About 2 out of 10 new business owners fail within 3 months, and soap businesses are not an exception. In the soap industry, it's not about making lovely fragrance soaps to sell. If you're excited to start a soap business, you will need proper planning and marketing strategies to avoid mistakes. But first, let's look at the common mistakes new soap business owners make —and, of course, how to avoid them.
List of Mistakes New Soap Business Owners Make & Ways to Tackle Them
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20% of small businesses fail within the first year. The research also noted that 993,489 new companies were started in March 2024, and 198,698 of these businesses failed by 2025.
Speaking of a soap business, the mistakes we're about to discuss aren't limited to the soap-making process. Instead, we will reveal a complete list of mistakes you will want to avoid. Let's break it down!
Using an Unbalanced Soap-Making Recipe
The first in the list is how you make your handmade soaps. If you use an unbalanced soap recipe, your handmade soaps may not have the desired properties, such as lather, cleansing, conditioning, and so on. An unbalanced recipe can result in your soap being too soft or too hard. In the worst case, it can cause skin irritation or be ineffective.
How to avoid this mistake?
Generally speaking, a balanced soap recipe provides a well-rounded soap with a good balance of lather, cleansing, and conditioning properties. Most importantly, your soap will be safe and effective to use on the skin.
Making Soap All the Time
The main reason for you to become a soap making business startup is maybe because you're a soap-making addict, love to make batch after batch of lovely handmade soaps. It's completely fine, you do need to make your soaps to sell them.
However, when you run a soap business, you should spend time growing your business, too. This is even more important if you are a one-woman (or man) show. The fact is, if you don't have time to make the effort to sell your soaps, you'll end up just busy with a costly hobby.
How to avoid this mistake?
Make sure you spend less than 20% of your time as a business owner dedicated to soapmaking/production. Meanwhile, 80% of the time should be spent managing your business and selling those handmade soaps. This includes packing your handmade soaps appealingly in custom soap packaging boxes, choosing the right market to sell them (retail or online), and advertising your soap business. Simply put, production efficiency should be your business's top priority.
Neglecting the Legal Soap-Making Business Requirements
Yes, to sell soap legally, you need to understand the laws and requirements. Neglecting the legal requirements for soap-making may lead to legal issues with the authorities.
How to avoid this mistake?
You should register your business name and operate under an appropriate business structure. Moreover, you must maintain clean, safe manufacturing practices.
While the FDA regulations don't include soaps, you are still responsible for making safe consumer products. Also, you should provide all ingredients on labels and include any necessary cautionary statements.
Pricing Incorrectly
For sure, you want to make a profit in soap making business, right?
One of the biggest mistakes many soap business owners make is offering their products at average prices, like those of other brands. This simply means the "market price" keeps rising until no soap company that tries to compete on price can make a profit.
How to avoid this mistake?
If you want to run a successful soap business, you absolutely must be able to earn a healthy profit. Otherwise, you will never be able to stay competitive or even fail in this crowded market. The one thing you should do is plan for profit from the moment you start a soap business. Yes, include it in your business plan.
Not Being Patient
Soap makers are people with patience—they have to be. One soap bar can take between 4 and 6 weeks to cure and be ready to use. Plus, when you pour the soap into the mold, you'll have to wait at least 24 hours for it to harden enough, then cut it into a nice shape.
How to avoid this mistake?
Be patient.
The soap-making process takes time, and being patient is all you need. Once you get used to it, you will find it more exciting to make handmade soaps. Eventually, the production efficiency, sales, marketing, and advertising of your new business go hand in hand.
In Summary
No doubt, to start a soap business, you will need proper planning and marketing strategies to avoid mistakes. Common mistakes new soap business owners make include using an unbalanced soap-making recipe, making soap all the time, neglecting legal soap-making requirements, pricing incorrectly, and not being patient.
Hopefully, the list of common mistakes we revealed above helps you to avoid them and start your soap business successfully.
