Feature Friday - Alison Tinlin from Plans and Presents

Welcome to the second of our Feature Fridays on Creation|Collaboration!

Each Friday, we're profiling a woman run business by interviewing the founder and finding more out about them, their business, their life and loves!







For our second Feature Friday, we've chatted to Alison Tinlin, owner of Plans and Presents, a Glasgow based wedding and event planning company, providing expert and superior service to all those who need assistance to plan the wedding (or indeed any event) of their dreams!

Hi Ali, introduce us to yourself and your company!

Hi, my name is Alison Tinlin, and my company is Plans and Presents, a Wedding and Event Planning business based in Glasgow.
My job is basically to work with you and provide as much or as little help as you need with your Wedding or Event..
That might be as simple as helping you find a venue, or a supplier you are particular difficulty sourcing, through to full Co-ordination, or anything else in between.
A particularly popular service for Weddings is On The Day Co-ordination.
I find that many couples like to do the planning aspect themselves, but like to have a professional in the latter stages to oversee events.
I come in about 4-6 weeks before the Event, and take all the carefully orchestrated plans, check that nothing has been missed, liase with all suppliers, and ensure plans are running smoothly.
I will also provide timelines for all suppliers and the couple so they know what happens when, and am there on the day to make sure that everything goes completely to plan.
This service is all about reassurance.

Where did the idea of running this as a business come from?

I'm a huge organiser at heart - I love to have everything in order, including my family, my friends and everyone and anyone!
In my previous job in nursing, I had to make sure that I worked to very exacting deadlines and being organised was, literally, a matter of life and death.
The skills of time management, crisis intervention, a good ear and the ability to listen and act on peoples needs are great transferable skills.

I am also a total people person, I like nothing better than a good chat, so the beauty of this career is that it is all about the client, and what they need.

What do you love most about your business?

I ADORE the interaction with people and the fact that you are helping to make the special day or event of someone completely perfect and stress free.

I really love when you look at your clients and they smile and you know in your heart that they are totally relaxed and reassured that everything is going well - because I've done my job well.

What would you like to change?

I would love to change peoples' preconceptions of my job.
From my experience, it appears that the public are still wary of my title - they believe that a planner/co-ordinator will be expensive and controlling.
In fact, this is far from the truth, I pride myself on the fact that my job is all about giving the clients the best possible personal service whilst, simultaneously ensuring they save as much money as possible and have their dream, stress free and wonderful day.

What is your aim for the next year?

I want to get my name out properly in the Scottish and UK market.
Over the last year, I have been building my name up within the UK Bridal Industry. I have been featured in Brides Magazine and the Scottish Wedding Directory, and have recently been nominated for a Mumpreneur award.
I was even asked to audition for a new Bridal show on Sky TV.
I want to build on that, and take Plans and Presents to bigger and better things. I will do that by being the best I can be and providing  a superior service.

Where do you ultimately see yourself?

I see myself being top of my game, and I will do this by lots of hard work and determination.
I have come further in one year than I ever thought possible, and I know with my passion and drive for my business that I will succeed.

Whats your Top 5 tips for new Business Women ?

No. 1:  Make sure you have a good business plan.
This is your cornerstone. Do lots of research, get as much feedback as you can, and be prepared for the fact that being in business for yourself is not a walk in the park, and you need to be prepared.

No. 2:  Use the resources of Business Gateway/ Business link.
They are a great support, and may be able to help you with grants.
They may also be able to forward you for courses that will provide you with business basics and give you a greater foundation on which to build.

No. 3:  Have people around you that are supportive.
It is imperative that you have a good support network, but it is also good if they will be realistic with you when they think you are doing something that isn't quite right.

No. 4:  Use social media to its full advantage. Its the best free advertising you can have.
I love Twitter and Facebook!
As a new business person, you will not have a large amount of revenue to advertise. Be very selective where you place your money.
A lot of the time, backlinks, good reviews, and publishing a Blog will help with S.E.O.

No. 5:  Never give up !
There will be highs, and there will be lows, and some days when you question why you are doing this.
But the utter satisfaction that you get when a jobs well done, and you have a happy client is worth all the not so good bits.

A few last words - How do we contact Plans and Presents ?


I really hoped you enjoyed this week's profile - if you'd like to contact me, please check out my website at http://www.plansandpresents.co.uk/  - you can also catch up with me at http://www.facebook.com/plansandpresents or http://www.twitter.com/mrspandp - or you can follow my blog at http://www.plansandpresents.blogspot.com/.

Creative Collaboration

We really want to say a huge thanks to Alison for talking with us today and we really hope you have enjoyed our this Feature Friday. Don't forget to check out Alison's website at http://www.plansandpresents.co.uk/.
Next week, we'll be featuring Lois Bartley of Beads and More by Lois - make sure to check back then!

Collaboration Women Wednesday Blog Hop - Week 2

Welcome to Creation|Collaboration's 2nd Women Wednesday blog roll, hosted by Beads & More by Lois, Soaperstar and Plans and Presents

Creation|Collaboration was set up by eight women, all existing friends, who run small businesses from their homes. We have started Women Wednesday blog roll to link up with other women in business, spread the word about Creation|Collaboration and basically just have fun visiting all of your interesting blogs!

We are also in discussions with regard to listing features companies (on a regular basis) as part of our promotional campaign so by joining in with the blog roll we can get to know you and your business and maybe you could be one of our first features.

Heres how you can join in with Collaboration Women Wednesday:

• Link up your blog name and URL to your Women Wednesday blog post using the McKLinky below (you only need to add on one blog to be seen on all of the McKLinky blog roll's) Please note that it's for blogs only and not links to your websites or shops.
• Follow our Creation|Collaboration blog and the hostesses listed in the first 3 slots.
• Grab our Women Wednesday button and feature it on your blog or Women Wednesday blog post.
• Follow and comment saying you're from Women Wednesday on as many blogs as you likes listed in the McKlinky box.
• Follow back any new followers from Women Wednesday!

It's that easy and a fun way to discover new and interesting blogs and us women at Creation|Collaboration get to meet other women in business!

Feature Friday - Soaperstar Profile at Creation|Collaboration

Welcome to our first Feature Friday on Creation|Collaboration! Each Friday, we'll profile a woman run business by interviewing the founder and finding more out about them, their business, their life and loves!

So, for our first Feature Friday, we've chatted to Celine Blacow, owner of Soaperstar. Soaperstar is based in Dublin, Ireland and design & produce handcrafted luxury goatsmilk & glycerine soaps and handmade Sheer Luxury Body Butter.

So Celine, introduce us to yourself and your company!

My name is Celine Blacow and my company is Soaperstar. I am a soap crafter/artist/designer/producer/photographer/labeller/seller! Basically I do everything from the very beginning to the very end of the whole soap business. I've also recently branched out into making body butters - the 100% butters/oils type that are designed so that they sink into your skin, leaving it really soft and supple. I'll shortly be introducing new lip butters too - they are at their final testing stage and ready to be sent to a pack of lip butter hungry experts across the world (literally, some are even going to New Zealand for testing - I'm nothing if not thorough!).

Where did the idea of running this as a business come from?

I got started initially by making soap as a hobby, to help reduce stress. My whole range is made from goatsmilk & glycerine soap - I don't make the traditional type soaps with oils and caustic soda because they react badly to my family's skin (we've tried many types and they really just haven't suited us). So when I started making glycerine soap, we were hoping that it might help sort out some of our dry skin issues and boy, did it! My husband can get very dry cracked skin on his hands and, due to medication, has quite thin skin that can become very dry and sore very quickly. Since starting using my soaps, all of that has been resolved and his skin is back to being soft and supple (that's a yay for us both!). I personally also have very dry skin and it's really sorted out those problems for me too. I can even wash my face with it, something I would never have thought about doing before.

So, it started as a hobby but I found I loved it soooo much! If it doesn't sound too silly, it ignited a passion in me. I've always been fairly creative as a child and an adult - I worked as knitwear designer/producer professionally some years ago until repetitive strain injury meant I had to stop. In my current profession, I don't have a huge scope for creativity and I'd sort of lost it along the way. The minute I started the soap making, it was like a light bulb came on and all these creative sparks were flying out of my head! Any soapmaker will understand when I say I dreamt about soap - seriously, the ideas that come to you in your dreams can be inspired.

By now I was hooked and started making lots and lots and lots and lots of soap and investing in equipment and moulds and ingredients to help me do it better. From the start, I researched various oils, butters and other skin hydrating ingredients to make sure that the soap I made was the best soap ever, I never do things by halves! So my growing stock, my growing equipment and my growing ingredients store sort of lead me to realise that I had to think about selling my soaps. Plus my husband pointed out that people could really benefit from them and I shouldn't just keep them for just our family.

In order to sell any cosmetics, soap included, in the EU, you must be fully certified with a safety assessment from a qualified cosmetic chemist. I had to do a large amount of research to see what was involved, costs etc as well as locating a cosmetic chemist (turns out that's almost impossible in Ireland - in fact, I still haven't found one located here). However, perseverance will always get you results and I then sought certification and got it approximately 12 months ago - then it was on to designing specific ranges and getting more ideas for different types of soaps that would appeal to everyone. Then, with insurance sorted too, I started selling.

What do you love most about your business?

I love, most of all, the ideas, the design element - I dream of things that might not be possible at all and try to modify them so that they could become soap related. I love learning new techniques and the one I love the best of all is swirling - where you get two or more different types/colours of soaps, and make incredible swirled patterns in the finished products. You'll notice that swirling is pretty much a trademark with me!

I love making my ideas into soap - that is, thinking something through and then actually having it reproduced in soap, just exactly as you imagined it. That is a great great feeling. I adore using colour - you'll see that in my whole range. I recently invested in a shipment of POP micas from the US - these are natural colourants but very very bright (a little goes a long way!) and they are such fun, happy colours. I can't help but use them in everything lately!

I really love dealing with customers too - I want them to adore the products, to know that there is real passion behind what I sell. I trial new products for a long time before releasing them because I'm an utter perfectionist at heart (Virgo trait!) and I want them to love this soap or body butter just as much as I do! I am also crazy about excellent customer service - notice I say excellent, I don't believe in only having "good customer service", I want it to be excellent. There's a marketing saying that you shouldn't meet the customers expectations, you should exceed them and I totally believe that. So, if you order from me, I will do my level best that your order will go out that same day or the following day and in the first post where humanely possible. I always email upon receipt of an order to say that it's been packaged up and ready to go and I email to say that it's been sent too. I personally hate waiting and wondering if they ever got your order at all - I refuse to do that to my customers. They'll know every step of the way where their goods are - I want them to go to a good home!

What would you like to change?

The recession, please! No company in this day and age can deny the recession isn't hitting them and hard. For smaller companies, it might be somewhat easier ... we don't have business loans or staff to pay, so we can ride the rocky road for a while. Not all businesses are as lucky. As I work from home, it's a lot easier for me to manage the cutbacks it's made on people's purses and I firmly believe that keeping up marketing and promotion, even in such hard times, will pay back dividends in the future.

I'd also love to win the lottery so I could stay home and do this full-time!!!

What is your aim for the next year?

I'd like to introduce more into the range - our Sheer Luxury Lip Butters will be introduced soon to match up with our Sheer Luxury Body Butters. I had hoped to look into candle making after the Summer but I think this might have to be pushed back a little - however, it's something I really would love to get into as I have a real love of fragrance (something you'll notice from my soaps and body butters too) and I adore when you walk into a house and it smells so wonderful. I'm including new soaps all the time - currently I have 20 in the range which is our limit but, as they sell, I will introduce new seasonal lines also.

Where do you ultimately see yourself?

Ultimately, my dream is to move to West Cork, and open a small shop by the sea selling all our soaps, body butters, lip butters and then move into a facial range and bath products also. I'd love to have a store/workshop so that people could see how the products are made... even to teach classes there. I can also see a little coffee shop to the side so that people can come and visit, browse, watch as things are made and then have coffee and cake outside in the sun afterwards! Even just talking about that makes me smile!

What are the 5 Top Tips you'd give to women starting out in business?
Hmmmmm 5 tips ... ok:

No.1:  When you come to launch day, realise that you'll be worried and a bit panicky and know that that's ok! I remember my launch day, I was sick to my stomach and everyone else seemed not to worry at all so I thought I was crazy or something! It is perfectly normal to worry and fret and, personally, I think it's a good thing because it proves you are in love with this project already.

No. 2:  Use social networks as much as possible to market and promote your products - you probably won't have much of a marketing budget (if anything at all) so look at what you can do for free... get on Twitter and Facebook, get all your friends to help, makes new friends too. It does work and I'm living proof.

No.3:  As an addition to No. 2, don't expect social media to work if you don't put work into it - it will take time to build a fan base so give it time. Nobody knows who you are starting out and there are likely to be many competitors - ask yourself why should someone buy from me? What can I do to make them fall in love with my products and my company? Find the answers and give it to them - but realise it will take time and work on your part, don't underestimate that. Two Tweets and a Facebook update once a month isn't going to cut it!

No.4:  Take all the help you can get! If you're just starting out, the chances are that you're a one woman show, you do everything so you're going to need help. Get your partner to bring orders to the post office, ask friends to help market and promote you, see if anyone you know can do your label design/photography/build something/make something/work on your stall while you have lunch etc. You cannot do it all yourself and don't expect to - lean on those who are happy to help. I have the most fantastic husband who supports me every step of the way and is happy to do some of the jobs himself (when you get your packages, you'll know he's the one that's gone to the post office first thing every morning!)

No.5:  Take some time out for yourself - I work full-time, have a household to run and work on Soaperstar full-time too. When I'm not designing, I'm making or cutting or labelling or taking photos or updating the site or packing orders or planning new ranges or on Twitter or Facebook and working with people to promote the company. There are only 24 hours in any one day and you will be exhausted so make sure to plan some time for yourself and your family. You need a break just as much as anyone else does! Exhausting yourself will not help the business or you and will reduce your passion and love for what you do - so make sure to take breaks and have fun with it!!!

I really hoped you enjoyed this profile - if you'd like to check out any of the Soaperstar range of handcrafted luxury goatsmilk and glycerine soaps and our Sheer Luxury Body Butter range, please drop into us at http://www.soaperstar.com/ or catch up with me at http://www.facebook.com/soaperstar or http://www.twitter.com/soaperstar - or you can follow my blog by reader or by email at http://www.soaperstar.blogspot.com./

Creation|Collaboration would love to take this opportunity to congratulate Celine for winning the April Mr Site Website of the Month as announced in their April newsletter - you can read the Soaperstar feature article here.

We'd really want to say a huge thanks to Celine for talking with us today and we really hope you have enjoyed our first Feature Friday.  Don't forget to check out Celine's fabulous soaps and body butters - we just adore them!

Next week, we'll be featuring Alison Tinlin of Plans and Presents - make sure to check back then!

Collaboration Women Wednesday Blog Hop - Week 1

Welcome to Creation|Collaboration's 1st Women Wednesday blog roll, hosted by Beads & More by Lois, Soaperstar and Plans and Presents.

Creation|Collaboration was set up by eight women, all existing friends, who run small businesses from their homes. We have started Women Wednesday blog roll to link up with other women in business, spread the word about Creation|Collaboration and basically just have fun visiting all of your interesting blogs!

We are also in discussions with regard to listing features companies (on a regular basis) as part of our promotional campaign so by joining in with the blog roll we can get to know you and your business and maybe you could be one of our first features.

Heres how you can join in with Collaboration Women Wednesday:

• Link up your blog name and URL using the McKLinky below (you only need to add on one blog to be seen on all of the McKLinky blog roll's)
• Follow our Creation|Collaboration blog and the hostesses listed in the first 3 slots.
• Grab our Women Wednesday button in your blog post.
• Follow and comment saying you're from Women Wednesday on as many blogs as you likes listed in the McKlinky box.
• Follow back any new followers from Women Wednesday.

It's that easy and a fun way to discover new and interesting blogs and us women at Creation|Collaboration get to meet other women in business!

Creation|Collaboration - Founder Members and a Little History

So, you might be wondering, just who are and what is Creation|Collaboration?

Creation|Collaboration was set up by eight women, all existing friends, who run small businesses from their homes. We discussed the concept of networking and synergy in order to work together to:

• Promote our own products and companies to a wider audience
• Offer any assistance and advice we could to other women starting new business, especially in this economic downturn

The founding members of Creation|Collaboration are:

Alison Tinlin – Plans and Presents
Alison Thomson – Nujoolz
Brenda Panter - Splash
Carmen Maidment - CarmenJean
Celine Blacow – Soaperstar
Lois Bartley – Beads and More by Lois
Rachael Dunseath – Milly & Flossy and Myroo Skincare
Susie Mc Kinstray – Pot of Gold

All ably assisted by our partners in crime, Geraldine Holland (promoter extraordinaire) and Rebecca Spencer (graphics & moderator for features).

What do we want to achieve? 
Our main aim is to promote our companies, products and services to a wider audience.

We also are in discusscions with regard to listing featured companies (on a regular basis) as part of our promotional campaign.

We believe that any companies featured shouldn't duplicate the types of goods and services already provided by members – but we are interested in featuring small businesses specifically run by women only, whose offerings would compliment our current provision. We all love handmade, handcrafted items and are very interested in all types of creative offerings of any kind (products and services alike).

A Potted History:
Some of us have known each other for 5+ years – the two Alison’s met over 5 years, then along came Celine, Lois and Susie about 2 year later and, more recently Brenda, then Carmen and, most recently, Rachael.

We are all members of a private forum which was set up in order that we would have somewhere private to speak together about all sorts of everything – from kids, to clothes, to food (food features a lot!) to work and life in general.

When we met originally, the thoughts of running our own businesses were probably none existent for some, maybe only a dream for others.

5+ years later and here we are … 8 women running eight successful businesses from home!

We firmly believe in the concept of networking and, as small businesses starting out in a recession bound environment, we all agree that social marketing gives us opportunities for networking and promotion that didn’t exist when we all met many moons ago.

Brenda, Carmen and Rachael all joined our private forum because of social networking – Brenda was a member of another forum, Carmen and Rachael knew the previous members via Twitter – Rachael having purchased several items from Lois because of Twitter! We are living proof that social marketing works as a concept for our businesses. We also all have business focused individual Facebook pages and all were fans of each others pages since they began.

We believe in the power of social marketing, and in the power of synergy (the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual parts), and the power of women working together to make something good and positive happen!

We are currently developing guidelines in order that we can feature new woman run businesses on our Facebook page and in this blog and are also planning specific profiles of each of the member.

If you would like to follow our Facebook page, just click this link to be brought straight there!

Creation|Collaboration

Welcome to the Creation|Collaboration Blog!

Creation|Collaboration is a network of women and friends, all of whom run small businesses in the UK and Ireland. We decided to join together and network as a wider group in order to bring our products and services to a larger audience.


Please join us on our Facebook Page - our aim is not only to market and promote our products but to help advise other women who are thinking of starting up their own businesses.