I’m finally done with physical therapy (although I should still be doing a lot of it at home, but I’ve admittedly cut back) and can now use what energy I have to start working on the business again. The new medicine I started a few weeks again has turned me into a narcoleptic insomniac, so I never know when I’m going to fall asleep and pretty much keep the hours of a vampire. *grin* It makes life interesting.
With the down time I did some heavy thinking about some recommendations I got from therapy. To work around my sick spells from my illness I should change the business model to more of a store front instead of a custom order model. I’ve always been big about giving the customer tons of options and making things to their preference. The Burger King of pampering, so to speak. *laugh* However, sometimes if I’m sick and get a fairly large order with nothing pre made that fits those preferences, I have some trouble. Thankfully I’m pretty used to rallying and getting things done, although it takes a few days longer than I prefer to make the customer wait. On the flip side of changing the business model I could have the same problem that I did my first year where I had so much unsold on hand that I had a hefty loss. It’s one of those scales that kind of bites either way it tilts.
After a lot of thinking I’ve decided to do a bit of both. I won’t go hog wild making and stocking product on my good days, but I’ll create a section of on hand special buys. Plus, everyone loves a special buy, even if it’s a little discount. I think having some pre made baskets with a little discount might do well with Christmas coming, too. I spent my first good day on a stocking/basket stuffer and made the first woodsy luffa soaps for this year. I realized during my long and slow thinking party (yeah, I’m no Sherlock, no matter how many versions of the character I watch and read. *laugh*) that I hadn’t made another batch of the luffa soaps in at least a year. Hubby likes them because he uses the soap with the men’s scrub and between the two he can get most of the embedded grime from working in the Goodyear Plant off. (Go ahead and picture it. I SO did a happy dance when I found a winning combination AND scents that he actually commented on instead of just grunting about. *grin* I secretly think he’s part caveman and part Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men sometimes. There’s a lot of grunting and grumpy looks, especially when he has to take part on “pansy” stuff like trying soaps. Lol.)
I also decided that although I still want to do the promos for the Monsters Away Spray that I planned so long ago, but had to save up for, I don’t think it’s that big of a project to warrant it. It’s a little sad since I still really believe in the product, but that money will work better in some cool soaps, I think. I decided to funnel that money toward revisiting the Worms in Dirt soaps and am going to order the perfect mold that I found. I’m not sure if the soap worms will fit in the soaps as I originally planned with the lures in guest rounds, so I have two options I want to experiment with. I want to let my morbid side come out to play and I’m going to dice up the worm soap, and try that in a round. That has the potential of looking really gross, which might work well for some little kids. The other idea is to see if the soap worms can be used (and packaged) on their own, as is.
I’m excited to be able to get back in and I hope that the changes to the model will be successful. I know for certain that I don’t want to let this small business slowly sink to nothingness. Please cross your fingers for me for just a moment and please feel free to offer up any ideas or comments that you have! 🙂
Georgia's Pampering 