This is Starting to Look Like a Soap Business

I walked into my little soap room this week and opened the curing drawers.

And I had one of those moments.

Look at all that soap.

There are 124 bars curing on those shelves right now.

One hundred and twenty-four.

Somewhere between that first nervous loaf in my kitchen and these shelves full of soap, something changed.

This is starting to look like a soap business.

Now, that doesn't mean I have 124 bars ready to sell.

Some are experiments. Some I'll keep for testing and personal use. Some have already been set aside. And one batch is still in quarantine while I double-check the essential oil usage.

When I counted the bars that could eventually become Act III inventory, the number was 87.

87 bars.

And that number stopped me for a minute.

Because somewhere along the way, this stopped being just an experiment in learning how to make soap.

I'm actually building a soap business.

And it has taken months to get here.

There was the decision to actually do this—which may have been the biggest step of all.

Then came the research.

Books. Videos. Notes. More videos.

Cold process or hot process? Melt and pour?

Cold process.

Natural colors or micas?

Natural.

Essential oils.

Plant-based recipes.

And then, because apparently I cannot leave well enough alone, I started experimenting with lard-based recipes too.

There was equipment to buy and ingredients to order. Safety goggles. Molds. Oils. Butters. Essential oils. A stick blender that now has exactly one job.

Then I finally started making soap.

And that opened up an entirely new list of things to learn.

Recipes to test. Colors that didn't always turn out the way I expected. Scents to evaluate. Bars to weigh. Notes to keep.

And somewhere along the way, while I've been learning how to make soap, I've also been learning how to build a business.

Website.

Blog.

Regulations.

Labels.

Insurance.

Inventory.

Business structure.

And eventually, deciding which of all these experiments will earn a place in the first Act III collection.

There has been plenty to do.

But there has also been a surprising amount of waiting.

Waiting for supplies. Waiting between experiments. And especially, waiting for soap to cure.

I can research more. I can tweak a recipe. I can build another page on the website. I can work on labels, photograph bars, write a blog post or plan the next batch.

But I cannot make a bar cure faster just because I'm ready for it to be ready.

Time gets a say.

I'm not particularly good at that part.

I like forward motion. I like checking things off a list. And when I'm excited about something, I want to keep moving.

But I'm learning that waiting doesn't necessarily mean nothing is happening.

Those bars are changing while they sit there.

And while they do, I'm still learning. Testing. Building. Making decisions. Getting the pieces in place.

And sometimes I'm choosing not to fill every available minute with another task. Sometimes the productive thing is to leave the soap on the shelf, close the door and call it a day.

So, there are 124 bars curing in my little soap room.

87of them may eventually find their way into the Act III shop.

I still can't tell you exactly when that shop will open.

But I can tell you this:

We're getting close.

And I'll be sharing more as I get closer to opening the Act III shop.

I'll let you know when it's time.