It is true what they say about a business' name and reputation being spread more by word of mouth than by blatant advertising. My attempts at blatant advertising in the only venue for which I can advertise, Facebook, have led to ZERO sales this holiday season. Zero. Nada. Zilch. I checked the statistics over at the Etsy apothecary and found that over the past 12 months, 38 individuals arrived via FB, and of those 38, less than five purchased from the shop, and none of those has been in the last three months. So again I ask, what's FB good for in terms of small business? Nothing. Not a flippin' thing. Oh, well, except to keep some of your friends updated on the fact that you are indeed still in business. The good news is that the Twitter peeks are picking up.
For kicks I mixed together a little Yule Incense using common smells we experience this time of year -- ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and then added a little bit of punch to the mix by adding in freshly ground black pepper. No eo's, a bit of makko, and they're good to go. Not selling them, though. I'm adding them to orders, about three little buttons of intensely fragrant hand crafted incense go into each and every order until I run out.
Can you believe I still do not have a proper incense burner? My few attempts at buying a nice electric burner have been thwarted -- no details, just saying blockage was present and prevented follow through. I'm currently burning all the incense on an oil burner with a wee tea light in the bottom chamber, and the incense itself resting upon a piece of aluminum foil on the top chamber. Makes for very long-lasting scents -- subtle and sublime and sneaky and sweet. The problem with this method of incensing the home is that those tea lights don't burn very long, certainly not long enough to exhaust the scent in the incense, so I'm having to go back and swap out a used up tea light for a fresh one every hour or so.
The promised butters from earlier this season did not manifest. I've run out of space here and am cutting down on some things, mostly unnecessary packaging and obsolete offerings. And focusing more and more on custom perfume oils and creating fab Kyphi and other incenses. When space is limited and small, then the number and size of the shop offerings must comply and also be limited and small.
It's rainy and windy and cold here today -- the big storm that's almost happening here on the central coast has arrived -- and I've work to do. Not to sound like a drudge, but it feels like the holiday shopping season is over for me at the Etsy apothecary and I'm already working on putting things away and inventorying what's left.
For kicks I mixed together a little Yule Incense using common smells we experience this time of year -- ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and then added a little bit of punch to the mix by adding in freshly ground black pepper. No eo's, a bit of makko, and they're good to go. Not selling them, though. I'm adding them to orders, about three little buttons of intensely fragrant hand crafted incense go into each and every order until I run out.
Can you believe I still do not have a proper incense burner? My few attempts at buying a nice electric burner have been thwarted -- no details, just saying blockage was present and prevented follow through. I'm currently burning all the incense on an oil burner with a wee tea light in the bottom chamber, and the incense itself resting upon a piece of aluminum foil on the top chamber. Makes for very long-lasting scents -- subtle and sublime and sneaky and sweet. The problem with this method of incensing the home is that those tea lights don't burn very long, certainly not long enough to exhaust the scent in the incense, so I'm having to go back and swap out a used up tea light for a fresh one every hour or so.
The promised butters from earlier this season did not manifest. I've run out of space here and am cutting down on some things, mostly unnecessary packaging and obsolete offerings. And focusing more and more on custom perfume oils and creating fab Kyphi and other incenses. When space is limited and small, then the number and size of the shop offerings must comply and also be limited and small.
It's rainy and windy and cold here today -- the big storm that's almost happening here on the central coast has arrived -- and I've work to do. Not to sound like a drudge, but it feels like the holiday shopping season is over for me at the Etsy apothecary and I'm already working on putting things away and inventorying what's left.
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