035 – Cleaning Up in the Soap Making Biz with Jen Eby

Gift biz unwrapped episode 35.

I was in new hammered.

I was in love.

I had found my it,

Hey, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

and you're listening to the gifted biz unwrapped.

And now it's time to light It up.

Welcome to gift biz,

unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop

and grow your business.

And now here's your host,

Sue Monheit Unwrapped podcasts,

whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or

just getting started,

You'll discover new insight to gain traction And to grow your

business. And today I have with me,

Jennifer Eby,

B farms,

LLC, Jennifer Eby,

along with her husband,

Matthew owned Eby farms,

which is a pasture-based 36 acre working farm in homestead in

rural Southwestern,

Michigan with her bubbly personality and contagiously positive outlook on life.

Jennifer has taken the simple body product of soap and created

Jennifer started making soap and the next year she attended one

local craft show.

This has now grown into over 5,000

bars of soap sold each year.

At over 13 regional shows,

they have wholesale accounts,

website sales and farmer's markets.

Jennifer has earned the title of the soap lady with hours

of research production and time spent with the customers she loves.

Oh my gosh.

That sounds so Incredibly fun.

I can't wait to hear the whole story.

Welcome to the show,

Jennifer. Thank you.

I'm so excited to be here with you.

I know it's going to be so fun.

So would you like to add anything,

filling any gaps here in the bio that I did before

we get started?

You know,

one of the things that really hit me about what we

do is that we choose to do this.

We did not fall into soap making.

We did not fall into homesteading.

This is a choice we made and I have traveled the

world. I've lived in Europe and Southwest Michigan.

There's no other place.

I'd rather be,

there's nothing else I'd rather be doing than making soap and

living on a farm.

Well, we're Going to hear that whole story really quickly here,

but before we do,

we like to align the conversation around the life of a

motivational candle.

The light shines on you while you share your stories and

your experiences and how this all led to the farm and

your soap and all of that.

So Jen,

are you ready to light it up?

I am ready.

All right.

So you're busy making soaps,

but you love colors of all sorts and you have some

candles around while you're making soap,

just because it a little ambiance to the whole production feel.

What color are those candles that you like heavy,

glowing around you?

They are orange because orange is energetic.

It is encouraging.

It gives you energy to go the extra mile.

Sure. Have that energy.

So the orange candles are working for you.

I love it.

And what type of a motivational quote would be on the

orange camp?

Well, you know,

and I think about what we do.

I think my candle would say that faith makes things possible,

not easy.

Ooh, I like that.

If you think of that quote,

how does that apply in life?

Well, we,

you know,

we work really hard and we know that anything is possible

if you're willing to work for it.

And we have worked really hard so far,

and we're not afraid to keep going with that.

And I really feel that when you work hard for something

that it comes to you,

you make it happen.

You Kind of put it out there in the environment,

you have the faith that you're going to be able to

achieve, whatever it is you're trying to do.

Absolutely. See it.

Come to pass.

Yeah. There you go.

All Right.

So now here we go.

I want to know how the whole thing happened in terms

of, you know,

first of all,

being on the farm and then how everything evolved into soap

making, which is so cool.

Okay. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and funny enough,

my dad would raise goats,

turkeys, chickens,

rabbits. And so I grew up with a little bit of

farming and a big garden,

and I thought,

oh, that's a great thing.

When Matt and I got married,

he always wanted to be a farmer.

And so Did he tell you this before you got married?

I don't think I knew that.

No. I think it was something that it kind of snowballed

because we were buying local raise chicken and you know,

we were looking at eggs locally or,

you know,

we're buying them at the store.

We're buying the cage free and organic and we kind of

turned into this,

well, why are we buying it when we could raise it

ourselves? So we started with 30 chickens to lay eggs.

We, you know,

did a couple chickens for me.

And we actually bought a Derrick,

not a dairy cow,

but a bowl from a dairy to raise for beef.

Now, were you in Chicago still at this time?

No. This was Southwest Michigan.

You Guys bought the land and we're living on the land

already. And that's when Right.

I moved from,

from Chicago.

I moved all over the world,

lived in Europe and then ended up in Southwest Michigan because

my parents were here.

They had moved here to retire.

And so when I got here,

this was a great place to be.

That's interesting Because you know,

in Europe everything's about fresh food.

So that probably laid the groundwork for you a little bit.

It definitely spoiled me.

Yeah, definitely.

So that kind of started,

my parents owned a 25 acre property and it became available.

And so we had been living on about an acre and

a half,

maybe two acres,

beautiful brick house,

five bedrooms.

So we had started this healthy lifestyle,

this role,

the snowball.

And so we started looking at ingredients and that's actually where

the soap started was having a six month old baby in

the bathtub,

looking at the back of baby wash and going,

oh my God,

it's all chemicals.

The only thing readable is water and fragrance and fragrance is

a chemical.

So that's where that desire came in.

That I need to know how to do something better,

do something different Because you had the mindset of all the

clean, healthy living,

especially out on the farm and all of that.

So now you have this idea,

what do you do with it?

You give a couple bars of soap to friends,

to family.

And, but how did you know how to make soap?

Oh, I did you have to do research or,

well, I put it out to friends who knows how to

make soap because there had to be somebody,

but this craft didn't start from nothing.

Somebody has to know how to do this.

And so I did,

I found a friend of a friend that agreed to teach

a little mini class on how to make soap.

And that was it as we're making.

So I was enamored.

I was in love.

I had found my it really,

when you say,

you know,

how did the idea of a business start?

It was that first time making.

So I knew I can do this.

This is what I want to do.

So, and we're just talking to five years ago,

right? Yeah.

We're just talking five years ago.

Initially it was just for our family.

So it really isn't that difficult.

It's time consuming,

but it's kind of like any cooking thing.

Once somebody shows you how to do it,

you go,

oh really that's it.

But it's the time.

And it's the energy of doing the research of what ingredients

you want to use,

how to keep it clean as in clean ingredients,

how to keep what you want in it,

the purity and the natural part of that.

So then did you manipulate the recipe if you will,

a little bit to make it your own,

you know,

add a little bit more special this or a little more

special that just to make it your own special recipe.

What We have done is we do our own proprietary blends

of essential oils.

And so nothing is pre-bought and nothing is premixed.

We do it all ourselves.

So that recipe,

that main recipe is the recipe that I learned how to

soap with.

So it's kind of like your base.

It is that's our base,

our base oils.

We use five different oils of castor oil,

cocoa butter,

coconut oil,

olive oil,

and Palm oil.

And then when you make soap,

you're gonna mix water and lie together to get a solution.

And then you mix that with the oils.

And that creates a chemical reaction.

Lie is actually the catalyst.

And so what happens once that chemical reaction has taken place,

you have soap and at a chemical level,

soap is actually a salt,

which is why you can go in the ocean and you

come out feeling really clean.

The fun thing about soap is chemically.

You know it,

yes, it's assault.

What that means is I'll go back a little bit.

Water by itself is a head and a tail.

And the tail is smooth.

So if you have mud on you and you rinse it

off with water,

a lot of it comes off.

But when you use soap,

soap is ahead and a tail that is spiky.

So it actually pulls that dirt particle off of you or

your clothing or anything you're washing and pulls it off.

And that's kind of how stuff works.

I would never have known that unless you just Described that

that's a really cool learning unto itself,

right there.

It's totally chemistry in the kitchen.

And you tell the kids now don't just wash your hands

with water.

You have to use the soap and rub your hands.

And We love that part.

Okay. You,

so you have the bass,

you learn the bass and you decide,

this is something I really want to do.

This is what I like that.

You know,

this is a great idea.

Talk us through how number one from that revelation,

you went over to Matt and said,

all right,

guess what,

honey? I have an idea.

That's exactly right.

I mean,

we are very frugal.

We, you know,

we have a really good budget.

We stick to it,

but I saw this potential there.

And he said,

yeah, you know,

what do you need?

Let's, let's get you set up.

He, wasn't totally convinced that this could make money,

but he knows that once I get real passionate about something,

you know,

you gotta turn me loose.

So we bought,

you know,

we've cash,

flowed everything from the most part.

And so we started with a little bit and we're buying

the smallest amounts we can and mixing everything up.

And after that first craft show,

he was really awestruck that this could work.

This could really be something.

And so he jumped on board.

He's my spreadsheet,

he's my business manager.

He runs the time trials for me.

You know,

he sits there with a stopwatch and he'll be like,

okay, you know,

are you done now?

Oh, when are you starting?

And he really helps me to figure out what timeframe we

have so that we can apply an amount to that,

of what it costs to do the whole project We're getting

into the business.

And so we were talking about product creation at first.

Now we're getting serious.

Okay. You went to the craft show and you saw that

this could be a business because you saw that there's a

market who wants to purchase it and they're willing to pay

for it.

Yes. So now it comes into the numbers because as you

start getting orders,

there's obviously the cost of your product.

And now what you're getting into is there's and production.

And you mentioned that soap takes some time to do.

Yes, it does.

So as a developing company.

Okay. So you've got Matt with the stopwatch,

you've got you making the soap.

So give us kind of a visual of how all that

you know,

right in the beginning when you're just figuring it all out,

how that works.

Absolutely. We were making smaller batches that so two or three

batches. Okay.

How long did it heal?

I'm going to pull out all the oils for the base.

So I'm getting out the castor oil and I'm going to

pour, okay.

Are you ready?

Start to stopwatch?

And so I start to pour,

I'm going to measure out from my buckets,

what I need up the cocoa butter of the Palm oil,

and now stop measuring,

stop the stopwatch.

And then we have to let some things melt and then

we go back and start the stopwatch.

Okay. Cause now we have to measure out liquid oils.

All right,

that's done.

Stop the stopwatch.

How long did that take collectively?

Because in between I can do other things while things are

melting, then we're not wasting time and not charging our customers

for time that I'm not spending.

We literally would sit down and go,

okay, start the stopwatch.

And I'm going to prepare the pans to be ready for

the soap to pour in.

So I'm folding and cutting and taping.

And then we would add all of that time up to

find out how much physical time was spent making the soap.

So Jen was this to know production wise for costing of

the product?

That's correct.

Okay. Were you also doing it so that you had like

a methodology,

if you wanted someone to repeat these things the same way

you do so that you could bring on staff later or

was it just pricing for the time being,

it Was just pricing for the time being,

because we really look at what we do,

not as a hobby,

but as a business.

And if we're going to be a business,

we have to be making money.

And so we have to know the amount of time we're

putting into things,

because we know a lot of people that they say they

have a business,

but it's really a hobby because they don't know how much

anything costs.

They don't know their bottom line.

They don't know what their profit margin is.

And we decided very early on,

if we're going to do this,

we want to really do it well and find out what

our profit margin is,

really know our numbers so that we could be sure that

we were taking care of paying ourselves first,

a profit and then,

or not paying ourselves first and then making a profit.

Right. Absolutely.

So give biz listeners,

I want to underscore all of that because so often we,

if we make crafts or whether it's soap or candles or

baby clothes or anything like that,

we always underestimate how much our products are worth.

I think it's because we think that,

you know,

just because we've made them,

there's not as much value to them.

I don't know what it is,

but crafters are notorious for underpricing their product.

Yes. So one of the reasons I think that Jen's been

so successful is they've really looked at that right from the

front and you heard what she said,

you know,

they've been able to take their own money to invest in

grow the business.

But right from the beginning,

they were making sure that they were paying themselves back both

in time,

right. The time that it spent.

So they're paying themselves for their own time.

Which many of us would say,

well, that's just free time.

Cause it's me doing it.

Right. So you were paying yourself and then also some type

of margin on top of that.

Of course.

Correct. Because my time is valuable because if I'm not making

soap, then there's something else I can be doing.

That is a profit to Eby farms.

Absolutely. Okay.

So this is all sounding beautiful and everything is going fabulously.

And we know that there are always hurdles along the way,

something happens to kind of catch up a little bit.

Can you take us to one of those times when you

just, you had a challenge and then you had to overcome

the challenge so that you could continue.

Absolutely. I'm going to take you back to July 22nd,

2013. And at that point we had a six month old

baby, a three-year-old and a ten-year-old and it had been a

rough summer.

Things were money was really tight,

really tight.

That was a summer where if it could break,

it broke and we were just having a rough go.

And I looked at my husband and I said,

Matt, two years in two years,

if things are not better than I quit,

then we need to change something dramatically and change it all

because this isn't going to work.

And so for the next two years,

we started changing things.

So soaping things,

we changed the papers we were using for our pans.

We worked on buying bigger amounts of oils,

of essential oils of anything that was going to be useful

to us so that we weren't last minute trying to order.

So there wasn't stress the farm stuff.

We started looking at ways we could save time,

save money,

make things easier.

And two years later we hit July 22nd,

2015, and things were better and we didn't quit.

And I didn't give up in between.

I definitely had my moments of calling Matt and going.

I quit today.

It's so done.

Was it because of the stress Or just the workload,

the time in,

what was it?

All of it,

all of it,

the stress,

the workload being a mom,

making dinner,

making soap.

A lot of times I would prep soap during the day

and then I would put the kids to bed and I

would soap from nine to midnight.

And that would be my time to get my soap done.

So you have a tired mom,

you have somebody who is just willing to give it all.

And, and Matt is definitely there with me because I wouldn't

work this hard if he wasn't working twice as hard.

So I think that was a big deal was we were

working so hard.

We had to find ways to not cut corners,

but to make things easier on us and on our family.

And we did that.

We were able to do that.

It did take two years,

but holding out has made the difference and it really does

feel good.

This is a great example because you recognize that there was

something that needed to change.

You put a marker in the sand saying,

okay, two years,

if this I'm giving it two years,

all out for two years,

we'll see what happens,

but then you just didn't keep doing the same thing over

and over again.

And just,

you know,

do the same thing harder or faster.

You really smartly looked at everything and made a joke.

Well, it isn't that the definition of insanity doing the same

thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Exactly. Sounds like the two things that you really looked at

were costs you bought in larger quantities,

which got your pricing down a little bit.

And it also didn't require them to reorder as often,

which would have been time.

Yes. And then also the procedure,

something, you fine tune the procedures a little bit so that

the actual time start to finish of making the soaps that

condensed in one way or another.

Absolutely. That is it.

All right.

Very interesting.

So give biz listeners think about that,

especially if you're a crafter or things that you're doing in

your shop,

are they all things that are leading towards your goals?

You know,

it's so easy for us to get into those tasks that

are really pretty simple,

easy mindless tasks,

but aren't marching us to our goal,

whatever that is getting new customers,

building new products,

all those types of things.

So make sure that when you're doing different tasks,

that they're actually marching you towards what your overall objective.

That's great.

Yeah. I mean,

I, this was a perfect example.

So that was fabulous,

John. So let's talk about,

I mean,

mostly you're selling,

I do know that you're online,

but you're mostly selling face-to-face at regional shows.

Can you talk to us a little bit about when you're

at those shows,

what are you finding that could be helpful for our listeners

in terms of the way you're working the booth or presenting

the product or some tips on how you're seeing the product

sell when you're at the show?

Absolutely things we have found is with a lot of the

crafts, you want to keep it simple.

You want to make sure that your product is easy to

understand that it's out there in a way where the pricing

is clearly marked.

And that way,

when people come up to your table,

they're not having to ask you,

well, how much is this?

And they're not having to be embarrassed about it.

We've also noticed that people just buying your product,

they are buying you.

So you want to look your best.

You want to dress really dice.

You want to have your hair done really well.

You don't have to go over the top,

but people are buying you.

And so standing up,

talking to people,

being at eye level,

not reading a book,

not paying attention to somebody else,

not walking away from your booth,

but being available,

be there,

show up,

sell your product because you love it because you're passionate about

it. And that really makes a difference because I can tell

the vendors they're just there because they signed up to be

at a show.

They don't really want to be there.

They'd, you know,

they'd much rather slept in and they're not real passionate about

their product.

You know,

they don't know the details.

They don't know well how it was really made.

I am not sure.

That's not what customers want to hear.

They want to know that you love this product that you're

sure about it.

And that really does make a difference because your customers are

people that become your friends.

A lot of the time,

they become someone that comes back year after year.

We feel like a lot of the shows,

it's kind of like a family reunion.

People have watched us grow.

We always keep a picture of our family on the table.

So every year that changes and people want to know how

are the kids what's going on?

What's new.

Oh, everybody's getting bigger.

And that makes a difference because it is about relationships because

that's our way of marketing.

Our customers are our best advertisers.

I think It's so cool that you put a new picture

of your family up.

Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you.

Well, that's the thing.

I'm a stay at home.

Mom. This is my stay at home mom business.

I want people to know they're not just buying a bar

of soap.

They're buying something that was made special at home by me

in my kitchen,

the Whole story.

I mean,

in a way they're helping support and raise the family with

You by supporting you,

you know,

what are the kids up to?

What Are they doing?

And do you bring the kids ever to the shows the

Craft shows we do sometimes it's gotten a little bit hairy

having a two year old because he really doesn't want to

stay put.

So a lot of times,

you know,

my 12 year old will go with me and she does

a great job helping.

And she loves to talk to people too.

So that makes a big difference.

So on the customer service end,

a lot of the way you make them feel unique and

valued is just by sharing your family with them and making

sure that you're there talking to them when you're at The

shows. Absolutely.

We have people that we see every week.

We have people we see once a year and we work

really hard to remember their faces,

to know their names,

because these are people that we care about.

These are people that have told us their story.

I have heard so many testimonies of my body itch.

Every time I took a bath,

my skin had this problem or that problem and what you're

making helps me.

And so for that makes it personal to me that this

product is going out to Sue and Sue loves this product

because it works for her.

And so to really keep it personal and to be happy

to see people this last weekend,

I was at a show and Barb came,

I haven't seen Barb in almost a year,

but I've talked to her a couple times and it was

exciting to chat with her.

And she took home her 25 bars of soap and she

was so happy.

And that makes me happy.

And so the relationship end of that becomes your marketing.

I think People interaction is what makes it all worth it.

It really does.

So Jen,

when you're meeting and forming all those relationships with all of

these people,

do you then communicate with them at all throughout the year

through emails or cards or some type of system,

or is it just from show to show?

We have a email base of customers that want to get

our newsletter every spring.

So we send it out.

The end of February,

beginning of March is our,

is our timeframe.

And so when people email us and say,

Hey, I want to know what's going on on the farm,

keep us updated.

We add them to our list.

So that's one way we communicate with people.

We send out our farm newsletter that has all the information

for the year.

It has all our order forms for what we're doing on

the farm.

It updates people with what's going on with soaping.

So that's been our main way of talking to people.

We've done cards for,

let's say Christmas,

one year we did cards.

We hear from people through Facebook.

Facebook has been an awesome way for us to contact people

and to keep them updated with what's happening on the farm.

We try to post pictures,

just even making comments about,

you know,

Hey, 20 batches of soap are done.

We can't wait to see you this weekend,

whatever show that's been a great opportunity.

I get phone calls all the time.

Sue, I constantly talk to people who found our name on

a website,

or they got a bar of soap or they got a

body butter for Christmas and they want to know how they

can get more.

Yeah. So just like you were saying,

word of mouth.

Yes. No.

And then,

and then being able to call up and actually talk to

you. Yes.

What is your most popular product?

My very most popular product is a soap called fresh thoughts

and it is a lemon grass,

Rosemary Sage with a drop of citrus.

And so the smell is just fresh and clean and whisks

your mind away to fresh new places.

Ooh, I love that visual.

That sounds so yummy.

Oh, it is yummy this year.

The other thing has been,

we did a lavender swirl and it's funny because fresh thoughts

has been my top seller since I started doing shows.

And all of a sudden this lavender swirl is about to

take over and it's just because people really do love the

fresh, clean smell of lavender.

And so who's naming these soaps.

It's me doing great.

I love both of these names.

That's awesome.

Thank you.

You know,

the thing I find is that people will walk up and

they're like,

well, you know,

I don't like the smell of vanilla.

And you're like,

okay here,

try this and try this and try this.

And they smell all these different soaps and you go back

and you go and they watch in that vanilla.

It's funny.

It's kind of fun because if I don't put a name

on it that what's in it,

then people are more willing to smell it.

They're more willing to try it.

We do a body butter and people all the time are

kind of like,

well, what is this?

What, what,

what, what do you do with it?

You slather it on your skin and your body eats it

up and,

and people love it because it's something fun and it's different.

And that's been kind of neat to watch just The way

you're describing it now.

I mean your way with words in terms of,

you know,

it's not just like,

oh, you just put it on like lotion.

That's not what you said.

You put it on Your body,

your body eats it up whole different way of branding and

presenting your product.

For sure.

Definitely. We had a really big honor this year.

We were recognized by mother earth news magazine as a winner

of homesteader of the year.

There were four winners and we were selected to represent the

clean living section of homesteaders.

So this was really huge because something like mother earth news

is really well known.

They're very renowned.

Their Facebook page has something like 1.9

million viewers.

So we were really excited about that.

And the article that they did was in the August September

issue. And that really,

really was exciting for us on the farm.

Oh my gosh.

How cool is that?

Did you apply for that?

Or did someone nominate you or how were you found to

even be part of potentially being selected as a way we

Applied for it?

We had to give a,

something like 500 word statement about what we were doing and

why we thought that we were even,

you know,

in the running for this homesteader of the year.

And so we got an email back with a questionnaire,

which we filled out.

It was a two page questionnaire.

And after a couple of days,

it turned into four pages of answers.

They were some really in-depth questions about the farm and homesteading

and what we're doing.

It didn't figure we would hear anything.

It was just kind of on a whim.

Like let's,

let's see what happens.

We got word back.

And we actually talked to the editor on April 1st and

we talked to her on the phone.

We had this great conversation.

And the last thing she says to us is by the

way, we've selected you as one of our winners.

And I just went,

That was huge.

Congratulations. Oh my gosh.

And you know,

give his listeners that big,

because look at what they did.

They actually kind of,

you know,

risked it because anyone coming in and analyzing them and you

always want to win.

Cause you always know your business is the best of course,

but they put themselves out there and look at how successful

it is.

So think about that for your business.

Are there any PR moves that you can make to get

some recognition and some visibility for your business?

Wow. That's a huge story.

I love that.

Thank you.

Did you post that on Facebook?

We did post it on Facebook.

Yeah. We're going to move now into the reflection section and

this gives us a feel for things that you've found have

helped you to be successful along the way over and above

what we've talked about specifically with your product and your business.

So think back when you were a little girl all the

way up until now,

what do you think is one natural trait that you have

that helped you to succeed this whole time?

I can talk to anybody.

My parents are very friendly people.

My dad would talk to anybody in a grocery store line.

My mom is just wonderful and easy to chat with.

And I think that trait has passed to me and it

makes it simple for me to talk to people and say,

hi, how are you today?

Or, Hey,

have you,

have you ever tried natural soap before?

And it does push me a little out of my comfort

zone, but I'm willing to try because the worst thing somebody

can say is no.

So that's definitely a trait.

I guess I would almost kind of put me at not

fearless, but I'm not afraid to talk to people.

I'm not intimidated.

Got it.

Which helps so much at the shows too.

And then when people respond positively,

then that just reaffirms to you that that's a good thing

to be doing.

And then you just keep going.

Absolutely. That's it.

You got to start it for the first time to know,

to get that.

What tool do you use regularly to help you keep productive

or to create balance on the farm with the kids and

the soap and everything else you've got going on?

We use a paper calendar.

I know this is like nobody knows.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah. The kids know where's mom's calendar because that one calendar

has our life in it.

It is our schedule book.

I'm the secretary.

And so Matt will call me and go,

do we have anything going on at this point?

Can you put it on the calendar?

If something happens on the farm,

when I order stuff,

it goes on the calendar ordered this day arrived.

It really does make a difference for us,

especially with the fact that we don't use smartphones.

At this point,

we don't have fabulous internet connection at our house.

And so having that paper calendar has made a difference because

it's solid.

It doesn't change.

It doesn't accidentally,

you know,

get deleted unless somebody whites it out or erases it.

It's in the book On calendar for more family events and

business, it all emerges into calendar.

It is all on one calendar.

Yeah. You May be surprised about this,

but in the answer to this question from other shows,

a lot of people resort back to the paper way of

doing things.

It's very interesting.

You know,

even though there's all these apps out there and specifically with

calendars. Wow,

thanks. Yeah.

I'm serious.

I mean,

not everybody of course,

but always surprised because a lot of people and like to

do lists and all of that sticky note.

Yes, Absolutely.

Well, we've read that people who are the most productive have

lists of things that they want to accomplish at the beginning

of the year,

we do sit down and make a list of things we'd

like to get done for the year.

And then along the way we make lists for seasons.

And then it'll sometimes just be this week.

This has to get done.

And that really does aid in our productivity.

Sure. It mentally focuses you in to reach whatever it is

that, that,

that task or goal or whatever it is that has to

get. It really does.

And it really helps too,

when you have kids that need to understand,

even though I'm at home,

I need to be in the kitchen and I need to

get this done so that my part of the farm can

be doing what it needs to do.

And they can see that it's all Interconnected.

I guess I never thought about that.

It is,

it's all connected.

If it doesn't get done,

then I can't go to the show.

And that means we can't make the money that we need

to buy the groceries to feed you dinner.

Okay. Mom,

keep working.

All right,

Jen, what book have you read lately that you think our

listeners would find?

We do a lot of reading.

And so this was kind of a question that I did

have to think about for a while.

And what I came up with is the Martha rules by

Martha Stewart.

And what I love about it is that she refers to

small businesses as actual small businesses,

one employee,

no employees where I've read some marketing books where they,

you know,

they talk about a small business being 200 employees and I'm

going, nah,

it doesn't really apply.

I can't really take what you're saying and work with it.

The Martha rules really gets down to the nitty gritty of

how she made her business work,

how she's seen other productive businesses work.

And I love it.

I love how she uses small business as an example.

That's a great example.

And honestly,

even if any of us have dreams of growing our business,

it all starts with that first person.

You never hear anybody starting a business and saying,

okay, I'm going to find a product,

but first I'm going to hire five people.

It all starts in the beginning with an idea.

And the one person who is usually the one who had

the idea.

Yeah, Exactly.

Yes. Yeah.

Martha rule sounds like a great book and listeners just as

you're listening to the podcast today,

you can listen to audio books with ease.

I've teamed up with audible for you to get an audio

book, just like the Martha rules for free.

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

book.com and make a selection.

And now Jen,

we're winding down and I want to bring you into our

dare to dream a question I'd like to present you with

a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights

that you would wish to obtain.

So please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your box?

Oh my goodness.

I am opening this gift and I am finding a soaping

kitchen that is designated for soaping only.

And it's amazing.

And it's wonderful.

And it comes with some additional retail accounts where I can

sell this beautiful soap that I'm making in this kitchen.

That's wonderful because then you can share it with all of

us. Absolutely love It.

It love it.

But you're going to keep going with the fun names,

like the fresh thoughts and the lavender swirl.

Absolutely. We have a deep ripple.

We have.

Yeah. You love deep ripple.

It's a lavender vanilla and it has corn meal in it

for gentle exfoliation.

So listen,

Now I know we're going to work on that dream.

We're all going to put out in the environment for you

to be able to have your very own soaping kitchen of

any size that you want.

Oh, I totally accept that.

That's awesome.

Right. Okay.

So meanwhile,

we all want your soap.

So where do we go?

How do we get in touch with you or order or

go check out what's going on through your Facebook page?

Tell us a couple of ways that we can connect.

Absolutely. You can find us on Facebook.

It's Eby farms,

LLC. You can also go to our website.

It's Eby farms,

llc.com. And on there,

you will find not only our store front,

but you'll also find a page that has a listing of

where we will be.

So you can come and visit us at different shows.

We try to put up any updates of new wholesale accounts.

So places you can go brick and mortar stores that are

carrying our products.

You can also just give us a call.

And you'll get me on the other end of the line.

That's fabulous.

So give biz listeners check all of this out if you're

interested. And you do know that if you are walking your

dog in the car in your own shop and you weren't

able to capture any the contact information,

you can just jump right over to the show notes page

and I'll have it all there and available for you.

Jen, thank you so much.

I just love how you've really given us a visual of

your business and how it's formed.

And it sounds beautiful out there on your farm.

And I'm already picturing you in your new kitchen.

So I'm jumping forward a little bit.

We went,

we went to what was,

and now I'm jumping forward a little bit,

but I am just so excited for you.

I wish you nothing but the best in terms of the

growth of your company and may your candle always Feel,

I appreciate it.

Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.

Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business

and life.

It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com

slash tools.

Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the

next episode.

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