Fortunately, I’ve had great success with my business (yay!), but recently it felt like my home was becoming overloaded with all my supplies and products. And although my house smelt fantastic, it looked rather cluttered.
So, the search began for my beautiful little company to find a new home, and I’m so incredibly thrilled, happy and grateful to announce, that I’ve found the perfect place! It’s in a log cabin plaza, out in the country, backing onto a farmer’s field and is everything I ever could’ve dreamed of! I’m hoping to have everything moved in by the end of next week, and will announce the formal address, directions on how to get there, and grand opening date shortly thereafter.

I hope to make it a beautiful, happy, peaceful place that people will love to stop by and sniff/shop/browse my products, as well as visit and get to know me. I’m also looking forward to be able to give other local artisans a place to showcase their products, the same way people were so kind to showcase mine.

I will be sharing the space with my beautiful business partner, whom I’ve been so fortunate to connect with. She will be bringing her own business and “green” ideas to our store, and I know it will be a place that will inspire people to live a more natural, back to basics, kind of life.

Thank-you so much, for all your support in helping make this dream of ours possible! We look forward to providing you with our all-natural products, for a very long time.

Peace.

We have a “Valentine’s Day Gift Set” special coming up that will be posted on the website, facebook & twitter soon! Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for this fantastic unique gift and take advantage of the savings!

We also have some new products in the works! We announced the latest flavour of popular Lip Butter last week on facebook. “Shimmering Caramel Kiss” has been receiving rave reviews from our loyal customers! It’s flavoured with a rich butterscotch-y caramel, and contains copper mica to give it just the slightest bit of shimmer! Look for it coming to the website soon

We also recently displayed our latest soap, “Pride!” on our facebook page. This is a beautiful soap, swirled with all the colours of the rainbow, created with all natural oxide and mica colourants and fragranced with Lavender & Chamomile!

More new products to come! Look for our new “Mama & Baby” line coming out soon, including our popular “Gentle Baby Bar” soap, our “All-Natural Baby Bum Cream with Zinc Oxide”, our “All-Natural Nursing Balm” & our “All-Natural Belly Balm”.

Peace

Brief background:

I have lived in Caledonia with my husband Jason and daughter Julia since 2001. Our boys Justin and Nicholas joined our family in 2004 and 2006.

I have worked as an RN in Hamilton for 15 years. I have always had sensitive skin. The nice, pasty white type of skin that never tans, is prone to rashes, and is sensitive to most products out there.

In 2008, I started Caledonia Soapworks as a result of making a batch of Goat’s Milk Soap for me and my family to use, after a particularily harsh winter that took its toll on my skin. I took a break from my company in 2009, due to health reasons, but am happily back in the swing of things, and soaping like crazy.

Overview of purpose to starting your business – when and why:

I started in January 2008, because I was having a reaction to all the commercial “soaps” on the market, and it was a super harsh winter. All commercial “soaps” were quite irritating to my skin, so I made a batch of Goat’s Milk Soap after doing some research on the internet. I took some in to my work, and all the nurses loved it, so I started to work on making different “flavours”. It eventually expanded to include All-Natural Body Butter, Organic Body Wash, Sugar and Salt Scrubs, Specialty Luxury Spa Soaps, and my latest product, Caledonia Soapworks Candles!

Main objectives, current and future goals, how do I plan to achieve them:

My main objective is to provide my customers with a beautiful natural bar of soap, or tub of body butter, or help their skin feel like silk from one of my scrubs. To provide them with a natural alternative to the commercial bath and body products, that are more like a detergent, than an actual soap/butter/scrub etc. My future goals include having a wonderful little storefront here in town, where I can make and showcase my products. I currently make my products in my kitchen, and have a little store in my basement. Once I have a storefront, I will be able to branch out a little farther, and increase my production! I plan on achieving this by lots of hardwork, having a positive attitude, and promoting and selling my wonderful products, through advertising and getting my products out there in other wonderful little stores.

What opportunities will be created by your establishment, and who will benefit from it:

Once I have generated enough sales to warrant a little storefront, I will likely need a few employees to help “man the store” while I’m producing the products. Anyone who wants an all-natural bath or body product will benefit from my business, and my family will benefit as well. I would love to have my kids work at the shop with me one day!

To whom do you sell your product, and who will use them most:

I sell my products to anyone who would like a natural alternative to what’s out there in the bath and body industry. People who are concerned with what they bath with, or who want a natural bath or body product, will likely use them the most.

Describe your success, and why do you think it’s successful:

I have received wonderful feedback about my products, and how they’ve helped with people’s sensitive skin issues. As someone who’s suffered from eczema since I was a child, I can appreciate how someone might feel from using an all-natural bar of soap, or natural body product, knowing that they are using something that is 95-100% natural and chemical free (I say 95% because some of my soaps have fragrance oil vs. essential oil). I think it’s been successful so far because as a society, we are going back to a more natural way of life. People are increasingly concerned with not only what they put in their body, but what they put on their body, as well.

Additional info you would like to add, and any associations:

I have a website that people can look at and order through: www.caledoniasoapworks.ca. Caledonia Soapworks can also be reached at 905-975-7885, and if any customers would like to stop in and see my products, they can get in touch with me either via phone or email to set up a mutually convenient time to come over to my store. I am very grateful for my new and returning customers! Custom orders are welcomed, and Gift Certificates are available. I am a proud member of the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild.

After 5 Autumn days in glorious Muskoka, with lots & lots of tea and toast, I should feel rested, but truth be told, I am exhausted and I still have sooo much to do!!!

Last week, I had a booth in Caledonia’s 138th Country Fall Fair – and my little soap company did great! I had lots of sales, I met awesome new people, and did some fabulous networking. And it was the first time I showcased my latest product – “Caledonia Candles”, an EcoSoya based container candle that burns clean and smells great! I actually had people come back the next day to tell me how much they loved their candles! To say the least, they went over well! Yay!

On Saturday, I had a lady come up to my booth, who had previously purchased some of my all-natural body butter (at the Caledonia Canada Day Celebration), come to buy more, telling me she no longer uses Oil of Olay on her face… instead she uses my Fragrance Free Body Butter! This was awesome to hear, because I had several people at the fair ask me if they could use it on their face. I never have, but to have this testimonial was such an asset and made me super-happy! My heart just sings with happiness & gratitude when people are happy with my products!

Now let me tell you, my soaps sold like hot-cakes at the fair! I had made several seasonal scents for Autumn and Christmas, and I’m happy to say, the majority of them are gone I also received several custom soap orders which I am currently happily filling! Yeehaw! Whoopee! Woohoo! See, I told you I’m happy!

I’m still amazed at the peace and content I feel making my products – it’s my passion, my niche, my happy-place.

Well, I’m off to make a bunch of gift baskets that I’m donating to local charities and auctions. Then it’s replenishing stock time, getting ready for the next Seasonal Event, and getting stock into all the stores that approached me at the fair.

So, for now, I’ll likely remain exhausted, but I’ll also be happy, and that my friends, is what it’s all about!

Peace.

I’m Robin:  wife, mom, daughter, nurse, friend, lover of tea & toast, Autumn, Muskoka, sweet morning breezes, and my front porch. I’m also the owner of Caledonia Soapworks. A cute little company located in Caledonia, Ontario, dedicated to creating natural and nearly natural soaps, bath and body products. You can read the “Our story” section of the website to see why I started the company.

I’ve dreamt of having a little “shop” of my own, my whole life. My shop has ranged from a pottery studio to a bakery and tea room to a soap shop… to a combination of all 3 (current dream)!

We’re a funny breed, us “soapers”. Who knew one could find such passion in the mixing of some oils and butters together with lye and goats’ milk? I should have known, though, because I also love to bake. A lot. Seriously, I have ribbons from the Caledonia Fair to prove it.

Soaping is quite similar to baking. I use carefully calculated and measured, natural ingredients and combine them to create some seriously awesome products!  I’m delighted to have had success with my business. I have many repeat customers, who love my products. I can’t tell you how much it makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside when someone tells me they love my soap, or my scrub, or my body butter. Or how it’s made a difference to their skin… it’s like making a wicked-good pie and everyone raving about it and eating it ‘til there’s nothing left but crumbs!

Oops, there I go with the bake-talk again. Keep focused, Robin. Pardon my hyper-active brain.

I’m excited to have been contacted by several retail shops who will be carrying my products. My gratitude goes out to each one of you! ♥ xoxo ♥

Anyway, I hope you will continue to read and enjoy my blog. I have many soapy mentors out there who I look up to and hope to meet one day. Maybe one of them (*ahem* Anne-Marie Faiola *ahem*) might even follow my blog, one day!

I’m delighted to be living my dream. Don’t ever give up. You can do or be anything you want. That is all… for now. Peace

Ps – many thanks to Katie Lee of www.obleek.net for making this blog possible!