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Notions is a small handmade soap company
making artisan soap.
I used to make handmade laundry detergent for my
family out of Ivory soap.
And I had learned that Ivory was made with some things that
I didn't really want to rub on my skin.
And I started to make my own handmade
soap out of just Crisco.
And then I started adding some color and some fragrance, and
using some special butters and some fancier oils.
And my customers keep coming back.
My corporate office is wherever I am.
I work out of my home.
I make the soap, I design the soap, I do everything except
haul it to the farmer's market.
And my husband does that.
I am located in Manassas, Virginia.
We are a small town.
But we also are a technologically advanced town.
We have Wi-Fi throughout the entire town.
You can grab a cup of coffee, sit on the park bench, and
you've got the world at your fingertips.
My website allows me to connect with customers all
over the world.
I've sent soap literally everywhere, down the street
and then across the globe.
The first time I sold something internationally, I
saw an order come in on my website
and I saw Saudi Arabia.
I sat down and I realized this is what I was hoping for and
now it's happening.
My website has got multiple pages.
I have a blog where I update a little bit about my life, but
mostly my soap.
I also have ingredient pages.
I've got photographs of all of my soap.
And then I have a shopping cart.
I try to network through as many people as I can.
If I find a blog that's doing a giveaway, I will contact the
blog owner and say, I would love to
give you a gift basket.
One tiny bar of soap, and you reach 300 people.
Everyone needs a website.
If you have a business, something to sell, something
to say, the internet's the way to do it.
Without the internet, I would be one person sitting in the
stall at the farmer's market.
Instead, I'm one person taking orders from across the
internet, working on my wholesale orders, and trying
to dream bigger than I ever thought I could.