It's easy enough to start a soap business. In fact, there probably isn't an easier type of business to start, but can you make it pay? There are several ways to make money with handcrafted soap products. One of the key ways to go about it is to offer unique products. That way there's nowhere else to get what you offer. Want soap like yours? It's nowhere else to be found. Here are 7 ways to make your products different...



1. Marbled stands out.

Soap buyers buy for smell and they buy for looks too. That's where fancy colored soaps can really stand out. Not that the soap has to be any less nice to use. It just looks more beautiful and more attractive than the competition. It doesn't even have to be more expensive since there isn't a great deal of cost to color. The skills to blend colors and marble soap adds value with little time spent or extra cost.

2. More fragrance than anybody else.

Almost everybody wants to smell soap. Offer the best scent blends and the most variety and you're a leader. Here's the other thing... Offer a lot of scents and after awhile you find what sells best. Then you may be able to drop some varieties and keep the sales volumes high as you continue to experiment with more scent blends searching for those smells that really sell.

3. All essential oils.

What about just offering all "natural" scents? That's a huge and growing demand. Many people can handle natural scents, but not the stronger smelling synthetic fragrances. Why not specialize in the essential oils? Make blends that beat what anybody else offers... your own blends can do it.

4. Unique regional blends.

Make signature scents and looks that set your products. One of my all time favorite soaps is a natural scent blend from California. It's not soon forgotten, but it's the very best soap. It just happens to have a unique smell and look too.

5. Personalized many ways.

What about specializing in soap branded with the personal touch? That could be soap stamped with a personal touch. It could be soap that's packaged with unique personal labeling. That's for wedding soap, bed and breakfast soap or any other special occasion or location. Special packaging and labels can set your soap apart.

6. Organic soap?

Offer special premium ingredients and set your soap apart. That may mean a higher cost soap, but in some markets the price of organic soaps may be justified. Another way this works is for people with special allergies or people sensitive to scents and colors. You could even specialize in unscented soap for those allergic to smells.

7. You're different, aren't you???

What's different about the way you live and make soap. Sell that difference and buyers may remember you and be back for more. What's different about where you live and how you got to where you are? Many of those differences make your soap and you different and set your product apart. We sold milk soap and we milked the cow. That's not a difference that some people forget. Especially if the soap you have truly does look and work better.

Set your soap apart and you'll sell more and build loyalty to you and your craft. Unique soap is the best way to compete with all the other soap makers out there and sell soap like crazy. Build soap that's the best in feel and the nicest to use and also has unique features. It's not that hard to do if you know a few tricks.

Al Bullington and his family sold 35,000 bars of soap part-time. You can do it too.