LisaMD

Retail store & online. I've never done a show or fair, and don't wholesale or consign. lol, I'm not a "people" person - I'm best left alone to concoct & play in the workshop, and my husband runs the store and explains all the "girly" things to the ladies. They just love that.

Sounds good to me as well. I too include free samples with orders (usually bath bombs), but don't send out anything free without a purchase.

I get mine from Online Labels.com. The click-n-ship labels can be found at http://www.onlinelabels.com/labeltypeclicknship.htm . I've always had great service from them, and they carry pretty much everything.

If you're looking in Wally World, the Aloe Gel is with the lotions or suntanning stuff. It's in a clear bottle with a blue top usually. The Aloe Juice is usually in the Vitamin/Supplement/Heartburn stuff aisle.

Great job! That looks better than my real pumpkin pie. I'm really not much of a baker :rolleyes2 lol. Not much of a "cooker" anymore either come to think of it! I agree CM, but go figure.. it's one of the reasons we're in business, everyone has a different taste. And my Pumpkin Nog is one of my biggest sellers in bath bombs right now :rolleyes2

If it helps any, I have at least 2 or 3 people each week in the store make the comment "Your candles smell exactly like what the name says they are." My customers appreciate the fact that I'm pretty plain Jane when it comes to naming, they don't have to open everything to see what the heck it really is. That actually helps me two fold - I don't have to rack my blonde brain trying to be creative in yet another way, and they don't have to go behind every customer in the store because they've opened every jar & bottle. More times than not, they only pick up the ones that interest them & they recognize, and usually they'll hold onto it and purchase. As to product naming itself, I'm pretty plain there too. I call my butters butters, my cream cream, my heavy creams whipped souffle, bath bombs, bath tonic etc. I do use descriptive wording on the label - Super hydrating, Intense etc. That said, I do love some of the creative names companies come up with.

Congrats Connie on the account, and Salt City on the Opening! Hope you enjoy a long & mutually beneficial relationship! As to the Salt City name discussion - if the name is available (any name) in your state, and you file your incorporation, the name belongs to you. Regardless of whether a nationally recognized company is using it or not. It's one of the reasons nationally known companies qualify to do business in each of the 50 states, to protect the name. And they must file their annual reports & tax returns annually to ensure they keep their company in good standing so as not to have their name become void and available again to the general public. So if I wanted to be Yankme Candle Company here in Maryland, if Yankme hadn't filed here, the name would be mine to legally use. I just couldn't use their trademarks or logos. And from what I can see, Salt City Candles is not qualified to do business under that name in NY, or the few other states I checked for that matter. (They are registered in Utah tho, their home state) The people at Yankme are on the ball tho..qualified, active, and up to date with their tax filings too :smiley2: in each of the states I checked. So, you wanna be Salt City Candles in NY? or somewhere else.. go ahead, you've every legal right to do it. Actually, I know I'm a bit off point here... but just trying to clarify.. just because your name is close to, sounds like, or in some cases is exactly like...another companies.. doesn't mean you can't legally use it. Hey, I know people who actually watch names like this and then re-qualify them when they expire or get revoked (say for missing a filing deadline for a tax return). Then the original company either has to get another name to use in that state, or will make a cash offer to buy the name back from you so they can use it. Sorry for kinda hijacking! Lisa

Each state is different in it's requirements, and how and where you will be selling will determine what type of license you'll need. Some states require one or the other, some both. My state (MD) requires both a business license, and since I have a store, I need a vendor (here it's called a trader's) license, to operate. If my tax returns & sales tax aren't current, I can't renew my traders license. Your starting point will be your Secretary of State, who will be able to tell you which type of license or registration you'll need, based on the type of selling you'll be doing. Arizona's Secretary of States Business Services link is: http://www.azsos.gov/business_services/ Good Luck!

Love those colors! Great job!

lol... well then Double Dammmmmm girl! Now they're twice as pretty! K - now I KNOW I'm severely swirl impaired, but at least before I could blame it on the mold! Now I have to concoct some new reason Excellent job!

Awesome job on both! I just love that Green Irish Tweed - I swear I'm gonna have to break down and try the slab molds again - I SOOOO wanna swirl like that! Can't wait to see them cut

I have a customer looking for this scent - it's prob 4-5 yrs in retirement. Can anyone offer any info or possibly at least a description of the scent? I've been unable to find anything on it. Thanks much! And fyi - Hanna's Candles is Kathy Irelands line I believe. Lisa

whew - I'm glad I fall within the realm of "normal" around here! I haven't seen my "real" house in 3 years - we're working on it tho! I've got a workshop thats packed full, a storage building thats packed full, my beautiful cherry dining room covered with candles, boxes, labels - you name it. My kitchen is soap/bath bomb central (just because I like being upstairs mind you - my husband built a full kitchen into the "other" workshop). My second floor is my office and packaging central (with some more "stuff" there too mind you) I also have a retail store, with its own storage that is rapidly filling up. I've come to the conclusion that it really doesn't matter how much room I get, I'll just fill it up with "stuff". I say keep a small amount of supplies on hand to fill orders. I wouldn't wait to order supplies as you get orders, I don't think people are that patient, and waiting 2-3 weeks to receive an ordered item would prob turn alot of customers off.

Friends & Family Online Opened Retail Store

My logo cost me $425, but I knew pretty much what I wanted when I started with the designer, and it required only a few minor revisions.

When I started out, and bought by the 100's, I used one of those over the door shoe holder things..the kind with about 20 pockets. Each pocket got a different size wick. The extra pockets had things like mold sealer (when I used to use that), warning labels, & other small stuff. Now that I buy by the 1000's, and have scaled my wicks down to mainly a few sizes, I use a rolling bin thing with drawers that slides under my worktable.

Love the colors, great combo & they're perfect for the scent.

Beautiful - they'd look great in my victorian house. I just love roses!

I offer this FO in my whipped body souffle, and it did fairly well for a bit, then slowed down. I had a customer tell me that while it smelled great, it had the wrong "sweet" note - she was looking for a BBW dupe for their fig cream. It needed to be a bit more "sugary sweet", not "fruity sweet" she said. I'm actually waiting on my Brown Sugar & Fig from Peaks to test, as I'm thinking of replacing this one in the cream. I do like it in candles tho, and make mine a light caramel color (I've got enough red in my line already too)

Yep, me too, what she said! Great looking soap!

absolutely stunning, all of them! That's some talent you've got there, and your colors are gorgeous. You inspire me to learn yet another new thing. Great job!

Hello there & welcome! :wave:

The first thing you'll want to do is register your biz with the Secretary of State. Here's a link for Texas new businesses, and it also includes a link for getting your federal ID # (which you'll do after your biz is registered). http://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/related.shtml The only way to protect your name across the US (as far as I know) is to register in each state. Thats a costly proposition, and not necessary if you're just starting out I don't think. Not only will you have the initial fees to register, but you'll have annual fees due to each state you're registered in with annual report filings and tax returns. Check to see if the name you want is available in Texas, and then find out if a domain name you'd want to use is available, and register that too. (check at www.nameboy.com) A lot of times, especially with smaller companies, if the matching domain name is not available, they won't bother with the name, and will pick something else to use. If and as you grow and expand, you can look into moving into other states. You can trademark a logo or company tagline tho, so it can't be used by other businesses, and since that's done at a Federal level, it covers you nationwide. Hope it's some help, and great luck!

I love that color combo - very creative! And the "recycled" black & white is a stunner for me. I love black & white, very refined.

I love that pink! My daughter would love that one! The blue is nice too. I bought a 50# box of palm prob a year ago and never did anything with it. Not even sure which one it is now.. either the Astorlite Q or F maybe. I might have to dig it out and see - The effects on all of them are gorgeous.