Soap is one of the most commonly found products in all markets of the worlds. It the kind of product that is found in every household irrespective of the financial standing of a particular household. Soap is kind of thing which goes with almost all settings that a human being might face; you need a soap at washroom, you need a soap in your kitchen, you need a soap in your dining room so that you may clean your hands before enjoying your meal, you need soap in the washrooms at your workplace and you need a soap while travelling in places far from civilizations.
Soap is used as a hand sanitizer, a soap is used for washing clothes, a soap is used for dishwashing and a soap is also used as a skincare product. This intense demand of the soaps gives birth to a very big demand and supply chain. A lot of big companies like Procter & Gamble and Unilever are already making huge revenues in soap business and now a lot of small businesses are also joining the community to take their piece of the pie. This situation has motivated many entrepreneurs to run a one man business within the niche of soap: hence the unprecedented hype in the business of herbal and medicated soaps.
If a niche is already booming and touching skies with a potential which not many niches possess, why not try your luck in such a business. There are a lot of businesses which are already running one man soap businesses and what they actually do is to use the locally available herbs, oils, greenies and other stuff. The potential that soap industry possesses is such of a humongous size that even those businesses who live off of soap businesses (for example custom soap boxes manufacturers are making really good money.
The biggest plus point of the soap business is the help from Mother Nature and ease of operation. Let us talk about the first one first. As I have mentioned, most of the homemade soap businesses use the locally available herbs, oils and fauna. Nature has awarded all regions with some sort of special fruits, herbs, vegetables and wood which is not found in other regions. Try to be the son (or daughter) of the soil for once and see if you can find some local herbs, oils and plants which are known for skincare or beauty-related purposes. Bingo! Your job is now almost done; all you have to do is consult with some custom soap packaging business and pack these herbs, oils and greenies in your own attractive way.
If you do not believe that this method will be successful, you should read about the success story of Dudu – Osun; the intelligent woman who launched this homemade soap business. All she did was packing the locally available herbs and oils, which were either free or extremely cheap. Now her business is a big success on Amazon.
Starting a soap business is very easy once you get cheap and easy access to the locally available herbs, plants, oils and fruits etc. You can run this business from home without having to have an office or a big team of employees.
As far as materials are concerned, they depend on the kind of soap that you choose to make. If it is a scented soap, you should acquire a knowhow of different scents and how to use them. You can use the locally available scents to reduce the production costs. Likewise, if it is a herbal soap: a medicated soap, you need to pay attention to the ingredients which are geared towards acquiring health and beauty with the use of herbs and oils. In this case, you are supposed to acquire locally available herbs and oils.
Once you have decided the kind of soap you want to make, you move towards getting materials and tools for it. In case of a medicated soap, here are the things you need to get:
As much easy as the herbal and medicated soap business is, it demands care. You need care especially at the time when you are making soap at your home-based factory and when you are mixing and stirring all the liquids. That is, you can neither let go of the balance of different herbs and nor cut the soap into bigger or smaller than required sizes.
For example if the amount of Caustic soda is less than the amount of oils and fats, the soap will not remain suitable for an oily skin since it will make the skin too oily. Likewise, custom soap boxes are made as per a given size, any soap smaller or bigger than the provided size will not accurately fit into the boxes.
Also, an undersized or oversized soap will not be appreciated by the end user: your customer. Speaking of which, I must mention how a soap with excessive or less than required amount of herbs and oils will not only irritate the customer, but it will deprive you of many customers.
Yes, you can make soap at home, but remember that some herbs, oils and other ingredients may be dangerous to an exposed skin. Especially caustic soda can be very dangerous for your eyes, skin or in case you mix it with water: your interior organs. You can easily take care of this by labeling all ingredients and tools. You can also buy cheap safety equipment such as surgical gloves, mask and cap or head cover to avoid being exposed to dangerous materials.
Nowadays, business is all about marketing and display. In order to make your product appear catchy and impressive, you need to get impressive and compelling soap packaging. There was a time when conventional marketing tactics e.g. T.V., Bill Board and Newspaper ads or brochures were considered enough for the marketing of a business; well, this is now the game anymore. Now the game demands out of the box marketing and branding tactics. You need to directly communicate with the potential customers, and custom soap boxes accomplish this for you.
You need to do the complete cost analysis of the whole project and allocate expenses to different tiers. In Tier 1 expenses there should be the costs that you bear on acquisition of natural herbs, oils and fragrances. In Tier 2 come the expenses of acquiring a place and buying tools and materials etc. so on and so forth.
Now you are ready to launch your own homemade medicated soap business and boost it with help of all modern marketing and branding tactics. Get some more ideas, read a lot and if possible talk to the entrepreneurs who are already running their soap businesses. And yes, let me know of how useful this blog post was. I wish you best of the luck.
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