---->THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR: NATURE'S GIFT AROMATHERAPY<----
Your handmade toiletries deserve the highest quality ingredients! Experience the difference organically grown and artfully distilled aromatics can make in your handmade lotions, creams and balms.

Nature's Gift offers an extraordinary range of organically grown and/or ethically wildcrafted rare essential oils, absolutes, and CO2 extracts. From ammi visnaga to zdravetz, to steam distilled hydrosols, our products are carefully selected for the health care professional.

This week only, from November 5th to November 11th, HBC readers receive a 12% refund on your initial order from our retail site!! Mention this ad in the comments section of your order to receive the refund. Or email us for a bulk pricing quote on our extraordinary aromatic ingredients.

Nature's Gift Aromatherapy | (615) 612-4270
http://www.NaturesGift.com | Marge@NaturesGift.com

~ South Harlem Soap Co. ~ New York, (212) 865-0385
creative aromatherapy soaps, made by hand
sharlemsoap@aol.com

~ Arboretum Natural Cosmetics ~ Massachusetts
www.arboretum-skincare.com
facial creams, lotions with plant oils and marine extracts

LAST WEEK'S QUESTION: During the 1920's, a group of people joined forces to form an organization designed to encourage people to bathe. They arranged to distribute comics to public schools that contained the lyrics to a song that eventually became the advertising theme for Proctor & Gamble's Ivory soap. The lyrics were: "clean hands and hearts may hope to find the way to happiness using lots of soap."

Be the first to provide the name of the group and win a sample of "The CO2 Crew," one of the signature aromatic skincare blends featured in "Making Aromatherapy Creams & Lotions"! The ADDITIONAL PRIZE is an autographed copy of my book!!

Read contest rules at www.handmadebeauty.com/htns_Newsletter.htm

Join me and my apprentices for "SoapMaking For Gift Giving & Pleasure" at The Smile Herb Shop in College Park, Maryland on December 2, from 11:00am to 2:00pm. Q&A and Booksigning to follow! Learn how to make your own soap from scratch using natural ingredients, and take some of our newly made soap home with you!! To register, call Smile at (301) 474-8791.

More and more, HBN members are making their mark within the pages of the world's most popular lifestyle magazines. Last week, a member was featured in In Style. Now, HBN member SunFeather Natural Soap Company's rosemary soap is featured on page 28 of the December issue of Victoria magazine. The photo shows the lovely natural green color of the soap, which is attractively packaged in a terra cotta dish with a nail brush and waffle weave cloth, topped with raffia. Congratulations SunFeather!! Take a look at SunFeather's other great products by linking to their Web site through HBN's Member Directory at http://www.handmadebeauty.com.

My first Business Tip from October received a lot of good feedback so I've decided to make the Business Tip a regular feature of the first issue of each month. Last month, we focused on the importance of cultivating your own personal entrepreneurial style. If you missed it, you can read it here: http://www.handmadebeauty.com/Newsletter20001001.htm.

This month, the focus is on my Power Up! Principles. Power Up! consists of 7 Action Items I have implemented over the course of my business ventures, and I hope they will help you grow or start your own business too. Here they are:

1. P-patience
2. O-organization
3. W-weeding
4. E-excellence
5. R-recycling
6. U-uniqueness
7. P-perseverance
The ! is for Enthusiasm and we'll cover that too! We'll review the details associated with each Power Up! Principle over the next several months, providing tangible steps you can take to Power Up! your business.

Today's focus is on Power Up! Principle #1 - Patience. If you're like most small business owners, you can't wait to get started on your next project. Starting something new - whether it's adding a new product to your line or creating an altogether new division of your business - is exciting and invigorating. But beginning a new project without first being sure it's the right time to do so, could result in a colossal waste of your time.

Being patient is not always easy because it involves waiting, and waiting is never fun for any business owner, especially in our rapidly changing global marketplace where timing can be the only thing separating you from the masses. But the discipline of patience can serve you well, and here are 3 practical ways to implement it.

* Practice patience with yourself by realizing that, as an individual human being, you can only do so much. If you realize that you have too much on your plate already and are thinking of starting something new, you may be successful but you may also run the risk of damaging your health and/or significant relationships in the process. Accept the fact that you are human, and learn the art of saying "no." Think of your business as more of a marathon than a sprint. You'll pace yourself better, and generally increase your chances of success by doing so.

* Practice patience by keeping a journal of your new business ideas. Whenever I come up with the "next thing" that I know I don't have time for, I write it down in a simple spiral notebook reserved for my "bright ideas." I read and re-read them as time passes, and I'm always glad I didn't start many of them. But now and then, I see an idea that I never implemented that seems worth sharing with someone else whose business is at the perfect place and time to move with it. I'm happy to share the idea, knowing I can always put my own spin on it at a later time.

* Practice patience through meditation and prayer. This step will be different for everyone who implements it, but the overall concept involves reserving quiet time to contemplate the direction of your business so that you are better able to sift through the clutter and determine what should and should not be priorities at any given time. For me, prayer helps me prioritize not only my business priorities, but also personal ones. Through prayer and meditation, I am able to release things that should not be occupying my time, and focus fitting my business into my life rather than my life into my business.

For December, we'll focus on the Power Up! Principles of Organization and Weeding - 2 "must do's" for any successful business!!

If you missed last week's article on the bath, and the recipe for an Aromatic Winter Bath, you can read it at http://www.handmadebeauty.com/Newsletter20001029.htm.

Now and then, it's nice to take the time to give our feet a special bath. Our feet work so hard for us, and more often than not, they take tremendous abuse.

A foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles and tendons. The average person can take as many as 10,000 steps a day and walk about 115,000 miles in a lifetime! (Source: American Podiatric Medical Ass'n) Surely you'll agree that your feet deserve a bath of their own!!

Sweet Feet Bath is a divine tootsie blend to follow vigorous exercise, a long day of standing or just to pamper yourself. The ingredients, including selected essential oils, enliven your senses as they deodorize, pamper, soothe, and rejuvenate tired feet. You will need a large pan or footbath for this treatment. I use an old bus pan from a restaurant. This recipe is not for persons with diabetes, problems with cracked foot skin or other problems. Consult your health care provider for proper care.

Ingredients
water to fill the foot soak bin
1 cup Epsom salts
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon liquid chlorophyll
2 drops of a blend of equal parts of these essential oils: peppermint, juniper berry, tea tree, lavender
marbles or smooth stones (optional)

Blending Procedure
Make the essential oil blend ahead of time and set it aside. Boil the water. Remove from heat, and transfer to large pan or foot bath, being careful not to burn yourself. Using a large spoon, stir in Epsom salts until dissolved. Test the water-salt mixture every few minutes until it reaches a comfortable temperature; this usually takes about 15 minutes. Add the vinegar and stir. Add essential oils last and swish well to incorporate. To use, wash your feet with your favorite non-detergent soap, and then soak them in this fragrant mixture for about 20 minutes to revive and refresh. You can place a layer of marbles or smooth stones in the water while you soak ... it's a nice feeling to move your feet around them during the soak. After the soak, see if you can convince a friend to give you a wonderful foot and ankle massage using shea butter or olive oil.