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LeslieBarber
Level 6

Leaving the 9-to-5 and Learning to Start a Business: Meet Fable Soap Co-Founder Jeriel Sydney

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 When a flooded apartment left Jeriel Sydney and her husband re-evaluating their lives, they decided to pack up and get back to basics in Italy. While traveling and volunteering on organic farms, Jeriel learned how to make soap — a hobby she kept up after she later returned to the US.

 

But this newfound skill wasn't the only thing Jeriel brought home with her. Her experiences abroad also left her determined not to pursue a typical 9-to-5 job. Soon, interest in her soaps started to bubbled up, and her business has been thriving ever since.  

 

We recently chatted with Jeriel about the friends who helped her gain confidence in her company, as well as the advice she wishes she hadn’t asked for.  

 

Name: Jeriel Sydney

Business: Fable Soap Co

Started: November 2014

 

How did you create your awesome job?

 

My story is pretty unique in that I went from studying clinical psychology to starting a soap company!

My husband and I were based in San Francisco before I launched my business. Between the cost of living and the overall work culture, it was really intense. I was going to school and he was working in a Michelin-starred restaurant, which meant we never saw each other. Our lives really didn’t fit together.

 

When our basement apartment flooded twice and we got a bunch of money to get back on our feet, we decided to give up everything we were doing. We knew we needed to get out of the rat race, so we bought a pair of tickets to Italy.

 

When we got there, WWOOF (the World Wide Organization of Organic Farmers) hooked us up with different farms across the country. We learned skills like gardening and how to make stuff from scratch. It was a really old-world mentality. 

 

On the last farm we stayed at we made soap, and I just fell in love with the process. I began moving away from the idea that I needed to complete my graduate studies and get a PhD before I went back to working 9-to-5. This whole other world opened up to me. I realized I could start my own business and do my own thing — other people make it work all the time! 

 

When we came back to California I kept making soaps, and it all went from there.
 

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Who was your very first customer?

 

My first paying customer was my father-in-law’s best friend. 

 

My father-in-law is a real masculine sort of guy, so it was hilarious when he told his friend, “Man, you’ve got to try her soap!” His friend asked how much a bar cost, so I just pulled a number out of the air and said $3.00. He said, “Great, I’ll take 10.”

 

At the time I was just making soap for myself and my husband, so I didn’t know what I was doing — or even what to wrap it in. But he gave me a bunch of cash — which I still have! — and I was completely bewildered by the entire transaction.

 

At what point did you know your business was going to work?

 

A lot of people had been coming over to our house and buying my soaps, but my friend Valerie suggested I expand and turn it into a real business. She has connections with the store Scarlet Sage Herb Co in San Francisco’s Mission District and offered to take me down to talk with the owners about how to turn my little home soap shop into a real business.

 

Once I told them my story, however, they said they wanted to carry all my soaps! I wanted to cry — I couldn’t believe it. I totally froze, but luckily Val jumped in and started laying out the process and pinning down wholesale prices.

 

When we walked out, I looked at her and she said, “You can do this. People are going to buy your soap.” 

From that point on, I knew things were going to work. I decided to get serious about the business by branding my product, getting insurance and so on.

 

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What has been the biggest surprise so far after starting your own business?

 

Every day is its own surprise and is full of new challenges. 

 

Coming from a world where I knew exactly what I would be doing each day was a big change. I have to wear a different hat minute to minute with Fable Soap Co — it's never going to be a 9-to-5 job. 

 

I can set out a plan and have an idea of what needs to get done the next day, but there are going to be so many bumps along the way.

 

How do you price your products?

 

The biggest thing I’ve learned as a business owner is that it’s hard to be good at everything. Pricing was one of those things for me. 

 

After I got my first wholesale order, I called up Austin, my college roommate who studied business, and we sat down with all of my costs for the raw material I use. I put them into the formula he provided and priced each of my products from there.

 

A common mistake people make when they’re starting out is to undersell themselves. It’s a really nerve-wracking moment when you charge somebody for something you make yourself. It didn’t feel natural, so I had to reach out to somebody for help.

 

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What does a typical day look like for you?

 

I usually wake up at 7am. The first thing I do is work out with my husband, then I’ll make coffee and spend the next two or three hours going through my emails and organizing my orders. 

 

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are production days for me. I’ll spend about 45 minutes cleaning and bleaching the studio, then I'll dive into producing soaps, lip balms or whatever else I’m making. I’ll watch them cure over the course of the afternoon to make sure the products are setting properly. I’ll also wrap orders and try to get everything ready to ship by the 4pm pickup time. 

 

After that, I’ll focus on packaging and try to finish up by 6pm.

 

What would you like to learn today from a community of other small business owners and self-employed professionals?

 

My biggest mistake was talking with a successful business professional about how I should get things started with my company. His emphasis on needing to trademark all my products and get licensed right away scared me at the beginning. 

 

That experience made me realize I'd rather like to have a group of people in similarly scaled businesses to bounce ideas off and learn from.

 

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Do *you* have a small business story to share with us?

 

If you, like Jeriel, get more value out of learning from other small business owners who are at the same stage in their businesses, we want to hear from you!

 

Share your own stories and tips in the comments below — we can't wait to learn from your experiences. :-)

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