228. How a Stay-at-Home Mom Built a $300,000/year Soap Empire from Her Kitchen

0:00Imagine this, it's 11 p.m. on a Tuesday night in a small kitchen. A baby monitor crackles softly on the counter. Ashley stands over a thrift store pot, carefully measuring lye with hands that are still learning not to shake. She's been a nanny for years, but now she has her own child sleeping down the hall, and the math isn't mathing. Her salary won't cut it anymore. She doesn't know it yet, but this late-night experiment with soap, born from a simple curiosity about what ingredients were actually touching her baby's skin, is about to change everything. fast forward today ashley runs a full-scale soap manufacturing business from a workshop on her own property she produces a thousand bars of soap a week has 700 subscription customers and has built an audience of 800 000 followers across social media all without spending a single dollar on ads but she's never left her backyard to do it but getting from that nervous first batch running this multi-revenue stream business while homeschooling her kids that's the story we're diving into today.

0:56I'm Ryan Atkinson and you're listening to the Upfoot podcast where we uncover the secrets of building and running successful businesses. I am so excited to have Ashley onto the show. So actually, thank you so, so much for being here.

1:06Ashley:Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. It's going to be so good. And we the YouTube team was out there about two to three weeks ago or so. So everyone check out that episode when it does come out. But so I have you on the podcast. It's gonna be so good. Oh, yeah, it's awesome. I was so excited when you guys asked me. Yeah, well, let's let's dive into it. So for people that don't know who Ashley is yet. Give us the high level. What do you do? So I make soap and I make social media videos about making soap. And that's all I do for advertising my soap business. What is the name of your company as well?

1:35So people can Google it as they're listening to you today.

1:37Ashley:It is My Healthy Soap. And you can find me on any social media platform as My Healthy Soap. Also, last year, we did$320 ,000 in revenue. It's a very legit business. And we're out there again, like two weeks ago or so. And it's just like mind blowing, like what you're all doing, literally from like your own property, like your own house, like you're just building soap into this huge business. I know it's insane. It feels so crazy to even say the 320 ,000 because I remember my first market, I want to say I did like 200, 300, 400, something like that amount of dollars. And I just remember being like, oh my gosh, this is crazy.

2:10Ashley:And then it just keeps on going. And every time you're like, this is insane. So good. And we're going to talk about the farmer's market, everything, and then content strategy. Again, you built a huge following. So we're going to talk more about that. So let's stay tuned for that. But let's go back to the very beginning of Ashley, because you're working as nanny. Basically, you had your baby. So what was the moment for you when it like clicked? And it's like, hey, I need to try something else. Just kind of realizing that I'm maxed out as far as how much time I can spend nannying. Like I can only babysit other people's kids for so much.

2:39Ashley:It's an hourly job. You're only going to make so much money. And I can only put my daughter through so much because she was coming with me too. And I just realized how heart of a strain it was putting on both of us to be running around from different people's houses. And it made me realize that I had to make a change. I had to figure something out. I actually tried quite a few different businesses before I started Soap. I didn't even see Soap as a potential business right away. Like I went and did birthday parties dressed up as Elsa. That's what I did. Yeah, it was so easy. I was like, this will be so inexpensive for me.

3:12Ashley:I'll just put my hair in a braid. I'll buy a dress. So I did a few parties dressed up as Elsa. That was fun. But again, that's a weekend thing. You know, it just didn't feel like I could go that far with it. And even though I do social media, I'm not super outgoing. Like I'm very shy in person. Even doing this podcast, I was like, oh, no, just nervous. So I didn't really feel like that was for me. And again, I felt a little capped doing that. I tried woodworking, which I didn't get very far with at all. I don't know anything about tools, but I was just, I have to figure out something. And then I started diving down the rabbit hole of what's in our products.

3:49Ashley:And I was just like, oh, I should make soap for our family to use. And then my husband went and told everybody about it. Again, I'm shy. Then everybody started asking me about it and then people started using it and they really liked it. And then they asked me if they could buy it. And then that made me you realize, oh, this might be my thing. Oh my gosh. It's just kept growing since then. Yeah. Well, I want to go to like that kitchen specifically because it sounds like it was the rabbit hole. Like what ingredients are we using here? Take me to like that moment. Like you, there was literally nothing in your mind that first batch of soap you made where it's like, this is going to turn into the business it is today.

4:24You're literally just like experiment. I think there's a lesson to be learned there, but you were literally just experimenting with soap.

4:30Ashley:Exactly. I was just like, I want my family and I to be using better products on our skin. So then I just went down the rabbit hole. I went on YouTube. I ordered a bunch of books online, read a bunch of articles, and I just started doing a bunch of trial and error in my kitchen of making soap. I had quite a few batches go wrong. There was a lot of like soap volcanoes in my kitchen, but then I started to get it down. And then, yeah, now I make so much soap that it's it's like second nature to me now. Yeah, it's a full scale production. It is really cool. So your husband basically markets this for you saying like, Hey, my awesome wife is, you know, creating soap, like check it out.

5:06This leads you to farmer's market. So talk to us about that leap because you're literally carrying your baby with you to like farmer's markets and selling. So tell us about the farmer's market era.

5:15Ashley:Oh, yes. It's so funny to even think about because it was such it feels like such a long time ago and so far away. But I just used to go on Facebook and I would find as many farmer's markets in my area as I could. And then I'd schedule myself to go to like three in a weekend, sometimes four, Friday through Sunday, because that's the best time for markets. That's when people are out shopping those. And I literally just brought my baby with me. I filled up my car with soap. I put a folding table in there, a canopy. I even brought one of those play pens, you know, the ones that you set up like a fence.

5:47Ashley:I would set that up behind my table with a bunch of toys and blankets. I'd bring the baby wearer. So I'd wear her sometimes in front of me. and people loved it. People love to see it. You know, like they're like, what do you have back there? Do you have a puppy or something? And let's see, I have like an eight month old baby and people love to see us out there. And I got to still be with my daughter while still growing this business and running this business. Tell us where you're at in your business journey. Like with this, was this something like still like, it's like, you're just dabbling on the side seeing if it's working or like when you're in the farmer's market era, was this like, okay, like I'm really gonna go for this.

6:22Where were you at like mentally with the business?

6:24Ashley:So my goal was just to be able to pay for our weekly groceries and maybe pay for my car insurance each month. Just very basic, like cover the bills type of thing. Obviously, I have my husband. He was helping with a lot of things, too. Now he helps me a lot with my business. But back then it was just like, let's pay for groceries. Let's do that. Was there a breaking point for you when you're like the farmers markets like aren't going to work anymore? Like, I really need to like scale this and like move past like cover expenses to like, oh, like I'm going to make a living out of doing this. Oh, yeah.

6:56Ashley:So it wasn't necessarily the money aspect that made me like I can't do markets anymore. It was more that my daughter was reaching about the age of a little over a year old. So she was walking and she was just wanting to like run off while she was with me. So it got really tough to stand there and talk to people and then also be like, come back. Like I'm still chasing a baby around. So the markets also started to feel like a constraint. It was getting harder and harder to bring her with me. And again, my number one goal from the beginning is I want to be a stay at home mom. I want to be with my kid, you know.

7:30Ashley:So it felt tougher to be bringing my kid to the markets and to still be successful at being able to talk to people because that's the big thing at markets. So then I started hitting social media really hard. And as soon as I had my first viral video, I was like, this is it. This is it for me. We're going to talk about social media here in a moment. I just have one more question here. Was your like family and like friends like, oh, you're like you're selling soap. Like, is that actually like a business or like what was like feedback you got from like your family? Then we are going to have social media because that's a key part.

7:57Ashley:Yeah. So I had both. I had a lot of people who did not take me seriously. But then I had a lot of people who were so supportive of me from the beginning, like first people to come up and be like, can I buy something from you? And to really help build up my confidence that I could make this something. But I definitely had a lot of people that were like, oh, you sell soap. like tons of people sell soap. Okay. You know, like, oh, maybe you make like a hundred bucks a week or whatever, you know, just didn't take it seriously. Are you working a nine to five, but dream of entrepreneurial freedom? Look no further than the Uflip Academy, the number one entrepreneurial platform with 20 plus step-by-step courses taught by active business owners, live workshops, hands-on skill training, a business idea database, and a thriving entrepreneur community to keep you accountable.

8:45Click the link in the description below to join the Uplip Academy today and make this the year you stopped dreaming and started building your business without guesswork. I feel like confidence is like one of the biggest things in entrepreneurship. Like you really need to have it. If you don't have it, like you kind of got to fake it till you have the confidence. So how important was that for you early on?

9:02Ashley:You are definitely faking it until you making it. I still feel like I'm faking it till I make it. Because again, being on this podcast or even when you guys came out here to do the interview, the whole time before I was like, I'm going to throw up. I'm so nervous. I'm so scared to be on this podcast or to do this YouTube video. And that's part of being in business, though. Like you are going to be uncomfortable way more than other people just because you're constantly having to do something new and you're constantly having to put yourself out there, especially in different ways, because the business is going to constantly be changing.

9:34Ashley:So you have to constantly change, too. So you're just going to be uncomfortable all the time. and that's something that you have to accept as an entrepreneur. But the amount of growth you experience is insane. Like I've grown so much as a person. If you knew me six years ago, you'd be like, no way she's talking on a podcast. I always say like entrepreneurs, like you really get punched in the face more times than you don't get punched in the face. You just have to be able to like absorb it. And like, honestly, pick yourself up when like, it seems bleak, it seems gray. Like you just have to like, sometimes I was thinking about this the other day.

10:06Sometimes the only way through like hard times in entrepreneurship is like go through it. Like you just have to put one foot in front of the other. You get punched in the face so many times and doesn't even matter the industry. Like that just happens all the time. You're just getting punched in the face consistently.

10:17Ashley:Exactly. If you're someone who has the ability to just keep getting back up, then you're going to be fine because you're just going to continue to learn and continue to grow. And you really work through whatever problem comes up. Like when you first start a business, the problems are smaller, but they feel bigger. And then you keep growing and the problems get bigger, but you become better at handling it. So it's just it really is just a journey. It is a journey. Let's go to the social media part because that's an important part of your journey. So take us to that first viral video one. What was like the video then like tell us about the mindset shift that was like, OK, I'm going to go into social media.

10:49So viral video, what was it and what was the shift in mentally that happened?

10:52Ashley:So my first video that went viral, it went viral on TikTok, which I feel like is the case for a lot of people. TikTok tends to push like smaller accounts a lot better than the other platforms. But I had my first video go viral. And now that I look back at it, I'm like, oh, that video is so cringy. But back then it did well. And I was basically just talking about kind of my story of how I started making soap in my kitchen because I wanted better products for my family. And that's all I really talked about in the video. It's just a short 30, 45 second video. I just remember it being so crazy hearing my phone go off over and over again with orders.

11:30Ashley:I had an Etsy shop at the time. So it's just you hear the cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching, and your brain's just like, oh my gosh, what is going on? And I had my Etsy shop sellout. And I just remember being like, this is it. Like I made more money than I ever have at any market. And I'm just at home. And I posted a 45 second video. So that's where I realized I have way more leverage on social media than I do going anywhere to sell my products. How much like revenue did you make, if you can recall, like from that one TikTok video? I am not sure off the top of my head. Honestly, I have no idea. I have no idea how much soap I had at the time.

12:05Ashley:I was into doing markets, so I was building up my inventory. But all I remember is I sold out and I was like, whoa, this is it. Oh, my gosh. That is incredible. So then what happens here? Are you like, OK, let's get away from the farmer's markets? Are you I'm going to double down on social media? Kind of talk to us what happens after that. Yeah. So I kept doing a little bit of farmer's markets just on the side, but I decreased the amount I was doing. So instead of doing three or four a weekend, I would find ones that I was like, okay, I know this one is a good one. I've had success at this market before.

12:36Ashley:I'll keep going there. But let me start building up my soap inventory because that's one tough thing about soap is that it does need to cure for a month. So when you sell out, you're just kind of like, well, I'm out. So that's one really tough aspect of running a soap business. But overall, I just started doubling down social media. I was like, okay, I'm going to post more videos every day. I'm going to find ways to make my videos better. And I've just ran with it ever since to this day. Because that's a great organic way to grow is like TikTok and like Instagram as well. But like TikTok will really like push the smaller videos out there.

13:08Give us like your three best tips for someone just getting started with TikTok that's trying to push like an online store, just generate content in general. What are your three best tips there?

13:16Ashley:Yeah. So I think the number one thing is consistency. And again, like we talked about, like you have to be able to be punched in the face a bunch of times and get back up, you're going to have a lot of failed videos. You might have 100 failed videos before you get a video that actually starts to get traction. But putting out that content and being consistent with it is how you're going to actually grow and you're going to be able to figure out what does well. Like, for example, I've posted so many videos at this point. I know what shots are my money shots. I know what topics get people to comment and engage and to become interested in the video.

13:51Ashley:And you only learn that from doing it. And one thing too, is you can go on social media and there's tons of accounts that will teach you things about posting to social media. Like I've learned a ton from just going to those accounts and they'll give tips for different niches. Like you could apply this to any niche, use these types of hooks. Wow. Like one thing I implement in a lot of my videos is using a verbal hook, but at the same time I use a visual hook. So I might open up my video with immediately you just see me pouring a giant batch of soap into a mold. So then it's like I can get people to stay because that's the toughest part is getting people to stay past those first three seconds.

14:26Ashley:So you learn a lot just from being consistent. And again, there's a lot of different people that you can learn from about how to grow on social media and how to create an engaging video. For me, any of my money shots are kind of like big soap pours, maybe a soap cut, like seeing me cut that soap or maybe I'm adding in like a really interesting ingredient to the soap and I'm blending it in just something that's a lot of movement really helps and something that's visually stimulating so like soap making is already a cool process on its own so that makes it really easy to have a great hook at the beginning of the video and then as far as opening it with a verbal hook I try to just say something that'll catch people's attention like do you know what's in your soap, you know, or like, this is not mashed potatoes.

15:13Ashley:This is soap. And then it just gets you interested and want to hear more about what's going on in the video. And it really talks about the reps. I mean, as you said, consistency, and like, you might have 100 videos that flop, but it's that 101 video that like actually goes viral and probably makes up for all the other ones here. Because we're doing ads right now for like my own agency, we're like, we're doing like founder led ads. And like, I was thinking about like, these really aren't that good. But like, it's also like rep number one. But like, I know I'm going to look back on this in a year and be like, oh, this is like absolutely awful.

15:42But it talks about the consistency and like honestly, just getting your first one out there. And that's how you get the ball moving.

15:47Ashley:Exactly. And that's the biggest thing is most people will try it five times and they'll be like, this isn't working. I'm not going to do it. But even again, I go back to there's so much you can learn from other people who have already done whatever you're trying to do. Like, for example, I've listened to stuff about Mr. Beast talking about how he got started doing videos and like he made like I forgot how many it was, but he made a ton of videos until anything ever did well. So it's like, why do you think you're going to be great five videos in, you know? Yeah. Mr. Beast, I think it started out like doing like video game streams or something like crazy.

16:17Like, and now look what he does. He compares like a$1 boat to like a $10 million boat. So exactly.

16:24Ashley:Exactly. And by just taking action, you kind of just fall into whatever you're supposed to be doing. Like, that's just what happens if you're just continuously trying things and taking action, you're going to figure something out. And you have figured like a lot out. I want to talk about the story about filming on your back porch because the power was out. That video also went viral. So tell us about that story. Tell us about that. Give us that one. OK, so I was trying to make soap out in my workshop that we have on our property, which is where I was originally just making my soap. And then the power suddenly went out and I had a big bag of soap I still needed to mix.

16:58Ashley:So my husband moved all of my stuff out to the back porch where we did have power, plugged everything in. And of course, just about every time I make soap, I try to film it. I try to get content of it. So of course, I'm filming my soap making out there. And then I posted that video and it did so well. People love the pretty background, especially since I'm making natural soap. You see this beautiful background. You can see the barn way in the background with all the beautiful trees. So that did really well. And now I film all of my soap making out there. And now I wouldn't even fit in our workshop anymore.

17:31Ashley:There's not enough space in there at this point to make soap with all the employees in there, all of our curing soaps, all of our supplies. So it's just funny how sometimes an accident can cause your business to grow more. Like you accidentally fall into something that's like, wait, this is actually great. Well, I feel like that's honestly like when I think about your story, that's like everything happens for a reason. But like you kind of accidentally fell into soap from like your origin story. Like you weren't really even like planning on it. So like, I don't know if you accidentally fell into it, but like just kind of like came up is like what it like really sounds like.