Quentin

It really should read: Net Wt 8 oz (226.8g) You can hear it from me or you can hear it from @TallTayl

Right now I'd take any kind of website I could get. I've got to check with GoDaddy. I may have picked a package that was too complicated for me. I've got to do something. Right now, I'm bleeding money. In the meantime, I stumbling over starting too many projects at one time and not completely finishing any. If that sounds like A.D.H.D., yes it is.

I'm curious. How well has Etsy worked for you? I think I set up a "store" with them but never stocked it.

Okay. I see it up there now.

I don't have either one yet. So you're ahead of me. Working on a website, but even as easy as they make it today with templates, I'm really struggling with putting together a website. I just can't get it. GoDaddy isn't as easy as that racing girl on the commercials makes it seem. That's a mental hangup for me too. See. You're ahead of the big guys already! Are you trying to copy me? Yep. You're exactly right. That's how they do it. They don't make any money selling groceries. They make their real profit from squeezing their vendors. Plus all the stuff they hang on those strips up and down the aisles. Thank you! I did some "back in the day", mostly press releases and advertising/promotional stuff. I've forgotten a good deal when it comes to proper punctuation and I can't put sentences together very well anymore. That really frustrates and depresses me. ...and NEVER go without a list. I think you're figuring it out.

If I can figure out how to copy them from my Avery program, I'll do it. I actually have more than one label depending on the size and shape of the container. They all follow the same graphic setup. Pretty much.

What count thing Maya? If it's expensive, I wanna at least see it.

Those are actually very good. So good in fact, that it leads me to what I think of when I think in terms of a product (or the display of same) "telling a story". When I first heard the term "story" used in retail back in 1981, I had no idea what they meant by that term. Huh? My understanding of the concept doesn't mean that you literally have a written story for each product. It doesn't mean that you have ANYTHING in written form at all. A product line story is about the impression, emotion, general feeling or call-to-action that your overall presentation makes on a buyer. The buyer probably doesn't even realize he or she is being told a "story". The particular product or industry makes no difference. It could be anything from manure fertilizer to diamonds. Let's step away from candles for a moment and I'll give an example that at least helps me understand the concept better. The word "story" in our context is a little nebulous, but here goes. When you unfortunately have to visit a Big Box store, you are immediately confronted with stories. The list of examples is endless. We'll just use one. It's Christmas shopping time and as we pass through the front door we are confronted by a huge pile of tool sets topped by a big, bright sign. "260 Piece Set. Only 49.99!" The impression this immediately creates is "VALUE". After all, if they have that many and at that price, it must be a good deal. Maybe it is. Maybe not. Let's walk down the strip to the upscale department store. We'll call it Blacey's. It is almost impossible to miss the cosmetic department in these places. The presentation here will most likely be just the opposite of what we saw at Orange Box Store. The story here is a single bottle of $250.00 cologne on a beautifully draped table (and maybe a long-legged model in a short, black dress) but the result is the same as the story that Orange Box just told us. It creates emotion, just like the examples you, @ShelleyF just presented. To wrap it up, you created the emotion of memories. Just condense it by finding or creating fragrances, matching emotional colors and packaging, and then present it in a complimentary manner or display. Whether online, craft shows, festivals or at the farmer's market, the venue really makes no difference. Fortunately, most of our work is already done for us because that's what scents and fragrances do. They bring back memories. Some happy, some sad and some bittersweet. All we really have to do is to get them to take a whiff or sniff. That plus your overall presentation tells your "story".

I'm guessing that to do a Facebook giveaway, that I would first need to set up a page separate from my personal FB page that would be specifically for the candle business. Would that be correct?

I'll bet you can buy them both on Amazon and eBay. What's the mixture? 50/50 maybe?

Why the blue Dawn specifically?

I guess not on the Goo Gone. I suppose I could try gasoline. Nah. But I keep hearing more and more about Dawn for all sorts of uses, even for cleaning your roof! Yet gentle enough to clean an oil soaked baby duck. There must be something to the Dawn idea. I keep wondering what sets it apart from all the other dish detergents.

Margarine. That's one I definitely haven't heard about until now. My condition seems to have cleared up a little during then night. Not thinking about it at the time, naturally, but I have a slightly abrasive face cleanser, sitting right next to the shaving cream! Sort of a milder version of GO-JO like mechanics use to clean there hands. Real gritty stuff. Don't know why that didn't occur to me at the time.

It all started out so innocently. I made a batch of candles using IGI 6028 and liquid yellow dye. One drop at a time till I got it to where it was acceptable. Then came time to make a bunch of votives. I switched over to 4794 Votive Blend. All the same fragrance, dye, etc. I noticed this wax just wasn't taking the color as well... Skip that. That's not the story. Anyway, when I finished the batch of votives. I had yellow dye on everything. My hands, my t-shirt, all my equipment, everywhere. Soap and water didn't get it. The more I washed, the more it spread. Alcohol didn't get it, but it looked like I at least had it under control for the time being. While looking at myself in the mirror, I noticed I really needed a shave. So out comes the shaving cream, razor, etc. For just a split second I thought, "this might not be a good idea". My body was moving faster than my mind at that point, and I smeared the shaving cream all over my face. Of course it carried the yellow dye with it. Now, I've got yellow dye all over my face, my razor, everything! If by chance, I had to go to the emergency room right now, they would probably diagnose me with liver problems and completely miss the gunshot wound in my leg. I'm all yellow! Hopefully, it will all wear off by tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm stuck here and can't go out in public tomorrow!

Like I said, it WAS the way to go. Then along came a thing called the internet around 1994 and the rest is history.

This is something I don't know much about but would want to learn more.

Marketing. One of my favorite topics, no doubt. Actually, ANYTHING you do will work. If you think of it and can pay for it, do it. With one exception. I used to be in the the direct mail business. At one time, that was the way to go. But that media has gone the way of smoke signals and the telegraph. I'd stay away from postcards and letters, etc.

...and after all the hype, that's what it boils down to in the end.

Don't do that. There giving us so much fun.

Yep, got it again today. If I had problems in my business like their soy wax problem or anything else, I sure wouldn't announce it to the world or to my competitors. I know that the other companies read these forums to see what customers are saying. They must be laughing their heads off about Aztec.

I just now remember the other thing he put in his email reply to me. He said, "We prefer to let our customers use their own creativity."

The word Patchouli isn't very pretty, I suppose. I love the fragrance. To me, it sounds like it would be a good name for a social disease. Perhaps those you're speaking of know someone who is suffering from Patchouli and it turns them off. To me, the name conjures up memories from my dorm in college. It reminds me of the dreadful odor from the dishes that some of the foreign students cooked up in their rooms. As soon as I would step off the elevator onto my floor, I would immediately be overcome by it. I had an idea the other day... I could have one candle scented with Patchouli for the "educated" people. Right next to it I could have another that was mainly Patchouli with just a touch of some other floral fragrance and name it "Flower Child". Washed up hippies from the 1960s would simply love it. Hmm, maybe a touch of marijuana fragrance instead.

For many of my fragrances, I've come up with my own names just by borrowing a word or two from the company's description. How many more Amish Harvest fragrances does the market need? I saw the word "golden" in one description. My version is now called Golden Harvest. @Paintguru, just follow your heart.

I'm going back and forth with myself on whether or not to post mine. I can handle the feedback, but there's something about mine I just don't like. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe I should just jump in and do it. No, I don't think I will. Maybe I will.

Ever since you brought this to my attention many weeks back, I've been meticulous (obsessed actually) about the weights on the labels. As an aside, let me add that if you are going to make a set of candles, fragrances or whatever, you only need the Net Wt of the entire package. With a bag of cookies or chips for example, they don't weigh each cookie.