A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 7, Issue 10
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1. IBN Member Update: Welcome New & Renewing IBN Members!
2. Handmade Beauty Business Magazine Update: Want to be Featured?
3. Lifestyle CEO Reports: Employment Attorney Chris Farella Joined Me On Monday's Show!
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win something wonderful!
5. Feature Article: A New Twist on an Ol'Factory
6. Products Liability Insurance Update: RLI's Response

This Week's Recipe: Facial Scrub For Oily Skin

I've got some fun updates!

1. Would you like to be considered for feature in an upcoming issue of our magazine? In order to help our readers see what it's like for a fellow beauty buff to start a business from
scratch, we are going to feature the "saga" of one business owner who has the courage to turn dreams into reality and we'll feature the ups and downs of launching a business at IBN's website and in the magazine. If you are an IBN member who has put solid plans in motion to launch a business with a website over the course of the next few months, please contact me. You and your story could be featured in our magazine!

2. If one of your customers loves your products, please let me know how to get in touch with them to interview them about their experiences with your goodies. You could both be featured in the magazine! (Please make sure your customer will agree to have her photograph included in the publication.)

3. Please join me in welcoming Chris Farella, Esq., our newest editorial contributor who will answer your questions about growing your business through the use of employees and contractors? All beauty businesses know that you can't grow without help so Chris will be on hand to help you take your business to the next level by adding some helping hands to the mix! Meet all of our editorial contributors and learn about the expertise they bring to our publication here! 

If you have other story ideas, or you are interested in becoming a contributor, please visit our Editorial Guidelines page.

\Life.Style CEO\n. A person who owns and manages a business, not solely for financial gain, but also to enjoy the personal rewards of entrepreneurship, independence, flexibility and fun.

Upcoming Lifestyle CEO Internet Radio Shows:

March 13, 2006: Former attorney Warren Brown of the Food Network's popular new show Sugar Rush, and owner of Cake Love, will join me to talk about his journey in pursuit of his passion to just make cakes. Warren's story of leaping from full-time government worker to baker of all things sweet and wonderful will inspire you to follow your dreams too!

March 20, 2006: Mom and entrepreneur Lisa Druxman, tells us how she took a neighborhood fitness class and expanded it to the nationwide "Stroller Strides" brand of fitness classes for new moms.

April 3, 2006: Noted attorney Andrew J. Sherman, Esq. of the worldwide firm of Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin & Olinski will join me to answer questions about licensing and/or franchising your business. What's the difference between the two and how can you use them to expand your brand?!

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Last Week's Answer: Scentastional Technologies

This Week's Question: Earlier this year, the manufacturer of a homeopathic nasal spray cold remedy paid $12 million to settle several lawsuits brought by people who claim that their sense of smell was ruined by the spray, which they used to treat their colds. To win this week, state the name of the remedy.

Be the first to answer and win something delicious!

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!

Since I began writing for this publication, I’ve learned bits and pieces about the benefits of essential oils and the concept of aromatherapy. Lavender oil helps me and my daughter sleep better and I recently gave some to a friend who is able to sleep well for the first time since her father died last month. Even so, I still didn’t have a good understanding of exactly what aromatherapy is, so I asked dM if I could make that the focus of an article. The result is this story on aromatherapist and IBN member Chris Ziegler and A Little Ol'Factory, located outside Houston in Sugar Land, Texas.

Potions and Lotions

“I’ve been involved in the natural products industry for the last 15 years in one facet or another,” says Chris. “I’ve worked on the store level, the distributor level and with brokers. I’ve worked as a clerk, a demo person, a marketer, a sales rep, a buyer, a store manager, and more.” At the shop where she worked, products included lotions, incense, potions, dressed candles and what Chris calls “other wonderfully smelly stuff like that.” She says, “I found the art of blending fragrances and herbs to be very similar to cooking. I developed a knack for aromatic alchemy and was quickly promoted to the position of making big batches of incense and oil blends,” says Chris. “Since almost none of the recipes had actual proportions, they trusted my nose and eyes to do it right, simply using a list of ingredients.”

Chris eventually started working with more essential oils. “I personally liked the idea of using natural plant materials instead of synthetics whenever possible,” she says. “Aside from the whole ‘green’ aspect of it, I found that natural aromatic materials tend to have much deeper and more complex aromas. They evolve in a soft, lovely manner over time.” I became interested in learning about how essential oils could be used around the home and for personal care benefits,” she says.

Branching Out

Chris started her business when her first son was born because she wanted to provide for her family, while at the same time spend precious time with her child. She already was making items and selling them at craft events and local shops in the Denver area where she lived at the time. “I did a lot of research and in some cases went straight to the oil distillers themselves, which meant buying in quantity and selling the extra I didn’t need at the time,” says Chris, who says she still offers special “co-op and pre-buy” specials for some products so she can pass deals on to customers and turn the oils over quickly. She began researching essential oils, contacting distillers and producers and starting to purchase more raw materials in larger quantities and then by selling her “extras” to friends and colleagues she paid for her supplies. “I worked a lot and slept a little,” she says. She did not have a lot of money to cover start-up expenses so instead of spending her money on non-essentials like clothes and shoes, she invested in buying supplies.

Blossoming Time

Today, the business is self-supporting and makes a living for herself and her family. “Raising my two small children is actually my REAL full time job,” says Chris, who runs a mostly natural household. She’s a stickler about healthy and whole eating, and harvests many fresh foods from her organic garden year round. “2006 is a year of blossoming changes for the business,” she says. “I’m looking into a new work space, maybe one with an area for giving classes. A Little Ol’Factory is bursting at the seams and needs some elbow room, she declares with excitement. “We’ve recently launched a new website and will now bring in more absolutes, CO2s (carbon dioxide extracts) and goodies that natural perfumers enjoy working with,” says Chris. “I’ll also be setting up more wholesale business in both supplies and manufactured products, and I’m hiring my assistant Paula, a licensed massage therapist, full time.”

Where’s The Beef?

Chris’ website highlights that she has earned diplomas in herbalism and clinical aromatherapy. Not knowing what that meant, I asked her to explain what difference it made. “Surprisingly in the United States and Canada there is no standard aromatherapy testing, certificate or licensing programs,” Chris says. “Folks can call themselves “certified aromatherapists” whether their coursework was 4 hours, 40 hours, or 400 hours.” In her case, Chris says she took a clinical aromatherapy course over the span of several months and successfully completed it. “I don’t choose to call myself a “certified aromatherapist,” but I do like my customers to know that I have learned about the safe use of essential oils,” she explains. She’s working on another aromatherapy course from the United Kingdom, which she says has actual certification standards in place.

So what is aromatherapy? According to Chris, “It’s the safe, responsible use of aromatic essential oils to promote mental, physical and emotional well being by way of inhalation or physical application. At the same time, it’s not a magic bullet,” she says. “It’s also not the careless use and abuse of the powerful concentrated substances that are essential oils, which I have seen,” she says. “I don’t know what to call that, but it’s certainly not aromatherapy, just as breaking bones is not part of chiropractic practice,” says Chris.

To learn more about aromatherapy, Chris recommends investing in a few good books. “There are many attractive, or what we in the industry call ‘Aromatherapy Novels,’” she says. “They are glossy and seductive and draw you in because they’re pretty, but these are not what you want.” “Much of the information in those books was extrapolated from old herbals and really do not pertain to the essential oils themselves because they incorrectly attribute the water-extracted herbal chemicals to the distilled essential oil products and they often have very different properties,” she added. “One of the best correspondence courses around is Martin Watt’s aromatherapy course,” she says. “It explains in great detail the safety aspect of essential oils from sensitization and irritation issues, to dilution percentages best used in making products to avoid injury.

In addition to books and course materials, one can apparently learn a lot on the Internet, especially in discussion group forums that are open to the public. (You’ll find Chris’ recommendations at the end of this article.) “Try to find lists with experienced people who actually know where the rubber meets the road when it comes to the oils and the industry,” she added. “You will get accurate information rather than marketing hype.”

News Flash: You’re Not Wal-Mart, and Other Sage Advice

Having been immersed in a single type of business for 15 years, Chris has sage advice for people who are trying to run a business. “Remember you’re running a business, not just maintaining an expensive hobby! You are not Wal-Mart and since you don’t have Wal-Mart buying power, you can’t expect to offer quality at a cheap price,” says Chris. “On the flip side, you’re not going to get rich selling a dozen bars of overpriced soap so it’s important not to charge outrageously high prices either.”

Chris knows the importance of finding your own special niche. She says, “Find your niche. Provide quality products and charge a fair price for everyone involved. Also, be prepared to work hard and to skip a few paychecks now and then. And don’t forget dM and IBN! Just the fact that they are promoting and honoring the handmade beauty industry is a great service and help,” says Chris. At the end of the day, Chris seems to have it all, or at least most of it. She sums up her experiences as a mom and aromatherapy business owner like this. “I love what I do. It’s very creative and at the same time I’m able to stay home with my children and have flexibility in my schedule. What more is there to say?” she asks.

Learn more about Chris and her products and services at A Little Ol'Factory. Chris recommends these sources for reliable aromatherapy education information:

Aromatherapy For Everyone (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATFE)
Oils Herbs, etc. (Chris’ list) (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oils_herbs_etc.)
Natural Perfumery (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturalperfumery)
Aromatic Sage (http://www.aromaticsage.com)

As you know, along with representatives from the Handcrafted Soapmaker's Guild and the Natural Perfumery Group, IBN sent a letter to the president of RLI regarding their decision to discontinue providing coverage to home-based personal care products manufacturers who grossed in excess of $5,000 per year. If you missed our letter, you can read it here.

On behalf of RLI's president, Assistant Vice President Brian Hoover, responded to our letter. You can read that response letter here. As you can see, RLI they did not change its policy (and we did not expect them to), the letter does shed some light on what lead to their decision. Specifically, Mr. Hoover said, "[I]t became apparent that some small business owners were placing heavy reliance on [our] Program for product liability coverage for the manufacturing of personal care products. This reliance presents a substantially greater exposure than RLI can accommodate and threatens the integrity of the Program for the small hobbyist business for which it was designed."

What this means is that: RLI's Program is designed for "small hobbyist businesses, and the personal care products industry is composed of an increasing number of people making products in their home, but who are also effectively competing with much larger companies for shelf space and customers. This is good news, more good news and not-so-good news. The good news is that the handmade beauty products industry is growing and we are providing consumers with more and better alternatives to mass produced products. The more good news is that consumers and retailers are accepting us and we are breaking down barriers so any business can remain as small or grow as big as they want to. The not-so-good news is that there's a period of time between very small business and "not quite profitable business" where the risk of remaining in business is substantially increased for those who cannot find products liability insurance but who have a quality professional product to sell.

I am currently working with several industry contacts to locate or create a program like RLI's that is nationwide and which covers companies that make more than $5,000 per year, but are not yet able to invest $1,500 in annual products liability insurance premiums. Because of the risks insurance companies see in this area, such a program may or may not exist. If I coordinate one, you'll hear about it first here. In the meantime, if you are in certain Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Michigan, you may be able to get coverage through the Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild. As I understand it, this program is designed for "crafters" and it may or may not be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of some of your larger retail customers.

Since RLI was the only company providing insurance in all 50 states, it is important that this issue be addressed on a state by state basis. IBN's Task Force is actively forming to find coverage options for in each state, and to do that, IBN members in each state can volunteer to be the Task Force Leader for their state. We have Task Force Leaders in Georgia and Texas. If you are a member of IBN and wish to be the leader in your state, please contact me for details.

For those in Texas, please contact Susan Soros of Soap Goddess Handmade Soap Co., our Texas Task Force Leader. If you are in Georgia, contact Elli Trinowski of Moonshine Soap, our Georgia Task Force Leader.

Best & Success!!
Donna Maria
Editor, The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Indie Beauty Network | www.handmadebeauty.com

Copyright (c) 2000 - 2006 by The Indie Beauty Network (IBN) and Donna Maria. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized distribution or reproduction is prohibited. IBN does not necessarily endorse any product, event or ideology featured in The Handmade Beauty Connection (HBC) or on IBN's website. All information is provided on an "as is" basis and no express or implied warranties are given. Any use of the information contained in the HBC or on IBN's web site, including recipes, is solely at your own risk. IBN and Donna Maria disclaim any liability in connection with the use of all recipes, products reviewed and other information. Except for sponsorships, HBC refuses compensation from companies to feature or mention their names or products. Opinions expressed in any Product Review are personally those of the reviewer and do not represent the views of IBN, Donna Maria (unless she is the reviewer) or any other person or company.