Friday, August 06, 2010

Soap Making: Thinking Outside the [Mold] Box

Soap Making: Thinking outside the mold boxGoPlanetEarth stocks hundreds of molds. But there are times when you need to think outside the "mold" box and experiment with soaps that aren't formed within a plastic or silicone molded cavity. That's what we've been doing this week. Some of those ideas have been good, some not. There is always the excitement of experimenting with new ideas but when some fail, it's disheartening and you're back to the drawing board.

The above soap was birthed while reading a ghost storybook to my grand kids. Hmmm... how easy would it be to make a ghost template? Then, use that template on a sheet of poured soap? There would be plenty of fine tuning, but once the idea was conceptualized I was able to reassess better ways to accomplish this soaping goal.

Isn't this just like running or starting a new business? We have all these grand ideas of how we want the business plan to play out. We want to create the biggest and best company ever and, if like me, you have had many sleepless nights visualizing and planning how to accomplish those goals. In the course of implementing our ideas and visions, we find that some ideas work, other's do not. So what do you do? Give up? Certainly not! You pick yourself up by the shoulders, dust off the disappointment and head in a new direction. It is part of the learning curve. If at first you don't succeed, then map out a new course.

I am going to keep working on that darn ghost soap until I get it right. And, when I do, I will be sure to share it with you. In the meantime, I am back to the drawing board. Just like you, I have my fair share of "screw-ups" and failures. But what separates the best from the rest is ones willingness to move forward even when things don't go as planned. Gee... doesn't that sound like life? If everything went as planned, how could we truly enjoy those sweet moments of success?

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