HD Soap by Hilltop Designs - Homeschool Mom Side Hustles

By Jill McDonough

Kelly Kammenzind is one super momma you will want to get to know. She not only homeschools and side hustles, but she is expecting Baby #10. That’s not a typo!

No wonder she surrounds herself with truly amazing, all natural products! Let’s learn from her about HD Soap by Hilltop Designs.

What is your Side Hustle?

My side hustle is handmade soaps, bath and body products, and soy candles. All of the products use natural ingredients and then fragrance it with either essential oils or natural based fragrance oils.

How did you get into this particular Side Hustle?

I am very passionate about natural ingredients and was invited to a Facebook party. I signed up with HD Soap without even trying the products. I have been with the company for almost 5 years and now work at their store on the weekends helping them make and package the products.

How long have you been doing this side hustle?

I started December 6th, 2013 selling from home and started working in the store on the weekends in November of 2019.

Talk about start up costs and the time commitment.

It cost $99.95 to get started, but you receive over $200 in products that you can either sell, hand out as samples or try yourself. With this company I started making money right away. The market for natural products is huge right now and people want to pay for it. The great thing about this company is that the products are super affordable and you make a 50% commission on all products. I am a mom of 9 kids so my time is very little and I only put the time I have into my business. Some months I do more and others I don’t do as much. I mainly try to post in my group page once a day and then hold mystery host parties once a month. This works for our busy family.

Do your kids help you with this side hustle?

My oldest daughter helped me post on Instagram all the time but now she is at college. My younger kids have helped me cut samples and they talk about the products they love using to new people we know.

What are the pros of this side hustle?

I love the flexibility this company gives me. If I need time off because of a baby or other things going on I can talk to them about it and still be able to stay where I am at in the company.
I also love that fact that I make a 50% commission on all products.

What are the cons of this side hustle?

I had built a team pretty early on before there were minimums each month. Since they implemented minimums, it has been a little harder to reach that at times. For the most part I have reached it without having to order products myself, but there have been a few months that I had to purchase to reach my minimums.

How do I juggle homeschooling and this side hustle?

I have a pretty set schedule during the day and try not to answer questions or post during school hours so that way I don’t get distracted and stay on track with the kids. I try to create posts when I have 5-10 minutes or while I am making dinner.

I used to stay up after the kids would go to bed but now I go to bed shortly after they do. I figure once they all get older that may change again LOL! But for now I try to sleep when they sleep so that way I am a better mom for them.

One of the reasons why I love this company so much is that I can do as little or as much as I feel fits our family at that time. If I have time to do more parties, than I do. If I need more time for my family than I take the time for my family and not as much for my business.

How long have you been homeschooling? What homeschool curriculum do you use? Kids ages/grades?

I have been homeschooling for 10 years. We use Seton homeschool and supplement with Usborne books that I also sell and material that seems to fit with what we need at the time. My kids ages are 19/college, 16/ Junior in High School (she does attend school), 14/9th, 12/6th, 10/4th, 9/3rd, 7/2nd, 5/Kinder. 22 months and expecting baby #10 in March.

Would you recommend this side hustle to someone else?

Absolutely! It is a great way to earn extra income without putting tons of time into it. If you wanted it for a full time job you could do that as well. It just depends on how much time you want to put into it.