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burning dollars

Several months ago I announced here, and in our company newsletter, that we were designing a new website.  After a lot of thought, we decided to put a halt to the project.

As a business owner I learned a lot through the design process.  I shared my thoughts in a discussion at www.indiebeauty.com, in this post.

Recently, as I came across several people in similar circumstances (paying for products that were not what they should have been), I felt compelled to share my web desinger negative experience with everyone, here, to even more readers.  Getting what we pay for, and not accepting less, is crucial.  Our time and money has to be well-spent.  At the beginning of a project, even during the planning stages, never ignore the red flags.  Listen to your intuition.  It will pay you back.

As far as the Annie’s Goat Hill website is concerned, we are re-vamping.  I am excited about bringing in fresh new photos, streamlining, and the re-writing of verbage.  You may even see some of the website pages moved to this blog.  This blog is the information post, the website is the online store center.  There is a system!

Onwards!

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness!

Natural is good, to a degree.  I like natural.

My husband recently developed hives and then his arms and legs began to swell.   He downed antihistamines for a few days before we sat down with a calendar and tracked the start of the itching to one particular week.  That week he went to the dentist and was prescribed antibiotics.  A few days later he quit taking the pills, blaming them for the developing welps.  A new truck also came into play.  I was the one allergic to the truck (sneezing, stuffed nose, etc…).  And then we also remembered that we had switched to hand-made natural laundry soap that very same week.  Bingo.

The natural laundry-soap helped me with my sensitivities to certain fragrances, but it certainly did not help my husband with his skin.  Once we realized the laundry soap was the culprit I immediately re-washed every fabric that he comes into contact with, and just like that, at a snap of a finger, his arms and legs quit swelling.

There is a reason we have conveniences.  There is a reason some products are commercially made.  And sometimes natural isn’t the best, not for everyone.

Yesterday someone mentioned a supplement that they wanted to try for weight loss.  My interest was piqued, and my questions followed.  How does it work with your prescriptions? What side effects does the supplement have? Has it been time-tested, or safety tested? The person replied to me, “It is all natural, it has to be good for you!” Wrong! Very, very wrong!

An all natural body cream, with no preservatives (and there is NO natural preservative that works effectively), is trouble waiting to happen.  Do you want to spread invisible fungus on your body? An all natural supplement does not guarantee safety (Google all natural supplementst that have resulted in permanent health damage and death).  A mushroom is natural, but that does not mean we can pick just any mushroom from the forest and cook it for dinner.

As I said, I like natural.  I like foods and cosmetics made from whole ingredients, but natural does not mean safe.  And natural does not mean no chemicals, every natural thing that exists on this Earth is made up of chemical compounds.  Chemistry and chemicals are not four letter words.

Buy smart.  Live smart.  Be smart.  Natural isn’t always the answer.

 

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness!

business strategy

Many years ago I became interested in football.  The player that caught my attention was quarterback Joe Montana, with the San Francisco 49’ers.  This is what I saw: strategy, control, focus and amazing accuracy.

Moving on to Indianapolis, my home-town.  A city that received the Colts in the middle of a dark and rainy night, October 31, 1984.  The team came in on buses, from Baltimore, Maryland.  With that team came running back Eric Dickerson.  I will never forget how he could simply extend an arm out to stop a play.  He was focused.  He meant business.  My eyes were glued on Eric.

I will admit, I did not watch much football this year.  Peyton Manning suffered from an injury, the Indianapolis Colts didn’t succeed well without him on the field.  But someone close to Payton did, that would be his brother Eli.

Yesterday I watched a recording of Eli Manning on the Tonight Show with David Letterman.

I did not see a football player sitting in Dave’s armchair.  I saw Eli Manning a manager.

Eli Manning with a move of a foot directs his team members to do what Eli sees fit on the field.

Eli gauges the temperature of his competitors, he gauges the placement of his players, he looks at the clock, he knows who is on the field, he knows the boundaries, he knows what has to be done, and he strategizes.

Eli Manning also knows to accommodate and make changes as needed.  He is determined.  He sticks with who he is, and what he is.

Eli may be a football player, but I see him as a leader.  He has a team.  He has a focus.  His job is very much like small business.  He knows the product that he needs to produce, and he produces it well.  When the work is done, he shakes the hands of his opponents and he stands strong to his will.

Who does not want to win the Super Bowl? The super bowl in life, that is, knowing that we have done the best that we can do.  We may not wear several MVP rings, and we may not want (nor earn) millions of dollars.  But we can move forward with focus and strategy, meeting and exceeding our life goals, but also not letting others down as we plunge through the end zone.

I want to do that.  Don’t you?

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness

goat milk body cream www.anniesgoathill.com

goat milk body cream http://www.anniesgoathill.com

No, we are not stopping production of a product, we are simply going to re-name and describe it better!

When I began the Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soap journey I was a a soap-maker, one that only wanted to make soap.  It was my passion.  Period.

After a few months of initial soap sales we decided to purchase a goat milk lotion base.  We were not happy with it.  Our thoughts, lotion manufacturing would be too difficult.  Well, we were wrong.  It was not easy, but it was not impossible either.  We did end up changing our original simple lotion formula a number of times (at last count, 8).

The final formula change included adding nourishing ingredients like jojoba oil, aloe vera and raw shea butter.  It was divine.  But, as hard as we tried, there was no thinning the end product down to a lotion consistency.  The lotion seemed to have a mind of it’s own, and now, we feel it was stubborn for a reason.

To make a long story short, we are updating our goat milk lotion description to what it really is, goat milk body cream.

It is thick, creamy, and loaded with whole ingredients that make it beautiful.

So, there’s the rest of our story…see you next time!

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness!

I can virtually hear the Ohio LOTTO machines in my ears, as the lottery tickets are scanned at the cash registers, “Winner…Winner…Winner”!

Of course, in this contest there were no stakes – no money involved, and the odds were much lower than 1 in a million.

The percentage of goat milk in Annie’s goat milk soap is 21.73%!

The winners of our Fun Fact Contest are:

Matt of Online Labels.  Matt submitted an amazing guess of 21% goat milk! Wow! I nod my head with a definite agreement at Matt’s comments:  “I would say that you would need about 21% goats milk to make a bar of your soap.  Goats milk is pretty rich so lucky 21 sounds like a realistic number.” The milk is definitely rich, and it fluctuates as the season progresses (grass-fed, hay fed, etc…).  Tricky stuff, the milk can be!

Jen submitted a guess of 18%.  Jen’s comments were, “I would adore a bar of soap…we have dairy goats and this is intriguing to me.  I am guessing 17.5%.  Thanks for the chance to win!” A dairy goat owner, thumb’s up!

Thank you for all of the entries.  Thank you to Becky of Twisted Fencepost for postponing your Farm Photo Friday to blog about our contest!

The winners will be telling us their choice of soaps once they receive our email today.  I am excited to see what they select!

Enjoy your day, everyone!

P.S. We have another contest in the wings, already outlined on paper.  Get your cameras ready, the prizes are larger, and the entries are going to be a ton of fun!

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness!

Hello!

Today is the final day for the Fun Fact Contest.

We are excited to announce that the prize has been changed to include any one bar of goat milk soap that we have in stock, your choice.

Hurry now, submit your entry via a comment to the original contest blog post!  As of right now, we have a little less than 16 hours until the contest closes.

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness!

Fun Fact Contest

Announcement:  We are way overdue for a Fun Fact Contest!

The Fun Fact Question:  What is the exact percentage of goat milk in our basic goat milk soap formula?

How to Enter the Contest: 

  • Leave a comment on this blog post, for example, “I want to win a bar of soap! My guess, your soap contains 8.57% goat milk.  Jane” Make sure you include your correct email address when leaving the comments so we can contact you.
  • One entry per person.
  • Contestant must reside within the continental United States.

Contest Dates: 

  • The contest ends 11:59 p.m., EST (Eastern Standard Time)

How The Winner Is Chosen:

  • There will be two winners! Whoever guesses the closest percentage (without going over), and the runner-up (the next closest guess without going over).

The Prize:

  • A full-sized bar of our limited-time-only Rosemary Mint goat milk soap!

Have fun!

We will announce a winner Saturday morning, February 4, 2012!

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness!

Hello All!

A quick “hi” from me, filling you in on some things we have happening at Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps.  And then, some silly sniffing of soap too (wish you had smell-a-vision)! Don’t we just love to smell soap?

Enjoy…everything!

(P.S. I do not practice for these videos.  They have been incredibly fun.  I have even bigger focused plans for more!)

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness!

Several lotion-makers have asked us, “What do you use to whip your lotions?” In our studio we use a commercial Waring stick blender.   Sharing our product review:

And a photo near the end of the lotion-making process:

 

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness!

(This is not a paid advertisement for www.waringproducts.com)

New Goat Milk Soaps

White Tea and Ginger Goat Milk Soap

White Tea and Ginger goat milk soap.

Pretty, don’t you think?

I like this one a lot.  It is tart, grassy, with an oriental tea type of aroma.

I have started the paring down of fragrance oils (the amount of bottles we counted when we moved was amazing).  I am enjoying the fun of working with pigments and new fragrances.  Who knows, these “limited time only” soaps may have to return to our store now and then.

Soon, the first round of new soaps will be ready for the soap store.  It should be enjoyable for our customers that come in and ask, “What’s new in the shop today?” I am excited!

Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps – Smell and Feel the Goodness!

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