Little by Little

I just spoke on the telephone to a friend that I hadn't talked to for awhile. While our husbands speak every so often, she and I just don't. Maybe we're just not telephone people? She has a 21 month old daughter, and I have a 5 1/2 year old son, so we seem to be busy with "mom" duties when the guys are talking. Last night, my husband handed the phone over to me after talking to his friend for awhile as the wife, my friend, wanted to speak to me. I had seen a photo of her and her daughter in the newspaper just that day, so was excited to chat. The photo was at an independent toy store in her town near ours, and accompanied an article about the toy store.

During the early part of our conversation, I asked for her email as I am so much more of an email person and she and I just don't see each other as much as we used to when we were single. She, in turn, asked for mine. I gave her my personal email, but mentioned I had another that was connected to my new business, Urban Botanic. She was at her computer, so she immediately pulled up my website and asked questions. She was interested in making a scent for her niece as a birthday gift. The niece had just turned 13 years old and she hadn't yet purchased a gift.

Long story short, I'm going to visit her tomorrow afternoon for her to create a scent for her niece! She may even do one for herself. She's also interested in talking about having a workshop.

What I love about Urban Botanic is that it sells itself even without someone "seeing" the product. The concept of creating something unique -- actually hands-on creating -- is so cool! While I wanted to let my friend know about my new business as I was excited, I had no intention of overloading and pressuring her for a workshop during our conversation (we continued our conversation last night talking about jobs, schools, and life in general).

Little by little, I will build this business. I've only had my kit for about a month... I need patience and shouldn't expect to have tremendous success all at once. Little by little, the word will get out and it will grow.

Chugging along

This week has primarily been taken up with catching up with my "regular" job since I was off last week doing the Mommy thing in getting Jordan ready and off to kindergarten. After the first initial breakdown in the cafeteria by him on the first full-day of kindergarten, he has taken to it quite well and loves it. He even told me yesterday that he now is getting used to his new before and after school care place -- and he only started that on Monday. Our little boy is growing up!

I am planning on blogging about the Thursday workshop. I've been processing the event for the past week... it didn't go as planned, but I learned a lot from it. In retrospect, it was okay. A learning experience. A chance to know what to do / what not to do the next time. And, I have two leads to follow up on! :-)

Last Saturday, after finding myself with a little time alone in the evening, I just took out the perfume oils and started creating. I meant to write down what I was doing, but then just started adding certain oils until I found a combo I loved. I had a little bit of shower gel left in a bottle, so I added it to it (I'd been making samples out of it prior to then). I then created another scent for a little bit of lotion I had left. Yummy! Both were leafy/floral combos. I found I liked them better the day after. Even though I am mostly a "Leafy," I love some of the florals. I just cannot let go of the Rose, Lily, Lilac, or Violet. I also love the Lavendar, which is in the Herby family. That's the great thing with Urban Botanic, though: you can go outside of what your Scent Personality is and just go with what you like! The guests at the Thursday workshop created some yummy combos that I am also itching to try, or at least experiment with. Pomegranite was a hit that night, plus Egyptian Musk.

That has to be my happiest part of being a fragrance designer for UB -- seeing people get excited and be happy with what they've created.

New UB Product!!!

Urban Botanic has announced a new product! The UB Home Collection! Now you can use the same UB perfume oils you use to create your personal perfume/lotion/shower gel/ bubble bath scent to create a personalized home fragrance.

Here is what the announcement from Urban Botanic founder, McKenna Gordon, had to say:

As you know, we have been investigating many different methods of scenting your home with UB products. We have tested everything from candles to reed diffusers, plug-ins to room sprays… we wanted to find the best way to fill your home with inviting fragrance.

In the end we found the best method to be oil warming. Your UB Perfume Oils make the most fabulous home fragrances and are safe to use in an oil warmer. We are astonished at the quality of home fragrances our products make. We probably shouldn't be so surprised, but we found the Urban Botanic Home Collection to be more fragrant and clean smelling than any candle or other form of home fragrance we'd experienced before. Ever. We can't wait for you to discover the same!

The best part is your customers can enjoy our fragrances in their home for about one-tenth the cost of candles. Not to mention UB Home Fragrances are a safer, more environmentally friendly, and a no-hassle way to scent your home.

Here's how it works:
Place 2-3 drops of your favorite UB Perfume Oil directly into our Oil Warming Plate (SKU UB470) and turn it on. Within five minutes, you'll be enjoying rich, inviting fragrance throughout your home. It takes just a few drops to scent your home for 6-8 hours. You can also turn the Warming Plate off after a period of time and the scent will linger in your home much longer than candles and other home fragrance methods.

Some highlights of the product:

1/10th the cost of candles: An average 24oz candle ($25 - $35) burns for approximately 110 hours. One bottle of UB Fragrance Oil offers over 1000 burning hours and at a much more appealing price!

Safety: No open flame.

Environmentally friendly: no soot, wax, or harsh chemicals released into the air.

Change your scent with your mood! You don't have to commit to loving your home scent for 110 hours as with a candle. With your Signature Fragrance Collection, you can change your mind on your home scent every day! Monday: Pear + Grapefruit, Tuesday: Apple + Cinnamon, Wednesday: Fig!

Other UB Home Fragrance Information:

What if my recipe is more than 3 drops?

Although it only takes a few drops of oil to scent your home, you may choose to use more drops in order to create a home fragrance recipe. For instance, you may like to warm up 3 drops of Maple Spice with 1 drop each of Vanilla and Coconut. Using a few extra drops won't waste your oil: you can turn off your Warming Plate once your home is well-scented, and then turn your Warming Plate back on the next day without adding extra oil. As long as there is still oil in your Warming Plate, you can turn it on and enjoy the fragrance.

What if I already have an oil warmer or lamp ring?

We highly recommend using the UB Warming plate. It heats UB Perfume Oils to the perfect temperature to guarantee maximum fragrance output and safety. We can't guarantee the safety or effectiveness with other oil heating devices. Customers can use other oil warmers and lamp rings at their own risk. If the customer uses a lamp ring or other device heated by a tea-light or light bulb they will experience a less detectable fragrance and possibly fewer burning hours.

The Oil Warming Plate is $19.95.

The UB Home Collection is $49.95 (Contains Oil Warming Plate, plus three perfume oils of the customer's choice. That's a value of $60.46 ,so you are saving $10.50!).

Some great news! For the month of September, all Signature Fragrance Collections ordered by customers will receive a FREE Oil Warmer Plate in their shipment. That's an added $20 value!

Please contact me by visiting my site, www.urbanbotanic.com/kim, if you are interested.