Featured Seller: Daisycake Soaps

I have what can only be describes as a soap obesseion. I love everything about it, the packaging, the smell, the feel...perfection! I was so excited when i discovered the etsy shop Daisycakes Soap. I was even more blown away when i seen that she had over 9,000 sales from etsy alone, all while managing to be her kids mom. How does this amazing women do it? Well, read on to find out.

Q.How long have you been an Etsy seller?

A. I started Daisycakes Soap in 1999, so this year is my tenth anniversary. I have been a seller on Etsy almost since the beginning, since Sept 2005.

Q. How many children do you have?

A. I have 3 children ages 7, 11 &13, and my husband easily works 50+ hours a week, but we are lucky because he is a professor so he can write at home much of the time.

Q. Why did you decide to open a shop and sell on etsy?

A. My first real successes with Daisycakes were in Baton Rouge and New Orleans at monthly arts markets. I loved doing those markets, and it didn’t take long for me to realize I wanted to make & sell soap full-time. We moved after my third child was born, so I lost access to my markets, and my schedule changed a lot. I began to research what online venues were available. I was just in the right place at the right time with Etsy, and feel lucky to have been a part of the site since its beta phase. It was a perfect fit


Q. How much time do you put into your shop each week?
A. I work probably 50 hours a week, but that includes work on all aspects of the business. Etsy is just one venue for selling. It’s a great one, but I also invest time in: wholesale and custom orders, two other online retail shops, local/regional craft shows and running my fundraising site: Daisycakes fundraiser

Q. What inspires you?

A. Freshness. Comfort. Nature. I love it when mine is the first handmade soap someone has ever tried and they are hooked from the get go. Soaps are just hunks of goodness and I am inspired to create little moments for people where they can lose themselves in the experience of using them, even if only momentarily.

Q. Can you run me through what a typical day for you would be managing a family and your business?

A. Ok, but it is atypical. I’ll start describing it at10 pm, because that’s when my work day starts, and my energy is at the highest/ I’ll typically work from 10 pm to 3 am, sleep for 4 hours, wake up my youngest at and get her ready for school, drive her and come back. My husband takes the boys to school, and I work again from about 8am to 12:30 or 1pm, when I go back to bed and sleep until my daughter comes home at 3pm. When she comes home we have some down time together, cook, and depending on everyone’s extracurriculars, eat dinner together.After dinner it’s showers for kids, playing wii or blokus or some other game with them, outside hockey, reading, snacks—in no particular order, until they all eventually settle down to sleep around 10, and then the whole thing starts again.

Q. How do you balance your family and your business and is it working and if it’s not working can you tell us why?

A It works great for our family—we created this schedule intentionally. It works with my night-owl nature and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We are lucky, lucky, lucky that my husband can work at home so much, and we have the kind of relationship where we try not to keep score with each other.

Q. On those days when you are feeling completely frazzled and are seconds away from a major meltdown what do you do to keep yourself sane?

A. If I need to cry, I just do. Honestly, though, I want to grow, so getting tons of orders doesn’t frazzle me. I know how lucky I am to be doing what I do, and to have a new workshop and office to do it in. My kids can frazzle me, but the way we parent is by tag-teaming, if one of us has had enough, the other one steps in.

Q. In your opinion, what is the hardest part of running your business and being and WAHM (work at home mom)?

A. I don’t find it hard at all, but I can tell you the part I dislike the most: condescension. After this long one would think I’d be over it, but I still get a spine tingle when a new aquantance says “oh you have a business? how cute!!”

Q. What are your top three etsy shops that you can’t go a day without stalking?

A. There are so many great shops and shop owners I’ve met on Etsy. Three of my absolute favorites are: Black Star, Art Glass Fusion, and Kungfu Cowgirl

Q. Anything special you would like to add?

A. Celebrate the small milestones, but don’t be afraid to think big. Don’t get bogged down with the cost of that ad or that show or that material….decide what you want your business to become in the big picture and then make the choices you have to make now to get there. There will be income gaps, huge visa bills, downtimes with technology, and gigantic investments of time with little immediate results. Count on it, so you don’t lose sight of the big picture when they happen.