Joshua's Path

Great Customers

2008-06-17T19:04:00.003-04:00

All too often I and the other soapers complain about bad customers. I just want to take a little time to tell you about a great customer experience that I just had. I opened up an email this morning from a customer (Mike) who was having trouble ordering my soap online. He said that he was getting an error message at the Paypal checkout and didn’t know if the order was processed. He wanted me to email or call his studio to work everything out.

Well the order did not go through so I figured I’d call and see what kind of soap he wanted. Before I did that though, I have to admit that I did a reverse phone search just to see who I was calling. You never know if it’s a scam or some type of gorilla marketing for a company that wants to sell you the next World’s Best Washcloth or soap dish made of rare earth magnets. Anyway, it all checked out and I saw that the studio he mentioned in his email was a photography studio. Of course, I googled the studio and found his site. I’ll have to say that the work that he does is absolutely beautiful. I enjoy digital photography on a minor scale and I’ve looked at a lot of different photographer’s sites, New Generation Studio is simply amazing. They do a great job at capturing emotion and personality in a still photograph and the site layout is simplistic and elegant. Awesome work!

So I called Mike and got his order. He said that he liked the photographs of my soap and the website overall. Coming from a professional photographer, I was surprised and very appreciative. He also said that the testimonials helped him decide what to buy.

Now, I have many thanks to distribute. First I want to thank Mike for the kind words, the soap order, and most of all for not just scrapping the order because it didn’t work the first time. It’s very easy to just move on to another site if the one you are on is not working. I’m guilty of it. I also want to thank the guys at Protocol 80 who did my site. Good work, it’s getting compliments. Finally I want to thank all the customers who took the time to write me a testimonial, it paid off and got me some business. Thank you all.

Hook, Line, and Sinker

2008-05-25T14:53:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I was contacted through email by a woman who was interested in checking out some of my products. Her name is Carol and she told me that she owns a bait shop near Willow Bay Recreation Area. Well she came by Friday and ended up buying some Goat's Milk bars for her store and a few Natural Soaps for herself. She told me that she read the article in the local paper that I was featured in back in February and because I was so close, she had to stop by and try some of my soaps. She also said that she had the hardest time finding me because we are not listed in the phone book and every time she tried emailing me, all she was getting was an error message (my contact page is working fine, I just tested it). So now I have expanded my products to another shop (check out the map below). It's exciting to see this endeavor grow. I'm working on more accounts and when they come in, you'll read all about them right here.

Commission Job

2008-05-13T10:54:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago I was asked if I could make some soaps for a Ladies Luncheon our church was sponsoring titled Pearls of Great Wisdom. You guessed it, the soap has to be pearl or at least ocean related. I had a few ocean motif molds but they were kind of small, lucky for me though, I was given a mold by the hostess Beth.

The criteria for the soap were simple: 1. had to be purple 2. had to have a feminine fragrance. So I made up a few samples with differing floral and vanilla scents and also with varying shades of purple. There was one soap that ended up being not so perfect. The colored layer ended up breaking through the white layer causing the two to mix creating a mottled appearance. Figuring that they were samples and being short on time, I sent it along anyway. The mistake actually ended up winning. Beth decided she wanted the mottled soap with a Juniper Breeze fragrance and that she needed 30 of them for the weekend. The following are a few lessons I learned in the process.

1. Wear your respirator! No matter how much you like the fragrance or how subtle you think it smells, it can still give you a migraine after a day of smelling it.

2. Cap your fragrance after every use, spilled fragrance oil will contribute the previously mentioned condition.

3. Take good notes when making samples, it's hard to reproduce what you can't remember.

4. Placing an unbalanced mold in two drinking glasses solves your problem of slanted soaps.

5.Sometimes mistakes turn out to be alright. My high school art teacher used to call those "Happy Accidents"... or was the Bob Ross?

So on Sunday I saw a few of the ladies who attended the luncheon and they thanked me for the soap and loved how they turned out. It's always a good feeling to hear how much people like and appreciate your products. Beth had to actually bring a few bars to church for the ladies who didn't take them because they thought that the soaps were decorations not favors to be taken home. I'm taking that as a good sign.

Womanet Show

2008-05-05T08:54:00.005-04:00

This weekend I did the Womanet Show that is sponsored by our local hospital. The attendance wasn't as high as I had anticipated, but I was definitely in my target market. I sold enough soap to pay for my spot, passed out cards, and networked with other vendors; so overall I consider it a success. I did learn the value of a "Seconds Basket" of soap ends and ugly bars. I've been reading on the soap forums for a while now how quickly other soapers sell out of their seconds and experienced it first hand this weekend. Although I did not sell out of them, I certainly do not have as many and I did last week.

One aspect of this show that I did not anticipate was being asked by the event coordinator for all the vendors to go and listen to their guest speaker. I'm not adversed to listening to speakers by any means, I just didn't think that "The Power of Girlfriends" was a talk that was pertinent to my current situation. I was 1 of 2 men in that room and I really didn't feel comfortable there. I didn't want to be the reason for some of the women to not cut loose, open up, or have silly fun with the other ladies for the fear of being judged by a man. I think if there is a next time, I'll just politely decline the offer to sit through the speaker and leave the women to their own devices.

"Baby" Soap

2008-04-16T07:55:00.003-04:00

I finally got the Lavender Essential Oil yesterday which has been holding up the production. A lot of my friends have recently had kids or they are going to have one soon and questions about soap for their little ones have been coming in. My cousin asked about soap for her daughter last month after she read the list of chemicals, I mean ingredients, of a popular baby bath product line. She and a lot of her friends were concerned about what they were putting on the skin of their precious ones and wanted to go all natural. I sent her some 100% Olive Oil Soap to try, but told her that I'd make her some "baby" soap once I get all of the ingredients that I need. This soap will have higher percentages of Olive, Rice Bran, and Avocado Oil which should make a very gentle and moisturizing soap. So now that I have everything ready, it's off to the Soap Cave...

Soap Making 101

2008-04-15T17:58:00.024-04:00

I’ve been asked quite frequently lately as to how I make soap. So I figured that I’d take some photos of the process and explain what’s going on. Let me first say that the process I use is the Cold Process (CP) as opposed to the Hot Process (HP) method of soap making. I’m not going to go into depth on the differences of the two methods. I will say this, CP takes place at cooler temperatures and takes longer for the soap to fully saponify. What is saponification you ask? The short answer; it is the reaction between the fats (vegetable oil) and the alkali (lye) which yields soap. The long answer can be found here, and here.

I start by preparing my lye-water. I mix distilled water and Sodium hydroxide in a large beaker (always add the Sodium hydroxide to the water, not the other way around). At this point the temperature of the water will spike above 160F/70C and will release hydrogen gas. It’s a good idea not to breathe these fumes and I forgot to mention earlier that gloves and glasses are a must for this part. I love using my magnetic stirring plate to help this part along. I just let it run and it does all the stirring for me while I go and prepare my oils.

To prepare my oils, I measure and mix a blend of Avocado, Coconut, Olive, Rice Bran and some other oils. Some of these oils are solid at room temperature, so everything must be heated until it blends together. Once everything blends, I take the pot off the burner and let it cool to the desired temperature I need to mix the lye-water and oils.

While I'm waiting for the lye-water and oils to cool, I usually prepare my soap mold and measure and pour my essential oils. The mold I use is one that I made from poplar and is simply lined with freezer paper. The essential oils will be added at trace and I'll need them on hand when that happens. What is trace you ask? It's the moment during the mixing and saponification process when the soap becomes thick enough to support traces of dribbled soap on the surface. If that doesn't make sense, click here. I add the essential oils at trace, because at that point most of the lye has reacted with the oils. If the essential oils were added earlier, they may actually react with the lye a become saponified and not add fragrance to my soap.

Once everything is set up and the temperatures of my lye-water and oils are at their approximate points, I'm ready to pour. I slowly pour the lye water into the soap pot while mixing with my stick blender. The oils will change color from a clear amber (on the left) to an opaque light cream (on the right) once the lye-water is added. I keep mixing until the soap looks uniform with no streaks of unmixed oils. At this point the soap is well into trace (remember from earlier) and it's time to add fragrance or any other additives. Once the fragrance is added and mixed some more, I pour everything into my soap mold that I prepared earlier. I then cover the mold with plastic wrap and put a towel on top to insulate the soap while it continues the saponification reaction. The soap will go through a gel phase where it will become heated from the chemical reaction. It will change colors and become jelly like, but it is nothing to be alarmed at, it is supposed to happen. It's all part of the CP method of making soap. If your soap is wrapped and insulated, you probably won't even know it's happening. The picture below is soap in the gel phase.

The next day the soap will be ready to cut. I just pull the soap out of the mold by the freezer paper and carefully peal the paper away. If you do it right you can get plenty of uses out of one sheet of freezer paper. I try to squeeze as many batches as I can from one liner. Lining my molds is actually another part of the soap making process that I hate. Now I used to use the ol' miter box as stated in my previous entry for cutting, but now it's smooth as silk cutting with the new soap cutter. That thing is money! Once everything is cut, I just stack the soap bars on my drying rack and in about 4 weeks the soap is ready to sell or use.

I hope that I answered some questions or at least enlightened you somewhat on the process of making hand-crafted soap. I'm sure I'll get some responses and comments on my procedures, but I posted this for general information and not as a tutorial. Hope you enjoyed it...

The Tin Ceiling Gift Shoppe

2008-04-10T15:14:00.003-04:00

So I stopped by The Tin Ceiling Gift Shoppe today to see if my soap is on display. It is and here’s the photo of my first wholesale order. This display sits in the entry as soon as you walk in the door. It has wonderful placement, couldn’t ask for more, and there was actually a customer smelling them when we first walked in. It’s quite exciting to finally see my soap for sale in a store, time to get some more wholesale accounts.

The New Soap Cutter!

2008-04-07T09:26:00.005-04:00

Just got the new soap cutter in this weekend, and I can’t wait to use it. For some reason, don’t ask me why, cutting soap has always been the bane of soap making. I was using a plastic Craftsman miter box with a block of wood clamped in place as a stop and would cut with a wooden handle straight blade cutter. I know it wasn’t beautiful, but it did the job. Necessity is the mother if invention anyway. So a few weeks ago I was telling my mother about how much I hate cutting soap and she said, “If there’s a process that you hate, you have to find another way to do it.” She is also a crafter, (scrapbooks, cards, rubber stamps, paints, etc…) not to mention my mother, so I value her advice. I checked some cutters out online before and they are all quite expensive. She asked me what it would take to make the job easier and I told her a lot of $$$. The conversation eventually ended and I went back to work. Well a few minutes later the phone rang and it was my mom again. She said that she had talked with my dad and they decided to give me the money for a new soap cutter. I couldn't believe it. Once again my needs are being taken care of in ways that I never expect. I don’t think that I could have more supportive parents than the ones I have now. I truly appreciate all that they do for me.
Thank you Mom and Dad!

Out with the Old...

In with the New!

A week of Firsts

2008-04-01T17:45:00.003-04:00

Well I'm not quite through the week, but there are too many exciting things to blog about to wait. I just got my first wholesale soap order about 30 minutes ago. The connection came from both my wife and my participation at the Kinzua Outdoor and Travel Show in Bradford, PA. One of my wife's students came by and bought some soap at the show. She took it home and her mom liked it so much, her mom told her friend who owns a craft store in town about it. It just so happens that the store needed a new soap supplier and I'm more than willing to fill that position.

So my meeting with the owner, Nancy, was very educational and she was extremely helpful. This was my first attempt at getting a wholesale order with a serious buyer, so I had a lot of questions that she didn't mind answering at all. She had many great suggestions for seasonal items and marketing strategies. I may also do a "Special Appearance" at the store to promote the new soaper in town. I can't tell you how appreciative I am of her taking the time to help me out. Thank you Nancy.

So if you're looking for my soap or just want to shop for some really nice country crafts in Bradford PA, stop by The Tin Ceiling Gift Shoppe at 51 Main St. They're open 7 days a week and carry a wonderful variety.

Well the next awesome "first" is my first blog comment from our wonderful friend Lex. She truly is the epitome of friendship. There are too many great things to say about her and I have neither the space nor time to go into detail. I'll just say that she once again lived up to her name...Lexicus the Besticus by posting an awesome comment and by donating to my blog efforts. Thank you Lex.

So the last "first" is my new advertising campaign on Google. I know I have to promote my soap more, but wasn't sure how to go about doing that. Well I was looking at all the great services Google offers and I found Adwords. It's really quite an ingenious way of advertising, especially for a small business. Here's my understanding of how it works. First you create an ad that's short and to the point. This ad will be displayed in the sidebar of a Google search. You choose words that trigger your ad such as "goats milk soap" then when someone searches for "goats milk soap" my ad will be on the search page. The beauty of this is that I pay per click. So as of right now, my ad has been seen over 5,000 times, but only clicked 15 times and I currently owe Google only $2.71. I have a monthly budget set, so my ad views and clicks will never exceed my budget. That I think is pretty cool. Now if I can convert the searchers into buyers, I'll be set and it will all be worth it.

I did send this blog out to sea in a virtual bottle on Facebook. I've gotten one view and comment so far from a woman in Waterloo, Canada so, "Hello Cait. Thanks for the comments!" If anyone else finds this blog through my bottle, let me know, I'd love to hear from you.

Well I better go.

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28

What's in a name?

2008-03-28T10:36:00.000-04:00

No my name is not Joshua; it is Matt if you didn’t know or haven’t noticed by now. So where does the name Joshua’s Path come from? Well let me tell you…

In 2002 I started making soap and I would just give it to friends and family. I showed some to my wife’s friends and it was an instant hit. They suggested that I sell my soap because they would definitely buy what was before them. That’s great and all, but I had no idea how to start a business, I was still in college, I had just gotten married, and we lived in a one room apartment with no room to start making soap on a large scale and we had no real plans for buying a house anytime soon. So needless to say, the idea of starting a business of soap was just too much at the time and seemed like quite a daunting task.

As time went on I showed more people my soap, gave out more bars, talked to my family about it and I was always getting the same feedback. “You need to sell your soap.” So having no business training (as I stated earlier), I figured that the only place to start would be to come up with a name. Let me tell you, that is much easier said than done.

All I knew is that my business had to honor the Lord because I am a Christian, and the name naturally should reflect my beliefs. One evening after my wife finished practicing with the church band, the topic of my soap business came up. I was discussing with everyone how intimidating it was to be tasked with creating this business. I had no business name, let alone an idea of how to do this. Then my wife in her beautiful wisdom suggested that I find someone from the Bible to model myself after. As we brain stormed, Joshua from the Old Testament came up. He was one of the spies given the job of scouting out the Promised Land for Moses. He and Caleb were the only two that came back with an encouraging report. They were ready to take the land even though there were people of great size currently inhabiting it. These men had the faith to take on giants because the Lord said that they would be successful and that sounded awesome to me. Joshua was the man, then it hit our friend Marcy, “How about Joshua’s Path as a name?” Bingo! That was it, we had a name. It sounded good and had a great message. This message I would later find myself recalling many times over, helping me find the faith to press forward into the land of the giants. See, to me, Joshua’s Path is simply the path that most people are afraid to take because of the giants that stand in their way.

The Beginning

2008-03-26T23:40:00.000-04:00

All good sagas need a beginning, this one being of no exception. So where to start? How about the question I most frequently get asked. How did I get into making soap? I honestly don’t know the answer to that. Maybe it was a too much Fight Club (I assure you that my soap does NOT contain human fat harvested from liposuction clinics), or maybe too many articles in Mother Earth News scaring me away from big-business commercially produced synthetic detergents, or maybe I just liked how a hand made bar of soap looked and felt? I can’t pinpoint it. I truly think it was a combination of all three, but primarily the last. Regardless of what started it, the fact is that I make soap, I sell soap, I’m trying to make a living at it, and this is the story of that journey. If you like the blog, please subscribe if you really like the blog, please click the "Donate" button. In any case check out some soap at www.joshuaspath.com and let me know what you think.