Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
March 22, 2004

 -->This Week's Sponsor <--

The Best of Nature from Around the World Wholesale • Small & Bulk Sizes • No Minimums • 1,750 Products • Vegetable & Fixed Oils • Vegetable Butters • Essential Oils • Hydrosols • Herbs • Cosmetic Clays • Muds • Salts & Sugars • Skin Care Bases • Melt & Pour Soap • Soap Molds • Bath Accessories • Preservatives • Color Additives • Waxes • Fragrance & Flavor Oils • Packaging Supplies • Equipment We carefully source our ingredients from around the world based on their freshness and purity. In addition to our line of natural ingredients, we also offer fragrance oils, color additives and other complimentary ingredients and supplies. Our free online Recipe Database and Information Library areas will help provide product ideas and inspiration. New Preservatives! We have recently added several new preservatives to our line. We offer: Germaben II, Germaben II-E, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Liquid Germall Plus, LiquiPar Oil, Rosemary Oil Extract and Vitamin E (T-50). Save 5% Off Your Online Orders With FNWL! Enter discount code HBN0322 into the discount code field at checkout. Offer expires 6/30/04 and excludes shipping, handling, and taxes. Visit our site to order our new 180-page print catalog. www.fromnaturewithlove.com • (800) 520-2060

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: Orchid Flower Body Oil
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win handmade soap!
5. The Lifestyle CEO™: Are You Or Aren't You? That Is The Question! Part 4
6. The Big Beauty Breakdown: philosphy's gingerbread man

Susan's Soaps and More | Susan Svec | Texas
* renewing member; quality skin care products with essential oil aromatherapy benefits; at reasonable prices

7 Arrows Farm | Judy Marcellot | Massachusetts

Tomboy Soap | Jessica Newens | Colorado
* renewing member; products that are kind to your skin and to the environment

Bee Naturals | Barbara Chappuis | Missouri
* renewing member; beeswax-based all natural skin care cremes and lotions with vitamin E and essential oils

LENA MAE SOAPS ... Pamela Alyse Davis | New York
* renewing member; small batches of handcrafted herbal soaps using the cold processing method

Baisley Herbals | Pamela Baisley | New York
* renewing member; fine soaps made by hand and presented in decorative archival papers and ribbons

Planet Earth Remedies | Judy Carter | Arizona
* renewing member; natural massage products formulated with essential oils and other natural ingredients

Nature's Voice | Michelle Morgan | Virginia
* cold processed, aromatherapy soaps; aromatherapy facial care products; herbal body care

The Edible Oils Company | Gregory Anigbo | Connecticut
* oils for use in cosmetics and soapmaking, cooking and other applications

HBN Members On The Move!

Through a connection HBN maintains with a freelance writer and HBC subscriber who likes to include HBN members in feature stories when possible, HBN members  Vienna's Herbal Compounds (Vienna Carroll) and Nyah (La Shonda Tyree) are featured in the current issue of the Network Journal! The article is entitled "Top Black-owned beauty product lines" and sports a beautiful photo of La Shonda and a selection of Vienna's foot rejuvenation products. Wha-hoo! Good job ladies!

HBN member Tvål! is happy to report that their Blueberry & Verbena soap and body butter received 5 out of 5 stars for price and quality, in a review in BeautyBuzz review. Way to go Tvål!

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!

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!

Orchid Flower Body Oil is great for any skin type. It contains a light sensual aromatherapy blend, complete with an infusion of vanilla oil made with real vanilla beans! 

New Features At MakeYourCosmetics.com! Register to enjoy printable recipes, site user recipe ratings and your own personal recipe book! HBN members are automatically registered using their usernames and passwords! To register, just click here!! 

Last Week's Question: I am an oil which is produced in large quantities in the US, especially in California, one of the largest producers in the world of the nut from which I am extracted. I am rich in fatty acids that moisturize and soften the skin. I am a member of the same botanical family as the cashew and the mango and an extremely high investment of resources and land is required in order to cultivate the nut from which I come. A grower has to wait at least 7 years to see a return on the initial planting investment! What am I?

Last Week's Answer: pistachio nut oil

Be the first to correctly answer this week's question and win some fantastic handmade soap!

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!

\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.

This series takes a look at the qualities that seem most useful and prevalent in successful Lifestyle CEOs. If you missed the previous two installments, you can view them here:

1. Flexibility
2. Supportive Family Members & Friends
3. Energy & Stamina

This week, we take a look at the importance of having and maintaining an open mind. Having an open mind is all about being flexible about the possibilities associated with running a business and understanding that, what you have set your mind to do today may not be (and probably won't be) your ultimate business destination.

In his book "Who Moved My Cheese?" author Spencer Johnson tells the story of two mice and two "littlepeople" who were running around in the maze of life. In one part of the maze they found the ultimate mouse prize, cheese, and they returned there everyday to get some. But one day when they arrived at the cheese area, they found that a big change had taken place. The cheese was all gone! Suddenly, the mice and littlepeople had a choice. They could use the lack of cheese as an opportunity to find newer and better cheese or they could hunker down in their comfortable but "cheeseless" existences and wait for someone else to bring them more cheese. I won't give the story away, but suffice to say that the characters who made haste to find better cheese in the face of unexpected change saved themselves a lot of heartache. These successful Lifestyle CEOs may have been a bit scared about the process involved in finding new cheese, but they enjoyed life more as they met the challenge. On the other hand, the Lifestyle CEO "wanna-bes" just sat around complaining that their cheese was gone. They moaned, groaned and complained, and they went no where and did nothing.

What will you do if someone moves your cheese? Though you have a business plan together, you produce the best product around and you have your sales and marketing routines down to a science, don't be surprised if one day you awake to find that all your cheese is gone. In business terms, this could be the loss of a huge customer, the realization that you have strayed from your company purpose and need to get back on track, lack of personal or investor funds needed to continue your business at all or you could simply awake to the realization that you aren't having fun anymore. Whatever the case, in business as in life, someone will move your cheese. The question is: how will you respond when it happens to you?

The successful Lifestyle CEO responds with an always open mind? Are you prepared to turn your business around on a dime if some obstacle comes along to block your progress? Are you ready to take things in a different direction if you need to in order to grow? Have you networked yourself sufficiently so that, if you ever need help, you have someplace to turn? If the answer to any of these questions is no, yet you want to grow your business, now is the time to examine exactly what your mindset is, and to adjust it for maximum success.

I believe that when we begin to utilize our gifts and talents for the betterment of ourselves, our families, our communities and our world, God blesses our efforts, and when that happens, someone always comes along to move our cheese. So optimize your chances of business success by keeping your mind to the possibilities when the time comes that your cheese is moved. It may come in the form of an obstacle such as lack of money or losing a good customer. On the other hand, it may come in the form of an opportunity that you are not set up to take advantage of. Do you let that chance pass you by or do you immediately scurry into action to see how you can make it work for you?

When the changes come your way, keep your mind open to the possibilities. And think about  the mice and the littlepeople, and remember that if the cheese is moved, the successful Lifestyle CEO responds by  moving with it (and quickly), rather than sitting around and just moping that your cheese is gone.

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

At first, philosophy's gingerbread man salt scrub feels hard to the touch, almost like it contains honey that's been heated over too many times and become sort of "cooked." But a gentle amount of pressure with my fingernails to break the surface loosened things up and I was really able to enjoy this. As a ginger fan, the aroma of ginger boosted by some delicious fruity undertones took me away. As a scrub fan, I usually prefer sugar because most salt scrubs tend to be a bit hard on my skin, plus sugar scrubs overall tend to have a nicer texture since sugar seems to stick together better than salt. While I still prefer sugar, this salt scrub exfoliated without feeling like sandpaper, and it left behind a subtle, pleasant aroma. Caramel gives it a deep, brown hue. The label says it's a "warming formula," but I didn't feel that myself. The marketing information on the outer box is also quite clever, billing the scrub as the "perfect man" for any woman. An interesting concept, about which HBN members can read more here.