This is us.
Me, my cousin Lauren, and her fiancée at the time, Sarah.
Case study / 01
Save Our Amazing Planet
From a side hustle toward a million-dollar-plus idea in five years, learning e-commerce in public and building the next version at every turn. But the idea was simple; donate a bar for every bar sold. The Tom's shoes of soap.
2015—2016
Three identities / one evolving idea
The journey
Click a year to explore
2015
2015 / The beginning
Told in GIFs
These are the people, ingredients, and moments behind the beginning of Save Our Amazing Planet.
The gift.
The soap was something they had left over from what they made themselves.
Then I learned why.
Sarah had served in Iraq and had been exposed to burn pits. The soap began as something they made for her.
A personal reason.
Sarah was dealing with skin and neurological issues. I’m telling this as part of her story, not as a medical claim about the product.
“What is in this?”
I told them the soap felt unlike anything I had used in my 29 years. They explained their local ingredients and the small farm network behind them.
The spark & plan.
I came up with a multitude of ideas, but we had a catchy name. We agreed to partner and form a small soap company that would soft launch in 2015 and officially launch in 2016.
2016
2016 / Funding & Launch
Told in GIFs
How I funded the project
I worked a salary position at an AT&T call center and had invested almost $20,000 of my own money to just get everything up and running with an online presence.
BTS
I handled everything behind the scenes, funding, inventory, etc but when needed I would help at farmers markets and pop up events.
Minimalism
The early days looking back working with the best resources at that time and the less is more vibe kinda did work in our organic favor.
Year One = Not Bad
Had ended the year with a strong social media presence and following and landed a few local retail spots in the midwest.
2017–2018
2017–2018 / Growth & Evolution
Told in GIFs
Solo
Lauren and Sarah split up and went their own ways. So I worked my AT&T job in the day, and did the soap job at night.
More than soap
I took my time to develop more products because the soap wasn't very profitable. Starting making my own serums, beard, oils, and what became the flagship soap bar: The $4.20 Hemp Soap Bar
2019–2020
2019–2020 / Scale & License
Told in GIFs
Amazon
2019 was the first year of selling private label products on Amazon.
Quit AT&T
He gone.
Shop and Employees
Had to move the operation out of my house and hired 2 people to help with the production, shipping, and post office runs Mon through Sat.
Bidding War
Supplykick, walmart.com, and almost a dozen independent resellers fight for an exclusive trademark license agreement to sell my products. Pete's Organics wins with a one year deal worth over 1 Million USD in generated revenue. S.O.A.P is sold in a private transaction to a party in the United Kingdom. Save Our Amazing Planet still operates til this day.