ItsForrest
Well-Known Member
I've been off of the forums and haven't made any soap for about a year.
Last year was my first year for selling soap. I did a weekly farmers' market most of the season and a bunch of fall and holiday shows. I learned a lot and I think my product improved by leaps and bounds through the year. While I agree with the folks that say you shouldn't try to sell until you've made soap for a couple years or more, there are just as many things to learn that you will never know until you start making a bit more volume and selling.
Anyway, back to the subject...
We decided to move from NC to VA and closed on our new-to-us, fixer-upper house a few days before the new year. One of the selling points for the house for me was a good sized basement room that I could set up as a soap shop. We figured we would get a few issues with the new housed fixed up, sell the old house and be back in the soap biz in time to set up in the farmers' market in the new city when it opened in April. Well, it took three months to make the new place livable enough to move in. It took two months to get the old place ready to sell. Now here it is August and I'm finally getting my soap shop put together.
From the listing photos, here is the dark and dingy basement. My dude side likes the wood paneling but it makes the room dark and fresh paint gives it a vastly cleaner feel.
And here it is today, still needing some work but with lots of progress.
Here we have new lighting and electric circuits, brightened up with new paint, asbestos tile removed and new vinyl flooring rolled out, and a couple new workbenches built. Still need to put up a few sheets of drywall where bug-eaten paneling was removed. The ceiling will stay open until we redo a bunch of plumbing, which will probably be a year or so out.
So, we should be organizing and testing new recipes soon and ready to set up for the local market by spring. Next year will be a fun learning year for a new business entity in a new town.
Last year was my first year for selling soap. I did a weekly farmers' market most of the season and a bunch of fall and holiday shows. I learned a lot and I think my product improved by leaps and bounds through the year. While I agree with the folks that say you shouldn't try to sell until you've made soap for a couple years or more, there are just as many things to learn that you will never know until you start making a bit more volume and selling.
Anyway, back to the subject...
We decided to move from NC to VA and closed on our new-to-us, fixer-upper house a few days before the new year. One of the selling points for the house for me was a good sized basement room that I could set up as a soap shop. We figured we would get a few issues with the new housed fixed up, sell the old house and be back in the soap biz in time to set up in the farmers' market in the new city when it opened in April. Well, it took three months to make the new place livable enough to move in. It took two months to get the old place ready to sell. Now here it is August and I'm finally getting my soap shop put together.
From the listing photos, here is the dark and dingy basement. My dude side likes the wood paneling but it makes the room dark and fresh paint gives it a vastly cleaner feel.
And here it is today, still needing some work but with lots of progress.
Here we have new lighting and electric circuits, brightened up with new paint, asbestos tile removed and new vinyl flooring rolled out, and a couple new workbenches built. Still need to put up a few sheets of drywall where bug-eaten paneling was removed. The ceiling will stay open until we redo a bunch of plumbing, which will probably be a year or so out.
So, we should be organizing and testing new recipes soon and ready to set up for the local market by spring. Next year will be a fun learning year for a new business entity in a new town.
