Amparo’s soap opera

Bothered by severe skin allergies and rashes back in 1999, Amparo Moldero Magallanes, then part of the cabin crew for Northwest Airlines, started to look for a solution to her longstanding problem.

“All I wanted was an end to my skin problems,” she said. “I would get rashes and would bleed through my stockings during my working flights.”

Having graduated with a degree in Medical Technology from Saint Louis University Baguio, Amparo wasn’t afraid of testing formulas and recipes in search of the perfect cure for her skin. With the help of a fellow cabin-crew attendant Zarah Juan, they went online, where they found some materials she could work with, thus creating her very first soap. She named it Almond Merengue Body Butter. In a few weeks, her skin improved, her rashes were gone, and even her colleagues noticed the big improvement.

She brought her body butter with her during flights and the crew tried it, loved it and wanted to buy it. Soon, friends were asking her to sell her homemade products. The response was very encouraging but having absolutely zero business sense, it was again her best friend, Zarah, who guided her in making her hobby into a business.

According to Amparo, “My first sale was to my crew family, and I would always joke when I talk to customers that my concoctions are not tested on animals, only on flight attendants.  From there, I moved on to selling to my family. Then by word of mouth, I started selling to strangers.” After 15 years of flying, and a year after Amparo Apothecary started selling her soaps, the airline offered an early retirement package, which she took in 2014. She wanted to immediately dive right into business but her husband, John, a life coach and pastor, told her she needed to “reset” and to line up what she wanted in life.

“From the beginning John and I already knew we wanted to be a novelty shop that made concoctions in small batches only,” Amparo says. “A family-run, home-based shop in Baguio City that sells homemade body treats — this has been our business model for the past seven years.  Our business model has always revolved around family. We make things in small batches, we make them as a family and we sell them as a family. Homemade, handmade in small batches only, made with 100 percent love.”

When asked about her dreams for her apothecary business, her quick reply was, “I know the most common answer is expansion and franchise. But all I really want is to be a sought-out destination shop in Baguio City. And a must-have pasalubong for all visitors, like ube and strawberry levels!”

If this is the business you see yourself in, read on as Amparo unselfishly shares what she has learned in the past seven years.

1. Visualize where you want to be. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. And it will not be rigid; it will be fluid.

I remember saying I want to be a shopkeeper and sell things I make from the comfort of my home, thinking I was tired of moving around since I flew for 15 years.

Turns out I enjoy going to pop-ups and trunk shows as well. Fluid.

2. Surround yourself with a support system. I am grateful for a spouse that didn’t even ask me why when I said I wanted to transition fulltime into this craft. He just understood and welcomed the change.

It pays to have friends who have already navigated the road you are about to take. My BFF would share her mistakes and her discoveries but she also allowed me to make my own path.

My crew fam continues to be great “product testers” still.

3. Develop grit. Embrace the daily grind. It will not always be happy days and perfect sales. Keep going.

This will be an important edge in the long run, because when things become tough — and they will be — your ability to thrive under pressure wins the day.

4. Be perceptive without being jaded. Learn the difference between constructive criticism and malicious intent in the guise of good intentions.

Trust your instincts; ultimately the major decisions are going to be up to you.

When we first started, a lot of people (and I mean a LOT) reached out to “collaborate,” which ended up with a number of them just wanting me to sign away my rights to my soaps (collaboration turned rebranding). I realize now that I needed these experiences to be able to find really good project partners.

5. Cultivate loyal customers. Learn to care for your customers, go out of your way to engage them. Build relationships. Learn to accept that not all will stay, but cultivate the ones that do.

Rude customers will come your way; no need to engage, instead treat them as a basis of what you don’t want to attract. Release.

Reward loyalty. It’s the little things that count; surprise freebies in their parcels are a sure winner.

During the pandemic we were grateful that our loyal customers made time to see how we were, as we are in a tourist city.

They helped us survive the business drought, not only financially but via networking as well, connecting us with other groups that could help. Referring us to carefully planned pop-ups that were happening even during the pandemic.

Relationships matter.

6. After sales, after sales, after sales. Track your shipped parcel until it reaches its destination, your shop-keeping job doesn’t end after payment.

This is easy to do with our business model, as even our client base has a certain homemade quality to it in that almost all have become friends of ours.

When parcels are late, the clients know that you are there alongside them, trying to find it. It lessens the buyer’s stress.

7. Embrace competition. When we first started, our concern was “surely the market is already saturated with this kind of business.” It’s not. There is room for more. Instead of worrying about it, keep improving your craft.

8. Never stop learning. There will always be new things to learn, to explore and to improve. Increase your list of “proven recipes” and make them an heirloom you can pass down to your descendants.

9. Safeguard quality time for self and family. This has always been a rule in the house, to have family time amid any hectic schedule that comes our way. Sort of a mini reset to avoid burning out.

10. Love what you do. It’s so clichéd, yet still so true. This phrase has seen so many forms and has stood true all this time. If it really doesn’t spark joy, then it’s probably time to stop.

This doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to be frustrated or angry.

There will be days that don’t make sense at all, but it will be trumped by all the positive experiences that come your way.

(To find out more about Amparo’s Apothecary, visit their IG @Amparoapothecary or drop by the KatutuboPh x Bench Pop Up Market from March 10-12, Friday to Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Bench Tower, BGC.)

(We welcome your suggestions and comments. Please e-mail me at [email protected]. Follow me on Instagram @monsromulo.)