Featured WAHM: Melissa of Blue House Soaps

Q: What Led You to Start Making Homemade Soaps?

A: My son was diagnosed with severe eczema at 3 months old. We began using all natural soaps and I was intrigued with the soapmaking process. My husband and I began doing our own research, and finally took the plunge and began soapmaking on our own almost 2 years ago.


Q: How did you go about making soaps your business?

A: My soaps were covering my kitchen counters, office, and spilling out into our garage! Friends and family would take a few bars whenever they visited. We wanted to experiment with new recipes and ingredients, and began selling our soaps on Ebay to provide some resources for additional supplies. Within a few months we opened our store, Blue House Soaps.


Q: Was starting your business difficult?

A: My husband and I both have a background in business that helped us in starting this venture. Our combined experience and education made our transition from Ebay sellers to owning our own website a smooth transition. Of course, we are still learning!


Q: How do you manage to run a business with small children?

A: We have very specific "work" time and "family" time. Our work day ends at 3:30pm when our children arrive home from school. We take that time to assist our children with homework, sit down to dinner as a family, have some family time in the evening, etc. We may work for an additional period of time in the evening after the kids are in bed, but late afternoon/early evening is dedicated to family time.


Q: What does your home office/work space look like?

A: We have converted a bedroom to a home office. My husband and I both have our own desk and computer on opposite sides of the room. There is a large packaging and work table in between our desks. Both walls have large shelving which store supplies, and one entire wall is shelved and provides soap storage.


Q: What Is The Most Rewarding Thing About Running Your Home Business?

A: The most rewarding thing is being able to be available to my children. When my 4 year old son had an asthma attack last week and was admitted to the hospital, taking a few days off to care for him was not an issue. I didn't have to use "sick days" or call for permission to miss work. My family comes first - and my home business allows me to use my own discretion as to how I spend my time.


Q: What new an exciting things can we expect in the future?

A: We will debut many new items this month at Blue House Soaps. We are adding even more all natural items, as well as a fun kids line of soaps. Our holiday soap collection will be available this month as well as gift sets, and we will be adding more soaps to our aromatherapy line.