Common Scents

OMG! Its a Christmas Miracle!!! LOL!

I have seen multiple vendors like that at the shows that I've scouted here in Charlotte this year. From what I can tell people love their tarts here!

Another good idea would be a "Secret Santa" shop. My elementary school back home did this. The PTO put together a "store" in our library where everything was super cheap (think lots of donations from the dollar stores). All the kids got to come with their money and buy for their families. There were volunteers that were there to help the kids shop and then wrap all the purchases and then each child took their gifts home and put them under the tree. I LOVED going to the secret santa shop every year and so did my younger brother. Its such a sweet concept. And of course for those children who didn't have money to spend (I think the most they would let each child bring to spend was $10) the PTO always helped out. That's what I plan on doing with my leftovers next year!

A lot of people use a lot of different software so I'm sure you are going to get TONS of answers! Personally I really like Microsoft Publisher. I use both it and this really old PrintMaster program that I have had FOREVER! I know some people use a scrapbooking program of some sort.

Jooniper your site is GORGEOUS!! When I make my first trip up to Candle Science I will have to come see your shop! Did you have your product photos professionally done or do them yourself? Thanks again for all the feedback!

Thanks for all the feedback. Honestly, the age thing has no bearing for me. I myself am only 25 years old so I think it would be a little hypicritical of me to judge a business by the age of its owner. And had I not been a member of this board and made this post, who knows when I would have found out how old the owner is! But I appreciate that it was pointed out as something to consider. I believe he also has a month to month payment option so if I were to become unsatisified I could find a new host. If anyone else has any feedback I'd love to hear it. Thanks again!

Thanks for that info Emily! I don't know how I didn't discover that in my searching! I'll have to shoot Adam a message & say hi!

Hello! I did a search first and didn't really find a whole lot of posts but does anyone here use Graceful Hosting for their website? A little back ground about me - I closed my business two years ago because it was too much for me to handle working full time & going to school full time. Since then I've moved out of state, finished school, got settled, and I'm now ready to re-open. I will start testing after the first of the year with hopes of officially re-opening by April 1, 2009. When I had my website before it was with DIY E-stores but in researching I've discovered Graceful and it looks to me like they have more features for less money. Anyone have any feedback on them? I'm not the smartest when it comes to websites but I'm not totally clueless either! LOL! Thanks for your help!

Simply amazing ladies! You are a true inspiration!! Congrats on an awesome fund raiser!

I like their Black Raspberry Vanilla as well and I added the Raisinbread to my line because people loved it so much. I know with the Raisinbread I didn't like how it smells OOB but when I put it in wax it was MUCH better! HTH!

This is my new best seller! People are going CRAZY over this scent!!!

Aww sorry your day wasn't so hot! At least you got some cool earrings! That's always my problem...I'm ALWAYS beside jewelry or purses and that usually keeps my profits down! LOL! Your soap was GORGEOUS though! I would have bought some!

So far this year for me has been Black Raspberry Vanilla, Lilac, and Hawaiian Breeze. But I sell bakery scents all year round here. By far this year my best seller has been Caramel Cinnamon Latte from JS. I'm getting ready to add Chai Tea & Madarin Mimosa to my scent list so I'm anxious to see how they do. Baby Powder & Fresh Linen also do well all year for me and Dreamsicle. Its really a toss up for me! Just offer a good selection of all different types of scents and you'll be good!

I use Prim Graphics too! And sometimes Gone Country Graphics. Both are fantastic! HTH!

WHAT A JOKE!!!! Ok the show I did this Saturday was a big outdoor festival that basically took over this small town. I had never done it before but was refered to it by another crafter. Booth fee was only $65 so I said what the heck. Its a very popular and well advertised festival that is ran very professionally. It is two hours away but I thought it was worth a shot....WRONG!!!! I don't know what the deal was but there were NO buyers out! People weren't even coming in the booth to LOOK! I was sooo frustrated. I didn't even make my booth fee PLUS I drove two hours with gas at $2.63 a gallon. I was really ticked. This is the first show that I have ever been to that was a total bust and I've been doing this for two years now. Toward the end of the day another crafter came over and asked how I did and I told her I was very disappointed and she said she was too. She had done the show for about three years and she said this one would be her last. Then the organizers came around and had all of us take a survey. When I handed mine back in they read it and were like oh no! But at least it wasn't just me who had a bad day. One thing that stood out to me and my mom was the crowd....it was a very low income crowd and we saw some of the WORST personal hygene! I mean I try not to judge but this was pretty bad! So lesson learned....I won't be returning to that show next year! Up next I am doing a little elementary school fair on the 20th so I am going to try to drum up some fundraiser business!

I only did one summer show last year and it wasn't bad. But so far this year I have done two outdoor ones, one this past weekend and one the weekend before and at both I lost a few packs of tarts and that was because the sun hit them and melted them. As long as my tarts & candles stay in the shade its not bad, but when the sun hits them they will melt! I have two outdoor shows in June & one in July so we will see how bad it gets!

Thanks everyone! Ok I did inventory last night and the two best sellers by far were Warm Apple Cobbler & Buttercreme Crunch. Caramel Cinnamon Latte was a close runner up. Some of the spring scents sold well but not as good as the show I did a month ago. Go figure! I have been selling Lilac like its going out of style but didn't sell but ONE at this show! Wierd! Anyway, for tarts there wasn't really one clear best seller. Chestnuts & Brown Sugar did well. For the sachets hands down was Cozy Vanilla (Warm Vanilla Sugar) & Fruit Slices was next. I sold completely out of the vanilla. So thats the report! Doing it all over again this weekend!

Well I had my first outdoor show of the year yesterday. Weather was BEAUTIFUL! I did this show last year and it rained while we were setting up but then the sun came out when the show started. So anyway, this year my location was MUCH better AND I was the only candle maker there. There was one other candlemaker there but she was selling much larger candles of a lot less quality. This was the first time I sold my melts & aroma bead sachets and they went over very well. Overall I did 6 times my booth fee which was a little lower than I was expecting with the absolutely perfect weather. I think gas prices had a little to do with that because the attendance didn't seem that much better than last year when it rained. But I am not complaining! I handed out a lot of brochures, got a lot of compliments, and got invited to another show in two weeks for a local school PTA. I have another outdoor show this coming weekend that is a HUGE show so I'll be ordering wax tomorrow! I'm gonna do inventory tonight so I'll let ya know what the best sellers were!

That's great! Can't wait to hear about today & see some pics!

Your booth looks great! And thats $100 you wouldn't have made at home! Thats always how I look at it hehe. Where did you get your tart rack at? I'm searching high & low for one!

I let them do the sorting but I get copies of their individual order sheets. I like to have them just in case I get repeat customers out of the fundraiser. That way I can say oh thats right you ordered ........... when they call. Its just one of my little things. But I take all the individual order sheets and make one big order out of them and then I pour them by scent, label them, and put them in boxes by scent and let the group sort them out. HTH!

They need a support group for JS FO's!!! hehehe I just got an order with a sample of the Toffee Machiato and it smells SOOOOOOOOOOOO YUMMY!!! I can't wait to get it in wax this weekend...I see it being added to my line very soon!!! I need to order some wax samples too. Its on my to do list!!!

Wow...I can't believe out of that entire list that I haven't tried a single one!! LOL! And I called myself a JS addict....:rolleyes2

Well for me it was about 5 months of research and testing before I sold the basics during the holidays that year. But you could probably double the time I spent testing and get the amount of time that I spent reading & researching. What you need to know that it is an ENDLESS process! Don't go into it thinking you'll be making a profit for a while. Last year was my first full year as a business and even though I "TECHINICALLY" turned a profit (and it was a very small amount), all of that money goes right back into the business. I look at this as a hobby that supports itself and it took a really long time to get it to that point. I'm not in this to make money, I'm in it because I enjoy doing it and other people enjoy my products. When it stops being fun, I'll stop doing it, no matter how much $$$ it makes! So make sure its your passion before you take the big plunge of becoming a business!

She needs to stop coming out with all these wonderful new scents!!! I can only pour & test so many new samples!! LOL! Some how I have managed to miss the Pink Lemonade so I guess I will have to order this week to get a sample! LOL! I need some stuff off of her sale this week anyway. The Caramel Cinn Latte is my current best seller. I literally can't keep it in stock!!! I was shocked at how well its done considering I carry Peaks Hazelnut Capp too and hardly sell any of it! I think I'm gonna discontinue it now that Becky's is sellin so well! The next one I'm adding to my line is Chai Tea...it is pure HEAVEN!!!!