Kevin of Devinely Designed creates beautiful soap and shares his creations via his YouTube channel, Devinely Designed. With over 100 videos, Kevin has made a name for himself in the community for providing creative and educational soap making videos. From a Dandelion Zebra Swirl Tutorial to his first experience making liquid soap, Kevin’s videos are fun and thoughtful. Read on to learn more about Kevin and his soapy business, along with his tips for creating YouTube videos. -A.M.

A collection of Kevin’s cold process soap.

How long have you been soaping for, and how did you get started?
I’ve only been soaping for a little over two years. I was just surfing the net one day and somehow landed on watching a YouTube video of making homemade soap…and I was completely hooked from that moment on.

What sort of advice would you give to those soapers just starting their businesses?
I think I would give two pieces of advice: One, be clear about your goals – are you a hobbyist who wants to sell a little to support your soapy addiction (like me), or are you planning to make this a second or even a primary income? Those are very different things and need different kinds of approaches. Included with that one is deciding if you really want a business at all. If turning the hobby you love into a business makes you hate it, then think long and hard before you make that leap.

Second, I would say be prepared to work hard and probably not see big (if any) returns for at least a year or two. Even a small business can be a lot of work, and there’s so much to learn. You can’t just open a web store an expect tons of orders. In addition to learning how to source all of your materials and organizing your work space, planning packaging and shipping, figuring out profits and losses, learning tax rules you’ll need to learn to market yourself and your product. You have to be diligent if you want to achieve those goals.
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