Building a Product and a Community from Scratch (literally) | Georgia Soap Company

00:00 Thank you guys so much for listening to Honey and Hustle. We are a visual podcast that features conversations with small business owners, creative entrepreneurs, and those in the nonprofit community. We're so glad that we started sharing our podcast here on Anchor FM. And if you haven't heard about Anchor, it's the easiest way to make a podcast. It's free. There's creation tools that allow you to record and edit your podcast right from your phone or computer. And it will distribute the podcast for you. So it can be heard on all the major platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and so many more. It's everything you need to make a podcast all in one place. If you're listening to this right now, download the free Anchor app or go to Anchor FM to get started.

00:44 This video is sponsored by Blackology Coffee Company.

00:47 Hey guys, what's up? This is Angela from Honey and Hustle. And on this episode, I traveled down to my hometown, Columbus, Georgia, right next to Phoenix city to speak with Kevin and Bonnie Rehrman of the Georgia Soap Company. I've been a huge diehard fan of Georgia Soap Company for some years now. I actually only exclusively use their soap since about 2016. So I'm very familiar with their business, very familiar with how they work and their products. And I just love what they're doing in the community. I love the products that they create. So I was really, really happy to get down to Columbus and have them on the show. In this episode, I physically will not be in it because of social distancing and just in their office space, it was a little bit tight. It just really wasn't possible to have a two camera setup. So I just decided to focus on them and have them tell their story for you guys. So I hope you guys enjoy it. Thank you again to Blackology Coffee Company for sponsoring this video. I hope you check out some of their winter items, their hot cocoa, their holiday coffee blends, all those great things. And yeah, hope you guys enjoy the video. Check them out, Georgia Soap Company, and watch our Friday to it.

01:58 I'm Bonnie Rearman and I am the co-owner and co-founder of Georgia Soap Company. And we started the company in 2010, early 2010.

02:14 after I had experimented with making homemade soaps and other body products in response to our daughter who had very sensitive skin, had eczema, and I had started doing some research on the products that we were using on her and decided that I wanted to make products that didn't have a lot of those harmful ingredients. And so after a lot of failed batches and a lot of experimentation, we decided and agreed on a direction that we wanted to take a company. So there was a set of ingredients, a big set of ingredients that we said we would never use.

02:58 One of them being soy, one of them being fragrances.

03:03 And we set forth to make a company that we would be proud of and that we felt safe using on our family.

03:16 Yeah, and so I'm Kevin Rehrman. I'm also the co-owner and co-founder. And so when we started making our products, you know, it was a response to our daughter's eczema. There really wasn't a truly all-natural product that was out there. A lot of the products had a lot of heavy preservatives and synthetic ingredients and fragrances. Even though they really said that they were all-natural, they really weren't all-natural.

03:50 And so it was really almost, it was almost like an accident with this, with the company. And because we were just trying to help our daughter with her eczema and then we had to go to the hospital.

04:04 We started giving it to friends and family and they loved it. And we did like one little market days actually. And we made it like $100 and we were like, oh my gosh, but cool. And then we did another show and we ended up making more. And so we're like, hey, we may be onto something. And that's, we used to call our daughter the Earth Baby. And so we started the company.

04:33 as Earth Baby Soap Company.

04:36 and because she was the Earth-bait.

04:39 And so, but when we started the company, as Bonnie said, is we wanted to do the right thing with the company. We just, what we believe in is, we don't believe that products should be full of harmful chemicals.

04:57 But so that's why we started making these products. But then we wanted to take it a step above. And there were so many, if we're like we're gonna start a business, we.

05:10 We felt like so many other businesses, people spent their hard-earned money and they didn't treat them the way that they should be treated. And so we said that we were going to create this company and we were going to operate it by the golden rule to treat people the way that we want to be treated.

05:31 So you'll see that we go above and beyond with our service.

05:37 We considered quitting because we were just so invested in the name Earthbaby and what it meant to us and what it meant to our followers. And so I remember walking out of that attorney's office and we just both felt so dejected. And then it was actually...

05:58 It was actually maybe the next day or so that we maybe we both slept on it and we said you know this this could actually be pretty good. I mean George's Soap Company was available.

06:12 It takes a little bit longer to get that type of a trademark because it has a location as part of the name, but it actually was available for us to try and grab and so we decided to do that and right away we started to see some some pretty good return from that because when people look for natural products they might say, you know, it's a good idea.

06:39 So natural soap in Georgia, they might Google Georgia natural soap. And of course, we were immediately one of the first things to pop up. So I think it really, really helped our online business.

06:52 Yeah, and so one of the things is that, as I said, that we want it to be above and beyond with our service before is with Earth Baby soap company. We we used to call our customers Earth Babies. And so we'll still get some of our veteran, uh, customers.

07:11 customers that will say, hey, I'm an Earth baby. And so we wanted to call them Earth babies because a customer is, they're not just a customer, they're more to us than that. And we really, really care about our customers. So we call them Earth babies. We felt like that would signify that they're more special than just a customer, they're not just a customer. They're important to us.

07:39 And when we switched over to Georgia Soap Company, you know, our whole vision was to create this big company and we wanted our products to be made in Columbus, you know, and so everybody was like cheering us on when we were Earth Baby Soap Company. And you're probably wanted to put, when we created our logo, we have Columbus in our logo. And so that really meant a lot. And it was kind of like thanking everybody for all their support. Like our commitment to Columbus.

08:14 Like our commitment to Columbus, like we hate Columbus. We're still here. We still see ya.

08:19 Our products are made in Columbus, Georgia. They're made in the USA. So that is amazing.

08:27 Yeah, I always say, Hey, did you include your love note? Yeah, that's a lot of people that comment on that. And it's something that we just got to keep doing. Sometimes we have Nyla write them. Yeah.

08:31 I love you.

08:32 Yeah, that's a lot of people that comment.

08:33 You

08:39 Yeah, so I mean that yeah the love notes are really important to us. I mean it takes extra time and everything.

08:50 But like I said, we really want to go above and beyond for our customers. And so doing that little love note just shows that, hey, thank you so much. The biggest compliment to us is when you buy our products. So I wanted to thank you.

09:10 you know, write a little note to them. Now, as we get bigger and bigger, you know, I really want to keep those love notes, too, as well. I mean, my hand is starting to get tired now, but, you know, if we get big enough, I mean, maybe hire some interns as well to kind of write some of these love notes. No, you always have to be the one to do the love notes. Or they're gonna be doing everything else. They're gonna be doing everything else because my hand's gonna fall off because some of these letters, I write some long letters sometimes, but it's pretty cool.

09:34 to write some of these love notes.

09:49 started in our kitchen. So I used to make these little cedar boxes to make the soaps for her. The molds. To make the molds for her. And so we started in our kitchen and then we used to let them cure like in a room within our house there. They cure for six weeks, so it takes a long time. And so we had Nyla, I mean she's small and everything, and then we started expanding more and more and we actually moved out of that house.

10:25 And so then we moved to a new house and then we just got so lucky.

10:30 into an old house.

10:31 yeah into an 1840 house and so the house next door to us

10:38 you know, that went up for sale. And that was like a 1900-ish house.

10:41 100. 100.

10:45 And so we had Naila, she was small and we needed more space. So we used to make our products, we bought that house and that's where we would make our products out of that house. We wouldn't have any, we barely had heat. I mean, we had to keep costs down. AC, we were running on fans. We were portable heaters when we're there. I mean, we were bundled up and it's crazy. I mean, the things that we would do and we were just all on the adrenaline from believing in this company. And then when people say, hey, you guys are awesome or we love your products, that really gives us the energy to keep going. And so now we've been in business, I mean, we're over 10 years and so we feel we can't give up. And we're the manufacturer. And so now we just wholesale it to the Posh Peach. We've been with them since they started and everything and they're amazing. I mean, they're family to us. And so we go out of our way for them and they go out of their way for us. They're real loyal to us and we appreciate that.

12:02 There was a time though that we were really doing it all. We were trying to grow the online business where we were at once the manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retailer. And then we were doing consignment as well. And then for several years there was, I think I counted 75 or 76 take up and take down shows that we did. Yeah.

12:28 Yeah, we did. The show was all over the place.

12:32 We would double and triple dip on the weekends. So we did all the Maine, the South ones. We did Hummingbird Festival, the Georgia Cotton Picket Festival.

12:40 Cotton Picket Festival, Christmas Maine the South. Yeah. Christmas Maine the South all in the whole tour. So they're all in different states. And so, yeah, I mean, we were doing 70 something shows in the year. And plus, we had full time jobs because of the pandemic.

13:01 It's you don't realize how much money that goes into a business. Why did you qualify for this. And so.

13:08 The good thing is that we were working full-time jobs as well. So when we talk to the customers, we can really be truthful with them and say, hey, try our four-ounce body butter. And if you like that, then you can move to our eight-ounce. And it's like they're blown away, because don't you want to push this thing, eight-ounce? And we're proud.

13:32 Kevin's been known to have a pretty big heart though too when somebody comes up to him and they're you know they obviously need our product and he's like gosh you know just take it. Yeah we just take it.

13:43 Yeah, we see so much eczema and so much psoriasis. It's crazy. The products that are out there, I'm telling you is there's so much preservatives and they want it to stay on shelves forever, because it's about the money. It's about making money. And we just believe that money will come by doing the right thing. Now it's a lot slower process than, but we can sleep at night. As long as we can sleep at night, that makes us feel good.

13:44 We'll see you next time.

14:19 So, I mean, as a result of that, though, we've had to turn some things down. We had to kind of to pull back on some things that we thought that we wanted to do in favor of doing something else. Like we had actually gotten into a boutique hotel and I mean, it was the biggest compliment to we. We went through this whole design. And we came up with.

14:41 Huge, huge hotel. It came up.

14:42 We came up with our lotion as a response to that need. So our shampoo, conditioner, and lotion came about because we actually got into a hotel and it was a subsidiary of the Hyatt.

14:45 Yes.

14:57 And so really, really super excited about that. They agreed.

15:01 The volume was going to be huge for us and we just thought we were just rolling in the dough. And then we started really, really looking at the numbers and how much they needed us to come down on the cost. And then we realized that we would pretty much just be working to supply this one hotel because of our process in making it. It's at the time, very little of it was or none of it was automated. We at least have some labelers now that we can we can use to label some of the bottles. But but yeah, at the time, it would have just taken all of our time and we would have just been making a fraction of a cent per little bottle. And so.

15:14 Merah.

15:32 Yeah.

15:46 And so, so not to interrupt, but so in response, in response to that, you know, we had that, that big hotel.

15:56 we couldn't produce. So it's like we had, it's like we got this hotel, this big hotel early in our process and everything. We got them too early. And so we couldn't produce because we didn't have the equipment. You know, everything was so manual. And if we would have had to do that manual, we would have been losing so much money. We are, our hands would fall off and everything like that. So it's unfortunate that, that we had to go back to them and tell them no. And this was a huge deal that we were gonna have.

16:41 And so that kind of woke us up that, hey, we need to think bigger and think, you know, we don't want to lose a deal like this again. And so that's when we started expanding and thinking bigger. And that's where we started.

17:01 you know, trying to do more, not so manual. We still do a lot that's manual. However, out of that deal…

17:12 we did end up getting the state park deal, like FDR State Park. And so we are doing their hospitality products for FDR State Parks and a lot of other Georgia state parks as well. Yeah. And I can't say enough about FDR Park. I mean, the park ranger, Desmond Timmons is amazing. And I met him because we did a show. It was probably our worst show ever that we ever did, but I met him.

17:46 Is that snowing?

17:47 And it was like all kinds of stuff. Nobody was even there. But I met Desmond, and we just bonded so good. And we've had our products in FDR State Park. And we were able to do that, but we weren't able to do this Hyatt Hotel.

17:48 It was like all kinds of stuff.

18:11 And so that kind of got our feet a little wet and knew that we needed to get bigger.

18:20 Just to explain for anybody who doesn't know, so America's Smart is where people go for B2B deals, so business to business deals. So that's where companies like us or even bigger companies will go and meet retailers, meet buyers for retailers.

18:21 Yeah.

18:38 And so, yeah, our first America's Mart, and it's very expensive to do as well. I mean, this is something that you really hope for a return on your investment.

18:48 and that's

18:52 Yeah, we took a big chance by going there and investing a lot of money, like you said.

18:52 Yeah, we could.

19:00 But our first...

19:02 I guess it was probably our first or second day we met buyers from Bed Bath & Beyond. Actually it wasn't even a buyer, it was some vice president of marketing and he saw our product and really, really liked how it looked. It looks very similar to what it does now as far as our packaging.

19:26 Yeah, he was really interested in the whole homegrown, Georgia grown product for his Georgia stores. Yeah. And so, so yeah, I, you and Suzanne had gone off for lunch and just left me there by myself. And then they came by and I'm the most introverted group of the bunch or person of the bunch. And I had to suck it up because I was like, Ooh, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. And we wouldn't have bad luck in Georgia grown for reporting all that. And we would have a good time selling it. Like how about you? You have one of those exclusive sportishares foods. Haha! And every time we're supposed to show somebody this one, they say look, this one, and they love it! They totally l-love it. They'll all fall in love. Speaking of family and shopping, we did talk about walking out doorways. And we buried the baptister as well into camp. Hahaha.

19:34 Yeah.

19:39 Never.

19:54 But prior to that is we put together an all-star team. And so we had me and Bonnie, and we had wonderful salespeople that had a lot of experience as well. We had a production manager. And so we were kind of like in the midst of moving here from the soap house to here. So we put this, the production manager that we have is incredible, incredible. I cannot say enough about him. And then his wife is as well. And so we had.

20:37 We had a great team and so that's really important to put together a good team. It really matters having that team. And so Bed Bath & Beyond, Bonnie spotted Bed Bath & Beyond. And so he kind of was looking at our product and then Bonnie just started talking to him.

20:57 completely out of character for me.

20:58 Yeah, completely, because she's an introvert.

21:02 And so, you know, he he was interested in our product. And then.

21:09 I want to say one night he called and said that a buyer was going to come tomorrow. However, we need for you to totally redo your, your packaging and doing the look. And so we were like, Oh my gosh. And, you know, and that's where we had the all-star team because all of us came together. And Bonnie, really, I mean, she had to do the graphic design part. She's, you know, we wear many hats and she's just been an amazing graphic designer for us. Yeah. And so.

21:50 They gave us the call at maybe like seven or eight o'clock at night and said that they were going to come in the morning and they needed that, the whole redesign. So we like stayed up most of the night.

22:05 probably almost all the night and we redesigned our packaging and we sent it to them and the buyer loved it and so then they started putting us in like some test stores.

22:20 Well, I mean, there was a lot that went in before we could do that, though, because we were thinking that this was in July. So we were thinking that maybe by the following July that we would be able to get in in time for the following holiday season. Yeah, but they wanted us in for that holiday season, which they're going to start buying for in just a couple of months.

22:21 test.

22:24 Thank you.

22:37 holiday season. Yeah.

22:40 Yeah.

22:45 And so we hustled and hustled and we figured out the whole barcode thing, which is We figured out the the edi system which is um, which is a a way that you that big companies order from Vendors like us or like anyone so it's kind of this whole I don't want to say underground but kind of A whole thing that not a lot of people know about it. It's it's something you need to subscribe to it's something you need specialized equipment for and it's a set of rules that you have to follow it in order to And it's specific for company too So they have your their own requirements and how they want you to box and label things So that they can receive them properly in their shipping and receiving department Yeah, but yeah, so all of those things and then and then producing the volume that was needed And then we got it out in time for Black Friday

22:53 A whole other arena.

23:21 N.

23:33 they can receive.

23:37 Yeah.

23:48 Me and Bonnie, we got computer background, we got our production manager who's able to, who's had experience in producing large amount of volume. Now our soap takes six weeks. So it's like, okay, we gotta, you know, if we run out of soap, we're gonna have to.

24:08 we're done. And so we get penalized if we don't produce. We got SLA service level agreements that we have to meet. There's all this stuff that we had to learn. And it's just, it's amazing. Just what, you know, all this stuff, like we look pretty relaxed right now, but holy cow.

24:29 It's a different stage, it's a different arena to sell at that level with that volume and that expectation. And then also we had specialized displays made that would fit on their end cap. So we had sheet metal displays that were... That's right.

24:30 It's a different.

24:32 you

24:45 Thank you.

24:49 that were just ship one out today it was like this one but it was really pretty Yeah, yeah, I mean it was short. I sent one out today. We were just sure that

24:52 was really pretty. Yeah.

24:55 I know a shop. I sent one out today. We were just sure that, or we were very hopeful that we're gonna have to just order a thousand of these. But we started off with 30, I think 30 of them. Yeah. And so they were sheet metal displays that perfectly fit. We had a design.

25:11 We had to design them too, so you designed these things. So I'm like, you're having to do all that too.

25:14 I designed it.

25:20 Success is fleeting.

25:23 Because it's always you know, what have you done for me now type thing And so it's we what we've learned is we can reach these milestones Like I remember at one time in the beginning our dream was to have our own store and then oh And then we got our own store. We're like, okay. Well now what well, we got to keep it open We got to keep it clean. We got to keep it stock. We got to keep it staffed And so what we've learned throughout this process Including getting the Bed Bath & Beyond deal. It's like, okay. Well, we need to keep them ordering We need to introduce new things. We need to keep our product fresh. I need to change out our labeling So we what we've learned is you can't sit idly by and just just collect money, you know That's just not how it works. And so it's You just can't be complacent and I think that's probably one of the biggest lessons we've learned too is

25:36 Hello.

25:41 because

25:41 you

25:55 Yeah.

26:01 No.

26:01 No.

26:04 how it works.

26:05 Thanks.

26:13 Yeah, you're always thinking of the next step. And so my brain is always going, you know, and just always thinking of, you know, how do we stay ahead? You know, what's the next step? What's what do we need to do next? And I'll tell you another thing is that, you know, God was watching over us. You know, we don't use God as to say, hey, you know, to market our products or anything like that. But God has really, like, looked out for us because there was times when we were going to quit our job and just open up the store and it would have been the horrible, a terrible move.

26:41 to market our products.

26:58 In hindsight, yeah, that would have been the biggest disaster for us financially. About time sometime.

27:00 that have been there.

27:02 for us financially. There was times when we wanted to give up because we were so tired and everything. And our family has sacrificed so much as that. But we've always been good to our family. We've been family people.

27:22 But God has really led us, and we kind of like listen to Him, and He's put things in our path. And you know, there was times when we were just going to give up, and then all of a sudden we get a call from a company or something like that, or Bed Bath & Beyond.

27:43 Or someone gives us a five star review or something. It could be something just completely small and seemingly insignificant, but those comments that we get or when somebody leaves good feedback on the Square app, it's like, oh, I love it, I live for it. I like it.

27:46

27:56

28:00 Yeah, we've had people, so we have had people come crying to us and how we've helped their eczema and psoriasis many, many times. And there's people that swear to our products how we've changed their life. And they've been suffering with eczema and psoriasis for so many years. And, and even some of these dermatologists couldn't even, you know, they would give them steroids and everything. And we, we look at trying to hit the root cause in a lot of our products. Like I said, it's, it contains so much chemicals in there. You know, we're, we're not making any medical claims. We can't make any medical claims or anything like that.

28:48 but we have really seen people, you know, just the testimonials have been amazing. And so, but we still do market days. And so that's where we, that's like where we started. And so we never thought that we were gonna be too big for our bridges. And so I like to go to market days. I've been doing market days for over 10 years. And so I've created, I've had so many friends from market days and I know everybody on the streets, you know, so, and they come up to me and they, you know, I just, I love making them smile and make them happy and just act crazy. And I like to get their feedback about our products. And I just really wanna be involved in the community.

29:37 And so I do market days still, and just to show, just to stay humble.