Boulder, CO Newbie(s)

[Portnoy]

Hi! I'm Rob; 19 years old. My friends and I are looking to make custom soap and start by selling it at the Boulder farmer's market days. There are 4 of us and we all have jobs and have saved up enough money to invest in what will be necessary to start making soap. An idea we have for how our soap will be genuine will be by making "cultural bars". Each bar would have the fragrance and the color scheme of a cultural experience, food, place, etc that calms you when experience it, eat it, go to it, etc. An example might be: I'm Jewish and the smell of matzah/matzah ball soup relaxes me indefinetely, so we would create a bar that looks somewhat like and smells like matzah. The same could be done with: a bar that smells and looks like chocolate, a bar that smells and looks like your favorite food, a bar that smells like and looks like your favorite shaving cream, deodorant, or hair spray, etc.

I enjoy strange smells so I wouldnt be hesitant to create soap bars that might smell like dust or gasoline, etc as well. This would be original I think.

My friends and I are looking for any tips and are open to any advice and things alike! Thanks!

 

[Portnoy]

Side Note= I just found out that my grandfather's twin brother, my great uncle, invented and ran Miracle White laundry detergent from the 70s and that's why my cousins have so much money!

 

[Hazel]

Welcome to the forum.

Have you been making soap and having friends and family use them so you can get feedback? Is there a market for unusually scented soaps? How long have you and your friends been planning this business?

Have you researched the soap market in your area? What are other soap makers selling? Have you written a business plan?

I don't mean to sound obnoxiously interrogative. I know soap scented to smell like dirt is sold. I'm just not sure that soap which smells like gasoline or matzah would have much of a market. Are you also planning on using more traditional scents?

Although I wish you and your friends the best of luck with your venture.

 

[supersoaper3000]

Welcome to the forum! I love the creative angle you are approaching this from. Smells can be so evocative, like comfort foods.

Hey, if Brableberry can sell an FO called monkey farts, why not Matzah? I think you will find that reproducing specific scents like that to be very challenging though. Best of luck! Get your cousins to invest!! :wink:

 

[Hazel]

Yes, but Monkey Farts smells wonderful - very fruity. I agree it's a creative idea but it seems to me that unusual scents is more of a novelty soap.

In order to establish a successful business, I think Rob and his friends need to have a line of soaps that will sell more consistently...like beer soap.

 

[Portnoy]

Hey beer soap is a great idea. And yea i'd expect it to be pretty challenging to create soap that smells like strange things but i'm always up for a challenge that pays off!

Have you been making soap and having friends and family use them so you can get feedback? Is there a market for unusually scented soaps? How long have you and your friends been planning this business?

Have you researched the soap market in your area? What are other soap makers selling? Have you written a business plan?

I havent started making soap yet cause i'm just now looking and researching. As for a market for unusually scented soaps, I just looked into that and I found enough unusually shaped soaps and a couple unusual scented soaps, but not enough. Also I didnt find any scented soaps that would remind you of a past experience, or thing, or something else. As for how long we've been planning this business, exactly two days, lol. We've (my family and friends) always been looking for ways to make money though; and soap making does seem to look very fun and creative.

And lastly as for the soap market in my area, it seems that there isnt too much of one; i thought there would be. There are some small handmade soap selling companies here but they're all selling typical scented soaps (fruits, flowers, mixes of fruits and flowers, etc).

And yea as for getting my cousins involved as at least investors, that might even happen if everything from here on goes well! Because my dad is the type that never says yes to anything unless he's very sure about it and he said yes, that my idea/prospects might be possible; meaning he could get my cousins involved as I'm just a kid in their eyes and probably couldn't. Oh and just a sidenote: my dad has created a big business before (that went out of business because the hospitals in philadelphia went broke) and he and my friend's (a friend that's in on the project) dad are lawyers as well.

So yea right now I have high hopes. =D

 

[Portnoy]

Here are some of my ideas for soap scents (and people would either buy them because they would remind them of relaxing things, or because they would be intrigued and wonder what they would smell like and if they could actually smell like what we'd label them as!):

• Beer (different kinds of beer)
• Liquor (different kinds of liq)
• Chocolate
• Gasoline
• Dust
• Matzah
• Manure
• Sweat?
• Dew from grass
• Wood (fresh oak or something) (for people that use wood in their profession!)

 

[Hazel]

The beer scent doesn't remain in the soap. I add EOs to mine. I've heard beer soap is a good seller. I should say that I don't sell soap. But I've made beer soap and family and friends really like it.

If you do a search for liquor soaps, there's been discussions about them. I know beer and wine have been discussed and I think Jack Daniel's.

You can easily find chocolate FOs. Good luck with the rest of the scents!

 

[Portnoy]

Thanks

 

[Deda]

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/vi ... hp?t=17621
please read and proceed with caution.

it's been very quiet and congenial here lately. lets try to keep it that way.

 

[Portnoy]

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17621
please read and proceed with caution.

it's been very quiet and congenial here lately. lets try to keep it that way.

Oh thats some excellent advice in that link, thank you. But what do you mean keep it quiet and congenial? Isn't this?

 

[Hazel]

Portnoy,

I think she means me. I'm sorry. I was trying to be helpful and I guess it didn't come across that way.

 

[Portnoy]

Ohh, well thats quite alright, im glad for your help.