Fifth Birthday

Since beginning the Skinflint brand and selling my first product at a market day, I haven't celebrated any milestones.

I realised recently that this October will be the fifth birthday for Skinflint. The day I started was a fund raiser for Pink Day, held by our local community. I did Hand Spas for a gold coin donation to the cause. I can't remember how much I made for the Pink Day, but I was still going well after every other stall had packed up for the night. It was the warmest October for a very long time and my Sugar Scrubs were starting to melt by 2pm! My daughter helped me and we sold hundreds of dollars worth of products.

The most popular were the gift packs with Mineral Salts, Sugar Scrub and Body Butter. They looked and smelled wonderful. And boy, were they a pain to make! I had about 8 different fragrances and would make two sizes in each fragrance. I was forever making these products in small quantities to get the stock of fragrances on the shelf. It was a nightmare and led to the deletion of the Body Butter being made in a variety of fragrances.Then, finally the deletion of the Sugar Scrub and Mineral Salts.

The Sugar Scrub melted in summer and set like a rock in winter, so I had to have a different formula for each season. One time, ants got into the bucket of sugar while we were away on holidays as the lid wasn't completely sealed. I had to throw away about ten kilos of ant infested sugar!

The Mineral Salts would take me so long to make and I was constantly buying the special sea salt, picking it up from Perth because it cost too much to deliver kilos of the stuff by post.
I went through litres of expensive fragrance oils, always changing fragrances as people kept asking for different ones. I would listen to one or two people who would ask for a particular fragrance and twist myself in knots finding it and introducing it!

I was always influenced by people who would ask me to make something - a substitute for Dencorub, a substitute for Vaseline or Vicks Vapour rub, or a peppermint foot cream, something to heal eczema, anti dandruff shampoo, nappy rash cream, sunscreen, insect repellent, the list goes on and on. Some of these products made it on to the shelves, but weren't big sellers. The people who asked me to make them would suddenly forget the need they had at the time.

I love looking back at my old formulae and notes. In this business, you must notate everything. Sometimes, in the early days I'd forget to write down the essential oil blend used in a particular product and it would be lost forever. I now write it all down. Every success and every mistake is noted in my trusty book. Every batch is recorded and notes are kept if necessary.

Prior to starting the selling process, I spent two years making and researching. When I thought I had a good enough product, I'd ask for testers to trial and report back to me. Some people were fantastic, filling in the forms I sent and writing notes on their opinions. But, I can't count the amount of people who I sent test products to who never ever responded, just kept the (full-sized) products and carried on.

So much has changed for my little business. The products have changed, the logo, the colour scheme, the online store, the workshop and display areas. I have a very loyal band of customers who have supported me by buying my products for years as well as telling their friends and family about them.

Word of mouth is, by far, the very best method of advertising. I've spent countless $$$ advertising in various ways to find no real return for that money. Facebook is a great way to reach my customers quickly and my blog is a permanent record of what's happening in the workshop.

So, to celebrate five years in business, I've decided to give some thing very valuable away. Not a product, not a gift pack or anything like that. Instead, over the next month I'll be posting my precious formulae for the products I no longer make. Now, I know that not many of you will want to go out and make these products, but there are a few who will and this is a way to share the gift around. Another way I will mark this milestone is to donate money to the National Breast Cancer Foundation on behalf of all my customers.

In October, I always donate products to raise money for the cause close to my heart, Breast Cancer Research. My mother was a Breast Cancer survivor and I dedicate my business to her and to the fight she put up for most of her life battling cancer in a number of different guises, finally succumbing at the grand age of 81. This year, I'll be donating half the proceeds of every sale of soap in the month of October. I will keep a running tally on Facebook, so be sure to check in. If you would like to increase the donation amount, you only need to purchase some Skinflint Soap, easy as that.