Meet Erin Smelcer

We recently connected with Erin Smelcer and have shared our conversation below.

Erin , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Developing my self-esteem was a challenging task when starting my small business. I had many walls that I had to breach over the first year that hindered my motivation and confidence. Overcoming these struggles and opinions contributed to the success of my small business and helped me create a career that I love showing up to every day.

When starting my business, I utilized many social media platforms to gain customers and exposure. This helped me develop immediate success which was very exciting and encouraging. As most know, social media can be a great tool, but also possesses a very toxic environment of “keyboard warriors”. As someone who has always considered themselves a “people pleaser”, seeing my first hate comment was very scary. I took simple words, with absolutely zero thought behind them, straight to the heart. This started to damage my confidence and made me question whether or not I even wanted to do it anymore.

Having a great support system was the number one contributor to my success. Befriending people in the small business community helped me find a sense of belonging and confidence. My new friends taught me to roll these comments and opinions off my shoulders. I came to realize that while there were a few “haters” out there, I had at least 10 supporters to counter them.

What helped me develop my confidence and self-esteem was realizing the positive impact that I was making on others. Watching my business grow and hearing how my products have helped so many people has encouraged me to keep pushing every single day. Receiving emails and comments from my supporters saying that I’ve inspired them to start their own small business has made every second of hard work worth it. Without the hate, I wouldn’t be as strong as I am now. Everyone has curveballs in life, it’s how you react and bounce back from these situations that determines your success. So, no matter how hard you get hit, get back up, and try harder the second time around.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

In the last few months of 2022, I decided that the next step in my life was to start a small business. Natural products have always intrigued me because it’s important that we know what exactly it is that we are putting on and into our bodies. This interest is what made me finally find the focus of my small business. I wanted to create high-quality natural products for people that are affordable and easy to obtain.

Soap-making was the first thing that I started to learn about. I learned which natural bases are the best for our bodies and what benefits certain essential oils have. Combining these two things I was able to create my own soap bars with natural ingredients. I’m so excited to be able to share the benefits of these bars with my friends, family, customers, and supporters.

Now that my business has had time to develop, I have been obsessed with having seasonal scent collections. Every season I come out with four new limited-edition scents that are inspired by that time of year. Being able to express my creativity is one of the best elements of my business and I look forward to it every time! Offering these limited-edition scents, in addition to our signature scents, is also something that my customers are constantly looking forward to.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Three areas of knowledge that were the most impactful on my journey were adaptability, continuous learning, and networking. Adaptability was very important for me to grow my business fast. I had to learn new skills, formulate new products, receive feedback, and then adjust my products all while learning new forms of marketing and social media. All of these things take a lot of patience. Adapting to all of these factors and changes was very important and took a lot of my time, but without it, my business wouldn’t even be near where it is today.

Continuous learning is something that everyone who wants to master a craft has to be open to. You never run out of knowledge to gain so keeping an open mind, listening to your customers and the world around you, is very important. Knowledge and skills are constantly evolving.

Networking is also very important not only for small businesses but for anyone in every point of their career. Gaining friends and connections in your career field is essential for growth. When you network you are able to learn new things and bounce new ideas off of others. This helps alleviate tunnel vision and keeps your creative focus sharp. Having a strong community is so important because it gives you a sense of support and constant encouragement to do the best work possible.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

I feel like whenever I’m asked this question my go-to answer is always my family, but it’s the truth. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support and encouragement of my family. I am so blessed to have such an amazing support system. My whole life I have always looked up to my parents and grandparents for all of the hard work that they did for our family. This inspiration gave me the drive I needed to take those first scary (and risky) steps of investing and starting a business. I know whenever I fall, they will be there to catch me. I will forever be grateful for all they have taught me and pushed me to do.

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Erin Smelcer

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