A dear friend of mine, not to mention my favorite candle supplier, Deb Ragsdale is a Navy wife and, like many of us, has an Etsy. LilacAve has been around for a few years and she was gracious enough to let us in behind the scenes to learn how military wives, like herself, can take their Etsy shops on the road and host delightful house parties! Since her new venture into the world of house parties, she has since begun to add to her candle collection lotions, soaps, gift baskets and more! Truly, an inspiration for us all! Below is my interview with her:

Why did you started hosting house parties?

I started doing my own house parties when we were stationed in Hawaii. It was a great way to get the wives from our command to come together and meet each other. At first, the parties allowed everyone to create their own custom soy candle and a table to buy more of my candles if they wished, that were featured in my Etsy shop.

When we moved to Georgia I continued to host parties. They were fun and a great way to meet people—not to mention a great way to spread the word locally about my business. But in Georgia I didn’t know anyone and because my husband was on shore duty there wasn’t much opportunity to get just the “wives” together. Only one person showed up to my party while I lived in Georgia.

Now, this is where it changed for me… I thought, “Scentsy does it, Partylite does it, so why can’t LilacAve do it, too?” I am the only one that offers soy candles, the only one that offers handmade, and the only one that offers complete customization of the customers choices.

At that time, a friend of mine in the Dallas metroplex offered to be my “guinea pig”. I’m originally from Dallas, so between the two of us, we were able to gather 13 people together for the first LilacAve candle house party!

How you organized/networked your first party?

First, I sent my friend samples of candles: one in each size I offer and scent samples for all the scents offered. She also got 10 catalogs and many order forms—as well as directions as to how to fill out the order forms, how to send in payment, how she would get her commission and discounts, and the time frame for the orders to be filled within. She was fully prepared by the time she finished reading her guide!

Next, she invited her friends and also posted her invite on Facebook. The attendees loved getting to gather together for some socializing and candle smelling. I know they had a great time because when she called me during the party with a question, you could hear all the party chatter in the background with laughter and excitement!

What goes on during your parties?

During the party the Hostess will talk to the benefits of a soy candle (the long lasting, clean scent, and environmentally friendly factors). She will show the different candle sizes, and everyone will socialize and smell all the samples. Then, the customer gets to mix and match which containers, scent, and even paper packaging that they would prefer.

Next, they fill out the order forms and set up payment. They can pay by credit card, paypal, or check. The hostess will mail the payments to me and the order filling process begins! Turn-around is around 2 – 3 weeks and all orders are shipped to the hostess for her to deliver to her customers.

Does your parties have any customer perks?

Some perks for party customers include free gifts, such as a free votive candle, and sometimes special pricing. The ability to physically smell the candles is undeniably a perk as it’s not an online shopping possibility.

What are the advantages for being a Hostess of one of your parties?

Hostesses will recieve a Commission from all the sales they take from their party, as well as discounts on their personal purchases.

How can others get started to become a hostess for your next party?

They can contact me at LilacAve{at}gmail{dot}com. I will send them information on the starter kit (with candle samples), and information on hostess benefits, etc.

Tips for evolving one’s business during PCS moves?

If you are a small business, not every PCS is going to be the same as the last, to survive and grow, you have to think out of the box.

What’s your number one tip for selling handmade online?

Love what you sell, and believe in the product.

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So more than a few weeks ago we had the house packed out. Since we’d never done it before, we tried to prepare the best we knew how. We made sure to eat all of our perishables and use all of our cleaning supplies and such. We set aside what we needed to take with us like our air mattress, a small tv, sheets, towels, etc; Our plan was to make sure we had enough of the basics to live off of after our stuff was packed and before it arrived on the other end. We also planned on staying at the house a week after pack out to clean it (so much easier!). During the pack out we learned a few things that I thought I’d share.

One: Some moving companies require you to take out the batteries from everything… from remotes to children’s toys. What a feat! We rushed around digging through children’s toys trying to find all the batteries, we ended up with almost 2 gallon sized bags full of batteries! Next time we will do this before the day the movers are there to pack… Better yet we may just not replace the batteries at all, the house seems to be so much quieter without them.. LOL

Two: Candles, Soaps, liquids, and anything in between can not be shipped by some moving companies, even in zip lock bags. Before I knew they wouldn’t ship them I had already put them in zip lock bags. When they didn’t pack them, I thought nothing of it and just threw it in with what we were taking with us. Then I realized why they wouldn’t take them, and I was so happy I had them in zip lock bags, some of them didn’t make the trip with us without melting, I could just imagine what would have happened in the shipment if they would have packed them as they were. Again, this is something I will make sure to set aside or use up next time so it’s not a concern during the move. I’d hate to get a company that allows them and then get my boxes covered in wax from the melted candles/soap. Yucko!

Three: Feed your movers/packers! We decided to feed them so they wouldn’t leave for lunch, and it paid off, I couldn’t imagine sitting around in the middle of packing day waiting for them to return from lunch. The first day we did chicken and fixins and then the second and third day we did pizza. Happy packers meant happy us!

Four: Expect tons of paper to be used, and boxes to be mixed between rooms. Sometimes the movers need something heavy in the bottom of a box or need just the right shape of something to finish packing a box, and they will drag a box from one room to the next. It’s easier to expect it then to get upset about it on the other end. And the paper, well I guess we will have tons of paper for the kids to color on after it’s all said and done.

Five: Expect damages; It’s a fact of life that things get damaged during a move, if you expect it then you won’t be as disappointed on the other end. Also you can request that things are wrapped better or have special packing crates or boxes to help protect them more. And in the end when you’ve unwrapped everything and you only have one or two things damaged you can feel much better because you expected the worst!

Six: Make sure your items are described correctly on the inventory sheets, it could really save you in the end if something goes missing. For example I had a $200 massage chair in a carry case and it was labeled as a black bag, and I have an elliptical that was labeled as exercise equipment. So I asked them to go back and correctly list the item and they had no problem doing so. It would have been a disaster trying to convince the Navy that my ‘black bag’ was worth $200! lol

Seven: Pay attention to the weather, if it’s going to be extremely hot outside make sure you provide water for your movers and if you can afford it have the AC on during the pack out (even though the doors may stay opened). You may have a higher electric bill than normal, but it’s much better than having someone have a heat stroke. Or if it’s going to be raining, see if you could find some old towels you could throw away for the packers to use on your stuff or on them selves.

Eight: Expect some arguing among the packers/movers. We had three days of packing and loading in the hot GA sun and by the last day everyone was at their wit’s end. My husband and I found it kind of entertaining actually, but I’m sure these guys were just ready to be done with the job. So expect a little bit of bickering, of course if it becomes more than that then be ready to call the company and have the problem resolved.

Nine: You can ask the truck driver to give you a call of the weight of your HHGs when he weighs the truck after he leaves your house. Some may say they can’t, but there is nothing wrong with asking. We were scared we were going to be overweight, so we asked the driver to call us after weighing the truck and he was more than happy to do so.

Ten: Don’t forget to make sure the weight of the boxes, packing supplies, and pro-gear is deducted from your total weight if you are over your weight limit. Those things add up and could really save you a lot of stress and money in the end.

Ok so that is our list of the things we learned, hope it helps some of you if it’s going to be your first PCS (or your first PCS that you aren’t doing your self).

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From the Discovery Channel:

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be part of the military elite?

Discovery Channel grants viewers unprecedented access inside the military’s special forces training programs on Surviving The Cut, premiering Wednesday, August 18 at 10 PM ET/PT.

Surviving The Cut shares the personal quest of men and women committed to being part of six of the United States military’s most coveted and elite units, taking an up close look inside the candidates’ emotional journeys as they overcome physical and psychological hurdles to reach their goals.

Wednesday’s episode goes behind the scenes at U.S. Army Ranger School, which is considered one of the toughest combat courses on the planet. The course replicates the nonstop stress of war to help train the Army’s elite combat leaders. It is so tough that only one in three makes it through.

For more, you can see a full episode guide (including which units will be covered each week), an extended preview (embeddable YouTube) of the series, and clips from Wednesday’s episode.

I’ll be watching!  Be sure to set your DVR!

—

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Why, you start doing one of two things (or a combination of both): (1) You bloom where you are planted; and/or (2) You start thinking of where the military will take you next. Me? Well, I’m doing both right now. I’m firmly settling in here, but not too firmly. I’ve got my sights set on where this super exciting journey through military life will bring us next. That’s right. I’m always itching to move. Heck, when you are stationed in one region for more than 10 years and you finally break out, you want to go-go-go.

I have to say, our PCS trip was fabulous. Sure, the kids had meltdowns, the man in blue and I had our spats, and we were fatigued, but we saw some pretty amazing things across this great land of ours. I wouldn’t trade that trip for the world!

We crossed the country from east coast to west. I really enjoy it here so far. I do miss the east coast beaches in the summertime, particularly because the weather here is much cooler than I expected and the water is not super convenient to jump waves in given rip tides and sneaker waves. All that aside though, it’s beautiful in the Pacific Northwest.

We hadn’t been here long when the man in blue had to deploy though. That was a bummer, but not totally unexpected. I sure can’t wait to have him back home and checking out the new area with us again.

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I hate this Murphy guy, I swear I spend most days I am thinking to myself, TAKE YOUR LAW AND SHOVE IT! DH is gone, he’s not deployed, but I think Murphy doesn’t seem to know that. He’s gone at a school prior to our transfer to our next ship.

ANYWAYS!

As I work on cleaning up the kitchen, doing the dishes I hate, I find myself standing with the handle of my pot in my hand…the pot is sitting in the sink. UMMM that is not how it’s suppose to look. The dryer has been making weird sounds which makes me wonder one of two things….Did a field mouse get trapped in the vent and die and is now somehow blocking it’s ventilation? Or is it about to die and leave me without a dryer?? I am hoping it is not the latter because I would lose it. I could handle a dead mouse, with some crying and shrieking, but I could handle it.

It’s hard to have your service member leave…There is a ton of emotion and the overwhelming “stages of dealing” that we all go through with this military life, but I have to remind myself everyday to laugh through it.  I laugh a lot in the early days of my service members leaving because it wouldn’t happen if he was here.  So I urge you all…Remember to just laugh, it helps you feel better no matter what Murphy has done to you!!

~Fair Winds & Following Seas~

TrevsNavyWife

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Yesterday I attended the 5th Military Bloggers Confrence in Washington DC! It was an awesome experiance, but I will get back to that in bit…First about my drive from Annapolis into DC. I love Washington DC. It’s beautiful, it’s history, it’s one of my favorite places in the world…but DRIVING in DC leaves much to be desired. The roads are one way or awkward in general and I know it is part of the history of how the city was built and such.

One view I couldn’t help but love was as I came around on I-395 and saw the Jefferson Memorial. There is something about that memorial that I am always left breathless as I drive past. I have no idea why. I was also drawn silent as I passed the Pentagon, not just because of the incident of 9/11 that occurred there and the lives lost, but because of the sheer enormity of the edifice. As my route continued thanks to “Maggie,” my GPS system that got me there, I passed the backside of Arlington National Cemetery, a place where heroes lost fighting for this country are laid to rest. While I personally don’t believe in the act of burial I always find myself moved at the thought of the lives lost. I think especially of those who are now fighting in forward areas, and from here I will keep out my personal opinion. There is beauty in that cemetery that is even captured in just a simple drive by.

Upon my arrival at the Westin Arlignton Gateway I was already quite visually stimulated, now trying not to look crazy as I stared at the name tags everyone was wearing to see what blogs or company they were a part of.

The conference was live streamed on YouServed.com and it was absolutely awesome that soldiers from Afganistan were able to submit questions to panelists. We even had attendance by forward deployed upper level leadership overseas. That was neat because of technology we could see them via video feed.

I was fortunate to see SSGT Norman T. Hatch, USMC WWII Veteran. Hatch served as a Combat Cameraman in Tarawa as well as Iwo Jima. Some of his footage was included in the war film “With the Marines at Tarawa.” Hatch it was incredible to hear his view of what was shown on a screen of what was really going on. SSGT Hatch has recently been interviewed on NPR as well as a Person of the Week on World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer.

Speakers from the DOD, US Fleet Forces, and NTM-A were also a wealth of information and inspiration. It was awesome to hear what they see coming through the blogosphere as well how we can use social media to effect change and be heard….(For example the uprising of MilSpouses when MyCAA was shut down.)

It was an awesome experience, I wouldn’t trade it. I learned a lot and met a lot of people I never would have encountered outside of the Twitterverse or Blogosphere. I was excited to meet two of the woman behind LeftFace, LAW and Snarky. These woman are awesome because they say what I am just a little too shy to say on here, although any of you who know me face to face know I say it all out loud without fear!! lol Is that bizarre?

I was also excited to find out that Garry Trudeau the Doonesbury comic strip was in attendance. Little did I know until a little later, he was seated RIGHT in front of me!! Of course I got an autograph for my mom….and a photo of myself with Garry.

Trudeau is a long standing military supporter and like many of us, is ready for them to come home safely to their families! Thank you to Garry Trudeau for his support of the military. You are loved by all of us for sure!!

The drive back to USNA was long, even though I got home rather quickly. I loved seeing the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument lit up in the darkness. It is so beautiful!

Now I leave you with a quote from our First Commander in Chief, George Washington:

“My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.”

~Fair Winds & Following Seas~
~~TrevsNavyWife~~

Another quote that touched me…
Thank you Megan M. McClung for your service and your mantra.
“Be bold, Be brief, Be gone.”

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As part of my participation with Navy Wife Radio I have received dozens of military life books.

I recently read the book, Confessions of a Military Wife by Mollie Gross. Mollie is edgy, hilarious, and is very very honest. She doesn’t hold back, which is something I love. I hate dancing around topics and Mollie just doesn’t. Mollie brings you into not just her world, but into a world we all know. We have that friend that becomes our deployment spouse, we all have flirted with the retired man who is working for tips as a commissary bagger, and even chased the Schwans man’s truck down the street! Admit it, you’ve done it, I have!! Mollie isn’t afraid of making known just how it is when your loved one is deployed…One of my favorite things is that what I may never say, Mollie does!!

Check out her site: Mollie Gross, Military Wife Comedy and enjoy yourself a book that will be like your best girlfriend…I know I did!!

We are hoping to get Mollie on our show soon!!

~Fair Winds & Following Seas!!~

Marla ~ TrevsNavyWife

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Most military spouses who work, work from home or online. Either way, you can use social media to help boost your sales and spread the word about your amazing services! Even if you are in the middle of a PCS, you can use your social media tools to keep your customers up to date and interested in your brand or service if your website is closed temporarily. Most entrepreneurs will tell you that they have many roles: production, accounting, web site manager, product photographer, marketing, sales and customer service… any one of these alone is daunting enough so let various social media site tools help you with your marketing efforts.

For my online business I love to use Co-Tweet for scheduling tweets on Twitter to leave me free and clear for other tasks throughout the day with a few manually entered tweets to connect with my piers and customers on a personal level. You can try other sites like HootSuite or TweetDeck. Be sure to include a full web link including the ‘http://’ for your readers to click on, or a hashtag (#) to categorize your tweet’s topic so that when someone is reading another tweet elsewhere that has the same hashtag, when they click on it they might find your tweet in the list of all the tweets using that same hashtag. Twitter is a powerful tool for getting your business out there and growing.

ie: New in the shop! Handmade Petite Clips (full web link here) #handmade

For Facebook updates, there are a few options for managing and scheduling: Postling, Social Oomph, and Sendible. These will let you schedule your updates fairly easily, though each has their perks and limitations. Facebook even has several Apps available for selling right from your Fan Page! The App that I like to use is Bixbe, it’s free and super simple to use on any social media site! People are shopping more and more on Facebook, making these e-Commerce Apps more valuable to have on your Fan Page. To make it easy to share your Fan Page’s web address, go to http://facebook.com/username to claim your vanity URL that will keep your web address short and easy to read. Finding which scheduling tool that fits you the best will help you stay motivated to update your pages often. Most will let you manage more than one social media site or accounts, making your efforts even more stream-lined.

How often should you tweet or update on Facebook? At least once a day if you are super busy. For my business, I schedule one tweet every two hours and 2-3 Facebook updates throughout the day. Afraid that your readers be bogged down? Not likely, since most users on these sites have 100’s or 1,000’s of people’s updates scrolling through their screen. Very few people who regularly use these sites will have less than 100-300 people that they follow. Make your update stand out but never the whole thing in all-caps as Google sees that as spam.

What should you write about? Think of it like a small announcement board or a mini newsletter for your shop: you want to offer promotional news, new items, behind the scenes work, testimonials about your work, and articles covering similar interests to your field—and why not a fun photo or two of your outtings using a site like Yfrog. You have to keep a good mix to avoid 100% shameless plugs that can turn off your buyers or, heaven forbid, cause you to be flagged as spam. Don’t forget to be friendly, be positive—no complaining about order complications, your kids climbing the walls, or your husband giving you a hard time—and be cleverly informative when tweeting as a business. And everything you write on these social media sites needs to have at least 1-2 keywords that your customer base might be searching under to find your kind of product or service. In fact, keeping SEO in mind is a great idea considering that Google now can search all tweets and Facebook updates (if it’s a fan page, it’s always public).

Designing these social media sites is just as important! For Twitter, having a clean and simple background image that reflects your business’ image is a great way to motivate them to click the web address they see on your profile and having a profile pic that is eye-catching at the small icon size. For Facebook, you can upload an image that is 200 wide by as long as you need it to be. Use this space as your own personal promo spot! See my Twitter Page and Facebook Page to take notes on how I created a unified look that gives the readers a great idea about what my business is all about.

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As we celebrate our Freedom this 4th of July holiday weekend, please keep in your thoughts and prayers the service men and women who are deployed protecting us and their spouses on the homefront.

I thought I would share this letter that recently came on my radar, please feel free to share with the military spouses in your circle of influence.

LETTER TO A MILITARY SPOUSE

While I have never had the pleasure of meeting you or your husband, I felt the need to write you and express a very deep feeling that I have in my heart.

I, as a person, am not brave. I do not tackle things head on, as I hate confrontation. I will travel 100 miles out of my way jut to avoid a conflict. I am an American woman that has no idea what is going on in the military other than what I hear on the news.

I have never had to let go of someone so that they could go fight for people that they didn’t know, people that sometimes do not appreciate or understand what they are fighting for.

I have never had a sleepless night of worry because of a report that another bomb has exploded and I still haven’t heard from my husband.

I have never had to wait for months on end to hold the one that I loved so.

I have never had to tell my children that daddy wasn’t coming home tonight because he was so far away fighting for something that they aren’t yet old enough to understand.

I have never had to hold my head high and suppress the tears as I hear that it will be at least another 6 months of separation before my loved one gets to come home.

I have never had to deal with a holiday away from the one that I thought I would share every day of my life with.

And I have never had to feel the panic rising in my heart at the sound of a ringing phone or knock at the door for fear that it is the news that everyone is terrified of getting.

For the reasons listed above, I can not tell you that I understand how you feel. I can not tell you that you must be strong. I can not say that you shouldn’t be angry, because you “knew what you were getting into when you married a military man”. I can not say these things because I have never had to walk in your shoes.

What I can say for certain is that because of your unselfish acts of bravery and your husband’s willingness to stand up for those who see him as “just another soldier” – I will never have to walk in your shoes.

I do understand that as a military wife you are expected to uphold a certain amount of control, but I never understood how you could do it, until now. I have figured out that you are not like other women. You are of a special breed. You have a strength within you that holds life together in the darkest of hours, a strength of which I will never possess. The faith you have is what makes you stand out in a crowd; it makes you glow with emotion and swell with pride at the mention of The United States of America.

You are a special lady, a wonderful partner and a glorious American.

I have more respect for your husband than I could ever tell you, but until recently I never thought much about those that the soldier leaves at home during deployment.

Until this moment I could never put into words exactly what America meant to me.

Until this moment, I had no real reason to…Until I heard of you.

Your husband and his military family hold this nation close, safe from those who wish to hurt us…but you and those like you are the backbone of the American family. You keep the wheels in motion and the hearts alive while most would just break completely down.

Military families make this nation what it is today.

You give us all hope and you emit a warming light at the end of a long dark tunnel.

Because of you and your family…I am able to be me. I am able to have my family. I am able to walk free in this great land. Because of you and your family, I can look ahead to the future with the knowledge that life is going to be okay. Because of you and your family, I can awake to a new day, everyday.

I realize that you are a stronger person that I will ever be because of these things and I just wanted to take the time today to say thank you to you and your family for allowing me that freedom.

I will never be able to repay this debt to you, as it is unmatchable. However, I hope that you know that no matter where you are…what you are doing…what has happened today…or what will happen tomorrow…Your husband will NEVER be “just another soldier” to me…And you, dear sweet lady, will never be forgotten.

You are all in my prayer’s everyday and I pray that God will bring you back together with your loved one safely.

May God Bless You!
-Author Unknown

Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt./Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

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Sometimes it’s nice to get something for nothing! Offering free shipping has been proven to increase sales and gain customer’s confidence in shopping at your site if they know that they will not be hit up with shipping fees in the end. Customers always commit to the price they see on an item but they may not like committing to the new total after they see the shipping fees.

A little trick to keep your customers happy and hold on to your shipping fees at the same time: if most of your items share the same shipping & handling fee amounts, try adding a flat rate to your item price? For example, you could add $5 to the price of your items. If that won’t work, try offering free shipping to all orders within the U.S. and maybe a flat-rate of $10 on all international orders since the international shipping costs can be too much to include into the item’s price. If you’re not in the habit of offering coupons or sales in your shop, this can be a great promotional tool for you to attract new and returning customers! Tweet it up and share the great news on your Facebook Fan Page.

Stats to back up your Free Shipping marketing campaign, from FreeShipping.org:

• 78% of online customers said prohibitive costs of shipping discouraged them from online purchases.
• 75% of people prefer to shop with online retailers that offer free shipping, compared to 61% in 2007.
• 43% of shoppers abandon their shopping carts because of unexpectedly high shipping charges.
• Nearly 60% of respondents said free shipping was a “very important” factor in their decision to shop online.
• 61 of the largest 100 online retailers offered free shipping as of the week of Monday, Nov. 10, 2008.
• 60% of respondents indicated that free shipping was a reason they were more likely to shop online.
• 90% of respondents said free shipping offers would entice them to spend more online.
• 72% of consumers said that if an e-commerce site eliminated free shipping, they would use another e-commerce site that did offer free shipping.

The price may seem a little on the high side to you but the fear of losing a sale for a merchant is always combating our abilities to make solid business decisions. We already shown how it’s statistically proven to work, right? So why not try it? Your customers will be tickled-pink when they see that there’s nothing left to pay after the item’s cost and will consider it as if you had given them a free gift.

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