Handmade Beauty Connection A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
January
10,
2005
ISSN 1530-9630 | Vol. 6, Issue 2
To subscribe, click here.
Handmade Beauty University Graduate Highlight
"I just want to say that I am so glad [HBU] is here! I hope you realize the good you do for people just by putting information
in their hands and explaining it in simple English. It helps make my goals more achievable when I understand the "scary monsters"
that come with building your own business. I try to take it one day at a time so it doesn't seem so impossible, but it helps to
be armed with knowledge!" Kenna Ramsey, IBN Member, 2004 HBU Graduate, CA
We've added a FREE business planning telenar for all who sign up
for our entire Spring 2005 semester!!
To find out how you can put the power of HBU to work for you, click here.
100% money back guarantee!!
1. IBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing IBN Members!!
2. Feature: New Year's Resolutions
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Winter Potpourri
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win some essential oil!
1. IBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing IBN Members!!
5-Year Renewing Members!
All this year, HBC will highlight members who are renewing for their 5th straight year of membership! Our 5-Year Renewing Members joined IBN in 2000 and have this week renewed their memberships for a 5th year without interruption. I am eternally grateful to all IBN members, but especially these who put their faith in IBN in the early days when there was no track record and no one was sure it would last. I'm excited to say that IBN has lasted and so have these members! Please visit their websites. Be inspired and buy something new and delicious just for you!
My Grandmother's Garden |
Janice Shepler | Tennessee
* 5-Year
Renewing Member; Perhaps
best known for the sound and helpful advice she provides on various
toiletries-making discussion groups lists (or maybe she's best known for
crafting a beautiful miniature church building out of handmade soap -- wait!
Or maybe she's best known for being able to do about 50 things at once ...),
Janice Shepler was one of IBN's first members -- and I am so pleased to say
that I have met her in person and even had chances to chat with her. My
Grandmother's Garden relies on 46 years of soap making knowledge and
experience to create and produce gently fragranced, unique, handmade bars of
soap. Custom soap making services available. While Janice doesn't have a
website, you can email her anytime. If
you have a toiletries making related question, Janice has either the answer
or she can refer you to someone who does.
Blue
Moon Herbals | Debbi Quinn | New Jersey
* 5-Year
Renewing Member;5-Year
Renewing Member; I first met
Debbi Quinn when I spoke at Ex*Tracts in New York City in 2001. She had been
a member of IBN for a year and when she introduced herself to me, her
enthusiasm radiated all around her. Debbi's smile lights up an entire room
and she cares not only about making quality products but also about the
people who buy them. Debbie makes two of my favorite handmade beauty
products, Hana Aloha perfume oil and Sea Siren Salts. You can enjoy my
reviews of both here.
You can visit Debbi's website here.
Renewing Members!
Annabella and Company |
Alicia Grosso | California
* renewing member; Aunt
Bunny's Handmade, Rabbit Moon, Bunny's Garden, Soap Artisan, Avallonia and
sk8 kleen; consulting and classes
available in Los Angeles, CA
Nubian Body Sensations |
Maxine Glover | New York
* renewing member; soaps,
lotions, butters, salts, gels, and a men's line
New Members!
B-girl Aromatherapy | Cathryn
Swan | New York
*magical blends of organic essential oils
in a jojoba oil or sweet almond base, designed to be worn on pulse points.
Fairies
Kiss Organic Soap and Skincare | Kathleen Vosburgh | Washington
* pure,
organic soaps, skincare, perfumes and mineral makeup
Inky
Loves Nature | Leesah B. Scott | New Jersey
* handmade,
vegan, organic, botanical beauty, spa products specifically sourced from the
African continent, targeting women of African decent
Soap
by Star | Starlene Moore | Texas
* handcrafted
luxuries for the skin made with fine skin loving oils
Spoiled
Rotten Bath and Body | Kellee Taylor-Smith | California
* handmade
bath bombs, scrubs and body butters made with the highest quality oils,
salts and essential oils
Jeanine's
Hummingbird Soap Works | Jeanine Van Voorhees | New York
* handcrafted
bath and beauty products with quality ingredients
Beloved
Body Care | Robin Carty | New Jersey
*
handmade inspirational body care line
Somerset
Cosmetic Company | Karin Bombeli | Washington Learn more about our members and
their exciting activities by visiting their Web sites through
IBN's Online
Member Directory, now with 4 ways to search: (1) by
state/country; (2) by member business name; (3) by keyword search;
or (4) using our new alphabetical listings.
* everything
to make your own professional cosmetics and personal care products; handmade
cosmetics forum and free email expert assistance
2. New Year's
Resolutions
Have you made any New Year's Resolutions? Join the club! How
many millions of us set some lofty goals in January only to fail to meet them (or forget about them altogether) by spring?
I'm all too familiar with this kind of failure so this year, I'm trying something different. I'm choosing some New
Year's Intentions and I have implemented a 3-step plan for each
"resolution" to help me follow through. I hope they will help you too!
1. Set Incremental Goals, Not
A Single Big Resolutions.
When I was a little girl, I really wanted to do the splits. I was the
only one in my ballet class who could not split all the way and it really
bothered me. So one year, I made a New Year's Resolution that I would be
able to do the splits that year. I tried and tried. Every morning, the first
thing I did after getting out of bed in the morning was to get down on the floor and try to do
the splits. Today, I wonder if I would have been successful had I set
incremental goals instead of one big goal. I was still a full 6 inches away
from the floor when I finally gave up. Perhaps if I had set a goal of
getting 1
inch closer to the floor every two months, I would have made it. Instead of
looking at the mountain, might I have been successful if I had just looked
instead at the ledges on its side and counted those as progress? This year,
I have 3 resolutions and each one is broken down into several incremental
goals -- some of them to the week. I hope it works. I'll let you know.
2. Record Your Goals &
Steps To Meet Them.
Certified professional coach Cathy Townsend of Orange, California told
me that studies have shown that the world most successful people got that
way not only because they set goals, but also because they wrote them down.
Putting pen to paper somehow makes a resolution tangible, and it makes you
accountable for it. There it is, in black and white, to force you to explain
to yourself why you thought it was important enough to write down, but not
important enough to do. That's tough to swallow at the end of another year,
when you've set the same goal as last year, and failed again. (Ask me how I
know!) This year, everything is written down, and there are check marks
beside each milestone. In this way, I expect that if I do get off track, it
won't be for long. I hope it work. I'll let you know.
3. Enlist A Supportive
Accountability Partner; Be Transparent.
Find people to help you. A friend, a business colleague, a sibling, a
friend at your church, a
professional coach -- any of these people can provide you with a much needed
cheerleader when the going gets tough. Be honest and transparent with them
-- otherwise, you are wasting their time and yours I think. Keep them
posted on progress at regularly schedule, agreed upon intervals so they can
provide you with much needed encouragement and a few kicks in the pants when
you need them too.
Whatever your resolutions and goals for 2005, won't you join me in setting incremental goals, recording and tracking them and being accountable? If anyone out there is interested in checking in throughout the year and reporting back on successes at the end of 2005, email me!
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Winter Potpourri
Winter
Potpourri is a is a rich, spicy, fragrant blend most suitable for a den or library where it can be enjoyed in quiet comfort by a fire and a good book.
When you visit MakeYourCosmetics.com, it's easy to buy the ingredients you need by clicking on our Selected Supplier links:
Essential
Wholesale: pure essential oils, over 200 cosmetic bases, hundreds
of carrier/fixed oils such as meadowfoam, cranberry, jojoba and shea
butter plus a new Short Run Private Labeling Program!
Bramble
Berry, Inc.: over 105 different fragrance
and essential oils (including their exclusive "Energy" and
"Relaxing"), all soap tested, soap molds and unscented soap
bases!
SunRose Aromatics: pure essential oils (many organic), carrier oils and other aromatherapy products, each carefully selected for quality. Check out their new Perfumer's Emporium.
The Scent Shack: fragrance oils and soap supplies. Fragrance oils are pre-tested in cold process, melt & pour soap, and candles, and test results are listed at the Web site. Scents tested by soapers for soapers!
From Nature With Love: over 1,600 ingredients and supplies, including cosmetic ingredients, spa supplies, bath accessories and packaging supplies!
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: the winner of last week's contest was Susan Shewan of Aldergrove, British Columbia, Canada. Susan won some essential oil!
Last Week's Question:
Who was the guest at dM's first Handmade Beauty Brunch?Last Week's Answer: Jeanne Rose (on August 25, 2001)
This Week's Question: I started IBN with the assistance and collective insight of several people who have successful businesses of their own. Two of them are no longer associated with IBN in a formal sense -- Vicki Bedell had a baby a few years ago and Jan Berger left the manufacture of handmade soap to pursue other interests. The other Seed Members continue to be members of IBN today. To win this week, name them. Hint: there are 3 of them.
Be the first to correctly answer this week's question and win some essential oil and some handmade soap!
Please read the contest rules here before submitting your entry. Put "TRIVIA CONTEST ANSWER" in the subject line or your answer will not be considered.
While time does not permit me to respond personally to all entrants,
the winner's name will be announced in the next newsletter! Visit our suite of Web sites serving the handmade toiletries
industry:
Visit The Handmade Beauty Connection Archives.
HandmadeBeauty.com: the
leading industry trade organization
MangoButter.com:
450+ suppliers of raw materials and packaging, updated weekly!
MakeYourCosmetics.com:
ingredient encyclopedia & original cosmetics recipes
DonnaMaria.com:
sound advice for your small business, Create The Life You Love™
Have your ad seen by
nearly 5,000 subscribers!
! Click here
to see why Essential Wholesale says that the returns from their
newsletter ad "just keep on coming," and why
The Scent Shack says, "Our sponsorship of The Handmade Beauty
Connection went over very well, we had a huge number of hits
on the day the newsletter was published, plus we got quite a few
new customers."
Donna Maria, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief, DonnaMaria@HandmadeBeauty.com
The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Indie Beauty Network | www.HandmadeBeauty.com
©
Copyright 2000-2005
Donna Maria and affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
Click here
for important legal information.
