Spending More Time For The Business

I have taken one task today on my other blog. I will take another one tomorrow when I have the chance. I don't want to take many because it can be bad for my blog. The tasks are very relevant to my content so I don't mind puting their links.

When I dont have any order tomorrow, I will take one or two task.

Anyway, I am glad that we don't have overtime at work. Not that I dont need money, but I need the time for my business.

Even if I know, thatI will make more money for doing over time at work, I still believe that spending more time for my products and website is more important in the long run.

Dreaming For Sucess

I have one big order again. It's hard to have a business and at the same time work full-time in a company. But everytime I see customers coming back for bigger order, after ordering some samples of my products, it really inspire to continue working hard for my business.

Some people in my real world keep raising their eyebrow instead of giving their support. There are realy people who just can't be happy for someone. But do I have to mind this kind of people? I really think they are just jealous to see people who have dreams and working hard to reach those dreams, because they don't know how to dream. Or they probably dreams but they just don't know when, where and how to work on reaching those dreams.

Well, I feel so sorry for them. I run my daily living on earth full of hopes and dreams. This always made me look forward waking up another day.

Feeling Of Success

I have two orders today and I will ship it tomorrow. I am so happy with the continous progress of my business. As much as I am trying not to be too anxious about the thought of big success, but with all the progress that I can see on my online business, I can't help but feel a big success ahead of me. I really hope that this will continue to grow.

I can see myself running a small natural cosmetics manufacturing in about 3 to 5 years more. And even more after that. Ahhhh!! I can't wait to see myself on that day.

Over Spending For My Business

The profit income of my online business is still negative as of today because I bought a lot of tools that I need for myself and for the improvement of my products. I bought basic soap and candle making books to give me an idea how to start making my own soaps and candles.

Soap Making is fun, but with my busy schedule, I might stay in using the soap base of my supplier until I am ready to start making my own.

I always use tealight candles and with my busy schedule, I can't find candles made from natural ingredients off the interner or within Canada so I thought of buying the candle making book to start making my own natural candles for my personal and business use. Then I realized that my supplier's tealight candle is made from pure palm vegetable oil, and some of their candles are made from beeswax. Woolaaaa..

I dont have to struggle experimenting on making my own candle too, as of yet. So I bought 2 cases of tealight candles from my supplier for my personal use and at the same time, posted it on my webstore to sell.

So I over spend using the money I made from this month. Oh well, business is not just receiving money, but also for spending. I hope to have more sales before the end of this month.

Waiting For More Sales

I want to order about 4 more lipstick mold and the lipstick tubes but I still don't have enough money on my paypal. I also want to start paying for about 5 blog advertising campaign at least once a month to gain higher page rank on some of my pages. I don't want to use any money from my own savings, so I need to wait until I have enough money on my paypal.

I am getting more and more traffic that's why I am spending longer hours answering email inquiries. I am also receiving some phonecalls inquiring about my products in and out of Canada.

I shouldn't be contented on this progress. I need to work harder to make it all happen. Everything don't happen in one blink of an eye. It takes time and a lot of hard work. Right?...

Saving Space at Home For Business

I am done arranging a space in my basement for my products. It feels so comfortable creating products where all the tools and ingredients are in one place. I don't have to go up and down from my room to the kitchen and basement. Everything is in one place. I only have to use the kitchen for making soaps and lip products.

I can imagine how more comfortable it is to work on my products to the house that we purchased since there is a separate kitchen in the basement, which I will be using for my business. I can't wait until we move.

If you are running a business, it is important to save enough space for your products. It is important to separate things that you use for business from your personal things. It also save time in creating products.

Investing For My Products

The closing date for the house that we purchased has been move. So we might be moving in about 3 to 4 weeks more. And since we will be staying in our old address for another 3 to 4 weeks, I thought of ordering some of the toold ans ingredients that I need for my business.

I still can't see any profit on my busines because the money I am receiving goes to investing to some tools and ingredients that I need for my products.

Most of the orders that I have been receiving lately ar skin care products than Mineral Makeups. The problem about my skin care products is that, my supplier require a minimum order of $50.00. So when I received one or 2 orders worth $30.00, I have to spend $50.00 to my supplier. However, The product that worth $50.00 will not be a wasteed since it goes to my investment. So when I receive another order, I can use the remaining products/ingredients that I bought from the $50.00 worth order from my supplier.

The thing is, my business is still small and I still don't have regular orders. So I still can't invest that much money for big batches of ingredients to my supplier. I also can not stock big orders of ingredients because Natural Skin Care Products have shorter shelf life. But since I can see which of my skin care products are mostly being ordered, I might spend bigger amount as investment to some of my skin care products. Beside I personally use all my products.

Business Sales Income and Expenses

I ended the month of January with negative balance because I didn't include my sales for the year 2009. But my sales for the months of January have increased compare to the biggest month sales I have last year.

I really hope that my sales will continue to grow each months so I can save money for my plan of sending flyers this Spring or Summer.

I don't know how much will it cost for the flyer or offline advertising, but I hope I can raise money for these through my webstore's sales. I don't want to use any of my family income for this business because, because I've spend enough to start this business. So whatever money this business can save, thats' the only amount I will use for whatever business expenses it needs.

But so far, I have completed all the basic tools and ingredients I need for my products from my last year's sales. I really hope that I can use the sales for this year both for the business and personal use.

I Can't Wait To Move For My Business

I am really excited to move to our new house. I can't wait to set up the basement for my business. I can't wait to start the Product Viewing Campaign. I can't wait to work on the things I will need in preparation for the Making Mineral Makeup Workshop.

I have a lot of ideas for my products and I have been wanting to make all of it every weekend. But it made me so lazy just thinking about how I will go down to the basement and when I forget something, so I have to go up again into my room to get the tools or ingredients that I forget. And sometimes, I have to use our stove or kitchen in making natural cosmetics.

Going up and down is really uninspiring!!! I thought of arranging and setting up my business in the basement but since we are moving, I only have few weeks to wait until I can put everything in one place.

The house that we purchased have separate kitchen in the basement. So I am pretty sure that I will be spending most of my time in the basement to work on my products. I will be able to offer new products and ideas to my customers. I can't wait!!

Busy Days For My Business

I am so busy, busy and busy with so many things. First, the time in finding a house just eaten up my weekend making me abandon some of my regular weekend work routine. Second, I have one big order that I process for two days that eaten up my time to work on my blogs and website. Third, we have a mandatory overtime at work so I have no choice but to only have one weekend to work on my online business, which is not enough since I have other things to do for my family.

My laundry is waiting for me downstairs and I still have no energy to go down to start working on it. I might do it in a while. I just need to blog about my thought to release some stress.

I quickly posted one product on my webstore, just to updated my customers about my new product. Because I really think it is important to let your customer know that your business is continously producing new ideas.

I will be busy for the next three weeks since we are scheduled to work for three consecutive Saturday to cope up with the orders. I will try my best to do the things I need to do for my business and at the same time, do my regular online routine while doing my regular household work.

This is how busy my life is. Am I happy doing this?.. You should see me while I am processing that one big order with a big smile on my face. I just can't wait to finished making everything so I can shipped all of them so the customer will received it and be happy with my products.

Responding To Incomplete Orders

The traffic statistics of my webstore is getting better each month. I have 3 incomplete order today so I have to contact them to know what made them not to complete the order. I want to know if or what problem did they encounter so make them dicide not to complete this order.

It is good to try knowing what your customer have in mind. Some may respond and some may not. Some may even come back to complete the order.

Even if they did not come back to complete the order, it will be good to hear the problem that they encounter so you will know how to improve your service and products.

And even if they didn't respond at all, it will still be good to contact them and let them know that everything is being monitored on your business and you are always there to serve them in any way you can.

Hoping For The Bright Light

Gosh, I still don't have any order for this year. But I am glad there are few offers for my blogs. At least I have extra income to save for my plans. I need to save money for my plan of sending flyers. Everytime I am not receiving any order, I feel somewhat discourage. But I want to set aside that feelings because I want to focus my mind in finding a house.

This is going to be a challenge for me and my husband because we are not sure if we can ever sell our townhouse. The equity goes down because of the greedy people from the administrator of the complex. I guess, we are one of the thousand homeowners who were very UNLUCKY to be on this situation. But right now, we have to move on and start another life with another house to take care of. We lost a lot, and it's really painful to think about it. But what can we do but pray hard that this time, will be a different story.

I really hope that there will be a bright side after this storm in our life; that there is a good fortune in return. And I really hope that my business is the answer.

Easy Email Marketing For Your Business

I find those spam emails very annoying. But believe it or not, some emails from unknown senders can sometimes catch my attention specially if the title is very interesting. If you have a business and don't know how to create an effective email newsletter, you might be missing so much for your business. Because email marketing is one of the most effective way to market your products.

iContact was created to make direct email marketing easy for eveyone. Whether you have a small or big company, iContact email marketing solution will give you the power to create permission-based email newsletters, surveys, and autoresponders with 98-99% deliverability. They provide many Sophisticated Features into a Single, Affordable Product.

It can create the newsletter in FrontPage and transfer the code, and everything is set to go. You can upload a mailing list every month. All duplicates and unsubscribes are removed automatically.

Unworthy Google Adwords, But It's Good To Try

Before, I thought Google Adwords will give a significant impact on my business like any other online business do. I have to prepare my products with the thought that I will receive numbers of order but, I never did.

Every result of advertising or marketing strategy are different from each business. Some business find Google Adwords worthy in boosting their sales and get regular customers specially for new business. But I find it unworthy to spend time and money for something that I am not sure when and how it will work for my business.

I find it nonsense to work and learn double time while I am slowly loosing money learning it on how it will work for my business. So I thought it's more worthy to spend time learning how SEO work for free marketing of my products. And it worked, but patience is the best enemy.

All orders and traffic that my webstore is receiving after 6 months, are coming from organic search and are mostly coming from my blogs.

I am planning to spend money in sending flyers and like Google Adwords, it may or may not work for my business. But I always find it worthy to try something new and learn something from it.

I am getting excited to see the impact of sending fyers to my business. I can't wait to move in to the new house. I keep thinking how and where to place a small space inside the house where I can entertain customers and show my products.

I don't want to think big like I did with Google Adwords that's why I am just preparing a small space in my house incase there will be a response from interested canadian customers to see my products in person. I am crossing my fingers that this move will be different from Google Adwords.

The Progress Of My Ecommerce

This is the graph of my monthly sales for this year. Please note that I just started my business lasy January.


As you can see on the gragh, the red indicates the Sales, the green indicates the Expenses and the blue indicates the profit.

I had my first sale on the 2nd month. It was a frustrating feedback from my very first online customer with regards to the quality of my product. But I never give up from there. I continue improving the quaity of my product while working hard for the Search Engine Optimization of my webstore.

I started receiving orders and good feedbacks from customer by the month of July.

My visitors and sales went down on August when I did a major changes on my homepage and some of the pages. But the visitors started to pick up after a month, and it continously grow.

Business is unpredictable. From October to November the number of sales was actually lower but the amount of each order is bigger, than the month of August to September. Which indicate that the customers who ordered the free samples from the month of August to September were satisfied with the quality of my products so they return to order more and infact refer more customers.

My Sales was low for the month of December because I slowed down in working on my webstore and products. I didn't do much updates and marketing because I was busy with some personal activities.

The Blue Bar, shows that I have negative profit, which is very acceptable for a very new online business. My expenses are usually for the improvement of my products. But by next year, I will be spending some amount for the marketing of my products and for the improvement of the quality of my website. The lost was actually not bad for a very new online business.

I will start doing my regular updates and marketing of my products next month. I am looking forward to double my sales for the year 2010. I will work harder to do more economical marketing strategies and try to do some offline marketing to boost traffics and sales for the year 2010. I am hoping that before the end of the year 2010, there will be no BLUE bar on the graph anymore.

More Work For The Business

I am finally done with working on the Amendments for Health Canada. I also posted the CAS number on my webstore for those who are looking for more information about the ingredients of my products.

I am also done with organizing my products including the sanitation of the the jars that I ordered. I really hope that I can maintain everything for the whole year.

I wil be working on the documentation of the payment and expenses for the year 2009 just incase it will be needed in the future. I also want to see and compare the progress of my sales each year so this can be a good way.

Free Shipping Within Canada

I know a lot of customers prefer to order online that offer Free Shipping. However, due to the cost of shipping, it is hard to provide free shipping for small orders. Since I have been receiving quite big orders, I realized that I can offer Free Shipping for Orders $100 and more. However, since I am from Canada, I can only offer this Free Shipping for customers from Canada.

I am still trying to figure out if I can offer Free Shipping to USA customers and the minimum order that I can provide for Free Shipping. I really think it is fair to provide this opportunities for big orders since profit is higher.

Slowing Down Working On Ebusiness For Christmas

I will be slowing down a little on updating my blogs this coming month. I have so many parties to attend during the weekend this coming month. So I don't think I create 2 to 3 articles for each of my blogs every week this Chirtmas season. It's only during the weekend that I can concentrate of creating articles for my blogs to automatically published them within the week. But since I will be busy with my personal life for many Christmas gatherings, I have no choice but to set aside my blogging and ebusiness life.

I am also having a hard time coping up on creating new products each week to published on my webstore. I have planned to create the Natural Cream this weekend, so I can take a picture to post it on my website, but I am not sure if I can do it since I have to create soap that we will use at home. Sigh!!! I wish I have two or more body so I can do all the work that needs to be done. I can't wait for my Christmas vacation. I have so many things to do both for my family, home, and business.

Giving Attentions To Genuine Phone Call Inquiries

After the phone from our Customer who thought there is a store for my products to visit, I had another long distance call inquiring about my wholesale. People will not waste their time and money for a long distance call to inquire about my products. These inquiries are geniune so I don't mind wasting money and time to return their phonecall. However, there is no one answering the number that she left on my answering machine so I never had the chance to talk to the person.

I send her a message to the two email address that she left on my answering machine and I hope that she could get it soon. I don't want anyone like this person, to think that her inquiry was ignored.

Ahhh, I just can't wait for the day to come. Quit my full-time job and focus of making my business grow.

Great Future For My Business

I am happy with the number of phonecalls I am receiving lately. One person form Scarborough was almost near my house to see my products. I thought he is just inquiring and I never told him that my business is just an online business. He called to tell me that he is almost near our place area and asking for the direction to get to my place.

These kind of situation want me to jump to make my plans to come into reality. I really need to get my business license and start making a small area on my house to be my showroom.

I really have a strong feeling that my business will start to grow by next year. There is a great potential future ahead of me on this business and I will never stop until I reach my dreams.