31: We Have a New Business! Copperstills.com

Liz:  This is the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast, Episode 31, and I’m back! In this episode I’m going talk about why the podcast was on hiatus, what I’ve been doing since you last heard from me, and what’s new with the Aromatic Wisdom Institute.

Intro: You’re listening to the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast with your host, Liz Fulcher. If you’re interested in learning about Essential Oils, hearing interviews with industry experts, and discovering ways to grow your own Aromatherapy business, this is the podcast for you. For more information and show notes, visit the website at AromaticWisdomInstitute.com  Now sit back. Relax. Take a deep breath and enjoy as Liz shares a dose of Aromatic Wisdom.

Liz: Hello Friends, Aromatherapists, Essential Oil and Hydrosol Enthusiasts!  (And anyone whose stumbled here by accident!)  My name is Liz Fulcher, your host for the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast and if you’re a new listener, welcome! If you are returning, thank you so much for not giving up on me. 

I Have Missed You! I really have! I’ve missed being behind the microphone, sharing about aromatherapy, essential oils, and hydrosols. I’m so happy to be back! 

We had something new happen in our lives in January, something very good. A lot of things came up. There were good things, and then some really good things. It’s been a great year, it’s just been very busy. Then one week leads into the next week, and into the next week, and into the next week. The next thing you know it’s November and I said I have got to do a podcast. I’ve missed being behind the microphone. I miss my people. You guys are amazing. So many emails, so many comments on social media asking me to return. I wish that you could know how much I appreciate you, that you find value in what I share, and that I have an audience that enjoys the content that I create for them. That means an awful lot to me.

Oh my word, I have so much new stuff to share with you. I have a list as long as my arm of topics. I’m not going anywhere. I’m back and I’m motivated! Ok, let’s jump right in to what I want to talk about today. It’s funny, I’m actually feeling a little awkward, like I did in the first and second episodes of the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast when I was first learning to speak into the microphone to nobody in the room. I’m out of practice. This is weird. So please bare with me. 

Let’s talk about 2017 and all the stuff that happened! In the beginning of the year, actually in the Fall of 2016. I went to an Advanced Distillation Workshop with my hydrosol and distillation mentor, Ann Harman. She has a terrific company called Botannicals that does a lot of trainings on distillation. Ann also had another company for many years called Copperstills where she sells copper stills for people who want to use them for distillation. Ann purchased that company from the famous Jeannie Rose. Jeannie bought the domain copperstills.com maybe 20 years ago. Ann, like me, is an educator who was selling something. I was an educator who used to have an essential oil company. Like me, Ann said she just wants to teach and do hydrosol research. She didn’t want to sell a product anymore. She just wants to sell information and be a teacher.

That was why I sold my essential oil company called Lizs Garden, because I just want to be a teacher. I knew that Ann didn'twant to sell stills anymore because she wanted to focus all her energy on teaching and research.  She has another company called the Circle H Institute where she does hydrosol research and chemistry. All of this information I will put in the show notes which you can find at aromaticwisdominstitute.com/031 for episode 31.

So, I was in Spokane, Washington at the Advanced Distillation Workshop that Ann teaches. Ann asked if James and I wanted to take over Copperstills from her. The first thing I thought of was “Oh hell no.” I have so much to do with my own work that I don’t need another company. Then I got to thinking about my husband, James and how much he loves to distill. He’s a very good distiller. I wondered if he would be interested in this. My mind started going clickityclickity-clack and how well we could work together. Me as the educator and James selling the product that I teach about (essential oils and hydrosols).

After many months of talking, James and I decided this would be a great project to add to our lives. I’m so glad we did! It’s just been a transformative experience for both of us. Now let me just say, it is our company but I don’t have anything to do with it. It is James’ baby. He runs it. He places the orders. However, sometimes I do get involved. So Copperstills has been a real blessing in our lives from many points of view. James and I have gotten so close. I have a great marriage and James and I are already good friends. He’s my best friend in the world. But, he is so much more immersed into my world and loves it. So he and I are really starting to speak the same language when it comes to aromatics. He is starting to understand more about the industry that I’ve been in. He’s meeting the people I’ve been talking about for years. He’s been coming to the conferences. I love that! I absolutely love working with my husband.

So, James still has a 9-5 job working for a construction company as a supervisor. We agreed that (I must have been out of my mind) the PR (press releases/marketing) for Copperstills would fall on me. I’ll do the Facebook page, the ads, the website. Yeah, what was I thinking? I barely have enough time to do my own stuff. In the beginning, I really did a good job keeping things going. This involved me learning a new website. It’s still a WordPress website but it has a different theme and shopping cart. It has been a challenge and has taken more of my time. James has gotten better at it so he’s able to do it faster than I can. So when he comes home from work, he works on it at night and on the weekends. There is so much more that needs to be done. I also manage his Instagram account. Eventually we will want to hire an assistant to do the social media for Copperstills, but we’re not there yet.

Another way that this business engorged our lives is through conferences. This summer we went to the AIA conference in New Jersey. James was a vendor and it was fun, fun, fun! I love aromatherapy conferences! I’m going to do a podcast on aromatherapy conferences of NAHA and AIA because they are so much fun and I think everyone should go. Anyway, James did really well. He sold a lot of stills, made a lot of contacts, we had a ball! In September, we were invited to be vendors at the Mother Earth News Expo. We were also speakers/presentators. I did a talk and a podcast interview on water hydrosols and James and I did a demonstration on distillation. All of this will be on Mother Earth News’ website and YouTube channel, but not until the Summer of 2018. I’ll share the links when they become available. (

So September was crazy busy, exciting and fabulous. Right after the Mother Earth News Expo, James and I went to Spokane, Washington to attend a class about hydrosol chemistry. It was fabulous. Ann Harmon’s courses are always valuable. She really delivers.

It was interesting being a newbie again, really learning something difficult for the first time – hydrosol chemistry, chemistry in general. I’m not left-brained. I understand the central chemistry really well, so that helps. It was fun and exciting. We stayed at the best AirBnB. If you haven’t tried AirBnb yet, it’s absolutely the way to go. People rent a whole home or just a room. We rented a room from this amazing guy named Van. We had the best time with him. He was a magnificent host. He did so much more than what was agreed to for a room rental. It really contributed to the experience. When we came back from Spokane, I had my Aromatherapy Certification Program that I teach over 3 months. I had a large class of 11 students. I also have an assistant help me, so that makes 12 people to host.

One of the big takeaways of 2017 is “learning curve”. James and I both had to learn so much new stuff. Even just learning how to order the stills from overseas. Our supplier in Portugal makes them for us as we order them. The company, it’s actually a family, who make the stills are a third generation family of artisan crafters. They are beautiful, thick-gauge copper stills. I have never seen a still made of copper with the quality with the quality that we have found with this family. We are very proud to sell these. We’ve had to learn a lot about copper and importing and taxes and duty. Our first order was 35 stills. They came over on a boat in a container. To get them off the docks in New Jersey, oh my, it was a lot of detail to learn. The day they arrived, James and I felt like we had given birth together. It had been such a big deal getting them here. Now we understand the process better. Just like anything, we’re learning new skills and processes. We’re doing it together and it’s a lot of fun. It can be really great working with your spouse and it can be stressful because the first person you want to yell at is the one you’re closest to. We try not to do that. It has been an unbelievable year. It has been amazingly positive with a ton of growth in my personal life and my professional life. I also have learned a ton about hydrosols and working with a lot of new aromatic waters.

I have also been working diligently over the past 2 and a half months on my first online course. Come hell or high water, this course is going to launch. It’s about hydrosols. The first people who will learn about my course and pay the lowest rate will be my anyone on my mailing list. If you would like to sign up to be on my mailing list (if you’re not already there), you can go to aromaticwisdominstitute.com. On the home page there is a form where you can put in your name and email. When you sign up, you also get a free report that I wrote about all the different ways you can make a career with aromatherapy. Primarily, you’ll get on my email list. I might even release it in Beta just for my subscribers so you can give me your feedback before releasing it to the public. It has been one heck of a year for the Aromatic Wisdom Institute. The url for the new course will be learn.aromaticwisdominstitute.com. The web address is so long, but I didn’t know how else to get around it. That is were the hydrosols course will be available. There is another thing I want to share. About a month ago, I started eating a bit differently and I’m feeling really good. I had a significant birthday in October (let’s just leave it at that). I have been doing everything I can to keep my body and my mind young. My eating habits have gone crazy for the last year or so. In first week of November, I stopped eating sugar and grains. I’m eating more protein and fats and getting my carbs from vegetables and some fruit. It’s the Keto way of eating. I hate to use the “d” word because I’m not on a “d”. I’m learning a new way of eating. I won’t even say the “d” word. I’m dropping weight like nobody’s business which is great. However, I’m sharing Ketogenics because of how much brain power it is giving me. I can tell you with getting older that my focus is not what it used to be. My energy is not what it used to be. Since I have eliminated a lot of the offenders out of my diet, I have really perked up. It’s unbelievable. I may be mentioning it again in my future podcasts because it affects my work. Whatever type of work you’re dedicated to, whether it be an entrepreneur, an aromatherapist, a massage, therapist, a mom, it takes energy! Who couldn’t use more energy? Who couldn’t feel better?

You want to be at the top of your game to do whatever it is that you’re focused on and do your best. So far this podcast has been a Liz Fulcher, Aromatic Wisdom Institute update episode. This is also I way I needed to get back into podcasting – doing this episode as a recap of where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing. For episode 32 on, I’ll keep teaching and sharing all that I can about aromatherapy, hydrosols, essential oils, business, whatever you want to hear about truthfully. So that’s where we are! I’m so excited to be back. Have I mentioned that? It’s almost the end of the episode so you know what that means. It’s time for “Smell My Life”! For those of you who have not heard the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast before, this is a segment that I do towards the end of the episode where I share some way in which I’ve used some aspect of aromatherapy recently (hydrosols, essential oils, or a carrier). When I clean the house, this is a fun way to use essential oils. In particular, we’re getting into the holidays and lots of people coming to your house. Diffusion is great for killing bacteria and make the house smell good without using commercially-produced scented products. I like to rag and dampen it with water. I will sprinkle on a few drops of an essential oil that I like the smell of. One of my go-to’s for cleaning is lemongrass. Another is laurel leaf which is also know as bay laurel. The essential oil is Laurus nobilis. I love the way this smells! So, I go around the whole house and wipe the tops of the doorframes. The doorframe is about a half an inch in width and tons of dust collects there. You can also wipe the top of picture frames. I mainly do this so it gets rid of the dust. However, it also smells so good. When you walk through the doorway you get this beautiful hit of aroma and you’re not quite sure where it’s coming from. That’s my “Smell My Life” for this week. Ok! That wraps it up for the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast – Episode 31. Thank you so much for being here with me, giving me a little bit of time in your earbuds. I love all of you, I love that you’re still here with me, and that you’ve asked me to come back and continue to share which I’m thrilled to do! © Copyright 2017 – AromaticWisdomInstitute.com All Rights Reserved For show notes, go to aromaticwisdominstitute.com/031. Until next time, Be Happy.