No person is an island. While your online soap shop can be doing well and making money, expansion is something that can be difficult to do by yourself. You may want to consider joining an industry trade association in order to expand and have a network to bounce off of.
What are the benefits of joining a soap trade association? Well, while you likely have to pay an annual or monthly fee, you’ll be able to learn more about how others ply their soap craft and get some ideas you can emulate. You can also be given additional training in other methods to make soap. Some might even offer liability insurance and additional listings for your soap shop, too. For more information about soap trade associations, click here:: Top Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Trade Associations and Why You Should Join
You can make a rustic, natural soap at home that is tailor made for people who love organics. Using goat milk, oatmeal, palm oil, and sweet almond oil, you can make a quality soap that nourishes and moisturizes skin naturally. Make some for your soap shop by following the recipe here:: Goat Milk and Oatmeal Cold Process Soap Tutorial
An empty tissue box shouldn’t be thrown out! There are a number of crafts and uses for it. It can be hollowed out as a great hand towel holder. It can be decorated and stuffed with candy to make a homemade piñata. Or it can simply be put next to the full tissue box and be used as a wastebasket for used tissues. For more crafty suggestions for empty tissue boxes, click here:: 23 Amazing Uses for Empty Tissue Boxes
One of the best selling points for your soap shop is making sure that the photos of your soap products are top-notch. One way to enhance the look of your soap on your website is to take great photos and make them greater with photo editing software. This can sound expensive, but you can find quality photo editing software FOR FREE!
Many crafters find and download photo editing programs such as PicMonkey or Gimp in order to touch up pictures. There are even less known programs such as Ribbet and Photoscape that you can try if you don’t care for the others. Many of them are easy to use and you can always look for tutorials on YouTube if there are specific tasks you need to learn to make your photos look better. For a full list of free photo editing programs, please click here:: The Best Free Photo Editing Programs for Crafters
As the sun comes back out and spring is in full swing, why not celebrate it with a Spring Fling Soap? The Spring Fling Soap treats your soap shop customers with the lovely scent of pineapple, rose blossoms, and dewy fresh air. This soap can be easily made at home using various neon color bars, fragrance oil, and basic soap base. Get the full recipe here:: Spring Fling Soap
If you want to make some containers with an artistic flair, why not create some classy clay pot out of regular tin cans. Just take some air dry clay and wrap it around a sturdy tin can. You’ll then have a great clay pot to use as a vase for flowers, hold pens, and more. Once it dries, you can also paint the pots themselves if you wish to show off your artistic self. For a full tutorial, please click here:: DIY Clay Wrapped Pots
While many soap makers use silicone or wooden molds for their soaps, there are plastic molds that can be used to shape cold process soap as well. However, the unmolding process is different for plastic than its wooden or silicone counterparts. What’s the trick?
When using a plastic mold for cold process soap, be sure that no air is touching the soap inside. This prevents imperfect shapes. Also, soap in a plastic mold takes longer to harden, taking up to 2 weeks before it is hard enough to maintain its shape and design. Keeping this in mind can help you create some great soap molded into a fun pattern. For a more detailed tutorial and tips, click here:: Unmolding Cold Process Soap from Plastic Molds
Craft shop customers will love to treat their dry lips with a balm fit for the spring season. You can make a springtime fragrance lip balm at home using white linen fragrance oil and basic lip balm base. Make some for yourself, your friends, and your soap shop customers by following the recipe here:: Springtime Fragrance Lip Balm
Mother’s Day is just around the corner so now’s the time to put your creativity to work! You can make a number of sincere, sarcastic, and customized Mother’s Day cards using card stock, paint, and your printer. Get a full list of suggestions and inspiration here:: 16 Mother’s Day Cards She’ll Remember Next Year
“Supply and demand” is the hallmark of any enterprise and craft soaps are no different. You may make a quality soap but your soap sales might be limited due to the price you are asking for them. How can you adjust your soap prices without sacrificing too much profit?
First, take a look at your price and ask yourself if you are charging a reasonable rate for your labor. Would you pay an employee that rate? If not, then changes might have to be made. You should also ask yourself if certain ingredients in some soaps can be replaced with cheaper substitutes without sacrificing the quality. That way each soap can be cheaper to make and thus cheaper to price. For more on how to readjust your soap prices while still making money, click here:: How to Adjust Your Prices While Maintaining a Profit