I’ve already told you how much I love the handmade soap I sell. What I may not have mentioned is that the soap (and laundry detergent kits, and natural dishwasher detergent, and body scrub, and shampoo bars!) is made by my real-life friend Jill.

I use every single one of these products in my own home on a regular basis and think they are wonderful.

Jill has a very high standard for the products she makes. She will not cut corners or send out something that she does not completely recommend. I love that!

This is Jill’s family. Jill is in the back in red, standing with her husband. Their daughter is the young lady in the center. The young men are their sons, and the two other young ladies are their daughters-in-law.
Here’s my interview with Jill:
Tell me a little about yourself.

My name is Jill Evely and I am the mom of 5 kids, most of whom are grown now. I have been homeschooling for the past 17 years and my youngest will graduate from our homeschool next month. My husband and I have been married for nearly 32 years and we own 30 acres that we hope to move to in a few years. Sometimes I think I was born 100 years to late because I love old fashioned things and values. I have been making crafts and baking everything under the sun since I was about 8 years old. As a girl I loved the Little House on the Prairie Books and we even named our only daughter after Carrie Ingalls, but changed the spelling to Kari.

Whenever I would make crafts, such as pillowcase dolls or sock monkeys for my kids and nephews and nieces I would put a tag on them pronouncing them as a “Prairie Kari” product. So when I started making soaps, scrubs, candles and so on, I just kept that name that I had been using for over 15 years.

How did you get the idea for your products?

I originally started my business by making soy and beeswax candles without coloring. That was because I wanted to make clean burning candles for my home that were not petroleum based. While I was researching candle items I kept running into information about making soap.

I have dry skin, really dry. The more I read about commerical soap and all the chemicals it has in it, and when I realized that our skin is our largest organ, I was convicted to make some old fashioned soap for myself for health reasons. I started out with some basic recipes and have expanded to making over 20 varieties plus shampoo bars for people and dogs.

Now, my skin is the softest it has ever been. My daughter said that she shaves with the shampoo bars and doesn’t even have to put lotion on her legs after because they are naturally moisturized. I have had folks with eczema say how much this soap has helped their condition and so on. Because of all the types of soap I was making, and the fact that it lasts so long, I really needed to market it to other folks because my family just can’t use this much soap! Also, I figured if I found it to be so great, other people would love it too. I found that many people think lye based soap is harsh, but this in not true at all if it is made properly. It is very mild and moisturzing and the goat milk soap is extra mild. I encourage people to try just a bar or two, the results are practically immediate.

Go get a bar of soap you are currently using and see if you can even pronounce the ingredients. Now look at the ingredients for my soap–organic virgin coconut oil, sweet almond oil, virgin olive oil, coco butter, shea butter, beeswax and so on. What would you rather put on your largest organ? My laundry detergent is made with my homemade soap, all natural washing soda and borax. It leaves your clothes without chemicals, and what could be better for your family? Truly I think these are products that are needed to lesson the chemicals our children and ourselves are exposed to. Also, I encourage folks to use good old fashioned vinegar on their clothes instead of fabric softener in the final rinse and to use a vinegar rinse on their hair after using a shampoo bar, instead of commercial conditioner.

Then, I developed all natural bath bombs which fizz when they are put in water and they moisturize well and smell great. I don’t use artificial colors or fragrances in the bombs or soaps. I use only essential oils for fragrance. After talking with Erica, we thought there would be a market for all natural laundry and dishwasher detergent too, so I am making them too.

How is your business going?

So far my business is going pretty slowly. I have worked up to the point that I can buy a nice variety of oils and butters in large quantities so that I can buy them cheaper. Since I use only food grade oils and butters, they are high quality and buying in bulk makes it more reasonable for me to make high quality products. I have designated an area of my basement for manufacture and have nice shelves with all the oils and ingredients, plus I have designated mixer used only for the bath bombs. I have started sewing some nursing pads too, which are being tested by real nursing moms before I offer them for sale.

How do you juggle your business with the rest of your life?

I am pretty organized by nature but I do have to push myself to get “it all done” sometimes. My family are Green Bay Packer Fans and football season would find me packaging soap in the family room while we watched games. I also work part time from home for a homeschool curriculum company.This keeps me pretty busy, but it did provide me with the money to start up my business. Essential oils are expensive and other oils, soap molds and so on become expensive very fast. I just bought things as I went along and increased my manufacture as needed. Mostly I love the thrill I get from developing new recipes and I love the point where the oil and lye water undergo the chemical change called “saponificataion.” I get a rush everytime. It is kind of a therapy for me and I never knew that chemistry could be so much fun! I feel the same way about the bath bombs. They fizz really great in water and the hint of almond oil moisturizes without leaving a greasy feeling. Many times I will make a batch of soap in the morning while I am straightening up the kitchen or make bath bombs after supper, before I relax before bedtime.

What future plans do you have for your business?

I am hoping to get my soaps into some local stores so I can increase my business and my daughter-in-law is starting to go to local stores to see if they want to carry it. I would love to expand my soap line and for people to use more natural products for their health. My problem is that though I love to make the products, I don’t really like to market them. I need to be more aggressive in this area because I think that folks will love my products if they only knew about them.


What advice would you have for someone that is interested in starting their own business?

Well, first make sure it is a product that you love and that anyone you have given it to loves it too. Then you can judge if it will have the appeal it will need and also you won’t get burnt out doing the same thing over and over.

Second, start slow, paying as you go. Don’t expect to make any money for a year or two. Maybe you can break even after a year, but if you think you are going to make money right off, I think you might need to reevaluate. I know for me, I LOVE making soap and the therapy and creativity of it really hooked me. I wanted to make it every day, but quickly found that it costs money and we cannot possibly consume it all. So unless I increase demand, it limits what I can make. I had to realistically evaluate how much I wanted to spend on equipment and stay within that amount.

Third: When you do buy equipment or tools, get what you need, but in my opinion, buy the absolute best you can afford. I know I saw a lot of soap molds before I decided on the rather expensive ones I purchased. But they are easy to use and the soap comes out good every time. Don’t settle for inferior equipment, because it won’t save you any money if it wastes ingredients and may cost you a lot of time.

The last thing I want to stress, is count the cost. of having a business. Do you have the time and resources to start a business? And if you say yes, then I want to encourage you to figure out the exact cost of what your product will cost you to make. Figure in all packaging, even labels, packing materials, business fees such as PayPal fees, bank fees and so on. Figure out how much the ingredients cost–don’t just estimate. I was surprised at the cost of my soaps when I actually figured out each ingredient, down to the ounce. Some things might be fun to make, but not profitable to sell. You might be able to cheapen them up, but at what cost? I know for me I wanted the highest quality ingredients and didn’t want to make a less expensive product if I had to compromise quality. Make a chart and figure it all out to see if you think folks will buy your product at the price you need to make to make a profit. If not, then don’t make it. Pehaps something else might work better.

Any of Jill’s Healthy Living Products (linked to in the intro at the beginning of this post) will come to you during Spring Fling with an extra bar of soap free! Go ahead and use your newsletter coupon and give these products a try. You will be so glad when you find out how much you love it, and you discover a way to give your family a safer, healthier alternative to your regular products! The Sampler Pack is really good for those of you that want to try a little bit of the most popular products. Click here to see it.