We recently connected with Kate Nichyparuk and have shared our conversation below.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born and raised in Belarus, and moved to the USA in 2013 when I was 19 years old. In my country I went to the medical college and when I moved to the USA I was dreaming to continue my education here, so I entered Harper College (Palatine, Illinois) where I planned to become Associate in Nursing. I was looking for a part-time job that would give me an opportunity to study and work at the same time, and it was extremely difficult especially for a foreign student. I worked at a pizza place, as a cashier, at a warehouse – all kinds of jobs. But what really attracted me was natural beauty products, although I struggled to find my dream job in this field.

I decided to try to make natural hair masks, face masks and body oils as a hobby. I was always interested in natural cosmetic ingredients. I knew their properties, their benefits and how they work together, and it helped me to come up with great recipes. My friends were also excited about the products that I made. However I learned that it was really hard to find high quality natural cosmetic ingredients in the amount that I needed. I tried different suppliers and through trial and error I found the products of the best quality. I figured that maybe I’m not the only person who wants to make beauty products themself, and this is how I came up with the idea to sell cosmetic ingredients online.

eBay was a popular option at that time and it was relatively easy to start selling there. So I ordered a batch of high quality Coconut Oil from a trusted USA supplier, small BPA free plastic containers and self-sealed caps. I printed nice labels, put everything together with care, and created my first product – a small bottle of Coconut Oil. I listed it on eBay and in a few days I had my first sale! Success! Then I did the same with Jojoba Oil and Sweet Almond Oil – the most popular hair and body oils. When I had 10-15 orders a day, I decided to try Amazon and Etsy. Amazon turned out to be a much more complicated marketplace especially for a small business, and with very customer-centric policies. There were a number of serious competitors out there with popular products and good reviews. But I knew that my products were the best quality and that I could serve my customers better than competitors did.

I started to get requests to sell products in different sizes and variations, and thanks to my customers feedback I learned what packaging worked best. They also wanted to buy products to craft homemade lotions and soaps. I had less experience with those products and needed to do research and run experiments again to pick the best quality suppliers. I knew that my customers trusted me, and I could not let them down. My sales did not bring me money at that time, in fact it was the opposite, I needed to aggressively invest in my business. I took out a small business loan to sell more products and varieties at competitive prices to meet my customers needs and to build the brand they can trust.

In 2018 I realized that it is impossible anymore to run everything alone, I needed some help to grow. So I rented my first real office and hired my first employee. We had more and more sales and carried more and more products. I built my first website/online store in 2019. The business grew steadily, and I hired more people… Then the pandemic hit. It was an extremely difficult time. Supply chains were broken, it was almost impossible to get products from my suppliers in a timely manner. I needed to buy in a bigger amount and properly store products for a longer time to make sure I have enough in stock till the next delivery window. It was practically impossible to get high quality BPA free plastic containers and caps. Nonetheless I never gave up, I explored all the possibilities, I worked very hard, and Soapeauty survived the pandemic! I even managed to move to a bigger warehouse to deal with the higher amount of orders.

Today my distribution center is located in Des Plaines, IL. My team prepares and ships hundreds of orders every day. We sell only the highest quality products from the trusted suppliers and stay behind the quality of every item that we sell. If a customer is having an issue with an order our friendly customer service team is there to help or offer a full refund.

My goal is to provide our customers with all natural and organic cosmetic ingredients, so they can create their own beauty products of very high quality. I still use my products myself to make natural hair and face masks, body oils, lotions and soaps, and I love them! And I hope to see new customers falling in love with Soapeauty.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Since my childhood I dreamed of becoming a doctor. It was my life goal. I have worked hard since middle school to be able to enter the medical university. I studied a lot. And in 2011 my dream came true – I passed all the exams with exceptional grades and I was accepted to the University. I was the happiest person in the world. But after 2 years of education, the situation in my home country made me seek for a relocation. I moved to the USA and my life has completely changed. I didn’t give up on my dream of a medical career, but it was much more complicated now. I transferred my credits from my medical university and started preparing to enter the local community college. I planned to get an associate’s degree in nursing and then go to a nursing school. 
Then I started to sell cosmetic ingredients. At first it was more like a hobby, but soon I realized that I needed to invest more time to make it a successful business. It meant that I had less time for my medical career. At some point I had to make a very difficult decision. My mom supported me, and it was very important for me. She, like no one else, knew how hard it was for me to choose. I changed the curriculum in my college, I started to learn more about business and how it works in the USA. And I continued to work and study, spending all my time to improve as a business owner and to grow my company.

I left the dream of my childhood, but I gained a new life goal! This is why my company is a very important part of my life, and I put my soul into every product that we sell, and I do everything I can to make every customer happy.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult time for many of us, and my company is no exception. In March 2020 everything stopped. Life felt out of control. We did not work for some time, but I still had to pay all my bills and I felt responsible for several employees that I hired. When we got back to work, I was surprised how busy we were. We had more orders than ever before! But we ran into problems with the supply chains. We had hundreds of orders, but I struggled to find containers to ship our products. Many of our suppliers just did not know how to do business in the new reality and stopped shipping orders. Some of them have not recovered their business to date.

I managed to find the SBA offer of COVID-19 relief loans for small businesses, and I applied right away – because I knew things were going to get even worse. I was lucky to get the loan and it helped my company a lot. I ordered bottles and caps from all over the United States, but the quality was just subpar. And prices were double or even triple compared to what they were before the pandemic. I felt so bad spending my budget on ugly expensive containers. But I did everything to stay on track.

In the beginning of 2021, the situation improved, but just a bit. It was still very hard to get products and containers of the quality I needed. I applied for a second loan but was denied. It was a difficult time when I was broken and upset. I needed to cut expenses and I had to fire several contractors that helped to manage my social media and advertising campaigns. I decided to do as much work myself as I could. I did not want to give up because I knew that one day the supply chains would get better. Besides, I loved my company, my team and I was not ready to disappoint my customers. We have been working very hard and in the middle of 2021 the supply chains seemed to be getting better. By the end of 2021, things started to feel back to normal.

Today we sell around 10,000 units monthly through several marketplaces and my online store at https://soapeauty.com .
I am very grateful to my team for their dedicated work and to my clients for their support and feedback.
Love what you do and believe in yourself.

Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?
When I started to sell cosmetic ingredients online I had only a few products and a limited number of varieties of each product in stock, typically 1 or 2 sizes. That was good enough to start. But then I realized how different my customers are – and how different their needs.

What I learned from the customers is that they were looking for a supplier that is reliable, that does not run out of stock, and has an assortment of the products in a variety of sizes. For example, premium SPAs or CBD stores may prefer to buy few products in bulk, while handcraft cosmetic stores are more interested in buying a range of products of a smaller size but quite often. Crafters who are making soaps or lotions as a hobby may want to purchase the smallest packaging of the products. A woodworking shop may need to buy only specific types of oil and not the most popular variation. These are just examples. Every customer is unique. What is common is that they were looking for a trusted supplier that would quickly fulfill their needs. And I’m grateful they decided to work with Soapeauty.

Today we sell more than 200 products in different sizes from 2 oz to 7 lb. We acquire ingredients for our products from only reliable suppliers in a proper amount. In making our products we are committed to the highest standards. We carefully label our products and store them properly. And we ship them the next business day. This is all to guarantee that our products are always in stock, and that our customers receive the highest quality products in a variety of sizes in a timely manner.

We keep listening to our customers, and many prefer Organic products. We are proud that most of our products are already made of Organic ingredients. And we are on our route now to get USDA Organic certification.

Contact Info:

• Website: soapeauty.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soapeauty_us/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Soapeauty/100038469349280/
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Soapeauty/page/67BDB761-5B10-4162-886F-913AA5A86BF4?ref_=ast_bln https://www.ebay.com/str/soapeauty https://www.etsy.com/shop/Soapeauty?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search_US_DSA_GGL_ENG_General-Nonbrand_Shop_Ext&utm_ag=UK-EN_DSA-Shop%252BPages&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAiAh9qdBhAOEiwAvxIok-hQLSIGG8a_4ADDbpfcmTQVwD0Jgy7Uq7ovWZzW7-Vz9dC7jD9odhoCSzgQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_19243288493_143042704743_641284877485_dsa-1640180280716_c_&utm_custom2=19243288493&gclid=CjwKCAiAh9qdBhAOEiwAvxIok-hQLSIGG8a_4ADDbpfcmTQVwD0Jgy7Uq7ovWZzW7-Vz9dC7jD9odhoCSzgQAvD_BwE

Image Credits
All images were taken by me.