My name is Michaela and I’m in the 6th grade at Glen Meadow Middle School in Vernon, NJ. When I attended the TREP$ Marketplace last year, I knew I wanted to be a part of it and started collecting ideas over the next year.
For my TREP$ booth, my business was named “Bathology.” My products were unique, scented soaps and flavored lip glosses. In our workshops they suggested that our product should be marketable to a wide range of customers. It made me rethink the products I was going to offer so I reached a larger group.
My Mom funded my project (thankfully) and helped me research safe ingredients that were good for your skin and harvested responsibly (like palm oil). Through many hours of reading I learned about the process for making melt and pour soaps, flavorings, scents, colorants and the cure times for the items I wanted to make. I was concerned with when they would be ready to package to keep my final goods sanitary.
My products were three flavors of lightly colored lip balms in pots, a beachy-scented, ocean water colored soap with sharks called “Shark Attack!” and a cute plastic goldfish in a clear bag filled with soap “water” like you would win at a carnival called “Fish Friends”. I also made donut soaps with sprinkles and either chocolate or strawberry frosting scent called “Donuts?” and a honey soap bar called “Honey, Go Wash Up”. I probably would have had a few more items of each to sell, but I had to scrap my first tries because temperatures were too hot or soap didn’t blend properly and I wanted my finished products to be perfect. Each night and on the weekends I mixed and poured lip balms and soaps until I had a good inventory. It was a lot of late nights, but my house smelled amazing from all the flavors.
I knew that my product choices had a lot of start up costs and that my profit would initially be low. I bought my soap and lip balm bases in bulk which was cheaper, but I had to buy molds, colorings, scents and tools that I can use in the future but were an investment now.
The presentation of my products was important, but I had a limited space to give it a “bath” feeling when you saw it. I chose a color palette of white, teal and tan. I was able to find wash tubs and filled them with iridescent glitter cellophane shred to resemble bubbles and set everything up on a bathroom mat with towels. I had pretty frames by each of the products listing the name, price and ingredients in case any of my customers had allergies. I printed labels with my “Bathology” logo for all of my products in case someone admired something and wanted to know where they bought it. All purchases went in a kraft bag with teal tissue to match my color scheme. My Mom and I staged my stand the night before on our dining room table so I would be prepared to quickly set up and start selling the night of TREP$.
My sales were great, I sold out! I was able to sell to all different types of customers as I had hoped. I will be donating half of my sales to a fellow student battling cancer.
After getting feedback from my customers the night of TREP$, I am thinking of continuing my business making soap and lip gloss favors for children’s birthday parties.
Thank you to my advisors and the TREP$ organization for such an amazing experience!
