Oprah inspires Stonington woman to market soaps  

 

 

By TONY REID - H&R Staff Writer
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> STONINGTON - Stay-at-home mom Nikki Pugh didn't let a few things like
crushing personal tragedy and a complete lack of business experience get in
the way of pursuing her entrepreneurial goals.
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> She hitched her dreams to exotic soaps and baby goodies and now is pushing
her stroller all the way to the bank with a thriving home-based business she
started in February.

 

Nikki, 29, says it's never too late for the moms of the world to unite and join her - they have nothing to lose but their financial chains.

"Oprah was really the one who inspired me," she explained, cradling 1-year-old son Charlie in her arms and adjusting his diaper. "Oprah has these moms on her show all the time who stay home with their kids but start little ideas that grow into big businesses. I just finally got to thinking, 'I've got no business experience, but surely I could try something like that. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to do some of this stuff.' Well, it worked for me - and I know it could work for other moms, too."

Nikki got to watch plenty of Oprah while recuperating from two major catastrophes: in 2002 she lost a baby when she was five months pregnant and then, in 2003, complications with Charlie's birth almost killed her.

Nikki's husband, also named Charlie, was working two jobs as a mechanic and cleaner as he tried to make ends meet. The couple, who describe themselves as "each other's best friends," were watching their family life evaporate.

"I was gone from the house 16 hours a day," said Charlie, 44, who is also father to Jack, 7, and Sammy, 3. "I was going days without seeing my kids, and it was then my wife said she would find a business idea she could do right in the house. She told me, 'I will get it to where you can drop one job' and that's just what she did." He was able to quit the cleaning job about eight weeks into the soap venture.

Nikki had been in love with fancy soaps since she was a kid, and countless hours of Internet surfing had shown her where to get supplies - often from other entrepreneurial moms scattered coast to coast. "There are loads of us out there," she said. "It's like a big network."

Melting down and cutting the soap herself, she spices it with scents ranging from grape to honey almond and uses her talent for presentation to wrap the individual soaps attractively. "She was always doing stuff with flowers and decorations around the house and people would say, 'You should be in interior design; you ought to do something more with your ideas,' " said her husband. "Well, now she is."

Nikki's soaps are selling like hot cakes at beauty shops in Taylorville, where she makes sure they are displayed attractively. "I put them in little trinket boxes on fancy shelves, draped with beautiful linens, and I think that helps," Nikki explained. "Poor presentation, however nice the product, is like serving a steak dinner on a trash can lid."

Soapy novelties have become some of her hottest lines. She sells soap that looks like water in a bag with a little plastic goldfish suspended inside, just like the ones you bring home from a pet store. Other soaps have anything from embedded wizards to turtles, and she'll also customize to order, making the soaps popular gifts for children.

Her husband, who often helps with the soapmaking, has become expert at coming clean with winning ideas for the younger market. "You can get a black dye for soap, and I plan to have to have little plastic dinosaurs looking as if they are emerging out of a tar pit," said Charlie. "Kids will love it."

Within a few weeks of launching the soap line, Nikki had her own Web site - bundlesofblossoms.com - designed by two moms in Wisconsin and Florida who run a Web design company. Expansion and sales have been rapid, as Nikki networks with other mom entrepreneurs to offer their products, too, including baby boutique items such as diaper bags, jewelry, art, hats, bibs, blankies and just about anything that is trendy and oriented to baby or pregnancy.

Some of the items are very unusual - such as the "Baby Loss Comfort Kit" - which is a gift basket aimed at providing comfort for the family grieving the loss of a baby. Nikki uses the same approach she brought to soap and goes for products she would buy herself; if she likes it, she knows there's a good chance other moms will, too.

She's now selling all over the country, and her Web site has received more than 105,000 hits. She is also attracting the interest of some big Internet-based sales operations and realizes the day is coming when late-night soap production schedules after the kids are in bed may not be enough to satisfy demand.

"I am just going to let the business evolve at its own pace and if I have to hire out, I will - I've already got people asking me if they can help," said Nikki.

"I'd tell any mom to join me in trying something like this: it's been a fun ride so far, and I think it could get really big. It's very exciting."

Tony Reid can be reached at treid@;herald-review.com or 421-7977.

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