Two batches under my belt. Ready to sell, sell, sell?

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

I started this venture into CP soap with the full intention of selling it. The plan: have a full product line to go with my existing bath & body products ready for the Christmas shows. :-o. Well, I now have two batches under my belt, one of which appears to be successful, so I'm good to go, right?? I can just jump right in with full scale production, can't I? Hmmm... Let's see? Wait a minute! Maybe I should try taking a bath with my barely-days-old soap first to see if I like it first! If so, THEN I'm good to go, right? Oh. Hold on... I may want to experiment first.... Try out different ingredients, see if there's something I like better, or that's maybe more cost effective first. Gosh, it occurs to me that I've not checked the reviews to see how the FO's I use in my other products behave in CP soap. Huh. Well, no worries. I mean really, how long can it take to test out a bunch of different FO's and create a product line? I mean, it's just soap after all.... I bet I'll have all THAT mess ironed out in a month or so! PLENTY of time to get to the Christmas market! Ok, so let's see... I should be able to start production by the end of September or so. (ok, I know I said a month to figure out the formulations for my product line, but I don't want to be hasty! Why not give it some real time? A month and a half it is!). That brings me to the beginning of October. I can then start cranking those babies out! Man, by the end of the month I bet I can have it all out and curing! Which has them cured for 6 weeks by the middle of November. Awesome! Brilliant! Gosh! Wait! Just thought of something... It occurs to me that the soap formula I create and inevitably fall in love with 3 days out of the mold might just (and this is crazy, I know) change a bit during its cure time! But... That might mean that I would be foolish to make pounds and pounds (and pounds!) of any given formula until I've evaluated it after its cure! What you say? DOS?? Holy crap! What do you mean I shouldn't invest hundreds and hundreds of dollars making that formula I love until I know for certain it isnt prone to DOS for at least 6 months?! :shock: Huh? The scent can fade too? Hold on people! How exactly do you expect me to make a quick buck, and create my fortune within my first 6 months of making soap then??

Methinks I'll need to reevaluate my initial timeline! Call me nutty, but it occurs to me that there may (just possibly) be more to this soap making thing than I originally thought...

And that, boys and girls, is the thought process I actually went through. Granted... A bit more gradually than has been portrayed here!

 

[Farm2Shower]

You definitely have the gumption! What are you waiting for, you should of been selling yesterday.:-D

 

[jules92207]

Lol - I think there is hope for you yet.

 

[Seawolfe]

If DOS ever shows up in my soaps, I shall tell people it's spots of "organic probiotic active skin conditioners"

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

If DOS ever shows up in my soaps, I shall tell people it's spots of "organic probiotic active skin conditioners"

Love it! Creative marketing!!

 

[Dorymae]

Yup it takes a while to iron it all out, test, check, retest and try out everything but if you love to make soap...if whenever you do a swirl you can't wait to cut it, try it etc then it is worth it to do it right and end up with a product you can be proud to put your name on. Work it is, and it isn't always fun even when you love it. It can however be a business you love and eventually it can actually make you some money. It doesn't happen overnight or without planning but I think it can be rewarding in it's own way. One thing I can say is I never wake up in the morning dreading going to work.

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

Well, I think this definitely HAS to be about the journey at least as much as it's about the destination! I'm having so much fun with this! Can't wait till the soap I've made has cured a bit more so I can see what direction I want to tweak it in! Fun, fun, fun!!!

 

[Candybee]

LOL You should add to that list that there is still market research to do. You may love the scent, its conditioning properties, and tested it and retested it until you feel with total confidence it is ready to sell. Then you take it to market and it just sits there. Nobody buys it. Why? Because you still have to market test your product on your target customers too. Your soap could be the cat's meow in your eyes but your customers can love it or hate it. Sucks, doesn't it?!!

 

[Shalisk]

Hey. Fry....what do you think?

 

[Jaccart789]

I have a 3-5 year plan. I really LOVE soap making, but I realize a business is work and I want to be sure everything is in place and that my love will be everlasting. I started in high school working with bath and beauty products, mixing fragrances, creating lotions and perfumes working for one of the oldest scent companies in Georgia. I envision having a store like that one day; however my immediate focus is becoming a nurse practitioner (I am a RN now and in school working on my masters) focusing in aesthetics, and hopefully one day I will be able to some how incorporate the two. I have only been making soap for a year. I can say that I probably have made more than the average, because I soap almost daily. I think I have close to 200 batches. I give everything away and love it. I am hoping to be able to give soap to my local hospice. I use to be a hospice nurse and would love to be able donate to them. Its been an adventure learning how to formulate and truly understand the products you make. I can't imagine going into a business with not fully understanding the craft let alone the business aspect. I know there are some new crafters on this forum who don't understand the risk they take if they create a bad batch of soap, lotions, etc. If a person is immunocompromised in some way, have sores on their skin and you introduce a lotion laden with bacteria because you didn't properly make lotion, or someone have anaphylaxis because you didn't properly label your product are serious offenses and can be devastating. I know this extreme, but I don't think you can never be too prepared and I firmly believe you set yourself up for failure if you don't think your business plan out. However, I do believe in taking risk just not at another person's expense. Any who... just my thoughts...

 

[Shalisk]

I am not nit picking Jaccart, I am seriously asking: They have RN's with focuses in the princaples of beauty? Or did you mean anesthetics, the reversable loss of sensation ("Going under") If you ment the first, that will help you in your goal to make products, and if you ment the second, you could combine the two by finding ways to make the gas NOT smell like a **** basketball...the smell of the gas they use is rather gross IMHO.

 

[Jaccart789]

Yes Shalisk...beauty. I work for an ambulatory surgical center, we do a lot of plastic surgery. I am in school becoming a nurse practitioner, but I fully intend on taking additional courses focusing in aesthetics where you do botox, lasers, peels, etc. I would like to open my own practice and some how be able to incorporate my beauty products.

I reread your post and I laughed so hard. I read too fast. Are you from America Shalisk? I ask because nurses are different in other countries.

 

[Shalisk]

I am, I am from the US, and we just call them 'Plastic Suergions" and stuff, im from small town upstate, Nip tuck, nose job or boob implant its all the 'same' to us. And thats cool I wish you luck in your education. You could (for example) try to formulate soap that is less hurtful to new recepiants of such things or things that may help botox injection recipiants...

 

[LunaSkye]

Wow! This thread sure made me think of a few things for myself:

1. 4 months into soap making, I barely have a concept of a go to recipe, but it's a nice & reliable one.

2. I rely so much on OO that I had to check out the pumice version. I have no clue why I even want to use so much OO in almost ALL of my soaps.

3. Leave the label-appealing oils out of the soaps until I can test the feel (thanks to my OO habit, it'll take until winter to probably test them properly).

All of these thoughts after making 22 batches? Where's the dunce cap?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Love this post - I opened it pretty certain where it was going but still with some fear

 

[pamielynn]

LOL You should add to that list that there is still market research to do. You may love the scent, its conditioning properties, and tested it and retested it until you feel with total confidence it is ready to sell. Then you take it to market and it just sits there. Nobody buys it. Why? Because you still have to market test your product on your target customers too. Your soap could be the cat's meow in your eyes but your customers can love it or hate it. Sucks, doesn't it?!!

This.

 

[neeners]

I saw the title and thought to myself "oh no...not one of THESE debates again!", but didn't turn out the way I thought.

 

[Susie]

When I started making soap, I had the same thoughts about selling. Then I looked at local farmer's markets and craft shows. My local market is saturated with CP and HP soap. I do mean saturated. So, my CP soap is going to just be for family and friends.

But, yes, this hobby is definitely about the journey for me.

 

[Candybee]

Suzie please don't give up because of the competition. Everyone makes their soap different so no two soaps are exactly the same and customers are smart enough to know what they like. So just make the best soap you can.

I have seen soapers come and go because some don't bother to go through all the research and development which this thread is all about. If you have a great bar of soap your customers will keep coming back. My repeat customers are my best customers and spend the most money. So I know all I have to do is get a new customer to buy just one bar of soap.