Meet the Soapmaker Teacher and Owner behind Muddy Mint
At Bulk Apothecary, we are proud to support and highlight the talented artisans and businesses that rely on our high-quality ingredients. Every month, we feature a standout creator from the soapmaker community, showcasing their unique journey and passion for crafting.
This month, we’re excited to introduce you to Simi Khabra, the Soapmaker educator and owner of Muddy Mint. Whether you’re a boutique owner or a skincare, soap, or candle maker, you’ll learn and be inspired by her journey.
Thank you for taking the time to share more about your business with us and the soapmaker community. Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your journey with Muddy Mint? We’d love to hear how you started creating and teaching makers.
Hi there! My name is Simi Khabra and I’m a soapmaker and educator in Longmont, Colorado. I started my business, Muddy Mint, in 2016 primarily selling on Etsy. In 2017-18, I had a retail space with a business partner in downtown Longmont called Mud & Madder, which we ended up closing down as I was going through a divorce. That was nearly the end of Muddy Mint.
In 2018, when I was thinking of calling it quits, I met my [now] husband, Troy who reinvigorated my love of soapmaking and we got my online business going again. This time, we were serious and things accelerated quickly. In 2021, Troy quit his architecture job and joined me full time. By 2023 we were in a 1,500 sq ft production space with six employees making 50,000+ bars of soap per year selling our soap retail and wholesale in over 600 retail stores across the US.
In 2023, I wrote a book, “The Natural Soapmaking Handbook” which was published in May 2024. Writing this book helped spark my journey from soapmaking to teaching. We also started a YouTube channel in 2023 (yep, it was a busy year!), along with selling some of our seasonal soap recipes, and we were met with a lot of encouragement from the soapmaking community. All of this solidified our decision to [sadly] shut the doors on our production space in February 2024 and shift gears towards education, giving us more flexibility with our schedules and time for family and friends.
Wow, that is a beautiful way to show strength and innovation within your brand! Clearly your heart is in your work. Speaking of heart, what do you love most about creating products and educating others who want to create?
I absolutely love the creation process. I feel like I have endless ideas and hardly any time to execute them. I’m definitely a “wing it” type of person though, so I like to deeply understand how something works, and then use that knowledge to create something beautiful. I am a strong believer in letting the soap batter lead the creation process and not fighting what is happening, which is why I go in with a plan, but then I let the soap do the talking and I try to listen. My soaps are very simple and classic. I don’t do complicated designs, but rather I focus on using natural ingredients that all have a real reason for being in the soap. I love traditional soaps and scents and feeling like I’m participating in a ritual that is centuries old, but with a modern twist.
Soapmaking is my passion and I’m the type of person that dives deep into the details. When I learn something, I really want to know how it works, and I’m an insane researcher. I think this is where I can really help educate newer (or even seasoned) soapmakers who struggle with this part of the process. We all learn differently and using video to help educate is one way to bring this information to people who learn better visually. I’ve been told I’m a good teacher, which has been super encouraging. Our education journey is just beginning, so I’m still learning, but am very excited about where this side of our business will go!
What values does your business embody?
We feel very strongly about having a transparent and authentic presence in the soapmaking community. We share a lot about what we do and our process and we’ve been doing that even more now as educators. I am 100% the face of the business on social media, as I’ve always been, and I feel very strongly about being genuine about the ups and downs of business. I think it’s really important to not be an educator that is perfect and doesn’t make mistakes because that isn’t relatable at all. We continue to learn and make mistakes and that’s just part of business. We also try to ensure that everyone has access to the education we provide. We do a lot of content for free and try to make everything else affordable to all soapmakers. We encourage everyone we teach to be up-front and honest about their products and to show up in their business in a genuine way.
I love that open book way of running a business where you teach others in their soapmaking journey! Out of all the amazing products you’ve created, what’s your personal favorite? Whether it’s a skincare item, soap, or candle, we’d love to know which one holds a special place for you and why.
I love our soaps the most, but I’m very proud of our body butter recipe. I’ve tried a lot of body butters and worked on this recipe for a long time and I absolutely love it. It’s one of the most requested and popular recipes on our website.
What is your favorite part of teaching others?
My favorite thing in the world is hearing from someone that has made soap for the first time using the instructions in my book. There’s no better feeling than that! My second favorite is when I hear from people that have learned to use 50/50 lye water solution and told me that it has completely changed their soapmaking. When I wrote my book, I wanted to bring this technique to the forefront, even though it’s considered an advanced technique, so I love hearing from soapmakers who have embraced it and found it to be a game-changer in their business.
Finally, I just love hearing from soapmakers from all over the world! Hearing about their struggles and trying to help. I love giving back to the soapmaking community in this way, as I’ve learned so much from our community over the years
What is your favorite Bulk Apothecary product and how do you use it in your business?
We have bought a lot of products from Bulk Apothecary over the years, but the main products we buy over and over again are: cocoa butter, shea butter, and lye.
These might seem like pretty simple ingredients, but they are the bread and butter of our soapmaking. Bulk Apothecary has the best pricing I’ve found on bulk lye, so we used to buy it 2000 lbs at a time! We also buy the cocoa and shea in 55 lb blocks and put them in an oil tank so they are fully melted and ready to go. Lately, when we had issues with our essential oil supplier, we started buying essential oils from Bulk Apothecary as well and they’ve always been great quality with fast shipping. We love using the 15% off coupon code for orders over $250 as well, so thank you for that!
You are very welcome and thank you for being such an amzing customer! Can you share one piece of advice that has helped you in your business?
This isn’t really advice that I’ve received, but I think it’s important to know that business takes time. You have to be willing to do the research and put the time in. Many businesses only begin to see good success between the 5 and 10 year mark. But, business teaches you so much! It’s such a worthwhile journey and you’ll learn a lot about yourself along the way!
What is the most frequently asked question you get and your solution a soapmaking educator?
I get a lot of emails, but the most common complaint I hear from businesses is that they are not able to sell as much as they would like. Many people struggle going from in-person markets to online sales. We did a whole YouTube video to address this question and try to help, but the biggest contributors to getting online sales are: search engine optimization (SEO), photography, and pricing. If you can nail down these three things – you’re getting found, people are clicking on your listing, and the price is right, then you will get sales. It’s easier said than done, but I usually recommend people start by setting up an Etsy shop (yep, I can hear the groans, but Etsy is WAY easier to sell on than your own website, as it has a built-in marketplace!), learning about SEO, spending time on photography, and making sure your products are priced competitively, including shipping costs. You just need a little traction at the beginning, and some reviews, and then you can fine-tune things as you go.
What are some of the biggest challenges you and your business face?
My biggest challenge has always been myself. When I had employees, I struggled with going from soapmaker to manager. Now that Troy and I are working from home, I struggle with getting the motivation to do all the things I want to do. From the outside, it might seem like we’re doing a lot, but I always feel like I could do more. Many projects never get done, but I do try to prioritize life and people over my business. I feel like our business could be a lot bigger if I really committed to it, but I might be totally stressed and overworked!
Do you have any wisdom or advice for aspiring makers starting their creative journey?
Research! Don’t ever stop. Whether you’re researching how to make soap, how to make sales, how to take photos, or how to run a business, keep going because that will be the thing that puts you in the top 10% of businesses. If you are constantly working on your business, even in the smallest of ways, you will naturally learn and do well over time. I believe in growing a business organically, which is much more sustainable in the long run. In other words, rather than trying to blast people through advertising, learn how SEO works and get to the top of the list organically. Slower growth allows you to shift when you see that things aren’t going well and you’ll keep your customers happier too. Speaking of customers, stay positive with your customers and customer support. No matter what you want to say, be professional and courteous. Spend less time on social media and more on the things that matter. Use that time to learn how to take good photos and videos and how the Etsy search engine works and you will be far ahead of everyone that is spending their time making reels. When you have exhausted all the soapmaking research, start listening to business podcasts (my favorite is “How I Built This”) to help grow your business. I obsessively worked on my business in these small ways all the time and I really think that helped us get to where we are today.
As an educator what do you feel is the best place to start when opening a business selling homemade products?
I think a lot of people are afraid to start, so the first thing I’d say is to start! When I first started listing my soaps on Etsy, I didn’t even have a label designed until I got my first sale… then I was like: “Shoot! I better design a label!” I think we often overthink things and stop ourselves from even beginning. I think selling in person at markets is a great place for people to start, as it omits a lot of the hard stuff of selling online (photography and SEO) and places the emphasis on the products themselves. It’s a good way to see what people like and to hear comments in person. You definitely want to use that as an opportunity to create a customer base, which I talk about in my video “From Markets to Online Sales”, if you’re interested.
What are your must-have tools and products to have on hand?
For soapmaking, I think it’s important to invest in a good scale, a digital thermometer, a good stick blender, and high quality molds. I use Google sheets a lot for all my spreadsheet needs (I’m a giant spreadsheet nerd!). Most phones are fairly good for photography these days. With these basics, you can start a soapmaking business!
Do you have any online classes or products you want to tell our community about?
We are working on our first natural soapmaking course in May 2025, so look out for that in the summer, if you’re interested. In the meantime, my book, The Natural Soapmaking Handbook, is a project I spent a year on that I poured my heart and soul into. If you’re a soapmaker, I’m confident you will learn something new from reading it! 🙂 We also have our YouTube Channel and we sell a ton of recipes on our website, as well as providing some free downloads.
It’s been wonderful getting to know more about you and your business! Before we wrap up, can you let everyone know the best way to explore more of your work and connect with you?
If you want to learn more about starting a business check out this blog, How to make your candle or skincare business stand out online
