Many small businesses start with two friends saying to one another, “Wow! This would be a great idea! Let’s start a business!” and those two friends dive into their new venture. Cut to a couple years down the road and the hope is that those friends are still friends and in business, but we’ve all heard the stories when that is sadly not the case. My (always wise) Father once told me, “How you enter into any partnership is how you will exit that partnership.” If you are thinking about going into business with a friend, here are some things to think about:

(1) Do you really need them? No…. really. I know you like them but what are they bringing to the table that is unique and special? Is it cash? Is it killer connections? Is it their social media savvy? Is it their business background? What is IT that they have that you don’t? If you’re just having them along for the ride (it’s your idea, you have cash, you are willing to put in the work) or to have a friend to hang out with, re-examine your need for a partnership.

(2) How well do you know them? No…. really. How well do you know them? Have you worked together before? If you haven’t, try something small – like volunteer for the PTA board together or volunteer for a non profit auction (run the auction from start to finish, together).  Have you seen them under stress? Are they healthy? Do they currently take a lot of sick days at their job? Do they act with integrity in EVERY area of their life? If they don’t act with integrity in one area of their life, 9 times out of 10, they’ll have integrity issues in your business dealings as well. Do you trust them? Do they inspire you with their ideas? You will be spending more time with this person than your spouse (!!!); you had better respect and admire them because unlike your spouse, there’s no love to bind you – just shared goals, values, vision and the all-important paycheck.

(3) Who is working, on what, and when? Who’s putting in what time on what projects? And if one partner is going to work less, are they putting in more money than the other one? Are they bringing a big fish client to the table? Resentments are super easy to build up if you’re working unequal amounts of time. If you’re manufacturing product, whose house will you use? And, will that person be compensated for that? If you’re both using your own houses, what does quality control look like? Who pays for those mistakes? What if those mistakes happen more to one person than the other?

(4) How will you fund the business? And if one partner wants to leave, how will that buy out look? What if the company loses money? Who ponies up more cash for the business? When will you pay yourselves? What do you do with (hallelujah!) profits? Do you reinvest profits or pull them out of the company as additional salary?

(5) How will you establish decision making? Who has 51% and who has 49%? Equal 50% shares sound great but realistically, the buck has to stop someplace and if you’re 50/50, you both need to make equal decisions. How are your communication rhythms? Will you see each other in person daily, weekly? Talk via phone twice a week? How does that look?

Wait a minute, you’re thinking,  “This is my FRIEND! None of this stuff will be an issue! It’ll just work out!” Yes … and if that happens, you will be one of the lucky few. But luck favors the prepared. It will not hurt your relationship, if it’s as strong as you think it is, to go through the above list of questions, one by one, and answer them. And then? Write it ALL down in a partnership agreement that covers the above issues in excruciating detail.

Check back next week for an easy check list and survey for you and your potential partner to answer to ensure that you’re on the right track.

I know this may come as a shock, but (whispering), we have competitors. I know, I know, you never dreamt of looking elsewhere for your soapmaking supplies but if you had, you may find one or (eh hem) 50 fellow soapmaking supply companies. Recently on our FB page, someone asked how to deal with competitors and what my philosphy was. I promised to write a blog post on her question because if she had that question, others will.

My philosophy on competitors is this:

Having quality competitors elevates the industry and my commitment to excellence in all actions.

The nuts and bolts of this is the following:

(1) Terms matter. Competitors are referred to in our office as “Fellow Vendors”. The reason for this is simple: um, because they are fellow vendors. The term “competitors” implies unfriendly, grrrrrr!, gladiators in the sport of business to the death. The phrase “fellow vendors” says that we’re all in this together, that we’re a team, that we all serve at the pleasure of our customers. And, that term also says that we’re all in it for the right reasons – because we believe that what we do makes a difference in families and their opportunity to make a great living selling soap.

(2) Be attentive but don’t base your business off of other peoples’ business moves. I monitor my fellow vendors sites. I look at what their FB pages say. I read their Twitter feeds. I’ll glance at their blogs. But in a month, I spend 1-3 hours maximum doing this. I want to be up on what industry trends are and want to be sure that I’m not falling behind any trends but ultimately, my goal is to LEAD and stay ahead. I want Bramble Berry to be creating trends, to be leading the pack and to be the one to chase – not the other way around. So, while I don’t ignore my fellow vendors, rarely do their business decisions impact mine.

(3) Do not criticize in public. You may very well know that one of your fellow soapmakers is LYING about claims they are making for their lotion ingredients. It is hard to stay silent when you hear other people saying, “Well, so and so doesn’t use ANY preservatives in their lotion! I’m going to buy from them!” but you must hold your tongue. People remember the bearer of bad news; they do not remember the bad news. They only remember that you were critical. Stay silent, take the high road and just come up with positive, forward-sounding answers for this. “Well, I use safe preservatives at less than 1% in my lotions because there is a chance that unpreserved lotions could mold or have bacteria contamination so that’s a choice that we’ve made to keep ourselves and our customers safe.”

(4) Continuous, small innovation is the key to outpacing and outlasting your competition. Be so focused on your own business and taking baby steps to your bigger goal that you continue to offer different products and drive a bigger wedge between you and your fellow soapmaker with branding, lines of products and sales strategy. Figure out your X factor and pursue it with dogged, single minded focus. Let your fellow soapmakers inspire you to do better and excel on your own individual path, every single day.

(5) There is enough to go around. Just because your fellow soapmaker sells a bar of soap to someone at a Farmer’s Market doesn’t mean that you can’t also sell a bar of soap to that same person. The market is big. You have to believe that you can all co-exist in a friendly, easy going, manner. Because …. you CAN! The world is a big place. Everyone uses soap. There is a market for your product and it’s HUGE. Even if you have to share it with others, it’s big enough for you all.

That’s my philosophy on co-existing with with others in the same marketplace. I’d love to hear your philosophy or thoughts about mine.

Note: I edited this post a few hours after posting it to clarify some of the points and make my intent for the post clearer.

You were born with potential.

You were born with goodness and trust.

You were born with ideals and dreams.

You were born with greatness.

You were born with wings.

You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.

You have wings.

Learn to use them, and fly.

—  Rumi

It’s December. The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is well upon us all. If you’re like many families, rather than holding your family closer, you’re struggling to get it all done. This blog post series is designed to put you and me in a frame to better appreciate the holidays and more importantly, better appreciate our lives every day.

Stop Doing List

There are things in our lives that we love to do, that give us energy, that expand our horizons, that make the view of the world seem just a little brighter than before. Then, there are things that we dread to do, that bring us down every time and make our lives seem like one boring trudge after another. [Read more…]

I’ve been involved in the bath and body industry since I was 16 years old.
Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of ways of communicating important
soapmaking information come and go. AOL chat rooms, Yahoo Groups, Forums,
LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Ning networks – you name it, there are a lot of
ways to communicate with other people that love soap, soapmaking and all
things having to do with anything and everything you can put on your body.

It is astounding to me with so many forms of communication that we still
manage to misunderstand each other. I have seen more fights start online over
seemingly insignificant things (Are fragrance oils toxic? Is Cold Process
soap inherently better because it’s a more complex process? Hey! I had the
idea to make Watermelon Soap before you did!) end in horribly hurt feelings,
sides taken, friends and communities broken apart.

99% of the time, these end-all-be-all  fights started with a
simple misunderstanding. If the parties involved had been sitting in front
of eachother, they would have figured it out, laughed it off and moved on.
But online, you can’t see body language. You can’t see the twinkle in the
eye when someone’s joshin’ you. And, you can’t be reminded that the person
on the other side of the computer is the same as you – genuinely nice but
like all humans, genuinely flawed.

There’s a phrase I use at least a few times a week when I see
something online that makes me pause. “Assume goodwill. It’s easier.” I
learned this from my Mama when I was very young but like all lessons my Mom
generously shared, it took me about 30 years to figure out that she was not
only right but brilliant!.

So next time you’re online and someone says something you are wondering
about, leaves you out of a conversation or otherwise irritates you to the
point of wanting to lash out, assume goodwill. It’s easier.

Selling Melt and Pour Soap

by Kim of Pepo Park

Congrats! The soaping bug has bitten and you want to spread your love for melt and pour soap. Be sure to check out part 1 and 2 of the series (here and here).

You shouldn’t rush to get your soap to market until you know all about your soap and fortunately, it’s easier to do with melt and pour than with cold process soap.

Scent and color: Melt and pour base with lower melting points hold low-flashpoint scents better than bases with high melting points.  On the Bramble Berry site, all essential and fragrance oils have their flashpoints listed.  Once you know the melting point of your base, you should be able to figure out if your scent will flash out or not.  Color can be tricky.  Any FD&C colors are dyes and dyes bleed.  This is only an issue if you use more than one color in your soap (or if you care).  Labcolors are dyes and they create bright colors.   There are several articles on the Soap Queen site about their usage. Oxides, ultramarines and clays don’t bleed and natural micas are another non-bleeding colorant choice.  However, some micas are tinted with FD&C colors and they will bleed.  The color from any botanicals you add will also bleed out into the soap in the surrounding area.

The gorgeous colors in this photo were created using the Jewelry Box collection.  They’re part of the Soapylove line at Bramble Berry and, because they bleed (they are dyes), can be used to create amazing effects.

Gorgeous colors created by Debbie Chialtas using the Jewelry Box colorant collection.

Freshness: Melt and pour soap  should be wrapped in some kind of plastic.  You can bag it or wrap it as long as you protect it from moisture.  Any moisture in the air will cause glycerin in the soap to form small beads on the soap’s surface, also known as glycerin dew or sweat.  Like cold process soap, it could also go moldy if you add too many botanicals or if they’re too fresh.  For example, if you like to add fruit to your soap.  Dried botanicals and fruit powders will work best.

Hardness: Bar hardness is generally not an issue with melt and pour soap unless you add extra oils. Doing so can make the bar softer and decrease lather.

Labeling: As mentioned in Part One, true soap doesn’t require an ingredient label.  Your soap is true soap if it is made of fats and an alkali (lye).   Check with your supplier to see if the soap base is made of fats and lye, synthetic detergents or a combination.  If your soap base is made from synthetic detergents it is considered a cosmetic and must have all ingredients listed. If you buy your bases from Bramble Berry, every listing on the site includes the ingredients.  Aside from ingredients, other information may be required by law (product weight and contact information) or desired by your customers (scent).  It may be the only chance you have to communicate with your buyer. There is a great book called Soap and Cosmetic Labeling that will help you make sense of all of the rules.  You can also read this page on the FDA site.  If you decide that your soap is true soap, your customers will appreciate you listing the ingredients even if it’s not required.

Selling in the sun: If you’re selling melt and pour soap at an outdoor event, you soap can and will melt in the sun.  In addition, the sun will fade out the colors. Keep your product cool and shaded.

In Part One, I talked about general issues like labels and packaging.  Part Two discussed issues specific to selling cold process soap.

Written by:  Kim Wilton of Pepo Park.  Thanks to Erin Pikor of Naiad Soap Arts for contributing her knowledge of melt and pour soap making.
 

Selling Cold Process Soap

by Kim of Pepo Park

Didn’t see Part 1 of this series? Click here to bone up before you read Part 2.

Congrats! The soaping bug has bitten and you want to spread your love for cold process soap.

Before you sell your soap, you should take some time to make sure you know as much as you can about what you’re selling.  Cold process soap can suffer from some quality issues so you shouldn’t rush to get it to market until you know all about your soap.

Scent and color: Over time, the scent or color of your soap may change.  Generally, this is not a big deal but you should know how your soap changes over time so that you can warn your customers.  For example, citrus essential oils don’t “stick” very well and may fade out.  When my customers buy a citrus-scented soap, I let them know that the scent may fade but the soap will still be fine to use.   Colors may intensify, fade or morph.  Botanicals tend to turn black either immediately or over time.  The one exception I’ve found are calendula petals.

[Read more…]