Business Crack sat down with Carlisle Soap.Co owner Joshua Wyborn, of Carlisle, to talk self-employment, juggling a small business with other work and developing product ideas.
What inspired you to set up Carlisle Soap.Co?
I’ve been self-employed as a photographer for a very long time now and I liked the idea and challenge of selling a product and rather than a service.
I was thinking of things I could do and I thought about how I’ve made my own soap in the past and how it really helped my skin.
It was my mum who started making it for me as facemasks when I was in university for my acne and I wondered if it could be turned into something more.
So I came up with Carlisle Soap.Co and thought it’d give it a go. I’ve been running it for 18 months now and it’s been really great helping people with their skin needs.
How did you start developing and creating your products?
In university I used shea butter and oatmeal facemasks and that’s what the soaps all contain as a base.
For the scents I thought about what I liked and what other people liked and came up with the five main scents I have now which are lavender, orange, lime and basil and activated charcoal with cedarwood and black pepper.
I also have a tattoo balm and a beard and shave soap and hopefully in the coming year I’ll be launching five to 10 more scents.
I make the products myself, so I source the ingredients and then in my office I have a little soap factory where I melt and mix it all.
But there’s actually quite a lot of red tape involved with skincare and anything that goes near skin ingredient-wise, which has been eye opening for me and interesting at the same time.
What does a typical day look like for you?
My days normally start with working on marketing ideas or editing photos and then as and when orders come in I get them packed and ready and post them out.
Once every month I’ll make batches of 100 for the soaps and when they run out I make more and they can take a day or two to make.
Which products are your best-sellers?
It’s probably the shea butter and orange, or the shea butter and charcoal. They seem to be the most popular.
What have you learnt so far as a small business owner?
I would say if you’re not feeling something one day, especially when you’re self-employed, it’s better to leave it rather than forcing something to happen.
It’s better to let creativity happen to you and let your mind wander rather than getting stuck staring and forcing yourself to come up with ideas.
I also focus on offline marketing a lot and do local promotion. At the moment I’m looking into things like billboards, I think offline marketing isn’t something to underestimate, especially with how powerful word of mouth can be.
But so far It’s been really enjoyable and a great challenge marketing a product versus a service like my photography.
