Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
January 5, 2004
Happy New Year!!

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!!
2. HBN Announces Nationwide Regionalization
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Hair Tamer Serum
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question
5. Create The Life You  Love™: Happy New Year!

To Die For, Inc. | Judy Jones | Texas
* renewing member; soapmaking equipment and supplies 'To Die For'

Carrot Tree Soaps & Essentials | Christine Richter | Wisconsin
* renewing member; high quality goat milk soaps made with fresh goat milk and carrot oil

Exhilaration | Lena Smith | Florida
* handmade beauty products to exhilarate the mind and body; herbal foot creme and more

Vienna's Herbal Compounds | Vienna Carroll | New York
* all natural aromatherapy and herbal body care, with love from Harlem to You

Common Sense Farm | Robert Racine | New York
* personal care products designed for discerning consumers seeking wholesome products

Valerie LeBlanc Massage & Aromatherapy | Valerie LeBlanc | California
* specializing in body oils, room and face spritzers, and perfume ointments; customization available

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.

While HBN's several websites and activities work effectively to promote the handmade beauty products industry in ways that are efficient and cost effective for the organization and its members, the time has come to launch a program that will help the national organization work even more effectively on a local level. HBN is therefore pleased to announce an exciting new regionalization, and to introduce HBN's new Regional Directors.

Please join me in congratulating HBN's new Regional Directors! These pioneers of the handmade beauty business world will help HBN more effectively target specific geographic regions of the country with relevant programs, benefits and services, thereby making HBN even more fun and effective for members.

Read more about HBN's regionalization and our new Regional Directors at this link!

As mentioned late last year, HBN's newsletter will from time to time feature business trivia questions along with the beauty trivia questions we have featured for the past 4 years. I hope this will enhance your reading pleasure and give you some "food for thought" as you consider starting your own business or continue growing the one you have!

This Week's Question: I am a non-profit organization that is the subject of much criticism by businesses both large and small. I was founded in 1998. I set standards and priorities, supposedly to facilitate fair progress and change in the Internet world. I am the backbone for the assignment of Internet domain names around the world, and one of my goals is to enhance global online competition and promote consensus for users of the Internet across the globe. To win this week, state my full, complete and correct name.

We hear it year after year, holiday season after holiday season -- most people are prone to encounter bouts with depression during the holiday season than during any other season of the year. I think that's true, for while it is relatively rare for me to feel blue, I do at times feel glum, especially when the weather has been rainy for days at a time or during a celebratory time of year when I feel that I don't have anything to celebrate.

When these feelings arise during the holiday and New Year's seasons, while I don't know what the antidote to these feelings is from a medical perspective, based on my experience, I have had success making the most of this time of year by doing a few things that are sure-fire ways to cheer me up even when I am feeling blue. Perhaps some of you are feeling less than chipper as we start a new year. Maybe you are dwelling on things you were supposed to do in 2003, but which are left undone as we enter 2004. Perhaps you lost a loved one last year and are struggling to find a reason to anticipate a "happy" 2004. Whatever the case, the next new year's season will be here before we know it so I want to provide you with some helpful tips to make it more likely that the transition from 2004 into 2005 will be one of peace and joy. Like most of the tips shared in this column, these are worth trying in both your business and personal life!

1. Celebrate This Year's Successes As They Are Experienced.
Don't let a good reason to pat yourself on the back pass you by! I am not suggesting haughtiness or excessive pride, just congratulations for a job well done. It's simple to reward yourself when you have met a milestone or accomplished a goal, especially when you have appointed your own personal cheering section to help you achieve your goals. Your cheerleaders should be composed of a few trusted friends and/or family members who won't stand in your way (beware of saboteurs!) and who will be just as excited as you are that you have reached a goal. Let them cheer you on, and when you meet a goal, treat yourself to something you enjoy. To celebrate a business accomplishment, you could buy that piece of high tech computer equipment you know would make your life easier, professionally design that logo you've been putting off, buy a new shopping cart for your website or whatever. A personal accomplishment could be celebrated with dinner out with a best friend, a little shopping spree or a several-hour long trip to the spa (my personal favorite!) Whatever the case, celebrating accomplishments mark their significance in our lives and will provide a reason at the end of 2004 to feel good about a year well spent. 

2. Record Goals And When They Are Accomplished.
Recently, my husband and I reviewed a list of 12 goals we had set for ourselves about 15 months ago and we were excited to see that we had attained 11 of them. We could have dwelt on the one we missed, but we chose instead to focus on the 11 we had accomplished -- and what a positive "can do" feeling that was! Some of the goals were big and some were quite small, but collectively, having achieved them made us more confident that we could attain even more challenging goals in the years to come. And we were able to celebrate a quiet New Year's at home savoring a newfound sense of confidence. We were only able to do this because we wrote down our goals. For some, this is a scary way to be held accountable. After all, if goals are missed or ignored, there they are in black and white for the whole world to see, and it can be demoralizing to view a list of goals after the time for their accomplishment has passed, only to see that they are still just goals. On the other hand, what better way to motivate yourself to stick to a goal than to write it down so you can be reminded of it regularly and monitor your progress toward it. If you are the type to avoid writing down your goals for fear of having to face them again year after year, try it with just 3 simple goals. Start small and grow from there. You'll be glad you did!

3. Celebrate At Year's End.
As you move through 2004 and are able to check off goals attained, you can begin to plan a New Year's celebration which will allow you to move into 2005 with a renewed sense of accomplishment. Plan some sort of celebration, large or small, and be sure to include your cheerleaders so they can know how much you appreciated their help along the way.

Cheers! And best wishes to each and every HBC reader for a joyous and prosperous 2004, and no shortage of reasons to celebrate when the time comes to ring in 2005!