Desiree Capuno works long hours as an aircraft engineer.
“I wanted to have a hobby to relieve stress after work,” Desiree shares.
She added that she stumbled upon soap making, which she described to be similar to cooking and baking, at the same. These two activities are also among her hobbies.
After perfecting her homemade bars, she decided to turn this hobby into an online business. She launched The Soap Diary in 2019.
A local store that specializes in selling handcrafted soaps—the organic, artisan kinds—The Soap Diary also offers other bath products such as bath salts and candles.
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When she started her soapmaking business, she spent around P30,000 buying ingredients, supplies, and tools.
But she did realize that it has been a wise investment. In a week, her soap business gives her an income of around P10,000 to P30,000.
“Sometimes, it’s less. Sometimes, it’s more than that. But it is fine because I love what I do and I make money out of it,” Desiree says.
Not-so-smooth start
For her, the most challenging part is the learning process.
“I wasted a lot. Sometimes, it’s frustrating because it would also cost me money. Soapmaking is like chemistry; you compute for the recipe, for the formula of your recipe before you can actually start to make the soap,” she shares.
Desiree added that she had to waste a lot of materials just to get a hang of the process until she is comfortable.
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She also struggled between her job and her business before the pandemic. She works for her full-time job during the day. At 7:00 in the evening, her shift finishes. Soapmaking will start after dinner. Since she allots most of her time for her full-time job, she can only focus on soapmaking in her spare time and during the weekends.
But because of the shorter periods that she has to report for work, Desiree can now devote more time to her soap business.
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