Handmade Beauty Connection
April 8, 2002
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This Week's Sponsor:
---> SunRose Aromatics <---

Excellent prices on a vast selection of quality aromatics for your handmade toiletries and aromatherapy products!

Fractionated Coconut Oil | 5 liters - $60!! Great for massage and facials. Odorless, non-greasy, long shelf life.

Vitamin E Enriched Shea Butter | 1 LB - $8.00!! Traditionally crushed, solvent free, odorless, off white color! A must-have for body creams and soaps - especially as a superfat!!

Our Certified Organic Essential Oils Are The Best On The Market! From American citruses to English chamomile, our prices and selection can't be beat!

Check Out Our Special Perfumer's Bargain!!

Hard to find Marigold Absolute (Calendula officinalis) from France. Best price on the Web. Quantities are limited so get yours while supplies last. Internet Special - 2 ml only $19.80! (Was $25.40) 

SunRose Aromatics |  New York | SunRose112@aol.com

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing Members & HBN Members On The Move!
2. Editor's Note
3. Create The Life You Love™: Saving Your Business Before It Starts
Question No. 4: Do I Have A Business Plan?
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win a 2-ounce jar of my Fairy Whispers Aromatherapy Ointment 
5. New At MakeYourCosmetics.com
6. Handmade Beauty Product Review: African Queen Shea Butter Smoothie by Anastasia's Ideas

~ Welcome New HBN Members!

The Mad Cutter | Bruce Pikas | Illinois
* Creative engineering solutions!  Custom built molds and cutting equipment

The Crafty Carlsons | Sue Carlson | Colorado
* using herbs, spices and essential oils in glycerin soaps, bath salts, bath bombs and other aromatherapy items

Grapevines & Herbs | Don Davidson | Texas
* handmade soaps, lotions, colognes, candles; dried and permanent botanical wreaths; herb plants

Hartland Naturals | Cynthia Heintz | Connecticut
* fizzy bath salts and other goodies for the bath

Samara Botane | Marcia Elston | Washington
* suppliers of essential oils and aromatherapy accessories; superb educational resource and retail shop in historic Queen Anne, Washington state

The Enterprising Kitchen | Joan Pikas | Illinois
* non-profit micro-enterprise producing handmade soap in an environment that encourages women to maximize their individual potential and self esteem

Flutterbye Aromatics | Simone Karsman | Georgia
* organic aromatherapy products for skincare, plus soaps, salves and diffuser blends. Customization available.

~ Welcome Renewing HBN Members!

Anchor Bay Bath Works | Jenafer Simpson | California
Caerlon Gardens Luxury Soap | TJ Currey | Washington
When Pigs Fly, Creations | Jennifer Lucia | Connecticut
Casco Bay Gardens, LLC | Ghislaine Berube | Maine

~ HBN Members On The Move

HBN member Maggie Hanus of Of Of the Earth - A Wild Texas Soap Bar™ tells me that the Texas Parks & Wildlife spring gift catalog now features her Bluebonnet Soap-On-A-Rope, handcrafted by Maggie to honor the state flower. The Bluebonnet Soap and all of Maggie's soaps contain pure essential oils, the finest natural ingredients, and Texas native plants responsibly wildcrafted from her own rural property and beyond.  Congratulations Maggie!

~ HBN Member Products To Be Distributed At The US Botanic Garden!!

Last week's HBN member update featured a fantastic opportunity for HBN members to have their products featured at the newly renovated US Botanic Garden Conservatory at American Botanical Seminars and Reception in May. The deadline is fast approaching to have your products there so click here if you missed that update and act now to participate!! (HBN members enter your username and password to view the details.) And thanks to HBN member Rachael Shapiro of A Woman Of Uncommon Scents for spreading the word and making HBN member participation in this event possible!!

~ Check Out Our Newly Revised Calendar Of Events

We've just updated the Calendar Of Events with new classes, trade shows and more. From soapmaking at Samara Botane in Seattle to a holistic aromatherapy intensive in Vermont, we've got the classes, workshops and conferences for you!

Learn more about our members and their exciting activities by visiting their Web sites through HBN'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!

Dear Readers:

You guys are great! Thank you for the mega-doses of inspiration I got from you last week after The Week That Never Happened. (If you need a laugh and you missed last week's April Fool's issue, you MUST read it at this link!!) Some of the comments I got were so great that I had to share them with you. One reader told me not to worry about having eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting. After all, she said, "Hagen Daaz represents all 5 food groups!! Another reader asked me if I could arrange for her 2 back to back Weeks That Never Happened. And so many of you wrote to tell me how much you are enjoying The Handmade Beauty Connection. Thanks!!

All in all, however, the best comments I received were the words of encouragement you all sent. I have always enjoyed bringing you this newsletter and now that I have heard from so very many of you personally, and on a more personal level, I love it even more. Thank you for helping to make all of this worthwhile!

My series of articles on "Saving Your Business Before It Starts" continues! (Thanks for your patience over the past few weeks.) If you missed the prior articles in the series, you'll want to go back and make sure you get them:

Question No. 1: Do I Have Enough Money?
Question No. 2: Do I Have Enough Stamina?
Question No. 3: Do I Have Enough Emotional Support?

Question No. 4: Do I Have A Business Plan?

The world stands aside to let anyone pass who knows where he is going. David Starr Gordon

OK so you have a great business idea. Join the club! Don't we all ... but where are you going with it??! Only those who turn their ideas into action will have a chance at success. That's why it is so important to have a plan. Stated simply, you have to know where you are going!! Would you accept an invitation to dinner at a friend's house, get into your car and then think about how to get there? Of course not! Who knows where you'd end up? Instead, you would get directions first, and then plan your route. The same course of action should apply to your business. Yes, it's great to have an idea, but without a plan to make it reality, what's the point?

Business planning is a huge topic and there are far too many components to the process to address them all here. But 3 of the most significant topics are: (1) preparing for the unexpected; (2) knowing your competition; and (3) developing a marketing plan. Here are some tips on preparing these significant components of a business plan.

1. The First Rule Of Business Planning Is "You Can't Plan For Everything." What's true in life is also true in business. And as in life, when business throws you a curve ball, you have to be ready to respond. I had no idea that The Week That Never Happened would happen, but when it did I remembered that my business plan includes the goal of making this weekly newsletter the best it can be. That meant that I couldn't just skip a week and hope you wouldn't notice. I had to give you something ... something memorable and something that fit somehow within my business plan. Let's face it - as small business owners, we cannot control all of the variables. But, part of the planning process involves making sure you have the mindset that allows you to respond quickly and confidently when things don't work out as planned. When life throws your business lemons, don't just look at them. Get out there and make some lemonade ... if you don't, you'll risk losing your customers. And your lemons will eventually rot.

2. Always Check Out The Competition & Make A Plan To Be Better Than Them. So, you make great handmade soap, you've come up with some fabulous names for your products and you have a wonderful attractive and easy to remember domain name? None of it matters unless you can sell enough soap to make a profit. And you can't sell soap at a profit if you don't make a plan to market your soap and differentiate it from all the other soap on the market today. How do you do that? Let me count the ways.

You can streamline your business so that you infiltrate one particular kind of customer in the most efficient and cost effective manner. This is the route chosen by one HBN member who sells only retail at craft shows and from her Web site. Before each craft show, she sends a notice to her faithful customers announcing that she'll be there selling her soap. She also posts her show schedule at her Web site. Her customers come back to her in droves. They send their friends and family members to her. And they won't buy soap from anyone else. So, instead of expending resources attracting new customers, she simply retains her existing customer base and relies on them to market to new customers for her!

Here's another example - include specialized ingredients in your soap. For example, one HBN member uses carrot oil in each and every bar of soap, and her logo incorporates a bunny motif. Another member uses virgin coconut oil in pretty much everything and she makes huge "chunky" bars of soap. They are much bigger than everyone else's soap, and they are unevenly cut so they look like big "chunks." Another way to differentiate yourself is to align with a worthy cause to help sell your products ... this is called cause marketing and it can be very effective. So, you might donate a portion of your profits to the American Cancer Fund or whatever.

The bottom line is this: to be successful, you have to know what your competition is doing because you have to do it better. If you don't know what they are doing, you can't compete. And if you can't compete, you won't be open at a profit for very long. (By the way, by knowing your "competition," I don't mean just any other person doing what you are doing. If you want to be successful, you have to look at your "successful competitors" ... that is, the ones making a profit. If they're not making a profit, whatever they are doing isn't working so don't waste your time there.)

3. Have A Marketing Plan. Stated another way, this means Get The Heck Out There & Toot Your Horn!" Now that you've figured out how to differentiate your product, go out there and tell the world about it! That's right ... advertise! Tell people about your wonderful products or services. And don't be shy. If you have a great product, say, "I have a great product and here's what's so great about it." Your business plan should include information about how you plan to do this. If you neglect this part of the exercise, you may in fact have the best product, but no one will buy it because they don't know about it. So make sure you have a plan to get the word out ... advertise in magazines, in local newspapers (especially if you have a retail store), on discussion group lists (but remember, you may just be advertising to your competition there ... they may not buy anything), on Web sites targeting users who would be interested in your product, on Web site search engines, in conference brochures, on the side of busses. Whatever!! Just make sure you get the word out.

Business planning is a huge topic with far too many components to address in this brief space. Other components include: (1) writing your mission statement; (2) accounting for your costs and overhead; (3) taking stock of your management skills; and (4) evaluating financial issues (remember Question No. 1 is "Do I Have Enough Money?"). For an in depth look at what you need to prepare a business plan, purchase "Preparing A Business Plan That Positions You For Success" audio tape at this link. The tape provides 60 minutes of step by step instructions for preparing your own business plan.

Next Week's Saving Your Business Before It Starts Question: Do I Think Big Enough??!!

Strawberry Surprise Face Mask is a new recipe designed for oily skin and featuring strawberries and mint. A most refreshing duo on a warm afternoon!! Check it out, along with tons of other great skincare treats at Make Your Cosmetics.com!! When you visit Make Your Cosmetics.com, it's easy to buy the ingredients you need by clicking on our Partner links:

African Queen Shea Butter Smoothie
10 (whopping!) oz. | $6.50 (regular price is $12 ... quantities are limited!!)

Whoa Hah! Anastasia's NEW African Queen Shea Butter Smoothie is everything and a double macadamia white chocolate chunk cookie! How did I come to know this soap so well you ask?....My husband and I went on vacation recently to celebrate our wedding anniversary and prior to my trip I ordered some soap from Anastasia to take with me. With my order I sent her a note and asked if she had a bar that would soothe the burn I knew I would get, enter.. The African Queen Shea Butter Smoothie made with Organic Peppermint, Spearmint, Bulgarian Lavender, ground walnut shells, rose hip seed oil and with a base of 50% shea butter and 50% Virgin Coconut oil not only did I come out of the shower rejuvenated and minty fresh my skin was sooo soft! The lather is bountiful and forever fragrant and it soothed my burn instantly. It almost felt like I was putting ice on my body without the chill (if you know what I mean?). I will tell you that the beginnings of the bar are a little rough because of the walnut shells but all you need to do is rub it down a few times with your bath sponge or mitts and you are well on your way to one of the most truly refreshing showers or baths you have every had. Not only will I use it when I over expose myself to the sun but I have a bar for my gym bag too and one to spare for whenever! As Mikie's brother says in the Life Cereal commercials "Try it, you'll like it".

P.S. I am allergic to walnuts and because I did not read the ingredients (it just smelled so good) until I was halfway through I used the bar anyway. I have tried other products with ground walnut shells and broke out terribly however this lovely bar only made me feel better! So, if you have an allergy don't follow my lead, try it out on a small section of your body beforehand or better yet read the ingredients.

Try African Queen Shea Butter Smoothie and other delicious products available at HBN member Anastasia's Ideas.