Jennifer Juranko of Wesley Chapel, Florida discusses plans for her future in soaping
SJ – Okay, I’m talking to Jennifer Juranko from Wesley Chapel, Florida, and Jennifer is going to tell us a little bit about why she decided to come to the soaping weekend retreat. JJ – For me, it was, as a new soap maker, and somebody who has been purchasing the items to make soap but has not been brave enough to venture out and do it myself, it was a chance to hear from people who’ve been doing it and actually experience it in a roomful of people who go, okay, that’s why that messed up or that’s why it worked. And kind of get over the intimidation factor. SJ – That’s a great idea. Do you feel like the topics that we’re presenting to you here are going to help you in starting or growing your business? JJ – Oh absolutely. You think about making soap but that’s only a small part of starting a whole business, and when we looked at the itinerary and saw that there was marketing, websites and CPA and legal aspects, it just seemed like that was a bigger bonus, and oh my gosh! We’re going to get all of this in one weekend. So it was almost like, you felt like you were getting three times what you signed up for. SJ – Great, great. What’s your timeline for getting started in this business? JJ – I think our goal is, we’d like to be, to feel like we’re comfortable to start selling to people and starting a true business by maybe the end of summer. I think we need time since we’ve never really made that first bar, so this afternoon we will. We haven’t made that first bar so like everyone said, you know when you’re ready and we don’t want to rush it. But it would be ideal before the holiday season to be up and running next year. So we kind of feel like we’re on a nine-month timeframe I guess. SJ – Okay, and what sort of marketing are you looking at, are you looking at doing craft shows, internet…? JJ – I think more like Internet, and then local, in the Tampa Bay area we have a very big farmer’s market network, so that would be a great way to kind of get out there and get people to know about us, to feel the market out and get feedback from people about what type of soap they like. Do they like the color, fun decorative soaps or more natural soap? Because we know that in just the little bit of research we’ve done, that there are different areas of different appeal. So I think that’s a good way to figure out what we want to market and go from there. But we’re probably not looking at doing anything brick and mortar anytime soon, and really aim more toward that farmer’s market/internet sales. SJ - Have you spent any time on our new website, the GreenerLifeClub.com? JJ – Not before this, so I haven’t really got on it. SJ – Okay, because we definitely would be interested in hearing, not only what you want to see at these retreats, but also what types of videos you’d like to see online, so just keep that in mind and let us know when you think about something that you might want to see there. And I just want to remind you of our upcoming retreats, we have the January 23rd through 25th and then we have March 27th through 29th. So we hope to see a lot of repeat customers. We’re certainly excited about that. JJ – With that, is that almost looked at as a series? SJ – We will try each time to still appeal to everyone from beginners to advanced as far as techniques go, but yes, definitely, we will be mixing up the topics to present different aspects of what people need. And the private labeling, that may be something that you’ll be interested in for when you launch your business, so keep that in mind. JJ – Yes, we’re really excited.