First steps
Small business owners are used to doing everything from formulating recipes to shipping orders. However, if day-to-day tasks are taking up most of your time and you can’t focus on big-picture items, it may be time to expand.

Jessica with Normal Soap Company had that realization while spending hours labeling and delivering products. She’s a 4th-generation soapmaker who started selling products about 6 years ago. She first hired part-time seasonal help, then year-round employees.

“There are times where I need to focus on production and building the business,” she said. “I can teach someone to label and make deliveries.”

Jessica with Normal Soap Company

Lela with Lucky Break Consulting said expanding will likely happen earlier than you want it to. The hiring process can be long and complicated, so you don’t want to start when you’re backed up against a wall. If you’re thinking about it, start looking into your finances to see if it’s something you can afford. Lela recommends deciding if you need a contractor for certain tasks or a long-term employee. Your state’s employment and labor laws will have more information on both options, so make sure to research those online. Then you need to create a document with all of your current tasks, how to complete them, what you expect from employees, the training process, etc.

“All of us are wearing so many different hats, which means the business lives in our head,” Lela said. “Get those systems and standards on paper.”

Next you can start looking for candidates. Lela recommends avoiding newspaper ads because they can be expensive. Online platforms like craigslist are free, but you will have to sift through a lot of spam. You can put the job posting in your blog or newsletter so people already familiar with your company apply.

“If you’re a brick-and-mortar business, put a sign in the window,” Lela said. “Don’t underestimate the power of that.”

Jessica said her best resource is other entrepreneurs in the area. She let market managers know she was hiring and also posted in a Facebook group for local businesses. Normal Soap Company’s products are sold in a few stores, so Jessica told the owners to send qualified applicants her way. That gave her plenty of resumes to choose from.

Normal Soap Company’s beautiful soap display

The interview process
Once you’ve narrowed the search, you can start interviewing applicants. Lela likes to start with a one-on-one meeting. It only lasts about 20 minutes and she asks a few simple questions. If she likes the candidate, she brings them back in for a second interview with more in-depth questions. It’s good to have someone else there for a second opinion. That can be an assistant, business partner, or even a trusted friend. Lela then takes the candidate on a tour of the facility and watches how they interact with other staff members.

Lela (middle) and her team

Bramble Berry CEO and Founder Anne-Marie recommends covering experience and relevant skills, but also asking questions to see if the applicant is a good fit for the company culture.

“I like to ask about the last book they read, or the last movie they watched, how they practice stress release, if they consider themselves an introvert or an extrovert and an example of that personality behavior,” she said.

When you find someone you like, make sure to check both personal and professional references. If you’re having trouble choosing between 2 applicants, trust your intuition.

“I’ve done a lot wrong over the years and 2 things spring to mind – not listening to my gut (that’s how we hired a bank robber, literally!), and hiring the world’s coolest people ‘just because’ but then not having a real role for them at the company,” Anne-Marie said.

What tasks to delegate
Start by making a list of all the tasks you’re currently doing.

“It’s a humbling experience seeing all the things you’re trying to master at once,” Lela said.

Rate the tasks on how comfortable you feel doing them and how much you enjoy them. Then, go through and see which ones you can start delegating. Good options are day-to-day tasks like answering social media comments and cleaning dishes. That way you can work on high-level tasks like product development and human resources.

“Outsource everything that doesn’t need your touch,” Lela said. “Each hire should take another load off your plate.”

Jessica first has employees help with preparing orders, labeling, and making deliveries. Then she trains them on how to make products like lip balm and bath bombs. They also go to markets to sell products. Jessica continues to make soap and lotion, as they require more experience and knowledge of Good Manufacturing Practices. She does show her employees how to make it though.

“We try to balance necessary tasks like labeling with fun stuff like making soap,” she said.

Normal Soap Company’s Rose Torte Soaps

After the hire
Hiring and training people is just the beginning. Lela recommends bringing people in for a 60-day trial. Once a week, meet with them for 5-10 minutes to see how everything is going. They can ask questions and you can see how they’re progressing.

“Keep an eye on them until they build confidence and spread their wings,” she said.

After that, she recommends yearly reviews. Find out what they love and what’s dragging them down. Create benchmarks and goals for them to meet by the next review. This is helpful for both employees and owners. Lela said a common mistake for owners is coming across too friendly because they’re not used to hiring and delegating tasks. Having systems and standards in place can help you be more professional and your employees know what to expect.

The more you work with someone, the more you’ll learn. In the beginning, Jessica relied on help from friends and family. They helped her business grow and it was the right decision at the time. But since she hired help, she hasn’t looked back.

“Don’t be afraid to take that leap,” she said.

Find Normal Soap Company
Online
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Find Lucky Break Consulting
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The post Hiring Tips for Small Businesses appeared first on Soap Queen.

First and foremost, patience is key. While soap in silicone or wood molds is ready to unmold as early as 3-4 days, cold process soap in plastic molds can take up to 2 weeks. If your soap is still soft when you try to unmold it, it can leave drag marks or holes. Some of the details may be left in the mold as well. So, if your soap doesn’t want to come out of the mold, let it sit for another day or two.

The recipe you use plays a huge role in determining how long the soap needs to stay in the plastic mold. Soap with a lot soft oils – oils that are liquid at room temperature – takes longer to harden. Soap with mostly soft oils, like olive oil and sweet almond oil, can take even longer than 2 weeks to unmold. Also, some of the details may not be as clear. Recipes with a lot of hard oils – oils that are solid at room temperature – will pop out of the molds faster. Hard oils include coconut oil, palm oil, cocoa butter and shea butter. Read more about hard and soft oils in the Formulating Cold Process Recipes post.

Sodium lactate is incredibly helpful when unmolding cold process soap from plastic molds. Sodium lactate is the sodium salt of lactic acid. Adding 1 tsp. of sodium lactate per pound of oils to your cooled lye water speeds up the unmolding process. It also produces harder, longer-lasting bars of soap. I use it every time I make cold process soap in plastic molds. To learn more, click through the Sunday Night Spotlight: Sodium Lactate.

You’ve made a recipe with mostly hard oils. It’s been in the mold for at least a week, and it has sodium lactate. What now? To unmold, pull on the sides of the mold. This breaks the airlock. Then, flip the soap mold over and press gently on the back of the cavities with your thumb or the heel of your hand. If the soap doesn’t want to come out, pop it in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes. Don’t leave it in there too long, or the plastic can crack. If the soap still isn’t budging, let it sit in the mold another couple of days. Remember, patience is key!

To demonstrate how different recipes perform, two cold process recipes were made in the Sand Dollar Mold. One of the recipes consisted of 70% soft oils, and the other recipe consisted of 70% hard oils. We then tested the same two recipes, but the second time we added 1/4 tsp. of sodium lactate to the lye water.

Soft Oils Recipe 
.5 oz. Coconut Oil (15%)
2.5 oz. Olive Oil (70%)
.5 oz. Palm Oil (15%)
.5 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
1.2 oz. distilled water
Optional: 1/4 tsp. Sodium Lactate

Hard Oils Recipe
1 oz. Coconut Oil (30%)
1 oz. Olive Oil (30%)
1.4 oz. Palm Oil (40%)
.5 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
1.2 oz. distilled water
Optional: 1/4 tsp. Sodium Lactate

Soft Oil Recipe
When unmolding the soap made with sodium lactate (shown on the left), they actually fell out of the mold! The soap is nice and firm, and all the details stayed on the soap. The soap on the right, without sodium lactate, didn’t fare as well. As you can see, several of the details are missing from the soap. There are also drag marks and holes.

Hard Oil Recipe
Again, the soap made with sodium lactate (shown on the left) fell out of the mold. It is firm and beautifully detailed. While the soap without sodium lactate did a little better than the recipe with mostly soft oils, there are still holes. One of the soaps is also missing a part of the sand dollar.

Experiment Results
The main takeaway from this experiment is sodium lactate is your friend when it comes to making soap in the plastic molds. With sodium lactate, both the hard and soft recipes came out of the mold easily after one week. The soft oil recipe without sodium lactate performed the worst – the most soap stuck to the mold and the design was extremely damaged. Soap made with hard oils and no sodium lactate did a little better, but the design was still damaged. If you choose not to use sodium lactate and want to use a plastic mold, be prepared to wait more than one week to successfully unmold your soap.

If you don’t have sodium lactate, you can use a salt water solution to harden your soap. To make the solution, mix 1 teaspoon of regular table salt into 1 ounce (by weight) of warm distilled water. Stir until the salt is fully dissolved. We recommend 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 ounce of water per pound of soap. Make sure to discount the salt water solution from your liquid amount. Then, add the solution at trace. The salt water solution was used in the Palm Free Vertical Twist Tutorial with great results.

We don’t recommend using any of our clear plastic molds for hot process soap. They can only withstand temperatures up to 145° F. Hotter temperatures can morph the plastic. The heavy duty molds can withstand temperatures up to 165° F, but may warp in the oven. The heavy duty molds work for rebatch, as seen in the How to Make Rebatch Soap video on Soap Queen TV. Because the molds are heat sensitive, we do not recommend gelling cold process soap in them. Instead, you can let your soap dry at room temperature.

Don’t feel like waiting? Melt and pour soap is a great option! It is ready to unmold a couple hours in the mold, or up to 12 hours. Check out these melt and pour recipes made with plastic molds:

Top row, left to right: Mermaid Shell Melt and Pour, Movember Mustache Melt and Pour
Bottom row, left to right: Painting Soap with Mica Powder on Soap Queen TV, Rainbow Unicorn Melt and Pour

Do you use plastic molds for cold process soap? Do you have any tips for unmolding? I’d love to hear them!

The post Unmolding Cold Process Soap from Plastic Molds appeared first on Soap Queen.

Let’s use this experience to turn lemons into lemonade; soap alongside me as I show you how to Hot Process Hero this crazy batch of soap into something usable, and dare I say, even uniquely lovely? To start, this is what we were after:

And this is what we got…

ONE: Clearly that batch is in serious need of some help. Despite its appearance, the soap and the culprit fragrance are totally soap and skin-safe. Let’s get started! Wearing all your safety equipment in a well-ventilated area, drain off any extra oils that have pooled on top of the soap into a stainless steel pot. Then unmold the soap.

TWO: Chop the soap into small chunks. You might also want to cover your work surface with cardboard to absorb any extra oil from the soap. Though this recipe does not have any extra lye present, not all recipes have the same variables. This recipe is just oozing a teensy bit of oil and looks a little rough.

THREE: Turn your burner on a medium setting and begin adding the soap. I added just a few ounces at a time. Your pot must be 3x larger than the batch size because you need a lot of head space for this process.

Tip: Can you use a cooking pan for this? Technically, you can. After all, this is actually soap. It’s real-deal, fully-reacted soap. It’s like putting soap in your pot. Now, do you want to use a cooking pan for this? Meh, probably not. The fragrance oil can work its way into the small etchings in pots and your batches of rice and pasta will taste like fragrance oil for a few cook-throughs. I know this from experience!

FOUR: Save a few colorful chunks to press into the top later to add interest and drama to your soap.

FIVE: Stir the pot while you slowly add the remaining soap chunks. If the mixture gets too dry, add 2 – 4 oz. of distilled water. If the soap starts smoking, you can decrease the heat or add a bit more water.

SIX: Keep stirring and cooking the soap down. After about 20 minutes, the soap will start to thicken into a gloppy oatmeal-like texture. That’s what you want. You want to keep your soap hydrated, so you may need to add a little extra water if you notice any cracking or if the mixture turns to a clay-like consistency. Keep in mind that the more liquid you add, the softer the soap will be, and the more difficult to pop out of the mold. I recommend adding water 2 ounces at a time.

SEVEN: When the entire batch is mostly consistent in texture and color (no oil leaking, no strange looking globby spots), you are ready to glop. Use gloved hands or place wax paper down on the soap to press a flat top.

EIGHT: Press chunks of colorful soap (from Step Four) into the soap.

NINE: Allow the soap to harden for 1 – 2 days. After that, it is ready to cut and use right away since it’s gone through a full hot process phase — no need to wait the traditional 4 to 6 weeks! Keep in mind, this technique works for any failed batch of soap! No matter how far gone you think a soapy project may be, there is almost always a way to fix it =)

Bonus: We took Instagram videos of the entire process. Check them out!

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