When you think about what it costs to start up any kind of business - making soap is actually not that expensive. We don't have to pay for higher education. We don't have to pay for licensing board exams. We don't have any educational requirements whatsoever. We don't have to pay for an office or retail location, unless of course we want to. We can work out of our home, and start out with just basic kitchen equipment and ingredients. When I bought my first batch of supplies and very (very!) basic equipment I spent maybe $300. Add about $250 for licensing and insurance... and that's a total business start up cost of WAY less than $1000. What other business can you start for less than that? Not many.
So yes, you do have to invest some cash to get going, but you're going to have to do that with any business venture.
To have a business making food out of your home you'd have to jump through a LOT more hoops with regulations! Including an inspector coming to your house to look at your kitchen, who can randomly drop by at any time to look at it again. I thought about doing this, but there's no way my kitchen would pass without major construction work.... and that's not cheap either!
"Back in the day" I was a real estate agent. To get into that field I spent about $2000 on education and licensing fees - plus I had to take a rather lengthy exam. And then to continue in that field I had to carry liability insurance, and work for someone who took 30% of every dollar I made.
I'm not trying to be harsh here, just pointing out that there are pros and cons to any business. There is inherent risk, and often little (financial) reward when you're a small business owner of any kind. I put financial in brackets because I think that there's plenty of other rewards in this business besides money.
And I totally agree with SoapBuddy here! The rules are there for a reason, and protect the consumer. Which gives the buyers peace of mind! And that is good news for all soap makers.
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