Ethics. Big word in business, but really, it all boils down to a rather simple concept of always trying to do what’s right. What I’m writing about next is primarily to do with my wholesale accounts.
Often we are told not to daydream for the sake of getting things done in the here and now.
But can you imagine what our world would be like, if it weren’t for the few great individuals who doggedly turned their dreams into reality?
Have a think about that.
For myself, I’ve decided that I’m going to set aside one solid hour every day devoted solely to dreaming—about anything really. Like how different the world could be once my dad’s project takes off and its adoption becomes widespread. What my children will be like when they grow up, and what part I can play to help them find their own feet to become responsible, productive citizens. Or how I’m going to kit out my very own soap studio. 
If don’t already do this, then I strongly encourage you to try and make a habit out of it. When you were small, chances are your imagination ran wild—because that is just what children do—and remember how nothing was impossible then. Don’t lose that ability. You’ll be amazed what you’ll be capable of.
Okay, I’ve got a happy problem—the only soap I have that’s ready for sale is Goats Milk and Patchouli. Everything else, believe it or not, has been sold out, and new batches are out on the curing racks right now:
These will be ready in the final week of August. And I’m not through with this round of production yet! There are still more to come. I’m trying my bestest to keep up with production, scheduling a batch every 2-3 days. It’s hectic but there’s no denying I’m enjoying the challenge. 
With the new wholesale orders (and lovely new customers, hello there!) coming in, I’m making adjustments to my estimations of what to make, how much and when.
So I do apologise if you were thinking of getting soap this week—could you hold out for another week or two? All I have at the moment are the 30g sample-sized soaps for the Sampler Pack of 3. If you’d like to go ahead and place your order, please do—I’ll reserve your soap for you and will advise on the earliest date I can have them delivered to you.
At the root of all this excitement and activity is the fact that you have played a tremendous role in supporting what I do. Thank you for your affinity towards my all-natural soap, and you can be sure that I’ll always have the best of interest at heart for your skin’s wellbeing. I’m grateful and humbled.
Phwoar. I’ve enjoyed every moment of each day for the past few weeks, but oh my, the amount of things I end up cramming into my 24 hours is approaching near ridiculous. Even finding time to reply e-mails has proven to be tricky! Thank you for your patience—you guys know who you are.
Anyway, just to let you know that I’ve finally managed to squeeze in some soaping sessions to put these on the curing rack:
- Tangy Lavender (ready by 23rd July 2010)
- DreamTime (ready by 27 July 2010)
- Summer Fizz (ready by 30 July 2010)
I’ve also had to stock up on my essential oils to cater to some wholesale orders and enquiries I’ve received. As a bootstrapping operation it hurts when you know that you could have gotten a much better deal if you bought supplies in bulk… but at the end of the day, managing cashflow is all important to a small business’s survival. There’s no doubt that the old adage of ‘cash is king’ rings true!
Apart from that, we’re enjoying moments like these:
From left to right: my dad, Brandon, my brother, his wife, and Andrea. That was taken after a home-cooked bak kut teh dinner at our place, the first meal I cooked for my dad and brother since I got out of confinement. The kids adore their uncle and aunt, and vice versa. Grandpa is always tickled pink by the things that Brandon and Andrea say.
It’s all good, but I can’t help but think that my mom’s missing from the photograph. I do miss her so.
…
Alright then, it’s back to work!
Say hello to Reuben, our newest little love bucket. 
He’s grown so much in just one month!
Starting Thursday, June 24th, my confinement period is officially over and I will be moving back to our home. It’s been a blissful time of having peace and quiet for the better part of the days, taking my time to get to know Reuben, and catching up on rest.
Initially, a few days after my delivery I was psyched up to jump straight back into the soap business. Now I know better! So I do hope that you’ll bear with me as the family adjusts to our new routine, and I figure out how to manage my time between the household and Kinder Soaps.
To all who have placed orders with me during this past month, thank you so much for your patience and kind words. I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I can about your soap, but please forgive me for any delays that may crop up.
Oops, it’s time to feed Reuben.
Given Malaysia’s generally high levels of humidity, I’m wondering whether it’s actually safe to leave my stock of soap in their cotton muslin bags for long periods of time to continue curing past their usual 4 weeks on the drying rack.
So I’m going to try this out: I’ve picked a few bars of my new batches of soap to be dressed up in their cotton muslin bags, and am allowing them to sit amongst their other — uhm, brothers and sisters? — to cure in open air, as is normally done. Every 3 days I’ll be checking in in these dressed soaps to see whether anything funny starts growing on the surface of the bars or the bags.
The reason why I’m concerned about this is two-fold. Firstly of course is my customers’ safety. I don’t ever want to send you a bar of mouldy soap! I’m taking as much precautions as I can especially since everything I have in the store doesn’t contain artificial forms of preservation.
Secondly is to do with production efficiency and storage. I’m still figuring out how many bars I have to churn out and at what frequency to ensure a steady supply of soap. It’s tricky business trying to ensure that I don’t end up having too little or too much stock. Too little means I can’t meet demand, and too much means having valuable storage space being occupied, and soaps losing their fragrance because of essential oils evaporating since I don’t shrink-wrap them in plastic.
An alternative to continuous air-drying past the normal 4-week curing time is storing my soap in air-tight containers with silica gel to keep them dry. I am already trying this out. So far no mould has shown up (my soap has been in there for about a month or more now) but having to constantly check and replace the gel is proving to be a bit of a pain.
Ah well, let’s see how the next few weeks go.
Wanna know what it took for me to prepare 20 of these cute little gift packs of 4 soap bars each? In a nutshell, as a mom of 2 toddlers around whom the world can be construed as an accident waiting to happen, I can only safely (and sanely) do work like this when they’re both asleep at night. :”> So here’s how I went about it.
When I first got a confirmation on Shazmin’s order (thank you SO much my dear, you helped make Kinder Soaps’ new year start with a bang!) for 20 custom-made gift packs, I made a shopping list of all the stuff I’d need for the project, namely:
- 20 new flower pots
- red netting
- white netting
- get new soap labels done at my neighbourhood printer (Lap Soon is an AWESOME digital print shop!)
I had to get to work pronto, as Shazmin’s daughter’s birthday party was on Sunday morning and she confirmed her order on Thursday. So my Friday was jam-packed with errands. It looked like this:
- 8:30am Send Brandon to playschool
- Do house chores and entertain Andrea at home
- 10:30am Put Andrea to bed
- 12:00pm Get dressed, wake Andrea, bustle her into the car to go fetch Brandon from playschool
- 12:30pm Settle the kids at in-laws’ home for the afternoon
- 1:00pm Head over to Lap Soon to print and trim labels
- 2:00pm Zoom off to IKEA to buy pots and netting after lunch at the Curve
- 4:00pm Zoom back home for a short break
- 6:30pm Meet hubby and kids at in-laws’ for dinner
- 9:30pm Come home and put the kids to bed
- 10:30pm Start work on gift packs
First was the labeling, which I did at our dining table (it’s the only area that’s large enough to accommodate all my junk. Then once all the soap bars were neatly arranged in piles on the table I started filling in the pots with their contents:
And once they were done I arranged them on the floor by the piano:
Then came the final wrapping up in white netting to hold all the contents together. I’m very glad I can avoid having to resort to plastic shrink wrapping as most conventional gift packs are done up. Oh alright, it wasn’t really an option to begin with since I don’t have the means or know-how to get the equipment to do shrink wrapping in the first place! 
But yeah, I’m glad I can use netting instead—and to good effect as well:
Hubby took this photo of me at about 12:15am. This was by far the toughest part of the night, as I had to sit on the floor for about an hour to put the finishing touches to the gift packs. I was sitting on a low foot stool to help keep my back straight—but with my 4-month-old baby bump it was still a real challenge to stay comfortable in that position! But I really was happy at work, so that kept the cursing at bay. The floor work included cutting up the huge swathes of white netting to wrap the pots in, arranging them nicely on the floor, then finishing off the pots with little red ribbons to neaten the tops of each gift pack.
And that was my first experience doing a large gift pack order at such short notice! I had a tremendous amount of fun in the process, but to be honest after that experience, I am even more conscious about listening to my body’s rest signals especially now that I’m pregnant. On Saturday I was still on a high from completing the job, but come Sunday I zombied through most of my hours spent with the kids.
However, all things considered, a little madness like this is what makes life SO enjoyable! What do You do to keep you excited about your life?
Two weeks ago I had the privilege of teaching a group of Mon women how to make soap. A big thank-you goes out to Kristina Lakhiani who pulled the group together for the activity. At first I thought it would be a one-off affair for the refugees, but some really exciting long-term plans are in store for them and Kinder Soaps.
I’ve been wanting to share with you some of the lessons I have (and am still learning) as a very green entrepreneur. Although it has been largely introspective thus far, I reckon that by giving my thoughts a written voice, not only would I remind myself how I have grown, but perhaps I could help some people out there who are thinking of starting their own business too.
Most of what you’ll find in this series, I expect, would be my experiences and what I got out of them. They aren’t by any means an expert’s advice, but rather a peek into how one young entrepreneur, a mother of two toddlers, grapples with the business of making and selling handmade soap.
So to get the ball rolling in this inaugural post of Reality Bites, I’d like to talk about time management.
Recent Comments