It's been almost 2 years since I started WickedSoaps and it's been a spectacular ride and quite the learning experience. Running a business while running your life (job, kids, relationships, etc) can be a huge undertaking and sometimes things get out of line. Perhaps that's not the best way to put it. The bottom line is, WickedSoaps started to spin a bit out of control. It wasn't cohesive and organized. It didn't have the look, the branding, the appeal, that
cohesiveness that I originally envisioned when I started the company and see in other successful handmade businesses.
The first step was a new logo and branding. I had no idea what exactly I wanted, except for something different. My search for a new look began with Etsy. After years of being part of the Etsy community, I knew it was a hotbed of creativity and there were plenty of graphic designers selling their services there.
After many weeks searching and browsing through shops and work, I stumbled upon a little gem of a shop by the name of
The Grapevine Gallery. I contacted Terra, owner, operator and artist extraordinaire and the rest is history. She worked with me and turned my vision for WickedSoaps into reality. To say she did an amazing job would be an understatement. I cannot tell you how much I love her work. She provided me with not only a new logo, but a new banner for my Etsy shop (and blog), an avatar icon, and a business card template.
My next step was to take the spectacular new logo and apply it to my packaging. All new labels for every product I carry. I'm still in the process of this, but it brings me back to my original point...my shop and business was unorganized. I had over 50 kinds of soap listed...over 20 scents of lotion...so much in my shop that there was no way I could keep enough pre-made stock on hand, which has meant constantly scrambling to make items to fill orders. Part of the Wicked Overhaul is culling the herd. Sometimes less is more. I've said goodbye to quite a few soaps, sugar scrubs, scrub cubes, and lotions
(speaking of lotions, I've kicked my pre-made base to the curb and am 99% finished with the creation of my own handmade-from-scratch lotion! It will be available within the next week, stay tuned!) and kept popular scents and am starting to add some fantastic new choices.
I'm still in the process of overhauling WickedSoaps, slowly but surely. You'll see photos replaced by new ones, labels being replaced, and importantly, new fantastic products making their way into my line-up. But stick with me kids...I'm going to turn this thing into something I can be more than proud of and a business you'll want to recommend to friends!
