. Then, it was time for a serious soaptopia at Otion.

We played with pigments and explored swirling in the Birch wood Molds.

We enjoyed working with honey and focusing on temperatures to inhibit superheating (caused by the honey). Soap on right? Never got above 97 degrees. Soap on left? 145 for over 20 minutes. Same recipe. Same additives. Temperature was the only variant.

Then we made a basic layer soap. That's Ultramarine Violet on the top and Super Pearly White Mica on the bottom layer.

Can you believe this is Goatsmilk soap? No tan color and no ammonia smell. It's a technique I've been exploring for a new e-book on goatsmilk soapmaking. Colors are Black Oxide and Yellow Oxide.

We also made custom essential oil blends for all of Diane's soaps, played with bath fizzies and did a great batch of layered rebatch. Diane also spent time with Erik, the Otion store manager, learning about the ins and outs of running a small shop (something she aspires too do)

Thank you Diane! We loved spending time with you. It was an honor.

Red White and Blue Massage Bars

My brother, Erik (from ELF Industrial, Otion and The Soap King blog), designed 2 massage soap molds (currently only available at Bramble Berry but I know he'd love other wholesalers!): The Round Massage Mold and the Oval Massage Mold. They have been a huge hit so far so I thought I would do a last minute 4th of July project with them. This project literally took me 10 minutes, it couldn't have been easier. Give it a try!

Ingredients for the soaps pictured above

12 oz Clear Soap Base
1 oz White Soap Base

Oval Massage Mold

.25 Coconut Citrus Sorbet

Liquid Blue Colorants

Non-bleeding Red Colorant
Droppers

OR grab everything you need for this project by clicking HERE!

ONE: Melt 1 ounce of white melt and pour in the microwave and use a dropper to fill in the dots. Let cool for about 5 minutes.

TWO: Melt 11 ounces of clear soap base in the microwave and add .25 ounces of your favorite summertime fragrance oil (I used Coconut Citrus Sorbet). Mix well and separate the soap into two separate containers. Color one container of melted soap with Liquid Blue and the other with Liquid Red (and a smidgen of Liquid black to deepen the red). Mix both colors well.

THREE: Once the melted blue soap has cooled to 125 degrees, spray the first layer of white soap with rubbing alcohol and fill up two cavities with the blue soap. Spritz with the rubbing alcohol to get rid of any air bubbles and repeat with the melted red soap. Let cool for 4-6 hours.

Try different variations using the Round Massage Mold with different layers and fragrances. And be sure to check out other Red, White and Blue Projects: Embedded Stars, Solid Bath Sugar Cubes, Pinwheels, American Flag Soap, President's Day Soap. 

Peace, Love and Soap

If only world peace were as easy as this happy, peace soap project.

Ingredients

2 oz Clear Soap Base

 11 oz White Soap Base

Canary LabColor

.25 oz of Yuzu Fragrance Oil

Peace Soap Mold

Click HERE to buy all of the ingredients to make the yellow peace soap project. OR get creative and mix and match your colorants and fragrances.

ONE: Melt 1 ounce of soap base in the microwave and stir in some Canary LabColor until you have a nice and happy yellow. Once the color is mixed in, use a dropper or syringe to fill in the peace part of the cavity in the mold. Let cool.

TWO: Melt 11 ounces of white soap base in the microwave and add  .25 ounces of your favorite fragrance oil (I used Yuzu) and Canary LabColor. Mix well and allow the soap to cool to 125 degrees.

THREE: Spritz the first layer of soap with rubbing alcohol and pour your second layer of soap. Spritz with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any bubbles. Let cool for 4-6 hours.

For more details on making layered melt & pour soap check out my video on Soap Queen TV.

New Exotic Butters at Bramble Berry

Do you want to try something new in your soap, lotion and lip balm recipes? Spice things up and try some of Bramble Berry's new exotic butters. They're only here for a limited so get them while you can!

Almond Butter

Macadamia Nut Butter

Mowrah Butter

Pistachio Butter

And a couple other new products as well...

Round Massage Mold

Oval Massage Mold

Blue Makeup Bags

I've had an *incredible* day. Check out my TwitPic stream here to see the three batches of soap I made with a special Otion visitor - Dianne from a little town near Santa Cruz, California. I will do a full post with photos over the weekend because I don't want you to miss out on the fun we had. 

Nutella-Swirl (sinful) Pound Cake

If you're a fan of nutella, you must try this recipe from Food and Wine Magazine. I made it for a Bramble'versary and it was a total "show stopper".



Ingredients
Makes one 9-by-5 Inch Loaf
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
4 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
One 13-ounce jar Nutella

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 9-by-inch loaf pan, tapping out any excess flour. In a glass measuring cup, lightly beat the eggs with vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk the 1 ½ cups of flour with the baking powder and salt.

2. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, bear the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer at medium-low speed, gradually beat in the egg mixture until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating at low speed between additions until just incorporated. Continue to beat for 30 seconds longer.

3. Spread on-third of the batter in the prepared pan, then spread half of the Nutella on top. Repeat with another third of the batter and the remaining Nutella. Top with the remaining batter. Lightly swirl the Nutella into the batter with a butter knife. Do not overmix.
4. Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, turn it right side up and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut the cake into slices and serve.

Make ahead: The pound cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

The nutella swirls stay creamy and gooey while the rest of the cake cooks. It's quite a feat of delicious cake engineering.

Delivering Happiness WINNER!

Woohoo! Congratulations to commenter 21, soapmade! You've just won the book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.Com. Email me at info(at)brambleberry(dot)com with your shipping address and I'll get your new book out the door. I can't wait for you to read it, let me know what you think!

Here's how commenter, soapmade, made someone's day: "Friends of mine lost a baby a while ago. This week she gave birth to a fresh healthy baby boy. I gave my first bar of embedded soap (Blue with he boy's name embedded) to her and she was very happy with it. Another happiness give-away is cooking for a bachelor co-worker (who otherwise only eats pizza or other junkfood) Love the smile it brings on his face."

I was so impressed with the happiness comments that I decided to pick a runner up for a prize. Congrats to Pjpipersmom! You've just won a $15 gift certificate to Bramble Berry. Email me at info(at)brambleberry(dot)com and I'll send you your coupon code.

Here's how Pjpipersmom delivered happiness: "We have a patient at the office that is 98....she'd been going without her hearing aid for several weeks because she had nobody to give her a ride to the office to get it fixed. So I took some things with me, stopped by her place and spent a little time visiting while I fixed her hearing aids." 

Thanks to all who commented. It made my day!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father Day, Dad! 

What are you doing for your Dad this year? You may remember the epic family cooking day from last year? Well, that was a late Father’s Day present and that’s exactly what we’re doing for Dad this year. He loves gourmet food, he loves family time and he loves connecting. Where better to do that than over a gourmet meal cooked by your kids?

We do a little spin on the meal though. It goes like this: 1) We pick out 15 awesome, mouth-watering recipes. 2) We design a trivia game just for Dad. 3) For every answer he gets WRONG, he has to discard one of the recipes. Last year, he ended up with an 8 course meal because my Dad is one smart cookie!

Here are some older blog posts that mention my dear Father ... I Love My Dad , Wisdom from my Dad, Butterscotch Butterscotch Cake (Dad's favorite cake), Hiking with the Fam', Happy Father's Day, Dad!, Nutrition Advice from my Dad, Hiking at Mt.Baker. Make sure to read the comments on this post (Mmmm...Caramels) from my Dad (about a Fat Flush diet). He is too funny! 

Five Days of Father's Day: Last Minute Cards

Last Minute Father's Day Card

Now that you've made the perfect Father's Day Soapy Project, I'm betting you'd like to match it up with a perfect Father's Day card. We designed these two cards in-house at Bramble Berry and they are our gift to you. Thanks for being an awesome Soap Queen reader and community member. Here's a free PDF that you can download and print out to make the cute little cards pictured above. And if you do find time this weekend to whip a another special gift, here are the Five Days of Father's Day ideas:  

Army Soap

Golfer Soap

Golf Ball Soap

Shaving Soap

Vintage Baseball Soap

Soap Queen TV: Bath Fizzy Fun!

Learn how easy it is to make Bath Fizzies and Bath Bombs with me this week on Soap Queen TV!

How to Make Bath Fizzies from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Bath Bombs are so easy and economical to make but they have a reputation for being tricky to create.
Let me show you how simple and fun making bath fizzies can be. First, I create a multi-colored star with a Soapylove stacked star soap mold and then I show how to use our stainless steel sphere mold to make the ever popular round bath bombs. To find the recipe for the bath fizzy frosting I mention in the video go here.

To make the star fizzies you will need:

1 cup Citric Acid
2 cups Baking Soda
18 ml Coconut Citrus Sorbet
Gurlie Pink LaBomb Color
Adobe Brick LaBomb Color
Cornflower Blue LaBomb Color
Witch Hazel
SoapyLove Stacked Star Mold
Or click here to add everything you need to make these to your Bramble Berry shopping cart.


To make the mondo lavender bombs:

1 cup Citric Acid
2 cups Baking Soda
3 Tablespoons Kaolin Clay
18 ml Lavender Essential oil
Lilac LaBomb Color
Stainless Steel 2 piece Sphere mold

Or click here to add everything you need to make these to your Bramble Berry shopping cart. 

Five Day's of Father's Day: I Love My Dad

I’ve always had a close relationship with my Dad and tell him I love him at every opportunity I get. I know that I’m lucky to have a close-knit family and I don’t take it for granted. Despite being a busy physician, he’s always taken every opportunity to support me in my various entrepreneurial endeavors, usually driving 4 hours one way to do so! Early on into my Soapmaking obsession, he and I would even make soap together. This photo is one of my less proud moments in hairstyles but still a loving memory. My Dad and I recreated the ‘Last Supper’ painting out of soap. That took a lot of precision work and he and I laugh about it to this day. Oh, and yes, that is the Baby Jesus, in a manger that my Dad is holding. We went all out on the historical religious theme out of soap and made a full nativity set that day as well (out of soap, naturally!).

In case you missed any of the Father's Day Projects, here they are in order:

Day One: Army Soap

Day Two: Golf Ball Soap & Golfer Soap

Day Three: Shaving Soap

Day Four: Vintage Baseball Soap

Day Five: Stay Tuned for Day Five (hint: it's NOT soap!)

5 Days of Father's Day: Vintage Baseball Soap

Father's Day Week Continued...

Hit a home run with Dad and give him handmade baseball soap using water soluble paper and a picture of his favorite baseball payer. You won't strike out with this one!

Ingredients

15 ounces of White Soap Base 

1 ounce of Clear Soap Base

Liquid Blue Colorant

Heavy Duty Rectangle Mold

1/2 ounceYuzu Fragrance Oil

Water Soluble Paper

Rubbing alcohol

Baseball Clipart (check Flickr or iStock for great images)

(yields 4 soaps)

Get everything you need to make this project here.

If you have never used Water Soluble Paper, check out the Water Soluble Paper Episode on Soap Queen TV to learn the basic technique, tips and tricks. 

ONE: Print out 4 vintage baseball pictures on water soluble paper. Cut out the images and make sure that they will fit into the cavities of your mold.

TWO: Once your images are cut out, spray them lightly with aerosol hairspray. This trick will help the colors stay vibrant once they are embedded in the soap. 

THREE: Melt 1 ounce of clear soap base in a microwave safe container and mix in ½ drop of liquid blue colorant to give the soap a “clear” effect. For more information on the “bluing” technique, see the Embedding episode of Soap Queen TV.

FOUR: When the clear soap cools to about 130 degrees (really hot soap might dissolve the paper), pour 1/8 inch of soap into the mold. As soon as a thin skin forms on the soap, immediately add your picture to the soap, face down. Let the soap layer cool.

FIVE: Melt 14 ounces of white soap base and mix in 1/2 ounce of Yuzu Fragrance Oil. Once the melted soap cools down to 125-130 degrees, spritz the first layer of soap with rubbing alcohol and pour the second layer. Let the soap cool for 4-6 hours and pop it out of the mold.

Ready to make this vintage Baseball soap project? Click here to have all of the items you need added to your Bramble Berry shopping cart.

Join me on Martha Stewart Radio Today!

It's almost show time. Tune in to Martha Stewart Radio (sirius 112 and XM 157) at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST to talk Father's Day Projects! I'm taking live callers so give us a jingle. I'm excited to answer your questions LIVE! 1-866-675-6675.

 

I was so inspired by Martha's Craft of the Day. I printed out her retro Father's Day clip-art labels on water soluble paper and embedded them in melt and pour soap for these super cute and custom Daddy-O-Soaps! Check out Martha's clip art here and learn how to embed water soluble paper in soap here.

Five Days of Father's Day: Shaving Soap

It's day three of Father's Day Week. Today's project is homemade shaving soap enhanced with Vitamin E Oil and Kaolin Clay. The soap has a smooth, thick lather and a refreshing fragrance, Kentish Rain. Pair it with an old fashioned shaving brush and say good bye to Dad's 5 o'clock shadow!

Ingredients 

3 ounces of Shaving Soap Base

1/2 teaspoon Kaolin Clay

1/8 teaspoon Vitamin E Oil

1/2 ml of Kentish Rain Fragrance Oil

Shaving Brush

Rubbing Alcohol

1 microwave safe mug 

(Yields 1 mug of shaving soap)
Get all of these ingredients added to your Bramble Berry shopping cart with just one click.

The best part about this project is that the soap is made right in the mug that you're going to give Dad, leaving you with virtually no clean up.

Shaving Soap Instructions: Melt 3 ounces of Shaving Soap in the microwave (30 seconds will do the trick). Once the soap is melted, mix in 1/2 teaspoon of Kaolin Clay, 1/8 teaspoon of Vitamin E Oil and 1/2 ml of Kentish Rain. It will look clumpy at first which is perfectly normal, just keep mixing until smooth. Give it a spritz with rubbing alcohol to get rid of air bubbles and let the soap cool in the mug until solid.

Instructions for Dad: Wet the brush with water and lather the soap in the mug with the shaving brush. Then proceed with normal shaving routine.

Ready to make this soap? Click here to have everything you need added to your Bramble Berry cart. 

On Martha Stewart Radio, Tomorrow, Wednesday

I'll be on Martha Stewart Radio tomorrow, Wednesday, at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST to chat Father's Day projects and soap. If you have any soapy questions, I'm taking calls live. The call in number is 1-866-675-6675.

I'd love to hear from you ... on air! Live! =)