Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jamie Fankhauser. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jamie, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I am a registered nurse that worked in surgery for over 25 years. I had said for years to my husband that I was supposed to make soap. It wasn’t until we adopted our youngest daughter that caused me to think more seriously about it as her thyroid stopped working and caused her skin to dry up significantly. In the summer of 2017, I got sick. I awaited surgery for a two-month waiting list to see if my symptoms/tests were serious. Thankfully everything turned out great BUT it caused me to make a bucket list while waiting.

One of the things on my list was to finally make raw goats milk soap. A month after healing, I learned how to make soap. Using the soap in our home, our daughter’s skin started to heal. Other’s started to ask for bars of soap to try and then return to ask if they could buy it. A month later we were in 2 local retail stores. It was at Christmas time that my husband and I started praying about a store front location. A dear friend was selling his property at 506 East Lincolnway that was zoned residential and commercial. We purchased the home to live in it and put a soap shop in the front of the home. We realized quickly that the shop was a place of employment for my autistic daughter. When word got out in the community, other families asked if we could employ their son or daughter with autism. We now have 6 employees that do all of our packaging for our handcrafted items. We have a brick and mortar. We have 6 wholesale accounts. We are now in process to possibly achieve a second store front at Meijer in Valparaiso with the potential of getting our products in 255 stores

Jamie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a registered nurse that worked in surgery for over 25 years. I had said for years to my husband that I was supposed to make soap. It wasn’t until we adopted our youngest daughter that caused me to think more seriously about it as her thyroid stopped working and caused her skin to dry up significantly. In the summer of 2017, I got sick. I awaited surgery for a two-month waiting list to see if my symptoms/tests were serious. Thankfully everything turned out great BUT it caused me to make a bucket list while waiting.

One of the things on my list was to finally make raw goats milk soap. A month after healing, I learned how to make soap. Using the soap in our home, our daughter’s skin started to heal. Other’s started to ask for bars of soap to try and then return to ask if they could buy it. A month later we were in 2 local retail stores. It was at Christmas time that my husband and I started praying about a store front location. A dear friend was selling his property at 506 East Lincolnway that was zoned residential and commercial. We purchased the home to live in it and put a soap shop in the front of the home. We are excited to see all God will continue to do with Buns soapbox.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I started the business, I was working for free for almost 2 years to run my company more like a ministry. Until COVID when the father of my autistic daughter left and moved to another state I had to figure out how to make it work so that I could pay myself and keep all my employees working. We have successfully done that over the past 2 years

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I worked hard. I started doing markets and wholesale accounts before my brick and mortar to save for each step of growth. I have never taken out a loan as I work hard, save for next steps. I also live in the home that my shop is attached to so I don’t have to pay commercial rent

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.bunssoapbox.com
• Instagram: buns_soapbox
• Facebook: Bun’s Soapbox
• Other: BBB