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The
Handmade Beauty Connection
May
15,
2006
A Publication of The Handmade Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 7, Issue 21
To subscribe, click here
-- Sponsor --
1. HBN Member Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!
2. Handmade Beauty Business Magazine: Start Checking Your Mailboxes!
3. Lifestyle CEO Report: Packaging Your Products To Sell
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win something wonderful!
5. Feature Article: From Layoff to Payoff
6. Thriving Through Cancer: How One HBN Member Is Defying The Disease
Handmade
Beauty Recipe of the Week: Fizzling Shea Powdery Bath Oil
1. HBN Member Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members!
 Welcome
Renewing Members!
Country
Lane Baskets & Herbal Soaps | Jo Anne Farrell | Virginia
* Our soaps and other beauty products are made in small batches on our farm
in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. All products are made with
natural ingredients with no chemicals, preservatives or petroleum based
products.
Shakti
Aromatic Energy | Gina Rafkind | New Jersey
* All-natural aromatherapy products that are chemical and pesticide free and
never tested on animals. Our product line includes a luscious lip and
cuticle butter, whipped body creams and body/massage oils with new products
on the way. All are handmade with pure essential oils and lots of love.
Unscented products are available by request.
Welcome New Members!
Online
Labels | Matt Hamilton | Florida
* Since its launch, Online Labels, Inc. has grown into the
largest provider of laser and ink jet labels on the Internet. Online Labels,
Inc. is a division of Consolidated Label. Consolidated Label is one of the
largest label manufacturers in the Southeastern United States manufacturing
over 50 million labels weekly. Consolidated Label is a customer driven
company dedicated to providing its customers with the best service in the
industry
Incredible
Labels.com | James Mundell | New York
* Custom die-cut full color labels for your products. Great prices. Smudge
proof available.
HBN Members On the Move!
Last week, I told you
that HBN member Saipua
Soap (formerly Creekside Soaps), was
featured in the premier issue of Martha Stewart's new magazine, Blueprint!
Adding to their good news, Martha was on the Today Show on May 11 chatting
it up about her new publication and some of Saipua's soaps were part of the
display. Martha described them as lovely and a perfect
addition for any bathroom.
HBN member Karen White of
Natural Impulse
Handmade Soap tells me that her soap is featured on page 268 of the June
2006 issue of Better Homes & Gardens. Congratulations Karen!
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. Handmade Beauty Business Magazine: Start Checking Your Mailboxes!
 The
1Q 2006 issue of the Handmade Beauty Business Magazine is here and shipping
starts right away! There are several exciting features, among them: (1) an update on the products
liability insurance issue; (2) a feature on members with physical retail or
spa locations; (3) an article on the FDA's Good Manufacturing Practices; (4)
an article to help you set up your employee handbook; and MORE!!
Plus meet the 2006 Handmade Beauty Business of the Year! Stay tuned
next week for an interview with the new winner in this newsletter!
To subscribe, click here!
Please support our magazine sponsors!
To learn how you can associate your brand with the first and only full color
print magazine representing our growing industry, click
here to request our Media Kit!
3. Lifestyle CEO Report: Packaging Your Products To Sell
 \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.
Jo Ann Hines, who calls herself "The Packaging Diva," joins me
today to share what you need to know about packaging your products. You have
to have a package to sell a product, and nowhere is that more evident than
in the beauty industry where the right package can catapult a product to
sure-fire success. The wrong package, or poor packaging, can doom a product
to failure and send customers straight to the competition, no matter how
good the product on the inside may be. Join us to learn tips and tricks on
choosing the bet packaging for your products. Join us LIVE at 1:00pm EST at Global
Talk Radio.com. Just click on "Listen Live" at the home page to join
us!
Upcoming Lifestyle CEO Show Guests ::
May 22: Author Rachel Hamman and I will talk about
Rachel's new book Bye-Bye Boardroom: Confessions From a New Breed of
Stay-at-Home Moms. Rachel talks about her interviews with moms all
over the country (including me!) who abandoned the corporate board room to
have more family time and own their own businesses.
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question:
last week's winner was Susan Goodman of Lompoc, California. Susan won some
handmade soap!
Last Week's Question: The elephants of Africa love my fruit, which is
succulent and rich and used to make a delicious beverage produced only in
Africa. My fruit also produces an oil high in anti-oxidants and oleic acid,
so it is fabulous for the skin. To win, be the first to provide the common
name of the name of the plant talking above, the name of the beverage
produced and the name of the skincare oil.Last Week's Answer:
marula tree, Amarula, marula oil
This Week's Question: State the first and last names of the
HBN member whose business is named for the botanical name of the common
marshmallow, the healing herbal ingredient that she calls the "star"
ingredient in her product line.
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!
5. Feature Article: From Layoff to
Payoff
 Unlike
many people facing the uncertainty of being laid off from a good job, in
late 2001, Renee Deal of Deal
Farm Soap jumped at the chance when she heard about the possibility of being laid off
at her job of 7 years. In
fact, she went to her boss and literally asked him to include her in the
cuts! There's only one thing I know of that could make someone who is
gainfully employed doing something they are good at make a move like that,
and that's the discovery of a whole-hearted passion. One that makes the
world spin on a different axis and pulls you toward it with a vengeance.
An Entrepreneur Since Age 9
Even as a young girl, Renee Deal had been a creative soul.
As an only child, she had the undivided attention of a lot of people and
didn't have to share time or space with siblings. Perhaps in part because of
this, her parents allowed her to have as many animal pets as she wanted --
so long as she paid for their food. As a result, Renee tested her wings as
an entrepreneur at the tender age of 9 when she began raising parakeets. To
pay for their food, she made jewelry and other items that she sold to
tourists who came to visit her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts. She
also bought animal food in bulk and broke it down to sell into smaller
quantities to kids in her neighborhood who had pets.
 As
a child, Renee
visited a petting zoo as a child, where she fell in love with one of the
baby goats, which followed her around the zoo for the entire day. "I
didn't understand why my parents wouldn't let me take one of them
home," she recalls. And so all those years ago, Renee's affinity for
goats was born. It would not manifest itself until decades later. But I'm
getting ahead of myself.
... Like Soap With Trees Sticking Out
Renee graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1994 with a major
in Industrial Design. She landed a job designing footwear and settled into a
promising career in the design field. Before too long, she began getting
restless. She married her husband in 2000 and about a year later,
uncertainty settled in at her job. By then, Renee had already started
playing around making soap in her kitchen. While her first batch turned out
"strange," she loved it and was hooked. "My
first batch was made with hydrogenated oil and dried peppermint I had grown in
my garden. The finished product looked like soap with little trees sticking
out of it," she laughs. Still, Renee was proud of her accomplishment and
the fact that she had created it from nothing. She began to experiment more,
and got better and better at it.
"I loved the way it
made my skin feel. I got a few books and did some Internet research and
discovered what I heard was the 'Cadillac' of handmade soap -- that is soap
made with goat milk," she says. Renee reasoned that if soap made
without goat milk was great, then soap made with it must be wonderful.
"I love the idea of making and using something handmade. It's neat and
different," she explains. So she continued her kitchen soapmaking
adventures until she had perfected things enough to think about selling
soap.
The Layoff
It was during these days of experimentation that rumors of layoffs at her
company began to spread. While everyone else was running scared, Renee found
subtle ways to let her boss know that she wouldn't mind getting the ax. And
he caught the hints. Renee was let go in May 2002, but unlike many who find
themselves out of a job overnight, she started buying goat milk in larger
quantities from local farms and set up shop.
A Big Purchase
Renee and her husband drove to New York where they met with former HBN
member Pat Fountain. Pat used to own a successful goat milk soap business and
she was in the market to sell. Renee liked what she saw and she and her
husband returned home to think things over. It wasn't long before they rented
a van, drove back to New York and purchased many of Pat's business, which had
been called Heart's Delight. Among the items purchased were supplier
and customer lists, pot tippers, large molds, a manual soap cutter, baker's
racks and more. Today, Renee can make 300 bars of soap at a time, and this is
only half the capacity of the equipment she has. "Judging from the price
of the same equipment today, I got a real bargain," says Renee. "The
equipment was in great condition and I think I got it at somewhere around 50%
of the cost," she adds.
Getting Started
Renee returned home to ramp up Deal
Farm Soap quickly. At first, she
molded her soap using PVC pipe, but after deciding that was "too much
work," she switched to standard rectangular shaped bars. Her husband
and father built her a nice workshop space and some drying racks. Also, Pat
Fountain had a commercial 2-burner hotplate that she had never used. Renee's
husband and father built her a contraption with legs that holds the burners
safely in place so she can warm a large amount of oils without much physical
labor.
Renee relies heavily on the Internet for sales. Her husband is a software
engineer and does a great job of translating Renee's vision into pixels,
bits and bytes so she has saved a lot of money using his expertise. He even
customized a shopping cart especially for her. Renee like the fact that her
company has a name that conveys the "farm fresh appeal" of her
goat milk soap.
The Payoff
 It
took Renee a year and a half to become profitable and sales moved
steadily in an upward direction until early 2005 when she added to her
"to do" list by becoming a mother. After Pearce was born, Renee
had to let things flatten out for a bit until she could adjust to her new
life. "When I was pregnant, I talked my husband through making soap and
I did less craft, holiday and art shows like the popular Boxford Apple
Festival during pregnancy and after Pearce was born," she recalls.
Not surprisingly, Renee
says that the most difficult thing about owning your own handmade beauty
business is making money.
"Like a lot of craft type businesses, it's a lot of physical labor and a lot
of things have to be done by hand," she says. "I have paid
listings through search engines for terms relating to goat milk soap and I
bid for placements using popular search terms, but there's much more I could
be doing," says Renee. "I'm taking my time because I want to do it
right," she adds. "My quarterly online newsletter is popular and
helps advance sales and I hope to add some profitable link exchanges."
The Payoff
Today, Renee owns the business of her dreams where she can spend as much
time as she'd like with her son an still generate income for the family. She says she's
fortunate to have a supportive husband with an income that allows her to
have a small business of her own. "He just got a new job where flex hours that will allow him to be home by 4:30 every afternoon, and I'm
looking forward to that because it means I'll be able to get more
work done during daylight hours and focus on some things I haven't had a
chance to focus on for a while."
Over the past few years, Renee has added skin salves, shea butter
moisturizer and goat milk cream to her line of goat milk soap. You can stop
by and get some of your own goat milk goodies at Renee's website.
-- Sponsor --
6. Thriving Through Cancer: How One HBN Member Is Defying The Disease
 As
small business owners, HBN members are used to pushing through the stress
associated with owning and managing a business. Even when the stress is
"good" (lots of new orders during the holidays, packaging and
shipping products to media outlets for possible feature, etc.), it can still
be tough to handle the pressure of being responsible for the rise or fall of
a business. But those of us who do not also have a serious health issue to
contend with only know part of the struggle.
As HBN's president, from time to time, I come into contact with people
who are living with serious health problems and who wish to slough off the
inflexibilities of the traditional work force and start their own ventures.
Just last week, I spoke with a woman from my church who is dealing with
fibromyalgia. She volunteers her time to various ministries helping people with
chronic illness and writes for various health related
publications. Her days are filled with much physical pain, which sometimes translates into mental and spiritual problems, yet she presses on.
As we celebrate National Women's Health
Week (May 14 to 20), I salute HBN members and women everywhere
who are building businesses despite the challenges brought on by
serious health issues. One
such HBN member is Leah Vartanian, of Florida-based Leah's
Natural. Leah was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer on December 20,
2005. "I got out of bed one night and something told me to do a self
breast exam, and that's when I discovered something that felt like an eraser
head," says the 59-year old mother of two grown children.
Leah says that the 1.5 centimeter lump was not discovered on a mammogram.
Leah did not waste any time setting up an appointment with her gynecologist,
who told her it was probably a plugged duct. Leah was not happy. "I
told him I wanted an ultrasound, now," she recalls adamantly. Her
doctor made the appointment, which included an uncomfortable guided biopsy with a needle.
Within 24 hours, Leah had a diagnosis, and the ordeal of uncertainty
began.
"I had lots of meetings with health professionals and I received all
kinds of advice from other women. If you had a broken leg, you have it set.
If you have cancer, you have a lot of options. Mastectomy, lumpectomy and
various different types of treatments," Leah says. She opted for a
lumpectomy. "I'm finding that this is a unique opportunity to learn how to make quick
decisions," she says. Needless to say, this was not how Leah had
planned to spend the holiday season.
Leah's surgery took place on January 3, 2006, and after recovery came the chemotherapy treatments -- a round of them every 3 weeks.
"A chemo treatment would put me out of commission for a week, and then I was up for 2
weeks before I had to go back. This allowed me to keep the business going," she says. Leah started
her business in 2003 and joined HBN in 2004. "My belief is that I got cancer for a reason.
Since I'm in the skincare business and I have cancer, I have begun to make
products that counter the horrible dry spells my skin encounters due to the
chemotherapy treatments. I have begun testing products on customers and I'm
receiving great feedback from my mineral makeup, which I sell at home
parties." Leah says she's not an obsessive worrier and has learned to
work hard at keeping her mind occupied, and owning her own business has
helped her to do that.
Leah starts radiation treatments next month, and then she says she'll be
"home free!" In the meantime, she is doing everything she can to
remain upbeat, forward-focused and healthy. "I want people to know that
breast cancer is not a death sentence and that the survival rate is
huge," she says. "Do your breast exams and if you are diagnosed,
consider your options and take swift action. I know many many more people
who are surviving than dying," she says, "But there are a lot of
people who freeze up from fear after a diagnosis and they don't do anything.
That's the worse thing you can do," Leah advises.
Leah has catastrophic health insurance, which covers her chemotherapy
treatments, but not any of the doctor visits or other medications. Leah has
discovered that it pays to ask questions and insist on the best care. She
has received a lot of financial assistance and free samples -- simply
because she asked around and did her research. For example, some drugs that
treat the side effects of chemotherapy are administered differently. By
asking questions, Leah discovered that one drug is covered by her insurance
when it's administered through an intravenous tube, but not via other
methods. "Call the drug companies and ask them for help. It pays to do
your research," she says.
Leah is a survivor, but more importantly, Leah is a thriver,
and there is a big difference!. And in the midst of her
situation, she is making herself available to help others who are dealing
with cancer. If you would like to contact Leah to share your experiences or
to borrow a bit of her strength and inspiration, she tells me that her email
door is always open, and you can also find her through her website at Leah's
Natural.
Best & Success!!
Donna Maria
Editor, The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Handmade Beauty Network | www.handmadebeauty.com
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2006 by
The Handmade Beauty Network (HBN) and Donna Maria. All Rights Reserved.
Unauthorized distribution or reproduction is prohibited. HBN does not
necessarily endorse any product, event or ideology featured in The Handmade
Beauty Connection (HBC) or on HBN's website. All information is provided on
an "as is" basis and no express or implied warranties are given.
Any use of the information contained in the HBC or on HBN's web site,
including recipes, is solely at your own risk. HBN and Donna Maria disclaim
any liability in connection with the use of all recipes, products reviewed
and other information. Except for sponsorships, HBC refuses compensation
from companies to feature or mention their names or products. Opinions
expressed in any Product Review are personally those of the reviewer and do
not represent the views of HBN, Donna Maria (unless she is the reviewer) or
any other person or company.
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