Cape Coral entrepreneur Kim Meier is enjoying the proverbial smell of success. And much of it comes from lavender, patchouli, sandalwood and other essential oils she sells from her year-old body and bath shop called The Soap Opera.

"Business has been good," says Meier. "We had a really good Christmas season and we've seen very steady growth."

The notion to start the business grew largely out of her own experience using essential oils for the daily stress Meier encountered in her other job as a mortgage broker. She notes that essential oils have, for ages, been used to ward off bodily discomforts, including muscle soreness, headaches and cold symptoms. She's also a big believer in aromatherapy.

When a 350-square-foot storefront space became vacant a few years ago, next to her mortgage office in the Big John's shopping center on Cape Coral Parkway, she decided to open the body and bath shop there. Starting the business proved to be the hardest part. She had to buy inventory, install cabinets and "make it as good I could make it look," she says. Meier stocks a variety of unscented products, such as lotions, body wash and shampoos, and then infuses the scents according to customers' wants and needs.

Another challenge is educating clients about her products and the therapeutic help they can offer. "There's a learning curve to understanding what aromatherapy is," she says. Meier and her assistant, Aimee Ruppel, attend classes to learn more about aromatherapy, and then pass that knowledge on to patrons.

Like many new businesses, The Soap Opera is working toward profitability. Besides, Meier still has her day job with IDL Mortgage, owned by Ivanhoe Financial in Orlando. She's been in mortgage lending for more than 20 years and doesn't intend to stop. If a customer comes to The Soap Opera, she or Ruppel, who also works at their IDL branch lending office next door, can pop right over to help.

"I want to let it develop to see what direction it will go in," says Meier of her new venture. To hasten the sweet smell of success, she's working on a Web site and plans to start offering aromatherapy classes. But "it's really good to have a real job" when starting out, she adds.