We recently connected with Missy Brooks and have shared our conversation below.

Missy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

In 2018, my husband, Aaron, wanted to try his hand at soapmaking. He had used custom soaps since he was 14 and our local soapmaker stopped making soap.

He went to the store for some oils and lye and Goodwill for some other supplies. He purchased a book and very slowly made his first batch of soap.

He make adjustments to his recipe and continued to tinker. He started to post pictures on his social media and people asked if they could buy some. He had no intention of making this a business.

This happened at a time when our son wanted to homeschool, so it provided an opportunity for us to replace my income, if successful.

We took the plunge. Little by little the pantry, closets, and dining room space was overtaken by the soap business.

We had a full wall of shelves of soap, packing materials for shipping, a scale for shipping and weighing oils, buckets and boxes of raw materials all consuming space in the house.

The soap was a major hit that people then asked for other skincare products. This meant more space for shelving and raw materials was needed.

As demand increased we began to feel the strain on our living space and time. We loved our business and so did our customers, but we had to work smarter not harder.

Aaron built new molds for the soap. He scaled his recipe and his method for making to make the process go faster and still create beautiful bars.

All that soap making still demanded lots of weighing of individual oils. We found an oil supplier who could mix our recipe in a 55 gallon barrel and ship it to us. We loved the sound of this. No more weighing individual oils and butters. The convenience sounded amazing. The tricky side of this, though, was that we had to buy 4 barrels at a minimum each time we ordered. This was a huge step for us. That is a big financial decision as well as space decision.

We went for it, but it meant that we had to have a new space to work the biz. Having the business in the kitchen was hard on meal times. Having shoppers come into our home felt kind of strange at time for everyone involved.

We had a workshop space already as part of our garage that was used for workshop things. Aaron cleared that space out, put in new lighting and flooring. We hired someone to clean the cobwebs and paint the walls. Then we filled that space with the business. It was such a change to have the house so cleared out. We also realized we had outgrown the workshop space before we even started.

We continued to do our best with that space. Changing shelving units and just making do.

We built another garage for our boys to park in and have now also claimed a section of that garage for our laundry detergent. It felt so nice to get that part of the business spread out into its own space.

A big part of scaling the business has also been delegating duties. Aaron used to do things that now he has handed off to our two boys. They work for the business and take a lot of pride in what they do. They now cut the soap, shelve it to cure, reline the molds for the next soap session, and label the soap. We also use their brute strength any chance we can.

We have hired another employee, Carla, who helps the boys with their tasks as well as helps prepare for and at events. She is also a great resource for the business. She loves the product and the mission of our business. She comes up with great ideas for social media and our product line. We are so blessed to have her.

I do the social media, fulfill orders, customer service, and any other place I need to jump in.

Aaron is the maker. He’s very good at understanding the oils and their properties and how they will work together to make an amazing product. He tries a recipe, adjusts it, and tries it again until he gets it just as close to perfection as we can.

We are a well-oiled machine. Some weekends we work the biz hard, and though exhausted, I take a step back and marvel at what we’ve accomplished both that day and over all in our business that literally started from nothing and has become quite something.

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?

1924 CUSTOM SOAPERY is a Wisconsin-owned, small-batch soaping business driven by the love of chemistry, art, and soft skin. We have worked hard experimenting and testing dozens of recipes to create our own custom recipe that brings out all the qualities we love about handmade, cold-process soap. When you use our soap, you get a total sensorial experience. Each bar is a wonderfully smelling piece of art that lathers bountifully and leaves your skin feeling clean and refreshed. Our soaps combine only the purest, natural oils, including skin-loving coconut and olive oils. We aim to have as small of an impact on the environment with our product packaging as possible by restricting the use of plastics.

​The name, 1924 CUSTOM SOAPERY, is a tribute to the soap-maker’s beloved grandfather, Orville, who was born in 1924. He wasn’t a soap-maker, but he could have been. He was capable of learning and building nearly anything, despite having only an 8th grade education. Orville was among the artisans and skilled workers of the past who were great in their trades and provided valuable goods and services to their communities. Soaping is one of those lost skills we are reviving.

We offer soaps, shampoo bars, lip lotions, body butters and oils, and laundry detergent.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We had some debates about how to run social media. Aaron’s approach was very pristine and professional. My approach was more communicative and interpersonal with our followers. I thought people would like behind the scenes, the real life of what it’s like to have a biz in your home, some just day to day stories that everyone can relate to. This approach really resonated with our audience. They called my stories “Missy TV”. They enjoyed tuning in. The real life stuff made opportunities for relatable relationship building. People ask me for recipes, stores I shop at, other health and wellness ideas. Having great skin isn’t just about soap. It’s about everything else we do in our life. This approach really helped to keep our audience engaged in our social media.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I truly believe in the power of word of mouth. People who love our product tell their friends. They shout us out. They just can’t help but tell others. People often gift our soap and then we have a new lifetime customer. Never underestimate word of mouth advertising. I love when people send us testimonial stories, too! Then I can share those word of mouth experiences with our entire audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shop1924.com
• Instagram: 1924customsoapery
• Facebook: 1924 Custom Soapery

Image Credits
Small Town Seekers