Having dedicated time daily to work on business things has gotten to the point that I’m working on troubleshooting now that I may have been procrastinating on. *whistling innocently* I’m really trying to emphasize the “may” in that. Lol. I’m pretty proud that I’ve been thinking outside of the box and gotten some things checked off of the spreadsheet.
I am flawed. There’s something seriously weird about me (beyond my engaging eccentric personality of course). I can’t see things straight. Maybe that lift in one eyelid is the culprit, or maybe it comes down to missing this gene’s handout. Maybe they had a seminar on it with the group that gives out a sense of direction. Lol. Enough lame moments that amuse me – but seriously, when things are all wonky and a coffee cup could slide off a table, that’s when it looks level to me. Once a month or so Larry goes through the house with a level and straightens up all of the things I’ve straightened while fidgeting. An uneven position, especially a picture among others, drives me bonkers, so the Type A in me requires that I try to tap up the low corner. Apparently what I see as level is a few degrees off. *grin* Anyway, I confess this embarrassing lacking trait because it affects my business a bit. There’s a reason why I don’t often sell soaps that require cutting for a final result. I can measure with a ruler, make notches every inch to show where to cut, etc. Somehow my wonky eyes get involved there, too, and I end up with some seriously oddly cut soaps. Lol. Last night I picked this on my list to trouble shoot. Obviously I’m not able to fix this, so I needed an idea of how to adapt my processes to have the necessary result. Well, graphs don’t lie. *sigh of nerdy delight* I got a packet of grid worksheets that I can use as cutting guides then and it’ll be nearly impossible to cut wrong then, because I have four points to line up, which prevents me from creating an invisible line to follow. Booyah! *nerdy boogie* Now I can cut up my coffee loaf!
My second problem solving issue got solved at the same time, because I bought a package of white poster boards while getting the grid papers. Now I have a quick, easy, and clean photography background. I read an article about other items pulling attention from what you’re trying to sell, so maybe if I use these and not floral cloth backgrounds the items will pop a bit more. 2 down, a dozen to go.
I also tested a chunk of the coffee loaf and some of the decorations I made with the fondant mold. I have Fibromyalgia and it honestly makes me the best tester to make sure that products can’t hurt someone, like will button soap decorations hurt if they’re used against the body instead of a washcloth. Being touched at all can cause long lasting pain sometimes, so I figure that if a rough soap doesn’t make me pull back, then I can be really happy with a soap. Although the buttons and most especially the ribbon decorations felt a little odd when rubbed directly on the skin, they didn’t hurt, so I’m clearing them to be sellable. The cocoa loaf soap needs a few more days of testing. The first time I mostly got the frosting, which felt awesome, like the fat girl in me finally decided to smear cupcakes all over myself. *cracking up* The second test gave more of the exfoliating coffee level exposed and that was pretty nice and wasn’t overwhelming, so I’m tickled pink over this success. I need to decide on the scent performance at the third use, since I should be able to use all three sections on the one side now.
I’m pretty stoked that I’ve gotten most of the price changes done and applied most of the desired changes to my website. I have a little more left and lastly I’ve started working on updating recipes to fit within the new guidelines for fragrance ingredients. I have so much accomplished all ready at just the half way mark of the challenge and am really excited about tackling the remaining short-term challenges.
One big one still on the to do is to figure out some marketing that would work for me and with my limitations. That’s definitely on the long-term goals list. I’m hoping that my happy brain storming with the graph paper, cutting pieces from the coffee loaf, will allow more creative juices to slip forward and give me a hallelujah moment. *grin*
I’m thinking about posting a DIY recipe (ingredients are finally available and in season) or maybe I do some ingredient highlights. Hopefully I’ll have an extra bump of decision making when I have my hallelujah moment. 😉 *starts humming “I Need A Hero”….*
Georgia's Pampering 