Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristi Dockter.
Hi Kristi, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I have always enjoyed quality bar soap and the benefits it provides to my skin. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to make soap with a veteran soap maker; I was hooked. When I arrived home, I ordered all of the supplies I would need to make my first batch. Before long, I formulated my own recipe after carefully researching the properties and qualities of different ingredients.
My family and friends were inundated with a lot of soap, followed with body butter and other products as I created them. Fast forward to 2020 and a pandemic-plagued the world; I was still going to work each day but after, I was home as much of the world shut down. My husband and daughters brought up the idea of me starting a small business with my soaps. Some may think a pandemic is a strange time for a start up, but for me, it gave me the opportunity to take my time and learn as I go. First, I came up with a budget of what it would cost to buy a domain name, build a website, make 1,000 bars of soap, figure out packaging, etc.
Once I had that dollar amount calculated, I wanted to start out debt free and I Door Dashed to reach my start up goal. All of the time I spent in the car delivering food, my mind whirled with dreams, ideas, and deciding on a business name. Hidden Treasure Soap was born; named after a ski run in Utah that pushed me to embrace fun over fear. After 3 years in, I have discovered a passion for bath and body products that are natural and nourishing. Education is important as our skin is the largest organ our body has.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think any new small business will have its own share of struggles! One of the hardest elements for me is when a vendor market doesn’t go as planned. I have tore down and packed things as fast as I could during torrential rain, attended markets without selling enough to earning my booth fee back, to miscalculating ingredients and having to dump batches of product during production.
Another obstacle is packaging as there is no “how to” manual. The learning curve of what is friendly to the environment, what is required to list on each item, where you get labels, etc. With each packaging experiment comes expense that for a new business, is painful. Then there is the accounting piece. Taking credit card payments, paying sales and use taxes, and just keeping the “books” clean. It is a learning curve that I am proud to stay ahead of while continuing to learn.
Operating Hidden Treasure Soap debt free from our family expenses is very important to me and when I make a purchase that gets wasted or won’t work as planned, I can get discouraged. My husband Chad is such an encourager when I get down on myself and my business; he reminds me what I have learned, how far I have come, and what bright things are on the horizon.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I believe Hidden Treasure Soap is known for carefully curated bath and body products that go back to natural and wholesome ingredients. Our tag line is “all natural, all nourishing, all you”. Any product is ultimately only as good as the ingredients that go into it, a level of integrity that I defend with each product I create. Utilizing ingredients like olive oil, grapeseed oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter, locally sourced beeswax, and more, add nutrients to my products that your skin will love.
I am so proud of each of my products as they are made in small batches, each ingredient weighed for precision, and they focus on self care for your body. What sets me apart is my desire to educate my customers on understanding what they are putting on their bodies and how that can affect their health. It isn’t just about selling soap, it goes deeper than that for me. Yes, I love repeat customers but knowing those customers come back because they can see a difference in their skin, keeps me on my quest.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I have lived in the Minneapolis metro for 35 or so years. Currently, my family resides in a small bedroom community southwest of Minneapolis.
Growing up in small towns most of my life and the same for my husband, we gravitated back to our small town roots. Being in a small community yet not too far from “the big city” gives us the best of both worlds for restaurants, museums, and shopping.
Pricing:
- Bar Soap $7.00
- Body Butter 4 oz. $12.00
- Shower Steamers 2 Pack $7.00
- Sugar Scrubs $10.00
- Products range from $7.00 to custom gift sets in any dollar amount.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hiddentreasuresoap.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hidden.treasure.soap/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HiddenTreasureSoap
