Conversations with Michael Haseltine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Haseltine. 

Hi Michael, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
We’re not your average Soap Company. 

Started in 2009, in the heart of the beautiful Tennessee hills. Lynchburg Soap Company set out with a goal to make a high-quality product that is affordable to everyone. Today, people can experience our natural, handmade products across the world. 

Our founders, Mike & Jheri Beth, continue to explore new alternatives of finding products that are equally nourishing, natural, and full of amazing scents. Over the years, we have slowly transformed our home into a soap-making small business. 

All our soaps are made from scratch, using the old-fashioned cold-process method. We use raw ingredients and homemade recipes. Our soaps are handcrafted, hand-poured, and hand-cut. We are not just another soap company – we have made a commitment to healthy skin, healthy people, and a healthy planet. 

Our soaps all feature non-GMO goats’ milk, which provides a unique moisturizing quality, without hard additives, chemicals, or leaving residue behind after a wash. By making all our soap in small batches, we stay true to our small-business spirit and local mindset. In 2021, we launched a partnership with Nashville Rescue Mission, to provide soap for local people in need. Unlike other soap companies, we have our heart set on our local community, the farmers’ market environment, and the budding entrepreneurs and creators of Nashville. 

Since beginning, our company has continued to grow and spread good-feeling soap to people across the country. Stop by the Nashville Farmers Market next time you’re in town! 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Soap is a staple product for people. It is so important to a person’s sense of self-worth to be able to feel clean, and know that their soaps are made with care and without overcomplexity. Providing that to customers at a low and affordable price, while still using high-quality ingredients and oils, offers its unique challenges. We spend tireless effort to procure ingredients at low cost, to provide that same value to our customers. 

Being part of a robust Farmers Market community also brings its challenges. We’ve been fortunate enough to grow our online business, from the fantastic work of the Nashville Farmers Market staff, and as more people turn to supporting their local businesses, we’ve seen the growth to confirm it. That being said, we often run into hurdles at the farmers’ market, often affected by weather events, and seasonal changes. 

Even in the winter, when foot traffic falls, we find ways to innovate and continue to reach customers, both locally, and nationally. Our credo is that we will do whatever it takes to help a customer access quality soap products affordably, from fast shipping and delivery, to even local drop-offs for our partners that rely on our soap. We take each business obstacle in stride, think about our customers’ experience, and in the end, our commitment to one another pays off. Without our loyal customers in Nashville and around the country, we’d never have been as successful as we have become. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I got my start in the wine business at an early age, in California. After starting my own small label, and falling in love with entrepreneurship, I worked a bit more in the wine industry. After leaving wine, and exploring other industries and opportunities, life brought me to Nashville. My wife was making soap as a hobby, she taught me, and it grew organically from there. 

We opened first in our garage, working all week to make soap, and selling on weekends, then I eventually got more enthralled in the soapmaking process. We are always the first to critique our own products, debating back and forth about how each bar feels, smells over time, and livens up in our shower. That’s still the most intimate and important part of this business. We try every batch of soap ourselves. 

By selling at the farmers’ market, that partnership has blossomed. We get to work with great vendors and farmers in the Nashville area and have loved every minute of it. This has become a business, but I still have the passion for it as a hobby. We’ve been able to make a killer product and impact so many people here in Nashville and beyond, without compromising our roots and style. There’s nothing like it. 

Nashville is filled with creativity, adventure, and compassion. We’re a part of that fabric and want to give back to it while we can. We want to touch, quite literally, our local community, and grow with our city. Nashville is our home, and everything’s better in small batches. 

What matters most to you? Why?
Customer satisfaction is the most important part of our business. When you boil it down, soap is simple, and it should be. We focus on making each bar better than the last. When a customer takes their most intimate moments to shower or bathe, we’re there with them. It’s important that we listen to our customers and their experience. 

We design our products based on their feedback and input. See us at work at the farmers market, and you’ll know what we mean. Over 40 scents are available on our table, and each customer has a unique palate. At the end of the day, our products are meant to make life easier and smell better. 

Customers that reach out to us, encounter our small team that cares about individual experiences, whether that’s a small retailer that fell in love with our products and wants to sell with us, or a loyal customer that finally found a product that doesn’t exacerbate their eczema. 

Making a product that people apply to their skin, each day we are inundated with ads and promos for soaps, shampoos, and indescribable skin-care products, it’s important to be transparent and honest about what we do. That’s why we proudly show our customers what it’s like in our soap shop, which ingredients are in their products, and why we love soap so much. It’s why our owner works at the farmers market, our best touchpoint to our customers, loyal and new. 

We form relationships with our customers around the concept of treating ourselves well, gently, and with a good lather. Our soaps speak for themselves, and each customer that tells us what they think, chats with us at the market, imparts something new on our company that we take with us moving forward. 

Pricing:

• $5 Soap Bars and Shampoo Bars
• $4 Bath Bombs

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: lynchburgsoapcompany.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lynchburgsoapcompany/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lynchburg-Soap-Company-153371785215879

Image Credits
Ellen Manson