She Ate My Soap

This past weekend, I took the plunge and sold my homemade soap at my church's Fall Festival and Bazaar. I have mixed review about my experience, but I learned a lot and did well overall.

But first, I'll start with a funny story.

My soap is often confused with baked goods. I've heard cookies, biscuits, fudge and cheese. This does not surprise me as I have often thought the same thing looking at my soap laying around the house. As a matter of fact, I always say it's a particularly good batch if it looks "yummy". Because of this, I say the word "soap" as many times as possible in my conversations with people and my signs say "soap" as well. Well, a sweet little old lady holding her little dog came to my table. I launched into my spiel and thought she was engaged. She asked for a sample which did not surprise me in the least since I had been passing out samples all weekend. The rest happened in a combination of slow motion and fast forward. The woman was either hard of hearing or not really listening. Either way, as I saw that she was going to take a bite, I tried to stop her, but she didn't hear me. Then, I begged her to spit it out, but she still didn't understand. It wasn't until after a couple of chews, she made a horrible face and everything came together for her. We were both horribly embarrassed and kept apologizing to each other. It was a nightmare. Later, she came by with her husband. She pointed at the soap and said to him "This is not edible." I was happy to see she had a sense of humor.

There were a few glaring problems with the bazaar itself that prevented all the vendors from doing well. Problem 1: It was our church's very first bazaar. So, right off the bat, we were dealing with the unknown. Problem 2: It was not promoted well. There were little to no announcements and very few signs. Problem 3: Location, location, location. If we had been outside along with the rest of the carnival activities, we would have been more visible.

Despite the problems, I fared well (though most of the other vendors did not). I actually did a lot better than I expected I would. I had approximately 20 customers, sold completely out of one type of soap and was invited to four more craft fairs this season (I declined one). Actually, for me, the problems with the bazaar were a good thing. It was a good introduction to the business without being too stressful. I learned about which of my soaps sold and why and I studied people's reactions to my display and tactics and discovered who my most likely customers were. Now, I can tweak everything for the next three fairs and be even better prepared.

Since soap takes several weeks to cure, I have to spend the next couple of days making a bunch of soap to be ready for upcoming events. I'll probably be exhausted by Friday, but I'm excited.