Soap business surviving?

[daphne prevoo]

Dear fellow soapmakers,
I am new to this site and I have been making soaps for 16 years. The last 10 years on a small island in the Caribbean. Since we had Irma (a huge hurricane) followed by Covid, I have found it difficult to survive on my lovely bars. I am even considering quitting.
I would love to hear feedback from fellow soapmakers, advice. Maybe you have found a way around it..etc.
It would be lovely to hear from you.

 

[ChemicalPyros]

Hello Daphne,
I am from Lebanon, and we have been in an economical crisis for 2 years and I have been in a similar situation. I switched to creams and lotions, and some easy formulations such as scrubs and body oils. I am making enough profit to maintain my business.
In some cases I give soapmaking crash courses to round up my months.
I hope those ideas help you.

 

[daphne prevoo]

Goodmorning Chemicalpyros,
Thanks for your message. Yes. That was my initial idea. My mosquito lotion does quite well. Creams and lotions not so much due to the excessive heat here. The soapmaking courses are a nice idea! I like that . I am going to look into that. Thanks for the suggestions. I really appreciate it!

 

[crysaris]

Dear fellow soapmakers,
I am new to this site and I have been making soaps for 16 years. The last 10 years on a small island in the Caribbean. Since we had Irma (a huge hurricane) followed by Covid, I have found it difficult to survive on my lovely bars. I am even considering quitting.
I would love to hear feedback from fellow soapmakers, advice. Maybe you have found a way around it..etc.
It would be lovely to hear from you.

Did you get hit by the latest hurricane? If the world's economy wasn't already bad enough. Then to have communities wiped out by hurricanes has to be stressful to small busines owners. My prayers that whatever choice you make will be one to offer you relief so it doesn't affect your health.

 

[Khanhdoan]

Hi Daphne!
I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you.
I hope you still enter the forum because I'm curious about how your activity went further.
What I would like to know is where you sell your products. Only on the small island where do you live?

The main goal of every entrepreneur is to sell as much as possible, and if in your case you cannot sell more locally, why not look for opportunities to sell in bigger cities or countries?
It's simple if you find resellers. This is what I did, and I was not affected by Covid.
The more channels you have to sell your products, the less affected you will be if one of them goes down.
But I also understand that many soap makers do not have the knowledge to manage a business, so before giving up, learn about selling products, or find an agency that takes care of it.

A good article with which you can start educating yourself in terms of business is about brick and mortar businesses and online stores, to which you can navigate here.