Start a Home Business Making Soap (the Easy Way)

All it takes is a little creativity to become profitable by making soap in your own home with your blender. The basic soap recipe provided in this article does not require any expensive equipment or dangerous chemicals like most soapmaking recipes.

From this very basic and easy recipe, hundreds of types of soaps can be made simply by adding different scents, textures, and colors. This article explains how to easily do all that and more.

With a little practice, you can become very creative and proficient at soap making. Larger batches will yield larger quantities of soap at one time. Make as little or as much as desired. This recipe can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled to whatever size your kitchen appliances can handle.

Basically, you will be taking already-made bars of soap, pieces, or scraps, melting them down, adding your own scents, textures, and colors, and reshaping them into bars, balls on a rope (or plain balls), or free form soap sculptures.

Your finished, handmade bars of soap will easily retail for $1.50 to $4.00 each. You can purchase unwrapped bulk bars of soap for 20 cents each! For this type of bulk pricing, check out http://www.shopapalooza.com/janitorial-supplies/unwrapped/4600/products or similar soap wholesale web sites.

It doesn't take a mathematician to calculate the profits after adding the scent, texture, and coloring (and your time). With a little advertising or word-of-mouth promotion, you can become self employed with your own home business, with no need to seek employment outside your own home. With your new home business, job hunting will no longer be necessary.

Getting started

Here's how to make the soap and get started with your new home business. Cut a bar of soap into a few pieces, process it in the blender, and turn it into crumbs. Next, follow this recipe:

1/2 cup soap crumbs

1 Tablespoons vegetable oil (2 if soap crumbs are very dry)

1 Tablespoons hot or boiling water (2 if soap crumbs are very dry)

1 teaspoon of desired flavoring (vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, or other flavoring)

1 drop of food coloring (if desired, optional)

Optional textures can be added, such as...

1/2 cup of finely-ground oatmeal (blenderized), or

1/2 cup cornmeal, or

1/2 cup finely-ground volcanic pumice (to make an exfoliating soap)

Mix all ingredients well. Press into molds or shape with hands. Soap will harden enough to use after 24 hours, but will continue to achieve a more desirable hardness ("cure") in 2 to 3 weeks.

Adding variety to your product

The variety of soaps that can be made from this recipe are nearly limitless. However, caution should be used when selecting scents. Only use scents that are good for the skin and body. For example, never use scents that are meant for candle making or potpourri, because they are not intended for cosmetic use and can cause skin irritations or other adverse bodily reactions. When selecting a scent for your soap, it is safest to select an edible scent such as vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, or candy-making oils. The rule of thumb is that if it's edible, it won't harm skin.

Selecting a company name

The name you choose for your company can make or break your business. Choose a name that sounds Earth-friendly, or has a "back to nature" ring, or a name that reminds people of good health. Create business cards and stationery with your company name. Include your business card with every order. The more people see your company name, the more frequently they will order from you. Ideally, it would be great to wrap your bars of soap in pretty paper that has your company name and contact information printed on it to assist your customers with reordering.

Packaging your product

Presentation is everything. Package your product in pretty, clean, and neat packages. If your packaging is unattractive, your product will not sell well. Ribbons and/or bows around each bar is another eye catcher.

Selling your product

Now that you have a product, sell it. If your spouse or friends work for companies that allow employees to bring sellables into work, then congratulations, you have an avenue for instant sales. When sending products to work with friends or spouse, place the neatly-wrapped bars into a pretty basket with a few small artificial flowers around the rim to catch attention. If your customers are happy with the product, word-of-mouth will be your best mode of advertisement until you accumulate enough revenue to advertise more formally. However, sometimes word-of-mouth advertising is sufficient to keep orders coming in.

Sometimes malls or other other public places allow tables or booths to be temporarily set up for selling approved items. Call the mall management office for information.

Join the local Chamber of Commerce, and attend their events and get-togethers in order to network and meet business people who can help you find more outlets for selling your product.

The great thing about having a home business is that you can be as busy as you want.