Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in skincare but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Justin Sweeney, co-founder of Bubbles & Balms, located in Lower Norton, NB, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

We are Bubbles & Balms, and we make the best-smelling bath & body products for dry & sensitive skin. Our products are certified cruelty- and irritant-free. They are gluten-free, vegan-friendly, zero-waste, and made by hand in our production studio in Lower Norton, New Brunswick.

Our customers are Canadians, mostly who are looking for a bathing and self-care routine that caters to dry and sensitive skin. Our customers typically have reactions to some combination of synthetic preservatives, colourants, fragrance ingredients, or harsh cleansers (surfactants). We've purposely left out these irritants and are going so far as to have every product approved by the Good Face Project to certify that they are irritant-free for sensitive skin.

Tell us about yourself

I was bothered by fragrances, and my wife was bothered by most everything else in a lot of personal care products. We both had dry skin, and we found that oil-based moisturizers really helped to tackle that. When we moved to Alberta in 2014, we lost our local maker and decided to make a few of our own products after not being able to find what we needed nearby.

The following year, we attended schools of aromatherapy to understand how to create skin-safe essential oil blends for topical application. The products improved, farmer's market sales improved, and we launched a small boutique. The positive response and continued feedback and questions from our community really motivated us to keep going and get better each day at what we do.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Our biggest accomplishment has been navigating 2019-2021. We had been back in New Brunswick a little over a year, and then COVID-19 arrived. We had our two children, bought our first house, had to open and then close a boutique, and then moved to an online model over those years. 2022 has almost felt like a homecoming, with the world feeling a little stable underneath us for the first time in a while. Maintaining a lot of our community and never pausing operations over that period has taught us a lot about staying lean and adaptable. And landing our first distributor in late 2021. That was a big moment.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Uncertainty and occasional loneliness. When there are financial pressures, it can definitely feel like there is a heavy burden on your shoulders. Doing your first lay-offs is not easy.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Crawl, Walk, Run - we didn't take enough time upfront and lost momentum, turning back to work on foundational pieces like a well- setup Chart of Accounts.
  2. Ask Questions - I have found that other business owners looking for nothing from us have been the best coaches and mentors
  3. Don't Spend Money Until You Have To - I upgraded to a lot of premium subscriptions and kept almost none of them.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

We appreciate the opportunity to share a bit of our experience. Check us out at our website, link below!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.bubblesandbalms.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bubblesandbalms.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bubblesandbalms.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-sweeney-568243153/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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