Hi Everyone! We are Jocassee Trading Company, owned and operated by myself, Amanda Dodge and my husband Greg Dodge. We are a small, local, business with big dreams that is located near the shores of Lake Jocassee in Salem, South Carolina.
We started Jocassee Trading CO to be able to sell our handcrafted HEALING BODY BALMS. Seven years ago our son Jack was born. While I was pregnant with Jack I went on a hunt for the "BEST" baby diaper rash/skin/everything cream. I wanted organic and all natural. I also wanted it to be EFFECTIVE! Throughout my journey to find the ultimate baby cream, I kept saying to myself "Gosh, I can make this!" And so I did.
I began my research to find the best, safe, and most effective ingredients for our "Baby Bum Bum Cream" as we originally called it! So when Jack was born we started using it right away. We used it during every diaper change and he NEVER got a diaper rash! We were so impressed on how well it actually worked! It worked so well we started using it on EVERYTHING; baby acne, cradle cap, and other little skin irritations that popped up. Then 2 1/2 years later our Daughter Elle was born and same thing...we used it during every diaper change and she also NEVER got diaper rash! I started making it for my friends and family and to this day everyone loves it!
As I made our HEALING BABY BALM for my friends and family, they would always say to me "Amanda, you need to sell this, it works so well!" And my response would always be...."I don't have time for that!!"
When Jack and Elle were born I was a behavior therapist that worked with children with Autism. Don't get me wrong, I loved working with the children as a behavior therapist, but the job did not allow me to have enough time with my family. I was overwhelmed and overworked. I hated rushing the kids to day care in the morning, being gone all day and getting home around 7:00pm. By that time the kids were tired, crabby, and we were all done! Not to mention they were ALWAYS sick! I would get so frustrated with not having enough time to spend as a family. I would say to myself "I did not have kids to rush them places and not spend time with them!" I knew something had to change. So 2 years ago I decided to make one of the biggest decisions I have had to make. I left my job as a behavior therapist and decided to go back to school to be a nurse when my daughter Elle started kindergarten.
Well, Elle had 2 more years before she started kindergarten. So during that 2 years I became a Nursing Specialty Tech in the Emergency Room to try and learn as much as I could about nursing. I also made the choice to work nights so I could stay home with Elle and she didn't have to go to daycare anymore. Very tiring - but worth it!!
During this time my family, urged me once again to try selling our Healing Body Balm! At this time my Dad had a spot of skin cancer on his nose removed. After that procedure he used our Healing Body Balm to help heal the spot. He reminded us of how WELL IT WORKED!!! So I thought about it again and this time, when I thought about selling our BALM I got excited, not overwhelmed, as I did in the past! So I took the plunge and started learning about how to start a small business....business is something I know/knew nothing about!
For some reason, things just worked out and fell into place. I have had major support from my family and friends. My AMAZING sister-in-law, Ali, has helped so much! She has helped me design and create all of our labels and teach me what she can about the technology aspect. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am horrible with technology. It NEVER seems to works for me. I mean to give you an idea, up until now, I had no idea how to write a blog! LOL! I had not been on social media for at least the last 6 years, and had not a clue where to start with creating a Facebook Business page or Instagram account! (Thanks cousin Aaron for creating that for me!) So I am slowly catching on!!
I have to admit...I was really nervous about selling our HEALING BODY BALMS. I knew that our friends and family loved it. And we knew how well it worked at promoting healing....but would everyone else even give it a chance???????
And to my surprise.... people love it as much as we do!!!!
The most AWESOME part to all of this is being able to HELP people! It naturally brings me joy to be able to help others so I was so happy when people started giving me feedback! My favorite is when our customers tell me..."I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING TO CLEAR UP A DIAPER RASH/RASH/ECZEMA/ETC. AND NOTHING HAS WORKED. WE TRIED YOUR HEALING BODY BALM AND IT HAS WORKED CLEAR IT UP!!"
Right now we have SIX types of HEALING BODY BALMS and 4 new ones yet to introduce! Check us out on Facebook and Instagram!!!! Thanks for reading!