Dear soap mum,
That is you and me in that piccy you have. Before my morning shot of coffee in my case.
To answer your question.
There are as many answers to that as Stars in the Sky. :wink:
I for one have a life style, not a buisness.
To try and compare busness's is like comparing apples to orranges.
I had a few buisness's down the years and I can quite assuradly say you only get out what you put in. The putting in is something that if done with complete passionate devotion will yeild the results you seek.
Now over to the others to enlighten you.
Oh plus I believe you need to be having fun while you are doing anything like this so that you can stick at it when the learning curves raise their heads in the form of soap that requires rebatching etc.