My goodness! Today is December 17…just 14 days left until the new year. This year has flown by.

I take the month of December to reflect on the past year and to create goals for the next year. I review Quickbooks and look at sales and trends in sales; I look at blog stats and check to see what content on my blog was a hit.

2015 was a huge year of change for me. It was my first complete year of solely working for myself. My business pivoted a bit from teaching classes to focusing more on eBooks, although I still teach classes occasionally.

Personally speaking, I got married to my best friend, Benjamin! 2015 goes down in my books as a wonderful year of growth and exhilarating change!

I got back into blogging and publishing content for soapmakers. I had paused a bit in 2013/2014 to focus on our non-profit, Lovin’ Soap Project.

Here are my top 4 blog posts and resource pages from the year.

Like I mentioned above, my business has pivoted to focus more on publishing eBooks. Publishing eBooks and creating more passive income will help me to be able to focus on running the non-profit and teaching women around the world to make soap. Lovin’ Soap Project requires lots of travel and time away from my business. By having a steady stream of income coming in through eBook sales, I can still pay the bills. 🙂

This year, I published 6 eBooks!

My goal this year was to publish one eBook every other month. I did it! Yay! My goal next year is to publish 1 eBook every month. I plan to focus on the Soap Design Project books heavily and create a book for various topics and themes including Valentines, Face Soap, Wedding Favors, Back to School…etc.

If you’ve purchased an eBook this past year… THANK YOU! I’m so grateful for your support.

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the importance of product reviews. If you don’t have product reviews up on your website, just ask for them! I sent out an email to all of my customers who have purchased eBooks and received some absolutely wonderful reviews that have me grinning from ear to ear. Sometimes when you publish content, you don’t always receive feedback unless you ask for it. It makes you wonder if anyone is enjoying what you are sharing. Turns out…people are! Check out some of these reviews for my recipe book.

Reviews for Lovin’ Soap Studio Recipe Book

  • I purchased the Cold Process Recipe eBook. This book is helping me reduce the number of recipes that I use palm oil in. I didn’t think I could make a good hard vegetable bar without palm or animal fat but this book proved me wrong.  I would highly suggest this book for those that cannot get RSPO palm oil or those that want to be totally palm free in their production of soap. – Keedy W.
  • I purchased the “Lovin Soap Studio Cold Process Soap Recipe eBook”, since I am fairly new to soap making and needed reliable recipes to work with.  The recipes are easy to read as well as the directions, they produce hard bars that lather without drying your skin out.  I have enjoyed working with your soap recipes. – Kathy S.
  • I have been making soap for a few years and wanted to do more essential oil soaps instead of fragrances, so I bought your book for all the essential oil mixture recipes. I was pleasantly surprised to see all your soap recipes were palm free. I tried your lavender and oatmeal face bar recipe and it is fantastic! I can’t wait to try some more of your recipes from the book. This book is great for new soapers and veterans too. Good job! – Kelly G.
  • I purchased the Cold Process Soap Recipe Book and I cannot emphasize enough how much I love it! I have made 6 different recipes so far, and all have turned out wonderfully. I was afraid that palm free soap would not turn out well, but now I will never use palm oil again.  My soap turned out hard, and lathers well but is not during at all. The book has a great variety of recipes, there is truly something for everyone, and the scent combinations are divine. I would recommend this book to anyone who makes soap, and I thank you for sharing all of this valuable information with us.  – Laurie Y.
  • I purchased the CP soap recipe book this year and have been super happy with it!  I’m a seasoned soaper, but even if I wasn’t I would love this book.  I loved the tips for substitutions…you know when you “thought” you had plenty of rice bran oil, but didn’t!  The recipes worked flawlessly and I’ve gotten rave reviews from each of the soaps that I’ve added to my product line.  Even though I’ve changed up a few things, because I mainly make milk soaps, the recipes were just plain soapy goodness.  Thanks for great books that are truly what they say they are. Too often I buy an ebook that sounds great but find it to be poorly written or not very helpful.  I’m happy to report that Amanda’s books are the real deal.  Real information and an excellent value for the price! – Barb M.
  • I purchased your “Cold Process Recipe Book”.  What a great resource for both beginners and seasoned soap makers!  For the novice, there are basic soap recipes to get them started.  Once they have become addicted to soap making, because you know it’s going to happen, they have more elaborate and exciting recipes to try! I have made many of the recipes, but my family really likes the Wake Up! soap in the morning.  I’m partial to the Sleepy Time at bath time before heading to bed. Thank you all of the great ideas and the inspiration! – Deana L.
  • Love this eBook! I am relatively new to making soap and was looking for a few new ideas to help me along. The book is a great price, has lots of seriously good recipes, from simple to more involved, & I love that each recipe is on a separate page, enabling me to easily print out one at a time. I’ve tried several recipes, all with good results & have several more on my ‘to-do’ list. This is a must-have for all soapmakers. – Cal P.

My goodness! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

Happy Soaping!

-Amanda Gail