Work from Home Mom (or Dads)

[Homemade Mommy]

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this board & looking for advice.

I am currently a full time (40hr/wk) employee outside of the home, have a 15month old & work part time as a direct selling consultant (for a home party business).

Looking for advice for those who work from home.

I am finding my consultant business is very successful and actually too successful at this time. It requires me to do home parties outside my home on off hours.

With my current full time job & this other part time job, I am missing my son terribly.

How did you decide to stay home?

Do you think running/selling Homemade soap products is a sustainable income?

Looking for advice THANKS!

 

[soapbuddy]

Welcome!
Running/selling homemade soap products takes years to develop. It is not "make it today, sell it tomorrow" type of a deal.

 

[carebear]

It took me a couple of years to get to the point of doing it even as a supplemental income. It's not something that most people can jump into with both feet and make money from. Not to say you cannot get it to the level of a profitable business in time - I'd say about a year.

Beyond learning to make soap, building a business is a ton of work and takes a real investment in both time and, sadly, cash. It's really hard.

I wish I could say it was a quick fix, but it's not. Sorry!

 

[Homemade Mommy]

With my current business I too understand it takes time to bring in clientele and understand with producing a product it will take even more time to get the process down (quality wise).

I'm not really looking for a quick fix, looking more for a long term investment. I wouldn't want to put time/energy/money into something that in a few years isn't paying out.

With my current business I had a start up fee & product investment. I have clientele but would prefer to be home in the evenings (on my time) when my son has gone to bed to produce products to sell. Instead of having parties away from my family at the convenience of the Hostess...thus taking time out from my family.

My question is will it eventually be something that could potentially be an income worth investing in?

I believe there is a market locally and understand there are already businesses out there but think locally I could find clientele..

Thank you both for your input and sounds like you both have time/energy/money invested and I look forward to your feedback

 

[soapbuddy]

Here is some info I posted on one of the forums where I am a mod. I am reposting it here and I hope it helps you.

Just a couple of batches under your belt is not enough to start to sell. You will need to be able to properly formulate a recipe. Know how well that recipe will do 3 months down the road, or 6 months down the road. Read up on properties of oils and what they add to your soap. Know which oils will make a soap hard and which soft. Read up on each oil's shelf life. Some oils have a short shelf life and can be prone to oxidation or DOS (dreaded orange spots). You should not be selling soap that zaps. That could be a serious liability issue.

Please keep your pets or kids out of your soap making area. Make sure that you have all the proper safety equipment and gear. This includes goggles (or a face shield), long sleeve shirt, long pants and shoes (not flip flops or sandals with open toes). Plastic or rubber gloves are a must too. Have a jug of water nearby if you get some lye crystals or flakes on you. Lye can seriously injure you or burn you. Please respect it. Always. ALWAYS run your recipe through a lye calculator, even if you got the recipe from a book. Mistakes do happen. One of the calculators that I use is The Sage: http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php
Another one is right here at BrambleBerry> http://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx

Have an accurate scale. Both ounces and grams is preferable, especially for those small batches. Cups are NOT accurate enough to soap with. You need accurate measurement, so your soap isn't lye heavy. You can make soap in a heavy duty plastic pitcher if you are just starting out. When you start making bigger batches a stainless steel pot is invaluable. Get yourself a stick blender. It will save you valuable time mixing the soap. Do not use a wooden spoon. Over time, the lye will weaken the wood in that spoon and splinters could end up in your soap.

Start small and simple. As a new soaper, I realize that you want to try many things, but get a basic formula down before ading extra things like color, spices, oatmeal or goat's milk. Know what trace looks like. Research which fragrance or essential oils are safe to soap with and in what percentages. Study which fragrance oils or essential oils accelerate trace, so you are prepared.

4-6 weeks of curing cannot be rushed. Do not try a dehydrator. It doesn't work and will make your soap melt. If you are doing hot process or CPOP (cold process - oven process), wait a minimum of one week to give water a chance to evaporate. The longer you can wait, the harder the soap will be and longer it will last in the tub or shower.

Apply for a reseller permit if your county requires it and a business license. Get a liability insurance. Try the Soapmakers Guild or RLI. Each one is available on the net. Don't think just because you are only giving soap to friends, or selling soap to your coworkers that you won't need liability insurance for that. You do need it; even then. People are sue happy and you could loose your house or worse.

I'm sure that you will be proud of your creation(s), so please list the ingredients on your label. Technically you don't have to, but it's always nice to have them on your label, in case of someone that has allergies to certain ingredients.

Here are some links to get you started:
Explanation of soaps and recipes: http://www.millersoap.com/
crockpot hot process soap: http://www.geocities.com/toiletrytutorials/cphp.html
More explanations on soap: http://www.soap-making.net/cold.html
Our forum owners soapmaking methods: http://www.teachsoap.com/soapmakingmethods.html
More recipes (check them on a lye calculator!) http://www.soapnuts.com/indexcp.html

Here are some soapmaking books to learn more and read about:
The Everything Soapmaking by Alicia Grosso
Natural Soap Book: Herb & Vegetable Soap by Susan Miller Cavitch
Natural Soapmaking by Marie Browning
The Soaper's Cook Book: Soapmaking in your oven, on the stove or in your crockpot!
By Coleen French and TJ Currey
The Soapmakers Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch

And it's a good idea to purchase a good book about soap and cosmetic regulations:
Soap and Cosmetic Labeling - How to Follow The Rules and Regs Explained in Plain English
by Marie Gale

You can find basic soapmaking supplies at BrambleBerry along with lots of fragrances, colors essential oils, redy to use bases for rebatching, molds and much more: http://www.brambleberry.com/

One other thing I would like to mention; adding an oil or butter at trace is no guarantee that your soap will be superfatted with that particluar ingredient. Soap at trace is still quite active and the lye will take whatever it wants. So add all your oils and butters right up front to your recipe and add/melt everything
together. I also add me fragrance or essential oil to my melted soapmaking oils. There is no need to add these at trace either.

 

[Rosiegirl]

What a terrific post Soapbuddy.
That would of taken a whole lot of time to do.
You're very generous & its excellent advice.

 

[carebear]

could potentially? yes, of course.
anything could potentially.
is it likely? depends on what you can and will put into it.

I'm not trying to sound flip, but it's not a simple question. There are soapers who do this for a living, but not very many.

 

[khermsen]

Recently I received my "RIF" (reduction in workforce) letter. Although it would be great to quickly expand my soap making, I continue to proceed in a cautious manner. Last year I researched and secured insurance, etc.

I have only sold M&P to a local gift shop, and have given soap for gifts. I have been working on CP soap products, gave a lot away, and made laundry detergent with the not so successful batches. I continue to give away CP with a "Soap Score Sheet" to help develop a few great recipes. I must be totally comfortable with all aspects of my CP process before I would consider selling it along side the MP.

I am looking for another job, because at this point in time, soap making for profit is a long way down the road. Right now I would be happy to just break even.....ok, already, a girl can dream!

 

[HempJewelryWorld]

Yes you definitely want to perfect your craft before you think about selling. You don't want to be selling things while you're in the experimental stage