Reaching Your Goals

November 2014 - Nearing our goal!

Last fall (2014) I noticed that we were getting very close to our goal of shipping to every US state.  We only had a few states left!  I posted this picture on Instagram and Facebook.  Within a couple of hours my amazing customers had shared the post and we had orders from 3 of the remaining states.  

I was so excited and happy to color in 3 more states!  

It was wonderful to know that we were getting closer and closer to reaching our goal, but even MORE surprising was knowing that we had the support of our customers!  I was blown away - they cared about my little goal for my tiny business.    

March 2015 - one state left - Iowa

By March 2015 we had ONE state left.  Iowa was the last hold out to try Kiyi Kiyi products.  I had to laugh, because out of all the states the last state was one of our closest neighbor states!  

We still had a few months to our 2 year anniversary, but I was resigned about not reaching our goal. 

At the beginning of April we attended the HAMMS (Help a Minnesota Maker Succeed) event.  At that event we told many, many customers about our goal of shipping to every US state and that we were ONE state short of our goal.  Near the end of the event we met an amazingly kind customer that chose to help us reach our goal.  She asked if she could buy a soap for a friend that lived in Iowa and have us ship it to her friend.  Would that help us reach our goal?

Yes!  With her help we would reach our goal of shipping to every state!

How unusual is it to find a stranger that will go the extra mile and help you reach a goal?  

Through my small business I have discovered that it isn't that unusual.  People want to care about other people, but we don't get many opportunities in our daily life to show that we care.  

If you have a small business, whether you realize it or not, you rely on the kindness of strangers.  Customers are people that have chosen to invest their dollars and time in your business.  They choose to try your products and invest time in your business by sharing their experiences with their friends.  

I love my customers and without them I wouldn't have a business!  

Thank you to each and every one of you kind strangers friends that helped us reach our goal.  We couldn't have done it without YOU!    

April 2015 - We've shipped Kiyi Kiyi products to EVERY US state!

Soap Making, Packaging and the Golden Globes!

My largest wholesale order :)

Sept. and Oct. have been very busy months and November is looking like an even busier month!  I am making lots and lots of soap....and having so much fun :)

These gnomes were a custom order for a wholesale customer.  They are time consuming to make, but so cute!  The green ones were scented in pine tree and then red ones were scented in red apple.  I dust each one with 24k gold mica.  The packaging turned out to be the biggest headache.  My supplier didn't have any of the gold buttons washi tape, so I had to order a different gold stripe washi tape.  Um, yeah it didn't stick so great.  SO I had to glue each piece of tape on to the soap boxes - it took forever!  You can see in the picture at the top how the tape crisscrosses the top of the boxes (middle, lower kraft boxes in picture).  I was using a glue gun and I burned my finger too.  But they ARE so cute :)  I have a few of them listed in my shop - lighter green color, pine scent Golden Gnomes

I made this super moisturizing shaving soap - I LOVE this stuff!  I have been shaving my legs with it and it is amazing.  So smooth...I may have asked (a few) people to feel my legs LOL!  It also smells really good - winter apple, smells to me like Herbal Essences.  Plus I found these awesome little vintage glass lids to use with the cute little glass jars - great for traveling.  I have already tested it on a trip and the jar and cover worked great!  Shaving Soap

This was my donation to the Joyful Child Foundation benefit.  I sewed the cute little bag myself!  It was my first time sewing a zipper.  It turned out nice, my Mom saw it and thought I had bought it some where, because the stitching was so straight and even.  Ha! I included a bar of Tipsy Hippy soap.  Made with 1/2 hemp milk and 1/2 Minnesota micro brewed beer.

My soap is going to the Golden Globes!!!  These are the bags I had made (by another small hand crafter!) for my soaps.  The soap (in these cute bags) will be included in swag bags and given to some attendees. 

One of my favorite new soaps - unscented and uncolored.  Bear Buns.  The packaging is very cute ;)

I like the uncolored soaps, but I love colored soaps.  Marie Antoinette

 - let them wash with soap cake!  Below - Psychedelic - whoo patchouli!

Well, I have to get back to making soap!

Shipping Mystery

"Heart Breaker"

Soap pictures!  

And now to the point of this post.  I have been shipping a lot of soap.  I have noticed something very strange.  If I send a package and it takes this route: me - St. Paul - Des Moines, Iowa.......well, apparently there is a black hole that likes to eat packages in Iowa.  Or at least hold on to them for a REALLY long time.  Now if that package takes this route: me - St. Paul - ANY WHERE ELSE but Iowa - bam! straight to the customer is less than 2 or maybe (if it's far away like Canada) 3 days.  

Why?  Why?  Why?  What does Iowa do to my packages?  

Another fun thing that happened recently:  I sent a package from me (Minnesota) to customer (Colorado).  The package went through Iowa (thank you, no) and they sent it to Colorado by way of HAWAII.  Yes, my products took a free trip across the ocean to Hawaii.  Of course, this took the package a really long time to get to its finally destination. 

 I check up on all my orders (and cry a little tear when they get way laid in Iowa) and I couldn't believe it when I saw that this package was in Hawaii.  I sent the customer a coupon for their next order to say sorry for the USPS's oopsie.

I think the USPS is great - they get my stuff around the world, but I have to wonder what is going on in Iowa?

P.S.  I have a new web site :)  Kiyi Kiyi

"Apple Orchard"

Rainbow Soap!

My newest soap creation!  I'm really happy with how it turned out!  I used almost every single color that I have :)

This is packed with skin loving oils and butters - shea, cocoa, coconut and lots of olive oil.  It has tons of lather too and it hasn't even cured for a week yet.

It's scented with Berries and Twigs.

This will be up for sale in my Etsy shop in a few weeks.

Having Fun and Keeping Busy

I am having so much fun with my Etsy shop!  I have had such great customers!

Today I sent off these vintage clogs to their new home in CA.  I think they will like California :)  It's a lot warmer there!

I will have to take a picture some time of my wrapped up packages.  I like to make them look cute, so when they (customer) opens the package it's like getting a gift!  It's fun :)

Earlier in the week I sent this cute little poodle book off to it's new home.  It was such an adorable book!  I really enjoyed sewing it.  I hope they liked it!

I sewed these cute little rattles this week.  Stuffed toys are one of my favorite things to make - even though they are kind of tricky sometimes.  These rattles are still waiting to find their perfect home!

I finally finished this party crown.  I have been working on it for months, but I couldn't decide on how I wanted to finish it.  When I finally made up my mind it turned out perfectly!  It's SO pretty!  I think it looks even better in person - I had it on display in my work room while I was waiting to photograph it and everyone that saw it thought it was gorgeous.  

I finished this book a couple weeks ago.  This is the only copy of this book that I will ever sew!  OMG!  It was so hard.  So many little pieces and the pattern was very complicated.  I've made a lot of soft books - this one took soft books to another level.  Who knew you could make a baby book complicated LOL!!

I Opened An Etsy Shop!

I finally opened an Etsy shop!  Check it out - KhyiKiyi

I hope you like it :)  Here are a few pictures of the projects I'm working on.

My two (yup, I added another puppy to the family this summer) little helpers say crafting is a lot of work.  Actually they are the reason I decided to open the shop - they're expensive!