Handmade Beauty Connection
July 28, 2003
A Publication of The Handmade Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Vol. 4, Issue 30
To subscribe, click here.
Coming In August!
An Exciting New Look For The Handmade Beauty Connection!!
This Week's Sponsor: MONAVE MINERAL COSMETICS
MONAVE
SPECIALS
FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST!!
15%
off of any retail purchase for HBC Newsletter subscribers!!
15%
off of any retail, bulk or wholesale purchase for HBN members!!
NEW at MONAVE!!
BLUSHES
– Silky and sheer, from soft pink to deep mauve
BRONZERS
– for a healthy, sun-kissed look
10-GRAM SIFTER JARS – for attractive display and packaging of shadows, blush and bronzers
NEW SMALLER SIZES on our COSMETIC-MAKING KITS!!
MONAVE
MINERAL COSMETICS
| (410) 675-2287 | Email: information@monave.com
Website: www.monave.com
1. HBN Update: Welcome
New
& Renewing
HBN Members & Announcing HBN's Next Beauty
Call!!
2. Create The Life You Love
Success Series Seminars: High Level Energy, Networking & Fabulous Feedback!
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of
The Week: Summer Thyme Lemon Facial Steam
4.
Handmade Beauty Trivia
Question: win a delicious bar of Lemongrass Soap!
5.
Create The Life You Love™: Maximizing Profits
Without Sacrificing Service
6.
Create The Life You Love Summer 2003 Small & Home-Based Business Success
Series!!
1. HBN Update: Welcome New
& Renewing Members
& Announcing HBN's Next Beauty
Call!!
Dropwise Essentials | Donya
Fahmy | California
* renewing member; safe, high
quality, plant-based aromatherapy and natural body care products promoting
healing and well-being
Selah's Soaps & Sundries |
Yoki K. Hanley | St. Croix, USVI
* renewing member; handcrafted
soaps and other body care products made from the best vegetable oils and herbs
Sophies Soaps & Essentials
| Sharon Teaman | Pennsylvania
* handmade body lotions, facial creams, salves, cold process and glycerin
soaps
Jacquelyn Reve,
Inc. | Margaret Trask | California
* wholesaler supplier of exquisite baby
products and bath accessories for baby and mom
Prairie
Sage Soaps | Melveena Whitney | Oklahoma
* specializing in goat's milk
soaps and lotion bars made with scents like peppermint and pearberry
Poshki's
Bath Products | Cheryl Maternowski | Iowa
* ensuring the highest quality of
bath and body products, where skin and well-being is top priority
ATTENTION
MEMBERS! Don't Miss HBN's Next Beauty Call!
Join HBN for our next HBN Beauty Call™ this Thursday, July 31, where we'll
welcome Mike Nave of Beauty Industry Report! Mike will talk with members about "Breaking
Into The Lucrative Salon Market!" For registration
details, click here.
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. Create The Life You Love
Success Series Seminars: High Level Energy, Networking & Fabulous Feedback!
"Your Success Seminars are exceptionally valuable!" ... "I left with so many new ideas ..." ...
I'm looking forward to putting what I learned to good use! ...
These are just a few of the many comments received from the participants at last week's fun- and fact-filled, energetic Create The Life You Love™ Success Series Seminars held in Pennsylvania! Fellow small business owners and colleagues enjoyed a full day jam-packed with ideas, tips and information to help their businesses grow.
We covered everything from trademarking and branding, to creating an effective email newsletter, to secrets to obtaining minimal cost publicity for your business! I was able to share this information in a setting that was perfect for professional interaction and the sharing by all of ideas, experiences, hopes and dreams!
Pictured
at left are some of the attendees taking a break in workshop sponsor Kim Lutz-Isenhour's
lovely West Shore Farmer's Market shop, Lutzy's Lather! From left: Gladys Garced (HBN member
Garced Naturopathics), Susan Ryhanen (HBN member Creekside
Soaps), Lorrie Beach (of HBN member Canterbury
Cabin), Kim Lutz-Isenhour
(workshop sponsor of Lutzy's
Lather), Donna Maria (and soon-to-be born son Brooks),
Kathleen Notaro (Little Egg Harbor Soap Co.), Ann Etchberger (Soothe Your
Soul) and Pamela Baisley (of HBN member Baisley
Herbals).
3. Handmade Beauty Recipe
Of The Week: Summer Thyme Lemon Facial Steam
Summer
Thyme Lemon Facial Steam is one of my favorite recipes for summer,
especially when my skin feels excessively oily (like now when it's close to
100°F! It's easy to make, uplifting and it really works to refresh and clean!
When you visit MakeYourCosmetics.com, it's easy to buy the ingredients you need by clicking on our Selected Supplier links:
Essential
Wholesale: bulk & custom made cosmetic bases, pure essential oils, base
carrier oils such as avocado, sweet almond, jojoba and shea butter and unique
cosmetic ingredients!
Bramble
Berry, Inc.: over 75 different fragrance oils
(including their exclusive "Relaxing" and
"Rosehip
Jasmine"), 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!
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: the winner of last week's contest was Lara Omaljev of Venice, CA! Lara won a generous 5-ounce bar of Canus Goat's Milk Soap!
Last Week's Question: I am a company that was formed in 1987 outside the US. I market myself as a manufacturer of products that are made with the smallest possible amount of manmade preservatives, but which boast high quality essential oils and base oils. My products are packaged in amber glass or plastic, depending on the application for which they are made. Some of dM's favorites from my line include a lip treatment made with real tuberose absolute and a violet leaf infused hair balm product that helps her "fly-aways".
Last Week's Answer: Aesop
This Week's Question: An archeological dig of a Roman temple recently revealed several artifacts of interest. One of them is a small tin container which is nearly 2,000 years old. Despite its age, it is remarkably preserved and so is the substance contained within it. The contents are currently undergoing analysis so it can be determined whether they might be a perfume, a skin cream or face paint. The tin was so well made and preserved that the substance inside still bears the finger marks of a person who used it all those years ago!
To win this week, provide the name of the institution that will begin a several week-long display of the fragrant tin (and other artifacts unearthed at the site) on July 29, 2003. The winner will win a delicious bar of Lemongrass Soap made by HBN member Leslie's Garden Handcrafted Soaps!
Thanks to HBC reader "Hilary" for providing the idea behind this week's question!
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 will be notified by email and their name posted at HBN's home page.
5. Create The Life You Love™: Maximizing Profits Without Sacrificing Service
At a local farmer's market recently, I noticed 3 young girls setting up a lemonade stand in the sweltering heat. I smiled as I observed their teamwork assembling and leveling the card table on an uneven surface, setting up a "Lemonade For Sale" sign and making sure they had enough ice in the cooler to last the afternoon. I waited until they were set up to approach them so I could be their first customer. I asked the price for a cup of lemonade and was told it was 50 cents.
I paid 50 cents and was presented with a nice, cool 1/2 full cup of lemonade. I took the cup and turned to one of the girls and asked her why my cup was only half full. A passerby heard my question and said, "Because we want to maximize our profits!" One of the young girls took my cup and filled it a little more than 3/4 full, which is about what I expected. It wasn't that I wanted more than I bargained for. On the contrary, I would have been happy to pay $1.00 for a cup of lemonade just to encourage and reward the girls' ingenuity. But if a cup of lemonade is 50 cents, and I pay that price requested, I expect to get more than 1/2 cup of lemonade. I expect to get a cup of lemonade.
I thought about the passerby's remark about maximizing profits, and my thoughts turned to just that. So, here, I present 3 simple ways to maximize profits without sacrificing customer service.
1. Become More Efficient.
I don't know whether the girls were intentionally trying to shortchange me,
but the fact of the matter is, they did. I only got a 1/2 cup of lemonade. I
wonder if they took so much as a passing look at what they really needed to
charge for a cup of lemonade in order to make even a small profit. First, they'd
have to consider the cost of the ingredients: fresh lemons, water, sugar, cups
and napkins. Then, they'd have to consider the amount of labor to produce and
sell a cup of lemonade, including squeezing the lemons (perhaps by hand),
slicing fresh lemons for garnish, etc., and also the labor involved doing such
things as hauling the table to the site, sitting in the hot sun for hours, etc.
I wonder if 50 cents covered all of these costs and if not, the girls would not
make a profit.
Of course one can only be so hard on lemonade stand, but when the rubber meets the road and you have to make a profit to stay afloat, efficiencies must be maximized or the business will be in the red for months to come. I spoke with a soapmaker about this just last week. She told me that in order to make soap efficiently and not "fiddle" around with other things, she buys her scent blends pre-mixed and she does not put any additives in her soaps. In this way, she does not have to set aside shelf space or mixing time to make those ingredients. Instead, she can produce her soap efficiently and quickly so she actually has not only the time to market and sell them, but also the time to relax some and enjoy being a small business owner.
2. Raise Your Price.
It's never easy to raise prices, but it's a necessity sometimes. As the cost
of your business increases, the price of the goods sold must typically increase
as well or the business cannot survive. I would have been happy to give the
girls $1.00 for a cup of lemonade if that was their price because I understand
and appreciate the work that goes into anything made by hand from scratch (and
so do most people that frequent farmers markets). I have noticed that small
businesses owners in all lines of business have a tendency NOT to charge what
their goods are worth. Sometimes its because they feel as though they are being
"greedy," and other times, it's because they just have not taken the
time to figure out whether they are losing or making money in the first place.
Whatever the case, if the bottom line is that you are putting out more funds
than you are taking in, the "business" won't be a "business"
for long. If you find after crunching the numbers that you cannot raise prices
for one reason or another (either the market won't bear it or your products just
aren't worth more), you'll have to find other ways to become profitable -- like
becoming more efficient or lowering overhead.
3. Lower Your Overhead.
This can include everything from switching to a lower cost long distance
phone service, to making sure the air conditioning (or heat) is at its lowest
possible point when no one is working in the area, to moving to a less expensive
manufacturing space, to finding a less expensive way to print your labels.
Whatever the case, lowering the overhead a little at time can save a lot of
money over time.
In each of these 3 ways, profits can be maximized without sacrificing customer service. So rather than offer your customers a 1/2 cup of lemonade, offer a full cup (or maybe even find a smaller cup!) and figure out ways to provide your customers with the benefit of their bargain without taking a dive yourself!
6. Create The Life You Love Summer 2003 Small & Home-Based Business Success Series!!
Create
The Life You Love™
at dM's 2003 Summer Small & Home-Based Business Success Series, Washington,
DC
Only one informative seminar left for the summer, and this one promises to be every bit as valuable as the others! Learn from an award winning public relations pro:
How To Get Inexpensive Media Attention For Your Business, August 6, Guest Speaker, Katherine Hutt, Media Relations Expert!
In this seminar, you'll discover the secrets to :
- creating effective press releases and media kits
- getting media attention in publications
- interacting successfully with the media
- and much more!
Spaces are limited so sign up early to reserve your spot! To register online, click here.
Visit The Handmade Beauty Connection Archives.
Visit our suite of Web sites serving the handmade toiletries industry:
IndieBeauty.com: the leading
industry trade organization
MangoButter.com:
500+ suppliers of raw materials and packaging, updated weekly!
MakeYourCosmetics.com:
ingredient encyclopedia & original cosmetics recipes
DonnaMaria.com:
sound advice for your small business, Create The Life You Love™
AromaGirls.com:
Coming Soon: "defining beauty for ourselves"
Have your ad seen by over 4,000 subscribers! ! Click here to see why Essential Wholesale says that the returns from their newsletter ad "just keep on coming," and why The Scent Shack says, "Our sponsorship of The Handmade Beauty Connection went over very well, we had a huge number of hits on the day the newsletter was published, plus we got quite a few new customers."
Donna Maria, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief, DonnaMaria@IndieBeauty.com
The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Handmade Beauty Network | www.IndieBeauty.com
© Copyright 2003 Donna Maria and affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Click here for important legal information.
