Newbie selling to early

[jules92207]

I am still very new to soaping, I started in December, and other than to close friends and family who simply insist on paying something to keep me from going under with this passion I still can't even imagine selling just yet. I am only beginning to understand how my soaps are fairing and still working on the perfect "formula". Its really hard for me to understand how anyone at this early on would even consider having their product on the market. Recently I am feeling much more confident about my work, its kind of like learning a job - it takes 6 mo to feel confident, a good year to become good at what you do. Not that I think you HAVE to soap a full year before considering selling but I would like to avoid the embarassment of selling before I KNOW my product is good. Just my two cents.

 

[Bex1982]

The market is already messed up. I get people tell me they used bad handmade soap all the time. I see crappy soap everywhere. It's already been an issue for years. If you're selling soap that means this will be one of your challenges. You have to make the best soap you can, not to prove that handmade soap is better but to prove that YOUR handmade soap is better.
Some people like spicy bbq sauce, some ppl like honey bbq sauce but a lot of mom n pop shops make rancid bbq sauce be the sauce people like

 

[jules92207]

^^ I like that!

 

[robosqu1d]

I am still very new to soaping, I started in December, and other than to close friends and family who simply insist on paying something to keep me from going under with this passion I still can't even imagine selling just yet. I am only beginning to understand how my soaps are fairing and still working on the perfect "formula". Its really hard for me to understand how anyone at this early on would even consider having their product on the market. Recently I am feeling much more confident about my work, its kind of like learning a job - it takes 6 mo to feel confident, a good year to become good at what you do. Not that I think you HAVE to soap a full year before considering selling but I would like to avoid the embarassment of selling before I KNOW my product is good. Just my two cents.

I know exactly what you mean! After a few months I have some recipes I'm pleased with but there's so much more to learn before even considering selling - getting the scent / colour / cut just right, packaging, presentation, etc. (I've just realized that the temperature fluctuations in the conservatory are causing uneven curing, so will have to negotiate / commandeer a bit of space in another room).

Early soaps are fine for home use and for friends and family to test out, but there's no way I'd try to sell at this stage. I do have a few ideas for niche markets in the future though, so maybe in another 6 months... :razz:

 

[Bex1982]

I am still very new to soaping, I started in December, and other than to close friends and family who simply insist on paying something to keep me from going under with this passion I still can't even imagine selling just yet. I am only beginning to understand how my soaps are fairing and still working on the perfect "formula". Its really hard for me to understand how anyone at this early on would even consider having their product on the market. Recently I am feeling much more confident about my work, its kind of like learning a job - it takes 6 mo to feel confident, a good year to become good at what you do. Not that I think you HAVE to soap a full year before considering selling but I would like to avoid the embarassment of selling before I KNOW my product is good. Just my two cents.

Someone is doing it this early on because they are ignorant about the soap making process. You get crappy versions of things as they become more popular. In the last few years homemade soaping has become popular so the market is flooded with mediocre soaps made by less than knowledgeable "crafters".

 

[kitterz]

I will admit to being a newbie that is selling early!! I started making soaps in December 2013 and have made a batch almost every second weekend since then.(I was warned about the addiction) However, in my defense. . .


#1 I am not selling on a large scale , mostly to friends and family

#2 When I make a batch of soap, I wait the 4 - 6 weeks for cure and then use a bar of soap from the batch for myself. If I like it, I hand out 3 - 4 samples (not always to the same people as that would be silly) get their feed back and go from there.

#3 The soaps that I am selling at the moment are about 4 months old.

I have done extensive research and read the forums and other articles on a daily basis (my day job is boring and gives me time to do a LOT of reading) I have purchased books on soaping and EO's etc. I am also a fast learner

I do not have access to some ingredients that I would like to try, so have developed 4 base recipes that I tweak with color and fragrance and other additives. I only use essential oils as I cannot get FO's here, and I know that EO's sometimes do not stick, so if someone does buy a soap from me, I advise them of this so that they do not leave it on a shelf for too long and by the time they get to it, there is no fragrance. I am also making unscented soaps as a few people I know are sensitive to fragrance and so far they love what I have made.

I am only selling my soap bars at the moment as I am still learning about other products like liquid soap. Also, I sell to maintain my hobby and lets face it, with the economy the way it is, hand made soaps are a luxury that a lot of people here can ill afford, so, it is a few dollars here and there.

I think if people are informed and have done their research and test their product etc, it is okay to start selling. People who have used my soaps have encouraged me to sell. So, while it is not a good idea to start selling after your first batch, I think it depends on the individual, their knowledge and their passion to produce quality products.

Just my opinion. . . .you know what they say about opinions right :wink:

 

[pamielynn]

The market is already messed up. I get people tell me they used bad handmade soap all the time. I see crappy soap everywhere. It's already been an issue for years. If you're selling soap that means this will be one of your challenges. You have to make the best soap you can, not to prove that handmade soap is better but to prove that YOUR handmade soap is better.
Some people like spicy bbq sauce, some ppl like honey bbq sauce but a lot of mom n pop shops make rancid bbq sauce be the sauce people like

This is really very true. Every industry encounters it. BUT, that doesn't mean we don't have an "off" day and get grumpy about it, LOL.

I have a girl at my market who now has an MP bar with a fresh slice of cucumber smooshed right down into the top of the bar. I don't say anything... Don't let it get to me. She will learn. And that's what it's all about.

 

[CanaDawn]

The problem is that when you are new to something, you don't know how much you don't know, until you get further down the road and look back and realize, wow, what was I thinking?

That's the "Four Stages of Competence" theory. Well worth looking up.

Basically the four stages are
Unconscious Incompetence (you don't know you don't know)
Conscious Incompetence (you know you don't know)
Conscious Competence (if you think about it, you know)
Unconscious Competence (you just know, you don't have to think about it anymore)

 

[CanaDawn]

I still don't think there is anything to be gained by fretting about someone else's poor workmanship, if you cannot affect them in any way. It's an enormous market. I know this forum is a place to vent, but imho, one should exercise caution in expressing opinions about competitors. I don't like the word "professionalism" but integrity is a good word, and a good goal. (I know, I know, in a perfect world, we'd all be perfect...I'm not saying I have attained what I try to aspire to, and yes, I expect some "feedback" on this opinion...)

Other people have said this too, but where you start from plays a role. If a newbie soaper has no idea what saponification means, or knows how to weigh ingredients properly or can't understand the chemistry, they are NOT starting from the same place as (for personal example) someone with years and years of lab and pharmacy experience, who basically is just doing another compound, with another set of criterion, and therefore will advance far far faster than another person who has to "catch up".

(FTR, I have no interest in making soaps to sell, but I pretty much only use my own soaps now, throughout the house. I don't do much in the way of "fancy" soaps, because I'm in it for a more practical reason, but it interests me, and perhaps when I have more disposable income and more time to focus I would dabble with more variety.)

 

[FGOriold]

I don't know this individual, have not seen the video, have no idea where his starting point is (I do have a hard time believing that someone completely clueless would make a castile soap with color and scent for the very first time AND videotpe it) - thus I make no judgements about what and when one should sell their product nor do I feel comfortable talking about others and what they do. You really need to be careful - I have had listings of mine posted on various forums (including this one) where people were asking how something was achieved. While this was in a positive light and I took it as a compliment, it does make me a little uncomfortable knowing there are people out there who could be talking (and bashing) me or my product without knowing anything about it or me - and for what goal? Please lets think about that.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

While I respect the sentiment, many people are talking in the abstract on the topic of selling and when to do it in general, sparked by the original post. I don't think that you need to actually take any one example (as there will always be exceptions) to discuss in general selling soap and experience that is best for doing so.

I directly referenced the original post because of how one person selling a soap that might not be good quality can affect others in the industry and so the question of whether or not someone is ready to sell is a reasonable question to ask - as some suggested that there is no harm in it and I think otherwise.

I do not think that this thread overstepped the boundaries from taking an example and expanding on the topic in to the Competitor Bashing that is feared. That said, I also think we should stand by our comments and I would be happy to say what I said in my post to this particular soaper in person, to see their view on it.

 

[Bex1982]

Other people have said this too, but where you start from plays a role. If a newbie soaper has no idea what saponification means, or knows how to weigh ingredients properly or can't understand the chemistry, they are NOT starting from the same place as (for personal example) someone with years and years of lab and pharmacy experience, who basically is just doing another compound, with another set of criterion, and therefore will advance far far faster than another person who has to "catch up".

This is true, I made lotion for 5-6 years before soaping and the process is very similar except there is lye instead of plain water and you need to add a preservative to lotion. For me the concept was easy to grasp and I had a good knowledge of ingredients. I started selling my soap strictly to friends and family after a few months of tweaking recipes. That being said, over the years I think I have come up with better formulas, but I think if you don't keep evolving and learning new things it just gets stagnant and a bit boring.