# Did my first farmer's market today



## Dorit

the market is small and I was told that traffic was slow today however I sold 28 bars. At this point on my learning curve that is perfect. Customers commented on the colors and designs which made me happy. I forgot half the names becasue I lost my paper note as the batch traveled from station to station so I made up categories, ie, floral ambrosia, patchoulli blend, no one questioned the names. I gotta figure out a way to keep the name with the soap, lol. I'm crazy happy dance:


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## MF-Alpines

Oh, congratulations, Dorit!!! That is very exciting!

Not sure what you mean about forgetting the names, though. Are your soaps labelled?


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## Dorit

It's one of those simple tasks that I trip over, from when I pour the fragrance into the pot, write down the name on a piece of paper , lay it on the mold, when I move the soap to dry I tuck it under the soap on the shelf. By the time I move it again to wrap I lost my piece of paper and can't recall the name becasue I've been in the soap room too long and I can't tell one from another.


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## Kalne

You did great!


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## Dorit

I'm so :biggrin


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## jdranch

congrats!


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## Jenny M

Yay for you! You did well for a first market this time of year. 

I have a dry erase board up on the wall in my soap room & write down the soap & date made & then check thru it when it's wrapped & erase as I make more batches. But also usually stick a piece of paper w/name & date on the soap while it cures. You'll get a routine & eventually be able to tell one scent from another.

Do you sell unwrapped? Think about a labeling/packaging system so your customers can get the same soap when they run out & want more. There are so many ideas here. Do a search. And you can ask for ideas. Great ideas here!


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## hsmomof4

And remember that if you are making up names as you go along, your customers will expect you to remember them and they will come back and ask for the soap again...and they won't remember the name, but if you tell them the wrong one, they will somehow know it's not that! :rofl


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## [email protected]

I like the ones that come up to my booth in September and say..."I was here in June and bought a bar of soap and LOVED it, but I threw away the label.....you remember, don'cha?" :/


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## hsmomof4

Even better, is when they say that, but they bought soap from someone else, in an entirely different state!


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## Lynn_Theesfeld

Congrats!!!! It's a wonderful feeling when you do good at your first market


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## adillenal

hsmomof4 said:


> Even better, is when they say that, but they bought soap from someone else, in an entirely different state!


Ditto and especially when they pull the label out and it obviously isn't yoursand they exclaim , "BUT it's goat milk soap." Like one person makes all of the goat milk soap in the world.


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## MF-Alpines

[email protected] said:


> I like the ones that come up to my booth in September and say..."I was here in June and bought a bar of soap and LOVED it, but I threw away the label.....you remember, don'cha?" :/


LOL! Yep, I get that one all the time!!!


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## NubianSoaps.com

The best is when they start trying to describe the bar when they are down to the middle of it. The texture on the top is gone, is that red or rose clay or pink mica 

Excellent Dorit! Did you take some of your art work also?


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## Faye Farms

Or they show up on your door step with the tiniest sliver of soap franticly asking if you have more of the same scent.


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## Trysta

Way to go Dorit!!!


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## a4patch

good job!


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## Anita Martin

Get a notebook and write down your recipe every time you make soap. I keep my notebook with me when I'm making soap. It's one of those composition books so has a hard cover. I write down the recipe I used, any fragrance, colors, amounts of each, etc. At the top of each recipe I write the date. Any notes on the soap go afterwards. This way I can take the notebook with me to the computer to make my label. I try to make my labels the same day as I make the soap so I don't get so far behind. On the cure racks I tape a piece of paper with the soap name and date. When I box the soap prior to labeling, I stick the piece of paper in the box with the soaps and it stays with the soaps until they are labeled. 

This notebook is indispensible if you want to go back and re-create a recipe again, print up a new label for one that's gotten lost, etc.


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## Dorit

Great great ideas, thanks. Gotta tell you this, next day did a small show in New Orleans in a gentrified yuppy neighborhood. This smart alec guy comes up to me and says 'yeah right, where are your goats, in the back yard" he was blown away when I told him 64 miles north of here and I milk them twice a day and soon I will be acting as a midwife.......etc. He bought 4 bars and left smiling. I love doing this :rofl Didn't take my art, those vendors around me with beautiful work didn't even make their booth fee, that's why I switched, I'd rather make it quantity then wait for one customer to buy the one painting. Plus many of my soaps are little works of art, way too much fun.


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## 2Sticks

Anita Martin said:


> Get a notebook and write down your recipe every time you make soap. I keep my notebook with me when I'm making soap. It's one of those composition books so has a hard cover. I write down the recipe I used, any fragrance, colors, amounts of each, etc. At the top of each recipe I write the date. Any notes on the soap go afterwards. This way I can take the notebook with me to the computer to make my label. I try to make my labels the same day as I make the soap so I don't get so far behind. On the cure racks I tape a piece of paper with the soap name and date. When I box the soap prior to labeling, I stick the piece of paper in the box with the soaps and it stays with the soaps until they are labeled.
> 
> This notebook is indispensible if you want to go back and re-create a recipe again, print up a new label for one that's gotten lost, etc.


 :yeahthat....Where have I heard this same advice before :??? :??? :rofl


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## Dorit

blah blah blah :lol


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## Anita Martin

I've made a pact with myself to stop scratching notes on scraps of paper....No kidding, I've written several books worth of notes for everything under the sun on bits of paper, backs of bills, napkins etc, only to lose them minutes later and never see that important information again. I had to get better organized or lose my sanity!


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## MF-Alpines

The SoapMaker3 program is worth it's weight in gold. I love it. I'm like Anita, making notes on anything or even in a notebook, but then it is still so disorganized. You can make notes on each and every recipe (assuming you add the notes to begin with!) and they print out every time. I've made notes such as "pour at thinner trace" or "add more cedarwood" or whatever. Easy to change quantities without having to do the math and even the additives get changed appropriately. You can record purchases, sales, keep inventory, it's got it all. I love it!


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## Trysta

Anita Martin said:


> I've made a pact with myself to stop scratching notes on scraps of paper....No kidding, I've written several books worth of notes for everything under the sun on bits of paper, backs of bills, napkins etc, only to lose them minutes later and never see that important information again. I had to get better organized or lose my sanity!


I am wayyyyyyy ahead of you...........I already lost my sanity! :crazy2


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## Dorit

LOL, its the seemingly little things that "get your goat" :rofl


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