Day 11 - Sunday 7th April

Opening Balance : 771.41

Its Day 11 - I literally cant believe how quick it is all going! Scary to be honest. The support everyone is showing is still fab, but I have to up the heat on this! We have breached the £800.00 mark but we're in week 2 and I honestly aught too be £1600 already!


However this is possible and I am not giving up.

The video is live now...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs7suiLK7S4&feature=youtu.be I'm quite embarrassed by my facial expressions, but kudos to the camera person/editor/director for having the patience of a saint!!! For those that don't know this video is for my crowd funding pitch which should go live tomorrow, I’m hoping that it will give my 4k in 4weeks challenge a massive boost.

So my SUNDAY SAVER DISCOUNT CODE is SSDC only available to use on www.relaxahh.net until Midnight tonight!! lets spread this code far and wide and see how many orders can come in online. I do a world wide postage service so it doesn't matter where you are in the world I can help!

Facebook has been a fantastic tool so far, but it would be great if when you share the RelaxAhh posts you ask your friends too share too... this way the audience can grow and grow rather than just reaching the same people the whole time.

The footfall around my shop hasn't been great, I can't afford a massive marketing budget, so I have really used Facebook as my main marketing tools. There are some pro's and cons to doing this but I can't express how much it has helped so far. Nor can I express the difference that every single share makes. I am so completely depending on having an amazing network on Facebook!

I have written some Press Releases recently in the hope that I can attract some press interest. This would be a great tool of marketing and advertising.

The website is coming along nicely – nearly all of the products are now online... there are a few left to go up and then I will edit them all to add even better descriptions and a list of ingredients etc. But all of our products are natural and great for your skin, including sensitive skin. We also do a personalized service where with an e-mail to us at info@relaxahh.com we can make products to your specification and for your skin.

We haven't had any more party bookings today so if you want to join us on the 19th or the 20th April for our soapy party – its £6.00 for you and bring a friend for free. All guests will receive a goody bag too.

I have been keeping my eyes out for all sorts of ways to make money. I have been in conversations with lots of fantastic businesses who have been coming up with lots of fab ideas, so watch this space... hopefully I will be full of updates come the weekend.

Thank you all for your support – please keep it up. Thank You! :)

Closing Balance: 824.37

Day 10 - Saturday 6th April

Opening Balance: 635.70

Wow what a weird and wonderful (with a hint of low) past 24 hours. Last night I mentioned how difficult it all was at the moment, how important it was too share the blog as far and as wide as possible, and lots of you lovelies did share it so a huge thank you. The difference it made was huge, the blog readers went up by over 100, Facebook and the Website had a spurt of orders and I am immensely pleased and would quite like to give you all a hug!! Thank you, but the hard work isn't quite over. We're on Day 10 and I need to keep upping the anti. 

As you probably know yesterday was really tough and I was really deflated, but this lovely comment cheered me up no end, 

"I know it's hard not to be deflated but keep going. You have lots of support from everyone and we're all routing for you as much for our sake as fellow small businesses as for yours. If you can do it so can we. Have faith :))"

This really has given me another boost of energy because that is so true. I want to prove it is possible, not just to rescue my business but also to show other businesses not to give up, keep at it, try new things, market yourself effectively and anything is possible. I am a big believer that if you dream it you can achieve it... (now I hope that my beliefs are proved right)

I have quite literally cried through my day today, there were a few stressed tears, at the sight of a business rate bill, that has resulted in a potential liability order when I'm supposed to be under Business Tax Relief, but also tears of such laughter.... we started to make a crowdfunder video today. I am not naturally good at talking into a camera to put it lightly... Its a simple strait forward video - but that's not to say I don't want to create an awesome 1950's promotional video, but time and resources are not on my side. The out-take videos are just so funny I may have to upload those as well!! 

I have declared the reward system that will go onto my Crowd Funder Pitch as well. After all I'm not after 'donations'! I'm after making my business work.

On other news the new website is live on www.relaxahh.net and will soon be live and taking over www.relaxahh.com. Both sites can be used to save confusion.

If you'd like to join our Soapy Party being held on the eve of 19th and afternoon of the 20th then please send an e-mail or a PM to www.facebook.com/relaxahh or info@relaxahh.com 

Lets keep spreading the word, lets make it reach Timbuktu and beyond! :) Thank You everyone. 

Closing Balance: 771.41

Day 9 - Friday 5th April

Opening Balance: 615.22

Well its Day 9 and I'm not the happiest bunny in the world. Today a grand total of £20.48. In order to achieve £4000 I had to make on average £153.00 a day. Unfortunately we have only hit that once during the last 9 days. I'm trying not to feel too deflated but unfortunately I am. I don't want to give up, I still believe that it is possible. So its time for another HUGE push please. Please spread it around all social network sites, and send it far and wide, aim for friends of friends not just friends.

I appreciate the support that has been shown so far but as one customer said,

"If every one of us that 'likes' RelaxAhh buys just one thing, then this will make a HUGE difference! Think about it..... A £1.50 lip balm to put aside for a Xmas stocking filler is less than buying the Xmas card that you will send!"  

On other news the new website is live on www.relaxahh.net and will soon be live and taking over www.relaxahh.com. Both sites can be used to save confusion.

If you'd like to join our Soapy Party being held on the eve of 19th and afternoon of the 20th then please send an e-mail or a PM to www.facebook.com/relaxahh or info@relaxahh.com

That's all from me today as I have been making endless products and doing lots of networking. I have managed to gain a place at Tehidy Golf Club Pamper event, which will be a chance to gain lots more PR and spread the word some more.

Thank You every one.

Closing Balance: 635.70

Day 8 - Thursday 4th April

Opening Balance: 500.56

Well its Day One of week 2 of my 4K in 4weeks Challenge/situation. It has been a brilliant day, from meeting really supportive fantastic people, some lovely customers, and some good friends.

Today I've been taught that there are other ways to look at a situation and there are options and solutions even if I don't quite know what they are yet.

I have been so busy making today my online presence has dropped to almost nothing! But tonight I'll have another online binging session and spread the word again. If you could all help by sharing, tweeting, commenting, liking etc etc, it really does make a massive difference! I thank you all!! :)

Being a small business in this current climate is truly difficult, but today I was talking to a fellow business person about how online marketing works and reaching friends of friends and spreading roots as far and wide as possible. Its a concept I am really trying to achieve at the moment and I wondered how I could successfully do this!

So on the evening of Friday 19th and on the afternoon of the 20th April I am going to run my Very Own Soap Party and you are all invited - though booking is a must. Pay £6.00 for two hours of a Workshop! Make a Face-mask and a Soap and decorate packaging, with Tea and Coffee included. Bring a Friend for free. :) Every one that turns up will receive a goody bag too!! How can you resist!

If you'd like to book e-mail me at info@relaxahh.com or pop onto www.facebook.com/relaxahh and send me a PM!

So its the end of week one and so far I tweeted endless celebrities, started a Crowdfunder Pitch, applied to Deborah Meadens Investment pitch, been in the shop for 7 days, come up with lots of fresh new ideas, had some amazing advice from lots of different angles, designed a whole new website, made and delivered 15 orders, e-mailed the MP, and gained a whopping 50 new likes on Facebook.

Wow! So thank you all for your support! It has been greatly appreciated! Lets keep spreading the word.

Closing Balance: 615.22

Day 7 - Wednesday 3rd April

Opening Balance: 466.82

There's not a massive amount to report today. It's the end of week one, and I've just touched £500.00. Thank you to every one that has helped it reach that point, It is really appreciated.

The new website should be live within 24 hours, which is fantastic news as its so much easier to navigate than the current website.

I've posted 99% of the orders today, with the last ones being dispatched tomorrow. Incidentally I cant believe how much the postage has gone up, talk about making it difficult for small businesses.

I'm still battling updating various Folksy shops and the Truro.com shop, but my brain has become that addled that I've given myself a bit of a break today.

Today I wanted to talk about how we price products. Its been a topic that's been brought up over the last few days in relation to how you price art, how you price crafts and how you price products. I've been watching a few those programs on TV about 'Sales' and the like and how pricing a product too cheaply can affect your customers opinion.

As a result I figured I'd spread some knowledge on how I price my products - that's not to say I always get it right.

Research into how other companies priced their soap was a starting point. Prices ranged from £1.50 to £13.00!! Yes £13.00 for a bar soap. I would never charge that. But if I could cover my costs and charge £1.00 for a bar of soap, would people buy it? Would customers see it as good high quality soap with natural ingredients and no chemicals? I would of course sell some. I remember doing my Business Course through the Princes Trust two years ago and they said to me, that as much as I wanted to keep my products cheap, don't undersell myself and the quality of the product.

Next I have to look at how much all my ingredients cost, and then add a little profit, (because I do want to eat!) and then take in to account various overheads.

And then of course there's the time it takes to make everything.

After taking the above into account I came up with my pricing that was both competitive with other companies selling high quality soaps, and also covering my costs, (providing I sell any that is!)

Alex Polizzi (a hero of mine,) discussed Sales and the like in one of her TV programs, she said Yes, everyone loves a bargain, but there has to be a limit, too many bargains and sales, then you look desperate and like your products aren't worth the money you were originally asking for. Its an interesting point, how do you find the fine line? We do all love a bargain and promotional offers always work a treat, but you also have to make your business look like its worth the money, and there's no point undercutting yourself.

So I plan on running promotional offers and the like, but I'm certainly not going to do a 30% off sale or something, not only would it not be worth it and I may as well shut the shop door tomorrow, the idea that it would in fact put some customers off is enough to stop me, although I am thinking of running an awesome Loyalty Scheme because I do love all of my wonderful customers.

Finally today I just wanted to say another big thank you - we have got to £500.00! But it is time for another huge push I have 3 weeks left to make another whopping £3500! I still believe its possible and I know my awesome customers think so too, so lets keep spreading word far and wide! Shout it from the ceilings! I certainly am! :)

Don't forget the website www.relaxahh.com and the facebook page www.facebook.com/relaxahh

We've attacked Twitter too so lets get #4wks4000 trending!

Cheers everyone!

Closing Balance: 500.56

Day 6 - Tuesday 2nd April

Opening Balance: 371.23

Well it has been such a positive day! Not necessarily in a monetary way, but certainly in an action way, I can feel the wheels a turning and things are happening. 

Firstly a huge Thank You to my sharers and likers, once again you are all awesome!

Secondly - My Crowd Funder Application was approved! That's not the end of the hard work, with a video to make and a full pitch that people will buy into I'm sure to be busy! I'm in need of someone good with a camera and editing! I will give full credit if anyone is anyone is willing to help and the video will spread through Crowd Funder and also through YouTube!! :) I'm still loving the 1950's idea, so will be calling on the lovely Limelite business - www.facebook.com/limelite and can't wait to work with them and see what awesome costume will be used! Exciting!

Today I've sent my local MP an e-mail, seeing if I can drum up some more support, (thanks to a very good friend that helped me to write it!) This however leads me on to a topic that is close to my heart for obvious reasons.

"Between 350,000 and 400,000 businesses, or approximately 10 percent of 

the total stock, close each year. Most businesses that close are micro or small 

firms because these constitute the most numerous and the most vulnerable sector. Thus, many firms that close are not registered for VAT, mainly because 

they fall below the turnover threshold (as of April 2001, £54,000 p.a.)" 

Source : http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/6405/1/Stokes-D-6405.pdf

The above quote is very relevant to our current economic situation. Businesses are closing all the time, due to a vast range of reasons, but I find it interesting how it states how small and micro firms are at such risk because the turnover isn't high.

With the current global and UK economics as they are it isn't really a surprise that businesses are closing almost quicker than they are opening. The banks and the government aren't exactly switched on into aiding small businesses, and now with steadily rising postage costs its becoming even more difficult for small businesses to make and sell products at competitive prices, whereas the large corporations with massively high turnovers can afford to slash prices causing them to appear more appealing to the consumer. 

So what can we do, we know what our products are worth and we want our businesses to survive? We can't always just roll over and put it down to experience. 

So first there's the questions all businesses have to ask? Is the Business viable? Is the Product good? Am I pricing the Products accurately and fairly competitively whilst still holding there worth? How well is the Business being marketed? If at that stage your happy with all the answers then it is time to be radical. 

We shouldn't be afraid to get media and political attention to help our business survive and in turn this will help other small businesses. We need to encourage everyone to shop local, shop with small businesses where your feeding a family, rather than large corporations where yes they supply lots of jobs but also take a HUGE chunk of profit. 

I walk through the high street of the local towns and all I see are shops slowly shutting down, rents need to be lower and customers need to be higher. And ALL small business owners need to be taking this point to local town councils and local MP's - not, may I add in an aggressive angry way, but in a way where as a local community we have to do things to attract locals to buy from the smaller businesses, incentives such as free parking, regular farmers markets, High Street Loyalty schemes. Smaller businesses always thrive from community, so for smaller businesses to start to thrive again, we need to create a community.  

As business owners we should all be practised in being creative and thinking out of the box, in doing this we should be able to turn around the fortunes of small businesses. 

I don't want to give up and roll over, and I hope that all other small businesses don't either. So together we can all make a difference, and those that don't own a small business can help too, by sharing their favourite small businesses and spreading the word, and by shopping locally and small! 

On an entirely different note I'm pleased to say RelaxAhh www.relaxahh.com are completely up to date with orders, so get your orders in!! :) hehe!! 

Closing Balance: £466.82

Day 5 - Monday 1st April

Opening Balance: 280.26

Howdi Everyone, Hope you've all had a fab day! I've got over my lack of energy I had yesterday and I'm back up ready and raring to go today. I've been busy packing up all of your orders ready for posting and been busy replenishing stock.

You all deserve a massive Thank You every day, so here's another one! Thank You!

The power of Facebook has been amazing, and on two days in particular there were 30 odd shares of the blog post!! These were also the days I got the most online orders so Thank You. But we've reached the hardest bit now, how to spread the word beyond friends and family! So I am requesting that as many of us share this blog or the www.facebook.com/relaxahh Facebook page as far and as wide as you can.

So here's the deal... Anyone that reads this Blog can order a box of 4 mixed soaps for £6.00 provided they state - BLOG.4.6. and message me on Facebook. Now that's an offer worth sharing as this would usually cost £12.00 PLUS P&P!  Send me your order in PM with your e-mail and I will send you a Paypal invoice for it.

I need to write a very small sentence about our Workshops and Birthday Parties... any that are booked for after our 4 weeks WILL still go ahead whether we succeed or not! Just if I don't succeed I won't be taking any more bookings. I would never not commit to arrangements made and never let kids down, so please if your thinking of booking, or have already booked, do not worry and perhaps those bookings could even help us achieve this.

I'm busy trying to grab the attention of the media and perhaps even some Celebs.... This turns out to be harder than it looks... if I wasn't in the shop 7 days a week I'd be visiting the television studios,, juggling soap whilst riding an Elephant and they probably still wouldn't notice, but if everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, Shouts about it, how can they not notice!!!

Don't forget our twitter hash tag #4wks4000 and lets try and get that trending too!!

I think I'm going to explore the idea of Video advertising more, I know that some people have mentioned it on Facebook and we'll probably have to make one for the Crowd Funding page so I think I'm going to see what wonderful ideas you all have for some cool videos and hopefully make them a reality! Perhaps this could even be a competition I could run - I will think up an awesome prize and post up some kind of Competition tomorrow.

Once again Thank You! And keep going - Your all Awesome!! :)

Closing Balance: 371.23