Now I Understand It...!

I understand why everyone loves that show True Blood. My sister and I just spent like the last week or so watching back-to-back episodes to catch up the first season. Then we watched almost the entire second season. I love that show, and after watching it I see why other people like it. The episodes are very interesting. I think the aspect of the show I like the most is the fact that the existence of vampires is open.

Okay so we agree that Bill has a certain vampire "swag" (my sis and I vowed not to use that word, and if she read it here she'd pinch me!) that makes him kinda sexy. My sister is smitten with Eric, and me? Well, my favorite vamp is no longer in the series. Don't know if I'm the only one but I thought Godric was sooo hot. Maybe cuz he was so old yet looked so young?

Ever Since Free Shipping

Sales have been picking up a great deal. As I remember the number 1 complaint from potential customers was shipping, coupled with the price of soap made them not want to buy. So, I was seriously considering keeping my prices the same and doing away with shipping costs. I may or may not raise my prices a bit to offset the cost, but if I decide to simply include shipping in the price of the item I'll definitely let it be known.

Can You Smell That?.......Well I Sure Can't!

The rigors of soapmaking are ever ongoing. During this month of Ramadan I have found it more difficult than I assumed to have the energy to really make soap consistently. The thing that really has been bothering me more so than lack of energy, has been my stagnant group of fragrances. The time has come around for me to remake some of the older scents that have sold out, so that's not a big issue. What about the new scents though? Well, lately I've found myself not really being able to spare the money to purchase a new round of fragrances. I "window shop" as it were almost daily making, then deleting, then remaking a list of fragrances that I want to buy. With the fall around the corner, I need to put my body butter sticks back on the shelf. They were a best seller over the winter and fall months, and so would be a complete fail if I didn't get them back up. As for the scents, I want oils that are appropriate for the season, but that doesn't scream Thanksgiving and Christmas. I want subtle and warm and spicy without having to fall back on the old standby's like pumpkin or pine. Though admittedly I have never used them in my lineup, so they may be worth a blend.

Well I don't know how I'm gonna pull it off, but I may be getting a little finacial boost in a couple weeks. That should be a big help in deciding exactly what kind of scents I want to go for.

Such a Long Time

Oh boy, it's been such a long time posting here, that I'm afraid no one will read me!

Nothing much has been happening, hence no posts. Over the last few months business did pick up however. Etsy, the site where I sell, decided late last year/earlier this year to create their own brand of SEO. For those of you unaware SEO= search engine optimization. It seems they buried pretty much the entire site from Google by taking up valuable keyword space, that should have otherwise been used at the discretion of each individual shop. They "spammed" the word Etsy in everyone's metatags, basically making Google's crawlers regard the entire site as a spam site. Google buries sites like that into an irrelevant supplemental search. Basically no one's shop could be successfully searched via Google or other major search engines.

Well, I guess they finally sorted that out after much wrangling by the Etsy sellers. It has taken a little while for the search engines to re-catalog the site and thusly individual shops. It must have worked because I started getting sales and views again after a very long draught.

All in all I guess I am getting quite tired of the whole Etsy site and how things are run there. It doesn't seem to run very effeciently, and they spend more energy closing threads it seems, than tending to real issues.

I'm on Twitter

Yep, and I update twitter a whole lot more than I do this blog. I'm earthtonesbath on twitter as well. So if you wanna see more updates from me more often, I suggest tweeting me.

Finally!

Finally I got some sun and took some pics. I posted new items in my shop, and more to come as long as the sunshine holds out!

Standing in the Way of My Own Success

Going into this business, or any for that matter, I knew it was not only a distinct possibility but a matter of time before I would seemingly stand in the way of my own success. As long as I'm online behind the safe haven of my flat panel display everything is fine. It's when I appear before the public that I become my own hindrance. I'm speaking about my appearance in public. It's off-putting and quite frankly takes many people off guard. It distracts them from what's on my table, and redirects their attention to me personally. Now, I guess you're saying to yourself that's silly. Why not change your clothing? That's easier said than done. You see I am a Muslim woman. That alone without the accompanying attire is enough to stop some folks in their tracks.

I wear all appropriate attire dictated by my religion. I wear a hijab (head scarf) and a veil (face covering). Yes, I wear both of those, but I'm an honest soap-maker I swear it! I wear pretty much what you see in that photo, although Sadie the bellydancer who is the lady in the photo, is a bit more beautiful about the eyes that I am. My eyes aren't quite so captivating. I assume though that you get the point. I am covered almost completely from head to toe and it is most intriguing to some.

I suppose you may be able to imagine exactly why this may present me with a unique situtation when selling things in person at a show. The big issue is that people see me. I have been wearing this attire, (and yes I wear a myriad of colors so as not to totally scare people with an all black ensamble) for about 11 years now so I am fully accustomed to stares, oohs and ahhhs, the ever-present look of disgust, the looks of pity, and the pseudo-frightful startling that I sometimes induce upon entering a room. All these things don't bother me as much as the prejudice I encounter when selling at a venue. Let me ask you reader, and you may answer this to yourself but I prefer that if you read this you answer the following in the comments section. If you saw a Muslim woman dressed as I have described, would you not buy from her based on her appearance? This is what happens to me. Whenever I go somewhere to sell the first thing I must overcome with the general public is my own attire. I must make extra efforts to strike a conversation with them to appear less intimidating. This is a small issue in itself, given that I am quite introverted and sometimes have a difficult time just striking up conversation with total strangers. However, it's a hit and miss kind of thing. Sometimes when I venture to speak I get a weird "don't-talk-to-me" look and they walk immediately away from the table. Only those people who aren't totally prejudice or thrown off actually ask the question on their mind. Usually they ask where I'm from. Well I'm from Chicago born and raised. I am an African-American and have never been overseas a day in my life. People sometimes are relieved to find that I have no foreign accent, and I can get on with the business of a sales pitch.

All this proves very difficult at times, and depending on where I am it can totally halt all sales. My best selling venture was not surprisingly at an all Muslim function. There, no one cared how I was dressed because we were all Muslim anyway. Many of the ladies knew me and I made a ton of money.

I guess I am writing this to get it off my chest and to write out loud how prejudice people are in reality. I mean your average American walking down the street has such hang ups about those who are or appear different from them, so much so that buying a product from me dressed the way I am is unthinkable. I'll keep plodding along though and never let it be something that prevents me from doing what I like, and offering a product to people that I believe in, and that I'm pretty sure they will enjoy.

Thanks for reading.