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.
2. Lifestyle CEO Report: A Special Encore Presentation!
\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.
What's in store at Lifestyle CEO:
- Conference
- Lisa Price of HBN member Carol's
Daughter (recently featured in Vogue and Celebrity Living magazines)
has been confirmed as a speaker at the first Lifestyle CEO Conference on
January 28, 2006 in Washington, DC. Register
today! Licensed child care is available! Email
me if you'd like a personal "Suggestion" sent to someone
who loves you to give you the Conference as the ultimate holiday gift to
support your business endeavors! Spaces are filling up -- reserve yours
today!
- Blog
- Come blog with me about everything from business to life and
everything in between! New blogs include tips on "balance,"
and getting help to manage home and business successfully!
- Book
- Set for publication next month, and featuring the revolutionary new
"Lifestyle CEO Business Action Model (BAM!!) Copies can be reserved
for shipping next month!
Live What You Love! An encore of one of the most popular
shows! Today's Lifestyle CEO Internet Radio Show guests are husband and wife
team Bob and Mel Blanchard, authors of the new book, "Live What You
Love." Married 30 years, the Blanchards have created eight businesses,
each born of their determination to live what they love without compromise.
Have you and your spouse ever wanted to move on a dream, but you just don't
know where to start and how to handle the unexpected? Bob and Mel have been
there and done that, and they will share some of the secrets of husband/wife
entrepreneurial success on today's show. Show time is 1:00pm EST.
3. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: still no winner from last week, so
here's the question again!
Last Week's Question: State the business names of the HBN
members who are Honorable Mention 2005 Handmade Beauty Business of the Year
Award winners! Once you enter, get on over to the nomination
form to nominate your choice for the 2006 winner!!!
Be the first to answer and win some a foot scrubby, courtesy of HBN
member Morgan Jane
(who's also having a 25% off seasonal sale right now!!)
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!
4. Feature Article: Lifestyle CEO Fever!
by Annette Esterheld
A few years back, I was a
young mom with two kids. I bartered my music skills by teaching music in a
cooperative preschool in exchange for the fees for the classes. I belonged
to a babysitting co-op and I was always baking cakes (especially birthday
and baby showers) and decorating them beautifully. I baked all kinds of
yeast and quick breads and gave them away. Around the same time, I became
the editor/publisher/writer for an international cooperative preschool
quarterly magazine and I used my writing skills. Can you say,
"Lifestyle CEO?" even if it was 20 years ago!?
Everyone said, “You should
do this for a living. It’s a way to stay home with your kids, make money
and be creative.” My family and I did investigate the idea. We talked to
owners of commercial kitchens that I could use in the middle of the night,
met with a small business consultant, considered buying a $750 mixer. I had
an incredibly supportive husband, but somehow, I couldn’t pull it off.
There were no other Lifestyle CEOs to mentor, encourage and support me at
that time.
When dM asked me to share my
perception of "Lifestyle CEO," I was glad to have the opportunity
because I’ve been so impressed by all she has been sharing with me about
getting this endeavor off the ground. She is always brimming with ideas and
I’ve often wondered where she gets the energy and inspiration. Having
spent the better part of the last three months in the HBN
Online Member Directory looking for sources for my feature articles, I
can see clearly that her inspiration comes from all of you—the members of
the Handmade Beauty Network.
I found Lela Barker at Bella
Luccé in South Carolina, who after becoming a single mom of two young
children sold a precious antique rug for $500 to start her business. Today,
business is booming and her products are featured on the Shop At Home
Network. I found Kathleen
Lewis, HBN’s very first member, who started her business as a result
of a quick conversation with a New York trade show owner while waiting for
her daughter to complete a dance class. (She happened to have some of her
handmade soap in her purse that day.) Kathleen’s products have been
featured in dozens of major women’s magazines including Elle,
Women’s Wear Daily, O, The Oprah Magazine, and others.
I learned about Ellie
Trinowski of Moonshine
Soap in Georgia, an Honorable Mention in the 2005 Handmade
Beauty Business of the Year Qwards, who home schools her daughter while
running a soap maknig business. Ellie’s soaps were recently included on a
trade mission to Canada and she is a regular contributor to the
newly-launched Handmade Beauty Business
Magazine. Then there’s Tammie Umble of the African
Shea Butter Company who with seven (or is it nine?) children sells shea
butter products imported from Africa from a small facility in Virginia. Then
there's Dennis and Kayla Fioravanti who grew a 2-page catalog and a home
party concept into Essential
Wholesale, a multi-million dollar business that helps so many handmade
beauty industry participants become successful.
I visit HBN’s directory to
be inspired as much as I do to find bath treats to write about and buy. And
do you know the first thing I do when I open one of the HBN member sites? I
look for a link to “About Us” so I can read your stories. I am inspired,
too, by those of you who have found ways to make products that benefit
others like yourselves and family members who are recovering from cancer and
chemotherapy, and those who’ve developed products for people who suffer
from allergies. I feel like I am beginning to know you all now and wish I
could name everyone here!
dM has told me how the HBN
members inspired her to begin Lifestyle CEO so I invited her over last week
and interviewed her over hot peach tea and my homemade Christmas cookies.
Here’s what she has to say about Lifestyle CEO.
Annette: Where did the idea
for Lifestyle CEO come from?
dM: From
getting to know and working with the most dedicated, tenacious group of
entrepreneurs on earth – members of the Handmade Beauty Network. It sounds
cheeky, but it’s true.
Annette: Where did you get
the name?
dM: I searched
high and low and prayed for a name that would easily encompass what I see
people doing every day -- finding new and inventive ways to combine their
lifestyle choices with their ability to generate income. They want to be the
CEOs of their entire lives, not just of a company that is owned by someone
else. Today, more and more people (and certainly all 440+ members of HBN!)
are doing more of the things they love with the people they love and finding
ways to keep more of the money they earn. I looked for a short brand name
that delivered the message in as few words as possible, one that was also
not already in use and available as a domain name. After several months, one
morning Lifestyle CEO just came to me.
Annette: What all is
happening with this new endeavor? I know you’re doing a global radio show,
a cable TV program, a web page, a magazine, a book, and a conference. Is
that all and would you tell me more about these?
dM: That’s
all for now. In a nutshell, the website, book, conference, etc. are
different ways to spread the same message. In today’s society every
business needs a distinct message, but whether you sell products, services
or a combination of both, there must be multiple ways of disseminating the
message. I looked across the available range of media and selected the ones
that I thought would serve the mission best and that I could also afford.
Annette: What is the message
you want to get out?
dM: My message
is: You are your own best asset!! I want to encourage people to combine
their God-given talents, gifts, and passions, with their educational, work
and life experiences to start their own businesses, so they can enjoy the
freedom and flexibility that makes being a human even more fun, meaningful
and fulfilling.
Annette: I know you’re very
excited about the upcoming Lifestyle
CEO Conference in D.C. in January and that you see this as an
opportunity to reach people who are able to attend. What do you plan to
offer at the conference?
dM: I hardly
know where to start. I've lined up a great group of speakers who are in fact
Lifestyle CEOs. Denise McMillian, the mother of a young son, took a passion
for beautiful fabrics and started Plush
Creations. A few months ago her efforts were rewarded when she was
selected by a famous hip hop star to make the fabric bags to hold her
newly-introduced fragrance. Debbie Bilezikian, mom to two little boys (and
also an HBN member) combined her natural artistic talent for blending colors
with her love of make-up with her need to generate income to help support
her family and launched Monave
Mineral Cosmetics. It's women like that, plus keynote speaker Lisa Price
of Carol's Daughter
(also an HBN member), who really make this conference special. Women will
inspire and encourage other women in a supportive environment. (All speakers
can be viewed here.)
Plus of course there will be
useful tools, tips and tricks on how to be successful in business. So many
of us reach only half of our potential because we just don't know what to do
next. Along with the other speakers, I will make the Lifestyle CEO choice
come alive and other women who attend will see that, like these women, they
too can take their passion and turn it into profit and the lifestyle they
have always dreamed of having.
I'll be speaking on my
“View It. Then do It” philosophy, as well as my “Passion
Principles.” The goal is to help women develop more meaningful
relationships and enjoy the inspiration and encouragement they need to be
successful home managers and business owners. We’ll also cover nuts and
bolts issues like branding and trademarking, maximizing technology and
making it work for you and how to develop relationships with media
representatives who can help get the word out about you. And it's the only
conference of its kind where licensed child care will be available.
Annette: Lifestyle CEO seems
to have a focus on mothers. Why is that?
dM: Because
mothers need encouragement more than anyone else in the world. One of the
things that keeps them from being able to attend business conferences is the
lack of licensed on site child care. We have fixed that problem!
Statistics show that mothers
are far less likely to get a job than an equally qualified man (with or
without children) or woman without children. Our rush hour commutes are
horrendous and leave no time for family, yet we still have a desire to serve
at least a few home cooked meals a week around the dinner table (and our
spouses still expect us to do so). More and more mothers are seeing that
they can contribute to the family’s financial bottom-line on their own
terms. After all, if you are going to work so hard anyway, why not do it for
yourself?
Annette: What would you
suggest to people reading this newsletter right now that would help those
who want to have a business, but aren’t sure how to get started?
dM: View it,
then do it. I know that sounds simple, but as hard as it is, it really does
all come back to that. Look at where you want to be and then break down the
steps to get there into manageable pieces and simply do them. Take one step
at a time and you can be successful. Stay abreast of national and world
events. Everything that happens in the world affects your ability to succeed
in business. I read at least four newspapers every other day. I read some
articles all the way through and others I skim. Staying abreast of national
and world events also allows me to see what other businesses are doing and I
get ideas about how to market my business. Anyone can take the concepts
other businesses are using and adapt them to their own situation.
Annette: After learning more
about Lifestyle CEO, I realize that I have been one for years and didn't
know it. I always figured out a way to use my educational background,
talents and passions to make extra money. Today, I'm helping one of my
daughters start her own cake baking business and I'm just amazed at the
opportunities to be a Lifestyle CEO that are available today that were not
available when I was raising young children. Now that my kids are older,
I've got the Lifestyle CEO Fever -- and I'm going to pass it on!
Editor's
Note:
New
Members!
Help
HBN Celebrate 6 Years
of Serving the Handmade Beauty Industry!! 
