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

Hi Trang, thanks for joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

It has been almost three years that we have this shop. Just like many other owners, we’ve been up and down. It can be ranging from financial issue, locations, & inflation costs. We started this shop during the pandemic and had no idea where it’d led us to. We were struggled with the funds but it was all sort out at the end of year 1. Then the inflation came in year 2, we’d to adjust our prices to keep up with the costs of the supplies. By doing so, we struggled with the sales as everyone cut back their budgets. This put us in the competition with our competitors. It made us felt very sad as our products are being compared with the low quality products at a cheaper price. We always thought that if we would ever made it through since we’d to turn our back away from a few sales. We strived very hard to make it through the 2nd year by constantly listening to the customers’ feedbacks to improve the shop.

Trang, 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?

CVA Products was established in February of 2021. At the time, we had three kids (4 years old twins and a baby). Our twins had been suffering from eczema since birth. We tried different prescriptions, creams, skin products, and nothing was working–until we came across the goat milk products. The products worked great in terms of reducing the eczema that they had been struggling with for years. We knew other parents were struggling with the same issues as we were, and we wanted to help. That’s how the idea for CVA Products was born. We wanted to be able to share these great handmade natural products with those who would benefit from them the most. We named the business after our children, Charlotte, Vincent, Alexander.

Moving forward, we’d a new addition that joined our family in March of 2022 and we named him, Zander. After Zander was born, he was suffered with the cradle cap. Cradle cap is the skin condition sometimes seen in babies. It is a crusting and white or yellow scales on a baby’s scalp. Our twins used to have it when they were born and believe us, there were no treatment for it. Our doctor prescribed oilment and told us to change to medicate shampoo and it didn’t work. We had to shave their head in order to clean it. It broke our heart as we tried everything. The condition last for 6 months and went away on its own. When Zander had it, we were worried. All soaps that we made like goat milk & beer didn’t work. It made the condition worse. This remind us a customer we met 2 years ago, she told us that her son have cradle cap for years and she tried different soaps, but didn’t work and her son was 16 at the time. We started to research and one thing we knew for a fact that coconut oil helps with the condition so we made a coconut soap. We used it to bath Zander daily on the scalp and surprisingly, the condition calmed down after a week and eventually went away after 3 weeks. We were shocked, but very happy that we got it solved. My husband has severe dried scalp because he has to work with chemical products daily. None of the soaps would work on him so after he saw how the coconut soap did to our Zander, he wanted to give it a try and yes, it worked. My husband has been using that soap ever since. The coconut soap doesn’t work for everyone because it will dry out the skin especially for sensitive skin. I don’t like to use it because it dried out my skin. We use it for laundry detergent.

Unlike any other products that you’ve known, all the products that we used at home, such as soy candles, soaps, bath bombs, shampoos, lotion bars, laundry detergent, play dough kits (just to name a few), are chemical-free and handmade by us. We listen to our customers when we’re at the markets and created the products like soaps to help with the specific sensitive skin. We use the high-quality ingredients to make the products. We constantly have new products, such as aleppo soap, add to our shop. Aleppo soap is made from high quality laurel berry oil with olive oil. It is very popular known in Eastern Europe for sensitive skin. It took 6 months to a year to have the soap ready and we only made around 10 bars a year. It is the best soap above the goat milk soap to use for severe sensitive skin since we’ve been using it on our daughter to control her eczema from flaring up. We also gave the aleppo soap to those who are in needed with severe sensitive skin.

Does your dog has dry and sensitive skins? Do they suffer from allergies symptoms, such as itching, scratching, and licking? We humans get to enjoy all the luxury and benefits, why not the canine members of our family, too? Our 7 years old German Sheppherd has been suffered from severe skin allergies since she was born. As she got older, her condition got worse especially when she went outside and played on the grass or when it rains. We took them to the Vet, she was given steroids, shots, special grooming products for 7 years and none of the prescriptions were working when they were very expensive. We researched and tried so many natural products and came across the Skin Soother balm and we’ve to say that it saved us time, cost, and help our dog relief from the severe flaky dry and itchy skin that she has few times a year.

Just like any other artists, my husband and I are both have a full-time job and four young kids to look after. Weekend is the only time that we are available to be at the markets where the customers can come to us with questions. It’s also the days that we’d love to share our experiences with the customers.

As you might not aware of, but my husband is a Navy Vet. We’d love to support all the veterans for their services when they shop in person with us. In addition, we’d love to support our community and the ones who are in needed. We are a Keller ISD CTE partners, Go Texan partners, Chamber of Commerce member, etc. so every purchase that the customers made is very important to us as it’ll help us to support the education programs at Keller Center for Advanced Learning (KCAL) for all the great students are out there and other programs in our communities like Keller, Decatur, & Bedford.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

We have our own website. We used to sell on other marketplaces, but it didn’t work out too well. There were so many competitors on there and the fee was high. At the end of the day, not only we sold nothing but also wasted our time. We would prefer to use our own website where we can keep track of our inventories, but also don’t have to compete with anyone.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

My husband and I are always at the markets together and I have to say that our customers and friends think that my husband is a great salesman and it made me wonder sometimes. Last weekend, I was at the market by myself and a customer came by our booth to browse. The customer asked me about our products. I didn’t expect the customer to purchase anything from us but we had a chance to talk. I told her how I made the products and why I did it and what it do. At the end of our long conversations, the customer bought two items from us and asked if I would come back next month. I came home and told my husband how shock I was. It was meant to be a conversation but turned into a sale. My husband told me that I have the products for everyone and I listen to the customers’ feedbacks and care for the customers and that’s why our reputation is important.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cvaproducts.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cvaproducts21
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/cvaproducts21

Image Credits
Tania Cardenas for the playdough photo