Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
March 1, 2004

 -->This Week's Sponsor <--

From now til the Spring Equinox (March 20th) when placing an order, use coupon code HBC-SPRING5 and get an additional 5% Discount off your order.! For Retail ~ Please visit browse our Specials Page ~ For Wholesale ~ Please browse our Specials Page ~

SunRose Aromatics | SunRose Wholesale

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!
2. Unleash The Power Of Your Beauty Business at dM's Beauty Business Boot Camp!
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Pineapple Paste
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win a personal 1/2 hour Lifestyle CEO consultation with me!
5. The Lifestyle CEO™: Are You Or Aren't You? That Is The Question!

DK Mind and Body | Danielle Fleming | Pennsylvania
* renewing member; products handcrafted primarily using natural ingredients including oils, clays, spices, herbs, flowers, butters, bee products, etc.

Natures Garden | Deborah Ward | Ohio
* wholesale priced soap and candle making supplies

SMB Essentials | Lake Louise | California
* Lotus Moon Skin Care product line combining ancient formulations with state-of-the-art scientific knowledge

High Mountain Herbals | Paula Holt | Colorado
* high quality, safe and natural skin care products

Handmade By Family Soaps and Such ... | Tina Parks | Kentucky
* creamy goat milk and honey soaps scented with essential and fragrance oils

Uniquities | Janean  Haggins-Dabney | Michigan
* handmade soaps, lotions, bath bombs and shower gels made with natural extracts

Essence Of Esther | Valeria Yates | Georgia
* making natural skin care products from scratch

Cheryl Evans, LLC | Cheryl Evan | Washington, DC
* handmade natural body care products made from the highest quality ingredients

Country Bee, Inc. | Amy Oliver | Michigan
* soaps made with vegetable oils, beeswax and pure essential oils or top grade fragrance oils

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.

1. Branding Your Business: How To Maximize A Key Competitive Advantage
2. Using An Email Newsletter To Promote, Market & Grow Your Business
3. How To Get Inexpensive Media Attention For Your Business
4. FDA Regulation: Get Answers To Your Pressing Regulatory Questions

Only $180 for all 4 information packed workshops, held March 27, 2004. Includes valuable networking opportunities! Don't miss this chance to benefit from business growth tips and camaraderie with fellow entrepreneurs!

Early Bird Registration closes Friday, February 20 and will not be available at the door!
HBN Members Enjoy Discount!!

Spaces are limited so sign up early to reserve your spot! Sponsored by Kim Lutz Isenhour of Lutzy's Lather! To register, click here or email Kim at LutzysLather@msn.com or (717) 226-1530. Register online, by phone or by email!

Last Week's Question: Earlier this month, a bit of ricin was detected in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill. Ricin is a toxic substance taken from the squeezed out shell of the castor plant. Of course castor oil also comes from the castor plant, and is used to help increase lather in handmade soap. The bit of ricin found on Capitol Hill shut down the whole office building for a few days as investigators tried to find the source of the poison and eradicate it. Turns out the scare could have been a false alarm since ricin is a component of this typical office product used in office buildings like Dirksen all around the world. What is the office product?

Last Week's Answer: paper

\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.

If you subscribe to this newsletter, I bet this describes your desire, or if you're lucky, your actual life! I coined the phrase "Lifestyle CEO" to describe what I hear all of you saying to me in your many phone calls and emails: we want to earn a living, but we want to do it on our own terms, having fun and with time left over to enjoy life with friends and family. If this describes the desire of your heart, this new column is for you! While I don't think there are any hard and fast "rules" to describe the perfect Lifestyle CEO, I do believe that people who thrive as Lifestyle CEOs possess certain specific characteristics. Over the course of the next several weeks, I will examine these characteristics as I have observed them over the years. Perhaps having a look at them will provide insight into your potential success as a Lifestyle CEO or confirm why it is that you are so good at it already!

A Lifestyle CEO is Flexible

"Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Jack jump over the candle stick." We are all familiar with this nursery rhyme warning Jack to jump over the candle quickly or risk having his little bottom burned. If you own your own small business, you have to be sort of like Jack. Like the flame from a candle, the marketplace in which a small business either lives or dies is dynamic. Unless the owner can embrace change, and is flexible enough to accommodate it without losing focus, like Jack, he risks getting his bottom burned!

If you don't have a naturally flexible personality, you'll want to cultivate one if you want to keep up with the dynamic and frequently unpredictable nature of small business. Compared to the rigid and stodgy business owner, it is the flexible business owner who rolls with the punches and responds quickly and affirmatively to a customer's needs. Do you need to create a new way to package an existing product line to accommodate a new customer's large order? Do you need to change the way your labels read in order to comply with a regulation about which you were previously unaware? Do you need to quickly hire an employee or independent contractor to qualify for an exciting new wholesale opportunity? To accommodate any of these unexpected events as seamlessly as possible requires a high degree of flexibility.

In this regard, being small is a tremendous advantage. Many large companies can take advantage of such unforeseen opportunities only after consultations with several different department heads and of course the bean counters. By the time all of the "honchos" sign off on the necessary changes, a more nimble competitor has stolen the business simply by accommodating customer needs in an efficient and flexible way. 

The successful small business owner of today is flexible enough to embrace change rather than resist it. A positive response to unforeseen opportunities and circumstances gives us all a chance to grow and excel. Look for opportunities to exercise a flexible mindset. Make flexibility a habit! Quickly adapt to and embrace changing circumstances without losing focus and your chances of success in small business increase greatly!

*The Lifestyle CEO column was formerly known as "Create The Life You Love."