Royal Mail Parcel Size Change 28th October

Earlier this year Royal Mail introduced parcel size bands and price increases that negatively affected a great many businesses.

We have great news though - look what dropped through the letterbox this morning!

The cost of a parcel of these dimensions was more than double the amount shown just a day or two ago! Note that the £2.25 shown is a franked mail price for second class - this will be a little more if you send your mail via the post office. 

We wanted to ensure that you all have this information - for those of you who sell your products at a distance this is fabulous news in the run up to Christmas.  Looks like the competition from My Hermes and similar operators has had an impact on the Royal Mail. Yipee!

Here is the press release from Royal Mail - go check it out :)

February's Fan of the Week Winner

February's Fan of the week winners were...

1)Celine Blacow 2)Chrissy Wilson 3)Jimi-James 4)Suzi Rahmann

All four numbers were popped into the random number generator

And out popped number 1!

Well done Celine, your virtual tenner to spend on the website will shortly be winging its way to you :)

If you'd like a chance to grab a free tenner, all that you need to do is take part in our Facebook page - post comments, like photos, join in with the chit chat...

Every month we enter the weekly winners into the random number generator to choose a winner.  Easy as that and great odds too :)

See you there!

Random or Not?

Back in November, we announced that we'd use the Fan of the Week app in a fun way with a draw each month for £10 to spend on the website.  We'd take each weeks winning fan name, pop it in a virtual hat and present one lucky recipient with a £10 virtual voucher to spend on the website.

The Fan of the Week app automatically calculates who has interacted the most with our page over a 7 day period and posts the name of the person to the wall.  Whilst this may seem a little twee to some, we really do appreciate that people take the time to interact on our page and feel it's a fun cheerful way to say thank you.

As you may be aware, this was one of the many things that had to be put on hold after the fire at our business park.  Now I don't know about you, but I truly believe that we've talked about those events enough.  The Fan of the Week promotion was a bit of fun, so we will leave it at this and explain to our new friends who may not know; the competition was interrupted and now we're happily back in the swing of things we want to get the give away back on track.

Easy? You would think so. Now I must confess that I am no Facebook expert.  Less of an expert still on the (useful) many third party apps that provide a bit of colour and fun.  

Hurdle number one then.  How to retrieve the names of each week's fan?  Going back down the page posts right the way into history simply by clicking "more posts" at the bottom of the page seemed a bit ... well ... manual?  Surely the app would give up this information.  Sadly not... Let's hope it's a feature that's being built somewhere behind the scenes. 

After a bit of head scratching and some asking around, I clicked on Insights (on the left of the page for those of you who are page admins) 

Yipee!  Each and every post is listed here, along with useful statistical info.  Simply clicking on one reveals the whole post in a pop up box.  There!  Easy (When you know how. Note to self. Use the features on the page)

So now I have a nice spreadsheet containing a list.  There are dates and alongside each date is a person's name.  These have been divided into months.  So far, we have a complete record for November (5 entries) and December (4 entries) of the weekly fans as announced by the app.  January has 4 entries and this week will generate Fan of the Week number 5.  (Of course the number varies according to the length of the month)

Now all that we need do is randomly select a person's name from each month's list.

And this is where I am stumbling.

Call me what you will.

I cannot decide.

What is fair?

And by fair I mean truly random.

Oh yes. I will use a random number generator to select the winning name.  I can do this because I've assigned a number to each one.  I've simply numbered the weeks from 1 to 4 or 5 as appropriate and put that week's name alongside. Ah. There we have it. 

My question.  Should I also randomise the number assigned to the name?  That is possible I guess, if I use the generator for each name, assign that random number to that name and then use the random generator once again.

Have I lost the plot? What do you think?

Please do let me know, it seems my Sunday sanity might just be resting on this ... 

Welcome to our second Spotlight Feature, your chance to meet some enterprising folk who've successfully turned a hobby/passion into a business.

This month we're saying hello to Chloe... founder of Cheeky Suds

Tell us a bit about you and your business

Hi, I am Chloe and I am the owner of Cheeky Suds which is a handmade novelty soaps, bath and beauty products company based in London. Although I live in London I am originally from Manchester – Northern lass! 

All of my products are handmade by me and currently include novelty soaps, body scrubs, body butters, bath salts, foot soaks, bath creamers, bath melts, bath soufflés, and solid lotion/massage bars.

 Lollipop Soaps!

Most of my products are vegan friendly or can be made vegan upon request and nothing has been tested on animals. My soap products are made using a Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) - free soap base. SLS is known to irritate skin if used in large quantities. As Cheeky Suds products do not contain SLS, they are considered to be suitable for people with sensitive skin.

Novelty Transfer Soaps

How long have you been running your business?

I started the business in April 2011, purely as an online business, but I now also sell at Camden Lock Market in Camden, London and also offer children’s parties either in your home or at your chosen venue.  Children enjoy being able to make natural lip balms, soaps and body treats for themselves.

Bath Bomb Cup Cakes

What inspired you to start creating your own Bath & Body Products?

I have three years’ experience working in sales and as a Recruitment Consultant and nearly eleven years’ experience working within Criminal Justice. My previous work experience was quite stressful and I decided that I wanted a total career change and also that I wanted to do something creative. This alongside my love of cosmetics led me to set up Cheeky Suds.

Chocolate Body Scrubs

What are the best bits about your business?

I get bored easily if I am not mentally stimulated or trying new challenges so I love the fact that there are so many different beauty products I can make and I can experiment with design, scents, textures and ingredients. It's also a great feeling when people say that my products both look good and work well for them. It's like baking a cake or cooking a good meal (I also love food so couldn't resist mentioning it) that people enjoy! It's good to know that my efforts are appreciated and it motivates me to keep doing more.

Selling at Camden Market allows me to meet lots of different people from all over the world and the other stall holders are nice too – it’s important to meet new people now that I am no longer in an office environment. I like having my own business as it enables me to be my own boss and that means I have full control over what I do and make all of my own decisions.

Lip Balms & Butters

What are your plans for the future?

I would like to continue to expand my product lines and reach even more people. I want Cheeky Suds to become a place where you can purchase products to suit all of your beauty needs. I also plan to do more craft fairs and deliver some workshops. In the future I would like to open a Cheeky Suds abroad, somewhere with sun, sea, sand, cocktails and maybe a few (hunky) masseurs to demonstrate how to use my products would be nice!

Whipped Shea Body Butter

What advice would you give to anyone considering starting up?

A couple of wise (and maybe a tad cheesy) quotes are 'You've got to be in to win it,' and 'You only get out what you put in.' I would say that you have to be prepared to work hard and never give up.

The first time I made a sale I was ecstatic and the feeling only gets better from there onwards. There will be times when you feel that it is difficult or you want to give up but you have to keep pushing through these barriers and keep going.

I think that if it is something you are passionate about and really want to do it you should go for it. There is no harm in trying and you never know how well you might do.

Watermelon Soap Lolly (Soapsicle!)

What’s been the most valuable resource for you and your business?

The most valuable resource for me has been the internet. I get the majority of my supplies online and a vast amount of my ideas, inspiration and tips come from there. Online soap making/beauty forums are excellent as I get to communicate with people from all over the world who do the same things as me. I have also received good advice from suppliers such as Bathbomb.biz and from various books.

Doughnut Soaps

Finally, can you tell us about Social Networking and your business?

I am involved in Social Networking on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging but I have to admit that since being busier I have not had as much time to keep up to date with it all (naughty naughty).  But it is definitely worth working at as you get to meet great people whilst driving more traffic to your website. I think it is an essential tool for anyone that is serious about starting up their own business.

Thanks Chloe, it's been lovely to hear more about you and your business. 

If you'd like to contact Chloe you will find her on

Facebook www.facebook.com/cheekysuds 

And over on her website www.cheekysuds.co.uk

For general (and free!) advice on Cosmetic Regulations, selling your products and sourcing ingredients why not pop over to www.bathbomb.biz









600 Facebook "likes" Give Away

We have so many lovely fans on Facebook; a great many of you share your stories and photos with us, post questions about ingredients/recipes and provide us with some great feedback.  It's wonderful! 

Having the Facebook page also helps us to be sure that our business is going in the right direction for you; without our fans we'd be working in a bubble (so to speak!!) and that would be a lonely place to be.

(Thanks to  www.zazzle.co.uk - customise it!)

Fan numbers have grown steadily; now that we've passed the 500 mark (I think it's safe to say) it seems a good time to take things up a level and see just how many more people we can reach.  There are so many fantastic small businesses and a whole host of talented crafts people now showcasing what they do on Facebook that it would be lovely to have even more input.  If you are a page owner, I am sure you too are discovering that networking in this can be both enjoyable and effective.

So! Competition time - Giveaway time - Our-Chance-To-Say-Thanks time...


Facebook rules mean that we cannot run give aways/competitions directly from the business page.  So we're posting a simple challenge right here.

All you need to do is leave a comment here, telling us why you "like" us.

When we get to 600 "likes" we'll put the names (here) in a hat and draw a winner.  The quicker we get to 600, the faster one lucky person will get their prize so please keep recommending our page and keep joining in with discussions & photo posting.  Follow this Blog too so that you can watch our progress.

And the prize?  One lucky recipient will enjoy one of our "Bumper" Bath Bomb Kits - minimum value £49.99 and delivered FREE to their door (sorry, uk only for this one). 

AND if we receive over 25 comments from individual people here we'll add a *special* second prize to the draw!

So, don't forget to share this post and our Facebook page with friends,

www.facebook.com/bathbomb.biz


Let's go!

PS Don't forget - when you "like" a page, if you're a business page owner then you need to sign into your personal profile to "like" other pages.  If you don't,  the like won't be counted as a number on that pages profile.  The easiest way to switch between your personal and business profile is by clicking the Account link at the top right of the page and selecting "switch back to (your name)

PPS!! Don't forget that you will need to "like" the Facebook page to get your name in the prize draw.  (Oh yesss I am checking lol)

Again, it's important that you do this logged in as your personal profile if you have a business page - that' the only way you show up in the counted numbers on the page :) Thank you :)