Your candle or soap business is rolling in the dough. Your candle or soap business that you have started from the ground up in your basement or kitchen is NOW paying for family vacations, your mortgage, a new car. Maybe even giving you the ability to hire help.
Is that your dream for your business? Are you there or taking the steps to get your candle or soap business to a self-sufficient level?
You maybe thinking you are running a soap or candle business, but in fact it is a hobby in disguise.
Leave it to me to give you a vocabulary lesson, but I think it helps when you understand what each means.
- Hobby – pursuit outside one’s regular occupation engaged in especially for relation
- Business – 1. purposeful activity 2. commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood.
Here are some warning signs that will help you decide whether or not you are running your business like a hobby.
- You take your business through emotional tangents. You don’t see projects or products through from start to profit. You get excited about a new project, but then get side tracked and start another project.
- You are not making a dime. Your personal income is actually sustaining your business
- Don’t have regular set times to work
- Not marketing or selling your products
- Not doing the research necessary to see if there is an interest in what you are making.
Here are some easy ways to transition your hobby into a business.
- Make a spread sheet of business expenses and sales. Be vigilant on managing your business money.
- Make wise decisions on research and making sure that your decisions line up with your business goals. They should not be decisions based on emotions. Each decision should get you one step closer to your business goals.
- Set up a plan to market and sell your candles and soaps.
- Need a checks and balance system
- Set up specific times to work. Be disciplined
- Set up a daily plan and tackle that plan before you start twittering, facebooking, emailing and whatever else may take your focus off your business
- Focus, focus, focus!
Your soap or candle business requires a lot from you. It requires you to wear many hats. You need play boss, manager, book keeper, marketer, sales representative, and delegater. It requires disciplined action to get you closer to your goal.
Many Blessings,
P.S. If you are interested, I invested in an online service called Your Webtech Team . They have helped me out with the online aspect of my business. It is great. I have more time to design and provide better customer service. Check them out!