Next Steps: A Business Plan

I haven't been making any new soap this week. I have been researching what it will take to get a business started and how much it will cost. First I need to decide how the business will be organized. Will I be a sole proprietorship, or a corporation? A sole proprietorship will require me to register a fictitious name unless I use my name as my business name. If I choose a corporation I don't need to worry about a fictitious name; however, there are multiple types of corporation to choose from, each with its own benefits and drawback. For a small business like what I'm trying to be the most common corporation type is a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC). If I choose to become a corporation, this is the one that I will most likely choose. Next is registering the LLC with both the state and the city, getting a resale certificate and a Federal Tax ID number. All this can be done fairly quickly and easily, but it does take some time and of course money.
This brings me to the rest of what I have been doing for the last few days. I need to put together a business plan. Even if I never need to take it to a bank or an investor, I need to have one for myself so that I can have a written plan of what I want to accomplish and how to get there. It can be revised as needed along the way, but it will give me a place to keep track of short term and long term goals, what costs I foresee coming up and how I am meeting my goals as time goes on.
There are many questions that need to be answered. What is my mission statement? What are my company values? How much money will it take to get started? When do I need the money? Where will the money come from? What products will I be selling? How much will each one cost me to make? How will I price them? Where will I sell them? Do I want to have wholesale accounts or just sell them retail myself? What about economy or premium product lines? Do I need product liability insurance? Is there a plan for expansion? I still haven't answered all of these questions and I'm sure that I am leaving out many other topics that I will need to consider. But I am starting to get an idea of how much money I'll need for the first year. It's a much larger number than I would have thought, but then again part of writing the business plan is looking your business square in the face to see what needs to be done.

Soap Making Business?

I'm toying with the idea of starting a business making all natural cold process soaps. The plan is to sell them online and at a local open air craft market at the beach. Some of the soaps will be in shell/beach shapes and themes. Does anyone have any advice on starting a business? What kinds of qualities, scents, etc would you want in a handcrafted natural soap?

Cold process soap is made by the saponification of oils and/or fats with Sodium Hydroxide (more commonly known as Lye). Often fragrance or essential oils and botanicals are added to enhance various features of the soap. This is the way soap was made for centuries prior to the commercial "soap" we are familiar with from the local supermarket. Many of these commercially available "soaps" are actually detergents because they are created by a different method using chemicals. Just read the ingredient declaration on your bar of soap!

The first batch I am making to try out will be called Cafe au Lait. It is a goat's milk soap made with olive oil, coconut oil, lard (I will be replacing the lard in future batches with a vegetable oil - likely soybean oil), sodium hydroxide, coffee and coffee grounds. Olive oil makes a nice mild soap while coconut oil creates loads of rich lather. The goat's milk is for moisturizing and creaminess. Finally the coffee is great for deodorizing your hands in the kitchen after chopping onions or garlic. I can't wait to make the soap!