# 2012 Obstacles to Your Business Growth



## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

So, What is the biggest obstacle to the growth of your soap business (assuming you want to grow your soap business) in 2012?

And what do you plan to do about it?

I've been thing about it and I haven't decided what mine is yet. I've got 4 or 5 things, but I'm trying to narrow it down to what the real obstacles are and not just what I perceive them to be.

Anybody?

PJ


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

Time. I still work fulltime and my business is about as big as it can get until I retire. 
I plan to keep on keeping on until I reach the magic retirement day which is getting closer everyday. Longer than a year but less than two years. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Space. We want to convert our 2 car garage into soaping space. But we don't want to go into debt doing it. We are capable of doing the work ourselves....it's just finding the time. And we're just going to have to make the time. I can make do with my current set up for another year with the growth I anticipate for the year. But beyond that something's got to happen.


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I guess I did mine backwards. I have the separate soap facility but not enough time to utilize it to the fullest. Yet.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

Dang PJ! I was hoping for some insights.  LOL

Marketing/Sales are my biggest problem. I'm not good at them. Don't like them. Working on ways of getting others to sell so that I can focus on making product. Also trying to figure out all this internet stuff--heck..I don't even have a shopping cart on my website (which also needs updated). 

$$--don't have a clue what I'm doing about that. Flying by the seat of my britches at the moment. :/


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Maybe not what anyone would think I would say...but my goats are my biggest obstacle. They take way too much of my time for just the milk to go into soap. I have little interest anymore in showing and honestly couldn't care less what someone thinks of my goats to appraise, would I change them in anyway, no  With the excessive cost of feed and hay my soap is now paying for part of the goats with no way of increasing prices on kids to offset it...in reality I need to milk 3 goats for all the milk I use daily plus I don't soap on Friday, Saturday or Sunday so I could save that milk. And do I want to keep just 3 does in milk, no  Only have a small handful would mean I also don't have to deal with deposits, buyers, questions, emails, phone calls...hmmmmm especially if they were unregistered  And I can buy goatmilk anywhere! Vicki


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I agree Vicki but the goats are the reason I make soap. I love my goats and they stay but maybe I need to look at trimming doan a bit this year.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Necie - Sometimes I think I'm being distracted by the things that annoy me, and missing the real issue. 

Right now for us, facilities is a huge obstacle. At the beginning, we never imagined our business was going to get as large as it has, and our infrastructure is not what it needs to be. We've purchased a new 36 acre property, but we need to completely develop it and that has been a nightmare. I thought we'd be finished by now and we can't even get approval to start building.

Time is also an issue - not enough time to do all the things we want to do.

Lifestyle is also an issue - This holiday season I was working 80-100 hours a week. That's not the kind of lifestyle I want, but what to change?

Employees are an issue - we were up to 4 and back down to 1. We're a very "unique" workplace with how involved the children are. That brings up a lot of challenges when it comes to employees.

Finances are always an issue - somebody once told me that every time your business reaches a new level, it's like you have to double down and risk it all again. To develop our new property is going to require a lot of cash. 

But I keep coming back to the biggest obstacle to my business is me. In many respects, I'm the core of Goat Milk Stuff. Jim and the children do tons, and GMS wouldn't exist without them, but I keep feeling like I am the one thing that limits the growth of GMS because of my ignorance and short sightedness. So I'm trying to figure out what I need to change.

Vicki - I hear you. We have too many goats right now and will be weeding them down in the spring. I've never put any time into marketing babies (we've never shown), and I need to make that happen. But the goats are still a big part of our family (both drinking the milk and the boys doing goat chores) and our marketing, so we'll be keeping them.

LaNell - I don't think that's backwards at all. I think that's the smart way of doing things. 

PJ


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

Rebuilding my business from scratch! And hoping I don't loose the customer base it has taken me many years to build. 

Vicki, you just blew me completly away! I could have written your post word for word.

When feed & hay went through the roof the balance shifted. The goats were becoming more liability than asset. Over the last six months I've been trying to a more move away from the farm aspect but it's difficult when so many people associate you with your farm & your goats. I can not tell you how many times I have told people that I'm not going out of business & that I can buy milk cheaper than raise goats. It's been mixed results (people love the romanticisim of our lifestyle) but am feeling pretty ok since everyone says they will buy soap from as long as I make it.

The spring markets & shows will see a new look but basicly the same products. Hoping for the best.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

> (people love the romanticisim of our lifestyle


So true...never understanding it wracks you out physically and takes your last dime to live that way....
Good luck with the transition Jenny!

Lee


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

Great thread!

For me, it is my season of life- it is a wonderful season, just full. I have little ones that I homeschool, meals to make, laundry to do, a messy house to clean. Not sure there is such a thing as balance, never enough time, money, space to get it all done- I just try to embrace it all and do the best I can with what I have.


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

I"m having a hard time formulating in my mind what I want to happen in 2012. With paying drought prices for hay we are deep in survival mode. With the drought and recession, not many of our 2011 plans came to fruition either. Well, except one, I have a 24' stock trailer being retrofitted into a mobile henhouse for me this winter. 

So I will keep doing what I'm doing. Just grow by word of mouth and be sure to grab any opportunities that come my way. I'm hoping we'll have a big enough tax return that I can buy another pallet of soaping oils. I flew thru the last one much quicker than I thought I would. I also think I may start having my boys help me with soaping. So far I have been very anal about doing everything myself. That whole "time" thing is a problem for me as well. I have a 14 yr old. There is no reason why he can't masterbatch oils for me. My middle can cut logs on the Tank and fill the cure shelf. Maybe have them print off needed labels. Stuff like that. I have a lot to think about.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Heather - my children do tons of work and get paid a very good salary for it. Remember, you can pay your children and they don't have to pay the "self employment 15% penalty tax". I can't remember the last time I unmolded, cut, or packaged soap.  

What are you guys paying for hay? I'm a bit self absorbed and didn't realize you were in a drought. I can understand that it may make financial sense to sell the goats and buy the milk. But don't forget the publicity of having your own goats. It's not nearly as good a story if you're buying the milk from somebody. I don't know about you, but we have lots of people who come by to see the goats and buy lots of soap while they're here. I also just had a 90 minute radio interview. The host overheard somebody talking about my soap and how it healed the cracks in his fingers and that it was made by a family in Southern Indiana with goats. He searched me out and contacted me. We got a lot of new customers from that interview.

Jennifer - Balance? What's that? I'm not sure I'll ever achieve that here. My life is way too full. But for us it has gotten easier this past year than it has ever been. I now have a cleaning service and a lawn service. That was something we always did in the past, but my time and the children's time is more valuable doing goat and soap chores than it is cleaning toilets and mowing the lawn. I figure the children are still learning the work ethic, and they know how to mow and clean a toilet, so it works for me. But this holiday season was insanely busy and I was back to working 80-100 hours a week which gets really old, really fast.

PJ


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

> But don't forget the publicity of having your own goats


Keep in mind you can have goats and not milk them a whole dairy style lactation.
Let them dam raise- feed them minimally because you wean and dry them off- you need not do extended lactation if they are just for "label appeal". Cuts time and money expenditure and gives you the presence of the goats.

For me working so hard and long to make money that I then pay people to do common everyday chores that I should have time to do were I not busy making money and keeping my children so busily employed making money that I pay to people that do the things my kids would do does not equal an improvement in lifestyle. It is the same as the corporate jungle.
Simplify.

We got caught up in it too via our pottery biz. Bigger is not better.
You loose sight of the entire reason you wanted to be self employed.
Lee


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Yes, agree with you, Lee. I know that my kids have no interest in being a large part of my business. They have told me so. I have said, "Wow, isn't that amazing that they [meaning Jim and PJ] can support their whole family with their soap biz?" and they have said, in essence, "Don't even THINK about it." So while I think it's great that it can be done, we know that's not the way we want to go with it. Ideally, I'd like to get to the point where it makes enough to supplement dh's military retirement so that he doesn't have to work another job once he's out of the Army. I know that I don't want to work 80-100 hours a week...we have a beautiful property and I want to be able to enjoy that, too.


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

PJ, you are my hero! Cleaning and lawn service. A girl can dream. I would get someone to do my book keeping in a heart beat if I could. I think your kids are getting so much more of a business education than probably most adults. 

We are currently paying $180/ton for run of the mill grass hay. Last year I was paying $70/ton for the same hay. High quality alfalfa just isn't available locally. My friend/accountant and I were talking at christmas. I'm making much more profit on my soap than any other of my farm ventures. But then, I was telling my friend, I couldn't as easily sell anywhere near the amount of soap I do without the story of the farm behind it. People love a story!


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## Dorit (Apr 20, 2011)

Great topic. I never gave it a thought! My goal is to repay my initial (and substantial) investment. Find a cheaper way to buy oils, decide on a line of 10 best selling fragrances. Get good at making soap without making a mess that is a nightmare to clean up, set up and keep up a P&L sheet. And hope that when my two goats kid I can exercise some self control and give away or sell all but one baby. Also must make time to work out at least 30 minutes a day; so I can keep on keeping on. How hard can it be to find 30 minutes? LOL I'll be happy if I attain any one of those goals in 2012.


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

I just bought hay this week. Almost $20 for a 3-wire bale. Maybe 100 lbs max - I can move it by myself.

Yes, the backstory on my soap biz - owning a little farm, raising & milking my own goats - has been a huge factor. We have sold thousands of bars of soap with our photo books. That's why I'm so nervous about the change.

Like Lee, we live in a gorgeous area & want to enjoy what we have for a few mores years. We're into our 60s & my husband is disabled. His health is stable for the time being but the doc's prognosis is not good for the long term. We know we have a small window. I love & depend on my soap biz but don't want it to grow so much that takes over every minute of my life. Our kids are grown & on their own. We can really enjoy a simple life now.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Lee - oh my goodness, my life is NOTHING like the corporate jungle.  I have so much time to spend with my husband and my children it's amazing. We also take about 6 weeks of vacation a year (we leave a week from today for 2 weeks at Disney World!!). But the thing is, even before we started Goat Milk Stuff and even before I had 8 children, cleaning toilets and mowing the lawn were the two things I NEVER got around to doing. Laundry - no problem. Vacuuming - no problem. Washing the dishes - no problem. But those darn toilets just always seemed to get put off. Getting a cleaning lady to do my toilets and mop the floor once a week was the best thing I ever did for myself. Took so much guilt off my shoulders. Ditto on the lawn. To me, that is the ultimate definition of "simplify". Do the things you enjoy and are good at. Pay somebody else to do the things you hate and never get around to and weigh you down.

And the hours we spend on our business are so much better. When we started and needed to make the break from a paycheck, we were working 80-100 hours per week to get the business up and running. Now, we work normal hours. We actually had an incredible holiday season and are in the January Oprah magazine. Rather than bring on employees to help with all those orders, we elected to do it ourselves. Yep, longer hours for about 4 weeks. But definitely worth it because employees are super stressful (at least for me). 

Stacey - our lifestyle is definitely not for everyone. But it works great for us. My children are little entrepreneurs and salesmen at heart and they gladly do the work for the salary they get. They've got big plans. 

Heather - thanks. We're really pleased with the way our life is going. My 13 year old has really gotten into the finances of the business and is learning a lot about spreadsheets and profit and loss statements. My 15 year old likes the customer service and her communication skills have improved tremendously. It's neat to watch them taking different aspects of the business that they are drawn to and delving deeper into it.

Jenny - I think you bring up a very good point. Life changes and different things at different stages is what it's all about. We all need to enjoy what we're doing or consider doing something different. 

PJ


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

PJ~I want to make sure you know I admire and respect the fantastic biz you have built with your family and I think you are a whiz at marketing since that is a stumbling place for growth with many people who make a great product. It has been so much fun to watch all of the ways your biz has grown and changed and your unique marketing adventures too. We just did not want to be business managers rather than artisans -or stressed out from trying to do both and so during our rapid growth period when we found ourselves handling more money and doing more 'biz' but our bottom line at tax time reading EXACTLY the same...we backed it down to just what we ourselves could produce. Often when people realize that more product could be sold it entices them to try to grow their business via debt and then you are obligated to produce AND SELL even if this becomes more difficult for some of many potential reasons. I wish you success and happiness in your new expansion and hope it gets going soon so you can realize all those new dreams. I find you a truly phenomenal family and just as you said- everyone has differing ideas of the life they wish to lead. So tell us what you will be changing about how you do things to further your success in 2012 so we can learn how the 'big kids' do it  
Lee


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

jimandpj said:


> Getting a cleaning lady to do my toilets and mop the floor once a week was the best thing I ever did for myself. Took so much guilt off my shoulders. Ditto on the lawn. To me, that is the ultimate definition of "simplify". Do the things you enjoy and are good at. Pay somebody else to do the things you hate and never get around to and weigh you down.


 :yeahthat I totally agree! It's where I want to get to. In my case, I feel like I'm a farmer first and the soap making is (although I thoroughly enjoy it) a way to add value to my product. I found out that just selling milk to a marketing group does pay my feed bill (barely) but that's it. They just don't pay enough and give me enough security to rely on as a business. So I'm branching out. Found a small cheesemaker locally, who is willing to pay me a much better price for a bit of my milk and I hope we will grow together as they sell more cheese and I produce more milk. And then the soap, which is very much in the beginning stages is another added future income. But as I said: I love farming most, and am definitely at my happiest in between the goats, so I want to increase my dairy herd and put the soap business in the 'left-over time' ( :rofl :rofl :rofl). I have a 13 year old daughter who loves the goats and is part of this goat enterprise, a husband who would love to be able to quit his job and eneter the goat biz and two sons studying Ag Science at Purdue. Dreaming of a family business for sure (WITH A CLEANING LADY, OH YEAH!)


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Lee - we're good. :biggrin I respect your input and advice and opinions! And thanks for the kind words. They put a smile on my face!

As much as the business takes up a lot of my time, my life now is so much simpler than it has ever been since I started having children. I do what I'm good at and get to pay people to do the things I dislike and use the rest of my time to play with my kids and love my husband. Life is good. But it is a balancing act and one that can swing and get out of control if I'm not careful.

I've realized that I'd rather be a business manager than an artisan. I'm a good soapmaker, but I'm happy to let Jim do all of that and just run the business. Everyone definitely needs to figure stuff like that out. And it's often not until you're in the midst of it that it becomes clear. I like marketing and reaching out to people and doing interviews. I actually think I may be a speaker at a conference in 2012. It's still up in the air, but I'm excited about the possibility.

You bring up some really good points. The business that you start because you love can become something you grow to hate if you're not careful. Especially because our business is rapidly growing, Jim and I work really hard to make sure that it stays something that is still fun for the family to do. Sometimes we don't have much control over it, which is why we make sure we build in enough "vacation away" time so that we can really escape from it and come back fresh and excited. This holiday season was long, but fortunately we've stopped doing shows and that has made a huge difference. They were still profitable for us, but the children were burned out on them, so it was time to stop.Well... we're actually still doing three a year, but that is easy peasy.



> during our rapid growth period when we found ourselves handling more money and doing more 'biz' but our bottom line at tax time reading EXACTLY the same


We just ran into exactly what you are talking about here with our employees. I think it's something every growing business comes up against at some point. We've streamlined a lot of what we do and how we do it and expenses (and stress levels) have dropped tremendously.

Your wisdom on debt is also spot on. We're trying to be so careful as we develop our new property to do it as we have the funds and to not get in over our head. Very few businesses go under because they grow too slowly, many go under because they grow too quickly.

Some of the changes we're making in 2012:
-stop selling some of the things that we don't like making (even if there is a demand)
-streamline our "other stuff" offerings
-raise and lower prices on the individual soaps so they are simpler for our wholesalers
-launching our 'soap log' business
-launching our private label business
-we have one sales rep, I will be trying to locate 4 more that are a good fit for us
-customer education is always ongoing as the more we grow the more of my time gets spent on customer service
-fewer goats in 2012 - the boys wouldn't let me sell any of the doelings this year until they saw how everyone milked, so once they freshen, half of them are out of here

Jim and I will sit down on the airplane next week and make a list of the things that we don't like or that are problems. We do this regularly and continually try to fix the biggest problems that we're facing. We also get the children's input regularly at dinner because they are huge helps with this.

Gotta run! Somebody is calling my name! 
PJ


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

> I've realized that I'd rather be a business manager than an artisan


So fortunate for your family and it shows in how far you have come
Congrats on finding your niche- and with such great back up too!
L


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