What an incredible journey 2023 has been for us! We’re thrilled to share that we’ve sent nearly 25,000 bars of our Goat Milk Soap out into the world this year, alongside thousands of lotions and laundry soap bags. We sold so much soap that we are having to reconfigure our soap making process and schedule in order to meet the demand efficiently. We’re a tiny family-run business, and while our children lend a hand here and there, it’s mainly Kevin and me running every facet of the business—from crafting the soap, lotions, and laundry soaps, to packaging, shipping, managing our social media presence and returning customer’s emails and calls.
In 2020 we stopped attending farmers markets, for obvious reasons, and moved totally online. We were extremely fortunate to be able to make that move so seamlessly, but some of the parts of what has always made our company so great, like the fact that we are run by a small family, were lost in the transition. When everything is online it is hard to convey to customers how much work goes into the products they order, or for them to get a sense of the family they are supporting with their purchase. I think some of the anonymity that comes with your business being online causes some customers to treat you like you aren’t human, like trying to take advantage of a business doesn’t actually hurt anyone. I am in no way implying that this happens a lot, but it does happen, and it has happened more this year than any other year in the past. I think the way Amazon and other massive companies do business has really set many small businesses up for failure and has created unrealistic expectations. It has also made even small businesses seem faceless at times…. And I have to admit that our social media has been lacking this year. My heart has not been in it… at all. After ten and a half years in business I feel like I am in social media groundhog day, so I know that is contributing to some newer customers not seeing the family behind the business. So, in order to help show new costumers the family behind the bar of soap and to get me out of the social media rut, I am going to start a new 365 project (technically 366.. leap year!). We have done these projects in the past but they have only been farm based. In fact, we started one in 2020 that we dropped three months in, when covid started and our world was turned upside down. We needed to just focus on making things work and keep our business moving forward, rather than getting cute goat pictures.
This 365 project is going to be different though. It will be all encompassing. You will see our whole world, not just the farm. I will do my best to shake of the expectation that each picture in our feed needs to be perfect and flawless and just show you the real us. This project will span across all our social media platforms—TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and maybe even YouTube. We aim to offer diverse content that unveils who you’re supporting with each dollar spent and demonstrate the dedication and hard work that goes into every product we create. It’s about sharing our story, our trials, and triumphs—bringing you closer to the heart of our family business.
