Lane
Well-Known Member
Soooo... (I hope this is the right forum to post this in...) Sorry this is so long...my mind is SPINNING right now!! If you make it to the end, I thank you!
I got an e-mail this morning from a newspaper reporter asking if I could help them with an article they are writing on soap making. At first, this thrilled me! I mean, wow, if my website was noted in an article that goes to over TWO MILLION readers (I'm in Las Vegas, Clark County area)... I mean, I can go on about the benefits of specific oils in CP, the amazing craft possibilities of MP...the benefits of ALL soap making as a whole... The benefits specific to my soap and my web site (A more 'alternative style' view on soap and it's eco benefits) Even if only a thousand people out of two million went to my website after reading an article about the benefits of such a product...
...And then the negative hit me....
I am a small time soaper, small time web designer, small time photographer... A full time wife and mother of two...How can I possible handle what could potentially come of this? I make my soap in batches of eight for crying out load! I have no crafters insurance, I never profit enough to ever have to worry about the tax aspect of it... I simply started making a product that, by word of mouth, got as big as I liked it...I know almost all of my customers, as I try to send them e-mails and chat a bit before they receive their items....I spend a lot of time making sure each and every customer receives attention from me PERSONALLY. How would this even be possible with a larger (possible much larger) customer base?
If this was happening to you... What steps would you be taking right now? What would you be thinking? And yes, I may be getting ahead of myself... but...WHOA.
I got an e-mail this morning from a newspaper reporter asking if I could help them with an article they are writing on soap making. At first, this thrilled me! I mean, wow, if my website was noted in an article that goes to over TWO MILLION readers (I'm in Las Vegas, Clark County area)... I mean, I can go on about the benefits of specific oils in CP, the amazing craft possibilities of MP...the benefits of ALL soap making as a whole... The benefits specific to my soap and my web site (A more 'alternative style' view on soap and it's eco benefits) Even if only a thousand people out of two million went to my website after reading an article about the benefits of such a product...
...And then the negative hit me....
I am a small time soaper, small time web designer, small time photographer... A full time wife and mother of two...How can I possible handle what could potentially come of this? I make my soap in batches of eight for crying out load! I have no crafters insurance, I never profit enough to ever have to worry about the tax aspect of it... I simply started making a product that, by word of mouth, got as big as I liked it...I know almost all of my customers, as I try to send them e-mails and chat a bit before they receive their items....I spend a lot of time making sure each and every customer receives attention from me PERSONALLY. How would this even be possible with a larger (possible much larger) customer base?
If this was happening to you... What steps would you be taking right now? What would you be thinking? And yes, I may be getting ahead of myself... but...WHOA.