We were lucky to catch up with Megan Tran recently and have shared our conversation below.

Megan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share a customer success story with us?

Coming from humble beginnings making all natural goat’s milk soap using ingredients that I’ve researched and tried on myself and family. Im continuously amazed by the feedback from my customers about how my soap helps their skin. I remember vending at a Mommy Market a lady named Amy bought some soap for her youngest who had severe eczema. She messaged me a couple weeks later about how her kids skin had less irritation and how her kid enjoyed bath time now because of the soap I made. She comes to that same market every year knowing that my soap helps her kids skin. That story drives me to continue to bring the best ingredients possible for every bar of soap I make.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Hi Im Megan a mom, wife and entrepreneur. I love to work in the garden and Im an artist. I also love a good DIY or home renovation project. I started my company when my son was four years old. But the journey started when my Husband asked if I could make beer soap. He loved this goats milk beer soap we use to get locally before they closed down. So I started researching how to make soap and what ingredients go into it. I made several soaps for Christmas gifts until finally I decided Im doing this Im starting my own business. I make all natural goat’s milk soap in bars and fun shaped soaps. One of my favorites is the Luffa soap which has a natural luffa slice in each soap. I make a hanging one for your shower plus a bar form too. I provide more than just soap like our natural lip balms and mini fragrances. I really care about the ingredients I use in each loaf of soap. Its all small batch and handcrafted and hand cut by me. I grow the flowers used in my soap in my own backyard. Ensuring quality in everything I use. I like to make scents that have a memory attached to them. Like the smell of the first campfire of the year or a special food or drink that you grew up with. I make scents that smell good but not too overpowering. Im most proud of my kids shape soaps they are all made with ingredients great for sensitive skin. Our most popular ones are the Dinosaur shaped soaps and to see the reactions they get makes me smile each and every time. I love what I do. It makes me happy knowing that my all natural goat’s milk soap is helping people’s skin. I will always do my best to find and use the best ingredients for people’s skin.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When i finally decided it was go time to start this business I had to figure out how much it would cost to get an LLC and the business side of starting a business. Plus figure out how much material, packaging costs would be. Not gonna lie it was stressful. Christmas had just happened and I had some money from family I could use. I also had shares in stock from when I worked at Starbucks that I could sell. So i sold all my shares which was about about $500 plus the $100 i had from Christmas. Here I am $600 to start a business. I honestly didn’t think it was possible but i did it. With help from husband who makes websites and my good friend Ashley who works for the state and helped me set up my business. I tried to find the best deals on packaging and materials but still stay true to my values. It was very hard to stretch my budget to pay for everything but i started my business out in January 2019 with $5 to my business name with a drive to best all natural goat’s milk possible.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Apart of being a small business owner is being able to pivot or change when needed. I’ve learned many lessons on not just what ingredients work best with what but lessons about in person markets. Unfortunately one time I got scammed out of my money for an event. I had signed up for a local event online through a vendor page on Facebook. I paid and never heard from the host again. Until i got an email from one of the other vendors informing me that it was indeed a scam the lady ran off with everyones money. So i had made all this product and some new inventory just for this event. I could’ve just stayed upset and not do anything but instead I said okay what can I do to change this around. So instead I made several posts about me doing a live sale on my social media accounts. I did my own online market on the day i was supposed to have my in person market. I set up my office and showcased my different bars of soap and it was a success. I made more online sales that day than i had ever done before. Its turning something negative into a positive. If i have a bad market i turn it around and head to my socials and go in a different direction. Always willing to grow and change has been a key factor in my success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https:/www.sudsiemarie.com
• Instagram: https:/sudsiemarie
• Facebook: https:/SudsieMarie

Image Credits
First photo : Kristi Swango Photography