We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren McIntyre a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

When I first started out in 2016, most of my customers were family members and friends. Instagram was a different game back then, but I was shamelessly plugging my business left and right. As time has passed I’ve gained some very loyal customers from social media as well as in person events/markets. I’ve found as the years go by that most of my loyal repeat customers are people who don’t know me!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born in Roanoke, Virginia but I’ve been living in Richmond, Virginia since 2013. I got married in 2021 to the love of my life and we recently bought our first home last year. We have two cats, Tookie and Rigatoni. I’ve always been creative but never felt like I had really found my medium before I fell in love with soap making. I’m constantly trying out new crafts and hobbies and my most recent obsession is ceramics, I took two beginner wheel classes and it was so much fun!
I’m the youngest of four and am close with my siblings, especially my sister, Natalie -who I work for part time. She has her own business, Monday Morning Press- we make paper earrings that are super unique and fun! We have a lot of fun together and I’m grateful for how much our friendship has grown.
I love making soap and the amazing community of creatives/makers I’ve met in my city. If I’m not making soap I’m cuddling with my two cats, cooking something yummy, watching murder docs with my husband or having a night out with my best friends!

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I came to Richmond for college but after about two years at VCU, I decided that college wasn’t for me. It was a very formative time in my life- deciding to leave school, work full time and support myself. I worked several retail jobs and was a manager at a shoe store for several years. My boyfriend at the time bought a melt and pour soap kit for me for our anniversary, and I was instantly hooked. I started Lend shortly after that and was selling melt and pour bar soap online.
Flash forward a few years and the pandemic hits. I was let go from the shoe store and it was very scary at first, I had been selling soap on the side for years but wasn’t making very much money. Luckily I had recently taken steps to take my business to the next level by learning the cold process method. I was stuck inside with nothing but time so I began learning the ins and outs of the chemistry of soap making and formulating recipes. I started exclusively selling cold process soap once I felt I had formulated a solid recipe-and haven’t looked back since.
All though Covid was a terrible and scary time, I finally had the time to focus on my craft and I was able to turn a lot of my fear and anxiety into creative energy. People were also supporting small businesses a ton, and everyone was washing their hands!!
The shoe store offered me my job back and I went back for a few months but was miserable. I had been living the dream, working for myself, and finally making some money doing it. So I took a big risk and put in my two weeks that summer.
My business has grown so much since and now I offer various products such as lip balm, lotion bars, soy candles, body butter, face masks etc. My main focus is cold/hot process bar soap made with natural ingredients, essential oils and colorants derived from the earth.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The best source of new customers for me, other than word of mouth-comes from in person events. Selling soap online still works but it’s not as simple. On my website, I have to try to describe the scent combinations, take pretty photos, and drive traffic to my website in the first place. I post often on Instagram and send out emails but this part of business doesn’t come as naturally to me. In person- the soap speaks for itself. Once somebody sniffs a few bars-it often times leads to a sale!

I also really enjoy talking to and meeting new people. I have a bit of sales experience as I mentioned before so it feels easier to talk about my products in person rather than online.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lend-handmade-soaps.myshopify.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lendhandmadesoaps/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/lendsoapshndmd/

Image Credits
Headshot- Kara Powers Photography