Best friends add sass to local soap biz.
Best friends add sass to local soap biz. By Amanda Bedgood
Friday, Feb. 2, 2013
At 12 years old, hobbies don't usually include profit margins. But for the duo at the helm of Sassy Soaps, this is no hobby; it's a business. And it's certainly not child's play.
"We want to open a small store or sell it in other people's stores," says Sassy Soap's Emmaline Leleux.
Leleux and her best friend, Maddie Blackstone, were bit by the soap bug last year after a friend was gifted with a soap kit. They thought it was cool and wanted to give it a try.
"We started making soap, and we liked it and that's how we got started," explains Maddie.
"We decided to make a business out of it," Emmaline adds.
The duo filed the necessary paperwork with the state and are officially in business. They create batches of handmade soap piece by piece on the weekends (usually every other weekend or so depending on their available time) and sell it from home in a one-day event. They also have order sheets for custom orders and can create nearly any combination.
Photo by Robin May
"It's creative. You get to make whatever you want with it. I love to make different designs a little bit of both work and fun," Emmaline says with an aside. "And lots of clean up."
And what are they doing with the profits?
"We use most of it to buy more supplies," Maddie says. "We buy new soap bases, molds and scents."
Sounds like some sound business sense.
"They came up with this on their own," says Maddie's mom, Susan. "It's just their spirit."
What could likely have been a flash in the pan has continued to grow in the last year proving to their parents that their fun endeavor is serious business.
"They've really continued to work at it and grow it they are young and having fun with it and they are proud of what they've done," Susan says.
And both sets of parents are proud as well.
Photo by Robin May
"They are learning the aspect of a profit margin, the concept of money and what things cost, and they're learning that if you work hard you get rewarded for it," says Emmaline's mom, April.
While the girls are enjoying the soap business, they are experimenting now with other items like bath salts and bath bombs - all part of a plan to expand their horizons. And proof that even the youngest of entrepreneurs can go a long way with some fun and even more hard work.
