Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
January 10, 2005

A Publication of The Handmade Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Vol. 6, Issue 2
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Handmade Beauty University Graduate Highlight

"I just want to say that I am so glad [HBU] is here! I hope you realize the good you do for people just by putting information in their hands and explaining it in simple English. It helps make my goals more achievable when I understand the "scary monsters" that come with building your own business. I try to take it one day at a time so it doesn't seem so impossible, but it helps to be armed with knowledge!" Kenna Ramsey, HBN Member, 2004 HBU Graduate, CA

We've added a FREE business planning telenar for all who sign up for our entire Spring 2005 semester!!

To find out how you can put the power of HBU to work for you, click here. 100% money back guarantee!!

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!!
2. Feature: New Year's Resolutions
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Winter Potpourri
4. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win some essential oil!

5-Year Renewing Members!

All this year, HBC will highlight members who are renewing for their 5th straight year of membership! Our 5-Year Renewing Members joined HBN in 2000 and have this week renewed their memberships for a 5th year without interruption. I am eternally grateful to all HBN members, but especially these who put their faith in HBN in the early days when there was no track record and no one was sure it would last. I'm excited to say that HBN has lasted and so have these members! Please visit their websites. Be inspired and buy something new and delicious just for you!

My Grandmother's Garden | Janice Shepler | Tennessee
* 5-Year Renewing Member; Perhaps best known for the sound and helpful advice she provides on various toiletries-making discussion groups lists (or maybe she's best known for crafting a beautiful miniature church building out of handmade soap -- wait! Or maybe she's best known for being able to do about 50 things at once ...), Janice Shepler was one of HBN's first members -- and I am so pleased to say that I have met her in person and even had chances to chat with her. My Grandmother's Garden relies on 46 years of soap making knowledge and experience to create and produce gently fragranced, unique, handmade bars of soap. Custom soap making services available. While Janice doesn't have a website, you can email her anytime. If you have a toiletries making related question, Janice has either the answer or she can refer you to someone who does.

Blue Moon Herbals | Debbi Quinn | New Jersey
* 5-Year Renewing Member;5-Year Renewing Member; I first met Debbi Quinn when I spoke at Ex*Tracts in New York City in 2001. She had been a member of HBN for a year and when she introduced herself to me, her enthusiasm radiated all around her. Debbi's smile lights up an entire room and she cares not only about making quality products but also about the people who buy them. Debbie makes two of my favorite handmade beauty products, Hana Aloha perfume oil and Sea Siren Salts. You can enjoy my reviews of both here. You can visit Debbi's website here.

Renewing Members!

Annabella and Company | Alicia Grosso | California
* renewing member; Aunt Bunny's Handmade, Rabbit Moon, Bunny's Garden, Soap Artisan, Avallonia and sk8 kleen; consulting and classes available in Los Angeles, CA

Nubian Body Sensations | Maxine Glover | New York
* renewing member; soaps, lotions, butters, salts, gels, and a men's line

New Members!

B-girl Aromatherapy | Cathryn Swan | New York
*magical blends of organic essential oils in a jojoba oil or sweet almond base, designed to be worn on pulse points.

Fairies Kiss Organic Soap and Skincare | Kathleen Vosburgh | Washington
* pure, organic soaps, skincare, perfumes and mineral makeup

Inky Loves Nature | Leesah B. Scott | New Jersey
* handmade, vegan, organic, botanical beauty, spa products specifically sourced from the African continent, targeting women of African decent

Soap by Star | Starlene Moore | Texas
* handcrafted luxuries for the skin made with fine skin loving oils

Spoiled Rotten Bath and Body | Kellee Taylor-Smith | California
* handmade bath bombs, scrubs and body butters made with the highest quality oils, salts and essential oils

Jeanine's Hummingbird Soap Works | Jeanine Van Voorhees | New York
* handcrafted bath and beauty products with quality ingredients

Beloved Body Care | Robin Carty | New Jersey
* handmade inspirational body care line

Somerset Cosmetic Company | Karin Bombeli | Washington
* everything to make your own professional cosmetics and personal care products; handmade cosmetics forum and free email expert assistance

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.

Have you made any New Year's Resolutions? Join the club! How many millions of us set some lofty goals in January only to fail to meet them (or forget about them altogether) by spring? I'm all too familiar with this kind of failure so this year, I'm trying something different. I'm choosing some New Year's Intentions and I have implemented a 3-step plan for each "resolution" to help me follow through. I hope they will help you too!

1. Set Incremental Goals, Not A Single Big Resolutions.
When I was a little girl, I really wanted to do the splits. I was the only one in my ballet class who could not split all the way and it really bothered me. So one year, I made a New Year's Resolution that I would be able to do the splits that year. I tried and tried. Every morning, the first thing I did after getting out of bed in the morning was to get down on the floor and try to do the splits. Today, I wonder if I would have been successful had I set incremental goals instead of one big goal. I was still a full 6 inches away from the floor when I finally gave up. Perhaps if I had set a goal of getting 1 inch closer to the floor every two months, I would have made it. Instead of looking at the mountain, might I have been successful if I had just looked instead at the ledges on its side and counted those as progress? This year, I have 3 resolutions and each one is broken down into several incremental goals -- some of them to the week. I hope it works. I'll let you know.

2. Record Your Goals & Steps To Meet Them.
Certified professional coach Cathy Townsend of Orange, California told me that studies have shown that the world most successful people got that way not only because they set goals, but also because they wrote them down. Putting pen to paper somehow makes a resolution tangible, and it makes you accountable for it. There it is, in black and white, to force you to explain to yourself why you thought it was important enough to write down, but not important enough to do. That's tough to swallow at the end of another year, when you've set the same goal as last year, and failed again. (Ask me how I know!) This year, everything is written down, and there are check marks beside each milestone. In this way, I expect that if I do get off track, it won't be for long. I hope it work. I'll let you know.

3. Enlist A Supportive Accountability Partner; Be Transparent.
Find people to help you. A friend, a business colleague, a sibling, a friend at your church, a professional coach -- any of these people can provide you with a much needed cheerleader when the going gets tough. Be honest and transparent with them -- otherwise, you are wasting their time and yours I think. Keep them posted on progress at regularly schedule, agreed upon intervals so they can provide you with much needed encouragement and a few kicks in the pants when you need them too.

Whatever your resolutions and goals for 2005, won't you join me in setting incremental goals, recording and tracking them and being accountable? If anyone out there is interested in checking in throughout the year and reporting back on successes at the end of 2005, email me!

When you visit MakeYourCosmetics.com, it's easy to buy the ingredients you need by clicking on our Selected Supplier links:

Essential Wholesale: pure essential oils, over 200 cosmetic bases, hundreds of carrier/fixed oils such as meadowfoam, cranberry, jojoba and shea butter plus a new Short Run Private Labeling Program!

Bramble Berry, Inc.: over 105 different fragrance and essential oils (including their exclusive "Energy" and "Relaxing"), all soap tested, soap molds and unscented soap bases!

SunRose Aromatics: pure essential oils (many organic), carrier oils and other aromatherapy products, each carefully selected for quality. Check out their new Perfumer's Emporium.

The Scent Shack: fragrance oils and soap supplies. Fragrance oils are pre-tested in cold process, melt & pour soap, and candles, and test results are listed at the Web site. Scents tested by soapers for soapers!

From Nature With Love: over 1,600 ingredients and supplies, including cosmetic ingredients, spa supplies, bath accessories and packaging supplies!

Last Week's Question: Who was the guest at dM's first Handmade Beauty Brunch?

Last Week's Answer: Jeanne Rose (on August 25, 2001)

This Week's Question: I started HBN with the assistance and collective insight of several people who have successful businesses of their own. Two of them are no longer associated with HBN in a formal sense -- Vicki Bedell had a baby a few years ago and Jan Berger left the manufacture of handmade soap to pursue other interests. The other Seed Members continue to be members of HBN today. To win this week, name them. Hint: there are 3 of them.

Be the first to correctly answer this week's question and win some essential oil and some 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!