The Rest of the Story In the Fall of 2003, I had been making soap for my own family and friends. I was homeschooling preschool for my oldest son as my husband and I had planned for me to homeschool both boys through high school. Then one day I found myself in the midst of a divorce. My sons were now 3 1/2 and almost 5. I had not been employed outside the home in five years. I had to decide whether I would return to the legal field as a legal assistant, which I had done for 15 years prior to having my children or pursue another path. My heart was sick at the thought of leaving the home and my children and seeking outside employment, so I began to research businesses that I might be able to start while working from home. I looked into catering and party planning, as I loved cooking and serving others, but I was concerned it would take me away from the boys in the evenings and weekends. I considered in-home childcare as that would keep me home with my children, but it would also limit our travels and spontaneity. As I prayed for direction and wisdom, my thoughts seemed to drift to my batches of soap. Was I a terrible daydreamer, or was I getting the direction I had asked for? I began to research soapmaking as a business. My initial plans were to sell handcrafted soap at craft fairs and farmer's markets on weekends the boys were with their father. Soon, I began to buy and voraciously consume soapmaking and bath and body recipe books. I joined online soapmaking forums, joined various soapmaking associations, bought a program designed for formulating soap recipes and planned to attend my first Soapmaker's Convention (yes, they really do have soapmaking conventions). I started formulating my own recipes, testing new ingredients and blending essential oils. I sought counsel from a business attorney, a financial planner, a CPA and from the Small Business Development Center. By December of 2003, I was convinced I could provide a moderate income to my family and still homeschool and be primarily a homemaker if I started a small soapmaking company. I had friends test recipes, I came up with a business name, filed assumed name certificates with Potter and Randall Counties and paid a graphic artist I met through a soapmaking forum $100 to create a logo for my business. I opened a business checking account. I spent hours online reading about how to write in html and with a free composer, I created my business website. Canyon Creek Soap Company was officially born in January 2004. There were many, many people who scolded me and discouraged me, telling me everything from "you think you can make a living on soap and baskets" to "this just can't work" to "you cannot do something like this while homeschooling and being a homemaker." Against those odds, by July 2005 I was selling enough product online and at shows and a few wholesale accounts I had gained that I opened my first retail storefront in Canyon, TX. During that year, I was asked to teach lotionmaking at the Texas Soapmaker's Convention because I had included small lotions in a "swap" bag at the convention the previous year and everyone raved about my lotion. What a huge compliment coming from my peers ... and competitors. One year later, I had to move to a larger storefront as business had grown and demanded the extra space. During 2006, I employed up to 6 employees at a time as helpers in the store and kitchen, was gaining an increasing number of wholesale accounts and was again speaking at the Texas Soapmakers Convention on lotionmaking. It was a very good year in many ways. But, I woke up one day and realized I was no longer homeschooling my children. They had been in public school now for a year. I was missing soccer games and important events in their lives because employees were calling in sick and I had no one to cover the store. I realized I had let my priorities get out of order. The entire reason I started my business was to be home with my amazing sons and here I was running a growing, successful business that was pulling me farther away from them as time passed. By April 2007, I closed my store and began producing and shipping products from my home again and began to restore balance between work and home. In 2008-2009, I went through a program called Leadership Amarillo & Canyon and was reintroduced to the WTAMU Enterprise Center and its staff. Executive Director David Terry asked me to consider coming to the Center and allowing them incubate my business. By July 2009, I had begun officing at the Center and coaching with Cori Burns. With Cori's encouragement, I entered a business plan competition called the Amarillo Enterprize Challenge. After months of preparing a solid business plan and financial documents and three year financial projections (all while running the business and relocating the manufacturing part of the business to the Enterprise Center), I submitted my plan on January 11, 2010. I left January 12, 2010 for my first big market as an exhibitor at Dallas Market Center at the Omni Sales Group showroom. We had a successful first market, writing orders with many new retailers across the country. In early March, I was informed I had been selected as one of 9 finalists in the Enterprize Challenge and I would need to do a 12 minute presentation in front of a panel of independent judges on Monday, March 29, 1010. I was in Dallas for the March Market from March 23 through March 28. I drove six hours home on the 28th, had dinner with a friend (that was my 44th birthday) and then went home and taught myself PowerPoint (really, I did). The next morning, I got up, dressed nicely, tweaked my PowerPoint presentation several times and did several "mock" presentations by myself in a conference room before walking in before that panel of judges, setting up my display and PowerPoint and making my final presentation, followed by about 15 minutes of questions from the judges. At about 5:00 p.m. that day, I received a telephone call from David Terry informing me that I was one of the recipients of the grant money awarded by the judges - Canyon Creek Soap Company would receive $100,000 in Enterprize Challenge funds. That was followed by a few loud squeals and lots of tears of relief. An amazingly large amount of work had wowed the judges and Canyon Creek Soap Company would be able to expand and grow even more, adding much needed bottling equipment, custom soap molds, soap curing trays, office furniture and a conduct a rebranding effort with the help of Talk Back Media in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. That rebranding effort culminated in January 2011 with an entirely new look, recyclable packaging and "treeless" paper labels made from Fiberstone, a paper-line material made from finely ground stone and HDPE plastic that is waterproof and durable, yet still recyclable. We've come a long way, baby.