When Leslie Bradford-Scott founded the Walton Wood Farm line of consciously crafted personal care products, she had several goals in mind. The former car salesperson and high school dropout wanted to generate a non-farming income to help her and her husband sustain themselves, create rural jobs, and save their community’s historic 1850s barns for future generations. Now, six years later, Walton Wood Farm is a multi-million-dollar brand positioned to be the “Hallmark Cards” of personal care.
Home Business Magazine had the opportunity to catch up with Bradford-Scott and learn more about her business journey with Walton Wood Farm. She was happy to share some of her favorite products that her company offers and the best part about running her own business. In addition, she goes on to share helpful tips for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to get into the personal care products industry!
HBM: Tell us about Walton Wood Farm. What inspired you to launch your company?
LBS: “Walton Wood Farm offers a selection of 135 personal care products that are all cruelty-free, gluten-free, and made with sustainable ingredients. Free of harsh ingredients like SLS, Paraben, and Phthalate, our products also have packaging that combines tongue-in-cheek humor with the sweet sentiments of your favorite greeting card!
I was inspired to launch Walton Wood Farm after my husband and I bought a neglected farm in 2014. We set out to create a non-agricultural, home-based income and raise money to save the historical C 1850s barns in our community. I began making aromatherapy bath salts in my kitchen mixer and selling them door-to-door in retail stores across Ontario.”
HBM: What are some of your favorite products that you offer?
LBS: “Our Hand Rescues made with Shea, Cocoa Butter, and Green Tea, which are available in over 18 scents themed as gifts. The Week from Hell (grapefruit maple), Work from Home (citrus herb), and Winter’s a B*tch (peppermint buttercream) are my current favorite scents. I also love our giant bars of exfoliating soaps for men—Men Don’t Stink and the Redneck. Made with Oatmeal and Shea, they last a long time and smell sexy and subtle. They are the number one products in our catalogue.”
HBM: What is the best part about running your own business?
LBS: “Exercising my endless need to create. I always say I am a mental triathlete and physically lazy. I love being able to act on my ideas and execute them at my whim. It’s exceedingly rewarding to birth ideas and bump into them in the wild.”
HBM: What are your tips for other aspiring entrepreneurs who want to get into the personal care products industry?
LBS: “When you come up with your ‘big idea’ and how you will differentiate yourself in the market, don’t ask your test group (usually friends and family) if they like it. Ask them to share everything that is wrong with this product/idea. Nobody wants to hurt your feelings, even strangers. Giving this kind of permission opens the floodgates of truth. People will give you the unadulterated truth with that simple phrasing. Then listen, note everything, and figure out if you can overcome their objections.
Then see if you can find a test store to stock a small shelf of your products. If the shelf can’t sell your product without help from a person, it may be a bad idea. Be sure your margins are high enough to account for the expensive cost of sales, distribution, and fulfillment. At first, you’re doing everything, and people tend not to count their labor. If you’re successful, you’ll have to hire these processes out, and they are much more expensive than you can imagine. For example, ‘free shipping’ on our website costs us $22 per consumer order when accounting for supplies, freight, and pick-and-pack fees. Everyone is competing with Amazon’s free shipping, and therefore, you have to offer a free shipping threshold or you’ll lose the customer at the cart.”
HBM: What has been your greatest achievement with Walton Wood Farm? The biggest challenge you have overcome?
LBS: “Surviving for six years in a very crowded market. Building a consumer products company is challenging and expensive. There are ‘make or break’ moments at every turn—it’s truly ‘sink or swim’. The fact that we are thriving during a pandemic is a reward for all the challenges we’ve battled to overcome as we scale. Our wealth of positive customer feedback is food for my soul. It could have easily gone the other way and I am grateful every day for the strength of our customer relationships.”
HBM: Where do you hope to see your business in three years?
LBS: “We will continue to build categories that make us a brand for the entire household. Currently, we make products for men, women, boys, and pets. We’re adding baby care, cocktail mixes, and food this year. We also make bio-enzyme cleaners and hope to build-out the category of natural home care products. Our goal is to make Walton Wood Farm the first place people turn to for a thoughtful, useful, and fun gifting experience for everyone on their list, including themselves.” waltonwoodfarm.com
