Hello everyone!

My name's Janie, and I joined the site recently as I finally got forced encouraged by my friends and family to get myself assessed and legal to sell my bath products!

I've been making soaps, bombs and all those things for years for myself and various other people I knew who were willing to be my guinea pigs, but giving it all away was proving to be expensive, and then they kept saying people they knew wanted to buy x y or z but I couldn't sell them it which was very frustrating, so it was decided I should be brave and take the plunge!

So I got a Business Start Up Package assessment from Scott (who I must say is absolutely amazing, I couldn't recommend him highly enough!) and have registered with BIS, got insurance from Ian Walker, told the Inland Revenue etc and am now all legal and currently working on some product design for things people have requested, and ploughing my way through endless PIPs, sorting out all the pre-orders I've taken whilst all this has been going on and drinking lots of coffee!!

On a personal note, I'm 35, I'm married to a gorgeous Scotsman, I have a daughter who is nearly 15, a son who was 2 last week and I also have my own hedgehog rescue centre that I run from home too. So I don't get to sleep, sit down, or rest very often! haha

Very pleased to meet you Selkie. Now the next thing is to pop some pics up of your wee goodies. Don't be shy its not allowed here. Have fun we are a friendly bunch. :buttrf:

Welcome to the club! 
And yes, please, have your camera around to post pics!!!

haha yes I am aware of reading through the other posts that I should be ready and willing to show off my creations, and I promise to do that very soon (once I've plucked up the courage and also found where my son has hidden my camera!)

Hello Janie  :buttrf:

Hi Janie and welcome.

The hedgehog rescue must be interesting. What made you start that. I feed a blind hedgehog for someone occasionally and they are such cute little things, but much noisier than I thought especially when they fight.

Hi Janie! Lovely to have you here :buttrf:

well I've always loved animals and as a child I was the person people brought random injured wildlife too (much to my parents disgust, they are not animal lovers at all haha) anyway as I got older and had left home and bought my own place, and the things I ended up being handed got more frequent and even more challenging (wildlife injuries can be pretty horrific as they have often not been noticed for a while and when they are people are wary of vets cos they don't want to spend lots of money on an animal that isn't theirs and so the ones I get often have injuries that are really quite stomach churning) anyway I decided to start a proper rescue facility and to focus mainly on hedgehogs as they are my favourite (although I take in anything really, have had snakes and lizards and all sorts of random things dumped on me).

So now I run a proper rescue, rehabilitation and release centre, which is emotionally and physically exhausting and rewarding in equal parts, and as it is expensive to maintain (equipment, food etc) the proceeds from my soap business will help fund it, and also will mean that when my son starts school I can still be a stay at home mum and therefore carry on with my hedgehog stuff, rather than working in a job that was a regular 9-5 office thing (my husband doesn't want me going back to work as he wants me to be there for the kids, the hogs and the house etc but tbh I need to do something more than cooking and cleaning and mum/wife/slave stuff all day, my brain isn't suited to a diet of Jeremy Kyle and being a lady wot lunches) hence stating my own soapy business!

Wow that didn't seem such a long explanation in my head!!

Thanks Scott!!

Can I just mention that you are amazing and wonderful and an assessor extraordinaire! 

Thank you Janine - careful or I'll be blushing :mwaha:

Hello Janie and welcome!  :buttrf:
Well done getting all set up and SAd, registered and the whole bit. Am looking forward seeing your creations.

Oh but it is true Scott! Plus I fully believe in sucking up to praising those who have provided so much help!  

 :mwaha:

I totally agree about sucking up. Scotty the hero. He will start wearing his pants on the outside of his tights soon. Superhero status is needed for him me thinks.  :mwaha:

  Where are the pics :mwaha:

Welcome to the board! I love hedgehogs as well, they are so cute and I love the noise they make when eating snails! They sound like proper little piggies. If you ever need room for one, my Garden is severely lacking one, although the dogs and cats here may have something to do with it, so not sure if one would be happy here. Certainly enough snails and slugs to munch on.

Now we need pictures, hogs, soaps, bombs....