Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007
Mom splashes into business of making soap
By JULIE WASHBURN SOUZA
For the Journal‑Constitution
Several years ago, Fayetteville mom Dawn Dallaire was looking for something she could do from home to bring in some extra money. She started a soap‑making business in her kitchen, never dreaming it would morph into a million‑dollar company. Dallaire had stayed home with her children while they were little, but when her daughter Sarah started kindergarten, Dallaire wanted to find an idea for a small business she could manage from home. Years before, she had seen cute clear soaps that looked like little bags with After buying a soap‑making kit from a craft store, Dallaire began experimenting in her kitchen. At first, she said, the results were horrible, but eventually, she perfected her technique. She started producing crystal‑clear soaps with a variety of small toys encased within. She named her business Clearly Fun Soaps and began to see what kind of market existed for |
 |
Knowing she wanted to sell her soaps wholesale, she took a gamble and loaded up the family van with samples of Clearly Fun Soaps. She drove to a trade show in Orlando, where buyers from stores shop for new product lines.
Dallaire came home with some big orders from several stores. She enlisted some assistance from her husband, John, and together they started filling orders from their kitchen.
"I realized very quickly that I couldn't keep this up from my kitchen," Dallaire said. "I had to have a bigger space to work. There was soap everywhere. I couldn't make soap and still make dinner.”
She moved the company into the garage, but soon she needed even more space. Dallaire moved her business into a 5,000 square‑foot warehouse and manufacturing facility in Griffin. She hired employees to make and package her soaps and started to devote most of her time to finding more stores to sell her products.
 |
Today, Dallaire travels to trade shows all over the country. Chains such as Bath and Body Works and Kirklands sell her soaps. The "Grand Ole Opry" and the Ritz–Carlton also buy from Dallaire. Clearly Fun Soaps, which sells only to wholesalers, has about 3,500 customers in eight countries. The Griffin factory can produce about 8,500 bars of soap a day. "It is just amazing the way this has taken off,” said Dallaire. "When I started this in my kitchen, I had no idea it would take me this far.” Once again, Dallaire has outgrown her facility. She hopes to move into a 10,000 square‑foot building in the spring. Now Dallaire 's husband stays home with their children while she works full time. In addition to her business success, Dallaire has lost 130 pounds. She says she is thin for the first time in 20 years. She's writing a book about her experience in the business world and her weight loss called "Woman Owned Business: The Trials and Triumphs of Being a Woman in Business in a Man's World.” |
For the past four years, Dallaire said, her life has been full of change and adjustments. She said she owes most of her success to divine intervention.
"I don't think of myself as a very driven person. I'm really very shy, so this has all been a stretch for me," Dallaire said. "I firmly believe God had a plan for me, and I'm just here riding it out."