Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa France.
Melissa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I never thought I would own my own business. I graduated in 2008 from the University of North Texas with a BFA in Sculpture and in 2011 decided to go back and get my graduate degree in art education from Texas Woman’s University. I thought teaching was my future. On paper and in theory, teaching was the perfect fit for me – it was something I would enjoy doing and was good at. But as it turned out, I was not cut out for teaching for many reasons. It took me a while to come to terms with that. I was disappointed that what I had dreamed would be my career was, in fact, not going to work out. When I quit teaching, I kept looking for something that would be a better fit for me; something that would allow me to get my creativity out.
I kept coming back to the idea of working for myself. I had been making lip balms, cuticle salves, and the like, for family and friends for several years and I made a lot of body care products for myself. This was a way for me to eliminate a lot of unnecessary chemicals from my life. I’ve always been very conscious about what I put in and on my body. I am also very environmentally conscious, so I always tried to use body care products that wouldn’t wash chemicals off into our water systems and that were packaged in environmentally friendly ways. So, when I kept thinking about working for myself I looked around at what I had been doing as a hobby and wondered if I could turn that into something more and decided to dive in head first.
I can honestly say that what I do now has brought me more joy than anything I’ve done before. Yes, owing your own business is tough. It hasn’t always been easy, but I really believe that what you do for a living, what you devote the majority of your time to, should be a source of joy and if it’s not it’s time to move on.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The first year of my business was very slow, which I expected, but not for the reason that I thought it would be. In the same week I got my LLC paperwork in the mail, my husband and I also found out we were going to have a baby! It was so exciting – to be expecting my first baby and just starting my new business. I felt ready for all these changes coming my way. However, there were a lot of challenges I didn’t expect when it came to being pregnant and running a business. It was tough. I was still getting orders and I would have to make up products (because everything is made to order) even when I felt exhausted, and as my pregnancy progressed it got even tougher to lug around gallons of butters and oils. In my last trimester I even shut down my shop for a while to give my body a break and didn’t reopen until my baby was almost 3 months old. Definitely a slow first year and a very slow start to my business that I hadn’t expected. But I am now in my second year of business and it has taken off tremendously! I have a stockiest and a few wholesale orders under my belt and the retail side is still steadily increasing. I have a few markets lined up in the next couple of months and more that I have my eye on. The future of my business is looking up. Plus, working for myself means I get to spend as much time with my little girl as I want to.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Goods Apothecary & Handcrafted Provisions – what should we know?
Goods Apothecary and Handcrafted Provisions creates all natural, small batch, artisan bath and body products and housewares. We make a variety of soaps, lotions, herbal salves and lip balms, bath bombs and teas, shower steamers, aromatherapy products, men’s shaving and beard care products, soy wax candles and melts, and 100% cotton handmade washcloths. Aside from some very rare and limited-edition soaps, we only use essential oils in our body care products. The goal is to keep our body care products as natural as possible and using essential oils over fragrance oils is the best way to do that. We also use a variety of clays and natural colorants over laboratory made colorants. We really believe that what you put on your skin, the largest organ of your body, is important and choosing natural over synthetic is the best the way to go.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
The person that deserves the most credit is by far my husband, Alex. There is absolutely no way I could be doing all of this without his support. He’s my biggest cheerleader and always telling people about my company. He goes to markets with me and helps set up my booth and, surprisingly loves to do it. He listens to my ideas, brainstorms with me, and gives me the push I need when I feel hesitant to make a decision regarding my business. He’s the one that gave me the encouragement to become an entrepreneur. I owe a lot of my success to him.
I also have to give credit to my wonderfully supportive family who is always gifting my products to their friends and spreading the word about my business.
Pricing:
- The average price of our products is $6 with gift sets starting at $20
Contact Info:
- Website: www.goodsapothecary.com
- Email: goodsapothecary@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/goodsapothecary
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/goodsapothecary
- Other: www.pintrest.com/goodsapothecary
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