Goat Milk Soap Making as a Business Opportunity

Last fall, I was blessed with an opportunity to work closely with the founder of the kinder goat breed, Pat Showalter. I was contracted to design her website where she would display her artwork, soap products, and yes of course her Kinder goats.

Mrs. Showalter began making soap a few years ago with her business partner, Celeste as a means to support her kinder goats. This is a common scenario for many goat breeders who would like to supplement their income. Through a lot of testing and experimentation with different combinations of ingredients, Shepherd's Heart Heavenly Body Care Products is blooming into a nice business.

One thing that caught my attention when first working with Mrs. Showalter, is that her business partner, like myself, has a lot of allergies. Therefore, there was a lot of attention paid to combinations of ingredients, and whether or not the end result would be safe for even the most sensitive skin. This is important if you want to create products that can be used by a wide spectrum of users.

I took an interest in soap making because the ideology of using excess goat milk fits within the scope of sustainable agriculture. There is a growing trend in agriculture communities all over the United States to be more self contained. Making soap and cheese are two specific ways to utilize goat milk that would have otherwise been wasted, and turn it into a potential income producer.

How to know if soap making is right for you?

The first thing you would need to ask yourself is whether or not you have a suitable location, time, and the available financial resources to purchase the necessities to make the soap product. Even though you can improvise and make due with some of the things you have around the house to get started with, you still need to purchase key ingredients to make the soap. If you already have milking goats, that's a great start. You need to figure how much milk each of your goats is producing, and whether or not you will have enough volume from them to begin your venture.

You may wish to start out on a small scale, make a few batches of simple soap to find out if it is something you would like to do more of. The more complicated the recipe, and the longer the cure time, you may decide that your soap making venture is more of a hobby rather than a business venture.

There are many soap making websites online, I have included a couple of my favorites at the end of this article. You may wish to research the different varieties of soap, what the market is for soap in your particular location, and the availability of ingredients in your particular area. All of the costs, ingredients, time and resources should be evaluated before making a decision to make soap as a business.

What costs are involved in making soap?

The start up costs for a soap making business will vary depending upon the type of soap you want to make. These costs would include purchasing the initial ingredients (lye, shea butter, fragrances or essential oils), molds, racks for cooling, etc.

You can save a little money by purchasing your ingredients in bulk, or in smaller portions from different retail shops. One benefit in making soap as a business it that you would be able to purchase some if not all of your ingredients and materials at a wholesale price.

Keep in mind when planning your costs, you also need to include packaging for the soap itself, containers to ship, labels and miscellaneous other packaging materials.

Advertising costs should be factored in as a fixed cost, as you would with any business venture. This category would include your website, business cards, flyers, brochures, newspaper or magazine advertisements, and listings in soap maker publications.

There will be ongoing expenses when creating soap because you will have to keep replenishing your supplies and ingredients as your customer base grows.

Is soap making a lucrative business?

After talking to several soap makers who currently own soap making businesses, the consensus is that it is definitely possible to make money from making soap and other similar products. Most business owners say that the first year is the hardest because the start up costs are deducted from any sales right off the top. After the first year, businesses do generally see more of a profit.

The market is full of different companies that promote similar products. Price is not always the determining factor for buyers. What makes one company more profitable than another comes from the quality of the soap itself and presentation.

I have tested several products from different soap makers located in different parts of the country prior to writing this article. I can tell you from my own experience, the soap that I received that was well packaged and pleasing to the eye made more of an impression on me than those bars that were tossed into a box with the hope that it would arrive unscathed.

As for the quality of soap itself, I have found that the soap that was carefully packaged, with plastic wrapping was a much higher quality soap than those that were not wrapped. The plastic tends to trap the right amount of moisture into the soap which prevents it from chipping during shipment, and becoming dry and cracking. The goat milk soap in particular is a favorite of mine. The goat milk soap has a gentle texture and is better for sensitive skin.

The quality of the soap products you are developing will be what brings back return customers. You will receive orders from first time customers, and if they are pleased with the product, and cost, with any luck he or she will tell their friends and family members about you as well.

If you wind up having to provide returns, or credits for failed shipments, that will start eating up the profits in a hurry. Customer satisfaction should always be a priority when you are considering soap making as a business. Some businesses I have worked with factor in a return policy into their price structuring. The fact that some businesses offer a guarantee, also adds credibility to their product which in the long run promotes further sales.

With the advancement of the Internet it makes it easier for companies to advertise to a broader market. This means that competition is also something you need to consider. Competition can be a healthy thing for a new business, take a look at competing websites or catalogs to see what and how other companies are promoting their products.

In the next segment of this article, I will cover the basics of goat cheese making as a business opportunity. If you currently make goat cheese, and would like to be included in the next article, contact the editor with your contact information.

Reference Websites:

Pat Showalter's website
Shepherd's Heart -- Heavenly Body Care Products
http://www.kinderzed.com

Soap Making Websites and Forums:

Soap Maker Resources
http://www.ccnphawaii.com/resources.htm

This website is filled with various categories of links for the soap maker including suppliers, and soap maker associations.

Soap Dish Forum
http://www.soapdishforum.com/phpBB2/

This is an excellent resource / forum for anyone considering making soap as a business, or are currently making soap. This forum has topic categories for chatting, recipes, supplies, questions, and more!

Simple Goat Milk Soap Recipe
http://www.pvsoap.com/recipe_goats_milk_soap.htm

This is a simple goat milk soap recipe using cold goat milk as opposed to powdered milk. Try it!

© Danielle Westvang - Printed in Dairy Goat Journal