Agreed with soapbuddy, lol i'm wanting to do the same as you (starting a soap business), but for me also my main considerations are:
How will i make the time to keep making a consistent supply of soap while working a full time work schedule 5 days a week?
(i enjoy my weekends
)
How will i sell my soaps? not having enough money or resources to open a store or have a small factory, i'd likely be attending weekend markets/events/ farmer's markets, for me, likely causing burnout (again, i enjoy my weekends too much
) - online sales such as a domain website, ebay, amazon, etc all sound great and convinient for the buyer, but do i want the hassle of arranging postage??
Also most importantly for me would be knowing my products inside and out - the soaps iv'e made, how to store them, how they behave, how they lather, how long they last knowing they wont develop DOS/go rancid, etc, myself knowing 100% they are as good as they can be, have been PH tested, and will Never be caustic or otherwise irritating to other people's skin as much as possibly can be controlled
Anyway for myself and anyone else i'd say the solution of all these is just try the markets a few times to see how you like it, but first of all most importantly have enough soapmaking experience to know your soaps are as good as they can be (as prev mentioned)
After your'e sure you can keep it up then i'd go through the pain of a process of officially registering your business officially....no idea about whether its a good idea to sort out the liability insurance before or after registering the business - though i'm guessing they may need you to be registered to insure you - and also that they believe you are "suitably qualified in soapmaking" (because they don't actually want to have to pay out, their main goal is to just insure you for "the rainy day" that they hope never comes) anyway as for that apparently iv'e heard is all you really need is proof that you PH test your soaps, keep track of the batches, are moderately experienced, etc.....
Anyway Good Luck!
I'm stumped on a business name as well lol