Soap Makers Help!

[Morgaine]

Well, if you plan on doing it every weekend, it sounds like paying for the whole season is the best deal.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Thats what I was thinking also. Hubby was kinda taken back when he heard it was every Saturday but he is at work anyway. An if my MIL can't watch my boys then I can take them with if I have to. I have a big full size van so they can hang out in there when they aren't helping.

 

[MissPrissy]

If you have young children that must go with you I suggest start building your survival kit now. When the novelty of 'helping' customers wears off and they get bored and want to roam make sure you have lots of activities. I'll get flack for this but I also suggest a portable DVD player and some movies they haven't seen before - get Netflix!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

DH is getting a portable DVD for our trip to Florida because we are taking his parents car instead of my beast of a van that also has two fold down monitors and a vcr player. It is a 2001 so there is no dvd player yet lol. I always swore that I would neve get a car that had any of that but now I am thankful I did.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

chiknwhisperer - That is so exciting! Have you counted up how many weeks there are in that period and whether you have some you'll need to miss due to travel or out of town visitors? Is it open during bad weather? These would be the things I'd consider. But, if you think you're going to get at least 10 weeks out of it, then I'd go for the season pricing.

And, I agree with MissPrissy - Time to make more soap!

Morgaine - Where do you get the chlorophyll? I found something at the health food store that was called that. It was made from alfalfa. Is that the right stuff? There were two kinds - plain and with mint.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

They suggested getting a 10x10 open tent for bad weather. As far as someone to fill in, as of yet I don't know of anyone close by. I might be able to get my sister from another mother lol to come and help but she lives an hour away. I'm sure she wouldn't have a problem with it.

 

[Morgaine]

Here is a picture of my Morrocan Mint. I tried to switl in my log mold for the first time. It didn't turn out badly, just not how I was wanting it.

Here is a picture of the bottle of liquid chlorophyll. I use 1 capful PPO.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Where did you buy that at?

 

[MissPrissy]

I wonder what wheat grass juice would do in soap. I know when I grow it for my DH and I juice the blades it has the most intense green color.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

What is your normal weather like from June to Oct?? Is there suppose to be a lot of rain this summer?

Trust me, outdoor markets and soap do not get along in rainy weather...

A 10x10 pop up tent is good. You'll want to get some coffee cans filled with cement to tie the tent legs to in case of wind.

Will they assign you a specific place at the market? Or is it first come, first serve for booth spaces each Saturday? Once you are there, you'll want to be in the same place every week so folks can find you. Get to know other vendors, give out sample soaps to them so they can help market your booth. Signage and a pretty display help attract folks to your booth.

Make your display multi-tiered instead of everything flat on the tables. (shipping boxes covered with fabric is easy and cheap!

I've participate in a year 'round FM for the past 4 years. (helped start it up.) 2 weeks ago I finally shut down my booth until mid-May. We don't get the customers during the winter months and I end up spending $ and 5 hours every Sat for nothing.

The market board just initiated a new weekly booth fee. Minimum $5 plus 10% of sales, maximum of $10 per week. The vendors asked for a straight yearly fee since the months from January through May are so slow (maybe 30 customers in the market the whole day).

We thought that since we would be paying booth fees during these slow months to help keep the market open all year, they would cut us a break. Nope! So I said, see ya in May! And another vendor followed suit.

It was an economic and political move on my part. The board used to be made up of business folks, chamber of commerce & vendors, but they decided 'some' of the vendors on the board weren't playing well with others. (what can I say?) so they decided the board should be made up of with only one rep from the vendors. The board was suppose to solicit $ businesses and find us grants .... I won't go into all of it, but let's just say our $10 in the bank was spent by the board in 2 years for 'special projects' and now we don't have $ to pay utilities.