Good for the Spirit, Great for Business.

SINCE 2002, The Spirit Goat in Logan, Utah has been gathering the ingredients for one great--and greatly aromatic--business. With its simple beginnings in a small home kitchen and the search for a better soap for children with sensitive skin, The Spirit Goat is now happily housed in Logan's historic downtown, an area owner Deanna Outsen smilingly refers to as "quaint and a little bit eccentric," where it produces its own extensive lines of artisanal goats milk soaps, lotions, body creams, bath products, and more. When speaking with Deanna, it quickly becomes clear just how passionate she is about using quality research and development to bolster The Spirit Goat's already impressive array of natural product offerings and scent blends, as well as giving her customers the personal touch that comes from handcrafting everything.

"One thing that I love about The Spirit Goat," Deanna says, "is that we make everything from scratch. And we make it all onsite here in the kitchen, which is visible from our retail space. So when you come to visit, not only can you enjoy a relaxed shopping experience and the warm service of our knowledgeable staff, you'll also get to watch how we make everything and see the all-natural ingredients we use."

Deanna and her husband purchased The Spirit Goat from its original owner in July of 2018, but she and her family are by no means new to the business. Two of the Outsens' daughters have worked for The Spirit Goat--one formerly and one currently--and Deanna herself has been with the company for more than 10 years.

"When I took over the business, there were several things I felt we could do better--tracking our inventory, managing our employee timecards, and especially improving our point-of-sale system.

"In the olden days," Deanna says with a smile, "we had a dinosaur of a machine and card processor. And with the limited space we had and the placement of our electrical outlets, when we processed a transaction, we had to take our customer's card and turn around to run it. And I know that anytime I have to actually hand my card to someone else, it makes me a little uncomfortable--even more so when I can't see what they're doing with it. So one of the first things I wanted to do was update that system. And that's where America First has been absolutely essential. They've helped us install a new point-of-sale system, one where we never have to touch our customer's card. That might seem like a small thing, but it's gone such...