Balancing school, work, extracurriculars and a business all at once doesn’t sound easy, but senior Bailey Anderson makes it work. Anderson owns and operates a cosmetics business through which he sells soaps, bath bombs and other products.

Bailey started his business, Bakery Blues Cosmetics, near the end of his sophomore year. He received some monetary support from his parents, but most of his funds came from money he saved up from doing other work. Using those funds, Bailey was able to create his own logo, website and business cards.

“I’ve always been really interested in how things work,” Bailey said. “One day, I was sitting there and thought ‘I wonder how soap is made’ because it’s this weird chemical that suds and cleans you. I started researching it [and] I found a whole community of people who make cold process soap. I liked the idea of creating something so common and putting an artistic spin on it. I was never really good at art so to be able to do it with soap and make these complex designs is really refreshing and exciting.”

After establishing an online presence, Bailey set up shop at the Farmers Market of Grapevine, where he sells all-natural or more natural versions of his online products.

“My dad has his own side business and he had started selling at this farmers market and he was like, ‘You should come work here. They need soap,’” Bailey said. “[My products are] creative. I’ll make weird scent blends like peaches and cream lotion. I’m always looking for new ways to make it exciting and interesting.”

 Bailey tried other hobbies before he settled on this business.

“A couple of years ago he wanted to learn how to decorate cakes,” Bailey’s dad Jay Anderson said. “We took a cake decorating class. We spent hours making frosting, and making cakes and going from hideous to actually really pretty cakes. He tries until he gets it right. [I admire] his willingness to dig really deep. He has no problem about trying and messing up.”

Although he juggles work, school, theater and his business, Bailey manages to keep his customers happy. One of his regulars and the mom of one of his friends, Dora Hilburn, has been buying from Bailey after bidding on some of his products at a silent auction.

“I was so happy when I got home [with the products] and I loved [them],” Hilburn said. “He had his little business card in there and I pulled it up online and I saw that he had other products for sale that weren’t in the basket. I think that it’s great that he’s got that entrepreneurial spirit. I really do [think he handles the business well]. I think that he’s a kid who’s going to go far in life because he sees what he wants and he goes after it.”

According to Bailey, since he’s trained to survive without much sleep, there are days he stays up until 2 a.m. making soap in his kitchen. He also spends any free time making multiple batches of soap. After taking the soaps out of their molds, Bailey packages each one by hand before shipping them.

“Thanks to cottage industry laws, I can legally do this,” Bailey said. “In my room I have shelves full of products and ingredients. It’s been a really interesting experience because I’ve learned so many aspects that people usually don’t learn until later in life. I’m learning money management, I’m learning how taxes work because I have to pay sales tax on all my products. I’m learning marketing, advertising, packaging [and] production. I’m learning every step of the process and so I feel like I am more prepared than a lot of people to go into the real world and start my own thing.”

Bailey plans to go to college, possibly the University of Oklahoma, and pursue chemical engineering before interning for a cosmetic company.

“I see this as the rest of my life,” Bailey said. “I know in college it’s going to get difficult because I’ll be away from home, but OU is luckily close enough that I can come home on the weekends to make things. I’m going to keep up both my website and the Grapevine store and hopefully expand.”