Saving Time = Making More Profit!

With “Silly Season” just around the corner I thought this month I’d share some tips on the most efficient way to make your products to minimize the time spent making them. This should help you to maximize your profits. I also will provide some tips on displaying product for retail sale. I personally do about 95% wholesale and I no longer do craft shows but I did them for many years. This will help the person doing smaller shows, larger shows, home parties and especially those wholesaling their products.

To start, master-batch everything you make! This will save SO much time in the long run it’s crazy! The second thing is never make a single one of anything. I have what I call the rule of three. If I am making anything, whether for wholesale or retail, I always make three. That means three of the exact same product. For example when I sell my candles wholesale, I require a full case purchase and you must order in multiples of three. That rule of three has saved me so much time I can’t begin to tell you!

For soap making, I master batch my oils. Instead of measuring & melting a batch worth of each of the oils in my recipe, I FILL a bucket that has a lid (I got this from soap oils years ago) and I fill it with enough of the blended oil to make 16 batches of soap at one time. Think about this. If I were to weigh & melt oils for one batch of soap, the time spent wouldn’t be much different than doing it for 16 batches and then when I go to soap, the oil is ready. I just have to scoop and weigh what I actually need. I also do the same when making my lye solution. Instead of weighing out for a single batch, I take one to two full 2 pound cans per pitcher and make them up so I have plenty of lye for each soaping session, not just for one batch! This really speeds things along when making soap! The photo above shows a single session of soaping for me, on this particular day, I made 23 logs of soap that each have 3 pounds of soap oil in them.

When making candles and melts is is the same thing, I make everything in three. If I am making pillars, jars, melts. It's three of the same size in the same scent. It really takes no more time and then I have the extra on hand OR in the case of wholesale I saved time by NOT making one of a kind. Big companies don't let you buy ones and two of an item wholesale and small companies should be no different. You will end up spending far too much time making and not enough earning a profit! Profit is the name of the game! For candles, to best maximize time and profit be sure you can melt enough wax quickly enough. For the small crafter, a few Presto Kitchen Kettles will do a fine job. They each melt about 7-8 lbs of wax every 15-20 minutes. If larger, you are best off with a commercial wax melter ranging from 80-300 lbs depending on your daily volume. (Bitter Creek South sells a full range of commercial melters!) Here is an average batch of pillar candles for me. Note, three of each size/scent and two sizes of each. It makes it SO much easier to be able to do this in volume! So much faster!

Now that we've got the how to make it it's about how to display it! When you walk into a store, have you ever noticed how appealing a "FULL" shelf is versus an "EMPTY" or picked over shelf? It's true, people LOVE to see more, not less of an item. A full store is a happy store and happy stores make for happy shoppers! The same rule I have for three's also applies to stocking your product for craft shows and in stores. Always make in threes, sixes etc. and display the same. Full shelves! It also helps to use sales tactics to get people to buy in three. For example, if you have ever been to the large chain bath and body store...they like to sell a buy three get three free. Use these same tactics! They work! I always did jelly/mason jar candles and found that if I did buy one for $10, two for $9 or 3 for $8 each I 95% of the time sold three. Now I made a few bucks less but I made up for it on volume! The same applied to lotion, body wash, soap...everything! It really works great!

I hope all the BC customers are all having a safe summer and that the current show circut is doing great for you all. Remember to order you supplies for the Christmas rush early! We don't often run out of things but it's hard when we do. Ordering early will ensure you and your customer always have what is needed!

Happy Crafting!
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