Ok so why would you even contemplate eating a natural soy candle?; Well you probably wouldn’t, but it was a question put to me by a rather inquisitive 6 year old during the breakfast rush as he was handling one of the apple green decorative candles that we have lying around in droves. "Don’t be silly, its a candle, it’ll make you sick" I replied, without giving it too much thought, and left it at that.

Later I got to thinking about that question and picking up that particular candle I spotted a sticker upon it stating 100% Natural Soy Candle – Now I see why the question arose and maybe it was not such a silly question after all. Right then, in order to satisfy my child’s curiosity, and now mine, it was time to find out all I could on soy candles – "Natural soy candles".

Traditional candles are mainly manufactured from paraffin wax, a distillation by-product of the petroleum processing industry. These candles are losing favor to modern green party ethics due to their fossil fuel ingredients and the possibility that when burning, they release similar carcinogenic compounds as that of burning diesel fuel.

Maybe you really don’t want to be burning too many of them around the home, although from what I could establish, most of the nasties are actually contained within the wick itself and have very little to do with the paraffin wax itself. Poor quality wicks are also responsible for sooting and the faint chemical smell that occurs during burning.

Soy wax candles are the "environmentally friendly" successor to the paraffin wax candles, and business is booming, especially when you take into consideration the global consumption we have for candle products. Whilst you and I probably use candles for a little mood lighting or the odd "aromatherapy" session, candles are used throughout the religious sector on a phenomenal scale.

So, what goes into a soy candle and maybe more importantly, what comes out of soy candles? – Back in the early 1990′s, a certain Michael Richards developed a process to refine soy bean oil into a suitable and economic candle fuel replacement. Soy bean products and derivatives are a natural factof life today – Take a look through your kitchen cupboard and refrigerator and see just how many products contain Soy derivatives.

The beauty about soy beans is that they are a wholesome natural product which can be produced very economically, on a huge scale and on hometurf, thereby supporting the US agricultural sector. The crop is sustainable and scalable to meet future demand and I for one will support that trend.

So, natural soy candles are indeed a 100% natural product and 100% biodegradable, but what else goes into them? Soy wax has a lower melting point than paraffin wax which makes it a little too soft at room temperatures, especially for the thinner soy pillar candles. To get around this soy wax candles generally contain a few other ingredients such as palm oil and beeswax which raises the melting point slightly and gives a firmer candle.

Another way around the problem has been the trend towards chunkier candles and container based candles, e.g. jar candles, votives and tea lights to name a few.(A votive candle is a small, typically white or yellow candle, originally intended to be burnt as a votive offering in a religious ceremony. It also refers to a standard size of candle 2 inches high by 1.5 inches diameter, of any color or scent.)

Soy chunk candles are currently all the rage and are one of my particular favorites. Basically they consist of coarse soy wax chunks or shapes placed into a mold or container which are then overfilled with melted soy wax, which seeps through the air pockets between the soy chunks and holds everything together. Using a soy wax of a different color produces some interesting design effects. I don’t know about you, but I tend to use a lot of these soy chunk candles as purely decorative items – they’re far too nice to burn!

Scented soy candles also contain natural fragrances "essential Oils" to add to their appeal. Natural soy wax candles burn at a lower temperature than traditional candles, which has the benefit of releasing the scent more slowly and less intensely, giving a more natural background fragrance. I can live with scented soy candles, the same can’t be said for traditional scented ones though – Their fragrance can be so overpowering as to cause one’s lungs to go into asthmatic collapse, well mine anyway, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this respect.

So in answer to the title of this article, "are natural soy candles good enough eat?", well yes I guess they probably are – they contain 100% natural products, they’re good for the environment, sustain the US agricultural industry and burn very cleanly – but for heaven’s sake, please don’t! – Traditional food tastes a whole better and offers greater nutritional value – the question was hypothetical, enjoy your natural soy candles as an environment friendly mood light source or to add a delicate natural fragrance to your home, whilst at the same time, doing your bit to save the planet.

Rob Lee is a freelance content author and web graphics entrepreneur. You can find some further examples of Natural soy candles and Scented Soy Candle at http://candlebits.com

Article Source: ArticleSpan

PROFIT is the most important aspect of any business. Turnover is necessary but if there is no profit or not enough profit the business is not sustainable.

photo credit: thomaswanhoff

Unfortunately most salon/spa owners focus on the turnover and the money that is brought into the business on a daily basis but very few really give attention to what the actual profitability of the business is. Without a good profit, cash flow will be the first to take strain and once your cash flow starts taking strain; well I don’t really need to keep going as I think you know what can come next.

Listed below are just 5 of the top examples of profit munchers in the spa/salon business and in fact if not kept strictly under control and monitored on a daily basis these items below could very well be the cause of your business closing down.

1. candles
2. telephone calls
3. poor bookings
4. discounting
5. product wastage

1. Candles
Candles are almost a must for the spa and salon business. They create an amazing ambiance and add to the relaxation and anti-stress aspect that consumers look for when coming to your salon. These gorgeous flickering lights are a major fire hazard, can get messy and hot. Candles are also the number one profit muncher in your business as they are a consumable that carries a huge cost but is completely necessary. Do a small exercise and calculate your total candle expenditure over the last 12 months and you will be very shocked at the figures. My suggestion here is to invest in good quality rechargeable candles. They come in different colors and flicker just like a real candle.

What’s even better is that you have a full range of votives to choose from to house your rechargeable candle. They come in sets of 6, 12 and 24 with a charger unit just like a cell phone charger unit. Initially the investment is much higher than purchasing candles however long term they work out much cheaper and safer. The worst that can happen if you leave a rechargeable candle burning is that it runs out of charge but at least your salon wont burn down over night!

2. Telephone Calls
Without a telephone your business cannot function and you are cut off from the consumer that you need to get in through your doors. Once again I am sure that when you look at your telephone bill every month you really want to cry and keep saying over and over again to your staff to try and cut the phone bill down but it never seems to decrease. Here are a few ways to cut your phone bill for sure:

a) Take out a business package from Telkom that gives you a certain amount of free minutes similar to a cell phone package.

b) Install a premi cell line. This cuts your cell phone bill by at least 40%. And I am sure that most calls are to your clients cell phones.

c) Choose only one method of booking confirmation that works for your business be it either a phone call or a sms message but don’t do both as that is an unnecessary expense.

3. Poor bookings
You are probably asking yourself right now how can you loose profit with poor bookings? After analyzing only 1 spas bookings for a week we worked out that the business was loosing approximately R50 000-00 worth of business in that week. This works out to R200 000-00 in a month! The booking/reservations element of your business is a whole department and training course on its own but let me try giving you a few pointers on effective bookings:

a) Always fill your appointments in the morning first. You must offer your client a time and not just jump at the first time slot they ask for. It’s very much like calling your doctor for an appointment, they offer you times and you pick one of them so do the same in your business and always try fill from the morning first.

b) Do NOT allow 15 minutes gap here and there as this costs you dearly at the end of a day. You must insist the client comes in at the time you have available as they can shuffle their day with 15 minutes but you lose major turnover for those few minutes and especially if there are 4 or 5 of those kind of gaps in a day.

4. Discounting
Have you ever heard of your doctor or dentist sending out a sms offering you a discount for appointments? No I did not think so and if you did receive that type of message would you not assume there was a problem? Discounting cheapens your business and almost gives the message that you need desperately to get feet in the door.

You will also begin to attract the discount hunter type of client that is not really the type of client you want to keep long term as they begin to expect discounts permanently. A very easy and simple way to offer a so-called discount to your client is to rather give added value free of charge which in essence is the same concept as discounting but instead you are ensuring to keep the client in your salon longer by giving them another service free of charge they would normally not have booked for. This also exposes them to other services in your salon and can ensure loyalty and continued bookings.

5. Product wastage
This is the most difficult profit muncher to control but it can be controlled. Remember if you don’t pay for something out of your own pocket, you don’t really feel the responsibility towards it so don’t get disheartened when you see product wastage in your business as this is very common. There are a few ways to try and reduce the amount of product wastage namely:

a) Do not stock each room with all the products. I repeat, Do Not Stock Each Room With All the Products! I cannot stress this point enough and have often had the situation where the spa/salon owner feels it too much effort to implement a stock control system and simply fully stocks each treatment room only to call me a few months down the line asking for help as their stock is either missing or depleted with only a few treatments. Keep facial kits in your store room, these are boxes which can really look gorgeous either in leather, timber or tin which contain all the products necessary for that particular treatment.

Depending on the number of treatment rooms you have is how many of each treatment box you will keep. For example a hydrating facial is very popular so you may keep 3 of these boxes but only one oily skin box. Any professional treatment that is packaged in bulk such as a 10kg bucket or 20 sachets of a particular mask in a box, this will not be kept in the treatment boxes but rather be ordered out of the stock room by the therapist. The stock room must have an in and out register and every person taking or replacing stock must sign in the register.

I would also recommend putting a CCTV camera in this room. For manicures and pedicures I would decant into small containers the exact amount required for the treatment as this prevents the therapists from using more product and also stops the client from wondering why the therapist is only using such a small amount of product not realizing the quantities required. I would also issue each and every therapist with her own tool kit and consumable kit which she will replenish weekly also keeping her on her toes as to wastage and as for the tools if they go missing the therapist has to replace the tools from her own pocket. For very expensive treatments with a very high product costing I would keep the products in the managers office and all staff performing those treatments would request the treatment box.

I would like to motivate you to really try and implement these systems listed above if you have not already done so in your business and I can assure you that it will make a difference.

Scott White Fitness Equipment and Day Spa NLP Certification

Article Source: ArticleSpan