Bug Soother Press

From: Local bug repellent company expanding overseas (KWQC – 05/20/2015)

By Dan Howell

COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa (KWQC) – Summer weather is on the way, we’ve even had a taste of it this month, but as temperatures warm up and this wet weather stays, you can expect to see a lot more bugs.

A local business that specializes in controlling these pesky pests is expanding, sharing its recipe with a company abroad.

“We’ve grown tremendously,” co-owner and CEO for Bug Soother, Freda Sojka said. “We’ve gone from hand pumping it into bottles to, right now, they can do about 16,000 bottles in a shift.”

The Simply Soothing Company has been keeping busy since last year, producing Bug Soother, an all natural repellent safe for humans and pets.

Sojka said they are working now to ship the product to Panama and Colombia after a trade mission in February, and working to produce it in new locations thanks to a trip last month.

“In 2013 we got a call from a guy by the name of Willy Peatree from Scotland who was interested in getting the product overseas,” Sojka said. “So we’ve been working with him the past couple years. We were able to go over there a month ago and we actually saw him make the product and we started selling it.”

Last year, the product was so popular locally, the company actually ran out and had to play catch up the rest of the season.

The CEO says they are working to make sure there is enough supply to go around this year… Read more →

From: Their tour ended Simply enough: Governor, Lt. Governor wrap up 99-county tour in Columbus Junction (Muscatine Journal – 08/28/2014)

August 28, 2014 8:30 pm  •  By Jason Liegois

COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa — A locally founded and owned business was the last stop on the statewide tour of Iowa’s chief executive Thursday afternoon.

The business, Simply Soothing, hosted Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, who toured the company’s manufacturing, warehouse, and retail facilities in downtown Columbus Junction.

The city was the last stop on Branstad and Reynolds’ annual tour of all 99 counties in Iowa. This is the fourth year that they have completed the full tour, according to Branstad’s office.

“I’d like to say we saved the best for last,” Branstad said to a group of more than 20 Simply Soothing staff and community members.

Part of the statewide tour has involved visiting Iowa-based businesses, most recently West Liberty Foods, Riverside Plastics in Bonaparte, and Kness Manufacturing in Albion, which makes mousetraps.

“What we’re looking at is, how can we help your business grow?” Branstad said.

Simply Soothing is a family-owned business run by Freda and Jim Sojka of Columbus Junction. Freda began the business in 2004, but it really started to take off four years later, when Freda developed the company’s best-known product, Bug Soother. An-all natural gnat and bug repellant, it has proven to be a very popular local product selling a quarter-million bottles from 3,000 retail locations in 2013 alone. The company also sells other cleaning and skin-care items.

As they toured the facilities, Jim Sojka told Branstad and Reynolds about how they were surprised at the growth of the business, even as they attempted to get ready for more demand this year.

“After Memorial Day…” Sojka said.

“It really takes off?” Branstad said.

“It was deja vu all over again [from last year],” Sojka replied.

They also discussed how groups such as the Cedar Rapids-based Entrepreneurial Development Center, state agencies, and other groups have been a big benefit to helping grow and expand Simply Soothing. Branstad touted the efforts of those groups, as well as his administration’s efforts to lower property and corporate taxes.

“It’s just such an entrepreneurial ecosystem flourishing in this state,” Reynolds said.

The company is continuing to search for more markets overseas as well, which might be able to open up other opportunities for Simply Soothing. When Freda Sojka mentioned that much of the company’s Bug Soother business is seasonal in nature, Branstad noted that might change if efforts to get into the Central and South American markets pay off… Read more →

From: Created in the Corridor: Simply Soothing / Bug Soother (Created in the Corridor: Scott Sanborn show – 12/30/2013)

From: Entrepreneurs share successes, mistakes (Corridor Business – 12/09/2013)

…Bug Soother is a Columbus Junction based, family-owned small business that produces an all natural bug repellant that smells appealing but bugs hate. The insect repellent is packaged in a green spray bottle and is made from lemongrass oil, vanilla, castor oil, lemon and other ingredients.

“We try to make a really quality product. We want to give people value for their money. We were pretty surprised by the response this year,” Ms. Sojka said. “It’s important to us that we’re a small family business and we market ourselves that way.”

Ms. Sojka started making the repellent in 2005 in her kitchen.

“It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s a lot more hours than I worked at my other job,” she said, noting that she left a job at Monsanto she held for 23 years to start the company.

Her company began as a store where people could create lotions and other products by selecting a scent.

“I opened it up and found out that people did not want to do that in rural Iowa,” she said. “But I knew I enjoyed creating products.”

BVS offers online services to the financial industry. Mr. Karon said the company initially started offering video production, but he saw a niche in banking.

“Do something you are passionate about, don’t do it for the money. If you do it for the money, you’ll end up like the tech bubble,” Mr. Karon said. “If you do it for passion you will be successful. If you do it only for money, you will be more likely to fail.”… Read more →

 
Interested in learning more about Simply Soothing, the makers of Bug Soother, the DEET free insect repellent?

See how our products are made, and meet the creators and makers of Bug Soother!

From: Bug Soother insect repellent an overnight sensation (CBJ – 07/01/2013)

Call it a super-gnatural success.

Freda Sojka’s natural bug repellent that she developed for her then  5-month-old grandson has exploded – almost overnight – into a double-shift industry in Columbus Junction.

“I wanted to make it safe for kids,” Sojka, 61, said of Bug Soother, the insect repellent that stores in the Corridor and beyond are having trouble keeping on the shelves.

Packaged in a green spray bottle, the product is made from Sojka’s secret formula that combines lemongrass oil, vanilla, castor oil, lemon and… Read more →