Shownotes
The Lula’s Bath and Bombs Story
In the beginning there were donuts. [7:54] Pivoting into selling at fairs versus a mall kiosk. [11:12] The two shows that changed everything for Lula’s Bath and Bombs. [14:41] When you sell more, you need to make more. Enter the Bomb Squad. [21:42]Candle Flickering Moments
Doing this podcast was out of Shenia’s comfort zone. But she did it beautifully! [4:10]Business Building Insights
Sales come back to you when you promote others. Even your competitors. [5:36] An example of Power Partners. Quick action when opportunity arises leads to increased sales. [11:50] You too can access a worldwide network of peers. [14:00] Be on the lookout for product extension opportunities. For Shenia it was a pet expo. [19:33] As demand increases, you may need to look to technology for mass production. [24:46] Face to face selling is invaluable. Here are two reasons why. [28:39], [29:47] Networking online and at craft shows proves worthwhile over and over again. [37:11]Craft Show Displays
An overall display discussion. [32:06]
Store, transport and display all in the same container. [34:36]
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Vista Print – Everything to market your business.Recommended Reading and Listening
Google Search
Contact Links
FacebookIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Hi there.
Speaker:You're listening to gift biz on rapt episode 108.
Speaker:My bath bomb sales were skyrocketing.
Speaker:My soap sales were dropping because of the way I displayed
Speaker:them. Hi,
Speaker:this is John Lee,
Speaker:Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gifted biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift bears,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Mona height.
Speaker:Before we get into the show,
Speaker:I have a question for you.
Speaker:Do you know that you should be out networking,
Speaker:but you just can't get yourself to do it because it's
Speaker:scary. Are you afraid that you might walk into the room
Speaker:and not know anybody or that you're going to freeze?
Speaker:When you get up to do that infamous elevator speech,
Speaker:where you talk about yourself and your business,
Speaker:while I'm here to tell you that it doesn't need to
Speaker:be scary.
Speaker:If you know what to do to help you with this,
Speaker:I would like to offer you a coffee chat for the
Speaker:price of buying me a cup of coffee.
Speaker:We can sit down through an online video and I'll tell
Speaker:you everything that I know about networking and how I personally
Speaker:built two multi-six figure businesses,
Speaker:primarily through networking.
Speaker:You'll walk away with a solid understanding about how networking can
Speaker:truly grow your business.
Speaker:And you're going to have new found confidence because I'm going
Speaker:to give you 10 fill in the blank templates that you
Speaker:can use for your introduction message.
Speaker:To learn more about this opportunity.
Speaker:Just go over to Bitly forward slash network and then job
Speaker:that's B I T dot L Y forward slash network Ninja.
Speaker:And now let's move on to the show.
Speaker:Hi there it's Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped
Speaker:podcast, whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online
Speaker:or are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business today.
Speaker:I want to introduce you to Sheena Smith.
Speaker:Sheena started her business called blues bath and bomb just one
Speaker:year ago.
Speaker:As you may have guessed,
Speaker:she sells homemade bath bombs and also handmade soaps,
Speaker:sugar scrubs,
Speaker:bath salts,
Speaker:and lotion bars selling online only through Facebook and in-person at
Speaker:craft shows.
Speaker:Her business is exploding just like her bath bombs.
Speaker:Do a typical weekend Event will result in the sale of
Speaker:two or 3000 That box.
Speaker:And to think this all started from selling donuts.
Speaker:I know this doesn't make any sense,
Speaker:but it will.
Speaker:When you listen to her story,
Speaker:so let's get to it.
Speaker:She knows Come to the show.
Speaker:Thank you Sue,
Speaker:for having me.
Speaker:I've given a little bit of an intro,
Speaker:but I want you to share with us something a little
Speaker:different, and that is having you describe your ideal motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to choose a color that really resonates
Speaker:with you and a sane that would be on the candle,
Speaker:what would that be?
Speaker:Ooh, colors.
Speaker:I couldn't narrow it down to one color.
Speaker:I would say iridescent like an iridescent glitter,
Speaker:but the iridescent,
Speaker:because the colors change as you angle your candle,
Speaker:just like my life.
Speaker:It changes day to day with my business,
Speaker:my quote on this candle,
Speaker:I found it to deal with being brave and being strong
Speaker:and being humble.
Speaker:And I found a quote that I liked.
Speaker:It said be strong when you are weak,
Speaker:brave, when you are scared and humble when you are victorious.
Speaker:And I just thought that was so beautiful.
Speaker:Yeah, because it's like the opposites.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Do you know who that quote is by?
Speaker:I didn't get to really find out who it was by
Speaker:You research the quote and find that quote specifically for the
Speaker:show. Yes,
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:Okay. Because I think it's a great one for us all
Speaker:to remember as we Move on,
Speaker:correct. Because there is so many times that I just want
Speaker:to just say,
Speaker:forget it,
Speaker:but I have to be strong.
Speaker:And this interview with you,
Speaker:I was scared to death because I never did anything like
Speaker:this. So I said,
Speaker:I'm going to do this,
Speaker:even though I did not want to do this with you.
Speaker:But I said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what do it do it?
Speaker:And right now I'm not at the top of my game
Speaker:with the soap business,
Speaker:it's going to go further,
Speaker:but I'm doing very well for being into it a little
Speaker:bit over a year.
Speaker:So when I'm at an event,
Speaker:sometimes there's other soap makers and bath bomb makers at the
Speaker:same event,
Speaker:I know I'm doing better sales than them.
Speaker:So I do stop by their booth and try to find
Speaker:a unique product of theirs,
Speaker:something I like and ask them questions about it.
Speaker:So that if a customer of mine is looking for something,
Speaker:I have no problem with sending one of my customers over
Speaker:to this.
Speaker:I would say a newcomer or somebody that has a different
Speaker:product than me and saying,
Speaker:Hey, you see that young lady down there or that young
Speaker:gentlemen down there with soaps.
Speaker:Also, they have this awesome soap.
Speaker:And I went over there.
Speaker:I asked her questions and I would buy it.
Speaker:I would buy it myself.
Speaker:So I would suggest,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:go over there and see if she's got something you like,
Speaker:That's great information.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:so many people wouldn't do that because they think that they're
Speaker:then losing sales for themselves.
Speaker:But it's so crazy.
Speaker:Just like your quote of a little bit of the opposite
Speaker:is the more generosity you give and you help your customer.
Speaker:The more it comes back to you and you would almost
Speaker:think it doesn't,
Speaker:but it Does.
Speaker:It actually has,
Speaker:because at an event I had a girl who had,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a little bitty,
Speaker:tiny stope stand,
Speaker:maybe about six feet long,
Speaker:directly in front of me.
Speaker:And she paid the same fee to get in the event.
Speaker:And at this event,
Speaker:some of my customers,
Speaker:I would send them to her because she did a lot
Speaker:of room sprays with essential oils.
Speaker:I don't do room sprays with essential oils.
Speaker:So I actually sent my customers to her.
Speaker:I'm like she has some awesome stuff.
Speaker:And one of my customers actually turned to me and said,
Speaker:I'm going to buy something off of you,
Speaker:just because your honesty about another business.
Speaker:So your product has to be awesome.
Speaker:So it does pay back.
Speaker:And it actually in front of my face,
Speaker:paid me back when a customer turned it around on me
Speaker:and said,
Speaker:I'm going to get something from you too.
Speaker:Wow. And that young girl that was directly in front of
Speaker:me, she had no bath bombs.
Speaker:She had soaps and room sprays.
Speaker:So I dragged her and her mother when we had a
Speaker:slow period over to my booth.
Speaker:And I trained both of them,
Speaker:how to make bath bombs,
Speaker:using their essential oils.
Speaker:It's all going to come back to me.
Speaker:It all does come back to me.
Speaker:It already has come back to me.
Speaker:So she knows what you just described is what I would
Speaker:call a power partner.
Speaker:We covered this gift biz listeners,
Speaker:way back in a show.
Speaker:I don't recall the episode number,
Speaker:but it was with Julie yousome.
Speaker:I will put it in the show notes what the episode
Speaker:number is.
Speaker:And if you don't know about power partners,
Speaker:you should,
Speaker:because this is exactly what she was talking about.
Speaker:If you share an audience with somebody,
Speaker:but you provide different services,
Speaker:just like Sheena's talking about,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:she had the bath bombs and the person across had something
Speaker:else, but it's the same audience.
Speaker:It's the same type of customer.
Speaker:You guys can help support each other.
Speaker:And both of your businesses can grow.
Speaker:I'm not going to go into that here because we have
Speaker:a really super cool story about Jean.
Speaker:I'm going to stay on topic,
Speaker:but go back and look at that because that could be
Speaker:really valuable.
Speaker:So Sheena,
Speaker:I kind of teased a little bit in the intro that
Speaker:your whole company started from donuts,
Speaker:which of course is super confusing to everybody.
Speaker:Why don't you take it away and fill us all in
Speaker:on how that happened?
Speaker:Oh, wow.
Speaker:I would say about six years ago,
Speaker:actually I wanted to purchase a house outright cash,
Speaker:and then everything I wanted to buy it.
Speaker:I wasn't happy with.
Speaker:So I turned to my husband and I turned to my
Speaker:16 year old daughter because at the time she was working
Speaker:at the mall and she would come home every day and
Speaker:tell me how she made her quotas,
Speaker:that her boss gave her and sales.
Speaker:So I said,
Speaker:I got a good salesperson.
Speaker:I'm going to start from there.
Speaker:I'm going to start a business in the mall.
Speaker:Well, what do I start?
Speaker:I had no clue.
Speaker:I looked at little hotdog cards.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:no, I don't want to do that.
Speaker:Then I remembered my mother about 20 years ago was telling
Speaker:me that she waited in line at a festival for a
Speaker:half an hour.
Speaker:The line was a block long.
Speaker:And she waited in this line for these hot,
Speaker:fresh mini donuts that come popping out of a machine in
Speaker:front of your face.
Speaker:Now I'd never tried the donut.
Speaker:I've never even seen the machine.
Speaker:So of course,
Speaker:what do I do?
Speaker:I call the company that manufactured,
Speaker:that machine bought the top of the line machine opened up
Speaker:my kiosk in a mall.
Speaker:I found the kiosk on eBay from another mini donut lady
Speaker:out of New Mexico,
Speaker:bought it,
Speaker:used, put it up in the mall,
Speaker:started making donuts.
Speaker:Now my machine was being delivered still.
Speaker:I never tested the donut.
Speaker:Never tried it.
Speaker:I'm just going off of my mother saying it was the
Speaker:best donut she's ever eaten in her life.
Speaker:So I Google find a local vendor within an hour of
Speaker:where I live.
Speaker:That makes many donuts when to one of his shows,
Speaker:he was an awesome gentleman.
Speaker:He took me and my husband behind his booth showed us
Speaker:how to make donuts,
Speaker:let us eat.
Speaker:The donuts,
Speaker:gave us so many tips and tricks.
Speaker:So that next week we can open our business.
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:And that's again,
Speaker:just like you were talking about in the beginning sharing expertise
Speaker:and not being selfish,
Speaker:but being generous with information and learning and sharing.
Speaker:Correct. He was really a godsend and he didn't have to
Speaker:do that,
Speaker:but he took his time out and showed us how to
Speaker:work the machine and how to make a perfect donut.
Speaker:Okay. So I'm going to challenge you now,
Speaker:how in the world does that lead to bath bomb?
Speaker:Ooh, fast forward,
Speaker:about six to eight months later after opening our business in
Speaker:the mall,
Speaker:we were a temporary business and a permanent business with the
Speaker:mall, which was a corporate business,
Speaker:wanted our location because we were strategically placed by the kids'
Speaker:play area.
Speaker:So they wanted our spot.
Speaker:Well, of course us being the little guy,
Speaker:we had to be moved to a different location.
Speaker:So they showed us the location,
Speaker:which was across from a Yankee candle,
Speaker:which is awesome because I love the smell of Yankee candle.
Speaker:But the first problem was that with my business mini donuts,
Speaker:it was action attraction.
Speaker:You smelled my doughnut throughout the whole mall.
Speaker:So now me and Yankee candle are going to have a
Speaker:problem because their smells and my smells.
Speaker:You're not going to know who you smelled.
Speaker:And also to reroute our electricity was going to cost us
Speaker:an arm and a leg over four or $5,000.
Speaker:So my husband and I said,
Speaker:let's buy a concession trailer.
Speaker:Let's stay local and do festivals and fairs in our own
Speaker:backyard and only have to work weekends instead of working seven
Speaker:days a week,
Speaker:10 to nine in a mall.
Speaker:Because at this time we also had preschool aged children.
Speaker:I believe my children were four and five years old.
Speaker:So we bought a concession trailer,
Speaker:fixed it up,
Speaker:started doing festivals and fairs fast forward a year later,
Speaker:a lot of the promoters loved my husband and myself because
Speaker:we were friendly with customers.
Speaker:We were easy to work with.
Speaker:We would get into a festival.
Speaker:They can call us at the last minute we would be
Speaker:there. So a lot of these festivals had empty spaces where
Speaker:a vendor didn't show up something would happen.
Speaker:So a lot of the promoters would ask,
Speaker:Hey, do you know somebody that can fill this space last
Speaker:minute? Well,
Speaker:we were calling our vendor friends and getting them in.
Speaker:And the idea clicked with me and my husband.
Speaker:We already started this donut business for our four year old
Speaker:son so we can build it up.
Speaker:So when he's older,
Speaker:he has something,
Speaker:let's start a business for Lula our five-year-old daughter.
Speaker:But at this time she was about eight,
Speaker:eight, nine years old.
Speaker:Well, what business do we start?
Speaker:Well at the time,
Speaker:just for fun,
Speaker:I was doing a Melton pour soap.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you go to Michael's and you buy this little kit and
Speaker:it has some glycerin soap and a block.
Speaker:And you toss it in the microwave,
Speaker:melt it,
Speaker:add some color at some fragrance and bam,
Speaker:you have cute little soaps,
Speaker:but I wanted to do something more of what our grandparents
Speaker:did, dealed handmade,
Speaker:original. So which at the time I thought,
Speaker:Oh, this is a lost art.
Speaker:Well, I start searching.
Speaker:I find out in Facebook,
Speaker:there's a whole bunch of people doing handmade salt.
Speaker:So I started doing a Facebook search.
Speaker:I found a couple of groups of people that did handmade
Speaker:soaps across the world.
Speaker:And I was so surprised that they are still using the
Speaker:same ingredients that we used,
Speaker:Like way back when or something.
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:So how did you feel about that?
Speaker:Because at first you thought,
Speaker:Oh, you know,
Speaker:no one's doing this anymore.
Speaker:I'm sure you're thinking I'm going to slip into the market.
Speaker:It's going to be so fresh and new.
Speaker:And then you did research and you found that AU contraire,
Speaker:there are a lot of people doing it.
Speaker:What was going through your mind then?
Speaker:And what made you then decide to keep going?
Speaker:Because I noticed they were doing it on a smaller scale.
Speaker:They weren't taking it to the level and some of them
Speaker:were doing it.
Speaker:They had their own brick and mortars too.
Speaker:So you had every level of person,
Speaker:you had the lady in our kitchen making handmade soaps for
Speaker:her neighbors and her friends and her family.
Speaker:Then you had a couple people doing the same thing I'm
Speaker:doing now,
Speaker:but that didn't stop you then.
Speaker:No, it didn't.
Speaker:It did it because in my area there wasn't anything like
Speaker:that. Ah,
Speaker:so there's your niche,
Speaker:this type of thing,
Speaker:right? In your area,
Speaker:because you were going to stay in sell locally.
Speaker:Correct. And I had a worldwide network of other soap makers
Speaker:from India,
Speaker:from Australia,
Speaker:from the us helping me.
Speaker:Right. They don't know me.
Speaker:We just know each other on Facebook,
Speaker:but we were all helping each other out.
Speaker:Like here here's some tips and tricks.
Speaker:Here's a nice booth set up.
Speaker:Why don't you try adding this ingredient to your soap?
Speaker:Why don't you try doing this?
Speaker:So I had thousands of people across the world helping me.
Speaker:Awesome. Okay.
Speaker:So you had that,
Speaker:you did your research,
Speaker:you already knew the name was going to be your daughter's
Speaker:name. So that totally makes sense.
Speaker:How did you get started in terms of presenting these to
Speaker:the market?
Speaker:Well, we were scheduled to do a wrestling show for the
Speaker:Ford motor company union employees.
Speaker:So the union president said,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:go ahead and bring your soap business with.
Speaker:Cause I explained to him we're starting a soap business.
Speaker:I would like to bring that out.
Speaker:Since we already booked our donut business to cover your concession
Speaker:for your wrestling show,
Speaker:what this wrestling show we had both booths set up right
Speaker:next to each other.
Speaker:My husband and son-in-law was working the donut stand.
Speaker:I was working in the soap booth.
Speaker:Well, adding that second booth and me taking over that booth
Speaker:and no longer helping with the donut business,
Speaker:we got swamped.
Speaker:It's A perfect storm,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:So all three of us started working both businesses at the
Speaker:same time.
Speaker:My word.
Speaker:Yes. So that's so business took off right away.
Speaker:Exactly at the same pace as that donut business.
Speaker:Like if it's been there since day one of the donut
Speaker:business, wow.
Speaker:After that night,
Speaker:I was getting calls from Ford,
Speaker:the Ford motor company,
Speaker:their employees that attended that event.
Speaker:We need more soap.
Speaker:Can we buy this in bulk?
Speaker:I had one lady call me and say she was almost
Speaker:in tears because she said,
Speaker:my husband used your activated charcoal and it has peppermint and
Speaker:tea tree in it.
Speaker:My husband used your soap for the first time this week.
Speaker:And he has never felt so good and relaxed in his
Speaker:whole life.
Speaker:I need to buy every bottle that soap that you have
Speaker:left. That's a testimonial.
Speaker:I think I had 10 bars of it left.
Speaker:I packaged up those 10 bars of soap and I met
Speaker:her at a local restaurant supply store.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:And now every couple of months she calls me and I
Speaker:sell her and it's open to everybody else,
Speaker:but I sell her that soap by the loaf.
Speaker:So she's buying 25 bars and that's all she's using.
Speaker:She's giving it out to friends and family,
Speaker:her husband's got his stock and she's happy.
Speaker:Wow. Well that is the testimonial to the product and the
Speaker:quality of what you're producing for sure.
Speaker:So, okay.
Speaker:So we're at donuts and now,
Speaker:so correct.
Speaker:Then what happens When I started going into,
Speaker:after the Ford motor company event,
Speaker:I went into,
Speaker:it was a local indoor garage sale.
Speaker:I was kind of on the fence for it because I
Speaker:thought garage sale,
Speaker:that stuff from people's attics and basements,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:one man's junk another man's treasure.
Speaker:I didn't want my pretty soaps to be considered something I
Speaker:found in the basement and the attic,
Speaker:but I'm like,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I'm going to do it.
Speaker:It's only a couple blocks away from my home.
Speaker:Well, this booth was actually two times the size of my
Speaker:wrestling event booth.
Speaker:So on this one,
Speaker:I had upped it from 15 different lines of soap from
Speaker:the wrestling show to now about 40 to 50 lines of
Speaker:soap. I also threw in some bags of bath salts,
Speaker:I made,
Speaker:I also made about a hundred little bath bombs just to
Speaker:put out there.
Speaker:So now my customers have a little variety.
Speaker:I actually went and made some cute little displays and got
Speaker:some signs made from Vista print and set up my booth.
Speaker:Well again,
Speaker:soaps were flying off the shelf.
Speaker:I didn't get a chance to eat during that seven event.
Speaker:I could not leave my booth space because everybody was piled
Speaker:into this little 10 by 10 foot booth space.
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:I bet the time went so fast though.
Speaker:You probably didn't even realize you didn't get a chance to
Speaker:eat. Correct.
Speaker:It was nine o'clock when I set up,
Speaker:it was one o'clock when I realized,
Speaker:Hey, I'm out of here in two hours.
Speaker:Yeah. I'm going to stop you here really quickly because gift
Speaker:biz listeners,
Speaker:we've just covered a couple of points that I really want
Speaker:to underline.
Speaker:First. Sheena's talking about the fact that some of these small
Speaker:local events,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:she's thinking,
Speaker:should I do it?
Speaker:Should I not do it?
Speaker:Look at how our business has grown from being exposed through
Speaker:those types of events.
Speaker:So if you have an opportunity,
Speaker:you just don't know who might be coming by.
Speaker:You know that it's a weekend and it's leisure time who
Speaker:from a large company might be coming by or you have
Speaker:big business potential from some of those events.
Speaker:The other thing is she talks about her product growth and
Speaker:how it started with the soaps.
Speaker:She saw an opportunity because her customers are already liking that
Speaker:product to extend the line,
Speaker:a similar thing.
Speaker:They're still pampering products,
Speaker:but different versions of the same.
Speaker:So she's staying in her core business,
Speaker:which is pampering products,
Speaker:if you will,
Speaker:but extending.
Speaker:So in that way,
Speaker:she's giving people a way for herself to upsell,
Speaker:right? Because people are not just going to buy the soap.
Speaker:Then they might buy the bath salt or my personal favorite,
Speaker:the sugar scrubs.
Speaker:So, but that's an automatic way.
Speaker:You can start growing your sales when you stay in your
Speaker:core focus,
Speaker:but you add options just like Sheena was doing.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So you did this garage sale that you weren't sure about.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:proof of concept everyone's buying you out.
Speaker:Now, what happens Now?
Speaker:I start getting invited to events by customers that came to
Speaker:that big garage sale that were actually promoters for other events.
Speaker:So one of the invites I got was a rescue pet
Speaker:shelter in our local County expo center.
Speaker:So I'm like,
Speaker:this is different.
Speaker:So I set up a booth,
Speaker:made my stand even bigger.
Speaker:This time I brought out couple hundred bath bombs labeled up
Speaker:my sugar scrubs,
Speaker:bagged up more bath salt,
Speaker:added some solid lotion bars that could be used for human
Speaker:and for the bottom of pet dogs and some solid lotion
Speaker:bars that we created for dogs here in the Chicago land
Speaker:area. A lot of people throw salt on their snow.
Speaker:So when you take your dog out to use the restroom,
Speaker:that salt eats up your dog's feet.
Speaker:So I created a lotion bar with coconut oil,
Speaker:beeswax and cocoa butter.
Speaker:And this was like waxing,
Speaker:you Dawes pause.
Speaker:So that dog can go outside and wouldn't get that salt
Speaker:eaten Up.
Speaker:Well, I'm going to need some of those.
Speaker:Oh, those fly off the shelf to a lot of people
Speaker:consider their dogs and cats to be their children.
Speaker:Absolutely. So just like we put shoes on our kids' feet.
Speaker:When we take them outside,
Speaker:this is a different way.
Speaker:You don't have to put those booties on their feet.
Speaker:And a lot of the dogs take them off or they're
Speaker:uncomfortable, right?
Speaker:It's natural.
Speaker:It's safe.
Speaker:If the dog goes to lick off the lotion bar,
Speaker:it's not going to hurt the dog.
Speaker:It's safe.
Speaker:There's nothing the dog can choke on.
Speaker:There's nothing that will poison the dog.
Speaker:Everything is edible.
Speaker:Good point.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I want to ask you a really important question here.
Speaker:A lot of our listeners are in the same boat as
Speaker:you they're makers or creators of their product.
Speaker:So you're kind of in a catch 22 because you want
Speaker:to bring in more business.
Speaker:But when you're bringing in more business,
Speaker:you're actually making more work for yourself because you've got to
Speaker:produce the product.
Speaker:What do you see in terms of any challenges there and
Speaker:what do you do about that?
Speaker:Because everywhere you're going,
Speaker:I'm hearing it with successful.
Speaker:You're selling through product like crazy.
Speaker:So this is what happened.
Speaker:I started selling more product,
Speaker:which meant I need to make more product.
Speaker:And I was one at the time to refuse,
Speaker:help from anybody.
Speaker:No, I got it.
Speaker:I can do it on my own.
Speaker:So I did that for about a month living on nothing
Speaker:but coffee.
Speaker:Oh my word.
Speaker:And maybe a couple hours of sleep at night.
Speaker:Finally, a friend of mine offered to help.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:no, no,
Speaker:no, I got this.
Speaker:I got this.
Speaker:Well, she wouldn't take no for an answer because she seen,
Speaker:I guess what?
Speaker:I didn't see.
Speaker:I was beat.
Speaker:I was tired.
Speaker:She was a smart friend.
Speaker:Yes. So she just showed up the next day and said,
Speaker:I'm helping you.
Speaker:And from there I was like,
Speaker:wow, I really got something done.
Speaker:She did a great job.
Speaker:And from there,
Speaker:my cousin,
Speaker:Nicole started coming over and helping me make bath bombs.
Speaker:Because these bath bombs,
Speaker:I was making approximately one to 3000 bath bombs by hand
Speaker:per week for my event.
Speaker:Oh my word.
Speaker:Yes. So now we created a bomb squad,
Speaker:which consisted of course,
Speaker:all this time.
Speaker:My 23 year old daughter,
Speaker:Ariel, she was helping me behind the scenes since day one,
Speaker:whether it would be taking her brother and sister and watching
Speaker:them for me,
Speaker:helping me carry some heavy stuff,
Speaker:helping me make product,
Speaker:helping me with ideas.
Speaker:My daughter Ariel was always by my side.
Speaker:So now fast forward,
Speaker:we have a bomb squad.
Speaker:It consisted of myself,
Speaker:my daughter,
Speaker:Ariel, my girlfriend,
Speaker:Jenny, and my cousin,
Speaker:Nicole. So everybody would come over,
Speaker:we'd get plenty of food,
Speaker:plenty of stuff to drink.
Speaker:And we would just build bombs.
Speaker:We would start about five o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker:We wouldn't get done till maybe two or three o'clock in
Speaker:the morning.
Speaker:And we would do that about two times a week.
Speaker:But I bet you had a blast because you're all going
Speaker:together. It's not,
Speaker:then you working solo anymore.
Speaker:It was fun.
Speaker:You couldn't talk and chit chat and do whatever while you're
Speaker:making the bombs.
Speaker:Right? Correct.
Speaker:And then they would also give me design ideas.
Speaker:Like let's try layering your colors and see how that would
Speaker:look or let's make this one lighter or let's make this
Speaker:one darker.
Speaker:Or they would just completely make up their own bomb color.
Speaker:And I liked it.
Speaker:It's good that you accepted input from them too,
Speaker:because then they feel ownership,
Speaker:feeling satisfied and gratification for what they're doing to help you
Speaker:fabulous that you would do that.
Speaker:And I got to tell you,
Speaker:this is a classic problem that I think makers fall into
Speaker:is, well,
Speaker:any entrepreneur,
Speaker:let me go with anybody who starts a business is I
Speaker:can do this all myself.
Speaker:I don't need help.
Speaker:I'm going to save every little penny.
Speaker:I possibly can throw it back into the business.
Speaker:And I am super woman and can do it.
Speaker:And it was so great that your friend jumped in and
Speaker:said, Nope,
Speaker:you do need help.
Speaker:And kind of forced you into it,
Speaker:because think about it.
Speaker:You would have never been able to do that for the
Speaker:long haul.
Speaker:You would either landed in the hospital or after,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:two months,
Speaker:if you could even have gone that long,
Speaker:at some point you would have just had to be hands
Speaker:up. I give in That is correct.
Speaker:Now let's fast forward a little bit.
Speaker:This fun little bomb making party and this little bomb squad,
Speaker:the girls were getting worn out.
Speaker:They started dropping like flies.
Speaker:The dangers of success,
Speaker:Chino. Yeah,
Speaker:We were all tired.
Speaker:So now they are just as exhausted as I am.
Speaker:So now I had to put on my thinking cap and
Speaker:think of how can I not wear out my friends and
Speaker:family? What can I do to make this bomb making process
Speaker:go smoother,
Speaker:go quicker.
Speaker:Yeah. So what did you do?
Speaker:Well, my husband by trade is a mechanic and he loves
Speaker:his old fashioned cars.
Speaker:He loves his rat rods.
Speaker:He loves his classic Chevy's and he loves his hydraulic pumps.
Speaker:So what he tried to do is design me a pneumatic
Speaker:press that will automatically make my bath bombs for me.
Speaker:This was about late September.
Speaker:At the same time,
Speaker:a friend of mine that makes bath bombs.
Speaker:He was trying to design a press.
Speaker:So we were talking back and forth with him.
Speaker:How to adjust the press.
Speaker:What can we do anything we can do to get this
Speaker:press working?
Speaker:Well, this press was slowing me down.
Speaker:So we tossed it in the back of the closet.
Speaker:And I just continued with whoever would show up at my
Speaker:house and helped me make bombs.
Speaker:I would just continue the hand-making of the bath bombs.
Speaker:And plus now we're getting into October where my festival season
Speaker:is slowing down.
Speaker:So now instead of making 3000 bath bombs,
Speaker:I can get away with a thousand to 2000 a week.
Speaker:So now my friend in Wisconsin perfected his pneumatic press and
Speaker:it was beautiful.
Speaker:He called it the bath bomb express.
Speaker:I named her Stella and I fought him on it.
Speaker:Her name is Stella because she was beautiful.
Speaker:She was made of steel.
Speaker:She Was gorgeous.
Speaker:So the bath bomb press,
Speaker:I think he was like around with the mold.
Speaker:It was around 500 bucks.
Speaker:And I was still on the fence because I had already
Speaker:invested in my non-working press about $500 already.
Speaker:And I didn't want to spend $500 on somebody else's product
Speaker:when I had something that was close to working.
Speaker:Yeah. But somehow You have to invest in the future.
Speaker:Shayna. Correct.
Speaker:So what I did,
Speaker:he had little raffles going on because he's building his bath
Speaker:bomb press business.
Speaker:So one day I was at an event,
Speaker:I was bored.
Speaker:I seen he had a raffle going on.
Speaker:It was a $20 ticket.
Speaker:I never win anything.
Speaker:I don't even find that loose quarter on the street.
Speaker:So what I did,
Speaker:I bought me a $20 raffle ticket and I thought nothing
Speaker:of it.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I'm going to support my friend.
Speaker:I'll buy a $20 raffle ticket.
Speaker:Well, out of nowhere,
Speaker:I'm getting all these messages and notifications.
Speaker:You won,
Speaker:you won,
Speaker:you won what I won the bath bomb press.
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:That is fate.
Speaker:You've got the press.
Speaker:Now, what has that meant?
Speaker:And where is the business today in terms of production,
Speaker:Press my husband and my 10 year old daughter can work
Speaker:it when I need that backup.
Speaker:I don't use it because my hands are actually faster than
Speaker:a pneumatic press.
Speaker:If you would believe that now this means that the people
Speaker:in my own home under my own roof,
Speaker:if I need them to back me up,
Speaker:they can jump on a press and make bath bombs for
Speaker:me. Wonderful.
Speaker:So it's kind of a contingency plan when you really are
Speaker:needing it at this point,
Speaker:you still have the ability to grow now with the equipment
Speaker:that you have,
Speaker:correct. Beautiful.
Speaker:Okay. I want to talk a little bit about how you're
Speaker:marketing your business and it's different than a lot of people
Speaker:are doing and it's working fabulous for you.
Speaker:So it's a great thing to be sharing with our audience
Speaker:here. There are only two ways that you're selling your product.
Speaker:One is face-to-face,
Speaker:which is what we've been talking about this whole time.
Speaker:And then also online,
Speaker:only through Facebook,
Speaker:right? As of today,
Speaker:As of today,
Speaker:really what I'm doing is just festivals and events,
Speaker:face to face.
Speaker:Some people in my local area can contact me on Facebook
Speaker:and I allow them to do a pickup or I'll meet
Speaker:them somewhere at a public location.
Speaker:I do ship some of my products,
Speaker:but never my bath bombs.
Speaker:Okay. So you are using Facebook to show people the product
Speaker:and then tell them where you're going to be live next.
Speaker:That is correct.
Speaker:So that is a whole different way of using Facebook to
Speaker:sell than a lot of people ever think about.
Speaker:And because you are so successful in person,
Speaker:plus then you don't have the shipping and you know what
Speaker:else? You don't have any of the bagging materials that you
Speaker:would need,
Speaker:because I think you put them in like Brown bags or
Speaker:some bags right at your booths,
Speaker:right? That is correct at my booth.
Speaker:When you come,
Speaker:the reason why I don't have an Etsy store or an
Speaker:online website is because at a festival and event,
Speaker:you get me,
Speaker:you get to talk to me and ask me,
Speaker:how did you make this?
Speaker:What is in it?
Speaker:I want to know,
Speaker:can you make me a specialty product?
Speaker:Can you make something for my baby shower?
Speaker:Can you make something for my cousin's wedding?
Speaker:You are getting me.
Speaker:And also when you come to a festival and event,
Speaker:everything is spread out there where it's self service.
Speaker:I have over 30 boxes of bath bombs.
Speaker:And on my counter,
Speaker:there is bags spread out throughout the counter.
Speaker:You have my soaps,
Speaker:you have my sugar scrubs.
Speaker:You have my bath,
Speaker:salt, you as the customer,
Speaker:get to go in there and pick out what product you
Speaker:want. So if a bath bomb has a chip in it,
Speaker:you don't grab that one.
Speaker:You grab that nice,
Speaker:pretty one.
Speaker:And that chip bath bomb goes into a box that I
Speaker:call the uglies and we'll get to the ugly soon.
Speaker:My customers get to pick out whatever product they want and
Speaker:then they come to me.
Speaker:That's beautiful.
Speaker:And you know what?
Speaker:You sent me a picture of the booth and I am
Speaker:going to put it on the show notes page because it
Speaker:really is a great visual of what Sheena's actually describing.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I want to hear about that ugly box.
Speaker:Is that like a discounted box?
Speaker:And when can I see it?
Speaker:This ugly box is exactly that it's from my ugly bath
Speaker:bombs. Whether I didn't put enough color in it,
Speaker:I put too much color.
Speaker:It was a cracked bath bomb.
Speaker:My husband had broken a batch of bath bombs.
Speaker:It's an ugly box for the ugly bombs and they're not
Speaker:for sale.
Speaker:What it is is for my repeat customers as a thank
Speaker:you. When they purchase something again,
Speaker:there's the ugly box.
Speaker:I fill up a bag of ugly bath bombs because they
Speaker:still work,
Speaker:right? It's just,
Speaker:they're ugly.
Speaker:But I give them to my customers for free as a
Speaker:thank you for coming back and seeing me.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:And you're not compromising quality at all because since it's existing
Speaker:customers, they already know your product,
Speaker:correct. Beautiful.
Speaker:The ugly backs.
Speaker:You've got great terminology.
Speaker:I want to sit with you and have a planning meeting
Speaker:and you can give me all these ideas of what to
Speaker:call for different things because they're so creative.
Speaker:Well, a customer,
Speaker:a young girl,
Speaker:she must've been about 13 years old.
Speaker:She calls it the old box.
Speaker:I actually like her terminology better the old box,
Speaker:but I'm so used to calling it the ugly box that
Speaker:it's stuck,
Speaker:but I really want to start calling it the old box.
Speaker:You can merge it together or something.
Speaker:I dunno.
Speaker:Now that display,
Speaker:I'm very proud of that display because on that display,
Speaker:those boxes that create my bath bomb.
Speaker:That's a recyclable item.
Speaker:There's a lady in Chicago that makes wine out of her
Speaker:basement out of her home.
Speaker:Those are great crates.
Speaker:She had about 50 of them in her basement.
Speaker:She put out a Craigslist ad selling all of those crates.
Speaker:I made an offer.
Speaker:I went there and picked up off 50 of those crates.
Speaker:Didn't know how I was going to hide them from my
Speaker:husband because my house has now turned into soap.
Speaker:Bath bomb sugars.
Speaker:It's a supply house.
Speaker:I bet it smells marvelous.
Speaker:Oh, you could smell my house from the sidewalk Yom.
Speaker:So I had to figure out a way to hide these
Speaker:50 crates in my house.
Speaker:So I grabbed a corner and I stacked them to the
Speaker:ceiling, but I started putting my bath bombs and my soaps
Speaker:inside these crates at festivals and events.
Speaker:That's when really my bath bombs and my sales skyrocketed on
Speaker:bath bombs.
Speaker:What I didn't notice until a couple months later,
Speaker:my soap sales had fallen by me taking my soaps off
Speaker:a wood riser and putting them in those crates.
Speaker:So now my bath bomb sales were skyrocketing.
Speaker:My soap sales were dropping because of the way I displayed
Speaker:them. So I kept those wood crates from my bath bombs
Speaker:and went back to a wood riser on my soaps.
Speaker:That is a gem of a tip.
Speaker:Really, really smart.
Speaker:By the way it was being displayed is how,
Speaker:especially at festivals,
Speaker:right? Correct.
Speaker:Because people are going to come in because of what they're
Speaker:seeing, they're going to be drawn in,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and usually there's table after table or booth after booth.
Speaker:So displays are everything.
Speaker:I am on my fourth option to display my soaps.
Speaker:My first option,
Speaker:I made a wood riser.
Speaker:My husband said,
Speaker:no, honey,
Speaker:you met at a set of stairs.
Speaker:My second option,
Speaker:I made it on a pair of window shutters with boards
Speaker:coming to it.
Speaker:It kept falling apart.
Speaker:Third option was that failed bath bomb box that I put
Speaker:myself in.
Speaker:So now I'm on a collapsible wood riser and things are
Speaker:starting to pick up again.
Speaker:Good. So you might've found the magic there,
Speaker:correct? The display matter.
Speaker:I am still looking for another option because I'm not a
Speaker:hundred percent happy because it is time consuming to take out
Speaker:my soaps out of a container and display them like my
Speaker:bath bombs.
Speaker:I store transport and display in the same container.
Speaker:I want to do that same thing for my soaps,
Speaker:where I store transport and display in the same container.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:That's a good point too.
Speaker:But at least you have something that's increasing the sale.
Speaker:So at least for now,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you're on the right path.
Speaker:Correct. You can always switch it out as you go.
Speaker:Right. Right.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Sheena. I want to roll now into our reflection section.
Speaker:And this is just a real quick look at other things
Speaker:that you've been doing and things that you can share with
Speaker:our listeners that have made you successful.
Speaker:So these are just really quick answers.
Speaker:What is a single trait that you have that you've called
Speaker:upon regularly that you think has made you successful?
Speaker:I honestly think it's how I treat my customers.
Speaker:I don't treat them like customers.
Speaker:I treat them like friends.
Speaker:I come in and I treat them like if they're family,
Speaker:I know that you do that because the way I discovered
Speaker:you was from a show and I didn't even know you,
Speaker:of course I loved the product right away.
Speaker:Cause anything that smells yummy is great for me.
Speaker:But you were,
Speaker:you're so friendly and jovial at the booth.
Speaker:And it's very,
Speaker:very clear that you like what you're doing.
Speaker:I love what I'm doing.
Speaker:I am happiest when I'm at that booth on a weekend.
Speaker:And I'm even happier when my daughter Lula,
Speaker:is there helping out.
Speaker:I bet you are.
Speaker:I'm sure of that.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:The way you treat your customers,
Speaker:that's going to make people come back to you for sure.
Speaker:And that's going to spread the word,
Speaker:no question about it.
Speaker:Is there some tool that you're using besides the hydraulic press?
Speaker:Because a lot of us don't need that for our businesses,
Speaker:but is there something else that you're using just to conduct
Speaker:business in some way that you could share with our listeners?
Speaker:I just network with other crafters,
Speaker:with other vendors,
Speaker:with other promoters.
Speaker:I stay in touch with them.
Speaker:Now I'm at a point where I've already gotten invites for
Speaker:events in October.
Speaker:So a lot of it has to do with networking,
Speaker:talk to your other crafters,
Speaker:become friends with them because they can tell you about upcoming
Speaker:events. Where are you networking on Facebook Book?
Speaker:You're talking about in groups or Local Facebook groups on my
Speaker:groups, in our area groups at events.
Speaker:I talked to my neighboring crafters,
Speaker:my neighboring vendors at events I walk around and I actually
Speaker:purchase from my other vendors for my other crafters,
Speaker:A number of different places.
Speaker:You are networking people at events.
Speaker:You're networking with people in local Facebook groups.
Speaker:And then also industry Facebook groups like crafting groups,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Correct. And now I have my customers because I'm based in
Speaker:Northwest Indiana,
Speaker:which is a Stone's throw from the Illinois,
Speaker:Chicago borderline.
Speaker:So I mostly stay in Indiana.
Speaker:But last fall I started branching out to the Chicago land
Speaker:area. So I'm getting a lot of my Chicago customers saying,
Speaker:Hey, we have an event here in Aurora.
Speaker:We have an event here in Naperville or Grey's lakes.
Speaker:Why don't you try to see if you can get into
Speaker:our neck of the woods so we can get more bombs.
Speaker:So now I have customers saying,
Speaker:Hey, here's an event.
Speaker:Can you try to get into that event so we can
Speaker:get more bombs?
Speaker:Is there a book or something you've read or listened to
Speaker:lately that you would share as a resource?
Speaker:I haven't read any books.
Speaker:Where do you go to keep yourself educated or learn new
Speaker:things? Google I,
Speaker:Google has everything.
Speaker:It is crazy how,
Speaker:when there's questions,
Speaker:so many people will forget about Google.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we'll have questions.
Speaker:You'll be like,
Speaker:Oh, I wonder how this,
Speaker:I wonder how that,
Speaker:and then you almost,
Speaker:I don't know if you do this,
Speaker:but I do I'll challenge Google.
Speaker:Like there's no way I'm going to be able to find
Speaker:the answer to this question,
Speaker:but I'm gonna try it anyway.
Speaker:And guess what?
Speaker:Sure enough,
Speaker:there it is.
Speaker:There's the answer.
Speaker:Yes. Right in front of my face at my fingertips.
Speaker:Yep. That's crazy.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:Sheena, I'm so sad that this is coming to an end,
Speaker:but it has to cause we all have to get back
Speaker:doing work.
Speaker:But I want now to invite you to dare to dream,
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:height that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box Business growth currently right now I
Speaker:purchased a vintage newspaper truck that I am going to be
Speaker:restoring to transport my soap business.
Speaker:Something that I have on the horizon would be to open,
Speaker:not a brick and mortar.
Speaker:I believe in reuse,
Speaker:recycle. I want to use shipping containers as my brick and
Speaker:mortar stores and have them almost like a franchise where you
Speaker:can purchase the shipping container,
Speaker:purchase my product,
Speaker:lease a piece of land in a high traffic area.
Speaker:That's what I want to do.
Speaker:You have someone to connect you up with about that?
Speaker:Remind me after the show.
Speaker:Okay. Thank you.
Speaker:I have someone totally different industry,
Speaker:but someone who may be able to help you out with
Speaker:some of that,
Speaker:I would like to see my business in shipping containers.
Speaker:How creative who's seen anything like that before,
Speaker:right? I mean,
Speaker:what a great idea.
Speaker:Well, our living in shipping containers,
Speaker:which that's another vision I have.
Speaker:I want to stick my whole family in a shipping container
Speaker:home, not your average one box shipping container.
Speaker:We had a little bit more elaborate design,
Speaker:but I want my home to be out of shipping containers.
Speaker:I want my business to be out of shipping containers.
Speaker:And in Cleveland,
Speaker:Ohio, they have a whole retail street of nothing but shipping
Speaker:containers. There's other spots of Vegas,
Speaker:I think is doing a shipping container wall.
Speaker:I think we have something going on in Spain And it's
Speaker:becoming a thing.
Speaker:Yes, it's Out there.
Speaker:It hasn't caught on well.
Speaker:So I want to be at the forefront of that.
Speaker:And this is a way that you can actually grow because
Speaker:at some point the way you're doing the business now,
Speaker:unless you continue hiring people and hiring people and hiring people,
Speaker:you do max out on your time.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there's only one you and there's only one weekend a week.
Speaker:So at some point you would max out,
Speaker:but this is a way for you to expand your business
Speaker:without you having to totally be part of it as you
Speaker:move forward.
Speaker:So I love,
Speaker:love, love that idea,
Speaker:gift biz listeners.
Speaker:I have to tell you,
Speaker:usually at this point,
Speaker:I'm telling you an online site where you can reach out
Speaker:and buy from Sheena.
Speaker:But right now I think we're just going to talk about
Speaker:her Facebook page,
Speaker:where you can go see what she's doing.
Speaker:And if you're lucky enough,
Speaker:it sounds like they might be able to direct message you.
Speaker:If they want to try some of your fabulous product.
Speaker:I don't know if you want us to do that or
Speaker:not. Shana,
Speaker:Ken. I am trying to create my bomb to be harder
Speaker:where it could take the abuse of being thrown around in
Speaker:a, ah,
Speaker:Okay. So that's one of the reasons why you're not shipping
Speaker:right now.
Speaker:Correct. And you know what,
Speaker:that's another way for future growth.
Speaker:Once you've got that done,
Speaker:which I am totally confident,
Speaker:you will given the whole story.
Speaker:One thing's led to another.
Speaker:You've seen a need,
Speaker:you filled it and continued and carried on in the same
Speaker:way, found another need and filled it.
Speaker:So I'm certain that you're going to be able to figure
Speaker:out how to do that with your bath bombs.
Speaker:We will be watching you before.
Speaker:You know it,
Speaker:you may even have a website up and be taking orders
Speaker:that way,
Speaker:who knows?
Speaker:So, but in any case much success to you,
Speaker:I'm so excited to see what happens with these shipping containers
Speaker:as you move forward.
Speaker:And may your candle always burn bright?
Speaker:Where are you in your business building journey,
Speaker:whether you're just starting out or already running a business and
Speaker:you want to know your setup for success.
Speaker:Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,
Speaker:access the quiz from your computer at Vic dot L Y
Speaker:slash gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting gift
Speaker:biz quiz to four four two,
Speaker:two, two.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever render products.
Speaker:Have your logo or print a happy birthday,
Speaker:Jessica Rubin to add to a gift right at checkout,
Speaker:it's all done right in your shop or across studio in
Speaker:seconds. Check her for ribbon print company.com
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