Why Not Paint the Walls?

Liliana de Castro studied finance and government in her native Columbia.  She held down a challenging right-brained job that kept her busy.  After the birth of her first child she decided to give up that job and stay home full time with her daughter.  And she stared to get a little stir crazy.  Her husband came home one day to find she had stopped climbing the walls and started painting them.  When he saw the early phases of her first mural, her husband’s comment was “How can we sell the house now?!!”  This mural took her 4 months to complete since she had to work on it in between raising her infant daughter and running her household.  When this first attempt was complete and her husband saw the finished mural his comment was: “How do you know how to do this?!”  While Liliana has never been trained in art, her love for artistic creation comes through in her work.  “I got the gift of artistic ability like many members in my family.  I see it as a gift given to me by God.” 

Her daughter watched as Liliana painted walls in their home or at other people’s houses and began to color the walls in her own room.  Liliana marked off a section of wall for her daughter to paint.  “How could I explain to a toddler that mommy can paint on walls, but she can’t?  So I gave her a special space on the wall to color with crayons or watercolor paints.” 

After completing her first mural, Liliana began decorating furniture, like lamps and stepstools for children’s rooms.  She was pregnant with her second child and painting walls was too demanding physically.  ”I change my business to fit in with the needs of my family,” says this mother of three.  Word of her ability spread when members of her playgroup saw her murals and painted furniture and asked her to paint for them.  “Word of mouth has been very powerful for me,” she says.

Her creations, whether on walls or furniture, contain unique items like 3-D objects that pop out of the picture.  An actual bird nest emerges from a tree painted on a wall, or a frog-themed stepstool has bugs fashioned out of buttons.  “I also like to add special symbols that are important to the person I am painting for.”  Sometimes the symbols stand for a person’s ethnicity or religion.  Liliana researches the customer’s background or important activities in their life and incorporates some object to represent that. 

Liliana’s work brings her great joy, and allows her to express herself.  More importantly she wants her work to bring people together.  Her future plans for her business include creating a workshop where children and their parents could come and paint with her to create a piece of artwork that they could hang up in their house.  Liliana works in the northern Virginia area.

Liliana can be reached at: lilisarttouch@gmail.com

A Little Light Reading

I am officially improving myself.  For the past month I have read for 15 minutes each night before bed.  Since I’ve passed the 21 days to make a habit, I now consider my reading habitual.   Right now I am enjoying books about improving my business skills.  I recently finished “You, Inc.” by Burke Hedges.  Hedges wrote the book in the early ’90’s and while it is a bit dated he has some general pointers about increasing your value not only to your customers, but your value as a human being.  He touches on all aspects of live–from improving your finances, your friendships, your fitness and your faith. 

I am currently reading “Raving Fans” by Sheldon Bowles.  An easy and great read about customer service.  Bowles believes we (as customers) have set our expectations too low in terms of customer service.  We are pleased when someone is not rude to us.  Bowles encourages businesses NOT to create satisfied customers, but rather RAVING FANS.  His book is set up as an allegory complete with Fairy Godmother, and so far is delightful to read. 

Please comment on what books you are currently enjoying–business-related or not!

Not Just the Old Soft Soap

Ever had that hot idea to make something new?  Ever act on it?  Julie Scarpato got a “hot idea” in September of 2007 to make soap.  April 1, 2008 (no joke) she will officially launch her hot idea in the form of Bare Scentsations, a homemade soap business she operates from her kitchen. 

Julie began experimenting with soap recipes after reading about the process.  “I chose the melt and pour method,” she says, “instead of the hot or cold processes our great-grandmothers may have used.”  The hot and cold processes involve chemicals like lye and the soap takes up to 4 weeks to cure.  Instead, Julie uses a soap base provided by a supplier, and then cooks that in a double boiler, or even in the microwave!  She adds fragrance and color, any additives, like oatmeal or granules, and pours it into a mold.  Once it has cooled she removes the soaps from the molds and packages them for sale.  

Her marketing research took the form of her husband and family.  At one point her husband Mike had four different kinds of soaps in his shower for testing.  At that point, he told her she needed a bigger test group.  In February, Julie flipped through her Rolodex, made a list of 50 friends and sent them each 3 samples of her soaps, a 3-question survey form, and a self-addressed stamped envelop.  She has received about 50% of the surveys back, and more come in everyday.  Her high rate of return, she believes, was a result of the survey being easy to return.  “I hate surveys, so I made sure it was a simple form and all they had to do was fill it in, pop it in the envelop and send it back.”

The survey has given Julie valuable information about her product.  She is currently making some changes to her soaps based on the feedback she received.  Her Oatmeal Serenity soap contains pieces of oatmeal for exfoliation.  Originally, the oatmeal was on one side of the bar only.  Some of her survey responders suggested she distribute the oatmeal throughout the bar so the exfoliation would last throughout the life of the bar.  She also created a vanilla-scented soap based on survey responders’ scent suggestions.

Julie’s survey, in addition to gaining her valuable feedback, also served to let her friends know about her business.  She has received orders for soap from several people.  How great to have a “grand opening” with orders already in the queue. 

The future of Bare Scentsations holds clear goals.  Julie will focus her efforts on selling her soap in her home state of Texas, although she will certainly mail soap to customers anywhere.  Once her customer base is established locally she will add a webpage and expand her customer base even further.

Julie can be reached at juliescarpato@sbcglobal.net.

 

 

Pink Bubble

I never planned on having a blog.  I’ve read other people’s, of course, but never thought of myself as a blogger.  And yet, here I am.  I started “Bubble of Pink” to post interviews of women who own their own businesses.  As an entrepreneur myself I KNOW we need support and tips and some humor to successfully run our businesses. 

 Soon you will find articles about some Women About Business posted here.  I am currently interviewing them and will post the results of conversations so we can all learn from their successes.

As for the name “Bubble of Pink”—this is a nod to my business as a Mary Kay Consultant.  In Mary Kay we talk about being in the pink bubble, which is a place of confidence.  We believe so deeply in our mission that we find the support we need and we give that support to others around us.  So here’s to this blog being a Pink Bubble for you.