In this day and age, it's hard to count on a business. It seems like too many businesses depend on deceptive practices in order to run at maximum profits produced.
In case you hadn't noticed, Simple Apothecary is run differently.
Technically, I could probably save money by outsourcing some of my manufacturing. I've even thought about it as hand measuring and mixing can be tedious, especially as I don't use any chemical emulsifiers or preservatives.
As you can imagine, this means I don't make as much money as I probably could. But I want to share with you WHY I do things the way I do at Simple Apothecary.
The Origin of Handcrafted Remedies
As you probably already know, I began making my products out of necessity. I couldn't find what I needed in a store, namely natural products that actually worked.
From there I began experimenting with making my own recipes. Some have been phenomenal, while others were either marginal or even terrible. If I could have you smell some of the blends I came up with using essential oils way back when, OH MY GAWD, they were TERRIBLE!! I'm literally laughing right now thinking about how bad they were.
Lessons Learned
But with those errors came lessons learned. Scaling up my recipes has been one of those hard lessons. If you've ever tried to scale up a cake recipe to a larger size, than you know what I'm talking about.
The science of mixing things together changes at larger quantities. I've learned this first-hand while trying to make a larger batch of my original products at one time.
The science of scaling up has resulted in large batches of product being thrown out, which is devastating to do. For some reason just doing simple math and adding more of everything, doesn't always work.
For one, having more of everything can change how the mixer works. I may have to add more mixing time, or do it in a different order, or mix it at a higher speed. This takes experimenting and yes, sometimes even failure, to make it right in the long run.
Quality Natural Products
My ability to keep my products consistent without the use of chemicals is a main selling point to running a small business. Using natural ingredients means there are sometimes inconsistencies beyond my control. Beeswax is an excellent example as the moisture content can change from batch to batch. This means that I may have to adjust the amount I use when I get a new shipment of the raw material in.
If I was doing large batches, this could mean an expensive disaster. By keeping my batches smaller and in my hands, I'm able to ensure a more consistent quality. On the rare occasions when a batch makes it out to customers and a flaw in it slips past me, I can make adjustments or replacements easily.
I'll Say it Again... Ethics!
You may get sick of hearing me say it, but it really comes down to me wanting to do the right thing. Making my products in smaller, handcrafted batches means I am sticking to my ethics. I can make sure that everything I make is made to MY exacting standards while I take the time to set healing intentions on each batch.
So while I most likely would save money in the long-run outsourcing some of the manufacturing of my products, it wouldn't save my heart. I have my heart and soul in this company and will always do right by it and my customers. That is something you can count on.
