Good, Clean Fun

"Would you pass me the yellow dye for this ducky I'm making?"

"Mama, it's my turn to put the glitter in, isn't it, Mama? MAMA!"

"Ladies, come on, let's work together. I said that this order would be out tomorrow."

This is a sample of the type of conversation that goes on during work for our family's business. My name is Batsheva Goldberg and I am a founder, co-owner, employee, and advertising strategist for my family's company, 4 Sisters Soaps. I'm also twelve years old.

4 Sisters Soaps started in 2004 when my great-aunt gave my sister a soap making kit. Creating the soaps was a lot of fun for the entire family and we didn't want to stop when we used up all the kit's supplies. That is now officially marked as the beginning of 4 Sisters Soaps!

The things I enjoy most about being part of our family business are coming up with new ideas for soap designs and helping with marketing tactics. One of my most nerve-wracking, but proudest, moment was when I spoke to the owner of a Jewish store about carrying our soaps. Although I was so nervous it was hard to speak above a whisper, they bought eight soaps on the spot!

I'm also an expert at getting the word out about our company. After getting some window paints and experimenting with them for a few weeks, I painted our company name and motto - "Funky Soaps 4 Funky Folks"- on the windows of our minivan. We got such a great response that with the profits from our next big order we decided to get professionally made signs for our car. Somewhere along the way the van has been dubbed "The Soapmobile." Now people tell us, "I saw 'The Soapmobile' in Brookline last week..."

One idea I had regarding soap design led to the creation of a unique "Best Friends" soap with two pieces that fit together. (The line of reasoning behind that was, "Hey, if it can be a necklace, then why can't it be a soap?") I even got to do some engineering to figure out how to make a soap mold divided into two interlocking pieces!

Helping with 4 Sisters Soaps has taught me a lot of things. I have learned teamwork from everyone working together to fill large orders. I have learned patience -- getting the color of a soap just right can take a while! I have learned good business skills from things like calculating profits and expenses, having good customer service, and working on "people skills" including my mother's favorite: learning to get along with my fellow employees!

I like working at 4 Sisters Soaps for many different reasons. I enjoy making the soap, using my imagination to dream up new designs, and seeing our soaps displayed in stores among many other things. But my favorite part is working together with my family to create a quality product that's enjoyable to make as well as cool to use. All in all, making soap is good, clean fun!