Today we’d like to introduce you to Shela Adams.
Hi Shela, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Our story begins in 2018 when my husband & I were on a year-long backpacking trip. When we were in Thailand, I could not believe the amount of waste in the waterways. Simultaneously, there seemed to be a movement in the plastic-free & eco-friendly community.
When we came home from our travels, my friend & I watched the documentary “Stink” on Netflix. This outlined the very real & scary world of toxins in millions of everyday household products, mainly skincare. I was determined to make my skincare products for myself to reduce waste & avoid toxins. With the help of my best friend, we began making lip balm, lotion & soap. There was not a master plan to create a small business, but just 2 friends making toxin-free, plastic-free skincare for ourselves & some close friends & family.
After a month or two, friends & family began suggesting that we sell our products, and to do so, we would need a business name & logo. My mom thought of the name Cosh, which stood for Clean Options for Self & Home, but also was a combination of my name with my friend’s. With the help of our mutual friend, who was a graphic designer, we now had a logo as well.
It started small, as a side hobby, but as we slowly grew, we realized that this could turn into a career. There were so many “what ifs” along the way as we wondered if we could make this happen. When a career opportunity presented itself to my friend, it was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down. With Cosh growing & his career also growing, I became the sole owner of Cosh.
After 6 months of being the sole owner, there just wasn’t enough time in the day to make products & ship them, while also taking care of finances, social media, customer service, & the millions of other hats a small business owner wears. With that, my husband started to jump in to help me out. Now, we are partners in this small business & there is a wonderful balance of all these jobs that make up Cosh.
Now, we are excited to continue to expand & grow Cosh, while maintaining the core values that got us started. Our products are all eco-friendly, using recycled, recyclable, and compostable packaging. We are proud to continue to make all of our products ourselves, in small batches, using only 100% pure essential oils. As a small business, we are excited to see where things go in year 4 of Cosh!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We’ve been very fortunate to have had a community supporting us throughout the last 4 years. Our initial orders on our website were made up of friends and family, who were there to try our products, give us feedback & support us. The small business community we found ourselves in has been just as supportive.
We are so grateful for the connections we have made. Like starting anything new, there have been bumps in the road along the way. We had an unexpectedly busy winter in 2022, which we were completely unprepared for. We relied exclusively on the help of our family, who helped us package orders, make post office runs, & keep us sane! As a small business, we didn’t have the resources for that growth without the help & support of our friends & family.
As a family-run business, maintaining boundaries for work & home life is crucial to success. When I first began Cosh in 2019, it was running out of my apartment kitchen. Without space that was separate from my home life, it muddied the lines between my time at work & home. Now, with Cosh in a separate space, it’s easier to keep the lines a little clearer.
As a small business owner, you work 24/7. If someone reaches out, you want to be sure you can get back to them right away. Craft markets often take place on the weekends. I try to keep up with posting on social media, even if it’s a “day off” or we are on vacation. These are all things that keep a small business running & further muddy the lines between your personal life & your work life.
I try to create boundaries for myself & determine when I am taking time off from Cosh- for the afternoon, on a Saturday, etc. It’s difficult to maintain that balance, but it is something that will keep the business running for years to come.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are so proud of the products that we make. Our skincare products are all handmade in small batches. Staying true to our goal of creating toxin-free products, we only use 100% pure essential oils & never use fragrance oils. All of our packaging is eco-friendly. We use compostable cardboard tubes & recyclable glass jars with metal lids for packaging our products. For shipping, all of our materials are made from paper & completely plastic-free.
Over the past 4 years, we have added many new products to our line. We began with lotion, lip balm, & soap. We have since added over 15 new product options, including sunscreen, deodorant, salve, and shower steamers to name a few. We have spent time re-working our products to make sure they are held to the highest of our standards.
We are always adding new scent options for our products and have begun offering a specialty seasonal scent for our products, as well! We have a subscription offering for our soaps called the Soap of the Month Club, where customers receive one soap every month for a year, as a way of trying out different scent options. We are excited to continue expanding our offerings while holding to our values.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
It is always ironic to me that we started Cosh as a hobby & didn’t even foresee it becoming something bigger for years. When we started Cosh, I had a full-time job, along with another part-time job, so the last thing I was looking for was more work.
When you are passionate about something, it doesn’t feel like work & that’s what happened with Cosh. It has never felt like work, so it was natural that it started to take on a larger role in my life. I suppose starting without a plan was helpful because I got to see the path that I wanted to take with Cosh without pushing myself in any particular direction.
Contact Info:
- Website: coshfactory.com
- Instagram: @coshfactory
- Facebook: @coshfactory
- Other: @coshfactory on Tiktok
