The Business of Selling Handmade Soap Workshop

Our Workshop on The Business of Selling Soap will address product development, setting up your handmade soap business as well as selecting the sales venues that fit you, your products and your time, including retail, wholesale, consignment, home parties, craft shows and farmers' markets. Sunday’s workshop actually begins with an evening session on Saturday night. On Sunday we will begin at 8:30 am, and end at 3:30 – allowing time for out-of-town participants to get on the road early and arrive home rested.

Workshop Topics and Schedule

Karen will provide a planning overview of different ways to create and structure a handmade soap business. We will not spend much time on general business set up (licenses, tax certificates etc) because this varies county to county within each state, and there are numerous excellent books that address those ‘how to’ steps. (Don’t worry - we will identify and review those books for you in the participant notebook!)

We’ll take a look at:

Identifying Your Business and Markets

What's in a Name? Naming Your Business

Developing Products and Product Lines

Creating Your Packaging Style

Evaluating and Selecting Sales Venues

• Retail

• Wholesale

• Consignment

• Craft Shows

• Farmers' Markets

• Web Sites

• Studio in your home

• Retail Store of your own

Pricing Your Products for Retail Sale

Pricing Your Products for Wholesale

Breakeven Analysis for Soap Businesses

When to Go Full Time with Your Soap Business

The Saturday evening session at 7:00 Saturday is a joint session with the soapmaking workshop participants discussing soapmaking, business management and sales. This session will conclude around 9:00 pm. Please plan to arrive the night before to take advantage of this extra session.

During the evening session, YOU determine the content we cover. ‘Anything Goes', and questions ranging from handmade crafts in general to “what fragrance sells best” are welcome. We are happy to help you troubleshoot any problems you’ve had with previous soap making experiences, or to begin to envision how your own handmade soapmaking business might take shape.

Please also keep in mind that if you attend both full-day workshops on Saturday and Sunday, you receive a 15% discount off your registration fee.

Supplies and Materials

We will provide all the Supplies and Materials you need for the workshop. Even though we will not be making soap in the Business of Selling Handmade Soap workshop, you will be in the production area. Each person who attends must sign a Liability Waiver for us before being allowed around ‘lye’ and the production area. And if you don't yet understand why we'd be concerned about liability and lye, well, that's just one of the first things you'll learn about when you get here!

Workshop Timeframes

Saturday evening session:7:00 - 9:00pm

Sunday All Day: 10:00am – 5:00pm

About The Facilitators

Tim Tyndall started making cold process soap in 1998 when he agreed to make one batch for his wife in her favorite fragrance. Surprised by how much fun it was, Tim started making more and more soap. And because Karen was afraid she’d have soap for the next ten years that all smelled the same, she began researching fragrances, essential oils and blending techniques. After that, Karen also created The Soap Shed to sell Tim’s surplus soap via wholesale, consignment, at craft shows and from the soapshed.com website.

In response to so many requests for soapmaking demonstrations, The Soap Shed opened its doors to the public in 2000. During the Blue Ridge mountain tourist season (May-October), visitors can see soap made and select from 150 varieties in their retail shop.

“Dr T” is actually a science professor by education and training, having been a science teacher and college administrator for 30 years in chemistry, biology, botany and health sciences. And prior to creating The Soap Shed for Tim, Karen was a business trainer and consultant for 26 years, putting to practical use both her Master and Doctoral degrees. Their unusual backgrounds - combined with their first hand experience in creating and running a handmade soap business for ten years - provide Tim and Karen with unique perspectives on making and selling handmade soap.

How To Register

Register for this Workshop by putting it in your shopping cart and checking out. We prefer no more than eight participants in each workshop, but do need at least five participants for each workshop to be a ‘GO’. Please feel free to contact us at 877-404-SOAP with any questions you have. Please read our cancellation policy below before signing up.

Cancellation Policy

Our workshops are planned for small groups of 5-8 participants, and often require us to turn away additional participants when the workshops fill. Should you need to cancel your attendance - for any reason - please let us know as soon as possible. If we can fill your space, you will receive a refund of your payment minus a $75 non-refundable deposit. If we cannot fill the space, you will receive half of your original payment in the form of a refund check. If you give us less than 24 hours notice or just don’t show up for the workshop(s), no refund or credit will be given. You are welcome to send someone else in your place if you cannot attend yourself.

Where To Stay

We have reserved a block of guest rooms at The Pinebridge Inn and Executive Center in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Located just four miles from The Soap Shed, Pinebridge is also where we've made arrangements for a teaching suite for Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning as well as our Saturday evening session. Pinebridge includes a full continental breakfast in its $59.95 single guest room rate. We'll include a brochure in your confirmation packet upon registering, but you can click here to take a look at The Pinebridge Inn and Executive Center.

How to Get to Spruce Pine, North Carolina

We are located in western North Carolina, tucked up close to the Tennessee state line. We are one hour east of Asheville, one hour south of Boone, 2 hours north of Greenville-Spartanburg and 2 hours northwest of Charlotte.

For anyone flying in, Charlotte-Douglas Airport and Greenville-Spartanburg Airport are larger airports than Asheville, but the Asheville Airport is about an hour and 15 minutes drive from here. Because of the distance, we are unable to offer airport transportation assistance.