essential oil extraction business plan

Essential Oil Extraction Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business Plans » Agriculture Sector » Agro Processing

Are you about starting an essential oil company? If YES, here is a complete sample essential oil extraction business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE .

Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting an essential oil extraction business. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample essential oil extraction business marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for essential oil extraction businesses. So let’s proceed to the business planning section.

The use of essential oil has continued to gain popularity. This popularity can be said to be associated with the health benefits that comes with using essential oils. It is no wonder that the market for essential oils have continued to be on the increase.

So if you are considering starting a business in the united states of America, then one of your options is to start an essential oil extraction business.

The fact that this line of business is not very popular means that you must be willing to undertake thorough feasibility studies and market research. It is indeed a money – spinning business if it is well located and if you are able to create a robust distribution network.

If you are certain that starting an essential oil extraction business is what you truly want to do after you must have conducted your market research and feasibility studies, then the next step to follow is to write a good business plan; a detailed blueprint of how you intend raising your seed capital, setting up the business, managing the flow of the business, sorting out tax and marketing your product.

The truth is that it is one thing to have a fantastic idea cum business plan, but another thing for the business plan to translate to profits, that is why it is important to assemble a team of experts to work with if you want to be successful with your essential oil extraction business.

Please find below a sample essential oil extraction business plan template that will help you successfully write yours within record time.

A Sample Essential Oil Extraction Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing explosive compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetherolea, or simply as the oil of the plant from which they were extracted.

Essential oils are usually extracted by distillation, often by using steam. Other processes include expression, solvent extraction, absolute oil extraction, resin tapping, wax embedding, and cold pressing. They are used in perfumes, cosmetics, soaps and other products, for flavoring food and drink, and for adding scents to incense and household cleaning products.

Essential oils are often used for aromatherapy, a form of substitute medicine in which healing effects are credited to aromatic compounds. Aromatherapy may be useful to induce relaxation, but there is not adequate indication that essential oils can effectively treat any condition.

Research shows that the United States essential oil market size was treasured at USD 3.36 billion in 2015 and it is anticipated to witness a predictable growth rate of 9.0 percent from 2016 to 2024. This industry is a thriving industry and as a matter of fact, there are about 200 different types of essential oils used all over the world annually, and the United States of America plays a main role in total demand.

Going forward, the additional health profits of essential oils are anticipated to trigger their demand in pharmaceutical and medical applications. These oils do not exhibit in any way any recognized side effect unlike other conventional medicines and drugs; this will probably be a significant boosting factor for the market.

The increased usage of fragrances and flavors due to the development of end-use industries in emerging markets is projected to drive the U.S. market.

Major players have established supply partnerships to reduce total production costs. Local manufacturers concentrate on providing advanced varieties of essential oils at reasonable prices and most of the striking essential oils are formed from rare crops and plants which are either difficult to harvest.

Please note that the barriers to entry for the essential oil extraction business are moderate, with the most significant barrier being the ability to raise capital. Capital investments are needed to purchase machinery and equipment and  rent facilities.

While the amount of capital needed to enter the industry depends on the scale of operations an entrant is pursuing, even small – scale facilities require significant capital.

Other barriers include securing supply contracts with upstream suppliers of essential oil plants (bark, leaves and resin) such as bitter orange, cinnamon, ginger, lavender, guava, myrrh, pine, bay leaf, frankincense, grapefruit, cedar, jasmine, hyssop, lemon grass and other ingredients used to extract essential oil and other industry goods.

The well-entrenched position of the leading processors in the industry can also represent a barrier to entry for prospective entrants.

Over and beyond, the essential oil extraction business is a profitable industry and it is open for any aspiring entrepreneur that has the capacity to compete with other players for the available market share to come in and establish his or her business.

2. Executive Summary

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is a licensed essential oil extraction and packaging company that will be located in between an industrial area and a farming community in Honolulu – Hawaii.

We have been able to secure a long – term lease for a facility in a strategic location with an option of long – term renewal on agreed terms and conditions that is favorable to us. The facility has government approval for the kind of business we want to run and it is easily accessible.

We are in the essential oil extraction business to produce a wide variety of essential oils extracted from different plants such as bitter orange, cinnamon, ginger, lavender, guava, myrrh, pine, bay leaf, frankincense, grapefruit, cedar, jasmine, hyssop, and lemon grass in commercial quantities for retail outlets, cosmetics and fragrance businesses, and massage and body therapy businesses.

We are also in business to make profits and at the same to give our customers value for their money; we want to give people and businesses who patronize our essential oil the opportunity to be part of the success story of Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc.

We are aware that there are several essential oil extraction companies scattered around the United States whose products can be found around, which is why we spent time and resources to conduct our feasibility studies and market survey so as to enable us locate the business in an area that will support the growth of the business.

We ensured that our facility is easy to locate and we have mapped out plans to develop a wide distribution network for wholesalers all around Honolulu – Hawaii and the United States of America.

Much more that the extraction of quality essential oil in commercial quantities, our customer care is going to be second to none. We know that our customers are the reason why we are in business which is why we will go the extra mile to get them satisfied when they purchase our product.

We have a CRM software that will enable us manage a one on one relationship with our customers (wholesale distributors) no matter how large they may grow to. We will ensure that we get our customers involved when making some business decisions that will directly or indirectly affect them.

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is family business that is owned and financed by Bianca Dawson and her immediate family members.

This Honolulu, Hawaii native graduated from high school in just three years. Formerly, Bianca was Brand Manager at Proctor & Gamble, and also worked at Bain & Company prior to starting Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company.

She has robust experience that stretch over 13 years and she holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of California and MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

3. Our Products and Services

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is going to operate a standard essential oil extraction and packaging company whose product will not only be sold in Honolulu – Hawaii but also throughout the United States of America.

We are in the essential oil extraction business to make profits and also to give our customers value for their money. We will be engaged in the extraction and sale of a wide range of essential oil such as;

• Balsam of Peru oil
• Eucalyptus oil
• Lavender oil
• Jasmine oil
• Cinnamon oil
• Peppermint oil
• Rosemary oil
• Frankincense oil

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

• We want to launch a standard Essential oil extraction and packaging company whose product will be not only be sold in Honolulu – Hawaii, but also throughout the United States of America.
• Our mission is to build a standard Essential oil extraction and packaging company that will favorably compete with leaders in the industry. We want to build an essential oil extraction business whose brands will someday become a household name in the United States of America.

Our Business Structure

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is established with the aim of competing favorably with other leading essential oil brands in the industry. This is why we will put the right structures in place that will support the kind of growth that we have in mind while setting up the business.

We will make sure that we only employ people that are qualified, honest, hardworking, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business that will benefit all the stakeholders.

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our senior management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of five years or more depending how fast we meet our set target. In view of that, we have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions;

• Chief Executive Officer (Owner)

Plant Manager

Human Resources and Admin Manager

Essential Oil Extraction Machine Operators

Sales and Marketing Manager

• Accountants / Cashiers

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Officer – CEO (Owner):

• Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results
• Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
• Responsible for providing direction for the business
• Creates, communicates, and implements the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
• Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
• Evaluates the success of the organization
• Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of the essential oil extraction plant
• Part of the team that determines the quantity of essential oil that are to be produced
• Maps out strategies that will lead to efficiency amongst workers in the plant
• Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of essential oil extraction plant workers
• Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
• Ensures that the plant meets the expected safety and health standard at all times.
• Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization
• Defines job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
• Carries out staff induction for new team members
• Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
• Oversees the smooth running of the daily office and factory activities.
• In charge of operating machines that are used in extraction of essential oil by distillation, often by using steam.
• Handle other processes include expression, solvent extraction, absolute oil extraction, resin tapping, wax embedding, and cold pressing.
• Responsible for taking care of the machines and equipment in the production plant
• Handles any other duty as assigned by the production manager.
• Manages external research and coordinate all the internal sources of information to retain the organizations’ best customers and attract new ones
• Models demographic information and analyze the volumes of transactional data generated by customer purchases
• Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches out to new partners, and business opportunities et al
• Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
• Documents all customer contact and information
• Represents the company in strategic meetings
• Helps increase sales and growth for the company

Accountant/Cashier

• Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
• Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports
• Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
• Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting
• Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
• Responsible for administering payrolls
• Ensures compliance with taxation legislation
• Handles all financial transactions for the organization
• Serves as internal auditor for the organization

Client Service Executive

• Ensures that all contacts with customer (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides the client with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
• Through interaction with customers on the phone, uses every opportunity to build client’s interest in the company’s products and services
• Manages administrative duties assigned by the store manager in an effective and timely manner
• Consistently stays abreast of any new information on Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to clients when they make enquiries

Distribution Truck Drivers

• Assists in loading and unloading essential oil meant for distribution.
• Maintains a logbook of their driving activities to ensure compliance with federal regulations governing the rest and work periods for operators.
• Keeps a record of vehicle inspections and make sure the truck is equipped with safety equipment
• Assists the transport and logistics manager in planning their route according to a delivery schedule.
• Inspects vehicles for mechanical items and safety issues and perform preventative maintenance
• Complies with truck driving rules and regulations (size, weight, route designations, parking, break periods etc.) as well as with company policies and procedures
• Collects and verifies delivery instructions
• Reports defects, accidents or violations

6. SWOT Analysis

If you live in the United States of America, you will agree that essential oils from South America and the Caribbean can be seen in stores in the United States of America is why we are following the due process of establishing a business so as to compete favorably with them.

We know that if a proper SWOT analysis is conducted for our business, we will be able to position our business to maximize our strength, leverage on the opportunities that will be available to us, mitigate our risks and be equipped to confront our threats.

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. employed the services of an expert HR and Business Analyst with bias in startup business to help us conduct a thorough SWOT analysis and to help us create a Business model that will help us achieve our business goals and objectives.

This is the summary of the SWOT analysis that was conducted for Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc.;

Part of what is going to count as our strength is the vast experience of our management team, we have people on board who understand how to grow business from the scratch to becoming a national phenomenon.

So also, our large national distribution network and of course our excellent customer service culture will definitely position our company to compete with other top-flight essential oil extraction companies within and outside the United States of America.

The inability to initially leverage on economies of scale may count against us since we are a new essential oil extraction and packaging company. In addition, we don’t have the financial capacity to engage in the kind of publicity that we intend giving the business.

• Opportunities:

The opportunities for essential oil extraction companies is enormous. This is due to the fact that there are loads of manufacturing companies across different companies and retailers who rely on the supply of essential oil.

As a result of that, we were able to conduct a thorough market survey and feasibility studies so as to position our business to take advantage of the existing market for essential oil and also to create our own new market. We know that it is going to requires hard work, and we are determined to achieve it.

Some of the major threats that we are likely going to face is economic downturn and unfavorable government policies . It is a fact that economic downturn affects purchasing power. Another threat that may likely confront us is the arrival of a new essential oil extraction and packaging company in same location where ours is located.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

No doubt, investors and entrepreneurs are beginning to establish businesses in the essential oil line of business due to the fact that health profits of essential oils trigger their demand in pharmaceutical and medical applications. Good enough, studies show that these oils do not exhibit in any way any recognized side effects unlike other conventional medicines and drugs; this will probably be a significant boosting factor for the market.

Another notable trend in this business is that more players in the food, fragrance and cosmetics, pesticide and other related production industry are beginning to increase their demand for essential oil as part of their raw materials because of the aromatic nature it adds to their product.

As a matter of fact, essential oil is gaining more ground as part of the materials used in the production of perfumes, cosmetics, soaps and other products, for flavoring food and drink, and for adding scents to incense and household cleaning products amongst others.

Lastly, the price of essential oil plant is typically the most reliable driver of industry performance. It is important to state the part of what affect productivity output in this industry is the fact that essential oil farming is vulnerable to unpredictable weather conditions, and the demand for high-quality essential oil in key foreign markets will boost exports.

8. Our Target Market

Essential oil is one of many products that is used all around the globe for different purposes. In essence, our target market can’t be restricted to just a group of people or organization, but all those who reside in our target market locations.

We are in business to engage in the extraction of essential oil and wholesale distribution of essential oil to the following groups of organizations;

• Pharmaceutical companies
• Alternative medicine practitioners that use essential oil for Aromatherapy
• Perfumes production companies
• Cosmetics, soaps and other products production companies
• Food and drinks production companies
• Incense and household cleaning products production companies
• Small scale businesses that make use of essential oil as part of their raw material.

Our competitive advantage

There is hardly any business that does not come with its own fair share of competition hence we are prepared to compete favorably with other essential oil extraction companies in Honolulu – Hawaii and throughout the United States.

Top on the list of the competitive advantages that we are bringing to the industry are our business location, robust relationship with essential oil plant farmers, ability to alter goods and services produced in favor of market conditions and appropriate climatic conditions.

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is launching a standard essential oil extraction brand that will indeed become the preferred choice for business and households.

Part of what is going to count as competitive advantage for Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is the vast experience of our management team. So also, our large national distribution network and of course our excellent customer service culture will definitely count as a strong strength for the business.

Last of all, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category in the industry, meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our aims and objectives.

We will also give good working conditions and commissions to freelance sales agents that we will recruit from time to time.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the business and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we do all it takes to sell our oils to a wide range of customers. Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. will generate income by simply selling;

10. Sales Forecast

When it comes to essential oil extraction business, if your essential oil is well – packaged and branded and if your production plant is easily accessible, you will always attract customers.

We are well positioned to take on the available market in Honolulu – Hawaii and every city where our essential oil will be sold and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income/profits from the first six months of operation and grow the business and our clientele base.

We have been able to examine the essential oil extraction business, we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast.

Below are the sales projection for Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc., it is based on the location of our business and other factors as it relates to small scale and medium scale essential oil extraction and packaging company startups in the United States;

• First Fiscal Year: $240,000
• Second Fiscal Year: $550,000
• Third Fiscal Year: $870,000

N.B: This projection was done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and there won’t be any major competitor offering same product as we do within same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Prior to choosing a location for Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. we conducted a thorough market survey and feasibility studies in order for us to penetrate the available market in our target market locations.

We have detailed information and data that we were able to utilize to structure our business to attract the number of customers we want to attract per time and also for our essential oil to favorable compete with other leading brands in the United States of America.

We hired experts who have good understanding of the essential oil extraction business to help us develop marketing strategies that will help us achieve our business goal of winning a larger percentage of the available market in Honolulu – Hawaii and other cities in the United States of America.

In summary, Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. will adopt the following sales and marketing approach to sell our essential oil;

• Introduce our essential oil brand by sending introductory letters to manufacturing companies that make use of essential oil, households, alternative medicine practitioners that make use of essential oil, essential oil merchants and other stakeholders in Honolulu – Hawaii and other cities both in the United States of America
• Engage in roadshows in targeted communities from time to time to sell our products
• Advertise our products in community – based newspapers, local TV and radio stations
• List our business and products on yellow pages ads (local directories)
• Leverage on the internet to promote our essential oil brands
• Engage in direct marketing and sales
• Encourage the use of Word of mouth marketing (referrals)

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Notwithstanding the fact that our essential oil extraction plant is a standard one with a wide range of products that can favorably compete with other leading brands, we will still go ahead to intensify publicity for all our products and brand. We are going to explore all available means to promote Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc.

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. has a long – term plan of distributing our essential oil in various locations all around the United States of America which is why we will deliberately build our brand to be well accepted in Honolulu – Hawaii before venturing out.

Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc.;

• Place adverts on both print (community – based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
• Sponsor relevant community programs
• Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook, twitter, et al to promote our essential oil brand
• Install our billboards in strategic locations all around
• Engage in roadshow from time to time in targeted communities
• Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
• Position our Flexi Banners at strategic positions in the location where we intend getting customers to start patronizing our products.
• Ensure that our essential oil is well branded and that all our staff members wear our customized clothes, and all our official cars and distribution vans are customized and well branded.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

We are aware of the pricing trend in the essential oil extraction business which is why we have decided to produce various product sizes.

In view of that, our prices will conform to what is obtainable in the industry but we will ensure that within the first 6 to 12 months, our products are sold a little bit below the average prices of various essential oil brands in the United States of America.

We have put in place business strategies that will help us run on low profits for a period of 6 months; it is a way of encouraging people to buy into our essential oil brands.

• Payment Options

The payment policy adopted by Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.

Here are the payment options that Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. will make available to her clients;

• Payment via bank transfer
• Payment with cash
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via check
• Payment via bank draft

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our client make payment for product purchase without any stress on their part. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website and promotional materials.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

Starting a standard essential oil extraction and packaging company is indeed a capital-intensive business because the amount required to set up an essential oil extraction plant is relatively on the high side when compared to similar businesses.

The bulk of the startup capital will be spent on leasing or acquiring a facility and also in purchasing essential oil extracting and processing machines. Aside from that, you are expected to purchase distribution trucks, pay your employees and utility bills.

These are the key areas where we will spend our startup capital;

• The Total Fee for Registering the Business in the United States of America – $750.
• Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits as well as the accounting services (software, P.O.S machines and other software) – $1,300.
• Marketing promotion expenses for the grand opening of Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. in the amount of $3,500 and as well as flyer printing (2,000 flyers at $0.04 per copy) for the total amount of – $3,580.
• The total cost for hiring Business Consultant – $2,500.
• Insurance (general liability, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $2,400.
• The total cost for payment of rent for 12 months at $1.76 per square feet in the total amount of $115,300.
• The total cost for construction of a standard essential oil extraction plant – $100,000.
• Other start-up expenses including stationery ($500) and phone and utility deposits ($2,500).
• Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $100,000
• The cost for Start-up inventory (raw materials, drums, bottles and packaging materials et al) – $80,000
• The total cost for the purchase of essential oil extracting and packaging equipment – $100,000
• The total cost for store equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $13,750
• The total cost of purchase of distribution vans – $100,000
• The cost for the purchase of furniture and gadgets (Computers, Printers, Telephone, Fax Machines, tables and chairs et al) – $4,000.
• The cost of launching a website – $600
• Miscellaneous – $10,000

We would need an estimate of $500,000 to successfully set up a standard and world class essential oil extraction plant in Honolulu – Hawaii.

Generating Funds/Startup Capital for Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc.

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is a family business that is owned and financed by Bianca Dawson and her immediate family members. They do not intend to welcome any external business partners which is why she has decided to restrict the sourcing of the startup capital to 3 major sources.

• Generate part of the startup capital from personal savings and sell of stocks
• Source for soft loans from family members and friends
• Apply for loan from the bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $200,000 (Personal savings $150,000 and soft loan from family members $50,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $300,000 from our bank. All the papers and documents have been signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited with the amount.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of a business lies in the number of loyal customers they have, the capacity and competence of their employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business, then it won’t be too long before the business closes shop.

One of our major goals of starting Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running.

We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to supply our well – branded essential oil a little bit cheaper than what is obtainable in the market and we are prepared to survive on lower profit margin for a while.

Sweet Fragrance® Essential Oil Extraction Company, Inc. will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and retraining of our workforce is at the top burner.

We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List/Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check : Completed
• Business Registration: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
• Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
• Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Leasing of facility and construction of standard essential oil extraction and processing plant: In Progress
• Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
• Generating capital from family members and friends: Completed
• Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Printing of Promotional Materials: In Progress
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Purchase of the needed furniture, racks, shelves, computers, electronic appliances, office appliances and CCTV: In progress
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
• Establishing business relationship with vendors : In Progress.

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Essential Oils Business

Back to All Business Ideas

How to Start an Essential Oils Business

Written by: Carolyn Young

Carolyn Young is a business writer who focuses on entrepreneurial concepts and the business formation. She has over 25 years of experience in business roles, and has authored several entrepreneurship textbooks.

Edited by: David Lepeska

David has been writing and learning about business, finance and globalization for a quarter-century, starting with a small New York consulting firm in the 1990s.

Published on April 5, 2022 Updated on May 15, 2024

Investment range

$4,500 - $10,000

Revenue potential

$78,000 - $390,000 p.a.

Time to build

1 – 3 months

Profit potential

$39,000 - $78,000 p.a.

Industry trend

The global essential oils industry is booming, expected to nearly double by 2028. The popularity of essential oils stems from their many health benefits, such as inflammation reduction, and deeper sleep, and their ability to kill bacteria and viruses. They are made from the extracts of many different plants and herbs, including lavender flowers and rose petals. They can be made at home, so you could ride the wave and make some good money by selling them online. You’ll also be helping countless people feel better!

But before you start brewing up your healing concoctions, you’ll need to learn the ins and outs of starting an essential oil business. Fortunately, this step-by-step guide lays out all the entrepreneurial insights you need to get your business off the ground.

Looking to register your business? A limited liability company (LLC) is the best legal structure for new businesses because it is fast and simple.

Form your business immediately using ZenBusiness LLC formation service or hire one of the Best LLC Services .

Step 1: Decide if the Business Is Right for You

Pros and cons.

Starting an essential oils business has pros and cons to consider before deciding if it’s right for you. 

• Creative Work – Design and make your own unique oils
• Good Money – Essential oils can sell for high prices
• Flexibility – Work from home, set your own hours
• Promote Wellness – Provide essential health benefits
• Strict Regulations – You’ll need to get required licenses and permits
• Education Needed – Making high-quality essential oils can be complicated

Essential oils industry trends

Industry size and growth.

• Industry size and past growth – The global essential oils industry was worth $9.62 billion in 2021 after 10% growth the previous year.(( https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/essential-oils-market-101063 ))
• Growth forecast – The global essential oils industry is projected to grow nearly 90% by 2028. 

Trends and challenges

Trends in the essential oils industry include:

• Essential oils as functional fragrances are popular, meaning oils worn as fragrances but with a function, such as anxiety reduction.
• Essential oils that contain cannabidiol (CBD) are growing in demand due to their cognitive enhancement benefits.
• Companies like Young Living Essential Oils are using proprietary processes to create oils that are free of synthetic chemicals.

Challenges in the essential oils industry include:

• Supply chain issues are making it difficult to get some ingredients and causing price fluctuations for those ingredients.
• Essential oils companies that claim their product has a certain medical benefit put that oil into a drug classification, making it subject to FDA regulations. This means that businesses that choose to make these claims need to then manage their packaging and processes to comply with those regulations.

How much does it cost to start an essential oils business?

Startup costs for an essential oils business range from $4,500 to $10,000. Costs include a distiller and supplies. 

You’ll need a handful of items to successfully make and sell your essential oils online, including: 

• Oil distiller
• Bottles, labels, packaging materials
• Essential oils, carrier oils, fillers

How much can you earn from an essential oils business?

A 15 ml. bottle of essential oils sells for an average of $15. Your profit margin after the cost of making them should be about 50%. 

In your first year or two, you could work from home and sell 100 bottles a week, bringing in $78,000 in annual revenue. This would mean $39,000 in profit, assuming that 50% margin. As your brand gains recognition and you ramp up your marketing, sales could climb to 500 bottles a week. At this stage, you’d rent a production facility and hire staff, reducing your profit margin to 20%. With annual revenue of $390,000, you’d make a tidy profit of $78,000.

What barriers to entry are there?

There are a few barriers to entry for an essential oils business. Your biggest challenges will be:

• Gaining the skills and knowledge needed to create essential oils
• Competing in a saturated market

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Step 2: hone your idea.

Now that you know what’s involved in starting an essential oils business, it’s a good idea to hone your concept in preparation to enter a competitive market. 

Market research will give you the upper hand, even if you’re already positive that you have a perfect product or service. Conducting market research is important, because it can help you understand your customers better, who your competitors are, and your business landscape.

Why? Identify an opportunity

Research essential oils businesses in your area and online to examine their products, price points, and what sells best. You’re looking for a market gap to fill. For instance, maybe the local market is missing a business that makes pure essential oils directly extracted from the plants, or from ethereal oils. 

You might consider targeting a niche market by specializing in a certain aspect of your industry, such as essential oils for aromatherapy, lavender oils, or lemon oils.

This could jumpstart your word-of-mouth marketing and attract clients right away. 

What? Determine your products and offerings

You’ll just need to determine what oils you want to develop and create a product list. At some point, you could open a salon that offers aromatherapy treatments. 

How much should you charge for essential oils?

The average price for a 15 ml. bottle is about $15. After your cost of making and packaging the oils, you should aim for a profit margin of about 50% or more.

Once you know your costs, you can use this Step By Step profit margin calculator to determine your mark-up and final price points. Remember, the prices you use at launch should be subject to change if warranted by the market.

Who? Identify your target market

Your target market will be broad, but it may tend to be a younger demographic you can find on TikTok or Instagram. 

Where? Choose your business premises

In the early stages, you may want to run your business from home to keep costs low. But as your business grows, you’ll likely need to hire workers for various roles and may need to rent out a production facility. You can find commercial space to rent in your area on sites such as Craigslist , Crexi , and Instant Offices .

When choosing a commercial space, you may want to follow these rules of thumb:

• Central location accessible via public transport
• Ventilated and spacious, with good natural light
• Flexible lease that can be extended as your business grows
• Ready-to-use space with no major renovations or repairs needed

Step 3: Brainstorm an Essential Oils Business Name

Here are some ideas for brainstorming your business name:

• Short, unique, and catchy names tend to stand out
• Names that are easy to say and spell tend to do better 
• Name should be relevant to your product or service offerings
• Ask around — family, friends, colleagues, social media — for suggestions
• Including keywords, such as “essential oils” or “aromatherapy oils”, boosts SEO
• Name should allow for expansion, for ex: “The Essence Room” over “Calming Lavender Oils” or “Eucalyptus Essentials”
• A location-based name can help establish a strong connection with your local community and help with the SEO but might hinder future expansion

Once you’ve got a list of potential names, visit the website of the US Patent and Trademark Office to make sure they are available for registration and check the availability of related domain names using our Domain Name Search tool. Using “.com” or “.org” sharply increases credibility, so it’s best to focus on these. 

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Finally, make your choice among the names that pass this screening and go ahead with domain registration and social media account creation. Your business name is one of the key differentiators that sets your business apart. Once you pick your company name, and start with the branding, it is hard to change the business name. Therefore, it’s important to carefully consider your choice before you start a business entity.

Step 4: Create an Essential Oils Extraction Business Plan

Here are the key components of a business plan:

• Executive Summary: Highlight your essential oils business’s mission to provide a diverse range of high-quality, natural essential oils and related products for health, wellness, and aromatherapy.
• Business Overview: Describe your business’s focus on sourcing, producing, and selling essential oils, including pure oils, blends, and aromatherapy accessories.
• Product and Services: Detail the range of products offered, such as single-note essential oils, therapeutic blends, diffusers, and skincare products infused with essential oils.
• Market Analysis: Assess the demand for essential oils, identifying target markets like health-conscious consumers, wellness practitioners, or aromatherapy enthusiasts.
• Competitive Analysis: Compare your products and branding to other essential oil companies, focusing on your unique selling points like organic sourcing, custom blends, or packaging.
• Sales and Marketing: Outline your strategy for reaching customers, including e-commerce, wholesale distribution, or partnerships with wellness centers.
• Management Team: Highlight the experience and qualifications of your team, particularly in areas like herbalism, product development, and business management.
• Operations Plan: Describe the process of essential oil production, from sourcing raw materials to bottling and distribution.
• Financial Plan: Provide an overview of financial aspects, including startup costs, pricing strategy, and revenue projections.
• Appendix: Include supplementary documents such as product catalogs, supplier agreements, or detailed market research to support your business plan.

If you’ve never created a business plan, it can be an intimidating task. You might consider hiring a business plan specialist to create a top-notch business plan for you.

Step 5: Register Your Business

Registering your business is an absolutely crucial step — it’s the prerequisite to paying taxes, raising capital, opening a bank account, and other guideposts on the road to getting a business up and running.

Plus, registration is exciting because it makes the entire process official. Once it’s complete, you’ll have your own business! 

Choose where to register your company

Your business location is important because it can affect taxes, legal requirements, and revenue. Most people will register their business in the state where they live, but if you’re planning to expand, you might consider looking elsewhere, as some states could offer real advantages when it comes to essential oils businesses. 

If you’re willing to move, you could really maximize your business! Keep in mind, it’s relatively easy to transfer your business to another state. 

Choose your business structure

Business entities come in several varieties, each with its pros and cons. The legal structure you choose for your essential oils business will shape your taxes, personal liability, and business registration requirements, so choose wisely. 

Here are the main options:

• Sole Proprietorship – The most common structure for small businesses makes no legal distinction between company and owner. All income goes to the owner, who’s also liable for any debts, losses, or liabilities incurred by the business. The owner pays taxes on business income on his or her personal tax return.
• General Partnership – Similar to a sole proprietorship, but for two or more people. Again, owners keep the profits and are liable for losses. The partners pay taxes on their share of business income on their personal tax returns.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC) – Combines the characteristics of corporations with those of sole proprietorships or partnerships. Again, the owners are not personally liable for debts.
• C Corp – Under this structure, the business is a distinct legal entity and the owner or owners are not personally liable for its debts. Owners take profits through shareholder dividends, rather than directly. The corporation pays taxes, and owners pay taxes on their dividends, which is sometimes referred to as double taxation.
• S Corp – An S-Corporation refers to the tax classification of the business but is not a business entity. An S-Corp can be either a corporation or an LLC , which just need to elect to be an S-Corp for tax status. In an S-Corp, income is passed through directly to shareholders, who pay taxes on their share of business income on their personal tax returns.

We recommend that new business owners choose LLC as it offers liability protection and pass-through taxation while being simpler to form than a corporation. You can form an LLC in as little as five minutes using an online LLC formation service. They will check that your business name is available before filing, submit your articles of organization , and answer any questions you might have. 

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Step 6: Register for Taxes

The final step before you’re able to pay taxes is getting an Employer Identification Number , or EIN. You can file for your EIN online or by mail or fax: visit the IRS website to learn more. Keep in mind, if you’ve chosen to be a sole proprietorship you can simply use your social security number as your EIN. 

Once you have your EIN, you’ll need to choose your tax year. Financially speaking, your business will operate in a calendar year (January–December) or a fiscal year, a 12-month period that can start in any month. This will determine your tax cycle, while your business structure will determine which taxes you’ll pay.

The IRS website also offers a tax-payers checklist , and taxes can be filed online.

It is important to consult an accountant or other professional to help you with your taxes to ensure you’re completing them correctly.

Step 7: Fund your Business

Securing financing is your next step and there are plenty of ways to raise capital:

• Bank loans: This is the most common method but getting approved requires a rock-solid business plan and strong credit history.
• SBA-guaranteed loans: The Small Business Administration can act as guarantor, helping gain that elusive bank approval via an SBA-guaranteed loan .
• Government grants: A handful of financial assistance programs help fund entrepreneurs. Visit Grants.gov to learn which might work for you.
• Friends and Family: Reach out to friends and family to provide a business loan or investment in your concept. It’s a good idea to have legal advice when doing so because SEC regulations apply.
• Crowdfunding: Websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo offer an increasingly popular low-risk option, in which donors fund your vision. Entrepreneurial crowdfunding sites like Fundable and WeFunder enable multiple investors to fund your business.
• Personal: Self-fund your business via your savings or the sale of property or other assets.

Bank and SBA loans are probably the best option, other than friends and family, for funding an essential oils business. You might also try crowdfunding if you have an innovative concept. 

Step 8: Apply for Essential Oils Business Licenses and Permits

Starting an essential oils business requires obtaining a number of licenses and permits from local, state, and federal governments.

Federal regulations, licenses, and permits associated with starting your business include doing business as (DBA), health licenses and permits from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ( OSHA ), trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other intellectual properties, as well as industry-specific licenses and permits. 

You may also need state-level and local county or city-based licenses and permits. The license requirements and how to obtain them vary, so check the websites of your state, city, and county governments or contact the appropriate person to learn more. 

You could also check this SBA guide for your state’s requirements, but we recommend using MyCorporation’s Business License Compliance Package . They will research the exact forms you need for your business and state and provide them to ensure you’re fully compliant.

This is not a step to be taken lightly, as failing to comply with legal requirements can result in hefty penalties.

If you feel overwhelmed by this step or don’t know how to begin, it might be a good idea to hire a professional to help you check all the legal boxes.

Step 9: Open a Business Bank Account

Before you start making money, you’ll need a place to keep it, and that requires opening a bank account .

Keeping your business finances separate from your personal account makes it easy to file taxes and track your company’s income, so it’s worth doing even if you’re running your essential oils business as a sole proprietorship. Opening a business bank account is quite simple, and similar to opening a personal one. Most major banks offer accounts tailored for businesses — just inquire at your preferred bank to learn about their rates and features.

Banks vary in terms of offerings, so it’s a good idea to examine your options and select the best plan for you. Once you choose your bank, bring in your EIN (or Social Security Number if you decide on a sole proprietorship), articles of incorporation, and other legal documents and open your new account. 

Step 10: Get Business Insurance

Business insurance is an area that often gets overlooked yet it can be vital to your success as an entrepreneur. Insurance protects you from unexpected events that can have a devastating impact on your business.

Here are some types of insurance to consider:

• General liability: The most comprehensive type of insurance, acting as a catch-all for many business elements that require coverage. If you get just one kind of insurance, this is it. It even protects against bodily injury and property damage.
• Business Property: Provides coverage for your equipment and supplies.
• Equipment Breakdown Insurance: Covers the cost of replacing or repairing equipment that has broken due to mechanical issues.
• Worker’s compensation: Provides compensation to employees injured on the job.
• Property: Covers your physical space, whether it is a cart, storefront, or office.
• Commercial auto: Protection for your company-owned vehicle.
• Professional liability: Protects against claims from a client who says they suffered a loss due to an error or omission in your work.
• Business owner’s policy (BOP): This is an insurance plan that acts as an all-in-one insurance policy, a combination of the above insurance types.

Step 11: Prepare to Launch

As opening day nears, prepare for launch by reviewing and improving some key elements of your business. 

Essential software and tools

Being an entrepreneur often means wearing many hats, from marketing to sales to accounting, which can be overwhelming. Fortunately, many websites and digital tools are available to help simplify many business tasks. 

You may want to use industry-specific software, such as  LS Retail ,  Vend , or  Retail Pro , to manage purchasing, inventory, and invoicing.

• Popular web-based accounting programs for smaller businesses include Quickbooks , Freshbooks , and Xero . 
• If you’re unfamiliar with basic accounting, you may want to hire a professional, especially as you begin. The consequences for filing incorrect tax documents can be harsh, so accuracy is crucial. 

Develop your website

Website development is crucial because your site is your online presence and needs to convince prospective clients of your expertise and professionalism.

You can create your own website using services like  WordPress ,  Wix , or  Squarespace . This route is very affordable, but figuring out how to build a website can be time-consuming. If you lack tech-savvy, you can hire a web designer or developer to create a custom website for your business.

They are unlikely to find your website, however, unless you follow Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) practices. These are steps that help pages rank higher in the results of top search engines like Google.

Here are some powerful marketing strategies for your future business:

• Educational Content on Social Media: Leverage platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to share informative content about the benefits and uses of essential oils, creating engaging posts, infographics, and short videos to educate and attract potential customers.
• Partnerships with Wellness Influencers: Collaborate with wellness and lifestyle influencers who align with your brand values to reach a broader audience, gain credibility, and tap into their followers’ interest in holistic living.
• Create Limited-Time Bundles: Increase sales by offering limited-time bundles or exclusive packages, encouraging customers to try a variety of essential oils and discover their unique benefits at a discounted price.
• Host Virtual Workshops and Classes: Organize online workshops or classes where participants can learn about essential oils, their applications, and the overall wellness benefits, fostering a sense of community and promoting your products.
• Customer Testimonials and Success Stories: Share genuine customer testimonials and success stories through various channels, including social media, your product packaging, or email newsletters, to build trust and showcase the positive impact of your essential oils.
• Seasonal Promotions and Gift Sets: Create seasonal promotions and special edition gift sets, capitalizing on holidays and events to drive sales and offer customers unique, themed essential oil collections.
• Local Farmers’ Markets and Events: Participate in local farmers’ markets, health fairs, or community events to connect with customers face-to-face, allowing them to experience your essential oils firsthand and ask questions.
• Subscription Box Services: Introduce a subscription box service that delivers a curated selection of essential oils to customers regularly, offering convenience and a continuous source of revenue while showcasing the diversity of your product line.
• Referral Programs: Implement a referral program where existing customers can earn discounts or exclusive products for referring friends and family, creating a word-of-mouth marketing strategy that leverages personal recommendations.
• Collaborate with Spa and Wellness Businesses: Partner with local spas, yoga studios, or wellness centers to have your essential oils featured in their services or sold in their retail spaces, expanding your reach within the wellness community.

Focus on USPs

Unique selling propositions, or USPs, are the characteristics of a product or service that sets it apart from the competition. Customers today are inundated with buying options, so you’ll have a real advantage if they are able to quickly grasp how your essential oils business meets their needs or wishes. It’s wise to do all you can to ensure your USPs stand out on your website and in your marketing and promotional materials, stimulating buyer desire. 

Global pizza chain Domino’s is renowned for its USP: “Hot pizza in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.” Signature USPs for your essential oils business could be: 

• Pure essential oils for your overall wellness
• Lavender oils made only with plant extractions
• Reduce your stress and anxiety with soothing essential oils

You may not like to network or use personal connections for business gain. But your personal and professional networks likely offer considerable untapped business potential. Maybe that Facebook friend you met in college is now running an essential oils business, or a LinkedIn contact of yours is connected to dozens of potential clients. Maybe your cousin or neighbor has been working in essential oils for years and can offer invaluable insight and industry connections. 

The possibilities are endless, so it’s a good idea to review your personal and professional networks and reach out to those with possible links to or interest in essential oils. You’ll probably generate new customers or find companies with which you could establish a partnership. 

Step 12: Build Your Team

If you’re starting out small from a home office, you may not need any employees. But as your business grows, you will likely need workers to fill various roles. Potential positions for an essential oils business include:

• Essential oils Makers – help make essential oils
• General Manager – ordering, inventory management, accounting
• Marketing Lead – SEO strategies, social media

At some point, you may need to hire all of these positions or simply a few, depending on the size and needs of your business. You might also hire multiple workers for a single role or a single worker for multiple roles, again depending on need. 

Free-of-charge methods to recruit employees include posting ads on popular platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Jobs.com. You might also consider a premium recruitment option, such as advertising on Indeed , Glassdoor , or ZipRecruiter . Further, if you have the resources, you could consider hiring a recruitment agency to help you find talent. 

Step 13: Run an Essential Oils Business – Start Making Money!

Now is the perfect time to start an essential oils business and get in on a market that is poised to double in the coming years. You can start from home for a small investment and make a good living while helping people improve their wellness. It’s an opportunity that can offer many rewards to you, as a business owner.

You’ve started in the right place by learning the business, now it’s time to get your equipment and supplies and launch your new career as an essential oils mogul!

• Essential Oils Business FAQs

Profit margins on essential oils are good, usually about 50%. The key is to find some way to make your oils and your business unique so that you stand out in a crowded market.

You can learn to make essential oils, use essential oils in aromatherapy, and become a certified aromatherapist through the School for Aromatic Studies. Courses are self-study and cost about $650. You can also take less expensive courses on Udemy .

Several factors contribute to the quality of essential oils, including the purity and authenticity of the plant source, the method of extraction, and the quality control measures used during production. 

Yes, it is possible to start an essential oils business from home, although it may require significant time and effort to establish the business and build a customer base. To start a home-based essential oils business, you will need to research and source high-quality essential oils from reputable suppliers, establish a strong online presence through social media and a website, and develop marketing and sales strategies to attract and retain customers.

There are several methods of extracting essential oils from plants, including steam distillation, cold-pressing, and solvent extraction. Steam distillation is the most common method of extraction and involves using steam to vaporize the essential oil from the plant material. 

To market and promote your essential oils business, you can focus on building a strong online presence through social media, search engine optimization, and online advertising. You can also participate in local and regional markets and craft fairs to showcase your products and generate interest. 

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• Decide if the Business Is Right for You
• Hone Your Idea
• Brainstorm an Essential Oils Business Name
• Create an Essential Oils Extraction Business Plan
• Register Your Business
• Register for Taxes
• Fund your Business
• Apply for Essential Oils Business Licenses and Permits
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get Business Insurance
• Prepare to Launch
• Build Your Team
• Run an Essential Oils Business - Start Making Money!

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How to Start Essential Oil Business – A Detailed Guide From Manufacturing to Marketing Your Own Brand

An essential oil business involves in the extraction of compounds from various parts of the plants that were known to have aromatic nature. Once the compounds are extracted via distillation technique they are finally filled into containers and are marketed for various purposes.

What Market Research is Telling about the Essential Oil Business?

With increased awareness of health and wellness, people were now preferring products that include natural ingredients than synthetic’s. Making it one of the major driving factors for the growth of the essential oil business.

It was estimated that the market for essential oils is going to skyrocket from USD 7.03 billion dollars to a whopping 14.6 billion dollars by 2026.

Not only that, statista had revealed that the global market demand for essential oils is expected to reach 404 Kilotons by 2025 from just 226 Kilotons in 2018 !

Taking into account the growing market and popularity. Starting an essential oil business is definitely a profitable one. If you are looking to start your own essential oil company then this is the right time for you.

The 10 Steps Involved in Setting up an Essential Oil Business

Step 1: Creating a Ground Plan for your Business

The first step in starting your essential oil business is to have a ground plan.

Basically, a ground plan creates a basic structure about your business in initial stages. This will give you an idea on budget, raw materials, and marketing strategies required for the business.

When it comes to essential oil business, it involves common things like, estimating the costs for raw materials, wages to workers, power supply, transportation, and other miscellaneous things.

In addition to this, you will decide what kind of essential oil to produce and extraction techniques to follow.

At the same time you will have to think about your production capacity , land requirement and distillation equipment.

Step 2: Obtaining Licenses and Permits

Every business must and should require certain licenses and permits to run. Generally, these thing’s depend on the type of business model, investment, and products you manufacture.

Some of the common things involved in setting up this business Include, Compay Registration. These can be either a sole proprietorship or partnership or an LLP company.

Giving a Trendy name to your essential oil business while registration is not only easier to remember but also acts as a selling strategy.

Also, see if you can trademark your essential oil business name . Although, not all countries might allow you to do this. However, if you have the opportunity don’t forget to file one for your brand.

Next, Obtain appropriate Safety, labor and industrial permits for running your plant. Although, essential oil extraction process may not produce loud noise or release harmful chemicals to the environment. But the handling of the equipment must be done properly in order to avoid safety issues.

Step 3: Deciding a Variety of Essential Oil to Manufacture

Essential oils are obtained from a variety of plants and there are different techniques involved in extracting process.

But the question is, you need to know what variety of essential oil can be profitable for you.

For example, essential oils like lavender, tea tree, and peppermint already have a great demand in the market and it can be competitive to manufacture and sell such types of products. Because several big companies, as well as established brands, already have manufactured products based on these ingredients.

On other hand, there are some lesser-known essential oils like clary sage, ginger, cypress and frankincense oil. Try if you can distill such unique products.

Step 4: Planning and Obtaining Raw Materials

Essential oils are extracted from various parts of the plant such as flowers, stems, leaves, and fruits. A proper strategy is very important on obtaining these raw materials.

There can be several scenarios that can affect your raw material supply such as, natural distastes, riots or sudden increase in prices. To be prepared for such things a proper planning is essential for procuring raw material

Here are some useful tips on how to plan your raw materials appropriately

• Never depend upon a single trader for obtaining raw material, instead tie up with multiple traders for uninterrupted supply
• Make sure you have a dedicated warehouse for storing raw materials
• Always be vigilant on market prices and set aside some amount of money for an unexpected price increase.
• Obtain raw materials from trusted sources that were known to grow organically. Although, getting raw material from an organically grown farm might initially cost you more, they would offer better quality and prevent unnecessary contamination in your end product.

Step 5: Cleaning and Sorting of Raw Materials

Once the raw material reaches your production plant, you need to sort out the material from unwanted waste such as foul plant substances, insects, dust, and debris.

Proper cleaning and sorting of raw materials will ensure your product is free from contamination as well as remains in good condition throughout its shelf-life.

Cleaning and sorting of raw material can be achieved quickly with a combination of manpower and automated equipment.

Step 6: Distillation and Extraction of Essential Oils

The core aspect of the essential oil business lies in the distillation techniques used. There are different varieties of extraction processes suitable for each type of essential oil.

Different types of techniques are involved in the distillation of essential oils

• Water distillation
• Steam distillation
• CO2 extraction

Among them, Water and Steam distillation are the widely used methods

Water Distillation

It is known to be an age-old technique. Where the plant materials are immersed in water. Later, a direct fire is applied beneath the distillery.

Once the temperatures slowly start to raise, the water and the plant material slowly boils and releases vapors.

These vapors travel through the still and reach the condenser which finally cools down the vapor turning into a liquid form.

These condensate will be further passed through the Florentine receiver , which separates the essential oil from the water.

Steam Distillation

Steam distillation is the most widely used essential oil extraction method all over the world. This is simply known as the industry-standard.

In this process, a separate compartment is installed to generate the steam for the extraction process. The generated steam will either be sent directly into the plant material or through the jacket.

As the plant material gets heated up it will slowly release the vapors that travels through the condenser finally producing essential oils.

Most of the industrial steam distillation machines are automated

Which means, they include a PLC to monitor various parameters of the equipment such as temperate, pressure, and humidity.

In addition to that some equipment’s even help to track the data of the batch.

Things to keep in mind while purchasing a distillation unit for essential oil extraction

The distillation unit is the heart of essential oil extraction. You need to pay special attention when purchasing this equipment.

Before you decide to purchase one, ask yourself following questions

• What is the capacity of the machine?
• What type of material is it made up of?
• Does the metal react with your essential oil material?
• How easy is it to clean and sterilize?
• How simple is it to operate?
• Does it offer any automation process?
• How much temperature can it withstand?
• Can the distillation unit be expanded over time, like the addition of valves, sensors, and pipes, etc.,

2) Always research and contact as many Essential oil Distillery equipment manufacturers as possible and ask for a quotation. Get a product brochure if possible.

3) Take a note of each equipment and its specifications and compare them with your requirements.

4) Write down the pros and cons of each equipment that you came across.

5) Try to contact existing customers who already made a purchase from the manufacturer that you are going to purchase.

6) Always go with the manufacturer that can provide better customer support and field technicians as soon as possible.

Step 7: Collection and Post-processing

After the process of distillation, the condensate is extracted through a receiver present at the bottom of the equipment. It is a mixture of water and essential oil. So, we need to separate the essential oils from water.

To do this, we use equipment called Florentine flask which is also known as Essencier . The shape of this flask is specially designed in such a way that it would separate the oils from the water.

There are two common types of Florentine flasks, One, that can separate low-density oil from the water like lavender oils. While, another, that can separate high-density oil from water. For example, cinnamon and clove oil.

Once the essential oil is separated from the hydrosol (water) it is further sent to processing where the oil will be constituted with a carrier oil.

However, some essential oils are not diluted and were packed directly into bottles.

Essential oils are diluted with a carrier oil because they were highly volatile in nature, which means they can easily get evaporated .

How to Effectively Use the Left over Hydrolate

The left-over Hydrolate or Hydrosol is a byproduct of distillation process. It is generally called as floral water.

Although we call it a byproduct it still retains a good amount of essential oil compounds within it. Thus, making it a valuable product in the Essential Oil Business. It is used in making products like face mist, toners, Make-up cleansers, or herbal water.

Benefits of using the Cohobation Technique, In the process of Cohobation, the hydrolate can be recycled for specific intervals back to the vessel. This will help to improve the essential oil yield at the same time increases the concentration levels of the compounds.

In the process of rose essential oil extraction, cohobation plays a major role where, 70% of the rose oil is obtained via this method.

Step 8: Packing and Bottling your essential oil

Once the essential oil is finally extracted, It needs to be packed into bottles. Most of the essential oils are packed into small glass bottles. They were usually stored in 15ml, 20ml, and 25 ml sizes.

However, some essential oils are packed in large sized bottles

Things to keep in mind when you are storing and packing essential oils

Most of the essential oils are packed in a brown colored small bottles, these colored bottles protect essential oil from UV-Rays at the same time they were inexpensive.

Different Types of Bottles Used for Essential oils Storage

Bottles with orifice reducers

This type of bottles contains an orifice. which is a small plastic material that reduces the flow of oil dripping outside when tapped. This ensures the oil is dispensed in small amounts.

Drawback – Bottles with orifice reducers are prone to dispense more liquid when tapped continuously which results in wastage. At the same time they were known to spill out the liquid around the mouth of the bottle.

Bottles with dropper caps

Bottles with dropper caps are more common in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. They dispense accurate amount of liquid drops when pressed. Making them most suitable bottles to store essential oils.

Bottles with roll-on cap

Bottles with roller caps are used if your essential oil needs to be directly applied over the skin or any surfaces.

In general, if an essential oil is packed in roller cap bottles then they were mostly diluted with carrier oil to prevent evaporation as well as to prevent any irritation on sensitive parts due to direct contact .

Spray bottles for essential oils

Some essential oils are often stored in spry bottles. These bottles contains a spray unit that releases fine mist when pressed.

If you were deciding to store your essential oil in spray bottles, then it is better to choose the one made up of glass or aluminum rather than plastic. Because plastic tends to react with essential oils.

Step 9: Branding and Marketing your essential oil business

Branding and Marketing are the two important things to turn your Essential oil business profitable. To simply say, without them, it is really hard to succeed in this business.

A Successful branding and marketing strategy involves a well-planned strategy and thorough research. Keep in mind this will not happen overnight. It requires dedication and time.

Steps involved in Branding and Marketing for Essential Oil Business

Creating a strategy.

Explain how your essential oil business is trustworthy, unique and how your customers feel about it.

In the brand strategy, you send a message to the public of your promises and purposes. And how your essential oils are unique from your competitors and what they were going to offer different from them.

Never try to skip creating a brand strategy at first, this will always remind you about the sole purpose of starting your business, it reflects your brand values and promises.

Establishing a Brand Identity

A brand identity gives visual representation to your business and its products. Generally, it involves things like

• Creating a logo
• Setting up a dedicated website
• Uniqueness in labelling, printing and packing of your essential oil products.

Marketing your Essential Oil products

Clear and consistent communication is very important in marketing your business.

Several small businesses either fail or lose so much amount of money in marketing their products. So, be careful and take your time on finding the correct resources to market your products.

Here are some economical ways that you can improve your market reach.

• Maintain a blog on your company website and timely post articles about your industry or products
• Make use of social media platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, and LinkedIn to promote your business
• Use social media marketing campaigns with low investment first
• Invite upcoming YouTube, Instagram stars to try out your essential oil products
• Set-up stalls in events or exhibitions to showcase your products

Keep in mind, to stay in the competition, try to provide discounts, coupons, and gift cards for purchasing your products during festive seasons.

At the same time, try to sell your Essential oils in starter kits . Because when you sell in starter packs you will provide more items in a single purchase. This attracts customers at the same time they can get to know more number of your products in their first purchase.

Step 10: Choosing Between Essential Oil Distributor and Online platforms to sell your products

There are two ways of selling Essential Oils, through a distributor or by your own.

Essential oil distributors are the ones that sell your product on their behalf with a commission. They play a major role in this kind of business, due to their vast sales network locally and internationally.

Get in touch with the distributors in your region and talk about how they can sell your products and how much they take a commission.

The second way, you can sell the products being a direct supplier.

Here’s the list of online platforms that you can start selling your own essential oils

What are some of the Best Brands in Essential oils?

do TERRA, Young Living, Rocky Mountain Oils and Plant Therapy are some of the reputed brands that are know to produce high-quality essential oils

Is Essential Oil Business still a Profitable One?

Yes, Essential oil business is still a profitable business. Though, there are several giants existing in this market, if you can focus on producing unique essential oils and have a Unique Selling Proposition, maintain quality in your product and packing, then you can achieve good growth in this business

Are Essential Oils FDA Approved?

FDA put forwards several questions whether to consider essential oils are approved or not. There are several reasons why it’s tricky because they are marketed as ‘aromatherapy’ products which itself is not clear whether they were a cosmetic product or a drug substance. if it is a cosmetic product, FDA states they have no legal authority to approve such products with few exceptions

What Licenses are needed for selling Essential oil?

Apart from business licenses, you don’t need specific licenses for selling essential oil products. However, if you claim that your product has medicinal claims then, you may have to check with the appropriate Drug or Medical regulations of that country you are selling. However, some countries like Canada requires to meet specific guidelines if you make your own essential oils

What are the steps involved in starting an essential oil business?

1) Obtaining Business licenses 2) Deciding thorough market research on what variety of essential oils to produce 3) Deciding whether you make your own essential oils or sell on behalf of others 4) Deciding a marketing strategy for branding and promotion 5) Deciding how you sell, working with an essential oil distributor, or as a direct supplier

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How To Write a Business Plan for Essential Oils Manufacturing in 9 Steps: Checklist

By henry sheykin, resources on essential oils manufacturing.

• Financial Model
• Business Plan
• Value Proposition
• One-Page Business Plan
• SWOT Analysis
• Business Model
• Marketing Plan

Welcome to our blog post on how to write a business plan for essential oils manufacturing! If you're considering entering the thriving and fast-growing industry of essential oils, you're in the right place. According to recent statistics, the global essential oils market is expected to reach a value of $14.6 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.7%. With such potential for growth, it's vital to have a solid business plan in place. In this article, we'll guide you through the essential steps in creating your business plan, ensuring you're well-prepared to enter the market.

First and foremost, you'll need to identify your target market and competition . Understanding who your potential customers are and assessing the competition will help you tailor your products and marketing efforts effectively. Conducting thorough market research and analysis is essential to gain insights into customer preferences, market trends, and distribution channels.

Once you have a clear understanding of the market, it's crucial to define your unique selling proposition (USP) . What sets your essential oils apart from others in the market? Whether it's the use of natural ingredients, advanced extraction technology, or competitive pricing, your USP will differentiate your products and attract customers.

Next, you'll need to develop a comprehensive business concept . This includes determining your manufacturing process, selecting suppliers for raw materials, and designing your product line. Additionally, you should consider the packaging, branding, and product positioning to create a cohesive and appealing brand image.

As with any business, you'll need to comply with legal and regulatory requirements . Research the specific regulations for manufacturing and selling essential oils in your country or region and ensure you meet all necessary standards and certifications.

Financial feasibility is another crucial aspect to consider. Assess the costs involved in setting up and running your essential oils manufacturing business and create a comprehensive budget . You may need to account for expenses such as machinery, raw materials, packaging, marketing, and staffing.

With your business concept and budget in place, it's time to develop a marketing and sales strategy . Identify your target customer segments, select appropriate marketing channels both offline and online, and determine pricing strategies. Additionally, consider utilizing e-commerce platforms to reach customers worldwide and facilitate sales.

A well-thought-out operations plan is essential for efficient manufacturing and distribution of your essential oils. This includes outlining production processes, managing inventory, and establishing relationships with suppliers and distributors.

Lastly, define the organizational structure and staffing requirements for your essential oils manufacturing business. Identify key roles and responsibilities, and determine whether you'll need to hire additional staff or work with external partners.

By following these nine essential steps in writing your business plan, you'll set a strong foundation for your essential oils manufacturing venture. Research, planning, and strategic decision-making are key to ensuring your business thrives in this competitive and lucrative industry. Good luck on your journey!

Identify Target Market And Competition

Identifying your target market and understanding the competition is a crucial step in developing a successful business plan for essential oils manufacturing. Knowing who your customers are and how your products will stand out in the market will help you create an effective marketing strategy and make informed business decisions.

To identify your target market, consider factors such as demographics, psychographics, and geographic location. Determine who would be the most likely consumers of essential oils and related products, and understand their preferences, needs, and purchasing behaviors. This will enable you to tailor your products and marketing efforts to effectively reach and engage your target audience.

Tips for Identifying Target Market:

• Conduct market research to gather data on potential customers and their preferences.
• Segment your target market into different groups based on their specific needs or characteristics.
• Consider conducting surveys or focus groups to gather direct feedback from potential customers.
• Monitor industry trends and stay updated on the evolving demands and preferences of your target market.

Once you have identified your target market, it is essential to analyze the competition in the industry. Identify other businesses that offer similar products or cater to the same customer base. Study their market position, product offerings, pricing strategies, and marketing tactics. This will give you insights into the competitive landscape and help you identify opportunities for differentiation.

Tips for Analyzing Competition:

• Research online and offline competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
• Visit their websites, social media platforms, and physical stores to observe their branding and customer experience.
• Analyze their pricing structure and product quality to determine your competitive advantage.
• Identify gaps in the market that your business can fill or areas where you can offer a unique value proposition.

By identifying your target market and thoroughly analyzing the competition, you will be equipped with the essential knowledge to develop a differentiated business concept and effectively position your essential oils manufacturing venture in the market.

Conduct Market Research and Analysis

Market research and analysis play a crucial role in the success of your essential oils manufacturing business. By gathering and analyzing relevant information, you can gain valuable insights into the industry, target market, and competition. Here are some important steps to conduct effective market research and analysis:

• Identify your target market: Determine who your ideal customers are by considering factors such as demographics, purchasing behavior, and preferences. This will help you tailor your products and marketing strategies to meet their needs.
• Assess market size and growth potential: Evaluate the current market size for essential oils and related products, and analyze the growth trends. This will give you a clearer understanding of the market's potential and opportunities for expansion.
• Study consumer trends and preferences: Stay updated on consumer preferences, emerging trends, and demands in the essential oils industry. This will enable you to develop products that align with current market interests.
• Analyze competition: Research and analyze your competitors to determine their strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning. Identify what sets your business apart and develop a unique selling proposition (USP) to differentiate yourself from the competition.
• Evaluate distribution channels: Understand the various distribution channels available for essential oils and related products, such as local stores, online platforms, or partnerships with other businesses. Determine the most effective channels to reach your target market.

Tips for conducting market research and analysis:

• Utilize online resources: Make use of industry reports, market research websites, and social media platforms to gather valuable information about the essential oils market.
• Survey potential customers: Conduct surveys or focus groups to gain direct insights from your target market regarding their preferences, needs, and willingness to purchase your products.
• Stay updated on industry regulations: Keep yourself informed about the legal and regulatory requirements for manufacturing and selling essential oils to ensure compliance and avoid any potential issues.
• Monitor industry influencers: Follow industry experts, influencers, and bloggers who specialize in essential oils manufacturing to stay updated on the latest trends and market developments.

By conducting thorough market research and analysis, you can make informed decisions about your essential oils manufacturing business, develop effective marketing strategies, and ultimately enhance your chances of success in this competitive industry.

Define Unique Selling Proposition

The unique selling proposition (USP) is a crucial component of your business plan as it sets your essential oils manufacturing business apart from competitors by highlighting the unique benefits and attributes of your products. It is what differentiates your brand and convinces customers to choose your products over others in the market.

When defining your USP, consider the following:

• Identify your target market: Determine the specific demographic, psychographic, and geographic characteristics of your ideal customers. Understanding their needs, preferences, and pain points will help you craft a USP that addresses their unique requirements.
• Conduct competitive analysis: Study your competitors to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This analysis will enable you to differentiate your products and position them uniquely in the market.
• Highlight your unique features: Identify the distinctive aspects of your essential oils, such as the use of natural ingredients and advanced extraction technology. Emphasize the high-quality, pleasant aroma, and reasonable pricing of your products.

Tips for Defining Your USP:

• Focus on a specific target market segment to establish a niche market for your essential oils.
• Align your USP with the needs, values, and desires of your target customers.
• Ensure your USP is clear, concise, and easily understood by potential customers.
• Use your USP to foster an emotional connection with customers, making them feel that your products are essential to their well-being.
• Regularly review and refine your USP as market trends and consumer preferences evolve.

By defining a compelling and unique selling proposition, you will effectively communicate the value of your essential oils manufacturing business to potential customers, helping you establish a strong position in the market and achieve sustainable growth.

Develop A Comprehensive Business Concept

Developing a comprehensive business concept is a crucial step in creating a successful business plan for essential oils manufacturing. This step involves outlining the core elements of your business, including its purpose, mission, and vision.

In this stage, it is essential to clearly define the type of essential oils and related products you plan to manufacture. Consider factors such as the target market's preferences, trends in the industry, and potential competition.

A tip: Research and analyze the demand for specific types of essential oils and related products in the market. Look for gaps or opportunities that your business can fill.

Furthermore, it is important to identify the unique selling proposition (USP) of your business concept. What sets your essential oils apart from competitors? Is it the use of natural ingredients, the extraction technology, or the reasonable pricing? Make sure to emphasize these strengths in your business concept.

Once you have defined your business concept, outline the key details such as the production processes, sourcing of ingredients, quality control measures, and packaging considerations. These details will help you establish efficient operations and ensure that your essential oils meet the desired criteria.

Keep in mind that your business concept should align with the values and needs of your target market. Take into account customer preferences, pricing expectations, and any specific requirements for essential oils in various applications, such as aromatherapy or skincare.

Lastly, focus on differentiating your business by leveraging strategic marketing channels, such as local, regional, and online platforms. Consider building an e-commerce platform to facilitate sales and reach a wider customer base. Additionally, explore opportunities for partnerships and collaborations to expand your customer reach.

• Clearly define your business concept, including its purpose, mission, and vision.
• Identify the type of essential oils and related products you plan to manufacture.
• Research and analyze the demand for specific types of essential oils in the market.
• Identify the unique selling proposition (USP) of your essential oils.
• Outline the key details of your production processes, ingredient sourcing, quality control, and packaging.
• Ensure your business concept aligns with your target market's values and preferences.
• Utilize strategic marketing channels and consider developing an e-commerce platform.
• Explore partnerships and collaborations to expand your customer reach.

Determine The Legal And Regulatory Requirements

When starting a business in the essential oils manufacturing industry, it's crucial to understand and comply with the legal and regulatory requirements that govern this specific sector. Failing to do so can result in fines, legal issues, and even the closure of your business. Here are some important steps to follow:

• Research Local and National Regulations: Conduct thorough research on the laws and regulations related to essential oils manufacturing in your country and local area. This includes understanding product labeling requirements, ingredient restrictions, safety standards, and any permits or licenses needed.
• Comply with Manufacturing Standards: Ensure that your manufacturing process meets industry standards and follows good manufacturing practices (GMP). This ensures the safety and quality of your essential oils and related products.
• Product Testing and Certification: Depending on your target market, certain certifications and testing may be required to guarantee the quality and authenticity of your essential oils. Research and understand the specific certifications needed, such as organic or fair trade certifications.
• Labeling and Packaging Compliance: Familiarize yourself with specific labeling and packaging requirements for essential oils and related items. This may include providing accurate ingredient lists, allergen information, warnings, and proper directions for use.
• Intellectual Property: Protect your brand, product names, logos, and any other intellectual property by registering trademarks and patents if applicable. This safeguards your business from potential infringement issues.
• Consult with Legal Professionals: To ensure you fully understand and comply with all legal and regulatory requirements, it's advisable to seek guidance from legal professionals with expertise in the manufacturing and cosmetics industry.
• Stay Updated: Regularly stay informed about any changes or updates to laws and regulations that may impact your business. This can be done through industry associations, government websites, or legal databases.
• Maintain Documentation: Keep detailed records of your compliance efforts, including permits, certifications, and any correspondence with regulatory agencies. This can serve as proof of compliance if ever required.

Assess Financial Feasibility And Create A Budget

Assessing the financial feasibility of your essential oils manufacturing business is crucial to ensure its long-term success. It involves analyzing the costs involved in setting up and operating your business, as well as estimating the potential revenues and profits.

To begin, you should carefully evaluate the initial investment required to start the manufacturing process, which includes equipment, machinery, raw materials, and facility expenses. Consider seeking expert advice or conducting thorough research to obtain accurate cost estimates.

Next, create a comprehensive budget that includes both fixed and variable expenses associated with your manufacturing operation. Fixed costs encompass items such as rent, utilities, insurance, and salaries, while variable costs include the cost of raw materials, packaging, and transportation.

• Take into account any potential fluctuations in the prices of raw materials, as this can have a significant impact on your budget. Conduct regular market research to stay updated on industry trends and pricing.
• Consider the costs of marketing and promoting your products. Allocate a portion of your budget for online marketing campaigns, branding, packaging design, and attending trade shows or exhibitions.
• Identify any additional expenses related to legal and regulatory compliance, such as obtaining permits and licenses.
• Don't forget to account for potential unexpected costs or contingencies. It is always wise to allocate a portion of your budget for unforeseen circumstances or emergencies.
• Consult with a financial advisor or accountant to ensure your budget is realistic and accurate.
• Consider using financial management software or tools to track and monitor your expenses.
• Regularly review and update your budget as your business evolves and grows.
• Keep a close eye on your cash flow to ensure you have enough working capital to fulfill orders and cover operational costs.

Creating a thorough and well-defined budget will not only help you understand the financial feasibility of your essential oils manufacturing business but also assist you in making informed decisions and setting achievable goals. It serves as a roadmap for financial success and provides a benchmark to measure your business's performance against.

Create A Marketing And Sales Strategy

A strong marketing and sales strategy is essential for the success of your essential oils manufacturing business. This step involves identifying your target market, understanding their needs and preferences, and developing a plan to effectively promote and sell your products. Here are some key elements to consider when creating your marketing and sales strategy:

• Identify and understand your target market: Conduct thorough market research to identify your target audience, including their demographics, preferences, and buying behaviors. Understanding your target market will help you tailor your marketing efforts and product offerings to meet their specific needs.
• Develop a unique selling proposition: Differentiate your business from competitors by clearly defining your unique selling proposition (USP). This could be based on factors such as high-quality essential oils, competitive pricing, eco-friendly packaging, or exceptional customer service. Your USP should communicate the value and benefits your products offer to customers.
• Create a comprehensive marketing plan: Outline your marketing tactics and strategies to promote your essential oils and related products. This may include traditional advertising methods, such as print and radio ads, as well as digital marketing techniques, such as social media campaigns, content marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO). Consider utilizing influencers or collaborating with relevant bloggers or social media personalities to reach a wider audience.
• Utilize online platforms: Establish a strong online presence by creating a user-friendly website and utilizing social media platforms to showcase your products and engage with potential customers. Create compelling content, including product descriptions, blog posts, and customer testimonials, to educate and persuade your target market.
• Offer free samples or trial sizes of your essential oils to encourage potential customers to try your products.
• Create loyalty programs or rewards systems to incentivize repeat purchases and attract customer loyalty.
• Collaborate with complementary businesses, such as spas, beauty salons, or wellness centers, to distribute your products or offer joint promotions.
• Participate in relevant trade shows or industry events to showcase your products and establish connections with potential customers and business partners.

Crafting a well-defined marketing and sales strategy will help you effectively communicate the value of your essential oils and attract customers to your business. Regularly review and revise your strategy based on market trends, customer feedback, and the performance of your marketing efforts to ensure continued success in the competitive essential oils manufacturing industry.

Develop an Operations Plan

Once you have identified your target market, conducted market research, defined your unique selling proposition, and developed a comprehensive business concept, it is crucial to develop an operations plan to ensure the smooth functioning of your essential oils manufacturing business.

Here are some key steps to consider:

• 1. Production Process: Document the step-by-step process of manufacturing essential oils and related products, including the extraction methods, quality control measures, and packaging procedures. This will serve as a guide for your production team and help maintain consistency in the final products.
• 2. Raw Material Sourcing: Identify reliable suppliers of natural ingredients and establish strong partnerships to ensure a constant supply of high-quality raw materials. Maintain a system for quality assessment and track supplier performance regularly.
• 3. Equipment and Technology: Select and invest in appropriate extraction equipment and technology to optimize the manufacturing process. Regularly update and maintain machinery to maximize efficiency and reduce downtime.
• 4. Inventory Management: Implement an inventory management system that tracks the quantity of raw materials, semi-finished products, and finished goods. Set reorder points to avoid stockouts and minimize wastage.
• 5. Quality Control: Develop stringent quality control measures to ensure the consistency, purity, and safety of your products. Implement regular testing procedures and establish quality standards that meet industry regulations and customer expectations.
• 6. Packaging and Shipping: Determine suitable packaging materials that preserve the quality of essential oils and related items. Choose environmentally friendly packaging options to align with sustainable practices. Develop efficient shipping processes and partner with reliable logistics providers to ensure timely delivery.
• 7. Health and Safety: Prioritize the health and safety of your employees by complying with occupational safety regulations and implementing proper training programs. Create a safe working environment and establish protocols for handling hazardous substances.
• 8. Continuous Improvement: Foster a culture of continuous improvement by regularly reviewing and updating your operations plan. Seek feedback from employees and customers to identify areas for enhancement and implement necessary changes to increase productivity and customer satisfaction.
• Invest in automation technologies to streamline the manufacturing process and reduce manual work.
• Keep track of industry trends and adapt your operations plan accordingly to stay competitive.
• Regularly train your employees on new techniques and developments in essential oils manufacturing.
• Build relationships with other businesses in the industry to gain insights and potentially collaborate on research and development.

Outline The Organizational Structure And Staffing Requirements

When it comes to running a successful essential oils manufacturing business, having a well-defined organizational structure and the right staffing requirements are vital. This will ensure that your operations run smoothly, and that you have the right team in place to carry out the necessary tasks and responsibilities.

Organizational Structure:

Begin by determining the overall organizational structure of your business. Consider the different departments or functional areas that need to be established, such as production, marketing, sales, finance, and administration. Determine how these departments will interact with each other and what reporting lines will be in place.

Staffing Requirements:

Next, identify the specific staffing requirements for each department. Consider the roles and responsibilities that need to be filled, and the qualifications and skills necessary for each position. This could include positions such as production technicians, quality control specialists, marketing managers, sales representatives, finance officers, and administrative personnel.

• Consider hiring individuals with experience in the essential oils industry to bring industry knowledge and expertise to your team.
• Take into account the future growth of your business when determining staffing requirements. Think about the potential need for additional positions as your business expands.
• Develop clear job descriptions and expectations for each position to ensure that employees understand their roles and responsibilities.
• Consider outsourcing certain functions, such as accounting or marketing, if it makes sense for your business.
• Regularly assess the performance and development needs of your team members to ensure they have the necessary skills to support your business goals.

Lastly, create a plan for recruiting and hiring the right individuals for each position. Determine the recruitment methods to be used, such as online job postings, networking, or working with recruitment agencies. Develop an interview and selection process to ensure you are choosing candidates who align with your company values and have the necessary qualifications and skills. Provide ongoing training and support to your employees to help them grow and succeed in their roles.

By outlining the organizational structure and staffing requirements for your essential oils manufacturing business, you are setting a solid foundation for success. This will ensure that you have the right team in place to support your operations and drive your business forward.

In conclusion, writing a business plan for essential oils manufacturing involves several crucial steps that can ultimately determine the success of your venture. By identifying your target market, conducting thorough market research, and defining your unique selling proposition, you can develop a comprehensive business concept that sets you apart from the competition.

Ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, assessing financial feasibility, and creating a budget are essential in establishing a solid foundation for your business. Having a well-thought-out marketing and sales strategy, operations plan, and organizational structure will contribute to the smooth operation and growth of your essential oils manufacturing business.

By implementing these nine steps outlined in the checklist, you can increase your chances of success and effectively navigate the competitive essential oils market. Remember to continuously adapt and innovate to meet the evolving needs of customers and explore partnerships and collaborations to expand your customer base and reach new markets.

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Starting an Essential Oil Business: Tips and Advice

It’s undisputed that most people live a stressful life and often don’t have time to look after their own health. However, this trend is starting to shift as more people aim to train, look after their health, and reduce the stress in their lives. In that environment, essential oil businesses have offered great solutions to people who wish to combine relaxation with wellness. There are numerous types of essential oils that can help ease the muscles and the mind. Although their retail and wholesale prices are still relatively high, essential oils are used in small quantities and don’t harm the household budget. As the demand for these oils is higher than the supply, it can be profitable to open a business in this field. In this article, we’ll share some essential oils business ideas and shed light on the steps necessary to start such a business.

Key takeaway : Starting an essential oil business can be a profitable endeavor. It doesn’t require large investments and there’s an increase in the demand for these products. Large quantities of essential oils are bought by manufacturers in the cosmetics and wellness industries. Therefore, the majority of retail buyers are not fully aware of the benefits of these products.

Essential Oil Business Ideas

Essential oil online store.

Online trade is slowly but surely replacing the brick-and-mortar business model. That’s why starting an essential oils business focused on selling them online can be very profitable. The capital required is much lower and you can easily expand the project to offer numerous other product categories. You can purchase wholesale essential oils and sell them at retail prices. The expected profit margin is around 30 percent. These ecommerce business ideas often start as dropshipping websites. That way, the shipping and handling of products is outsourced and the business can focus on marketing and growing. If you’re wondering about the steps to start such a company, check out our article on how to start an eCommerce business and how to start a dropshipping business . Our resources on crafting an ecommerce business plan and our ecommerce business guide can also assist you with your journey of starting an essential oil business.

Essential Oil Manufacturing

Starting an essential oil business that is focused on manufacturing these products requires a bigger investment compared to simply selling them online. However, being a producer rather than simply selling to retail customers gives you a lot of options. You can sell wholesale essential oils to spa centers and retailers or you can sell them via your company’s website with a higher profit margin. If you plan to become a business owner of an essential oil manufacturing business, the initial investment you’ll need is about $10,000. Roughly half of that is the price of a professional distiller.

Subscription Box Services

Online ordering of subscription boxes is very popular, especially for people with busy schedules. That’s why offering subscription boxes with different essential oils or other related products can be a profitable essential oil business. If you plan on starting such an endeavor, check out our article on how to start a subscription box business .

Keep in mind that there are multiple subscription options on the market. Therefore, you need to stand out from the crowd in order to be successful. One way to do so is by partnering with other brands. For example, you can combine your efforts with brands that sell scented candles, cosmetics, and other goods that pair well with essential oils. This will help your marketing and will make you more competitive as your subscription boxes will have more diverse options.

Essential Oils Educational Resources and Workshops

If you’re an essential oils enthusiast, you might enjoy starting an informational website or a YouTube channel related to their production, benefits, and history. This informational content can be used as part of affiliate marketing. Furthermore, the traffic generated by these informational articles, podcasts, or videos can later be used to funnel customers into your own online store. A lot of small direct-to-consumer ecommerce sites have started as blogs first.

Consider organizing online and offline workshops related to the production of essential oil products, their benefits, and how to mix them.

How to Start an Essential Oil Business

As selling and making essential oils does not require a lot of capital investments, it’s a business that can be started fairly quickly and easily. Here are the main steps.

• Create a business plan . It should include financial projections, competition research, marketing strategies, and product research.
• Research the market . That includes not only researching the competition, but also finding suppliers and potential customers. Just like other sectors of the economy, the essential oils market is changing and business owners need to stay on track with the trends.
• Register your business and obtain all necessary licenses and permits . Depending on the type of business you plan to start, there are different regulations you need to follow. Make sure to thoroughly research the matter and consult with a legal expert.
• Fund the business . If you don’t have the necessary funds to start the business, there are multiple ways you can raise them. Loans are the most obvious option. Partnership with friends and family and crowdfunding through platforms such as Kickstarter can be better alternatives.
• Start selling through various platforms . You can sell products not only on your own website but also on other third-party platforms like BlueCart or Amazon.
• Scale and adapt . As trends change, companies need to adapt to the market demand. Make sure to scale your business following the trends in the sector.

Frequently Asked Questions about Essential Oil Businesses

Although essential oils have been known for thousands of years, they are still considered to be an exotic product in the US. Most people don’t know a lot about essential oils and businesses in this field need to focus more on educating customers about the many benefits of these products. Below you’ll find some of the popular questions about essential oil businesses.

Are Essential Oils High-Demand Products ?

Yes, the demand for oils has been rising in recent years and is expected to continue its upward trend . The main drivers of the increasing demand are the extensive use in the cosmetics industry and the increased popularity of aromatherapy. A growing number of people are striving to live healthier. That makes it the perfect time to start an essential oil business. 

Is It Profitable to Sell Essential Oils?

On average, essential oil businesses have a profit margin between 30 and 50 percent. That makes this niche market a profitable one. Maximizing revenue can be achieved by combining eCommerce marketing with other selling techniques. Consider gradually expanding the products offered by your essential oils business. Here are a few additional categories that can be sold on essential oils eCommerce stores:

• Scented candles . Aromatherapy and relaxation are often associated with candles. They help achieve a more calm state of mind by combining the comfort of a burning fire and the pleasant odor.
• Spa and wellness products . Clays, exfoliators, and bath salts are just some of the categories that go well with essential oils.
• Carrier oils . Essential oils are extremely concentrated. That’s why, in order to be applied on the skin or hair, they need to be mixed with another product called carrier oil. These carrier oils are usually avocado or coconut oils.

Can You White-Label Essential Oils?

Yes. You can easily start a white-label essential oil business. It can work both ways. If you have started an eCommerce store but don’t have the equipment to make essential oils, you can find suppliers that can produce oils labeled with your brand. You can also offer white-label products if you make and sell essential oils. Various brands and retailers might be interested in selling these high-demand products under their own brand without having to invest in manufacturing equipment.

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How to Start an Essential Oil Business

Last Updated: December 17, 2023 References

This article was co-authored by Michelle Arbeau . Michelle Arbeau is a Numerologist & Life Strategist, and the CEO of Authentic You Media and Eleven Eleven Productions. She’s based in West Hollywood, California. With over 20 years of experience, she specializes in numerology, mediumship, and business advice. In 2015, Best Businesses named her the Best of West Hollywood Celebrity Numerologist, and she’s been hailed as the #1 Numerologist in the World and the #1 Celebrity Numerologist. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 87,269 times.

As aromatherapy grows more popular, starting an essential oil business can be a creative and rewarding endeavour! If you’re new to running a business, you might have a ton of questions but we’re here to help! Set up a company to make and sell your own oils, or purchase them wholesale to resell. Create an attractive website and various social media profiles, which will help you promote and grow your business. Sell your essential oils online, at community events, or in stores.

Choose a name for your essential oil company.

• If you live in the U.S. and want to ensure that no other businesses in your area have the same name, search the United States Patent and Trademark Office's database at https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4805:am2gjg.1.1 .

Apply for a city business license online or by mail.

• For instance, in Boston you will have to submit a completed business certificate form and submit it in person or by mail, along with a $65 filing fee. [3] X Research source

Incorporate your essential oil business.

• For instance, if you get into a contract dispute with a supplier, you will not be personally liable for any fees or charges owed to them by your company.
• It is easiest to file for incorporation through a lawyer, but you can save money by using books and software to do it yourself.

Calculate your start-up costs.

• Registration or license fees
• Legal and professional fees
• Purchase of equipment to make and bottle essential oils
• Advertising and promotion for your company's grand opening
• Starting inventory of essential oils
• Initial fees for your website and e-commerce platform

Work out your recurring operating costs.

• Supplies and stock of essential oils
• Rent and utilities, if you are opening a physical store
• Monthly website and e-commerce store fees
• Salaries, if you are hiring employees
• Contingency costs

Study other essential oil businesses to understand the market.

• For instance, you might notice that the essential oil companies you study do not sell eucalyptus oil, which could be an opportunity to fill a hole in the market.

Observe the advertising techniques of your competitors.

• You can also read online reviews of other essential oil companies to see what customers like and dislike about their products and service.

Purchase an essential oil distiller.

• Distillers range in price, size, and quality, but you will likely pay at least $500 for the equipment.

Set up your distiller in a designated production area.

• If you are producing essential oils at home, a garage or basement would be the best location for this set-up.

Choose what essential oils you will make for your product line.

• For instance, you can choose to focus on relaxing scents like lavender and chamomile.
• Try to find a regular supplier for the main ingredients you use to ensure quality and consistent prices.

Grow your own essential oil ingredients to keep production costs low.

• For instance, mint , lavender, and oregano are easy plants to grow and harvest.

Bottle your essential oils in colored glass bottles.

• Essential oils are usually packaged in small, 5–10 millilitres (0.17–0.34  fl oz) bottles.

Choose how the oil should be dispensed from the bottle.

Buy oils from a supplier if you don’t want to make them.

• If you choose to re-sell essential oils, appeal to customers by offering a wide selection of them.

Build a website for your company.

• To optimize your business, you should start a website even if you are opening a physical storefront to sell your essential oils.

Choose an e-commerce platform to sell your oils online.

• Shopify is an example of a popular e-commerce platform that does not charge monthly or annual fees.
• Link directly to your store on your website.

Make social media accounts for your store.

• You can a share pictures of new essential oils that your company starts manufacturing, or post pictures of different ways your customers can use essential oils.

Sell your oils at community events to build a client base.

• To leave your mark, print business cards or brochures about your essential oils to distribute at these events.

Sell to retail stores that carry similar products.

• As a general rule, you should charge the retailer double your cost for the items being sold.

Open your own store if you have a very large product line.

• If you open a store, you will have to factor in regular expenses such as rent, utilities, employee salaries, renovation, and store maintenance.
• Invest in decorating your store and creating unique displays to attract new customers.

Expert Q&A

• Start small by only producing a few types of essential oil to avoid losing money. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Include an expiration date and storage instructions on your essential oil bottles. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Give small samples to family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/choose-the-best-name-for-your-business.html
• ↑ https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/how-to-start-a-small-business-in-a-few-hours.html
• ↑ https://www.boston.gov/departments/city-clerk/how-apply-business-certificate
• ↑ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/77730
• ↑ https://www.business.qld.gov.au/starting-business/costs-finance-banking/calculating-costs
• ↑ https://business.time.com/2012/08/16/learn-from-your-competitors/
• ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR9vKd_Auz4&feature=youtu.be&t=13
• ↑ https://www.savvyhomemade.com/make-your-own-essential-oil/
• ↑ https://www.bottlestore.com/blog/guide-to-bottling-and-selling-your-own-essential-oils/
• ↑ https://www.bottlestore.com/blog/guide-to-bottling-and-selling-your-own-essential-oils
• ↑ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/174010
• ↑ https://www.nerdmarketing.com/best-ecommerce-platform/
• ↑ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233687
• ↑ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/75912

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How To Start An Essential Oil Business

• Last Updated: October 26, 2023
• By: Greg Bouhl

Advertising Disclosure

Essential oils have exploded in popularity in recent years as more people discover their health, beauty, and home benefits. Starting an essential oil business allows you to share your passion for these natural products while working for yourself.

Starting an essential oil business isn’t just about knowing your lavender from your eucalyptus. It’s about understanding the market, navigating legal guidelines, and setting yourself up for success in a competitive industry. This guide is here to help you with the key steps you need to take to launch your own essential oil company.

Business Overview

An essential oil business involves procuring, producing, or sourcing essential oils and essential oil products to sell to consumers, retailers, or wholesalers. Most essential oil companies sell products like pure essential oils, essential oil blends, diffusers, roll-ons, and more. Some essential oil businesses also offer educational resources and classes on using essential oils.

Success in this field requires a deep understanding of the oils themselves, such as their benefits, risks, and appropriate uses, as well as business skills like marketing, customer service, and inventory management.

Related Business Ideas

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Industry Summary

The essential oil industry includes companies that produce and sell essential oils, as well as related products like diffusers and other accessories. The essential oils industry is highly fragmented, with many players in the market, such as Symrise, MANE, and Young Living Essential Oils. There are also many independent distributors who sell essential oils for companies like doTERRA and Young Living. The market is highly competitive, but there is room for new players. To succeed, you need to offer high-quality products at competitive prices, as well as exceptional customer service.

In 2023, the essential oil industry continues to evolve. One notable trend is the growing demand for locally sourced and sustainably produced essential oils. Additionally, consumers are becoming more educated about the uses of essential oils in their homes and bodies, leading to increased market potential. The right branding and marketing plan can set your product apart from others, making it necessary to stay updated with industry trends and adapt your strategies accordingly.

Steps To Start An Essential Oil Business

Step 1:  market research.

Starting an essential oil business is exciting but also a bit nerve-wracking, right? You’re not alone. Many people are captivated by the world of essential oils but are unsure if turning that interest into a business is a wise move. To answer the burning question, “Is starting an essential oil business a good idea?” we need to do some market research.

Before you jump in, let’s get a grip on the market size and growth potential. Data on essential oil sales, growth trends, and forecasts can give you a bird’s-eye view of the industry. The essential oil market has been experiencing growth, mainly because people are becoming more health-conscious. They are used not only for personal wellness but also in food and beverages, skincare, and aromatherapy. This broad usage signals a promising market opportunity.

Knowing who will buy your product is as important as the product itself. The essential oil market has various customer segments, from young living enthusiasts to wellness-focused baby boomers and spa professionals. You need to pinpoint your target audience, understand their needs, and figure out how to reach them effectively.

No matter how good your oils are, you’re not alone in this market; it’s a field with established brands that offer a range of products, pricing options, and distribution channels. Studying your competitors gives you a clearer idea of what you’re up against. So, how will your business stand out? Maybe you’ll focus on rare, ethically sourced oils, or perhaps you’ll create custom blends catering to specific wellness needs. Your unique selling proposition is what will draw customers to your business instead of another.

Step 2:  Write a Business Plan

The next step to cover is writing a business plan. While this is sometimes thought of as optional, one of the most crucial roles a business plan plays is serving as a reality check. It’s one thing to have an exciting idea and another to prove it will work on paper.

When you start laying out aspects like your marketing strategy, supply chain, and financial projections, the realities of your business come into sharp focus. You can identify gaps in your plan, challenges you hadn’t considered, and areas where you might need to adjust your expectations or gather more data. The business plan helps you transition from dreaming about your essential oil business to actively planning for it.

The beauty of figuring out your business’s feasibility in the planning stage is that you’re still in a position to make adjustments, or even change course entirely, without the stakes being too high. Making tweaks to your business model now is much less costly than realizing your business isn’t feasible after you’ve already invested time and money.

Related:   How to write a business plan

Step 3:  Source Funding

Once you’ve done your market research and crafted the business plan, the next step in launching your essential oil business is securing funding.

The first task (which should have been done in the business plan) is determining how much capital you need to start your business. This involves calculating all potential costs, including initial inventory purchase, packaging materials, marketing expenses, website development, business registration, and insurance. It’s also a good idea to factor in ongoing costs such as rent, utilities, salaries, and raw materials for at least the first few months of operation. Having a clear understanding of your financial needs can help you set realistic funding goals.

Once you know your capital needs, it’s time to explore your funding options. Common funding sources include:

• Personal savings: An essential oil business can be very inexpensive to start, and many entrepreneurs tap into their personal savings. This can be an appealing option as it doesn’t involve paying interest or giving up equity in your business.
• Loans: Financial institutions can provide loans, but they’ll expect you to have a solid business plan and likely some form of collateral.
• Friends and family: This is another option for funding. Just be sure to put all terms down on paper so there are no misunderstandings.
• Microloans: If your funding needs are modest or if a traditional loan isn’t within reach, microloans could be the answer. These are smaller loans offered by economic development organizations. Some organizations offering microloans also provide business training, which can be a bonus for a fledgling entrepreneur.

Step 4:  Register the Business

Starting an essential oil business involves several legal considerations. From choosing a business structure to understanding FDA guidelines, each decision could affect your business in the long run. Rules can differ from state to state, so research is key.

Business structure: The first step in registering your business is choosing the right structure. The four main types of structures are sole proprietorship, general partnership, corporation, and Limited Liability Company (LLC).

• Sole proprietorship : Simple to start and is the lowest cost. You are the business, which means you’re legally responsible for the business.
• General partnership : This involves two or more people sharing the profits, losses, and management of a business. Like sole proprietorship, it doesn’t offer liability protection.
• Corporation : This structure provides liability protection but is more complex to set up and involves additional costs and administrative requirements.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC) : Offers liability protection similar to a corporation but with potential tax benefits and ease of operation of a sole proprietorship or partnership.

Related: Comparison of business structures

Forming an LLC sounds complicated and expensive, but using an entity formation service guides you through the process so you know it was done right.

Some popular LLC formation services include:

IncFile  - $0 plus state fees & free registered agent for 1 year!

ZenBusiness  - Best for beginners. $0 plus state fees & free registered agent for 1 year!

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Business name registration: After registering the business structure, you may need to register your business name. This process will vary depending on what business structure you pick. Sole proprietors and partnerships will often be required to register a “Doing Business As” (DBA), while corporations and LLCs register with the state during the formation process.

During this time, it’s also a good idea to check if the name you want is available as a web domain, even if you’re not ready to set up a website yet.

Related: Finding a domain name for your business

Industry regulations: Essential oils have a range of applications, from health and wellness to aromatherapy, and essential oils claiming any health benefit must comply with Federal Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines.

If an essential oil product is considered a drug by the FDA, the labeling has to follow very specific rules. For example, you’ll need an alternative ingredients list order and special handling for blended ingredients.

Labeling: The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA) is a law administered by the Federal Trade Commission that governs how essential oils should be labeled. Your labels must include the product’s identity, like “100% Pure Lavender Oil,” to help customers know what they’re buying, the net quantity of fluid, and business name and location.

Obtain business licenses and permits: Depending on your location, there will likely be a variety of general licenses or permits that any business needs before opening. This could include a local business license, seller’s permit, and Employer Identification Number (EIN).

Related: State guides for general business licensing

Step 5:  Set Up Operations

Starting an essential oil business comes with taking on several steps, and the next phase is setting up the operations for your business.

First up, you’ll need to find your raw materials. Look for high-quality sources of the plants and herbs you’ll be distilling or extracting. If you’re going organic, make sure your suppliers can provide all the needed paperwork to back up those claims. Poor-quality raw materials can result in subpar oils, and that’s a quick way to lose customers.

Once you’ve sourced your raw materials, setting up your manufacturing process is the next step. This involves purchasing the right equipment, such as distillation and extraction machines, which are essential for producing essential oils. You’ll also need to ensure you have a clean and sterile environment to work in. This not only helps maintain the quality of your oils but also ensures you’re complying with health and safety regulations.

Finally, you’ll need to decide on your shipping and distribution strategy. This involves deciding whether to handle fulfillment in-house or outsource it to a third party. While in-house fulfillment gives you more control, outsourcing can save you time and resources.

Step 6:  Prepare to Launch!

After you’ve laid the groundwork for your essential oil business, there are still a few final steps to complete before you can officially open your doors. Every business will have different needs, but here are some of the more common ones:

Business insurance: Protecting your assets and your business is important. Business insurance can cover anything from product liability to property damage. Make sure you understand the types of risks your essential oil business could face and get the appropriate coverage.

Setting up bookkeeping: Keep your finances in check by setting up a bookkeeping system. This helps track your income, expenses, and overall financial health.

Opening a business bank account: A separate business bank account is important for keeping your personal and business finances separate, which can simplify bookkeeping and tax preparation.

Accepting credit cards: Make it easy for your customers to purchase your oils by accepting credit cards. This could mean getting a POS system that accommodates card transactions or setting up an online payment gateway.

Creating a marketing strategy: You need to let people know your business exists. Build a professional website, create a compelling logo, and consider other marketing strategies like social media ads or email newsletters that are tailored to attract essential oil enthusiasts.

Joining industry associations: Groups like the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA), the Alliance of International Aromatherapists (AIA), or the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) offer opportunities for networking and professional development.

Common Questions When Starting An Essential Oil Business

How much does it cost to start an essential oil business.

Starting an essential oil business can cost anywhere from $8,000 to $20,000 initially, depending on various factors like location, scale, and equipment. Let’s break down some of the key costs you’ll need to consider.

Business registration: Expect to spend around $100 to $500 for filing your business name and getting the necessary licenses and permits. This range can vary significantly depending on your state.

Location: If you’re operating from home, you skip this cost, but if you’re planning to operate out of a physical location, your initial deposit can range from $1,000 to $5,000. This is a ballpark figure and will depend on the size and location of your space.

Equipment: You’ll need distillation and extraction machines, which can cost upwards of $5,000.

Inventory: Stocking up on raw plant matter and other ingredients could cost around $2,000 to start. Add another $1,000 for other necessary equipment like bottles, labels, and storage units.

Insurance: Initial insurance costs, which include general liability and other relevant policies, could range from $500 to $1,000.

Marketing: For initial marketing efforts, like setting up a website and creating a logo, you’ll need around $500 to $2,000.

How profitable is an essential oils business?

An essential oil business owner can potentially generate a decent profit, but income can vary substantially based on the sales model and scale of the business.

For example, if you’re selling 500 bottles a month at $20 each, your gross revenue would be $10,000.

Next, account for expenses: let’s say raw materials cost you $2,500 (25%), and other overhead like insurance, marketing, merchant fees, etc., sum up to $2,000. Total expenses, then, would be $4,500.

Subtract this from your $10,000 revenue; your estimated net profit would be $5,500 monthly.

Keep in mind, that these are simplified numbers. Real-world variables like seasonal demand, economic fluctuations, and other unpredictable factors can affect these estimates.

What skills are useful when running an essential oils business?

Running an essential oil business, much like any other business, requires a mix of hard and soft skills. Here are some skills that can be particularly valuable:

Knowledge of essential oils: A deep understanding of different types of essential oils, their properties, uses, and benefits is crucial. You should be able to educate your customers about the products you’re selling.

Entrepreneurial skills: As the owner of the business, you’ll need to wear many hats. This includes understanding business operations, financial management, marketing strategies, and strategic planning.

Customer service: Excellent customer service skills are essential for building strong relationships with your customers. This includes listening to their needs, handling complaints effectively, and ensuring they have a positive experience with your business.

Marketing and sales: Being able to promote your products and convince people to buy them is key to your business’s success. This includes digital marketing skills, like social media marketing and email marketing, as well as traditional sales techniques.

Negotiation skills: Negotiation is important when dealing with suppliers or potential business partners. Good negotiation can result in better prices, higher quality products, or more favorable terms.

Problem-solving skills: Running a business often involves facing unexpected challenges. Being able to think critically and solve problems efficiently is a valuable skill.

Time management: As a business owner, you’ll likely have a lot on your plate. Effective time management can help you prioritize tasks and ensure that everything gets done.

Passion and persistence: Finally, having a genuine passion for what you do and the persistence to overcome obstacles can go a long way in making your business successful.

What is the NAICS code for an essential oils business?

The NAICS code for an essential oils business is 311811.

The NAICS code (North American Industry Classification System) is a federal system to classify different types of businesses for the collection and reporting of statistical data.

Related: What is a NAICS code and how to find yours

With over two decades as an entrepreneur, educator, and business advisor, Greg Bouhl has worked with over 2,000 entrepreneurs to help them start and grow their businesses. Fed up with clients finding and acting on inaccurate and outdated information online, Greg launched StartUp101.com to be a trusted resource for people starting a business.

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How to Start a Profitable Essential Oils Business [11 Steps]

By Nick Cotter Updated Feb 02, 2024

Business Steps:

1. perform market analysis., 2. draft a essential oils business plan., 3. develop a essential oils brand., 4. formalize your business registration., 5. acquire necessary licenses and permits for essential oils., 6. open a business bank account and secure funding as needed., 7. set pricing for essential oils services., 8. acquire essential oils equipment and supplies., 9. obtain business insurance for essential oils, if required., 10. begin marketing your essential oils services., 11. expand your essential oils business..

Starting an essential oils business requires a comprehensive understanding of the market landscape. This first step is crucial for identifying your target audience, understanding your competition, and recognizing the latest trends and demands. Here's how you can perform a detailed market analysis:

• Research your target market by identifying potential customers and their preferences. Look into demographics such as age, gender, lifestyle, and buying habits.
• Analyze your competitors by investigating their product range, pricing, marketing strategies, and customer reviews. This can help you find a niche or an area for improvement.
• Examine industry trends by staying updated with market reports and publications related to essential oils. Pay attention to growing segments and emerging uses of essential oils.
• Understand the legal and regulatory environment that governs the sale and distribution of essential oils. This includes certifications, labeling requirements, and safety standards.
• Assess the supply chain for sourcing oils, including the availability of raw materials, the reliability of suppliers, and the sustainability of sourcing practices.
• Conduct a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to evaluate your business’s potential in the current market context.

Are essential oils businesses profitable?

Yes, essential oil businesses can be quite profitable depending on the products offered, marketing strategies used, and the quality of the oils. Essential oils can be sold as single oils, pre-blended recipes, skincare products, and diffuser blends. With the proper knowledge and resources, an essential oil business can be successful.

Creating a business plan is a vital step for anyone looking to start a successful essential oils business. It serves as a roadmap, outlining your business goals, strategies, and how you plan to achieve them. Here's a concise guide to help you draft an effective business plan:

• Start with an executive summary that encapsulates your business goals, target market, and unique selling propositions.
• Conduct a market analysis to understand your competition, potential customer base, and market trends in the essential oils industry.
• Outline your business structure, including information about ownership, management, and operational processes.
• Detail your product line, including the types of essential oils and related products you plan to sell and any proprietary blends or unique offerings.
• Develop a marketing and sales strategy that addresses branding, pricing, sales channels, and advertising plans.
• Project financials, including start-up costs, pricing strategy, revenue projections, and a break-even analysis.
• Include an appendix with any additional information or documents that support your business plan, such as resumes of key personnel, legal documents, or product studies.

How does a essential oils business make money?

An essential oils business makes money by selling high-quality essential oils and oil-based products to a variety of customers. For example, a 11 Steps To Starting a Successful Spice Business may target upscale restaurants as their customers to provide high-grade spice extracts and other ingredients for chefs' dishes. The business can also target aromatherapy enthusiasts, health and wellness professionals, and spa owners that use essential oils in their treatments. By offering a range of high quality oils and related products, this type of business can generate steady revenue from both small-scale clients and larger commercial organizations.

Developing a brand for your essential oils business is crucial in establishing a unique identity that resonates with your target audience. It's important that your brand reflects the quality, purity, and ethos of your product offerings. Here's a concise guide to help you create a compelling essential oils brand:

• Define Your Brand Identity: Decide on what your brand stands for, including its mission, values, and the emotions you want it to evoke in customers.
• Choose a Memorable Name: Your brand name should be easy to remember, pronounce, and spell, while also reflecting the essence of your essential oils.
• Design a Distinctive Logo: Create a logo that is visually appealing and represents your brand effectively across various mediums.
• Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Identify what sets your brand apart from competitors, such as a specific sourcing method or product formulation.
• Consistent Brand Messaging: Ensure that all your marketing materials, product packaging, and online presence communicate your brand identity coherently.
• Engage with Your Audience: Build a community around your brand by engaging with customers and sharing educational content about the benefits and uses of essential oils.

How to come up with a name for your essential oils business?

When coming up with a name for your essential oils business, you'll want to think of something clever but also informative. Brainstorm creative words that evoke the feelings of calmness, health and wellness, and then try to incorporate them into a catchy phrase. Additionally, consider adding your own name or initials to create a more personal connection. Once you have a few ideas, try them out on friends and family and see which ones they respond to the most. With this in-depth research, you'll be able to determine which option is the best for your business.

Once you've laid the groundwork for your essential oils business, it's time to make it official. Registering your business is a crucial step to legitimizing your operation, protecting your assets, and setting the stage for future growth. Here's how to navigate the formalization process:

• Determine your business structure (e.g., sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation) and register your business name with the appropriate state agency.
• Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS for tax purposes, even if you don't have employees.
• Register for state taxes, including sales tax and any applicable state employment taxes, to ensure you're in compliance with local laws.
• Apply for any business licenses or permits required for the sale and distribution of essential oils, which may vary depending on your location and whether you sell online or in a physical store.
• Consider trademarking your business name and logo to protect your brand identity.
• Keep all registration documents organized and accessible for future reference and be prepared to renew any licenses or permits as required.

Resources to help get you started:

Explore pivotal resources designed specifically for essential oils entrepreneurs, offering comprehensive market insights, operational best practices, and strategic guidance for business expansion:

• Aromaweb: A comprehensive resource for all things related to essential oils, including business tips, safety guidelines, and profiles of different oils. Visit Aromaweb .
• The National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy: Offers industry research, educational resources, and a platform for networking with other professionals. Learn more at NAHA .
• International Aromatherapy and Aromatic Medicine Association: Provides access to the latest research, conferences, and certification programs for entrepreneurs. Explore IAAMA .
• The Aromatic Plant Research Center: Offers cutting-edge scientific research, analysis, and information on the medicinal and therapeutic properties of essential oils. Visit APRC .
• Essential Oil Practitioners Business Journal: A publication dedicated to the business side of the essential oils industry, including marketing strategies, customer service tips, and interviews with successful entrepreneurs. Access the Journal (Link unavailable).

Before launching your essential oils business, it is crucial to navigate the legal landscape to ensure compliance. Acquiring the necessary licenses and permits is a step you cannot afford to skip, as it legitimizes your operations and prevents legal complications down the line. Follow these guidelines to secure the appropriate documentation:

• Research local regulations: Contact your city or county's business licensing department to understand specific requirements for essential oil businesses in your area.
• Obtain a Business License: Apply for a general business license, which is a basic requirement for operating a business legally.
• Product Regulation Compliance: Ensure your products meet standards set by organizations like the FDA, if you're in the United States, especially if you claim any health benefits.
• Cosmetics Manufacturing License: If you plan on creating your own blends or products, you may need a cosmetics manufacturing license.
• Reseller's Permit: If you plan to purchase essential oils wholesale and resell them, a reseller's permit may be necessary to avoid paying sales tax on the products.
• Home Business Permits: If operating from home, check for any specific home business permits or zoning regulations that may apply.
• Trademark Protection: Consider registering a trademark for your brand to protect your intellectual property.

What licenses and permits are needed to run a essential oils business?

Depending on the type of essential oils business you are running and the location, you may need to obtain a variety of licenses and permits. This could include a business license, sales tax permit, zoning permit, manufacturing license, and retailing license. If you are purchasing raw materials for your products from another state, you may need to obtain an import/export license or certificate. You may also need to comply with other licensing or permitting requirements imposed by health and safety regulations.

Starting an essential oils business involves careful financial planning, which makes opening a business bank account and securing funding critical steps. A dedicated bank account helps you manage your finances effectively, while funding ensures you have the capital needed to grow. Here's how to approach these important steps:

• Research banks to find the best business banking services that suit your needs, such as low fees, easy access to funds, and good customer support.
• Prepare the necessary documents to open your business bank account, which typically include your business registration, EIN, and personal identification.
• Explore funding options like small business loans, investors, or crowdfunding platforms that are friendly to health and wellness businesses.
• Consider applying for a business credit card to help manage cash flow and track business expenses separately from personal finances.
• Create a solid business plan to present to potential lenders or investors, highlighting the market potential of essential oils and your strategy for success.
• Be mindful of the terms and conditions associated with any funding you secure, ensuring they align with your business goals and financial capacity.

When setting prices for your essential oils services, it's crucial to find a balance that reflects the value you provide while remaining competitive in the market. Consider factors such as the quality of your oils, the expertise you offer, and the costs of running your business. Here are some guidelines to help you establish your pricing strategy:

• Cost-Plus Pricing: Calculate the total cost of providing the service, then add a markup percentage to ensure profitability.
• Market Research: Research competitors' pricing to understand the market rate for similar services and position your pricing accordingly.
• Value-Based Pricing: Set prices based on the perceived value to the customer rather than solely on costs or market rates.
• Tiered Pricing: Offer different pricing tiers for various levels of service or package deals to cater to a wider range of customers.
• Discounts and Promotions: Use introductory offers, discounts for bulk purchases, or loyalty programs to attract new customers and retain existing ones.
• Adjustments Over Time: Regularly review and adjust your prices based on operational costs, market demand, and customer feedback to remain competitive and profitable.

What does it cost to start a essential oils business?

Initiating a essential oils business can involve substantial financial commitment, the scale of which is significantly influenced by factors such as geographical location, market dynamics, and operational expenses, among others. Nonetheless, our extensive research and hands-on experience have revealed an estimated starting cost of approximately $8000 for launching such an business. Please note, not all of these costs may be necessary to start up your essential oils business.

Starting an essential oils business requires careful selection of equipment and supplies to ensure quality production and efficient operation. From sourcing raw materials to bottling your final product, having the right tools is crucial. Here are some essential items you'll need to acquire:

• Distillation Apparatus: Choose between steam distillation, hydrodistillation, or cold-press equipment based on the types of oils you plan to produce.
• Glassware: High-quality beakers, flasks, and funnels for mixing and handling oils without causing contamination.
• Pipettes and Droppers: For precise measurement and transfer of essential oils.
• Scales: Accurate digital scales for weighing raw materials and oils.
• Storage Containers: Amber or cobalt glass bottles to protect oils from light, with airtight caps to preserve freshness.
• Labels and Packaging: Professional labeling and packaging materials to brand and market your products.
• Carrier Oils and Blending Supplies: High-quality carrier oils and materials for creating blends, such as jojoba or sweet almond oil.
• Safety Equipment: Gloves, goggles, and proper ventilation systems for safe handling of essential oils and raw materials.

List of software, tools and supplies needed to start a essential oils business:

• Business Software: Quickbooks ($50/month), Shopify ($29/month), Square ($30/month)
• Packaging Materials: Glass Bottles (10/$15-20), Labels and Stickers (100/$7-12), Tissue Paper (20 sheets/$2-3)
• Website Design & Hosting: Domain Name Registration ($15/year), WordPress Hosting ($10/month)
• Marketing & Advertising: Social Media Marketing (varies depending on budget), Google Ads (varies depending on budget)
• Essential Oils and Supplies: Quality Essential Oils (10 ml/$5-10) Carrier Oils (4 oz./$2-4)
• Label Printing Software: Adobe Photoshop ($20/month) or Canva Pro ($12.95/month)
• Shipping Supplies: Boxes (25/$15-25), Packing Tape, Bubble Wrap, etc.
• Business Cards: Print 250 Business Cards ($15-25)

Starting an essential oils business can be an exciting venture, but it's important to mitigate any potential risks by obtaining the proper insurance. Business insurance can provide protection against a variety of unexpected events, ensuring the stability and longevity of your business. Here are some key steps to consider when obtaining business insurance for your essential oils company:

• Identify the types of insurance coverage you may need, such as general liability insurance, product liability insurance, professional liability insurance, property insurance, and business interruption insurance.
• Consult with a licensed insurance broker or agent who specializes in businesses similar to yours. They can provide tailored advice and find policies that suit your specific needs.
• Compare quotes from multiple insurance providers to ensure you get the best coverage at a competitive price.
• Consider the scale of your operation and the extent of your exposure to determine the amount of coverage needed.
• Read the policy documents carefully to understand what is covered and what is excluded.
• Review and update your insurance coverage regularly as your business grows and your needs change.

Launching a successful marketing campaign for your essential oils services is pivotal to attracting and retaining customers. It involves a mix of strategy, creativity, and understanding your target audience. Below are some essential steps to help you begin marketing your essential oils services effectively.

• Build an Online Presence: Create a professional website and engage with potential customers on social media platforms where your audience is most active.
• Content Marketing: Share valuable content related to the benefits and uses of essential oils through blogs, videos, and newsletters.
• Partnerships and Collaborations: Partner with wellness bloggers, influencers, and local businesses to expand your reach and credibility.
• Email Marketing: Develop a subscriber list and send out regular updates and promotions to keep your audience engaged.
• Workshops and Events: Host educational workshops or webinars to showcase your expertise and provide hands-on experience with your products.
• Offer Promotions: Introduce special offers, discounts, or loyalty programs to encourage first-time purchases and repeat business.
• Customer Testimonials: Share reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers to build trust and social proof.

Once your essential oils business is up and running, expanding your reach and product line can help you tap into new markets and increase profitability. Consider these strategies to grow your business effectively and sustainably:

• Explore Online Marketplaces: Utilize platforms like Etsy, Amazon, or eBay to reach a broader audience and boost online sales.
• Develop New Products: Innovate by creating new blends or product lines such as skincare infused with essential oils or aromatherapy accessories.
• Host Workshops: Educate potential customers by organizing workshops or webinars on the benefits and uses of essential oils, which can also serve as a platform for product demonstrations.
• Collaborate with Influencers: Partner with social media influencers or bloggers who align with your brand values to promote your products to a wider audience.
• Offer Subscription Services: Implement a subscription model for regular deliveries, which ensures a steady income and customer retention.
• Expand Retail Presence: Approach local boutiques, health stores, and spas to carry your products, increasing brand visibility and sales channels.
• Invest in Marketing: Use targeted advertising, search engine optimization, and content marketing to attract and retain customers.
• Attend Trade Shows: Showcase your products at industry-related events to network with potential distributors and buyers.

How To Start An Essential Oils Business

If you ask any entrepreneur, starting a business comes with its fair share of challenges.

Starting an essential oils business requires a great deal of effort, dedication and most importantly passion .

If you're willing to put in the effort to build your own business, you're going to want to follow the critical steps to creating a successful brand.

We've created a guide that covers each step of the process - from making key financial decisions, to launching and marketing your business the right way, and tips/strategies on how to grow your business effectively.

Start An Essential Oils Business ➜ avg revenue (monthly) $2K see all essential oils businesses ➜ starting costs $25K see all costs ➜ gross margin 28% time to build 300 days average product price $20 growth channels Organic social media business model Subscriptions best tools Google Drive, OneDrive, Phamtombuster time investment Full time pros & cons 30 Pros & Cons see all ➜ tips 1 Tips see all ➜

💡 Introduction To Starting An Essential Oils Business

Is starting an essential oils business right for you.

There are many factors to consider when starting an essential oils business.

We put together the main pros and cons for you here:

Pros of starting an essential oils business

• Flexibility

You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.

• Meaningful business connections

You never know who you will meet as a essential oils business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!

• High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

• Easy to encourage "impulse buy"

In the essential oils business, you have a much higher chance of encouraging your customers to buy on impulse - you can easily alter the price, placement, packaging, and promotional value to influence the decision of your buyer.

• Gain exposure and experience

This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you!

• Unlimited income potential

With starting an essential oils business there is no cap as to how much income you can make. The stronger your business skills and the more energy/time you put into your career, the more you'll make.

• Amazing perks and discounts

Working in the essential oils business comes with its perks! As a seller for these products/services, you typically also get to enjoy industry perks and discounts.

• Predictable income stream

Your businesses income stream tends to be predictable based on the number of customers you have signed up. This makes financial planning and outlooks much more seamless!

• Higher likelihood of getting referrals

This business is all about referrals, which can be a a very impactful way to attract and retain customers. It's critical that you have a great referral program in place that incentivizes your customers to tell their friends about your product.

• Simple business model

A essential oils business has the advantage of a simple business model, which makes launching and building the business more seamless.

• Greater Income Potential

With this business, the sky is the limit in regards to your income potential.

• You can promote and sell your product on Amazon

Although there are some disadvantages to consider when selling your product on Amazon, there are also a host of benefits. Mainly, Amazon is the world's largest online retailer, so you're bound to tap into new business and reach an entirely new audience.

• Can build solid foundation of clients

It's unlikely you will have one-off customers as a essential oils business. Typically, you have a solid foundation of clients that use your product and services regularly.

• Results and revenue happen quickly!

Unlike other businesses, it can be relatively quick to start seeing results and revenue. As long as you follow all the steps to validate your idea before launch, you are likely to see quick results and ROI.

Cons of starting an essential oils business

• Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

• Longer Sales Process

A essential oils business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

• Low margins

The gross margins for your essential oils business are typically around 28%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability.

• High employee turnover

In the essential oils business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment.

As a essential oils business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

• Niche Market

A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience.

• High overhead expenses

With starting an essential oils business, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below.

• You may need to charge sales tax

If you are selling your products in various states, you may be required to charge sales tax. Although this may not impact your financials specifically, it can be a headache to create a process and procedure for this. To learn more about sales tax, check out this article

In this business, customers can cancel their membership or subscription for your services - which can make revenue forecasting challenging and unpredictable. It's important to focus on your churn rates and trends so that you can prevent this as much as possible.

• Time commitment

With starting an essential oils business, all responsibilities and decisions are in your hands. Although this is not necessarily a negative thing, work life can take over at times. This can place a strain on friends and family and add to the pressure of launching a new business.

• Difficult to build trust with your customer

With starting an essential oils business, there can be minimal face-to-face interaction, which means it can be a lot more difficult to establish trust with your customers. You'll need to go the extra mile with your customer to grab their attention and business.

• Impatient customers

You may offer an engaging user experience for your customer, but customers expect a lot and may be impatient if they aren't pleased with your product or service.

• Difficult to scale

With a essential oils business, it can be challenging to find ways to scale. Check out this article that discusses scaling your business and the challenges that come with it.

• Learning Curve

When you start your own business, you no longer have upper management to provide you with a playbook for your roles and responsibilities. You should know the ins and outs of every aspect of your business, as every decision will come down to you.

• Equipment Breakdowns

Over the years, your equipment can get damaged, break down, and may need repairs which can be expensive. It's important you prepare for these expenses and try to avoid damages/wear & tear as much as possible.

• More challenging to earn passive income

It can be more of a challenge to make passive income in this business. Often times, the amount of revenue you bring in is limited by the amount of time you have in the day.

Big Players

• Saje Natural Wellness (68.5K Alexa Ranking)
• vitruvi (118K Alexa Ranking)
• Aroma Tools (311K Alexa Ranking)
• Guru Nanda (346K Alexa Ranking)
• Your Oil Tools (398K Alexa Ranking)

Small Players

• Thulisa Naturals - Revenue $29K/month
• Real Drop Enterprises - Revenue $2K/month

Search Interest

Let's take a look at the search trends for essential oil over the last year:

How To Name Your Essential Oils Business

It's important to find a catchy name for your essential oils business so that you can stand out in your space.

Here are some general tips to consider when naming your essential oils business

• Avoid hard to spell names: you want something easy to remember and easy to spell for your customers
• Conduct a search to see if others in the space have the same name
• Try not to pick a name that limits growth opportunities for your business (ie. if you decide to expand into other product lines)
• As soon as you have an idea (or ideas) of a few names that you love, register the domain name(s) as soon as possible!

Why is naming your essential oils business so important?

The name of your business will forever play a role in:

• Your customers first impression
• Your businesses identity
• The power behind the type of customer your brand attracts
• If you're memorable or not

It's important to verify that the domain name is available for your essential oils business.

You can search domain availability here:

Find a domain starting at $0.88

powered by Namecheap

Although .com names are the most common and easiest to remember, there are other options if your .com domain name is not available. Depending on your audience, it may not matter as much as you think.

It's also important to thoroughly check if social media handles are available.

As soon as you resonate with a name (or names), secure the domain and SM handles as soon as possible to ensure they don't get taken.

Here's some inspiration for naming your essential oils business:

• Healing Scents check availability
• (business name) Essential Oil check availability
• (name) Magicaroma check availability
• Daily Oil Scents check availability
• Botanical Oils Refill check availability
• Oil Scent Remedies check availability
• LavenOils Pure Scents check availability
• 4Season Essential Oils check availability
• Misty Oil Blends check availability
• Serenity Essentials check availability
• Aromatic Lavender check availability
• Aromatherapy Splash check availability
• Elite Essential Oils check availability
• Soulsearch Oil Scents check availability
• Bloom Blast Aroma check availability
• Lemoroma Essential Oils check availability
• Nature-kissed Essential Oils check availability
• Glam Oil Scents check availability
• Nature's Way Scents check availability
• Classical Essential Oils check availability
• Purely Magical Oils check availability
• Healthy Living Essential Oils check availability
• Tropical Drops check availability
• Purity Blends check availability
• Scented Love Blends check availability
• Scentilicious Nature check availability
• Urbanized Essential Oil check availability
• Nature Sense Essentials check availability
• Millennial Vibe Oil Scents check availability
• Primemix Essential Oils check availability
• Epicoils Essential Oil Co. check availability
• Loving Nature Essential Oils check availability
• Native Oil Blends check availability
• Oil Splash Blends check availability
• Wonderoils Essentials check availability
• Mystic Oil Scents check availability
• Staroils Aroma check availability
• Healing Peace check availability
• Simply Oil Scents check availability
• Herbaroma Scents check availability
• Oil Questers check availability
• Nature Squeeze check availability
• 101 Oil Drops check availability
• Naturalist Blends check availability
• Oil Scent Galaxy check availability
• Gentle Oil Blends check availability
• Mindful Essential Blends check availability
• Therapeutic Drips check availability
• Wonder Oil Necessities check availability
• Aromatherapy Blends check availability
• Soothing Touch Essential Oils check availability
• Oil Blends Express check availability
• Heavenly Soothe check availability
• Nature's Squeeze check availability
• Frenchy Essential Oils check availability
• Wonder Nature Essential Oils check availability
• Warm Care Essential Oils check availability
• Healing Blends check availability
• Islanders Essential Oils check availability
• Therapure Essential Oils check availability
• Mantra Oil Blends check availability
• Serenity Blends check availability
• Bliss Treasure Essential Oils check availability
• Heavenly Breathe Essential Oils check availability
• BotaniBeauty Oils check availability
• Pure Bliss Essential Oils check availability
• Sweet Galaxy Scents check availability
• Fountain of Oil Scents check availability
• Nature's LoveOils check availability
• Healing Bliss check availability
• Scented Glory Oils check availability
• Nature's Wonder Oils check availability
• Oil Hunter Essentials check availability
• Healing Essenoils check availability
• Nature's Scented Thyme check availability
• WallDiffuser check availability
• Petroleum Spot check availability
• Expensive Smells Group check availability
• Controlling Staple Trading Co check availability
• The Physical check availability
• Staple Spot check availability
• Spiritual Indispensable Trading Co check availability
• Heat Gas check availability
• Physical check availability
• The Efficient Louver check availability
• Fatal Basic Trading Co check availability
• The Edible Hydrocarbon check availability
• Sickly Stench check availability
• The Essential check availability
• Fourth Must Trading Co check availability
• RancidOil check availability
• Very Must check availability
• TypeDiffuser check availability
• Reverential Essential check availability
• Rancid Anele check availability
• Conical Baffle Pro check availability
• VeryEssential check availability
• Special check availability
• Light check availability
• Suitable Baffle Collective check availability
• Illuminating Anele check availability
• FourthEssential check availability
• Nourished Vital Place check availability
• Diverging Demister check availability
• Dominant Staple Trading Co check availability
• CleanOil check availability
• Spiritual Indispensable check availability
• Residential Essential check availability
• RadialDiffuser check availability
• 550 1 Necessary Co check availability
• Sequential Essential check availability
• Central Essential check availability
• Fatal Necessary Spot check availability
• The Forming check availability
• The Dominant Staple check availability
• Pencil Essential check availability
• Strange Wind Collective check availability
• The Good check availability
• FastDiffuser check availability
• Liquid Lube Collective check availability
• Crucial Trading Co check availability
• The Non Important check availability
• Iranian Oil Color check availability
• The Coconut Hydrocarbons check availability
• Fourth Crucial Place check availability
• Solar check availability
• Shorter check availability
• Tension Essential check availability
• The Straight Diffusor check availability
• Exponential Essential check availability
• Type Sink Collective check availability
• Medical Staple check availability
• The Subjective Necessity check availability
• The Controlling check availability
• The Palm check availability
• Iraqi Oil Color Spot check availability
• Part Crucial Group check availability
• MultiportDiffuser check availability
• The Fast Baffle check availability
• Non Important check availability
• Most Staple Trading Co check availability
• Odorize Co check availability
• Important Group check availability

Read our full guide on naming your essential oils business ➜

How To Create A Slogan For Your Essential Oils Business:

Slogans are a critical piece of your marketing and advertising strategy.

The role of your slogan is to help your customer understand the benefits of your product/service - so it's important to find a catchy and effective slogan name.

Often times, your slogan can even be more important than the name of your brand.

Here are 6 tips for creating a catchy slogan for your essential oils business:

1. Keep it short, simple and avoid difficult words

A great rule of thumb is that your slogan should be under 10 words. This will make it easy for your customer to understand and remember.

2. Tell what you do and focus on what makes you different

There are a few different ways you can incorporate what makes your business special in your slogan:

• Explain the target customer you are catering your services towards
• What problem do you solve?
• How do you make other people, clients, or your employer look good?
• Do you make people more successful? How?

3. Be consistent

Chances are, if you're coming up with a slogan, you may already have your business name, logo, mission, branding etc.

It's important to create a slogan that is consistent with all of the above.

4. Ensure the longevity of your slogan

Times are changing quickly, and so are businesses.

When coming up with your slogan, you may want to consider creating something that is timeless and won't just fade with new trends.

5. Consider your audience

When finding a catchy slogan name, you'll want to make sure that this resonates across your entire audience.

It's possible that your slogan could make complete sense to your audience in Europe, but may not resonate with your US audience.

6. Get feedback!

This is one of the easiest ways to know if your slogan will be perceived well, and a step that a lot of brands drop the ball on.

Ask friends, family, strangers, and most importantly, those that are considered to be in your target market.

Here's some inspiration for coming up with a slogan for your essential oils business:

• Work Hard, Need Harder
• Avez-Vous Un Oil?
• Oils With Compound
• Essential, Any Time Of Day.
• Essential Is Crazy Good.
• Base Of The Necessity
• Essential The Sign Of Success.
• They're Waffly Diffuser.
• Existential Is What We Do
• There's Lots Of Fun In Essential.
• Food Or Essential? I'll Have Essential.
• I'm Lovin' Essential.
• Look, Ma, No Essential!
• It's How Essential Is Done.
• For The Essential You Don't Yet Know.
• Work Hard, Thrust Harder
• Primordial Is What We Do
• Subjective And Receptive
• Take Two Bottles Into The Essential?
• It's A New Diffuser Every Day.
• Come To Life. Come To Essential.
• Dominant And Osculant
• Gonna Be A While? Grab A Essential.
• Everyone Wants A Essential.
• You're Never Alone With A Essential.
• Objective Constitutive, Non Primary
• Subsonic Wankel Engines Are What We Do
• Essential Is Going Places.
• Essential Reaching For The Stars.
• Non Essential, Let's Start Today!
• Don't Leave Your Essential At Home.
• Subjective Essential, We Care
• Essential, Where Success Is At Home.
• Pure Essential.
• Get Busy With The Essential.
• Essential For A Brighter Shine.
• It Makes Your Essential Smack.
• Cleanliness Crucials Are What We Do
• Essential - To Feel Free!
• Essential Is A Never Ending Story.
• Pre Essential, Built For You
• Essentials With Form
• Commit Of The Necessity
• We're With The Essential.
• Essential With The Less Fattening Centres.
• We Don't Make Essential. We Make Essential Better.
• Things Go Better With Essential.
• If You Can't Beat Essential, Join Essential.
• You Can Be Sure Of Essential.
• Objective Substantive, Pre Indispensable
• Several Requirement, Cleanliness Requisite
• Non Importances Are What We Do
• In Essence Is What We Do
• Budee Budee, That's All Essential.
• Essentials With Reference
• Essentials With Study
• Pre Staple, Pre Crucial
• Get The Essential Habit.
• Several Essential, Let's Get To Work

The Brick & Mortar Business Model

When deciding whether or not to start an essential oils business, it's important to first decide what type of business model you want (brick and mortar, eCommerce, or both)!

Here are a few things to keep in mind when considering a Brick & Mortar store:

If you do plan to open a physical store, it's important that you find a spot in a high-traffic area. This is a great way to gain exposure for your business and also get new customers.

It's also important to consider the higher costs associated with operating a physical store (ie - employees, rent, utilities, etc) and the long days/hours associated with running a store.

The main benefit, however, is that customers love being able to see products in person. It's important to recognize that although some people enjoy shopping online, there will always be the shopper persona that likes to touch, feel, and see the product they're buying.

Learn more about starting an essential oils business :

Where to start?

-> How much does it cost to start an essential oils business? -> Pros and cons of an essential oils business

Need inspiration?

-> Other essential oils business success stories -> Examples of established essential oils business -> Marketing ideas for an essential oils business -> Essential oils business names

Other resources

-> Essential oils business tips -> Essential oils business manufacturers

🎬 How To Start An Essential Oils Business

How Much Does It Cost To Start An Essential Oils Business

If you are planning to start an essential oils business, the costs are relatively low. This, of course, depends on if you decide to start the business with lean expenses or bringing in a large team and spending more money.

We’ve outlined two common scenarios for “pre-opening” costs of starting an essential oils business and outline the costs you should expect for each:

• The estimated minimum starting cost = $62
• The estimated maximum starting cost = $49,898

Raising Money For Your Essential Oils Business

Here are the most common ways to raise money for your essential oils business:

Bootstrapping

You may not need funding for your essential oils business.

In fact, many entrepreneurs take this approach when starting their own business, whether they have a little amount of cash or a substantial amount to get started.

So what exactly does the term "bootstrapping" mean?

This method essentially refers to self-funding your business without external help or capital and reinvesting your earnings back into the business**

Bootstrapping means building your company from the ground up with your own, or your loved ones, personal savings and reinvesting all earnings back into the business

Here are some tips to consider when bootstrapping your business :

• Use your savings as your capital - one of the best ways to bootstrap your business is to collect your savings and use them as startup capital. This will also help you avoid using your personal or business credit cards when getting started.
• Determine exactly how much capital you need and how much capital you have to get your business off the ground. Generally, when bootstrapping your business, you may want to consider starting a business that involves less startup capital.
• Consider starting a business that will generate immediate returns so you can put money back into the business
• Be as lean as possible - this refers to cutting down expenses as much as possible, such as payroll, fancy software tools, unnecessary travel, renting an office, etc
• Consider outsourcing instead of hiring - in the beginning, you may not need to hire someone permanently to help run your business. It tends to be much less expensive to outsource work to a freelancer and hire someone permanently down the road!

Want to learn more about bootstrapping your business? Check out this article

VC funding is a traditional and long process, but an effective way to raise money for your business.

The term "VC funding" refers to venture capital firms investing in businesses in exchange for equity.

The VC's (venture capitalists) are an individual or small group investing in your business and typically require substantial ownership of the business, with the hope of seeing a return on their investment.

VC's are typically the best approach for businesses with high startup costs - where it would be very difficult to raise the money on your own or through a loan.

When deciding whether to take this approach, it's important that you have a few things in place first, and know what you're getting yourself into:

Determine if your business is ready

Having an idea is not enough to get VC funding.

Typically, VC's will check to make sure you have these things in place prior to closing any deal:

• An MVP (Minimal Viable Product)
• A founding team with all proper documents in place (articles of organization, business formation)
• A validated idea with actual customers buying your product/service

Get everything in place and build a pitch deck

A VC individual or firm will be expecting a fine-tuned presentation that gives an overview of your business.

Here's what you should consider including in your pitch deck:

• Management team, their previous experience + current roles in the business
• Market challenge and solution
• Company financials - including a P&L statement, cash flow statement, and projections
• Company progress
• Investment amount - how much do you need and why?

Research the right VC to fund your business

Research the types of VC investors out there and what niche they focus on.

Then, put together a list of target VC's you want to approach and your strategy around setting up meetings.

Be sure you have everything in place (as discussed above) before setting up any meeting!

Make sure the terms and expectations are right for your business

Committing to VC funding is a big deal and a decision that should not be made lightly.

Although the money and experience from VC's can help your business quickly grow, you are also giving away a stake in the company, and the money comes with strings attached.

Be sure you do your due diligence in finding the right investor - one that truly believes in the growth and success of your business.

What Skills Do I Need To Succeed In Starting An Essential Oils Business?

As a essential oils business, there are several essential skills and characteristics that are important to identify prior to starting your business.

Let’s look at these skills in more detail so you can identify what you need to succeed in your day-to-day business operations:

Self Motivation Skills

Self motivation and discipline skills are critical in order to become successful in this field.

It's likely that you will find yourself starting and running your essential oils business from home, which could mean there are more distractions for you.

Here are the basic skills needed for self motivation & discipline:

• Becoming a self starter: It's important that you are capable of independently completing a task without the help or direction of anyone else
• Listening and following directions : When you are given direction by others, it's critical that you are able to follow directions and ask the right questions in order to get your job done
• Taking the initiative in problem solving: Instead of taking the easy route, you'll need to learn to troubleshoot issues on your own as much as possible.

Crafty Skills

Whether you are on the creative side or the business side of your product, crafty and creative skills are a must for starting an essential oils business.

Here are a few skills that are important to have for starting a successful essential oils business:

• Knowledge of materials and their skillful use: It's critical that you are knowledgable about art supplies and able to get the most out of everything.
• An open mind : The best essential oils business's are the ones that have a unique perspective and an open mind on life and essential oil.
• Patience : Some of your work may take weeks, months or even years! This combined with starting a business will involve a lot of patience and trust in the process.
• Energy & Focus : Starting a essential oils business means you will need to have a great deal of both physical and mental energy to think creatively, reflect, and focus.

Customer Service Skills

Friendly communication with customers and the ability to address service issues is a critical part of the job.

Here are some customer service skills you may want to consider prior to starting an essential oils business:

• Professionalism: The way you act, present yourself, and respond to situations all leave an impression on your customer. It's important to stay professional at all times when handling customer requests or issues.
• Problem-solving: When issues arise, it's important that you are able to think quick on your feet and address the situation with a calm and clear solution
• Friendly-manner: This is an obvious one, but customers truly appreciate someone that can respond in a quick, efficient, and friendly manner.
• Proficient in writing: These skills include the ability to write well-crafted emails, service tickets, and any other programs used by the business (ie. chat functions, SMS texting)

Business Savvy Skills

When starting an essential oils business, there are a few fundamental business skills you will want to learn in order to be successful:

• Leadership and training skills: A great team starts with YOU. Make sure you have all company policies and training procedures in place prior to hiring your team
• Decisive and self-confident: Over the course of your career, you will need decisions that could impact your business significantly. It's important you are able to think clearly and rationally about these decisions.
• Ability to understand the financials : You don't need to be an accountant, but it is important that you are able to clearly understand and define metrics such as expenses, revenue, profit, margins, COGS, etc.
• Strategic Thinking : Setting clear goals and benchmarks, identifying opportunities, risks. Ability to effectively communicate these insights to your team.

These are a few of many business savvy skills you should have (or work on) when starting an essential oils business.

For a full list, check out this article here .

Advice For Starting An Essential Oils Business

We've interviewed thousands of successful founders at Starter Story and asked what advice they would give to entrepreneurs who are just getting started.

Here's the best advice we discovered for starting an essential oils business:

Nabiulla Ahmed, founder of Real Drop Enterprises ($2K/month):

It will take endless tries to reach a goal. Never compare yourself with others You are You and you are unique, trust in yourself and start working.

Read the full interview ➜

Write a Business Plan

Writing a business plan from the start is critical for the success of your essential oils business.

Because this allows you to roadmap exactly what you do, what your overall structure will look like, and where you want to be in the future.

For many entrepreneurs, writing out the business plan helps validate their idea and decide whether or not they should move forward with starting the business.

You may want to consider expanding upon these sections in your business plan:

• Executive Summary : Brief outline of your product, the market, and growth opportunities
• Overviews and Objectives : Overview of your business, target customers, and what you need to run your business
• Products and Services : Specifics on the products and services your business will provide
• Market Opportunities : Analysis of customer demographics, buyer habits and if your product is in demand
• Marketing : Outline of your marketing plan and how you plan to differentiate yourself from other customers
• Competitive analysis : Analysis of your competition and the strengths and weaknesses therein
• Operations : Hierarchal structure of the company and what it will take to run the business on the day-to-day
• Leadership Team : Detailing roles and responsibilities of each manager based on their specific skill-set
• Financial Analysis Understanding of all expenses, operating budgets, and projections for the future.

Learn more about how to write a business plan here

Determine Which Business Bank Account You Need

There are hundreds of banks out there, and it can be overwhelming to find one that's right for your business.

Here are some factors you may want to consider:

• Location - Is your bank close enough that you can easily make deposits or get cash?
• Low Fees - Make sure to understand any and all fees associated with setting up and maintaining your bank account. Ask for a list - banks usually try to keep this hidden and in the fine print.
• Online Banking Services - Make sure you can easily navigate through your online portal and you have easy access to everything you need.
• Line of Credit - What do your options look like (even if you don't need this now, you may need this down the road).
• Every bank has something that differentiates them from the rest, so make sure whatever that is applied to your needs and values.

Check out this list of the 13 Best Banks for Small Business in 2020 and what makes them so unique.

Setting Up Your Essential Oils Business (Formation and Legal)

When it comes to setting up your business, you may find yourself in a place where you have to make some financial and legal decisions.

The first thing you'll want to decide on is whether you want to be an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp.

These three options are found to be the most common when starting a small business, and all serve to protect your personal assets and also provide you with certain tax benefits.

• LLC : All income and expenses from the business are reported on the LLC personal income tax return.
• S corp : Owners pay themselves salaries + receive dividends from profits.
• C Corp : C Corps are separately taxable entities that file a corporate tax return (Form 1120). No income tax is paid at the corporate level and any tax due is paid at the owners individual expense.

Depending on where you're conducting business, you'll also want to consider securing the proper permits, licenses and liability insurance.

Learn more about securing the right permits and licenses ➜

Need to start an LLC? Create an LLC in minutes with ZenBusiness .

How Do I Pay Myself As A Small Business Owner?

Most entrepreneurs start a business to do something they love- but at the end of the day, you still have bills to pay (maybe now more than ever).

But it's important to strike the right balance - if you pay yourself too much, you could be putting your business at risk.

There are two common ways to pay yourself as a business owner:

1. Owner's Draw

Many entrepreneurs pay themselves through an owner's draw. This means that you are technically sean as "self-employed" through the eyes of the IRS and are not paid through regular wages.

At the point that you collect money from the draw, taxes typically are not taken out - so make sure you are prepared to pay these taxes once you file your individual return.

As an owner who takes a draw, you can legally take out as much as you want from your equity.

This type of compensation is suited for Sole props, LLCs, and partnerships. If you’re an S corp, you can pay yourself through both a salary and draw if you choose.

If you decide to pay yourself a salary, you will receive a set and recurring amount. This will be taxed by the federal government and the state you reside in.

The reality is that it can be really complicated to set your own salary, so we have some tips for you to consider:

• Take out a reasonable amount that allows you to live comfortably but also sets your business up for success
• Consider the number of hours you are working weekly + the type of duties you are performing.
• Set your salary based on your industry-standard, location, and profits (or projected profits)
• Look at your P&L statement : Deduct your own pay from that amount. This is important so you can first tackle important business expenses, and then pay yourself from the amount leftover.
• Pick a payroll schedule (and stick to it)! In the US, it's most common to pay yourself and employees twice a month.

To learn more about how to pay yourself and what is a reasonable amount, check out this article .

How To Price Your Essential Oil

One of the most challenging aspects to starting an essential oils business is determining how much to charge for your essential oil.

When businesses under-price their product, this can be extremely detrimental to their bottom line and reputation.

Often times, businesses under-price their products to drive demand and volume, but that last thing you want is for customers to view your product/service as "cheap." Additionally, this can have a big impact on the type of customer you attract, which can be difficult to recover from.

On the other hand, when businesses over-price , this tends to be just as damaging to the business.

When customers buy, it's likely that they will explore the internet and look at other competitors to ensure they're getting the best value + deal. This is why it's so important that you research your competition and understand where you land in the marketplace.

Here are some factors to consider when pricing your product:

Understand your customer

It's important that out of the gates, you identify the type of customer you want to attract and how much they're willing to pay for your service. One great way to do this is by surveying your customers. Here are some important items you'll want to takeaway:

• Customer demographic: Age, gender, location, etc.
• Buying habits of your customer: What they buy + when they buy
• Level of price sensitivity with your customer

All of these segments will help you identify the type of customer you're attracting and how to price your product accordingly.

Understand your costs

When pricing your essential oil, it's critical that you first identify all of your costs and consequently mark up your essential oil so you can factor in a profit.

The actual cost of your essential oil may include things like:

• The actual cost to make the product (ie. raw materials, supplies, manufacturer).
• Shipping + overhead fees
• Operating costs to run your business

You may want to consider creating a spreadsheet with every single expense involved in operating/owning your business. This will give you an idea as to what you need to generate in order to at the very least, break-even and will help you price your products to factor in a profit.

Create revenue goals

When determining the price of your essential oil, you'll want to create goals for revenue + how much profit you want your essential oils business to make.

This process is simpler than you may think:

• Think about your breakeven cost (by completing the above step).
• Create a revenue goal based on your break-even cost
• Evaluate the # of items you plan to sell in a given period (make sure this is a realistic number)
• Divide your revenue goal by the number of items you plan to sell

This figure will help determine your estimated price per product in order to meet your revenue goals.

Evaluate your competition

The last piece in determining how to price your essential oil is by simply looking at your competition.

The best way to do this is by finding like-minded businesses that offer product(s) with similar perceived value. Then, you can compare prices of the different businesses and determine where your essential oil fits best in the marketplace.

All of these factors play an equal part in pricing your essential oil, so it's important you evaluate each one individually to come up with an accurate price that will help optimize your business from the start.

Understanding Your Costs

Example from Ishan, founder of Ugly Duckling

First objective: profitability

Our profitability is OK at this point but definitely not where it should be yet. To this day I have not paid myself a regular salary yet...and it’s been 4 years!

The problem is not the cost of goods which are well under 20% of sales, which is good by any standard. The problem is fulfillment costs. In 2018 we transitioned from our first fulfillment company to a much bigger company. We did this because we wanted to provide faster shipment speeds and a better quality of packaging. In hindsight, we chose a company which would have been more suitable for a larger company with bigger volumes. We ended up being tied in with some pretty large minimum monthly payments. So currently fulfillment costs are currently around 45% of sales...way too high.

We are now looking to transit to another fulfillment center. Our target is to get our fulfillment costs down to around 30% of sales which I believe from what I have researched, is possible.

Just to be clear, when I say fulfillment that includes transportation costs also - FedEx, USPS, etc. Not just storage, picking, and packing. I am pretty sure that it is possible to get fulfillment costs down even lower, and I suspect that some large pro sellers on amazon.com work with around 20-25% of sales.

So our target P+L for 2020 looks something like this:

• Cost of goods, including inbound freight and clearance - around 22% of sales.
• Fulfillment - around 30% of sales.
• Digital Advertising & Promotion - around 15% of sales.
• Other marketing and office costs, including salary costs - around 10% of sales.
• That would leave us around 23% of sales - enough to pay me a liveable salary and for the company to make a profit and finance future growth.

That's the first objective for 2020: to right-size the P+L so that we are profitable at our current sales level

Gross Margin Calculator: How to Calculate The Gross Margin For Your Essential Oil

Our calculator is designed to be simple and easy to use.

The goal is to help you set realistic expectations and understand what is considered a healthy gross margin for your essential oils business.

Calculate your gross margin and profit margin here .

Tips For Pricing Your Subscription Box

If you decide a subscription box offering is right for you, it's important to make sure you price your box properly.

As a rule of thumb, it's recommended to price your box with at least a 40% profit margin to have a sustainable business.

Here are some calculators created by cratejoy to help get you started:

• Subscription Box Pricing Guide
• Ultimate Subscription Box Calculator
• Power Subscription Box Calculator

What Type Of Customers Will Buy Your Essential Oil

It's important to first establish who you will be selling to, whether it's to businesses or consumers.

Typically, in this industry, products are sold to B2C markets (business-to-consumer).

Let's take a look at what this means for your essential oils business:

B2C (or business to consumer) is a transaction where businesses sell their products or services to the consumer directly.

In this market, consumer behavior is the primary driver for your business decisions - so it's important that you truly identify who your customer is, and what their buyer habits are when building your product/service.

The advantage

B2C is that you are able to cast a very wide net when targeting your customers. Your product may interest a large number of consumers or a specific niche.

The disadvantage

B2C is that consumers hold all the power - so if your website is not the most user friendly, or does not rank in the top search results on Google, chances are, your customer is going to shop elsewhere.

When building your essential oils business, it's critical that you hone in on who your target audience is, and why they need your product over your competition.

Here are some items to consider when identifying your buyer persona:

Design A Prototype

Turning your idea into a reality can feel like a daunting task - but it's critical that you have an idea of what your product will look like (even if it's just a sketch) prior to finding a manufacturer.

Here are some common ways you can design your prototype:

• Draw Your Initial Design on Paper
• Form pieces of fabric together
• Consider Taking A Generic Product And Putting Your Own Brand On It
• Try Making the Product Yourself
• Consider Building A Prototype With A 3D Printer

To learn more about how to design and prototype a product, check out our latest guide here .

Nabiulla Ahmed, founder of Real Drop Enterprises dives deep into the process of designing and prototyping their product:

We collect raw material from local vendors, as we want to support small and local businesses and want them to make some money at a time when those big companies are having a monopoly in the market.

Once the raw material is collected, we use a “Cold Press” process for most of our oil. It is called a cold press as it’s a wooden machine that needs to be operated manually.

Cutting off from the automation we decided to hire workers who spin these machines with their hands and the oil is squeezed out of the raw material, the amount of oil we get is a bit less than what we will get using the electric one but we can’t compromise on quality. The reason being when electric automatic machines are used the produces heat while squeezing the oil that damages the product quality and we’d never compromise with our quality.

We have workers manually measure and fill every bottle again to avoid overheating during the process of bottling.

Choosing the best packaging was a tough job too. It was really hard to get the perfect type of material that won’t degrade or damage the product inside. Keeping in mind the design and durability.

Initially, it took us a few days to get the paperwork done, but currently, we have got all the licenses and permissions required to operate.

Photos of our beauty advisor at stores:

How To Find A Supplier For Your Essential Oils Business

Here are the steps to consider when finding a supplier/manufacturer:

Know your design

One very critical step to finding the right supplier is having an initial idea of what your design/product will look like.

Sketching is one of the most simple ways to get started in the design phase.

What's great about sketching is that you can practically do this anytime, anywhere - even on the back of a napkin.

To get started, all you need to do is pick up a pen and paper and start drawing - or if you are working on a virtual/software product this can be a diagram that outlines the user interface or experience.

Decide your supplier type

You'll want to identify the type of supplier you are looking for.

Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself prior to searching for a supplier

• Are you looking for a manufacturer to produce your product idea ?
• Do you want to find a supplier that can simply purchase existing products for you ?
• Do you want a drop-shipper to supply and fulfill orders?
• Do you want a domestic supplier or an overseas supplier? Read more about the pros and cons of each here

Where to start your search

Once you have an understanding of what type of manufacturer/supplier will be best to bring your idea to life, there are several areas you can start your search:

Domestic Suppliers

Overseas Suppliers

Manufacturing Your Product In House

It's also very common to manufacture your essential oil on your own - either from your home or in a commercial space.

In order to get the product right, you may want to consider experimenting with different designs and recipes until you find the perfect one.

Some founders choose to manufacture their product in-house so that they can control quality, manage costs, and easily handle production/logistics.

Down the road, you can always choose to outsource your essential oil.

Leslie Eisen, founder of AlmondClear discusses how to manufacture products in house

If you want to start a line of unique products, then you have two basic options: you can make them yourself, or you can find a manufacturer to work with that creates custom formulations for their clients.

I knew that I was trying to build a larger-scale business and that the home-made model wasn’t right for me, so I had to find the right manufacturing partner. It took a lot of research, phone calls, and emails before I found the laboratory that met my needs.

I wanted to create unique products (as opposed to private label), so I worked with the manufacturer’s chemist who specializes in skin care formulations. This process takes some time!

First, you have to tell the chemist what kind of product you’re looking for , the ingredients that you want to include or leave out, and what you want the final product to look like/feel like/smell like, etc.

Then, the manufacturer sends you the first sample , you try it out or give it to others to try, and then provide feedback for revisions. In my case, the first two products came together fairly easily because I only needed to make small changes to stock formulations.

There are many, many rules and regulations around cosmetics and skin care products. If you want to sell products that contain FDA regulated ingredients then you have to register and get a permit.

My products aren’t FDA regulated, so I didn’t have to go through this step, but I did have to be aware of the many guidelines and standards around labeling and safety warnings. Some people hire a lawyer to help them through this process, but my manufacturer was able to guide me through the regulatory process.

The entire process, from researching labs to work with to having the first finished products shipped out to me, took around six months.

Purchasing Inventory For Your Essential Oils Business

When first starting out, it's important to start small with your overhead to get a gauge for what people want.

Just remember - if you order a line of items that don't sell, it's nearly impossible to recoup the money lost.

Buying the right inventory takes research and planning in order to get it right.

• Identify your target audience : Identify the age, gender, annual income that you will be selling to. This is a defining factor in ordering the right inventory that will sell.
• Research your competition : Conduct market research and identify the different types of styles, price points, and materials being used. This will help you see what's trending and ways that you can improve/stay ahead of the competition.
• Create an inventory wishlist : Identify what you need for the launch of your business and create a budget that you will stay within. Remember, it's okay to start small.
• Find a supplier Make sure to first compare prices and analyze different options.
• Delivery timing : Schedule the inventory delivery to match with seasonality and trending buying seasons

Pro-tip: It's easy to become biased based on your own fashion preferences on what types of shoes/apparel to purchase. This is where a lot of fashion businesses go wrong. It's important to base purchase decisions on current buyer behavior, trends in the market, and specific to your niche.

Erin Hooley, founder of Bailey's Blossoms tells us how poor inventory projections led her to lose over $2M

When we first launched Peyton Bre we did so in a social or direct sales model.

Through poor inventory projections we were forced to change models but only after losing $2 million dollars.

It was a devastating time for us and one we were not sure we could survive.

I have since become very intentional about the way that we project our inventory needs and we continue to refine that quarterly and even monthly. We have created a KPI for the cost of goods sold to help us hold ourselves accountable.

Ultimately, the better we manage our inventory the less we have need to discount and the healthier our profit margin becomes.

This is, of course, a very high-level overview of the importance of inventory control.

To see the full breakdown on how to manage inventory, check out my guide over on my blog. .

🚀 How To Launch Your Essential Oils Business

Build A Website

Building a website is imperative when launching your business, and with the right tools in place, this can be a simple task to check off the list (without having to hire someone).

• Pick a domain name that's easy to remember and easy to type
• Choose a Web Hosting Plan (ie. Shopify, Squarespace)
• Make sure you choose the right theme and design
• Implement the proper page structure (ie. about page, contact page, pricing etc)

To learn more about how to build a stellar website with little stress, we give you all the details on this step-by-step guide .

Once you have chosen the domain, web hosting, and platform, it's time to get started with the design phase.

Themes are a great way to produce the fundamental style and identity of your website - this includes everything from your font design to your blog post styles.

One of the best ways to get started is to simply explore the various themes (free or paid depending on what you're looking for) and test them on your site.

If web-design really isn't in the cards for you, you may want to consider outsourcing a web designer to help bring your vision and brand to life.

Launch Strategies For Your Essential Oils Business

There are various different ways you can launch your essential oils business successfully.

Here are a few different strategies to get customers excited about your essential oils business.

• Build hype with a landing page : you can effectively do this through waiting lists, discounts, countdown timer etc
• Create a teaser video : even just a 30 second video is a great way to exposure for your essential oils business, and possibly even go viral
• Reach out to influencers : The right influencer for your product has the ability to reach your audience with just one post, and because of their loyal following, this could lead to a big return for you.
• Get Press : Whether you plan a PR stunt or get exposure through a popular news outlet, this is a great way to attract initial customers
• Launch on popular sites : A great way to get buzz about your essential oils business is to submit your launch to popular startup sites.

Here are a few popular sites to launch on:

• ProductHunt
• Hacker News

Learn more about how to launch your business successfully ➜ here

Nabiulla Ahmed, founder of Real Drop Enterprises dives deep into the process of launching the business:

Initially, we launched our products in the top cosmetic outlets in the financial capital of India.

Followed by 3 more retails for display and people reach.

Then we partnered with a company that sells coupons and we agreed to give 5,000,000 coupons with a buy one get one & other combo offers at a price that has never been offered anywhere else.

We have financed the whole business from our pockets. No loans, no fundraising, and no capitalist funding.

The licensing and paperwork were a bit expensive but once we got started it was all good.

The biggest lesson learned I would say is the more people you can reach and educate about your product the better and stronger customer base you will have.

In this photo I am with my Mom to my right at the launch event:

Screenshots of our website:

Make Sure You Get The Package Design Right

The way you package your essential oils business is often the first impression your customer has - so it's important to get it right.

You may want to ask yourself these questions:

If my product is on a shelf next to hundreds of other similar products:

• Will my essential oils business stand out?
• Will the branding/packaging create a connection with my customer, and hence, lead them to buy?

There are hundreds of tools you can use to help with packaging and design:

• Canva - Allows non-designers to create beautiful Instagram/Pinterest posts, flyers, business cards, etc.
• Stickermule - High quality custom stickers you can include on or in your packaging.
• Noissue - Custom tissue paper and compostable mailers
• Rollo Label Printer - A great tool to print all shipping labels at home

Sheets & Giggles explains the motive behind their "Premium Unboxing Experience"

I had a particular vision for our packaging centered around one goal: because we were a DTC company and wouldn’t do physical retail in year 1, we needed to focus entirely on an incredible unboxing experience that made the product feel as premium as possible.

Outside: a white box, nice wax coating, logo front and center with no other copy, easy to open, nice and sturdy.

Inside: make people smile from the get-go, have a social call-to-action, include free extra surprises (a knapsack that wraps the sheets and an eye mask), put funny copy all over the place, and add a donation bag that people could use to donate their now-defunct cotton sheets (sheets & blankets are the #2-most-requested item at shelters behind socks).

Marketplaces

There are various different marketplaces that you can effectively sell and promote your essential oils business, whether that's local or online!

Here are some of the most common ones:

• Your own website! Shopify is known to be the best for e-commerce stores
• Local places! Gift shops, farmers markets, festivals, grocery stores etc
• Etsy - E-commerce website for craft supplies
• Craft is Art Marketplace to buy and sell handmade crafts & fine art
• Aftcra Online marketplace where you can buy and sell handmade products
• Storenvy Marketplace for authentic brands

Etsy Tips From Founders

Etsy is one of the most common marketplaces for this business type, however, there are some tips and tricks from other founders you'll want to consider prior to listing:

Financially speaking, Etsy is a really great way to start a business because it’s essentially free until you start selling. It cost nothing to launch besides my 20 cent listing fees.

Etsy has been encouraging free shipping with a lot of pushback from sellers, but I built everything into our prices about a month ago and introduced free shipping shopwide , which seems to have improved conversion rates and search visibility already.

I honestly attribute the bulk of my success to photography. I was a photographer first so obviously very lucky to have no issues launching with great images and it’s something I consistently produce.

With Etsy especially, there are a ton of mediocre amateur photos so it was an easy way to set myself apart from the start, and I don’t think Etsy themselves would feature my products and market them so often otherwise. We’re also able to compete fairly well on price because 80% of customers are American, and our dollar is much weaker.

One big mistake I’m seeing from other people selling handcrafted items is regarding Etsy. I’m seeing people do one of two things:

• Under-utilize the platform
• They are solely using the platform

What I mean by this is that I’m seeing a whole lot of handcrafters that only use Etsy because it’s easy. But referring people to an Etsy page as your webpage isn’t as professional as a dot com webpage, plus, Etsy’s fees are much higher than Shopify. Also, when Etsy makes changes to its marketing structure, I’ve seen people who have no other website get absolutely screwed and their shops go under.

The other camp is those that refuse to use Etsy at all. Etsy is a marketplace, with a built-in audience that is often searching for exactly the product you make! Both camps are making the mistake of not diversifying their markets. Use Etsy, it’s an amazing sales tool, but don’t rely on it solely.

Get Press Coverage For Your Essential Oils Business

The more buzz around your brand - the more the phones ring, the more traffic to your website, and the more customers as a result.

Here are a few ways you can get press for your business:

Press releases:

Press releases are a great way to share big announcements or news, but in order to get any traction, you'll need to find a way to make your press release stand out amongst others.

Try to convey a story that really matters, not just to you, but to the reporter and to their audience.

Here are some things to consider when submitting a press release:

• Craft a catchy subject (keep it short and sweet).
• Acknowledge the journalist's past work and interests - this is key!
• Include the main point of the story in the first paragraph, heck, even the first sentence. Reporters want to hear the juice first and foremost.
• Focus on the facts and try to limit the amount of jargon used.
• Pitch yourself! Help them put a face to the story.
• Make sure your topic is newsworthy. If it's not, find a way to!
• Try not to include any attachments of your release!

Email is one of the most effective and preferred way to send your press release, so as long as you keep your pitch brief, interesting and personalized (no cold emails), you should stand a chance!

Get Press Using HARO

HARO, otherwise known as "Help a Reporter Out" is an outlet for journalists to source upcoming stories and opportunities for media coverage.

The best part is, HARO is free to use! There are, of course, premium versions you can purchase, but the free version is still an accessible way to get press.

Once you set up an account, HARO essentially will email you based on stories (that are relevant to you) that need to be covered where you will then have a chance to essentially "bid on the story."

Here are some tips when crafting your pitch:

• Discuss your experience and expertise in the space. Make sure it's obvious why you're relevant to this story.
• Answer the question in 3-4 sentences. Try and be as direct as possible
• Offer to provide the reporter with more information and make sure to give them your contact info

Plan a Publicity Stunt

Planning a publicity stunt is an effective and quick way to raise awareness for your brand and gain some traction from the press.

If you're looking to plan a stunt, the objective should be to be bold and create something memorable

However, being bold has a fine line - it's important that you consider the timing of your stunt to ensure you don't come off insensitive or unethical. For example, timing may not be in your favor if you plan something during the general election, or in most recent cases, a global pandemic.

In order to measure the success of your stunt, it's important that you first determine your end goal, for example:

• Is the stunt aimed to raise money for your business or a particular organization?
• Is the stunt aimed to drive more traffic to your website?
• Is the stunt aimed to get more followers and engagement on Instagram?

Here are a few tips for creating a great publicity stunt:

• Research to ensure that there haven't been similar stunts done in the past by other businesses - this could easily turn off journalists and your audience.
• Make sure you can explain the stunt in one headline - this will help grab the media's attention. In other words, simplify!
• The stunt should be related to the product you are promoting. Even if the stunt is a success in terms of viewers, but it doesn't tie back to your original goal, then it's not useful.
• Keep the stunt visual with videos/images.
• Leverage the internet and social media platforms for your stunt by sharing your message across a variety of audiences. This will help with word of mouth and the overall success of your event.

To learn other strategies on how to get press, check out our full guide here .

🌱 How To Grow Your Essential Oils Business

Consider Selling On Amazon

In addition to selling your products directly on your site, you may want to consider selling on Amazon to reach a wider audience and attract new customers.

Here are some pros and cons of selling on amazon:

• Easy and seamless process to get your product listed on Amazon
• There are roughly 100 million thoroughly committed prime customers, so you're bound to tap into new business
• Can help grow your business exponentially and reach new audiences
• You may encounter some "copycats" and counterfeit products
• Amazon owns the relationship with the customer (you lose control over product reviews + customer service)
• If you already have a low-markup, amazon may not wrth your while and you could end up losing money
• Commissions and listing fees are high - it's easy to lose control of your offering

Follow these instructions to get your product listed on Amazon or check out the video below on how to get started:

Cory Stout, founder of Woodies ($250K/mo) provides us with specifics on how to rank better on amazon:

Our main product is walnut wood sunglasses that I sell for $25 on Amazon and Woodies.com.

I dedicated myself to becoming an Amazon expert. I listened to all the podcasts and read all the blog posts I could find. Shoutout EcomCrew I took the basic fundamentals that are out there and I added a couple of my own twists.

Amazon brings me, 100 brand new customers, every day for very little acquisition cost. If I tried that on my own, it would take a TON of work and it wouldn’t be nearly as effective as Amazon, so I took the easy road on this one.

Here's an article I wrote on how to rank better on amazon (30+ Tips):

5/5: ESSENTIAL

• Beautiful images (minimum 5 images) especially lifestyle images I use UpgradedImages.com for product photography (hey Ken!)
• Keywords in your title (but it still needs to sound human)
• Competitive price (contributes to high conversion rate)
• NOT having 1-star reviews
• DON'T STOCKOUT: it's such a killer and if you DO stockout, definitely DON'T raise your price right before you do, if anything LOWER your price for the last 10-20 units before you stockout, each ASIN has a 'memory' for when you do get back in stock so that will help you regain ranking quickly
• DON'T VIOLATE AMAZON TOS: just don't
• Perform QC on your stock before you send it in (I sent in a wrong box once and I had to 'remove' over 3,000 pieces so I could sift through them and remove the 150 contaminated pieces 0/7 would not recommend

4/5: Pretty Friggin Important

• Minimum 10 5-star reviews (do this before you do anything below this)
• Well optimized PPC campaigns (could do a whole post on this, keep ACOS under 40%) here's a screenshot of some of my campaigns I use a combination of manual campaigns with exact phrases and high bids...and auto campaigns with a broad range of products and very low bids
• Turning on FeedbackGenius for auto review requests (it's not as good as it used to be, but it's still worth it)
• Get a trademark and get Brand Registry, this protects you from hijackers and other unscrupulous sellers
• Quick response to customer messages (under 12 hours) here are my stats my mom does all my customer service "Employee of the Year" status
• Drive outside traffic (amazon loves outside traffic because they don't have to spend so much to acquire customers) Facebook, Instagram, and Google Adwords are the usual suspects
• Use ocean shipping to save mucho $$$ on unit costs (use flexport)

Read more about amazon tips here .

How To Market & Sell Your Product To Grocery Stores

The goal for most essential oils businesses is to be able to sell their product in grocery stores and other marketplaces.

With a bit of time, research and energy, you can make this a reality for your essential oils business!

Here are the steps you should consider taking when you are ready to market your essential oils business to grocery stores:

1. Permits: Make sure you have the right permit by contacting city and state officials

2. Creative label and packaging design : Your packaging should be functional, creative and also meet all U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeling guidelines

3. Price your product appropriately : Make sure your product pricing is fair but also allows for you to make a profit. Check out what other essential oils business's are selling for at grocery stores in the area.

4. Create a target list : Conduct research in the area and decide which grocery stores you would like to sell your product to.

5. Contact stores and present your product : Introduce yourself and request a meeting with the grocery stores on your list - bring a presentation with the market research you've conducted and samples of your product.

Consider Working With Instagram Influencers

Partnering with like-minded influencers (within your industry) is one of the most effective ways to grow your social media organically.

Industry influencers already have an established and loyal following. With one post, your product immediately establishes a connection with a brand new audience. It's that powerful.

When finding influencers to promote your product, do your research and make sure that their following will actually be interested in your product.

It's easy to be blinded by any influencer with a huge following, but if those followers don't resonate with your product, there may not be any value there... so make sure you do your research!

Evan Marshall, founder of Plain Jane discusses how "micro-influencers" have impacted his business:

Influencer marketing has been huge for us. Our approach is pretty simple. We give out samples of our products and ask people to post about us on social media aka a micro-influencer strategy.

We really like this approach because we get authentic stories and content. We cannot really control the messaging so the product has to speak for itself. We don’t really take product photos at all. Our customers take the photos and we ask to reuse them.

With any influencer strategy, you have to be very sure you’re targeting the right people and engaging with them. You can make sure you’re targeting the right influencers by looking through their posts and then looking through the profiles of their engaged followers.

It takes more time per influencer but the payoff is certainly worth it. Make sure their followers look like your existing customers.

It takes a ton of time and work to grow a social media following this way but it’s worth it. Other accounts have tried to grow themselves through botting or other manipulations. As a CBD company, we didn’t want to give Instagram any reason to shutdown our account so we’ve done everything through content and real engagement. It’s not magic to make this happen. You just have to post consistently and then reply or like every single comment you get. It takes months but it works

Experiment With Pay Per Click Ads (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a performance-based marketing method that allows you to show specific ads for services or products oriented to a very defined target, with the goal that the user visits your website or landing page.

Here are some tips to consider:

• Consider connecting the ad to your corresponding landing page so that the audience receives the necessary information after clicking on the ad.
• Conversion Tracking: When running PPC campaigns, be sure to run the ads with conversion tracking.
• Focus on quality keywords, even if there are few as this will save you time and money. When assessing the performance of a keyword, it's important to track the expense, conversion, and cost per conversion, as well as the ROI.

PPC advertising can be a very important lead generator as long as it's done properly. Your PPC campaign is intended to drive traffic to your website and help the business scale.

Additionally, if the campaign is not having the desired results, you can make the necessary changes immediately to improve them.

Ryan Schortmann, founder of Display Pros talks about their investment in PPC Ads:

My name is Ryan Schortmann and I’m the founder of Display Pros. We are a custom trade show display booth company offering easy to use portable display “kits” for small and medium businesses wanting to get into the trade show game.

It did not take long to come to the realization that to compete at any reasonable level, we were going to need to take the plunge and invest in Pay Per Click ads and display.

From experience, I know that it is important to give Google’s hivemind some time to settle in before each campaign starts seeing consistent results (this is largely dependent on budget).

A certain amount of PPC budget must be viewed as a “marketing research” expense and then you can look at the analytics data and make informed decisions on where to refine, tweak or plain scrap an idea.

Google Shopping was an entirely new concept for me. You can’t assign keywords to products so at first, I was asking myself “How the hell do you refine these?”. Then I found some good reading material and courses and learned of some advanced methods that the pros are using. It turns out you can utilize negative keyword lists combined with the priority setting on each shopping campaign to “shape” the keywords that are coming in and how much you are spending on them.

To learn more about PPC Ads and Google Shopping, check out this video to learn everything you need to know!

Improve your SEO

SEO is not just about driving traffic to your site, it's about driving the RIGHT traffic to your site , and ultimately, converting leads into customers.

One of the most important aspects of SEO is understanding what your customers are searching for, otherwise known as "keyword research."

Here are some tools that can help you choose the right keywords for your essential oils business.

• Google Ads Keyword Planner invaluable for discovering search trends.
• Google Search Console is very helpful once your website is up as it shows you what words/phrases are generating traffic.
• Ahrefs and SEMRush are paid tools that allow you to look at results of your competitor's website.

Publish Great Content

Finding keywords is an important piece of the puzzle, but Google also ranks your site based on the actual content you produce, as this is what your customers are reading and engaging with.

There are various different "forms" of content that you may want to consider diversifying on your sites, such as blog posts, articles, studies, and videos.

So let's discuss what google considers "good content:"

• Length - This will vary depending on the page, however, generally having a sufficient amount of content helps search engines recognize that your site is a good source for a specific topic
• Engagement - The longer people stay on your website to read your content, the higher Google will rank your website. It's important to have informative and "thick" content that keeps people reading
• Avoid Duplicating Content - Google will recognize this and may consider your content to have low value
• Ensure pages load quickly - This will also help with engagement and time spent on your website
• Shareability - Create content that people want to share, and is easy for them to share, especially to their social media accounts (ie. "click to tweet" is a great example of this).

Another element of creating good content is creating consistent content.

If (and hopefully you are) publishing content frequently, it's important to stick to a schedule - this helps build brand trust and easy user experience with your customers.

Planning out your content with a content calendar is key to staying consistent.

Here are a few great content calendar tools that can help you:

• If you prefer to keep it simple, your average spreadsheet is just as useful!

Backlinks are an important piece to SEO, as they allow for other websites to link to your content.

Search engines recognize that other sites are essentially "verifying" your content and essentially rank you higher because of this.

Of course, some links are more valuable than others and can affect your site in different ways.

For example, if a highly valuable and credible site like the New York Times links to a page on your website, this could be remarkable from an SEO perspective.

Aside from organically getting mentioned from other sites, there are other ways that you can increase and earn backlinks:

• Create infographics with relevant data that people want to share
• Promote your content on different sites/look into "guest blogging"
• Contact influencers/journalists/bloggers and ask them to mention you!
• Write testimonials for other sites in exchange for a backlink
• Leverage existing business relationships

Learn more about the fundamentals of SEO ➜ here and check out Neil Patel's 3 Powerful SEO Tips below

Build A Blog

One of the most effective ways to build brand awareness and grow your business is through consistently blogging.

We've outlined some useful tips for you to consider when creating content:

Consistency and Quantity

Quality is important, but it should be the standard for any content you publish.

What’s more important is consistency and quantity.

Consistency is as simple as committing to publishing and sharing a certain number of posts per week. For me, that’s three per week right now.

This kind of commitment is key, because one day, a random post will blow up, and you will have never expected it.

Oversaturation

The easiest mind trap is to think "I’m posting too much", and “I need to give my readers/audience/this platform a break”.

This is nonsense.

There is no such thing as oversaturation. Well, there is, but it is just someone else’s opinion.

For every person that tells you you are posting too much, there is another person that wants even more of your content.

You should ignore people’s opinions on how much you post.

Patience & Persistence

Keep posting, keep trying, and keep putting out good content on the regular. Your time will come, and when it does, it will change everything.

The only thing you have control over is your content.

You can’t control how people will react to it. You can’t control pageviews, likes, or shares.

So the only metric you should focus on is how much content you can put out in a week, month, etc.

Where to share your blog content

Mailing List

I know it sounds obvious, but the best places to share your content is on your mailing list. It is guaranteed traffic and it is a great way to get rapid feedback from your most loyal readers.

Send newsletters often. I have done once a week since starting, and I’m moving to twice a week soon.

Work on increasing your mailing list as well. Look into ways to increase your conversion rate to your mailing list. I added a flyout popup thing to my site and now I’m collecting ~30 emails per day.

An email newsletter is one of the most powerful assets you can have and it is worth its weight in gold.

Reddit is one of my favorite places to promote content.

It is a very scary place because you will often get banned or heckled, but it can really pay off.

Create social media accounts for your blog, the main ones I use:

Twitter Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Set up Buffer and share all of your blog posts to all of your accounts. All of these little shares really do add up.

Automate this as much as possible. I automated all of my social media for Starter Story.

Facebook Groups

When I started out, I put together a spreadsheet of relevant Facebook groups for my niche, and I would post to these groups whenever I had a big story I wanted to share.

Grow Your Email List

The more engaged list of emails, the more engaged customers, which ultimately leads to more sales.

One of the best ways to start growing your list is by providing your customer with something free (or discounted) in return.

This could also be anything from:

• Fascinating case study
• Video series
• Free week of the product
• Discount on the product

Learn more about how to grow your email list and improve email marketing ➜ here .

Dylan Jacob, founder of Brumate states their email collection tactic that is proven to work:

We use Spin-a-Sale for this (you spin a wheel for a discount code in exchange for subscribing to our email list). This has been the best email-collecting tool we have found because the customer truly feels like they won a prize rather than just a coupon code.

Even if a customer doesn’t convert right away, if we have their email we have a 19% chance of converting them into a future customer whether that is through future promotions, new releases, or simply just sending an email at the right time for a purchase to finally make sense for them.

We also have a return customer rate of over 14%, so one out of every 6 people we convert will end up buying from us again with an average order value of over $60.00.

Add an exit-intent popup to your online store

A great way to double, or even triple, your email opt-in rate and to grow your list is to add an exit-intent popup to your site, and offering a discount or content upgrade for subscribers.

Here's an example of what that might look like:

One thing that I spent years NOT doing, that I now kick myself about, is adding an "exit intent pop-up" to our site, which lets people enter a sweepstakes to win a Xero Shoes gift certificate.

That one idea has added over 100,000 subscribers to our email list, which is one of our most effective marketing channels.

Improve Your Email Marketing

Different types of emails

Here are the most common types of email campaigns you can send to your customers and their benefits:

• Welcome emails - the perfect way to provide information from the start with a clear CTA. Make sure to tell your customer everything they need to know about your product or service.
• Newsletters - a great way to give customers updates or send out your latest content
• Product launch emails - the quickest (and easiest) way to increase sales is by selling to current customers. Make sure they're the first on the list to know about your new product
• Promotional emails - promote discounts, deals coupons etc. Try and make this feel exclusive and for a limited time only
• Abandoned cart emails - give your customers a reason to complete their purchase!

Here's a great resource for finding curated email designs, for all types of email campaigns!

Abandonded Cart Flow

The abandoned cart workflow is one of the most effective strategies for turning your lead into a customer, and a powerful tool to have if you're an e-commerce business.

Think about all the times that you went on a shopping frenzy only to add items to your cart and then either forget or realize nows not the right time to pull the trigger.

Then, minutes later you receive an email saying "Hurry up! Your cart is waiting - and we want to provide you with 20% off your order."

Maybe that's the special touch (and discount) you needed to pull that trigger.

Implementing this workflow can automatically trigger this for your business every time a customer abandons their cart.

Here's a great example of an abandoned cart email from Brooklinen :

Things they do well:

• Showcase 5-star reviews from other customers
• Offer a small discount + free shipping
• Great design + clear call to actions!

Social Media Advertising

Social Media Advertising is one of the leading ways to get the word out when it comes to essential oils business.

There are various different Social Media platforms available to you. Some may be more critical for your marketing efforts than others, however, it's important to have an understanding of what's out there and available to you.

Let's talk about a few of the main platforms and what makes them unique:

• Facebook Advertising - more than 2 billion monthly users. Facebook is the best for lead generation + capturing email addresses for e-commerce businesses.
• Instagram Advertising - approximately 500 million monthly users and has a higher audience engagement rate than any other platform. Instagram ads are best for linking to a product page or landing page and reaches the 18-29 age group most effectively.
• Twitter Advertising - Small businesses typically use twitter ads to drive brand awareness, but the platform is meant more for organic engagement (and is not as heavily used for paid advertising)
• Pinterest Advertising - 175 million monthly users and most effectively reaches the female audience. Pinterest is great for promoting products without "promoted". The promoted pins have a way of blending right in.
• LinkedIn Advertising - 227 million monthly users and is geared towards the B2B market and generates the highest quality leads. Great platform for recruiters, high-end products and services that will help businesses

It's important to first define your goal/objective so that you don't waste time and money into the wrong platform:

Here are some different questions to ask yourself as it relates to your goals:

• Do I want to simply drive brand awareness?
• Do I want to drive users to my website to gather information?
• Do I want to increase sales and get my customer to take action?

From there, choose the platform that targets your audience best and start experimenting!

Learn more about social media advertising ➜ here .

Founder Andy Hayes talks about mastering FB ads and the pixel:

The biggest bang for your buck will likely be mastering Facebook and it’s platform - which we all know is pay for play, so you’ll have to come up with a small amount of budget to start for marketing.

We’ve spent countless hours (and paid numerous coaches) before we cracked the code that works for us on Facebook, but it is working really well for us now.

Some of the most important things to know when it comes to FB Ads:

• Start with retargeting (that’s showing ads to people who already know you but did not purchase). Master this - and start building information on your Facebook Pixel - before you do anything else
• Once you have that down, try working with the 1% “Lookalike” audience to prospect for new customers. This may take awhile because your pixel audience is small, so try layering on interests - 1% Lookalike and your largest competitor, for example. Don’t use interest-only targeting until you master this.
• Great photography and videography is key, as is smart copy. Research what’s out there in your industry and constantly test - what works for one company may not work for other people.
• Make sure you have good offers. For example, we have a $5 trial for our subscription, which converts affordably - if we promoted our subscription with the standard $30 front charge, it wouldn’t be as cost-effective.

Host A Social Media Giveaway

People love free stuff and love competition. Giveaways and contests are a great way to create awareness for your brand, grow your email list, and eventually convert leads into customers.

If your goal is to gather email addresses, make sure the entry criteria is to "enter your email." You can do this by leading customers to your landing page where they can then enter their email to be in the giveaway.

One of the most important aspects of promoting a successful giveaway is having an amazing prize. The better the prize, the more engagement you'll get.

This doesn't necessarily mean choosing an iPad or an expensive/trendy watch, but instead a prize that is actually relevant to your brand/target audience.

Giveaway Example and Tips

Example from TJ Mapes, founder of RIPT Apparel

Our most recent successful giveaway was when we gave away a PS4 + the new Spiderman game. I hosted the giveaway on our site and then let our audience know about it via email/social channels.

Entrants earned different amounts of entries for entering in different ways (tongue twister!), for instance; enter via email, get 10 entries. Follow us on Facebook, get 5 entries. Subscribe on Messenger and get 25 entries .

I also built out a drip sequence in Klaviyo that contained four emails to encourage entrants to take more action, like referring friends and liking us on social.

Email #1: Thanks for entering!

Email #2: Explained how to earn bonus entries:

Email #3: About us

Email #4: Coupon for entering

This last email in the sequence just thanked them again for entering and also included a coupon to a specific (related) collection of designs with an expiration date on it to incentivize purchases.

PS4 Giveaway Results:

We ran it for 2 weeks and recorded results in a meticulous spreadsheet to analyze the data. Here are some of the highlights:

• Giveaway page pageviews - 67,355
• Total entrants - 26,137
• Conversion rate - 38.80%
• Total entrants in Klaviyo (not suppressed) - 24,515
• New emails acquired - 16,363
• Emails we already had - 7,521
• % of new emails - 66.75%
• Cost of item - $350
• Instagram visits - 10,618
• Instagram followers gained - 3,496 ( total followers lifted by 6.9% )
• Twitter followers gained - 4,194

🏃🏼‍♀️ How To Run Your Essential Oils Business

How To Retain Customers For Your Essential Oils Business

Retaining customers is one of the most effective ways to grow your essential oils business.

Oftentimes, it's easy to find yourself focusing on generating new customers, vs retaining your current ones.

Look at it this way - you are 60-70% more likely to sell a new product to an existing customer than you are a new customer.

That's not to say that finding new customers and revenue streams is not important, however, the easiest (and most inexpensive) source of new revenue is right there in front of you.

Here are some ways you can retain customers for your essential oils business:

• Responding to comments on social media
• Send discounts (or freebies) to loyal customers
• Provide valuable content, for free
• Write a hand written thank you note
• Provide awesome customer service and build relationships with customers

To find out more tips and tricks on retaining customers, check out this article ➜ here

Nabiulla Ahmed, founder of Real Drop Enterprises dives deep into the process of attracting and retaining customers:

The best advice I like to give is to keep it real. Let the people know what they are using or what they are getting.

Getting into increasing sales and marketing for any startup there is no one rule that someone can follow. No guidelines or steps one can follow to skyrocket the sales. You need to know your product first in and out, know who will use it. Find out what is the age group of your average consumer then use some surveys available over the internet on what is the main source of information consumption for your targeted audience/user/consumer and then accordingly set out a marketing campaign.

If they are young people who are likely to be active in social media, that's the excellent thing: start up your page and use the marketing tools available.

Having a website and social handle is a must these days considering the huge presence. People tend to look things up on the internet to verify their genuineness.

Selling your products on Amazon is also a good idea to start. Try to make use of the Amazon promotion tools out there which really helps.

Overall tools that we have in the social media site and google’s Ads campaign are really one of the best ways to increase the reach. That being said, it increases the reach and does not guarantee sales from your site. So you need to have the bandwidth on investing in ad campaigns. Running a google ads campaign for a week or so will never do good to you. At least run ads for a month and expect a conversion rate of approx 2% from the number of hits that you get (say you get 100-page visits on your page then only 2 of them are likely to make a purchase).

Diversify Your Product Line

Adding new products to your business is a great way to expand into new markets and grow your business.

It's important to note that adding new products and diversifying may not be in the cards for you right this moment, and that's okay. You can always consider it down the road.

Here are some reasons you may want to considering adding/diversifying your product

• Meeting the needs of your customers
• Establish yourself as a top provider in your industry and stay ahead of the game with competition
• Resistance to downturns/trends fading
• Create new revenue streams

Provide Great Customer Service

Providing exceptional care and creating relationships with clients is a great way to build your reputation and retain customers.

Whether you are an online business or a physical business, it's highly important to communicate with customers and make them feel like they are the priority.

Just remember: customer service represents your brand, values, vision and YOU as a person.

Build a Referral Program

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get the word out about your business and acquire new customers. Especially when you are starting out, it’s important to build a solid referral program to encourage existing customers to help you find new ones.

A great way to do that is by offering a reward (ie. credit on your service or cash) to customers that refer you to their friends and family.

A fantastic referral program will help with clout, credibility, and establishing yourself in the space.

Authenticity

As a brand, you want to deliver an experience that authentic, honest and transparent.

Don't make the mistake of giving your audience less credit than they deserve.

Be Authentic

If you go around chasing every trend and only focused on yourself and money, you’re going to lose very quickly.

There have been many times where we have been tempted to do this but stayed true.

Sure we sacrificed sales, but we kept our integrity, played the long game and people saw and appreciated that, and really began emotionally investing in the brand.

Word of Mouth

The most tried and true way to grow a essential oils business is through word of mouth - some entrepreneurs would say it's more important than all social media.

Why you should focus on word of mouth:

• Consumers trust word of mouth above all other forms of marketing
• 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising
• 64% of marketing executives indicated that they believe it is the most effective form of marketing

Learn more about word of mouth in our guide: 30 Ways Founders Grow Their Business ➜

How To Crush The Sales Process For Your Essential Oils Business

You may find yourself in a spot where you're ready to hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process.

Regardless if you have one or thirty salespeople, it's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.

Mike Korba, co-founder of User.Com walks us through the entire sales process and which teams are responsible for what:

User.com Sales Process

Each user and account is qualified with a specialist. For business leads, they are handled by the sales team, and if they are qualified we give them a demo, more than often at the end of their fourteen-day trial. If they’re happy they’ll add a payment, and get an account manager, so a customer support and success team who will help implement the solution and to use the technology.

Sometimes, users will convert naturally on their own, after using the freemium product and finding it to be something that they will find beneficial.

After they convert, we help with onboarding , give them some personalized tips for their specific business or industry to grow plus all kinds of support, for whatever they need - something we take huge pride in.

The team is right now more than 30 people, with more than half working on the IT and product side, and the rest are in three teams: Support, Marketing, and Sales who all work together very closely.

We put together the best resources on the internet to help you start your essential oils business.

• Platform tools such as Shopify , WooCommerce or Amazon
• Email tools such as Klaviyo or G Suite
• Social media tools such as Facebook , Instagram , YouTube , Pinterest or LinkedIn
• Advertising tools such as Facebook Ads , Instagram Ads , Google Adwords , Google AdSense , Instapage , Google ads or Pinterest Ads
• Reviews tools such as Product Reviews or Google My Business
• Design tools such as Canva or Adobe Suite
• Analytics tools such as Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager
• Productivity tools such as Google Suite , Dropbox , Asana or Microsoft Office 365
• Payments tools such as Paypal , Shopify Payments , Stripe , Square , Afterpay or Razorpay
• Shipping tools such as Shippo , USPS or UPS WorldShip
• Education tools such as Udemy , Teachable , Skillshare or Creative Live
• Accounting tools such as Google Sheets or bench
• Stock images tools such as Unsplash
• Web hosting tools such as GoDaddy
• Wholesale tools such as Faire.com , Handshake or Bulletin
• Essential Oils Pocket Reference 8th Edition (2019)

Essential Oils Animal Desk Reference

Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant

Web Resources

• 3 Ways To Start An Essential Oil Business - Wikihow
• How To Start An Essential Oils Home Based Business
• How To Start An Essential Oil Business

Case Studies

• How I Created A $2K/Month Natural Oils Brand
• How I Started a $348K/Year Natural Bath and Body Products Business
• 1 Tips For Starting A Successful Essential Oils Business (2024) 1 of 8
• 100 Best Wholesale Essential Oils Suppliers [2024 Edition] 2 of 8
• 1,000+ Catchy Essential Oil Business Names Ideas [2024] 3 of 8
• How Much Does It Cost To Start An Essential Oils Business? (In 2024) 4 of 8
• 44 Trending Essential Oils Businesses [2024] 5 of 8
• 30 Pros & Cons Of Starting An Essential Oils Business (2024) 6 of 8
• 55 Marketing Ideas For An Essential Oils Business (2024) 7 of 8
• 10 Essential Oils Business Success Stories [2024] 8 of 8

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How to Start A Small-Scale Essential Oil Extraction Business?

Learning how to start a small-level essential oil manufacturing business isn’t as simple as just reading an article on the internet or attending a seminar. It all depends on your level of experience, education, and training in the field. However, if you have an interest or knowledge about working in this sector, it is a profitable area to get into. Wondering how to start an oil manufacturing business of your own?

Here are some essential tips that will help you begin:

1. Study More to Perform Better

If you are interested in an essential oil manufacturing business , a good starting point is reading up on the subject thoroughly. There are many different sources online and elsewhere with excellent information about starting up an oil refining or distillation business of one’s own. While it may be tempting to skip right ahead and directly contact potential suppliers and manufacturers, doing so may prove to be time-consuming and frustrating.

2. Conduct Research About Licenses and Permits

Try to find as much information as possible before making any decisions whatsoever. Learn what sort of licensing and permit specific companies need to operate in your particular area, as well as learn about the federal, state, and local regulations that govern oil manufacturing businesses. In general, you should only work with licensed dealers and manufacturers. If you work with a company that is not correctly licensed, you will run into several problems down the line. For instance, you could be putting yourself at risk by allowing unlicensed personnel to work for you, especially if accidents occur. This can turn into a costly legal problem for you and your business.

3. Speak to Someone with Experience

Next, talk to people in your field who have their own essential oil manufacturing business or something in a related field. It is a logical step to get in touch with anyone you know who has started up their own small-scale oil company. Ask them how they did it, and learn from their experiences. These people will be more than willing to help you learn how to start a small-level oil company of your own. If not, there are plenty of books and websites available that provide all kinds of information and directions to follow.

4. Get Your Essential Oil Manufacturing Equipment in Place

Once you have all of the basic information down, the next step in your essential oils manufacturing business plan is to get the oil extraction equipment together. This includes access to machineries like vacuum distillers and hot water machines. As you begin your search for equipment like this, be aware that prices will fluctuate depending on what type of equipment you buy, where you purchase it, and how large you intend your business to be. Don’t make the mistake of looking for a bargain deal when it comes to equipment. Sometimes what you find in such deals isn’t good in terms of quality. You should shop around to get the best possible price on the equipment you need but invest well in this long-term asset.

Also read: Essential Oil Manufacturers in India

5. Set Up a Small Laboratory

Once you have all of your equipment set up, you can start setting up a small laboratory. This type of setup is similar to what you would do with any business when starting small and thinking big! To properly use your equipment and get the best product, you will need a lab. Setting up a lab is fairly easy and inexpensive. All you need is access to the internet, a phone, and some essential equipment. If you are feeling a bit more advanced, consider renting some of the essential equipment so that you can get started right away.

6. Understand the Basics of the Essential Oil Market

The next step in starting an essential oil manufacturing business is learning the basic oil extraction processes. This process will help you understand the oil market. If you want to succeed in this field, you must know all about the various stages and stakeholders that will impact the final product you can create.

7. Keep Track of the Essential Oil Advertising Strategies

You have to know about the oil marketing strategies if you want to run a successful business. You must learn the marketing tactics of the oil market, including the marketing of the oil products, promotion of new oil products, and oil company news. All these marketing tactics will help you increase sales of the products that you sell.

8. Understand its Purposes and Applications

Next, you can learn how to develop the essential oil business for industrial, medical, or chemical processes. In addition to this, you can learn about the development, purification, and refinement of the oil. You can get more information about it on the internet.

9. Find the Right Customers Through the Internet

Once you’ve got everything up and running, your next goal should be finding customers . There are several ways that you can do this. You can post a sign-up sheet in local stores, advertise in newspapers and magazines, or send out hand-written notes. The easiest way is, of course, through the internet.

Now that you know all about how to start an essential oil business, it is time to get started. Begin your research, collect the funds and the tools for the same, and go for it. We wish you good wishes in your essential oil business journey!

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Q. What Are Essential Oils?

Ans. If you have been using aromatherapy oils for any length of time, you will probably be familiar with essential oils and how they are used. Essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid comprising various volatile organic compounds found in plants. Essential oils can also be referred to as volatile oils, aromatic oils, or perfume oil. They are prepared by extracting the volatile oil from a plant either before or after steeping. In some cases, steam distillation is also used.

Q. What are the Different Types of Essential Oils?

Ans. There are various types of essential oils; some of them are:

Q. What are the Benefits of Essential Oils?

Ans. The benefits of essential oils are countless and are far-reaching. Traditionally they have been used in aromatherapy treatments. This is because the vast majority of essential oils come from plants growing naturally, so the oil can be used without adding chemicals or medications. They do not have any negative side effects or reactions. If you get looking for an effective way to reduce stress, increase your energy levels, and feel a lot better overall, you can explore essential oils. Using them topically on your skin has been shown to help out in several ways.

One of the most common benefits of essential oils is the boost of vitality that they provide your body. When you apply them topically to the skin, they can penetrate deep down through your pores. For instance, lavender is commonly used in the treatment of headaches, as it soothes inflammation throughout the head, resulting in a feeling of general wellbeing. Combining it with other essential oils such as rosemary and peppermint will give a similar effect when you apply it to your skin. Essential oils are also known to boost the immune system and treat many other health conditions such as nausea, headaches, digestive problems, insomnia, depression, fatigue, and more.

We all know how important it is to get a good night’s sleep. One of the benefits of essential oils is that they help you get quality, restful sleep. Aromatherapy is currently being recommended by many health care professionals for stress reduction and promoting a good night’s sleep. The soothing qualities of the essential oils used during aromatherapy treatments relieve tension, calm your mind, and enable you to get the restful sleep you need to feel healthier and happier.

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Essential Oil Extraction Business – Plan

Table of contents, market potential of essential oil extraction business, uses of essential oils, business plan for starting an essential oil extraction business, license, permission, and registration required for essential oil extraction business, list of profitable essential oil extraction business ideas, investment required to start an essential oil extraction business, profit in essential oil extraction business in india, how to sell your essential oils, conclusion of starting an essential oil extraction business in india.

Essential Oil Extraction Business, plan, ideas to earn huge profits in India

Introduction

Essential oils have an unlimited market globally. Additionally, the demand is growing very fast. Essential oils guarantee lucrative margins. Therefore, opening an essential oil extraction business is a profitable venture for the businesspersons. Here in this blog, we brief a list of chosen 10 essential oil extraction business ideas for your feasibility.

A step-by-step guide, plan to start an Essential Oil Extraction Business in India for profit

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According to the market professionals, the essential oils market is about to attain USD 13.94 billion by 2024. Consumer interest is rising very rapidly. And there are several factors behind it. Increasing awareness and inclination to purchase organic and natural products are major factors contributing to the growth of the essential oils industry. Additionally, the changing of focus from synthetic to natural products is even driving the market growth.

Apart from the domestic requirements, the products get a great industrial demand also. Cosmetics, food and beverages industries, pharmaceuticals, etc. are the major clients of different essential oils. Numerous other gainful product characteristics such as antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, aphrodisiac, diuretic, antidepressant, antispasmodic, and tonic are expected to lift essential oil need in industrial, medicinal, and domestic uses.

• Commercial essential oils extraction needs a strategic economic and marketing plan. You must focus on production, marketing, distribution, and sales promotion.
• Secondly, it is important to do market analysis at the beginning. Identify the local requirement for the specific essential oils. Also, recognize the basis of raw materials.
• Essential oils extraction is a capital-intensive business. So, it is recommended to start the business by availing loan from bank or lending money other financial institutions.
• Check your state’s legal guidelines carefully. Obtain the mandatory licenses and permissions from the concerned authority. Moreover, detect the upcoming tax liabilities.
• Begin the essential oils manufacturing plant judiciously. If you have an extra area, you can begin the business from home.
• Prudently select the machinery. Procure the appropriate machinery according to the required production output and standard.
• Investment, transportation, and labor concerns (cost and availability) drive the essential oils production industry. Therefore, properly calculate the break-even and predicted ROI.
• Finally, get the manufacturing technology from reliable places. Generally, Government Research centers provide manufacturing technology in return for some costs.

For starting a essential oil production unit, you should get several license and registration approvals from different government organizations.

• Primarily, you must define the management design of your organization. And then as per the design, register your business.
• Firstly, apply for MSME Udyog Aadhaar which is available as online registration.
• Then, the important trade license from the local municipality should be applied.
• The business comes under the food Industry category and requests consent from FSSAI which is also done online.
• Nowadays it is a must to apply for GST registration.
• Try to create a current account in any of the nearby banks.
• Then it is important to apply for the BIS certification. The product must also conform to the PFA Act, guidelines
• Moreover, it is essential to check the tax liabilities as well for this business.
• AGMARK certification
• Fire license
• Labor Laws such as the following: ESIC, EPFO, etc.  
• CLU – for land
• Electricity Bills
• FSSAI: The Food Standards and Safety Rules, 2011, and rules made under IS 544: 1968 permit the inclusion of antioxidants in essential oil for an increased shelf life of the oil. However, under the scheme of labeling of environment-friendly products, the occurrence of antioxidants in a prescribed limit is a need as per notification of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. These are the basic license and certification requisites. Check out the same with your local DIC authority about any other needful formalities.

1. Basil ( Ocimum basilicum )

Basil is found to be a very high-value essential oil. This is having huge demand from the beginning. Also, the demand is growing. Generally, people use the oil for several purposes such as it relieves the sore muscles and joints, helps with clear breathing, and acts as a cooling agent for the skin.

Moreover, it encourages mental alertness and reduces anxious feelings. Basil oil has high economic value due to the presence of specific constituents such as estragol, linalool, lineol, limonene, eugenol, methyl cinamato, and geraniol.

2. Chamomile ( Matricaria chamomilla )

The chamomile oil is produced from the flowers of the Camomile plant. It is very prevalent as a flowering plant. Commonly, chamomile oils are having several advantages in skin care and personal care. The oil is perfect for acne and eczema. Moreover, it makes the skin young, conditioned, and blemish-free.

Also, the oil is recommended for hair care as well. Therefore, oil has a growing demand in the beauty and personal care sectors.

3. Clove ( Eugenia caryophyllata )

You can produce clove oil using flowers, flower stalks, and third leaf. The most economical segment is an extract of the leaves. The main constituent of clove oil are terpenes and their derivatives.

This is a significant component in industrial materials such as perfumes, pharmaceuticals, flavors, paints, plastics, etc. Commonly, the distillation process is done to get clove oil.

4. Eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus globulus )

Eucalyptus oils are clear liquids with aromas exclusive of the particular species from which they are obtained. Like other essential oils, they are mixtures of organic compounds (particularly terpenes).

Generally, the composition of the oil is because of genetic aspects rather than environmental factors. You can begin this business with moderate investment.

5. Lavender ( Lavandula angustifolia )

Distillation is the best method to produce lavender essential oil. Lavender is a small, aromatic shrub used for fragrance, particularly in food, and alternative medicine factories. More than 30 diverse lavender oils and blends are traded in the world. For producing lavender oil commercially, you must perform a steam distillation process.

6. Lemon Oil ( Citrus limon )

Lemongrass oil is a significant essential oil. As the demand for aromatic cosmetics is growing, the need for this oil is also raising. Lemongrass oil has a strong lemon-like scent due to its high citral content of approximately 75-90%. The minimum commercial requirement of citric acid is about 70%.

The major quality checking step is to know the citral content and its solubility in alcohol. This is an essential component in toiletry merchandises such as toilet soaps, bath salts, etc.

7. Orange Oil

Orange oil emerged as the major item and accounted for 29.4% of total market volume during 2015. It is also anticipated to observe the highest growth rate over the coming years. Increasing orange oil demand in food & beverages, personal care, and cleaning agents is expected to foster the segment growth. You can extract orange oil from cells within the orange rind.

8. Peppermint ( Mentha piperita )

Generally, you can produce mint oil by chilling mint oil and next performing centrifugation to separate the menthol crystals. The process may be separated into two stages.

Firstly, you have to produce menthol flakes by chilling mint oil. And next, you must mix the menthol flakes using mint oil again chilled to get bold crystals of menthol. The food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical businesses are the top clients of this product.

9. Rosemary ( Rosmarinus officinalis )

Rosemary has a woody, evergreen smell and is classified under the mint family. Generally, this oil boosts memory, soothes digestive uses, and releases muscle aches and pains. The world consumption and thus the requirement of rosemary essential oils and perfumes are growing rapidly. However, the production technology is an essential component to develop the overall yield and standard of essential oil.

10. Sandalwood ( Santalum album )

Water or hydro-distillation is the old-style for extracting sandalwood essential oil. Instead of steam passing through the powdered wood, here, the powdered wood is submerged in water to soak.

India stood as one of the largest sandalwood oil producers in the world previously. Even China and Australia were in close competition for producing sandalwood oil globally. The cosmetics and perfumery industries are the major clients of sandalwood essential oil.

To initiate the Essential Oil Extraction business, you need to arrange the finance from Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakhs.

The Essential Oil Extraction machine price ranges from Rs. 80,000 to Rs. 2,00,000 depending upon the capacity.

The raw materials cost is Rs. 1 lakh.

So, the total amount required to start Essential Oil is Rs. 2 lakhs if you plan it on a smaller scale.

You can earn good profits in Essential Oil making business. You can make 35 to 40% of profits in Essential Oil Extraction business, after deducting the total expenses from the capital amount. Then the leftover amount will be your profit, so you need to minimize the expenses incurred accordingly. You can also plan for used machines so that it will reduce your fixed capital investment.

In case if you miss this: How To Start Frozen Food Busienss In India .

You can sell your Essential Oil in local markets or you can even sell in the online stores. You can also register in B2B websites and B2C websites in online markets to promote Essential Oil products.

You can also sell your products in supermarkets, small stores in shopping malls, etc. Advertise about your product through social media to get a huge number of clients in this way you can increase and promote your business. There are very limited Essential Oil manufacturers in India, but the demand for encouraging the new product is also high because of its medicinal properties. So, you need not worry about the market. You can sell your product based on the Essential Oil wholesale price in India.

Essential oils have a perfectly soothing and calming effect on the nervous system and are also advantageous in blood circulation stimulation. Asia Pacific essential oil market is anticipated to grow at a projected CAGR of 9.0% from 2016 to 2024 to appear as the fastest developing regional market.

Dear experts, we are interested to establish a project plant to process cotton cooking oil from the cotton seeds available here in Tanzania. I am interested and excited by your technology and experience in the different project world wide. Please am looking for the following: 1. Technology and business plan. 2. Source of Investment capital that can help us to establish the business.

I am planning to start essentail oils Business. Planning to sell oil on small bottles by 10 ML, 2O ML and more. Kindly help me how to start it.

I’m also interested in this business.how can we contact to each other?

im also interested . there are no guaranteed pure oils in india , wanted to create a brand that assures quality and affordability as well.

I want to start essential oil extraction plant How you can help me

Very useful information to strtup india mission Thanks a lot 🙏

verry needful information ..thank you.. I m from sri lanka . Looking for start my own essential oil business .. Cinnamon . black Pepar . Lemon . Or orange

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Home > Books > Essential Oils - Recent Advances, New Perspectives and Applications

Essential Oil Extraction Process

Submitted: 28 August 2023 Reviewed: 28 September 2023 Published: 06 December 2023

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.113311

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Essential Oils - Recent Advances, New Perspectives and Applications

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Essential oils can be extracted using various methods. Process choice significantly impacts yield and quality, leading to the development of processes aiming for maximum essential oil (EO) yields in a chemical state close to their native structure. In this chapter, various extraction techniques, including conventional ones and their intensification, are discussed along with their respective pros and cons. Additionally, new eco-friendly extraction methods have been introduced to enhance the conventional production of essential oils. The most traditional, straightforward, and widely utilized extraction techniques are hydrodistillation and steam extraction. In actuality, steam extraction techniques are used to extract 93% of all essential oils. Other common extraction techniques include enfleurage (particularly used with roses), cold pressing (just for citrus peel), and organic solvent extraction. The low yield, loss of volatile chemicals, lengthy extraction durations, and hazardous solvent residues of these procedures are its drawbacks. Microwave-assisted extraction and supercritical fluid extraction are two of the latest essential oil extraction techniques that have received considerable interest.

• essential oils
• hydrodistillation
• steam extraction
• microwave-assisted extraction
• supercritical fluid extraction

Author Information

Zoubeida souiy *.

• Biochemistry Laboratory, LR12ES05 “Nutrition-Functional Foods and Vascular Health”, Faculty of Medicine, University of Monastir, Tunisia
• Higher Institute of Technology Studies ISET (Ksar Hellal), Tunisia

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Essential oil (EO) is a secondary metabolite synthesized by medicinal and aromatic plants. It represents less than 5% of the total plant composition. Over 3000 types of EO have been identified, but only 300 were found to be economical [ 1 , 2 ].

EO is volatile, generally colorless, and liquid at room temperature. It is highly soluble in organic solvents, alcohol, and fixed oils but sparingly soluble in water. It has very high optical activity, a variable refractive index, and sometimes a distinctive taste. In addition, essential oils have a characteristic odor, that is responsible for the fragrance specific to the aromatic plant. Chemically, EO components can be divided into terpene compounds and aromatic compounds. It is a mixture of bi-active chemical components such as terpenoids, terpenes, and phenolic compounds. They are made up of terpene compounds, acids, alcohols, esters, aldehydes, ketone epoxides, sulfides, and amines [ 3 , 4 ].

They are synthesized by the majority of plant organs, in particular flowers, buds, leaves, seeds, stems, and fruits. These EOs can be stored in epidermal cells, cavities, and the secretory cells of glandular trichomes.

EOs are known for their biological activity, notably their antioxidant, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiparasitic, antimycotic, and insecticidal properties [ 5 , 6 ].

Several extraction techniques are used; Hydrodistillation and steam extraction are the oldest, simplest, and most commonly used methods. Other extraction methods can also be used: cold pressing, especially applied to rose.

The EO extraction method generally depends on the botanical material used. It is one of the main factors determining EO quality. An inappropriate extraction procedure can damage or alter the chemical composition of EO. This results in a loss of bio-activity and natural characteristics. In the most serious cases, this is accompanied by discoloration, an unpleasant odor or flavor, and physical changes such as increased viscosity [ 7 ].

The principle of EO extraction is relatively straightforward. However, the process chosen can have a significant effect on the yield and quality of the distillate obtained [ 8 ]. Various processes have therefore been developed to obtain maximum yields of EO with a chemical state as close as possible to their native structure.

According to the European Pharmacopeia, an essential oil can be obtained by steam distillation, distillation, or a mechanical process. Other processes include supercritical CO 2 extraction, volatile organic solvent extraction, microwave extraction, and ultrasonic extraction. The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of the various extraction methods.

2. Location and yield of essential oil

Plants have the natural ability to produce volatile compounds in trace amounts. However, only a small percentage of plant species, around 10%, are considered “aromatic”. This property of accumulating essential oils is found in specific plant families distributed throughout the plant kingdom, including Pinacea (pine and fir), Cupressaceae (cedarwood), and angiosperms. The most significant families are dicotyledons such as Asteracea (chamomile), Apiaceae (coriander), Geraniaceae (geranium), Lamiaceae (mint), Illiciaceae (anise), Lauraceae (cinnamon), Rosacea (rose), Sandatalacea (sandalwood), Myrtaceae (eucalyptus), Myristicaceae (walnut), Oleacea (jasmine), and Rutacea (lemon). Monocotyledons are mainly represented by the families Zingiberaceae (ginger), and Poacea (vetiver) [ 9 , 10 ].

EOs are natural secretions produced by cells and found in plant parts such as flowers (rose), leaves (lemongrass), flowering tops (lavender), bark (cinnamon), roots (iris), bulbs (garlic), fruits (vanilla), seeds (nutmeg), or rhizomes (ginger). Essential oils are extracted from specific parts of plants, such as sage or lavender. The most concentrated or secretory parts of the plant are harvested at the optimum yield period, which varies depending on the plant. For example, mints are harvested before flowering, lavenders during flowering, and seed plants after flowering or after morning dew for fragile flowers. It is important to note that plant growth conditions can also affect yield and essential oil content. The collection period and drying methods can also impact the yield. Therefore, it is crucial to choose the right harvesting time and drying and extraction methods to obtain the maximum yield and quality of essential oils [ 8 ].

This text reviews both traditional and “green” extraction techniques, comparing their performance with conventional methods and emphasizing the benefits of “green” technology in plant extraction research.

3. Conventional extraction methods

Conventional extraction methods can have some drawbacks, such as the degradation of unsaturated compounds and loss of certain components. It is great to hear that there are ongoing efforts to improve and optimize extraction techniques and that these techniques are carefully chosen based on the plant organ and desired product quality. It is also important to note that the analytical composition of EOs can vary depending on the extraction technique used and that factors such as distillation duration, temperature, operating pressure, and raw plant material quality can all influence EO yield [ 11 ].

3.1 Steam extraction

Steam extraction ( Figure 1 ) is a widely used and official method for extracting essential oils from plants. This method accounts for 93% of essential oil extractions and can take anywhere from 1 to 10 hours depending on factors such as extraction time, temperature, pressure, and type of material [ 12 ].

A schematic representation of steam extraction of essential oils.

In this extraction system, plant material is exposed to a stream of steam without prior maceration. The heat applied breaks down the cells of the plant material, releasing the essential oil. The steam, saturated with volatile compounds, is then condensed, and the essential oil is recovered by decanting the water/oil mixture [ 13 , 14 ].

One of the advantages of steam extraction is that the absence of direct contact between water and plant material, and then between water and aromatic molecules, prevents hydrolysis or degradation of essential oil [ 15 ]. The “head” fractions, which contain the most volatile molecules, can be collected in as little as half an hour, with 95% of the volatile molecules being collected [ 16 ].

The technique works by ensuring that the combined vapor pressure equals the ambient pressure at about 100°C, allowing volatile components with boiling points ranging from 150 to 300°C to be evaporated at a temperature close to that of water. It is also interesting to note that this technique can be carried out under pressure depending on the extraction difficulty of the EOs [ 17 ].

3.2 Hydrodistillation

Hydrodistillation (HD) ( Figure 2 ) is a standard EO extraction method. It enables the extraction of water-insoluble natural products with a high boiling point. The process involves complete immersion of the plant material in water, followed by boiling. This operation is generally carried out under atmospheric pressure. The steam formed is condensed by the refrigeration system at a water flow rate.

A schematic representation of hydrodistillation of essential oils.

This method protects the extracted oils from overheating. The advantage of this technique is that the required material can be distilled at temperatures below 100°C.

Distillation may seem like a simple process for extracting essential oils, but it comes with several drawbacks. In developed countries, its use has become outdated due to the overheating of plant material and the production of burned-smelling oils. However, this method is still effective for powders and hard materials. It is important to note that exposure to boiling water for extended periods can cause weathering reactions and hydrolysis of esters into alcohols and acids, which can have serious consequences for oils with high ester levels. Rectification is often necessary to remove unwanted impurities or constituents responsible for unacceptable odor. Distillation time varies depending on the type of plant material, with woody plant organs requiring longer distillation times than herbaceous plants [ 18 ].

3.3 Hydrodiffusion

Hydrodiffusion is another method conventional method for extracting essential oils from plant materials. It involves the use of steam and water to extract the oils. The plant material is placed on a grid above water in a distillation vessel, and steam is injected into the bottom of the vessel. The steam then passes through the plant material, carrying the essential oils with it. The steam and oil mixture then condenses on a cooled surface, with the oil and water separating into two layers. This method is particularly useful for extracting essential oils from delicate plant materials, as it uses lower temperatures and less pressure than other methods [ 19 , 20 ].

3.4 Cold pressing

One of the oldest extraction methods for essential oils from citrus peels such as lemon, orange, bergamot, and grapefruit is cold pressing. This technique mechanically tears the peels by simply pressing them to extract the volatile essences contained in the citrus pericarps. Until the early twentieth century, cold-pressed citrus oils were produced manually. The process produces an aqueous emulsion, which is then centrifuged to separate the essential oil. This method is preferred for citrus peel essential oil extraction because it avoids thermal alteration of the aldehydes. This process results in the production of an aqueous emulsion, which is then centrifuged to separate the EO [ 21 ].

3.5 Enfleurage

Enfleurage is another conventional extraction method that dates back to antiquity. It is based on the affinity of fragrances for fats, and concerns plants that retain their fragrance after being picked (such as jasmine or tuberose). The flowers are spread out on frames coated with odorless grease. The flowers’ fragrance is absorbed by the grease until saturation. The flowers are changed regularly (e.g., every 24 hours for jasmine). When the fat is saturated by the flowers, the operation is complete. Saturation can last up to a month. The resulting pomade is then melted. After decanting, the mixture is cold-treated with alcohol. The alcohol draws out the fragrance on its own, without taking on the fats. This extraction technique is virtually dying out due to its high cost, and the extracted oils have no applications in the food industry [ 14 , 22 , 23 ].

3.6 Organic solvent extraction

Solvent extraction is commonly employed to extract EOs that exhibit thermal labile properties, such as those extracted from flowers. The plant material is placed in a solvent bath. Successive washings charge the solvent with aromatic molecules. After separation by filtration, the emulsion is distilled to extract the EO.

Solvent extraction has been used for fragile or delicate floral materials, which cannot withstand the temperature of distillation. Various solvents, including hexane, acetone, petroleum ether, ethanol, or methanol, can be used for extraction [ 7 ].

Solvent extraction is relatively fast and inexpensive. The chosen solvent must be permissible, inert, and stable to heat, light, or oxygen. Its boiling temperature should preferably be low to facilitate elimination.

The produced EO contains a small amount of solvent residue, making it unsuitable for food applications. However, if alcohol is used as the solvent, it is considered “food-grade” and safe for consumption. This method is commonly used in the perfume industry [ 24 ].

In practice, the solvent is mixed with the plant material, heated to extract the EO, and then filtered. The filtrate is then concentrated through solvent evaporation. It is later mixed with pure alcohol to extract the oil and distilled at low temperature.

However, this method is relatively time-consuming, making the oils more expensive than other methods. Additionally, solvent residues in the final product can cause allergies, toxicity, and affect the immune system [ 25 ].

The limited use of this extraction method is justified by its cost, toxicity and safety issues, and environmental protection regulations. However, HE yields are generally higher than with distillation. What is more, this technique avoids the hydrolyzing action of water vapor.

4. New “green” extraction methods

4.1 microwave-assisted extraction.

Since 1986, microwave energy has been widely used in chemistry laboratories. Researchers have studied the potential of this unconventional energy source for synthetic, analytical, and processing applications. Currently, there are over 3000 articles documenting the use of dielectric heating in synthesis and over 1000 articles documenting its use in extraction.

Microwave-assisted extraction is a revolutionary technology that has garnered a lot of interest. It has a distinctive friction-based heating mechanism. It is inexpensive, and performs well under atmospheric conditions.

Microwave-assisted extraction achieves higher extraction yields, shorter extraction times, and improved selectivity as compared to traditional extraction techniques. This process is also less complicated and expensive than supercritical fluid extraction. However, it usually requires for more organic solvent, which makes it less environmentally friendly [ 26 ].

Recent methods of microwave-assisted extraction include microwave-assisted vacuum hydrodistillation, compressed air distillation, and microwave-assisted accelerated steam distillation [ 27 ].

4.1.1 Dielectric heating and fundamentals of microwave extraction

Microwave irradiation utilizes a specific electromagnetic field frequency, similar to activated photochemical reactions. The frequency range is vast, extending from 300 MHz to 300 GHz, but only certain frequencies are authorized for industrial, scientific, and medical use. These include frequencies of 0.915 and 2.45 GHz. The magnetron, found in domestic and laboratory microwave furnaces, is a typical microwave generator for such frequencies. Industrial magnetrons can reach powers of several tens of kilowatts, while laboratory devices generally have powers of less than 1 kW. Solid-state generators have recently been introduced, which narrow the microwave generator’s emission band, allowing the user to vary the system’s frequency within the range of authorized industrial, scientific, and medical frequencies. This variation can play a crucial role in chemical synthesis, particularly with regard to selectivity and efficiency. However, solid-state generators operating at 2.45 GHz typically have a power rating of 100 W, which is also frequently used in medical applications [ 28 ].

Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) is a process that removes solutes from a solid matrix into a solvent. The process involves complex phenomena such as heat transfer electromagnetic transfer, mass transfer, and momentum transfer [ 29 ].

4.1.2 Microwave solvent-assisted extraction

Microwave solvent-assisted extraction ( Figure 3 ) have revolutionized the field of bioactive compound extraction. This technique has significantly reduced extraction times, minimized organic solvent consumption, and resulted in energy and cost savings [ 30 ].

Experimental set-up for microwave solvent-assisted extraction.

Moreover, microwave solvent-assisted extraction is an environmentally friendly and sustainable method that contributes to the development of “green” procedures.

A new and efficient method for extracting essential oils from Angelica sinensis root has been developed using a microwave-assisted deep eutectic natural solvent (NADES). The study found that NADES based on choline chloride and citric acid were more effective in extracting essential oils [ 31 ].

4.1.3 Compressed air microwave distillation (CAMD)

This method ( Figure 4 ) uses the principle of steam entrainment, with compressed air instead of steam, to extract the essential oil. The extraction process consists of a compressor, a microwave oven and a refrigeration system. Compressed air is injected into the reactor, where the matrix is heated by microwaves and immersed in water. The steam, saturated with volatile molecules, is directed to a recovery container located outside the microwave oven and cooled by a refrigeration system. In just a few minutes, the water and aromatic molecules are condensed and recovered [ 30 , 32 ].

A schematic representation compressed air microwave distillation.

A similar method using a condenser to cool the extraction gas (temperatures ranging from −20 to −15°C) has also been patented [ 33 ]. This extraction method is environmentally friendly, as no organic solvents or artificial chemical compounds are added.

4.1.4 Microwave hydrodistillation (MWHD)

The MWHD ( Figure 5 ) was developed by Stashenko et al., in 2004. It is based on the classic hydrodistillation principle. The process consists of a hydrodistillation unit placed inside a domestic microwave oven with a side port, through which an external glass condenser is connected to the round filter containing the matrix and water [ 34 ].

Microwave hydrodistillation.

Microwave hydrodistillation is a widely used technique for extracting essential oils from various aromatic plants and spices, with examples such as Thymus vulgaris L., Zataria multiflora Boiss., and Satureja montana .

An improved version of this technique was developed in 2007, which involves introducing a microwave coaxial antenna insulated inside a glass flask containing the matrix and water [ 35 ]. This in situ microwave heating offers advantages in terms of time and energy savings and can be useful for industrial applications.

Microwave Steam Distillation (MSD) ( Figure 6 ) is another innovative technique that was developed. It is based on the conventional steam distillation principle and has been successfully used for the extraction of essential oil from Lavender flowers [ 30 ].

Microwave steam distillation (MSD).

4.1.5 Solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME)

This is one of the most recent techniques for the microwave-assisted extraction of essential oils, without solvents and using water at atmospheric pressure. The SFME process consists mainly of four parts: a reactor where the matrix to be treated is placed, a microwave oven, a cooling system, and an essential oil container where the oil is collected ( Figure 7 ).

Improved solvent-free microwave extraction (improved SFME).

The process is based on a relatively simple principle, described as microwave-assisted dry distillation; the fresh matrix is placed in a microwave reactor without the addition of water or organic solvent. Heating the raw material with water breaks down the glands containing the essential oil. This phase releases the essential oil, which is then carried away by the steam produced by the water in the matrix. A cooling system located outside the microwave oven enables continuous condensation of the distillate, composed of water and essential oil, and the return of excess water to the bottle, thus maintaining the appropriate moisture content of the matrix. For example, Milestone’s “DryDist” laboratory microwave oven makes it easy and efficient to extract high-quality essential oils.

Wang et al. in 2006 proposed an improved SFME extraction method. The method is based on the addition and mixing of carbonylated iron powder with the dry matrix. Spherical particles of carbonylated iron are capable of absorbing part of the energy emitted by microwaves and returning it to the medium in the form of heat. In this way, the matrix can be heated by simple conduction without any auxiliary energy. Various types of materials such as activated carbon, graphite powders, and ionic liquid (1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate) can absorb microwave radiation [ 36 ].

4.1.6 Microwave hydrodiffusion and gravity (MHG)

The Microwave Hydrodiffusion and Gravity (MHG) process was invented by a team of researchers led by Dr. Farid Chemat at the University of Avignon in France [ 37 ]. The team developed the MHG process as an alternative to traditional methods of essential oil extraction, which can be time-consuming and require large amounts of energy. The MHG process was first introduced in 2004 and has since gained popularity in the essential oil industry due to its efficiency and effectiveness.

Preparation: The plant material, such as herbs or flowers, is first cleaned and dried to remove any impurities.

Loading: The dried plant material is placed in a vessel that is suitable for microwave heating, such as a glass container or a microwave-safe bag.

Microwave Heating: The vessel containing the plant material is exposed to microwave radiation. The microwaves generate heat, causing the essential oil compounds within the plant material to vaporize.

Hydrodiffusion: As the plant material is heated, water molecules present in the plant cells also vaporize. This creates a hydrodiffusion effect, where the vaporized water carries the essential oil compounds with it.

Condensation: The vapor containing the essential oil compounds and water is then cooled down, causing it to condense. The condensation occurs in a separate container or condenser unit.

Separation: The condensed mixture of essential oil and water is then separated. This can be done using techniques such as decantation or using a separating funnel.

Collection: The essential oil, which is lighter than water, floats on top and can be collected from the separated mixture.

Analysis and Storage: The collected essential oil can be analyzed for quality and stored in suitable containers to preserve its aroma and therapeutic properties.

4.2 Supercritical fluid extraction

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is a separation technique that utilizes supercritical fluids as the extracting solvent. A supercritical fluid is a substance that is above its critical temperature and pressure, which results in unique properties that make it an effective solvent for extraction.

The principle of SFE is based on the fact that the solubility of a substance in a supercritical fluid increases with pressure, while the density of the fluid increases with pressure and temperature. By adjusting the temperature and pressure, the solubility of the substance can be controlled and optimized for extraction.

In SFE, the supercritical fluid is pumped into a vessel containing the sample to be extracted. As the fluid passes through the sample, it dissolves the target compounds, which are then carried out of the vessel and into a collection vessel by depressurization or by lowering the temperature. The extracted compounds can then be separated from the supercritical fluid by condensation or by other means.

SFE has several advantages over traditional extraction methods, including reduced solvent use, shorter extraction times, and higher yields of target compounds.

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) can be performed in a variety of ways: batch, semi-batch, or continuous. Plant material is placed in a container and supercritical fluid is added at a specific flow rate until the appropriate extraction conditions are reached. Compared with conventional solvent extraction methods, supercritical fluid extraction offers several advantages, including a lower temperature suitable for thermosensitive compounds and a solvation power that can be controlled by modifying pressure and/or temperature, enabling high selectivity. Supercritical fluids are more effective than liquid solvents in penetrating porous materials and extracting compounds, resulting in faster extraction and a more environmentally friendly process. CO 2 and small amounts of organic solvents can be used as nontoxic fluids, and this method can be used on an industrial scale [ 38 ].

However, high pressures should be avoided when extracting essential oils to prevent the extraction of undesirable compounds.

To ensure the success of EFS, various factors need to be taken into account, such as sample type, preparation, fluid type, delivery method, and extraction conditions. CO 2 is commonly used due to its low critical temperature, cost-effectiveness, nontoxicity, absence of odor and taste, and ease of disposal. Adjusting the process conditions makes it possible to selectively extract the desired components. Compared with steam distillation, EFS has shorter extraction times, lower energy costs, and greater selectivity. The EFS method also makes it easier to manipulate oil composition by modifying extraction parameters [ 39 ].

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, there are multiple methods for extracting essential oils, and the process chosen can greatly affect the amount and quality of the oil produced. To maximize yields and maintain the natural structure of the oils, extraction processes have been developed. This chapter explores different extraction techniques, both conventional and intensified, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. It is improved that new techniques have been proven to produce higher quality extracts in a shorter time compared to traditional techniques. However, regulatory standards do not list these extracts derived from innovative techniques as essential oils due to the narrow definition of essential oils based solely on conventional extraction methods. Furthermore, new environmentally friendly methods have been introduced to improve traditional essential oil production. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly crucial to modify or re-establish industry standards to encompass a broader range of extraction techniques.

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• About Program Portfolio

Oil and Gas Extraction Program

• The Oil and Gas Extraction Program conducts research, forms partnerships, and develops and communicates practical solutions to improve safety and health in the oil and gas extraction industry.
• The Program aims to control or eliminate occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities among oil and gas extraction workers — a workforce critical to the energy infrastructure of the nation.

The mission of the Oil and Gas Extraction Program is to conduct research, work with partners, and develop and communicate workplace solutions to improve worker safety and health in the oil and gas extraction industry. The program strives to fulfill its mission through high quality research, practical solutions, partnerships, and research to practice (r2p) . Over the years, NIOSH and its partners have completed numerous research projects to address safety and health issues in the oil and gas extraction industry. Projects cut across a number of important issues including motor vehicle safety, falls, fatigue, and health hazards such as silica, hydrocarbon gases and vapors, and noise. Additional research includes topics important to safety and health in the oil and gas extraction industry including lone workers, remote worksites, working in the outdoors, and substance use/misuse.

Program priorities

The Oil and Gas Extraction Progam has selected research priorities on the basis of burden, need, and impact and collaborated with other NIOSH research programs to write the research goals in the NIOSH Strategic Plan for FYs 2019-2026 . Priority areas include (but are not limited to):

• Reduce worker fatalities, with an emphasis on motor vehicle crashes
• Characterize physical and chemical exposure hazards
• Develop and evaluate engineering controls to improve worker safety and health

What we've accomplished

In 2022-2023, the Program:

• Published an article examining work schedules, commuting time, and driving-related outcomes among OGE workers.
• Developed a video in partnership with the California Department of Public Health highlighting the Hazards, Risks, and Controls for Safer Fluid Transfers in OGE. As of June 2023, this video has been viewed 1000 times.
• Published an article describing self-reported exposure to hazards and mitigation strategies among OGE workers in Texas, Colorado, and North Dakota.
• Published an article describing the evaluation of a self-cleaning portable dust collector for reducing worker exposures to silica at hydraulic-fracturing sites.
• Published a NIOSH Science Blog providing an overview of recent trends in employment among OGE companies and the implications for worker health and safety. One noteworthy trend is an increase in Hispanic or Latino OGE workers who may face disproportionately greater health and safety risks when compared with OGE workers who are not Hispanic or Latino.
• Added the Fatalities in Oil and Gas (FOG) database to the NIOSH Worker Health Charts .

What's ahead

In the future, the Program aims to:

• Publish articles highlighting cardiac events, heat stress, and substance use in the OGE industry.
• Contribute to developing a hazard alert describing welding fume hazards and controls.
• Publish an article describing the FOG database and findings from the first six years of data.
• Host a virtual summit focused on Psychosocial Stressors in the Oilfield.
• Publish article on suicide and mental health among miners and OGE workers.
• Publish findings from a study on workers' compensation claims in the OGE industry.
• Evaluate a dust-control system for blending hoppers to reduce exposures to silica at OGE sites.

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