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A Publication of The Handmade Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 7, Issue 13
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1. HBN Member Update: Welcome New HBN Members!
2. Handmade Beauty Business Magazine Update
3. Lifestyle CEO Reports: Stroller Strides' Founder Lisa Druxman Joins Me On Today's Show!
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win something wonderful!
5. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Goodies From Blooming Lotus
6. Feature Article: Bottles and Jars Oh My!!
7. Products Liability Insurance Update

This Week's Recipe: Citrus Mint Room Refresher

We've added two wonderful new experts to our contributing editor line-up. Employment attorney Chris Farella will contribute the Hiring the Help column to help you engage the support services you need to grow. E-Commerce expert Jamila White's column E-Commerce and You will give readers insights and tips on making the most of e-commerce applications. You can Chris and Jamila, and our other fine contributors here.

\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.

Upcoming Lifestyle CEO Internet Radio Shows:

March 27, 2006: Noted attorney Andrew J. Sherman, Esq. of the worldwide firm of Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin & Olinski will join me to answer questions about licensing and/or franchising your business. What's the difference between the two and how can you use them to expand your brand?!

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Last Week's Answer: US Department of Health and Human Services

This Week's Question: Once upon a time, I was a school teacher in search of a way to help my students keep from contracting so many colds. I came up with a combination of ingredients, one of which is echinacea, that seemed helpful. So I packaged it and began selling it, and today, I am a meg-successful entrepreneur -- thanks Oprah! What is my name and the brand name of my product?

Be the first to answer and win something delicious!

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!

Katie bar the door! There's trouble ahead! Mom's got a new stash of handmade beauty products and there's rose involved!!

That's not exactly what happened when I got my stash of Blooming Lotus products from HBN member Jen Denslow , but it's a close approximation. It's not that I didn't have enough handmade beauty goodies to keep me happy for weeks to come, but being the greedy beauty junkie that I am, I wanted more. And the salivating reached epic proportions when I discovered a jar of Chocolate Rose Body Polish in my mailbox.

Chocolate Rose Body Polish
8 oz. | $14.50

Shine your body like never before with this combination of organic sugar, honey, cocoa powder, cocoa butter an rose absolute! I love rose absolute and the scent of it in this treat is unmistakable. What an incredible combination of buffing goodies and a scent to die for. A deep brown color comes from the cocoa of course and the rich aroma is like diving into a swimming pool filled with chocolate. A pretty blue jar with a silver screw top jar keeps all the goodies in -- no leaking and spilling -- so it's the perfect gift. The label says that Chocolate Rose Body Polish is "deliciously addictive." Yes!

I love essential oils because they are so pure and so absolutely representative of the living thing with which they are associated. I always love using handmade cold process (CP) soap made with pure essential oils. It's such an art to get so many essential oils to "behave" in CP soap, and when it's done right, it's a special treat. Here are a few I tried from Blooming Lotus that are especially nice.

Handmade Soap
3.8 oz. | $500 each

I tried Coconut Lime, Orange Patchouli and Ginger Frankincense. All were great but my favorite is Ginger Lime and it's not just because I love lime essential oil (can you bite this soap?). The greatest thing I think is the coconut milk, which contributed a dense, rich lather that made my skin feel so great. All of the Blooming Lotus soaps (and other products) are made with a high proportion of natural ingredients. The Orange Patchouli soap contains organic hemp and the Ginger Frankincense has organic ginger pulp and juice and organic comfrey root.

Such care and attention were put into the manufacture of Blooming Lotus products. This is underscored at the website where Jen describes her gem of a company as "a quiet little soap company, where prayer and intention are a part of every batch and the products are pure bliss." Yeah, that's right.

Keep up the great products Jen! And you dear reader, head on over to the Blooming Lotus website now and get yourself a stash so you have an excuse to bar your own door! And for you chocolate and rose and sugar scrub addicts, here's a direct link so you can cut through the fluff and get that Chocolate Rose Body Polish NOW!

In the handmade beauty world, everyone has a role to play. Actually, everyone has at least one role to play, seeing as some people handmade beauty family do far more than just one thing. But now and then, I get a chance to meet someone who trades in one thing and one thing only. It's rare out there, but when it does happen, the singular focus of the business owner all but guarantees financial success. This week, I'm pleased to spotlight Anne Kremer, whose singular focus is bottles and jars, and of course the customers who buy them.

Anne owns Bottles and Jars.net, which sells all kinds of plastic and glass containers by the ones, the 50s, 100s, or more at a time. Anne says she stocks “the most comprehensive selection of cosmetic containers on the Web” that includes an assortment of over 75 different containers from ¼ ounce lip balm to 8 ounce salt scrub jars and everything in between. To get a sense of what it means to be the “most comprehensive selection,” I asked Anne for some numbers. She told me last year she surpassed her goal of over 100,000 products sold. If that wasn’t enough to chew on, she then told me her warehouse is home to over 500,000 pieces of inventory. Wow!!! It gets even more intriguing -- Anne is one woman operation. She did admit to occasionally enlisting a family member for help, but for the most part Anne says she’s “the chief cook and bottle washer, which obviously means I’m the sole proprietor, manager, accountant, web designer, shipper and receiver, warehouse foreman, inventory controller, maintenance person and consultant.”

“If anything goes wrong, it is always my fault which is just the way I like it!” says Anne.

From Boutiques to Bottles

Before venturing into the selling of bottles and jars, Anne, who is a native of Rochester, New York, was the owner of a 60s style boutique specializing in retro jewelry, handcrafted beads, home accessories, and gift items made from natural fibers like hemp and cotton. “The store became very challenging, consuming not only most of my time, but also most of my life,” says Anne. “In time, by virtue of life’s trials and blessings, I decided to re-evaluate my goals and purpose. Working six and sometimes seven days a week was fulfilling, but not purposeful,” she continues.

Anne went searching for a business that would allow her flexibility and the opportunity to explore other avenues in life. She was selling a line of natural handmade soaps and lotions in her store at the time and they were such a hit with her customers that she thought maybe she could manufacture her own line of handmade beauty products. But after investing bundles of money for components and ingredients, she discovered that it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Anne admits that she "greatly underestimated" the amount of skill involved in making and selling handmade beauty products. In addition, she says, “I wasn’t very good at it. I only got disillusioned, not encouraged by the amount of work involved, and my disappointing results.”

Once Anne decided she didn’t have the patience or the proficiency required to continue, she decided she was more suited to selling the supplies, rather than the finished product.

Bottles for Sale!!

“After closing the manufacturing business, I had thousands of containers I couldn’t use, so I launched a primitive website to unload the left over bottles and jars, and was amazed at the response. Bottles and Jars.net was born!” says Anne. Once she decided she was in business, Anne had to figure out how to do business. So what did Anne do? “I guess I just guessed,” she says. “Coming from a retail background, I really knew nothing about this industry, except that I liked the concept.”

Anne explored cosmetic packaging at her local supermarket and drugstore. She inspected the packaging used by high end manufacturers. She talked to manufacturers to familiarize herself with the different types of plastics, the different grades of quality and fancy trade terms, all of which at the time were Greek to her. “Eventually, it all came together,” Anne says, “But in the beginning it was all just a guessing game. If I liked the packaging, I bought it. For some reason, I was right one hundred percent of the time. So far, no duds. Everything sells eventually.”
Anne financed the business using the proceeds from the initial five products she sold. “I started off very small with about $1,000 in products and built it from there.

The Bottles and Jars Stop Here

Bottles and Jars.net has now been around eight years and Anne says that it's clear from sales and inventory statistics that she’s doing all right. Still, there are some things she misses about having a retail store. For example, Anne sometimes finds herself craving the personal face to face interaction and conversation that retail store ownership facilitates. “Sometimes, the solitude is hard. It’s lonely, especially when there’s no one I can blame for problems along the way,” Anne says. “Any difficulties, trials or failures are a personal reflection on me and no one else, and that can be a heavy burden. On the other hand, it reinforces a sense of power and self determination."

Anne says if she fails, it’s her fault alone, and if she succeeds, “I can bask in the glory of success. I love being the sole motivator for my own success or failure,” she adds. “And I love working in my pajamas anytime I feel like it!" Meeting” people through the Internet helps compensate for the loneliness Anne sometimes feels. “I’ve met people from all over the world on the Web and I’m proud to say that I have done business in every state in the country, and also in England, Germany, France, Japan, South America and Canada, just to name a few,” says Anne.

Anne says that she has her business and herself exactly where she wants both at the moment: “a single person, manageable stage.” She's considering whether to take it to the next level by expanding, hiring employees and dealing with payrolls and insurance, but she’s not convinced she wants to change anything right  now. Today she  socializes by working a couple hours a week in a private school that she says “keeps me connected to real, live people, not just my ‘cyber-people’ customers."

HBN is Priceless

Anne credits dM and HBN for the fact that she’s in business now after eight years. Anne was “barely staying in business” when she joined HBN. “While I generated enough money to keep the business going, there were not enough sales to substantiate a successful enterprise,” she says. “HBN has introduced Bottles and Jars.net to people from around the globe,” Anne says. “It still amazes me when I get an order from overseas. The visibility I’ve gotten through HBN is PRICELESS!”

According to Anne, "Many small businesses have been the beneficiary of dM's dedication, commitment, and ingenuity. She and HBN are well recognized and respected in this industry.” Anne says she owes dM a note of gratitude for “sharing her passion, not only for the handmade beauty business, but also for supporting and encouraging women to pursue their dreams.”

Saturate and Network

If Anne could have a conversation with you, she'd tell you not to become discouraged when something doesn’t work out. “Look at it as a learning experience and as a viable part of your education.” “Saturate your consciousness and unconsciousness with anything and everything that pertains to your business,” says Anne. “If you’re self taught as I am, the learning process never ends. Be sure and stay networked with your colleagues.”
“Don’t be afraid to share tips and advice along the way,” she says. “It will always be returned to you in one way or another.”

Great advice Anne! We can see through your experience that, as they say, when God closes a door, He also opens a window. Or in your case, an even bigger door! You can find out more about the large selection of bottles and jars Anne carries at her website.

Coming next week: An HBN member's journey from poor health to handmade beauty!

The Handcrafted Soapmaker's Guild invites manufacturers to complete a survey at their website. The survey is designed to collect industry information and statistics that can be used at a later date to tell insurance companies about the benefits of providing affordable products liability insurance to home-based and other businesses in the industry. The survey is not limited to soapmakers so if you are a business making and selling anything considered a personal care product or cosmetics, please take a moment to complete the survey at this link.

Please visit our Task Force link for other updates, and stay tuned for an in-depth look at the issue in the upcoming issue of the Handmade Beauty Business Magazine.

HBN Member Task Force State Leaders

District of Columbia: dM
Georgia: Ellie Trinowski of Moonshine Soap
Maryland: dM
Texas: Susan Soros of Soap Goddess Handmade Soap Co

If you wish to contribute to this important effort by becoming an HBN member Task Force Leader in your state, please contact me for details.

Best & Success!!
Donna Maria
Editor, The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Handmade Beauty Network | www.handmadebeauty.com