TallTayl Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 TL/DR It's time for drastic changes to my business model. I'm excited to pare back to short run fragrances of the month type things and subscriptions over offering dozens of the same fragrances I've always made. It takes me the most time just to find the fragrance bottle I need among so many others. What a waste! The Long Version: After writing and speaking with my CS family I know I'm not alone feeling like I've been stuck. Despite literally hundreds of lbs of fragrance I have no gumption to make anything. That lack of ambition is showing in sales and in my general attitude toward the business. Time to change that! Recently I've ramped up home improvement projects that have been on my mind. We planned for graduation company, so we had a solid date on the calendar to complete a long list of things that have needed attention since before the world stood still. When faced with people sleeping in rooms referred to as a "Room Of Requirement" because pretty much everything got stuck there behind a door motivation improved in a hurry. I moved from room to room clearing out, organizing, and THROWING THINGS OUT! I'm not quite minimalist, but am on my way there. As an example, I loathe seeing a sink piled high with dishes because nobody bothered to run (or empty) the already full dishwasher. My logical brain said we can't have piles of dishes to wash if there are not so many dishes to use. I made many trips down to the curb with boxes piled high of mismatched plates, bowls, cups, glasses, etc that got stacked in the kitchen when we blended households. I am in the process of making custom ceramic dishes (another post to come about that). Until that happens the cabinet which was loaded full enough to bulge got emptied. We have 4 sets of plates, bowls, etc. Kept only the nicest of mugs and very few glasses. If we have company pull out the Chinet plates. Boom! Solved. The kitchen seems so much bigger now. people need to wash their own dishes if they want to eat (or use a chinet, I don't have a preference). This saves me maybe 30 minutes a day of kitchen work now. If I can apply that to the business with maybe 6 fragrances that rotate in/out each month I may have a chance to achieve some sanity and inspiration in the studio. I'm planning to use the custom selections from our fragrance labs and keep barely anything else. I'll be dispersing just about everything else. This is super scary, but has to happen. Imagine every month being completely fresh and new! Imagine storage shelves I can remove since there will be less to store. I'm breaking out in a cold sweat thinking about this. How are you staying motivated? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milk Machine Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 3 hours ago, TallTayl said: TL/DR It's time for drastic changes to my business model. I'm excited to pare back to short run fragrances of the month type things and subscriptions over offering dozens of the same fragrances I've always made. It takes me the most time just to find the fragrance bottle I need among so many others. What a waste! The Long Version: After writing and speaking with my CS family I know I'm not alone feeling like I've been stuck. Despite literally hundreds of lbs of fragrance I have no gumption to make anything. That lack of ambition is showing in sales and in my general attitude toward the business. Time to change that! Recently I've ramped up home improvement projects that have been on my mind. We planned for graduation company, so we had a solid date on the calendar to complete a long list of things that have needed attention since before the world stood still. When faced with people sleeping in rooms referred to as a "Room Of Requirement" because pretty much everything got stuck there behind a door motivation improved in a hurry. I moved from room to room clearing out, organizing, and THROWING THINGS OUT! I'm not quite minimalist, but am on my way there. As an example, I loathe seeing a sink piled high with dishes because nobody bothered to run (or empty) the already full dishwasher. My logical brain said we can't have piles of dishes to wash if there are not so many dishes to use. I made many trips down to the curb with boxes piled high of mismatched plates, bowls, cups, glasses, etc that got stacked in the kitchen when we blended households. I am in the process of making custom ceramic dishes (another post to come about that). Until that happens the cabinet which was loaded full enough to bulge got emptied. We have 4 sets of plates, bowls, etc. Kept only the nicest of mugs and very few glasses. If we have company pull out the Chinet plates. Boom! Solved. The kitchen seems so much bigger now. people need to wash their own dishes if they want to eat (or use a chinet, I don't have a preference). This saves me maybe 30 minutes a day of kitchen work now. If I can apply that to the business with maybe 6 fragrances that rotate in/out each month I may have a chance to achieve some sanity and inspiration in the studio. I'm planning to use the custom selections from our fragrance labs and keep barely anything else. I'll be dispersing just about everything else. This is super scary, but has to happen. Imagine every month being completely fresh and new! Imagine storage shelves I can remove since there will be less to store. I'm breaking out in a cold sweat thinking about this. How are you staying motivated? How am I staying motivated? Well, I'm still pretty new to it, so that helps. But reading your other post about the new fragrances I think would motivate me if I needed it more! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdcharm Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 On 6/6/2023 at 3:17 PM, TallTayl said: How are you staying motivated? It has to do with what you want to see happen, I guess ... what you'd like to see yourself working on and what creative things do you want to share with others. That keeps me motivated ... if you're not doing something that you can give or leave for others, it kind of seems to all be a waste. As for throwing things out, I always try to either repurpose, sell, or give away. I don't like to see useful things thrown out, there's got to be someone who can use it. I've been working on a group of scents for about a year now and am completing testing each one; it's frustrating sometimes if one doesn't seem to work out as you thought it would ... just keep going! It seems to take me forever to find those magic combinations, and when I least expect them, they can show up! That never happens if you give up!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brotato Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 I second the trend toward minimalism. I’ve been on that journey as well and had no idea how much mental space physical things take up- until they weren’t there. I also have thrown many things away, donated and given away as well. We had double of everything when we got married. Sometimes it’s hard when you’ve spent money on it BUT it makes me a super conscious consumer, later. I think with that in mind your fresh business model sounds great! Change can be scary but also an exciting new adventure! If you were successful before you’ll be successful again I try to take in all of these ideas as I explore and figure out how I will set mine up, one of these days. Everyone here is so inspiring and creative. I’d say that the craftserver community helps keep me motivated, knowing I’m not alone in this journey. Also the thought of being my own boss one day is extremely appealing. I’m a free spirit at heart lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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