Miscellany Boutique is working on featuring local women who are workin' their handmade talents!! We are very excited about our first featured woman, Erin Williams, owner of suds! Bath & Body. I had the pleasure of meeting Erin last December at a boutique in St. Paul. I have since fallen completely in love with her products, and frankly find her story to be truly inspiring. I hope you will too!!! Below are some questions we asked Erin to answer:
What kind of products do you make?
All natural bath and body products including: soap, bath salts, bubble bath bombs, bath candies, body butter bars, body butter scrubs, facial cleanser, oil & toner, lip balms, lotion sticks, massage bars, shampoo & shave bars, sugar scrubs, baby products, doggie shampoo bars, herbal insect repellent, travel shower kits, unique gift baskets and more!What sets your products apart from others in your industry?
suds! products are always 100% natural - no exceptions. I never use any synthetic chemicals, detergents, fragrances, colors, preservatives or any other synthetic ingredients in any of my products. I choose to do all of my moisturizers in solid form such as the body butter bars, lotion sticks and body butter scrubs, so that there is no water involved which allows me to eliminate synthetic preservatives. Although these products may be new to most people that are used to traditional water based lotions, just think of them as lotions without the water. Typically people that try them say they will never go back to a water based lotion again!
I also try to have a wide variety of products so that my customers can buy everything they need from suds! and can feel confident that everything is truly 100% natural. Some products on the market today try to trick the customer into thinking they are "all natural" but they really aren't. I try to be as transparent as possible about my products and I will answer any questions the customer may have about the ingredients in my products. I use all of my products myself, so I would never substitute a synthetic ingredient for a natural one.
I care more about the quality of my products than making them as cheap as I can to make the most profit.How did you learn how to make the products?
My background is in Chemical Engineering and food product development, so I have a lot of experience developing new products. Although I'm not making food anymore, I can still use a lot of the same principles and techniques that I learned when developing new food products. I learned to make soap mostly from books and just experimenting with it myself. I learned to make a lot of my other products from a great studio in California called The Nova Studio. I went to the studio back in October of 2010 and took a 4 day bath and body class where I learned to make a lot of all natural bath and body products. I took what I learned from that class and started experimenting with my own unique formulas at home. There is a lot of trial and error when developing a brand new product line as well.
What is the most exciting thing about being in the "handmade" business?
It's very rewarding to be able to make something with my own hands and see that people really enjoy it. I love being able to talk with my customers at farmers markets and shows to hear what they like and what they may not like about my products. It's fun to be able to provide customers with custom orders they may want for a wedding, gift or any other special occasion. This level of customer service is something I can provide that a large company usually would not be able to provide.What is the most challenging thing?
The most challenging thing for me right now is having to be the product developer, producer, marketer, packager, sales person and all of the other roles involved with owning a business. I develop the products, produce them, package them, market them, meet with stores, fulfill online orders, sell my products at shows and farmers markets and do all of the paperwork involved with suds! The product development comes easy to me, but sales was a whole new thing for me. I am not a sales person, nor did I ever think I would be. However, I've realized that it's not too difficult to sell something that I really believe in and something that I make with my own two hands. Although it is challenging, it is very rewarding at the same time.Success to me is being able to do something I really enjoy and making enough money to live comfortably. I left a very well paying job with great benefits as an engineer because I simply didn't like or agree with what I was doing (essentially developing new processed foods). It's more important to me to love what I do every day and feel good about my contribution to the world than making a lot of money. As a food product engineer I didn't feel like I was making the world a better place, in fact, I felt the exact opposite because I was developing unhealthy, processed foods. It was a big risk to quit, but I haven't regretted it for a second.How would you define success with regards to your personal business goals?
You can also find Erin's products in her etsy store!!
