We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tirzah Bonus. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tirzah below.
Tirzah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
I always giggle at how simply the name of my company came to be. One day I was aimlessly drawing in my sketchbook and I heard my two goats, Ziggy and Zuri, asking for attention outside. At the time I was still trying to figure out what direction I wanted to go, as far as being a skincare business, and it just clicked. I make goats milk soap, I have two goats, and our house sits on two acres.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Tirzah and I’m a born and raised Georgia girl. I’m the product of when a young island woman, new to the States, meets a young Ohio native. I come from a large family and I’m sure there are cousins I still haven’t met. I’ve been described as a logical hippy. I’m an artist at heart but I tend to overthink situations and always strive to make the best decision. I’m currently working on that last part. I’m also an educator and have been for almost a decade. Teaching a room full of children was never a life goal, but I came across a Craigslist ad (yes…Craigslist) looking for an after school art teacher. As a working artist, I took the opportunity to share what I love with the little ones. I quickly learned that I’m good at it. I believe years of being the oldest of five children prepared me for the task. Years later and I still get excited to see the “Aha!” moment on a student’s face. When I’m not in the classroom, I’m attending to a household full of formerly discarded pets. Currently we have four rescue pups, four former stray cats and two goats. My husband and I jokingly say “we’re full!” when another scraggly sad animal wanders into our yard, but we can’t help ourselves. As I get older, I’ve learned I really enjoy playing in the dirt and our yard is now full of gardens scattered around. I also learned during this pandemic, that I MUST invest in my creative side or I just don’t feel like a whole person.
Similarly to my career in education, I didn’t envision myself becoming a small business owner. I just knew I wanted something that was my own. I was inspired one day while walking into a bath and body store. The store smelled amazing, the products smelled amazing but they also had ingredients that, in my opinion, were unnecessary. The thought crossed my mind that I could make this just as good, if not better. I started with just sugar scrubs and body oils, mainly for myself. Every now and again, I would share them with my family. Then I thought, what if I tried my hand at making soap? A couple of years later, this one woman run operation (still a one woman run operation) can offer lip balms, soaps, scrubs, lotion bars, face oils, etc. I’m proud to say that many of my products are made with ingredients found right in my garden. That’s my vision for 2 goats + 2 acres, to make things simply and naturally.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I almost have a love/hate relationship with social media. While I understand it’s importance, keeping track of when to post, what to post and the every changing algorithm, it can be a lot to keep up with. What makes it less challenging, is being honest to who I am and my brand. I’m the goat lady with four rescue pups and 4 formerly stray cats. I am also an art teacher and an amateur gardener. I think people appreciate seeing the ins and outs behind the brand. It creates a story that they might find relatable.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
I sell on Squarespace. I love their user friendly templates and appreciates all the add ons, while they do come at a cost, it allows me to modify my site according to my needs. The downside is all promotions have to be done by me, since there is not a community built in like your Etsy’s.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.2goats2acres.com/
- Instagram: instagram.com/2goats2acres
- Facebook: facebook.com/2goats2acres