The Soap Biz and UC

montymud

I have extensively looked into setting up my own soap business. There is a lot I would need to do such as the obvious - register as a ST with HMRC, buy trade approved stamped scales, get my products safety assessed amongst many other things but the thing that I have run into is the limitations that are going to be put on us when UC comes in. I cannot say that I would be earning minimum wage at 35 hours per week as I simply don't think I would be at first - if at all if we are going to be brutally honest. Perhaps I have gotten my information muddled as surely this is going to put off many individuals wishing to start up and may mean the end of the line for those who already have?

vintagebrighton

Theres a lot of info on UC over on the benefits board. Initial indications don't look good you're right but there are some areas where the specific details haven't been 'set' as it were. Maybe go over and have a look

Wywth

montymud wrote: »

I have extensively looked into setting up my own soap business. There is a lot I would need to do such as the obvious - register as a ST with HMRC, buy trade approved stamped scales, get my products safety assessed amongst many other things but the thing that I have run into is the limitations that are going to be put on us when UC comes in. I cannot say that I would be earning minimum wage at 35 hours per week as I simply don't think I would be at first - if at all if we are going to be brutally honest. Perhaps I have gotten my information muddled as surely this is going to put off many individuals wishing to start up and may mean the end of the line for those who already have?

What does your business plan project your earnings after year 1, year 2 and year 3?

Going into business should be seen as a medium to long term plan, not how much money you will pocket at the end of the first week.

montymud

I am under no illusions regarding 'how much money I will pocket in the 1st week' - actually start up costs will mean I will be down for the first week, month possibly months. I am finding it difficult however to forecast earnings and I won't just pick figures out of the air. I am still researching the market but I think I have already researched far more independantly then those that are just out for easy information.

Wywth

montymud wrote: »

I am under no illusions regarding 'how much money I will pocket in the 1st week' - actually start up costs will mean I will be down for the first week, month possibly months. I am finding it difficult however to forecast earnings and I won't just pick figures out of the air. I am still researching the market but I think I have already researched far more independantly then those that are just out for easy information.

Don't spend even a penny on start up costs until you have completed your research and got your figures sorted out in your business plan.

No proper business plan = no business.

montymud

Absaloutely, I know someone that seems to start a new business every few months, can't imagine how out of pocket she must be. If I go ahead I want to do so with my eyes as open as they can be and I enjoy research anyway so will continue to do so. I am not well off anyway so I really have no intention of chucking money at an 'idea'.

Savvy_Sue

You can't pluck figures out of the air, but you can do a series of 'what if' projections. They can help you get a realistic sense of whether this is ever going to fly: for example on a recent discussion about cakes, someone pointed out that if you needed to make £X profit per day, you might need to sell 30 cakes a day. If your oven wasn't a commercial one, then it wouldn't cope with baking 30 cakes a day, so you needed to get a commercial oven into your business plan.

With the OP's soap, if you can sell each bar for £3 and each one makes £1 profit on materials, how many bars do you need to sell to cover even a very modest hourly rate? How many hours to make that many bars?

Learn to drive an Excel spreadsheet which answers some of the 'what if' questions and see how things add up.

montymud

Thank you very much Savvy_Sue for the sound advice, it is very helpful. I know how many bars I can make from a kilo of base so I will go from there - thank you

paulwf

Slightly off topic but I've noticed recently that every other person seems to be a soapmaker. I live in a small fairly normal town and there seems to be several soap companies and the shops that stock local products are absolutely spoilt for choice.

I can't help but think there is only so much soap one person needs! Then again some of the good companies seem to be growing. I'm just waffling I guess, I just think you are entering a very crowded marketplace and unless you have something very special and put in a superhuman amount of effort you'll be competing against a lot of other equally good soap makers.

montymud

I think for now I am just going to keep it as a hobby, with the UC coming in it is not financially viable for me to start up. I suspect though that there are many people out there selling soap without the having the proper assesments in place, especially people on facebook. Just for anyone ever intersted in doing this there is a lot that you need in addition to your business plan before you can even make your first batch for sale. Theres the safety assesment and the trade stamped and approved scales, never mind the ingrediants!

For above poster, I like to think my soaps are special lol! I am rubbish at art but when it comes to making soaps I am able to create really cool designs which for now will be staying in my bathroom