594
12 min 36 sec

Squeaky Clean Couple Raise the Bar with Online Soap Sales

A husband and wife clean up with a homemade soap side hustle that’s no lathering matter. It’s currently earning $50,000 a month!
High Profit Product SHS Success Story Social Media

Subscribe Now For A Free Five Step Tutorial

What It's About

A Side Hustle School success story with real lather!

Business Model
Product
Skills Required
Research & Experimentation
Complexity
Medium
Profit Potential
High

Words of Wisdom

Danielle says that you should find a trend in social media and see how this can benefit you. One of the things she said benefited them significantly is the fact that they are a black-owned and operated soap company—which as they say is kind of a rarity. They were able to market their product to their community and receive tremendous support.

Fun Fact

While we’d never tell you to shower less, there’s a bar of soap made by a family-run business in Lebanon might make you think twice about washing too much. Each bar of soap is made with gold and diamond powder, which is why it’s so pricey. Soap is surprisingly expensive!

Notes from Chris

Episode 594

Couples who side hustle together, stay together. At least that’s what the evidence from North Carolina couple Danielle and Rondel Roach suggest. They met while working together at the National Institute of Health, but after a few years, they decided to make a change. And they made this change in more ways than one...

Rondel had quit his job to drive for Uber and Lyft. Danielle also quit working as a manager for a cancer research company. While they both enjoyed their new routines, Danielle wanted to find a way to earn more money together so that Rondel could work fewer hours, and come home earlier. Danielle was thinking of ideas but wasn’t sure exactly where to start… or even how to start. Then, in November 2017, Rondel’s cousin sent Danielle an email. He knew that they wanted to earn extra income and had an idea of how they could start.

As it turns out, that cousin and his wife had recently started a doll business, and he was preparing to create a course and share everything he had learned about how to use Instagram for marketing. He wanted to test-run the course on someone, and who better to turn to than family?

Danielle and Rondel spent several hours learning about Instagram marketing. They wanted to execute what they learned, but they needed something to market first. Danielle spent her lunch breaks putting her new skills to work, researching what was trending on Instagram. She hoped that if she found something interesting, she would be able to put her own unique spin on it and turn it into a successful side hustle.

After a good thumb workout… I mean, lots of scrolling through Instagram, she found something that interested her. Danielle brought the idea to her husband, who loved it even more than she did. Since they both had the fire of motivation burning, Rondel ordered supplies the next day and they got to work making their test products. The product was… natural soaps.

Danielle turned to Youtube video tutorials for instructions on how to do… just about everything! As she told us, “I am a early morning person so I'd wake up at 5:30am and watch endless Soap Queen Videos on Youtube.” Meanwhile, Rondel built the website for Bombd Aesthetics on Shopify, and both of them continued to make soap every day after work, coining names for the batches that were visually appealing.

They officially launched on January 1st, 2018. The same cousin that helped them navigate Instagram marketing invested $600 so they could register their business as an LLC and buy supplies like a stick blender, measuring cups, and bowls. Almost right away, they began seeing sales… a LOT of sales.

It wasn’t just that they’d found a hit with their product; they’d also found a huge hit with how they marketed it using Instagram ads and features. Danielle and Rondel drive traffic to their website by finding large social media pages that align with their holistic values and ask them to feature Bombd on their Instagram page in exchange for a small promotion fee.

They’ve also branched out into Facebook and Google ads, and invest about $200 into one ad. Danielle told us that they typically invest about $200 in one ad, and then see a return of about $1,000—pretty great ROI.

Thanks to these efforts, Bombd Aesthetics is bringing in around $50,000 a month. That’s right! Danielle says they actually get nervous on days when sales are $500 or less. They’ve now hired an apprentice soap maker to help them handle all those orders coming in. As for what’s next, they’re on a three-step plan to lather, rinse, and repeat.



MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Bombd Aesthetics: Take bath time to the next level—snag some goods over on Danielle and Rondel's website!
  • Shopify: Danielle and Rondel used Shopify to set up their site for Bombd Aesthetics, and they're offering a 21-day trial and exclusive discount for all Side Hustle School listeners!
  • Soap Queen: The all things bath products resource page that Danielle turned to in order to learn how to create her products
SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter


Download Episodes By Months:

Season 6 (2022): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 5 (2021): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 4 (2020): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 3 (2019): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 2 (2018): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 1 (2017): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today!

Learn More

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time.


Learn More

Quote of the Day
"I remember our first customer, her name was Destinee W. I remember telling my husband about the Side Hustle School book and how we need to envision our ideal customer, give them a name, and target more customers like them. To this day we call our ideal customers Destinee W."
—Danielle Roach #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Cook with Blue Apron!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Blue Apron. 👩‍🍳

Check out this week’s menu and get your first three meals FREE, with free shipping. Get ready to say mmmmmm.


Get Yours Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.




Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!





To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau