Good enough to sell

[Maythorn]

I've made lavender soap about 5 times now and have a real surplus of bars. With oatmeal, with white clay, with green clay, with lavender flower grains and without. I have to decide on something if I wanted to sell though because you can't change a soap dramatically once it's out there and people seem to like it the way it is.

I made OMH with scent and nonscented And I did honey only, no oats. Did most of you have to play around with recipes a lot before you sat down and made a label and said, There, it's ready to face the world!(?)

I keep tweaking recipes, too but I think I finally have one good one that doesn't need to change. Done by a ton of trial and error.

 

[judymoody]

Have you read this post? It may be helpful in your decision making.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/vi ... hp?t=17621

I don't think there's a rule that says you have to make the same thing all of the time. Yes, consistency is important. But you can always offer "limited editions" which vary in scent/appearance if you want to continue experimenting.

 

[Maythorn]

Thank you Judy for that link of a past thread on selling which was very throrough. I just don't want to make something one way and begin introduce it to selling and then wish I'd done it another way.

I still don't know whether to do a honey soap sans oatmeal or not. If I thought it added that much to the soap I'd always add it. I know clay adds a lot.

 

[judymoody]

If you change your mind, couldn't you market it as "new and improved"?

 

[Healinya]

I think just about every company out there changes things in their product line during the first five years.. That's just how things work, so no worries there. My only suggestion (no judgment, do what you want) is that you wait until you know what those bars are going to look and feel like in at least a year, two would be ideal.. and to be honest, the cost to start-up just isn't worth it unless you are diving in full-time.. selling the surplus you have on hand really isn't profitable..

Christmas is coming - maybe you could just give them as gifts... print a small label to include your email so people can easily contact you when they wish to aquire more.

 

[Maythorn]

That's my main objective is to give as gifts this year and get good strong feedback I hope. One thing about adding oatmeal I like is that you get these little specks and they look nice and normal and prettily homemade But do just milk and honey and get specks and people might be inclined to ask, what are those??? That's what happened to me. And I wasn't being very thrifty making lavender essential oil soaps all those different ways. Lavender EO is expensive! But at least I'll never run out of ones for me and family to use.

I agree about products being "new and improved" all that time. Suz at Oregon Trails recently said she had all her scent reformulated to have no phthalates. I wouldn't have cared a bit myself but I think some people will say, oh good! And maybe her sales will improve for having done that.

 

[Lindy]

Thank you Judy for that link of a past thread on selling which was very throrough. I just don't want to make something one way and begin introduce it to selling and then wish I'd done it another way. SNIP.......

Why? In the almost 3 years I've been in business my soap has changed dramatically and continues to evolve. People come back to me for the quality and for some of the unique recipes I've developed. I continue to experiment and my customers love trying new things. I have a 4 basic recipes that I make, with and without goat milk.

Your basic skills and recipes are going to be what is important as you move forward. Gather some testers who will give you honest critiques as to what they like about your soap and what they would like to see you improve on.